midterm report

it's been 4 weeks since going on bedrest. somehow.  i live in a sort of groundhog day type recurrent life where time doesn't really exist, except that everything goes s l o w l y.

so how are we?

baby is doing great, weighs over 4 lbs. considering #1 weighed 5 lbs 2 oz when he was born and 4 lbs 10 oz when we took him home from the hospital, i'd say we are in good shape with this one. but that extra weight makes it more imperative that i stay down to keep me from effacing more. 

#1 is doing great at school. loves his teacher. has his best friend in his class. eats vegetables and even fish at dinner.  not without some coaxing, but still.

#2 is learning to self-entertain (a valuable skill every soon-to-be older sibling should have) and watch movies over and over. he loves monsters inc and cars. and he's addicted to lego.com.  they have movies and games on there, and he can actually play them.  AND dad is potty training him--what more could a girl ask for, right?

dad is shouldering the burden without complaint, doing laundry and cooking and potty training and working 2 jobs from home. i think he needs to get out more.

my useful tasks: i make important phone calls and pay bills. i get luke ready for school in the morning. i fold laundry from bed.  i write emails. i'm planning a home preschool co-op with a friend, making the curriculum for the year. i'm knitting woolie baby shorties for when the new little guy arrives. i'm reading a parenting book and a book on iraq and the screwtape letters. i'm making photo books.

non-useful tasks: sometimes i nap. not as much as i would have thought tho. makes it hard to sleep at night. i have been watching netflix instant movies--my new best friend. i'm particularly into indie romances. i can't seem to stomach the hollywood sugary sweet ones anymore.  i go to the doctor and sneak into the grocery store on the way home.  it's funny what you will do when you cheat on your bedrest, like go to the store...cook breakfast...kill venomous insects...

and sometimes i blog. and now, i'm tired of looking at the computer so i'm going to...do something else.

just 4 more weeks to go--they'll just fly by, right?

so so so gross

yesterday i was out on the back patio for 2 seconds when i noticed a big yucky spiderweb. i thought to myself, that looks like the one i found last time we had a black widow spider...maybe i should clear that off.  paul had barbecued one the day before when he turned on the grill...so i thought i should, yanno, get rid of the web.  just in case.

the web was spread out between the grill and a black cloth bbq bag/cover that was left on the ground. i cleared out the web (using a giant metal bbq spatula) and as i shook out the cover, not only did i get a black widow spider, which is gross enough on its own,

i got a bonus prize of about 10 baby scorpions PLUS a mom scorpion with about 4 more baby scorpions on its back. Ours are actually bark scorpions which are a yellow as babies and tan as adults, but other than that this is pretty much what i saw:

Needless to say they are all very dead.  But still.

SO SO SO GROSS.

look at this fun blog

this girl is remaking a hideous thrift store dress into something cute and fun. every day for a year, like julie and julia style.

http://newdressaday.wordpress.com/about/

makes me wish i knew how to sew better!

knitting!

i forgot how much i LOVE to knit. somehow i got distracted for a year or so, but i am back and knitting like crazy. i just needed something to do while lying on the couch watching L play or while lying in bed watching the john adams miniseries.  i know my limits tho--no big projects. just knitting for baby. currently on my project list--wool shorties and longies, legwarmers and maybe a sweater or two.

anybody have a great shortie or BOY sweater pattern they've used? i'm very picky about their sweaters not looking girly.

hooray for knitting! despite 100 degree temps...it might almost feel like fall soon.

i miss baltimore

i finally made a photo book of our baltimore years.  been meaning to do it forever...and really. it took me like 30 hours, so honestly i was probably never going to get around to it. hooray for bedrest. anyway. what a crazy place. isn't it lovely how time smooths things over?  even with all the headaches and heartaches, it was a really pivotal part of our life. we became ourselves there.

we know that city better than people who grew up there. some of my favorite people and places in the whole world are there.  son #1 spent half his life there. son #2 was born there. paul is still technically going to school there (but that's another topic for another day...).

while i was there, i often said, "i can't WAIT to miss baltimore." can i just say, i was right--it is wonderful to miss baltimore.

perspective

i was getting all ready to post about how when you are on bedrest, your hair always looks awful because it's mashing up against a pillow all day, and about how irritating it is to not be able to go to the store to get things that (you think) you or your family need. it's just annoying to feel like you don't have control, you know?

and then i found out that a dear friend has cancer. she just had her 3rd baby 2 weeks ago. how do you even begin to deal with something like that when you have just given birth?
  
this is true helplessness--even if i weren't stuck in bed thousands of miles away--there is not one thing i can do about this.  i'd give up all the cute hair and shopping in the world if it would make her healthy.  i'd dedicate my bedrest to helping her get well. 

as it is, i can only support from afar and send prayers up.  just doesn't feel like enough. 

crafts!

i've been going through all my piles of craft stuff, pitching and sorting.  i've also been researching (read: blog surfing) to find some new ideas of what to do with my stuff.  holy cow--there are some seriously crafty people out there with amazing ideas. and i have no idea how they have TIME to do all the stuff they do. and they all link to each other and have "linky parties" (?)  which i don't quite understand but found very useful nonetheless.

anyway. here is a list of some serious craft idea goldmines. just a few among the thousands that are out there.  

http://shabbynest.blogspot.com/

http://733blog.blogspot.com/

http://totallytutorials.blogspot.com/

http://tatertotsandjello.blogspot.com/

http://thecsiproject.com/

http://piccadillypeddler.blogspot.com/

http://thegirlcreative.blogspot.com/

http://mygrammasaid.blogspot.com/

http://ready-set-create.blogspot.com/

 
what are YOUR go-to sites when you need craft inspiration?
what crafts are you working on?

29 weeks

the days are long...but they do eventually go by! 
 
paul told me this is the most productive i've ever been.  :P here's a list from this week:

actually very little time spent on facebook. it's not as fun when you check it 10 times a day :S
20 letters written
5 yrs worth of files cleaned out and reorganized
cleaned out craft bins--still have to decide how best to organize them
approx. 6000 old emails deleted from old email addresses
1 book: A full life in a small place about gardening in arizona
miscellaneous paper craft projects including these 
movies--a few more than last week:
when in rome
the lives of others (clear play is my friend)
eternal happiness of the spotless mind (again, with clear play. loved both of these, if you can get your hands on a player that will edit out the stuff.)
percy jackson and the lightning thief
the lion the witch and the wardrobe
monsters inc
bbc miniseries little dorrit--15 hours.  i think i watched it in 3 days but i'm not really sure. it kind of all blurs together. i was going to watch bleak house...but i think i am done with movies for a while :-)

and what were my children doing during all of this "productivity"?  playing legos. watching monsters inc or ratatouille.  that's it. i had grand visions of all the fun things we'd go do this last week before school--but all they really want to do is play legos. and i'm okay with that.  

so little baby perrin is a week older, probably weighs about 3 lbs by now, and is super active. i guess bedrest is working.