31 Weeks!

Today we're 31 weeks pregnant! The last few weeks have been flying by and I'm sure the next few are. I can't believe how close we are to meeting our baby boy. Of course, we are excited and anxious all at the same time. It just still seems so surreal.

We have 63 days left (if he doesn't arrive before his due date), or just a short 9 weeks. Ahh, we're counting down the days!

Pregnancy Highlights: How Far Along: 31 Weeks Size of baby: Head of Lettuce (18" long, 3.2 pounds)

Total Weight Gain/Loss: +9 pounds (I'm eager to see what this is the next time I go in because last week at my appointment I was pretty swollen) Maternity Clothes: I haven't bought any. I've been wearing my regular clothes (the few things I can still fit into) and my Belly Band. It's a lifesaver! Gender: It's a boy! Denver Ray Fountain Movement: Denver is starting to run out of room! I feel him turning and twisting more than kicking these days and he has had the hiccups a LOT lately! Sleep: I'm having a hard time getting comfortable, but once asleep I'm sleeping well. What I miss: The occasional glass of wine or margarita! Cravings: Nothing really, but I've been eating a lot of scrambled eggs lately. Symptoms: Sciatica on my right side and numbness in my left arm. Best moment this week: Darren getting to see Denver hiccuping!

Trash!

About a year ago, I bought this little wooden trash can from Hobby Lobby. It was normally $5.99, but I snagged it for half off, in the hopes I would spray paint it and put it in my laundry room for something other than the ugly white plastic trash can I had in there.

Well, time slipped away from me and I forgot about the trash can until the other day when I was cleaning up the laundry room and I decided to get it out of the garage and finally replace my old trash can for the new one.

This is what I started with. I got out a can of Rustoleum White Primer, because I wanted to see how the wood would react with the spray paint.

It looked good white, and didn't get all weird and textured and need sanding like I was afraid it might.

So, I got out the black spray paint and went to town! This is after one coat - it clearly needed 2 and I wanted to make sure to spray paint the inside of the trash can as well. Since it is hotter than Hades here in South Texas, it literally took 15 minutes from start to finish. This is what it looked like once I brought it inside - all nice and pretty!

Then I sat down and FINALLY got my Silhouette machine out (D bought it for me in December). I patiently read every step and instruction and then plugged it in and did exactly how it said. I decided instead of a design on it, I would just put the word "trash" to see how the machine would cut vinyl.

I have a couple of future projects in mind, so I thought that I'd use this cheap little trash can as my test run.

I cut the vinyl out and carefully applied it to the trash can and this is what I came up with... The font is called "Just Realize" Not too bad for my first attempt, I don't think. And this is it all done and in place.

And this is my laundry room. I just keep that little trash can across from my machines, to put lent in when I clean out the dryer or the occasional dryer sheet, so it doesn't have to be big and sturdy but no reason it has to be ugly either!

There She Blows

Last week, we got a little rain (thank goodness). But I mean very little rain - maybe 45 minutes. But, the wind got so crazy it was a little scary. We heard that hail came down just a couple of miles from us. We had a tree in the front yard that was uprooted. Thankfully, no one or no cars were hurt when it came up out of the ground. As much as we hated to see it destroyed - D was so excited that he'd have an excuse to get his chainsaw out.


This is him getting started cutting it down. You can see it wasn't a huge tree but it wasn't a twig either. I just couldn't believe it came out of the ground.








Can you see D's little helper? One word - nosey! :) The good thing that came out of it - D will be able to use the pecan wood to BBQ with. That made him almost as excited as getting to use the chainsaw!

Maternity Leave

So, today was my first day of "Maternity Leave". I'm trying to take it as easy as possible and still get some things done around here so I slept until 7:30 and made Denver and I a breakfast of scrambled eggs and toast and then started on laundry. I took the whole weekend off (of chores) because D was home and I wanted to spend every minute with him (we haven't had a chance to do that in a long while). So, I had some laundry to catch up on. I got some laundry started then went to the living room to watch tv and put my feet up. I did this cycle until a little before lunch when I had all of my laundry done (and folded). Now, it's just sitting in the baskets waiting for me to put it up! I made some lunch and went back to the living room. D got home from getting my oil changed, and filling my car up with gas (such a sweet husband) and we hung out and watched tv until about 4, when we went to take a nap. Hard life, huh? I kind of feel guilty about it, but it was so nice. I woke up about 5:30 and picked up the kitchen and got all the trash together for him to take out. He took everything out and we stared dinner. We sat down and ate dinner and he got up to get ready for work. All in all, it was a productive day that I was still able to relax and put my feet up during. I'm hoping I can get a little done each day so that I'm not up a whole lot on any day, but I can still get stuff done around here that needs to be done.

I'm thinking about trying to make my own laundry detergent, and I want to steam clean the living room, and I need to mop but I'm thinking I'll break it up and do one (or two) things everyday and it won't be so bad!

Sciatica

I've been having horrible, sharp back pain that shoots down into one side of my butt and down through the back of my thigh for awhile now - a little over a month or so. It has progressively gotten worse. It's the worst when I try to go from a sitting to standing position but I hurt when I sit for very long, or stand for very long and bending over is almost unbearable. The only time it doesn't hurt (too bad) is when I am laying down. Rolling over and getting in and out of bed tend to be quite painful too.

A couple of weeks ago at my 7 month check up, I talked to my Dr about it and he told me that it was pregnancy induced sciatica and other than trying to take it easy and alternating heat and ice, there wasn't a lot that I could do. He recommended trying to take it as easy as possible and to keep my feet propped up as much as I could.

Well, because "life" happens - things don't always work out like that and the pain has only gotten worse and it is now combined with some numbness. This is all on my right side. Combined with the numbness of my left arm and hand - I've been in a good amount of pain with this precious (growing) baby boy!

At my 30 week check up today, I was in tears trying to get up and down off the exam table, even with D's help. I was in so much pain. The Dr said that more than likely, without significant "down time" it would only get much worse until Denver arrives, so he started my maternity leave yesterday and put me on moderate bed rest. Of course, if it continues to get worse, the bedrest will be increased but for now - he just wants me off work and to have the opportunity to put my feet up as much as possible.

So, for now - I'm at home, trying to take it easy and prepare for my big, healthy baby boy!

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July from Miss Independent and the rest of The Fountains!

Forest Friends

I ordered the sweetest little "friends" for Denver, to go with his Forest themed nursery.


A raccoon rattle


And an owl security blanket. Aren't they adorable? I hope he loves them!