... three little words

My husband is sick with a mild virus bug, I haven't cleaned my kitchen in two days and I'm too pregnant and too tired to try to come up with something creative or interesting to do this evening.

This is my New Years Eve.

I'm not bummed out about not being able to party like I thought I would be. At nine months pregnant my priorities have changed just a little.

I'm going to ring in the new year by taking a nice warm bath, snuggling up in bed with my laptop and watching the only two season of Bob's Burgers Netflix has to offer.

It's gonna be a good night.

2012: the craziest year of my life... so far

I'm going to try to keep things brief. There's a lot to mention!

January

After a year of quiet planning it was time to for me to officially start pimping Texarkana's first Renaissance faire.

February

Me and the Texarkana Renaissance Faire Club threw our most unsuccessful event ever.

I'm not sure why it turned out to be such a disaster.

March

I started my own YouTube show called the Modern Filth Show.

With the faire and moving and being pregnant, I just didn't have time to continue.

I am on hiatus right now and I hope to return after the little one is born.

April

I quit my full time job with much pleasure and I got to do my first play since high school! I was Anas, an evil high priest(ess) in Jesus Christ Superstar...

I also played a Soul Sistah Singer.

May

Shortly after the play, we moved from our loverly little one bedroom apartment into a trailer park on the other end of town. My husband is the manager of the park which means we get to live in the park rent and bill free.

That offer came just in time.

June-July

A little bored in the extreme heat of the summer days, I started a blog based off the absurdness of my YouTube show.

...and then I changed it...

...and changed it...

And finally settled.

Time passed on.

August- September

It was time to start promoting the faire big time and time to start tying up loose ends.

That's me up. This photo was taken by the local newspaper photographer at a comic convention. Below are my trusty sidekicks Emily and Brian. They're the best.

October

Show time!

The faire was a success and I received nothing but good feedback. 

That whole time, no one knew what I was hiding under that gown. Hee hee!

I went to a pumpkin patch for the first time in my life...

... and threw my first Halloween party.

With the faire being over, I started to get a little restless so I started making jewelry and reopened (and renamed) my Etsy store.

November

We revealed the plans for the newest faire promotion event.

It's gonna be great!

December

We survived the end of the world... again... and celebrated with a Doomsday/Caleb's Birthday/Christmas party.

The only way this year can get any crazier is if I go into labor today...

Take that as a hint little one.

threats and nesting

This is just a little note I left for my husband. I've left him notes before asking him politely to wake me up to ensure I'm not wasting the day away in bed (13 hours of sleep is enough!) but he says he feels bad for me and wants me to get all the sleep I can- so he won't wake me up. 

That's very lovely and all but I'm tried of waking up at dinner time!

Thank God he took my threat seriously and woke me up! As soon as I was awake a very powerful nesting urge began to set in and I immediately started working on the baby's room.The baby's room is also my office and craft room, so I've been trying to work on making it look and feel a little more kid friendly without being too "babyish".

I'm not too fond of decorating with bright colors- I prefer a busy palette in muted tones but I would like to give the baby something a little more festive (but something that won't drive me nuts). 

I started by painting the end of this dividing wall in mint green, turquoise, metallic bronze and golden yellow. This might not seem like much to you, but this is as bold as I've ever gotten with colors in the home. I'm very pleased with how this turned out.

I also added this scrap fabric bunting (left over from my faire) from the ceiling where the crib is going to go. I plan on making some puff ball garland to add to all of this for a little more color and texture.

Kinda like in the photo below but with those small fuzzy puff ball thingies you get in the craft section.

{source}

The drippy art was made from a kids art project thing that made its way into our home somehow. As you can see under this first layer of paint, it had a robot on it that you're supposed to color in. I didn't like it very much, but I'm not a fan of throwing away perfectly good canvas. 

Just paint over it.

I didn't just stop with painting stuff. I spazzed out all over the house cleaning and organizing. Even with my husband's help with things like staining unfinished wood, vacuuming and laundry, I still managed to push myself too far physically. I felt like these things HAD to be done... pronto!! 

Now I'm stiff, grumpy and stuck in bed. I've still got more to do!

I can't say that my nesting is due to the fact that I'm rapidly approaching my due date. I've been nesting all throughout this pregnancy. In fact I've had terrible nesting urges waaaay before I got pregnant. Nesting was a sign that my monthly was coming for sure within the next 24 hours. The nesting urge then was very handy. That was pretty much the only time my house got clean!

