Out With The Old And In With The New

Like I mentioned, the new furniture was finished early.

Well after some frantic cleaning and arranging I am happy to say it is here.

However, before I show off my happy new furniture I feel I have to show off the sad stuff from before.

Now from the pictures on your screen they don’t look so bad, but you aren’t sitting on them wondering why you feel the wood and springs.

I am truly disappointed by the company who made these, they are supposed to be a good company, and they are a big company made in America, but these lasted less than a year before they were uncomfortable. Yet I have lived with them for four years.

The pictures would look somewhat better if I bothered to vacuum the furniture, but they were going away and I had too much other stuff to do.

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And for the new!

Hopefully these will last much longer.

Even the dogs got new furniture!

See the tags? That’s how new.

Also I have to point of the coffee table. That thing has been in the family longer than I have been alive.

It started out as a dinning room table and my dad’s mom cut it in half to make end tables. Then someone put it back together and cut if off short to be a coffee table.

Years ago my mother painted and distressed it, but it have gotten more and more distressed every year.

However, I love it. It was the table I used to sit at and eat all my meals and as a toddler my mom would stand me on it and dance with me.

It is very sentimental!

But it is mine and my mom’s favorite piece in the room, and hopefully it will be baby’s favorite one day also.

Organizing the Chaos

About three weeks ago I went to pick out new chairs for the living room. The ones we have are terrible!

I never said anything because my grandmother bought them for me when I first moved in and I didn’t want to seem ungrateful. Well she came to visit and was sitting in them and turned and said,

“These are the worst chairs I’ve ever sat in! Why are the arms so hard?”

“The arms are hard because the padding disappeared and you are leaning on the wooden frame.”

So then I didn’t feel bad about new chairs.

When we were looking at new chairs I told my mom and grandmother to keep in mind that in a few months to a year I hoped to also get a new leather sofa so make sure the chairs will look alright.

My grandmother then insisted we look at sofas because she is getting me a new one! As she put it I need the sofa, my furniture is terrible and her first great-grandchild is on its way. Since she also bought the original sofa I couldn’t argue that is was terrible, and I learn years ago not to argue with her if she wants to buy you something.

Her love language is gifts, and since I am minimalizing she doesn’t know what to do so she buys me things I “need.” We might have different ideas on needs.

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The furniture was supposed to take six weeks, so I started other household projects (like redoing the master closet). Since I still don’t have as much energy I work until I can’t move and then leave the house a mess. Vince says its fine because at the end of all the projects the house will be better organized and clean (hopefully for a long time!)

Guess who called this morning and what will be delivered tomorrow?

Yep the new furniture!

Well thankfully I “finished” the master closet last night, but the rest of the house still has clothes and other things everywhere and its complete chaos.

I took a break to eat and type this but I am frantically trying to arrange the house so the furniture can be moved in.

Prayers are welcome, but I really can’t complain. I am so blessed everything is working out and will be ready for baby.

Be on the look out for posts about the new furniture, the new closet, and the updates on the progress of the other rooms!

Maternity Jeans!

Yesterday I finally bought maternity jeans. Now that I have, I am wondering why I took so long!

My grandmother had brought me some maternity shirts and I wore those and loved them but the maternity jeans she had brought were white and didn’t fit quite right, so I think I was scared all would be like that. They were not and I got 3 pairs of pants that fit and its amazing. I also got a bunch of shirts because my mom had way too much fun. 

The maternity store is now my favorite store!

First, they don’t stare at you crazy when the first words out of your mouth are, “where is the restroom?”

Second, they understand pregnant women are emotional so they are very sensitive to what you ask for and supportive if it doesn’t fit right. (They were also so sweet when the lady in the dressing room next to me sounded like she was about to cry. Regular stores judge you when you cry because something doesn’t fit right.)

Third, all the clothes fit in such a why that they make me feel pretty, while still being very comfortable! I had been wearing jeans that were just big, and they sagged in places they shouldn’t and then they cut across my stomach making me look fat, not pregnant.

