August 30, 2011

Motivation? Inspiration? Something-ation?

So this pregnancy thing hasn't QUITE been as blissful and beautiful as the books claim. It's been tiring and painful and frustrating. I'm pretty sure that "blissful and beautiful" part comes in the last day or so of pregnancy vs the first 9 months... I've been doing my best not to complain - it's all worth it of course, but HARD.

Needless to say, I'm now 7 months pregnant, and the need to start accomplishing baby-related things has become next to neurotic. Of course, I haven't ACTUALLY completed anything other than that onesie the other day... which isn't helping ;). Why am I NOW getting all "prep crazy" and not the past, oh, 7 months? I've wanted a kiddo for a LONG time... but with hubby's schedule (disappearing for months at a time at the whim of the Marine Corps), it "wasn't time" for a while. Then it WAS time, but God wasn't in full agreement yet. So I've been avoiding becoming intolerably "baby crazy" for about... 3 years. Now, I know that BEING pregnant allows you to become "baby crazy" but with 3 years of non-pregnant baby-crazy avoidance... I still haven't fully dove in. I do believe it is time.

SO: because I've been a bad blogger... and because I don't want to move today and need to... a list of things I need to get accomplished in the next... month or so... and where I stand on them (which serves as an explanation as to why I haven't been blogging, and will hopefully get my butt moving on some of them):

Refinish the crib. I'm 1/4 of the way through painting it. (It's what I should be doing now instead of blogging)
Refinish the furniture: Completely un-started. Wishing someone LOVES to refinish and/or will refinish for baked goods and says "I got it Betsy!"
Make bumper: It's designed. I have fabric. That's it. Need to meet up with a friend for half... could do the other half on my own though...
Make Quilt: I have the basics of a plan. No materials, no pattern or final design.
Make Crib Sheets: Caved and put them on my registry. I'll make them if no one buys them.
Sew curtains: Decided to use curtains I had intended for OUR room before changing my mind. They need to be hemmed and black-out-curtains need to be made too. I also need to buy curtain rods to hang them with... and decide if they'll be embellished...
Wall decorations: Begged my sister to paint me some fairies.... tasked hubby with a wall lamp... hoping for a thumbprint tree as a shower-gift 0:-P... that's all I got so far.
Make porta-crib sheet: waiting on the porta crib to measure the mattress 0:-P
Make burp-cloths: waiting on the porta crib so I can use the leftover flannel for the burp cloth... should get a 1/4" rolled hem foot too...
Crochet Amigurimi Toys: I'm halfway through a hippo.
Make hubby a scarf: re-confirmed he really wanted one last night. I MIGHT have yarn? SO not started.
Crochet a baby blanket: I started a blanket like, 4 months ago? It doesn't have an owner yet, so it doesn't REALLY belong on this list... but it's in my "open projects" bucket.
Modify Maternity Pants: This is on TODAY'S task list. And hopefully I will blog about my variety of maternity pant projects sooner than later. I need one more done today... I have a nice STACK waiting for me though...
Make Tee-Shirt Maxi Dress: I have the knit for the skirt... need to find a sacrificial tee-shirt.
Make Thank You Cards: I have this masterful plan to use the design for the quilt as a thank-you card image... I think it'll be super sweet since I'm MAKING bedding instead of buying it... but I have to design the QUILT first (OK, the masterful plan was to use a PHOTO of the quilt, but that's pushing it. Especially since I already have received a few gifts...)
Make Bird Mobile: I have the "trial" sitting in my kitchen.
Make waterproof car seat canopy: Need to get materials still
I'm probably missing one or two or more or because this list is SO LONG my brain won't let me think of them so that I don't go into total shut-down mode. But in 15 minutes, this is what I came up with - OI! Oh, and...
Blog about all previous projects (well, almost all of them - I'll probably skip the curtains and crib sheets that are now on my registry, lol!)

Now, I DID make 2 preggers peasant skirts this weekend... and I WROTE the tutorial... and if I can manage it, photos will be taken of me IN one (or two) so I can POST that soon. At least I now have bottoms that fit. (Everyone says I'm all belly... there's definitely a lot of booty in there too though. I know, because I'm the one who squeezes it in to things! haha!)

I also have made a bunch of other maternity clothes: a cowl neck maxi dress, a tank-top dress, a kimono tunic, a "fake" ruched experimental shirt, and modified 3 pairs of pants. And I have PURCHASED a ton of clothes from the thrift shop for little-one and have a closet full of STUFF people have given/gifted me. I know in the end, I'll be fine... I just gotta get moving on that HUGE list of stuff... and remind myself that only SOME of it needs to be done by the end of September... some can wait till the end of October... and some can be forgone completely if it REALLY comes down to it.

I apologize for the lack of photos... but HOPEFULLY soon you'll be flooded with scheduled posts of all the fun things I've made. To be honest... it'll probably be closer to "title of thing, picture of thing, possible link to tutorial of thing, done" posts, but at least they'll be posts!!

-Betsy

3 comments:

Jessica Baker said...

As I sit here recovering from a wave of sickness and think back on the previous too pregnancies I will 100% agree that they are not as blissful as books make it out to be. I did not find the final days blissful either - I was huge and getting impatient and could no longer get comfy to sleep. There were a few blissful moments I suppose here and there, but they were definitely few and far between. But when that baby is finally in your arms - that my friend is blissful. And at that moment it will not even matter if you have crib sheets for it (or what color or design they are!). And the first few months you will be too sleep deprived to even notice if you put the sheets on the crib. But, I admire your efforts and ENJOY as much of it as you possibly can! I was even saying a few months ago that I kinda missed those sharp kicks in the ribs and the morning sickness (now I'm not so sure!!!). So excited for you and cannot wait to see your projects and especially your precious baby!

Betsy said...

I'm thinking that the "blissful" portion of pregnancy is that last few seconds of it... ya know, when you're not pregnant anymore? lol! I got more crib painted this morning... 1/2 way there now :-P Made plans to meet with my friend for the bumper tomorrow too. I think it'll all fall together once I START the projects... positive intentions is what I'm relying on now :-P Thanks for the boost though friend!! :-D

Fidelio said...

Holy stuff, woman. This list is, uh, insane. Sit down, watch movies, read books, go for walks.

Nap.

Read another book.