Do I Have To?

I don't know about any of you but when I am in my house, doing my house work there are always a few things that I just never want to do. I've thought about it and it's not because I don't like doing them... I just always put off doing them. It's like my brain and body are resisting like these few jobs are going to wear me right out. Unfortunately, its these little jobs that tend to make a difference between a nice clean and tidy home versus just clean but not nice and tidy.

The first of these jobs is making our bed. My entire childhood up until marriage I always made my bed. I woke up, made my bed and then began my day. It was never a big deal and I never even thought about it. I just did it. Now, I look at the unmade bed and think, "Is it really necessary?"


Next are the dishes. I used to dread washing the dishes. Suddenly, I really don't mind washing them, it's putting them away. They can sit in the dish rack, nice and clean, for days until I can no longer pile ANYTHING else on top.


Then we have sweeping. For some strange reason, the idea of pushing the broom around to collect dust and crumbs really makes me moan. I look at the broom, I glance and the floor and usually say, " I'll do it tomorrow, it doesn't look that bad right now." Of course, by t he time it does get done, it was in desperate need of it several days ago.

Finally, we have the laundry. I have no problems washing clothes. That's easy. I absolutely hate to fold them and put them away, however. I try not to use our dryer since it's expensive so our clothes can sit on the drying rack for several days before I get a move on and take them down.

All of these tasks are small and take very little time yet for some odd reason I tend to push them aside for as long as I possibly can thus never fully relaxing. The silly things we do.

Saturday

I got a lot accomplished this Saturday. It was a nice and busy day. The kind that makes me feel like I have actually done what I should be doing while I am a home maker. Let's see if i can remember all that I accomplished or did two days ago.

My day began with waking up and eating breakfast. I then set to work immediately on making treats for my sisters birthday party. She requested that we all make a sweet and savory hors d'oeuvre that we have always wanted to make. Seeing as how I am not so much a foody yet , I didn't have any idea what to make. Online I hopped and found what I thought was the perfect savory food: cheese biscuits with ham. They were suppose to be circular but I had a flower cookie cutter and thought that it would be so cute to have little flower sandwiches so thats what I did.

This is the dough rolled and being cut.
I then lay them out on a baking sheet to bake for a short time.
This is them nice and golden brown once they were fully baked.
Then I spread honey mustard and a piece of black forest ham inside and placed them on my flower plate.

It's rare that I enjoy cooking as much as I did making these little biscuit sandwiches. I also made my sweet recipe which was called Peanut Fingers. Made of a yummy peanut butter cookie base, chocolate melted on top and then a peanut butter icing drizzled on top. They were a success as well.

Once my baking was complete, I set to work on the task I have been wanting to do but dreading at the same time; the dreaded hall closet. Here are some of my before pictures of the absolute disaster that awaited me.

As you can see we have boxes, shoes, coats...
If I was looking for a pair of shoes, I often only found one.
And anything I wanted out of the way was just thrown into any available space.

So, I set to work. I began by taking everything I could find and literally chucking it out into the hallway. Once the closet was empty, I dusted all the shelves and vacuumed the miserable carpet that is inside. Once that was complete, I place all of the shoes together on the shelves and even managed to get rid of some of the shoes that I never wear. I arranged all our jackets on hangers and put all out winter attire into a hanging basket thing. Now we should be able find our mitts and hats when it gets cold. A lot of what was in the closet was only in there because I wanted to get rid of them. So, they are now in the hallway in respective boxes to be given away or thrown out.

Here is the finished product:

Here are our jackets and winter things and a nice decorative garland from our wedding (I didnt know what else to do with it).
Here are the shoes all paired up and even with their like colours.

And here we have where all the junk was piled. Now it's the home of our vacuum.

I have to admit that this task took me a very LONG time. It was a complete disaster and I really hope i never let it get that bad again. Once it was done, i was sneezing up a storm from all the dust had been around and was very happy to have a shower. Then, it was off the my sisters house to celebrate her birthday with her girlfriends.

It was a beautiful evening. We sat outside in a screened in porch with yummy food and candle light and pillows. We listened to music and simply enjoyed being together. It was a really nice birthday.

Here are the peanut butter fingers that I made along with some of the other delicious food.

Here are some cookies that Elaine made that you could put a candle behind and it was like stained glass.

After several hours, it was time to call it a night and we all made our way home thus ending a very busy but beautiful and productive Saturday. Happy Birthday Jo!!!