For a few months before I found out I was pregnant and the first few month of pregnancy I have been wearing oddly fitting clothes. I had gained weight before I got pregnant so most of my clothes didn’t fit right, but I was trying to loose the weight so I refused to buy new clothes. Then we found out we were pregnant and I thought, “well now I will just wait till I have to buy maternity clothes.”

I also got fed up with most of my clothes and donated them. Sadly I only wore the same 7 shirts and 3 jeans over and over and over.

Once baby is here and I loose the baby weight, I might go back to regular pants, but I don’t want to ever go back to regular shirts!

I must admit, I have never been small chested, and pregnancy has not made them any smaller. This has meant that shirts never fit me right, they were always either loose or tight places they shouldn’t. Maternity shirts don’t do that! The maternity shirt my grandmother bought me (when I was a mere 9 weeks along) was the first time a shirt has fit me correctly in years. 

So between my chest and larger hips, very few things ever looked nice on me, till I met maternity clothes.

I asked the nice sale lady if I ever had to go back to wearing regular clothes. She replied that the shirt and jeans she was wearing are maternity and her daughter is two! She is built like me so she always had the problem with clothes I have had.

The other sales lady and the other customer (a mother of 5) said “NO! Stay in maternity.”

It makes me think that maybe the clothes in the stores are not really what most women fit or want, but that is a huge other issue!

17 Weeks Today!!! 

(Not the best photo, but thanks to maternity clothes I look like I have a bump, not just fat.)

More Baby Bonnets

I knitted two more little bonnets using the Cozy Baby Coif/Prairie Bonnet by Dywalgi.

The first one was made using pink variegated wool that was leftover from some socks I made my mom. (I love the yarn but wouldn’t recommend it for socks as it felts up from washing and wearing.) I used some mysterious black yarn as the contrast. I say it’s mysterious because I have absolutely no idea where it came from, I think the yarn fairies brought it to me.

This was a slow going bonnet, it oddly took me a week, mainly because I got annoyed/bored and worked on other things.

The second bonnet I made is for a baby gift. My grandmother came to visit and took me yarn shopping. She wanted me to make a sweater and bonnet set that matched. The bonnet still needs a ribbon, but is finished. I had to wait over a week for my new needles to arrive before I could start the sweater.

For this bonnet I used Berroco Comfort Solids & Heathers in pink. I loved working with this yarn and might have to buy more for myself.

 I made this one using seed stitch instead of the color-work, similar to what I did for the first bonnet I made (see Baby Bonnets.)  I also added hole (made using yarn-over) so we can thread a ribbon through to make it very frilly. 

And my pretty new circular needles. They are interchangeable needles from Knit Picks in Caspian. So far I love them!

Due Dates and Heartbeats

Today was my first official midwife appointment. Last week was just a consult to see if I liked them and wanted to use them.

I was so excited.

We discussed the pregnancy and my due date. I was originally told the due date was February 5, 2016. My grandmother was so excited and wanted baby to arrive on that date since it was her mother’s birthday. My mom wanted it to come a few days later since her birthday is February 7th , and if baby arrive on the 9^th it would share a birthday with Vince’s grandmother and grandfather (how cute is it they shared a birthday?!). But we all know baby will come when it wants not when we want.

Well it turns out baby’s “due” date might be February 2, which makes me 16 weeks today! Based on the ultrasound and the midwife’s measurements today it looks like we are at 16 weeks!

My mom got a recording of the heartbeat and we are able to share it with family and friends. I posted it to Facebook so all our family could hear. My high school math teacher, who is now a great friend despite my lack of math skills, commented,

“Isn't that the COOLEST thing?!?!”

“Yes it is!” I thought.

Then I thought what amazing time we live in that we can hear the heartbeat of a baby before it has been born! And how much more amazing is it that we can record it and share it with all our friends and family?!

I am not a big social media person, but with the baby I am turning into one. I love that I can share things with those close to me, even when they are far away.

Say what you will, but sometimes social media is a blessing.