Almost halfway

We spent last weekend with my family at a cabin (a very nice, cozy cabin) in northern PA. During that time I made sure to get my mom to take a few "belly shots." I'm 18.5 weeks (4 1/2 months) pregnant in these pictures. I'm posting two almost identical pictures because I feel like one makes me look bigger (picture 1), the other smaller (picture 2). I'm not sure which is really accurate. The reality is, I really look like I'm pregnant now!

I've been feeling the "round ligament pain" - that is, the stretching uterus - for quite a while. I've noticed it goes in spurts. I'll have a day or two of periodic cramping and twinges and then - POOF! - my belly has expanded. We'll see if the pattern continues.

We have another appointment on Monday, and we'll have an ultrasound at that time. And yes, we're going to find out the sex of the baby. I always thought I'd want to wait, but I've decided I'd rather know and then be able to picture a boy or a girl. We'll let you all know, but we'll keep name options a secret until the birth announcement.

And...I'm beginning to suspect I feel our little Hessling dancing around inside me. It feels like little bubbles every now and again. I only notice it if I'm sitting still. I've heard I'll just "know", but I am not quite sure if what I'm feeling is the baby. I've had these periodic "bubbles" since Saturday, and I don't think I ever felt them before. So what do you experiences moms say: is Baby Hess finally being felt??

Here's photo evidence of Baby Hess:

Belly Picture

Here's the next belly shot of me and Baby Hess. Our camera recently decided not to turn on anymore, so I had my sister-in-law take a picture of me today.

A few random pregnancy-related thoughts:
Our next appointment with the midwife is this Thursday, and I'm anxious to hear the heartbeat again.

Some of my pants are beginning to not fit quite so well. So far I can still wear my jeans (they've always been roomier in the waist for me), but I did find a pair of maternity jeans at Old Navy. I wear them already (the kind with the low elastic waistband - very comfy - why don't we always wear this kind??).

I'm looking forward to actually looking pregnant. I'm enjoying the changes my body is going though and am relishing the experience and anticipation.

But wait, you just want to see the picture! Here it is: 16 weeks (4 months)

Baby Gifts

Some friends gave us our very first baby gifts! Thanks!

Are you the Sub?

I decided to try subbing this year since having a full-time job didn't appeal to me for multiple reasons (one of them being the hope of starting a family - not a good idea to quit a new teaching job halfway through the year; another being the advent of Dan's VERY BUSY intern schedule, and my desire for at least one of us to not be stressed out).

A school I'm interested in subbing for called! I was so excited. On Sunday night I got a call from a local school asking if I would have interest in subbing for a Spanish teacher. Do I speak Spanish? Absolutely not. Does that always matter when subbing? No. But by the time I returned the call, they found some one else who does know some Spanish (apparently the teacher was going to be out for a while so having some one who really knows more than a few canned phrases was important.). I was disappointed, but excited overall that the school actually called me.

Monday morning at 8:30: My cell phone rang and it was the same school (the early childhood part) calling to see if I could fill in for an assistant teacher who works with 3 year olds. I said yes, and spent the day employing all of my early childhood training.

I was exhausted by the end of the day and realized how glad I am that I'm not working full-time. Props to all of you mothers-to-be who are working or have worked full-time while pregnant.

I applaud you.

The Newest Strand

Most everyone knows our exciting news. We're adding to the family! We're going to go from a two-person family to a three-person family. It's true!

My students used to always ask me: "Mrs. Hess, when are you going to have children?"
I would always jokingly say: "When my husband earns money!"

I would explain to them how he was in medical school, that I was supporting us, and since I wanted to be a stay-at-home mom, it didn't seem like the best idea for us to start a family during medical school years (although I raise my hat to those of you who do it!). They seemed to understand the logic (maybe they'll internalize some financial planning skills?), and were satisfied.

Well, here we are. Dan's in residency. You know what that means...



















Here I am at 12 weeks. The bump isn't technically a baby bump, because the baby isn't that big yet. It's more of an increased-blood-volume-and-water-retention bump. Baby bump sounds better.

Braided Heirloom

I had the honor to restore an old braided rug. A large old braided rug (approx 9X12 feet). There were many broken seams between braids, a number of small ripped braids, one badly ripped braid that I fixed and numerous weak seams between braids. But it's a beautiful rug. It deserves a post all of its own.

Here are before and after photos.

BEFORE: the badly broken braid in the process of being fixed.






























After - mostly. I did do some more work after this photo was taken and straightened out the middle row, so it no longer curves.

Did I mention projects?

For those of you who pay attention to my facebook page,you may have seen some of these photos. I thought that since I mentioned projects in my post last month, I should at least put some of them here. Follow up is good, right?

I've been enjoying my available time for projects. Normally, (meaning any other year)my days would be full of teaching responsibilities. Then I'd go home and make some supper for Dan and I. Then, if I had the energy and motivation, I'd work on whatever project was at hand. Inevitably, my time was limited. Earlier this week, I realized that I had spent the majority of multiple days solely on a sewing project. Dan was working late, so I didn't worry about making supper and I could just work. No rush. I'm finding it to be lots of fun. I think I need to enjoy it while it lasts. As you'll see from a later post, I won't always have such large chunks of disposable time...

But for now, a few photo explanations.















1&2. A new footstool. I bought this at a thrift store with the original red cover. After using the flowered fabric for another project, I thought it would be fun to recover our footstool. It makes me smile when I look at it.






















3&4. My new, snazzy apron, made from scraps from other projects. I've been using a "plain" apron which belonged to my plain Mennonite step great-grandmother. Functional and sentimental, but not the most attractive (should I be embarrassed to show the plain apron?). I think the new one is better, don't you?















5&6. This is Julie's chair. The red plush is how she found it at Goodwill, and the flowered fabric is how it is now. This is where I got the flowered fabric for my footstool. This was my first reupholstery project, and it went well. It's a messy job, but incredibly rewarding. It was a good chair to start on because it didn't have so much to recover. Maybe next time I'll try a chair that is completely fabric.