So what's on your nesting priority list??

Winter Maternity Fashion Inspiration #9

pink winter materntiy by hollie-black-ramsey featuring an oh baby by motherhood

Gap
$38 - gap.com

Oh baby by motherhood
$42 - kohls.com

H&m shoes
$32 - hm.com

Messenger bag
$30 - tillys.com

Feather necklace
$6.75 - diva.net.au

PERFORMING LIVE TRAVEL MUG
$14 - thefest.com

37 weeks

Cravings

cold soda, cold water, cold fruit juice

Physical Symptoms

It's so hard to go to sleep and stay asleep now. I sleep in little bursts all through the night and I don't really get to sleep until my husband gets up for work.

I've probably gained over 40 pounds... ugh...

My belly has dropped and now my back and pelvic area feel soooo much better. I might be waddling now more than ever but at least I'm not in agonizing pain.

My hands and and ankles are pretty darn swollen now.

This is what my poor legs looked like several minutes after taking off my leggings and socks. In a larger shot, you can see the print of the socks in my skin and the seams of my legging on my legs. These marks didn't go away for quite a while! 

Emotions

I'm more weepy and less grumpy. I'm ok with that- I hate being mean.

Baby Movement

Things are pretty snug in there! There's an elbow or a foot or something that he moves up and down the length of my stomach all day. He usually stops to pay special attention to my belly button... I think he's trying to make sure it pops out.

What the Midwife Says

I'm being watched for preeclampsia now. The swelling, headaches and blurred vision are bringing up some concerns.  Yesterday I had to collect my urine in a bright orange jug for 24 hours to send to a lab for analysis... well- I should have done it last week but the with the hustle and bustle of the holidays weighing heavy on me, peeing in a jug was at the bottom of my to-do list.

Yup. Pee. My pee.

when two's a crowd...

It's past 2am and I'm lounging on the couch in naught but my skivvies fanning myself vigorously with a Christmas card. I just got out of a long, warm, peppermint scented bath and now I'm miserably hot. I can't cool down and I can't turn the heat off in the trailer for fear my sleeping husband will freeze to death in a matter of minutes. I'm wide awake, boiling hot and my mind is racing.

I can't stop thinking about a conversation I had with my mother over the phone earlier.
I called her to let her know that I don't want anyone at the birthing center while I'm in labor except for me and my husband until after the baby is born. She claimed she was ok with this, but I could tell that she wasn't.

The birthing center is made from a small two bedroom house and I will have the place all to myself during labor and delivery. I will be able to roam around naked if I wish and have the baby in the kitchen if I so desire- total freedom -  but for me this would require some serious privacy.

My mother is not familiar with natural births and she was a bit reluctant to accept my decision to have a natural birth at a birthing center. It didn't sound safe to her and I know she still worries about it a little. I'm afraid that if I allow her to attend the birth, she'll become afraid for me and try to convince me to go to the hospital for drugs whilst pestering me with her old wives tales and out of date medical knowledge about labor birth.
Her knowledge of natural birth and birthing methods is very poor and she hasn't done much to educate herself on the matter. I would love for her to witness a natural birth for the first time but only under the condition she stays out of the way and observe quietly.

And my mother-in-law? Should she be there? Well, she had 4 home births and one hospital birth so she's no stranger to giving birth the natural way... but... I don't know her well enough to feel comfortable with her watching me give birth with my bare bottom up in the air, bleeding and sweating and grunting like a stuck pig.

To me, birth is very intimate and I'm already a very private person so to have the mothers there would be a great violation of my privacy. If I could truly have things my way, it would only be me, ONE midwife and my husband there.

Now to spare her feelings, I feel obligated to let my mother attend the birth... and I feel that if I allow her to come then it would only be fair to let my mother-in-law come as well...

My heart is telling me that this is the best and most peaceful way to go about it (having both the mothers attend the birth) but I'm so afraid that having them there is going to result in a very unhappy me.

Friday Funny

Christmas Day... a brief rundown

To me from my husband.

Best gift ever. I pawned my bass for rent money over seven years ago and I thought I'd never own another one again.

Family mustaches. 

My husband (bottom left) looks pretty darn macho... and a wee bit stalker-ish as well.

The dinosaur socks are supposed to be for my husband but... I think we might find ourselves fighting over them.

Me, opening presents for the baby. We got a lot of hand knitted goodies from the grandmother-to-be.

My two year old nephew learning to open presents gently and slowly so that he doesn't damage the gift.

Exhausted.