A Late Night Project And A Dreary Day

Dave did several wonderful thing for me the other night. First, we went out together to take a look at strollers. His parents have offered to buy us a stroller so we wanted to make sure we chose the perfect one. Now, they bought BOB strollers for the other two children who had babies but I really wanted something that would still be good for when we have two children (Lord willing). So, Karin told me about a stroller called the Phil and Ted.

The great thing about this stroller is that it is a single stroller and it is great for jogging and the front wheel swivels... it's light, it folds nicely and it's thin. Once you have a second child, you can buy an attachment for a second child. Your newborn can go into the stroller without a carseat while your older child has three different places their seat can attach to the stroller. It looks like a fabulous stroller and we look forward to using it.

After that, we went to Dave's job to pick up his trailer and pick up all his tools. Once we finished that, we went and got a drink from Bridgehead. Dave got a coffee and I got one of their new ice drinks, a mochaccino crush. It's similar to a cappuccino ice from Tim Hortons but much better and made from real coffee. I really enjoyed it even though I normally HATE coffee.

We arrived home at around 9:15 pm and Dave helped me change our room around for the baby. We had the crib set up right in with because Dave wanted to keep one of his desks. While we were talking the night before, we decided that it would be good for the baby to be away from us so that if he sees us, he wont really wake up and fuss. So, Dave quickly took apart his drafting table and helped me move the crib around and make our new "baby room". Now, just moving the bed wasn't enough for me. I wanted to move everything around. Dave was heading out for a drink with his brother so while he was out I was using the energy given to me by the caffeine to move dressers and what not. It was a very heavy task but I felt it was very rewarding.

Once this was complete, it was around 11:30. I got into bed and didn't fall asleep until 2:30 am. It turns out moving all of that furniture didn't do the trick of using up all of the caffeine energy. I then woke up at around 4:30 to pee and slept through my 7:15 am alarm. I was awake for the day at 7:30. Needless to say, I was pooped.

I went with Dave for the morning to St. Laurent shopping center to wait for his truck to get fixed. While we were there I was in non stop pain in my stomach. It was like period cramps except they didn't stop. It was just a constant pain. I tried to ignore it until I spoke to Dave's mom who told me I should call the nurse and see what they said. The nurse told me to call Triage and they asked me to come in. So, after waiting from 10:00-2:45, we went to the hospital to find out if Matty and I were OK. We waited 30 minutes for a room, then we waited another 20 minutes for the nurse to come in the room. Then I was put on the monitor to see if I was having contractions and how Matthews heart rate was for another 20 minutes. When they came back in, it showed that I had had 2 contractions but very spread out and that Matty was very happy. The nurse was ready to let us go but the doctor had to see me first. We waited forever for the doctor, he finally came and told me that he thought it was odd to have constant pain and he would like to take a look inside to see if there were any cuts or anything. he didn't show up again for an hour. Meanwhile, I was still in pain but Matthew was just fine. When the clock said 6:15 we decided we were just going to leave. I got dressed and as we stood to leave the nurse came in and said the doctor was coming. He did come about 2 minutes later and we asked him if there really was anything to worry about since the baby was happy... 10 minutes later he let us leave. He just warned me to come back if I saw any blood.

So, on the day where I had very little sleep and had intended on baking and cleaning and napping, I was playing a waiting game with my husband from 10 am until 6:30 pm. We both felt like the day was pretty terrible but we were happy that we got to spend it together. Every cloud has a silver lining, right?

I woke up this morning after not having woke up all night (sweet! I was obviously tired) and the pain is gone. I am thinking I did a little too much the other night and my body wasn't too impressed. Hopefully the next time it wont be a false alarm and we will have a real labour and a baby to follow.

Doctors

Growing up, I always had a fear of doctors. Not the person so much as the knowledge the person had. You see, I didn't like going to the doctors because I was always afraid they were going to tell me that there was something wrong with my health. Now, I never went to the doctors unless I was sick so of course a doctor is going to tell me there is something wrong. My fear rested more in the idea that he/she might tell me I was going to die of some strange ailment. I see now that my fear was quite ridiculous because if I were sick, the doctor would likely be able to give me help.

I experienced this just yesterday at my 36 week appointment. I explained to the doctor the pain that I was experiencing. She told me that I would just have to hang in there and that ti might last right up until the baby is delivered. I was not too pleased with this diagnosis but what could I do. My doctor then went to her supervisor to explain things and ask for some advice. Her supervisor came in, talked to me and said, and these are her exact words: " Well, we can do something about THAT!" with a big smile on her face. She the proceeded to write me a prescription which I went to pick up right away. Already, not even a full day after, I am feeling so much better. If I had remained afraid of the doctor and said nothing, I would still be in pain.

That same visit, I had to meet with the nurse first. She weighed me ( I lost two pounds) and took my blood pressure. After that, she asked me when I was due. When I told her September first she looked and me and said, " I think you might have it even earlier than that." How exciting! Now, the nurse isn't God and can't chose the date of my baby's birth but she noticed how low I am carrying and I guess in her experience it means the baby will come a bit early. Matthews head is in a good position but I was told he was not yet engaged. I can't wait to meet with the OB next week.

Anyways, all this to say that I am no longer afraid of doctors. God has blessed many people with the ability to practice medicine and so we are blessed through their knowledge and skill.

Things To Do Before Matty Comes

No matter how clean a house is, when you know a precious baby will be coming home to live in it, you seem to find a million things that NEED to be done before you feel the house is ready for it's arrival. A while ago I wrote out a list of things that I felt needed to be done and since then I have accomplished some of them. Others, I want to accomplish but have to wait until my body will allow me too.

Here's my list. The items in a different colour are the ones that I have already finished.

1. Clean the hall closet
2. scrub bedroom carpet
3. pack hospital bag
4. tidy my desk
5. clean the kitchen drawers
6. clean the car
7. buy a car seat
8. clean the windows
9. put the crib together
10. wash new dishes
11. drop off give away bags to second hand store
12. clean the laundry room (Dave's job)
13. disinfect the garbage can in the kitchen
14. take bottles to beer store (Dave's job)
15. Organize corner kitchen cupboard
16. clean the fridge
17. hang pictures
18. do some baking and cooking to freeze

As you can see, I have managed to do some things and others have been started but can't be completed just yet. some of them I really don't want to do alone. You know how you can feel motivated a little more when you have a friend or family member over? Maybe that's just me wanting an excuse. When true nesting comes into play, excuses will not be needed.

Anyways, I think it is time I try to have a nap. Sleep comes easily to me during the day.

Farewell For Now

For the past week, a friend of mine, Helen, has been in town visiting all her Canadian friends. I met her about 4 years ago when she came to the University of Ottawa to study for 6 months. Since then, she has been back three times but not always long enough for a visit. This time around, I was fortunate to see her 4 times. The final time was yesterday. I invited some old and new friends over to my place and we had a farewell lunch for Helen before I drove her to her bus.

Initially I was really worried because it looked like no one was planning on coming. No replies or negative replies. Thankfully, however, Helen made some further invites that I was unaware of and our turn out was very successful. I kept it simple and bought the lasagnas, made a broccoli salad, cut up some baguette and offered pop and water. Dave was out of town from Saturday to Sunday evening so doing it alone meant keeping it simple.

In this picture we have everyone who was there except Vanessa and Cory who were busy with baby Henry ( Cory) or taking one of the pictures (Vanessa).

Here are all the women folk. Somehow we ended up separated by gender and all the women were at one end of the room and the men on the other.

It was a really nice gathering. I hadn't seen some of these friends for a long time. Others had never been over to visit before. It was just a really nice afternoon. Although I was tired and in pain afterward, it was a worth while experience. Especially to be able to bring all these people together for one last gathering before Helen left to return to Europe.

Pain, Sleeplessness and Fear

I was talking with my mom and she mentioned something to me that is so true. I can now say that I will have a baby in the next month. He may be sooner but he WON'T be later.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, waiting for this baby is pretty hard. Unfortunately, the past few days have been even harder than before. This time it isn't simply being tired of carrying him. It's that I have now got an ailment that is causing me so much pain and discomfort that sometimes I even forget I'm carrying a baby. All I can think about is how I hurt. I have to think about how to lie down or how to sit. Do I stand, sit, walk or lie down? I wake up several times at night. This time it isn't to use the washroom, which it use to be. Now its because of the pain I feel.

This new part of my pregnancy has actually made me feel like I don't want to give birth. Maybe this is a gift from God in a way. I am not thinking, "oh, I want this baby to come right now." I'm thinking, "Oh, I hope this baby doesn't come until this issue is taken care of." Perhaps this baby will come sooner than I realize with my mind so focused on this problem of mine.

I've also begun to feel a bit fearful of the whole birth process. Actually, I am more worried about the post birth ailments. I will have a helpless little baby who needs me and I will likely be in this much pain or more. I suppose having the baby there can be a wonderful distraction but at the current moment, I remain fearful.

Praise the Lord that HE is bigger than anything. HE controls all things and knows what is best for us. My focus must rest here first and foremost.