Bumpdate: 26 weeks

Easter Sunday

(1 day before I "turned" 26 weeks)

Like I said in the last Bumpdate, my joints have loosened up, which means all day I'm dropping things that I then have to bend over (read: pregnant torture) to pick up. It also means that at night my legs just ache, and ache, and ache from collapsing in on each other. Some nights the pillows help, and some nights I just toss and turn. If it was a really achey night, I have a super-cool limp for a while after I wake up.

My back and my belly were both getting really achey and uncomfortable midway through work and by the end of 12 1/2 hour shift, it was pretty painful. I told my doctor and she recommended trying a support band, as my abdominal muscles are pre-stretched from my pregnancy with BB and don't provide the same support to my belly that I had the first time around, and that puts strain on my back. I was a little skeptical, but I bought one and it has made a really big difference, thankfully. I am much more comfortable at work now - still a little achey by the end of the day, but so much better than before.

I am finally eating more than normal amounts - and I have to say, I'm enjoying the extra calories. I'm sure the scales will reflect that at my next appointment, as I am also noticing my thighs becoming more thunderous (just like the did with BB).

The name-search-sabbatical was effective and as a result, I think we have finally named this little man!

The office is in the process of being cleaned out to become a nursery - we've already relocated our books (to above our kitchen cabinets) and our desk (to our bedroom), and yesterday I finally found the perfect dresser for the top of our stairs on Craigslist. Right now it's sitting in our garage waiting to be sanded and restained and painted, and then it will act as our linen closet, and our linen closet will act as more storage (for craft supplies, our printer and mailing supplies, etc.). We worked on that switch yesterday, so until the dresser is refinished, if you are at our house and you need sheets or a towel, you will find them on the floor of our bedroom. All of this, even the linens on the floor, is so, so exciting to me!

The sporadic hormone-fueled emotional outbursts continue...Every once in a while I just feel so anxious about all of the changes to come - changes at work, a new baby, a toddler who is quickly turning more and more into a boy. Who needs a big boy bed. We need to basically take BB's room apart to create the new nursery, because the crib, the changing table, and the glider are all in BB's room. I feel guilty that I'm leaving BB in an empty box...granted, it is a zebra-striped box. And I do have plans for his room too. But still - change. My heads spins. And I cry. Sometimes I feel like I can't keep up. J says I felt this way when I was pregnant with BB too, facing the unknown. I told my boss that I am planning to go per diem and work one day a week after I have the baby. Making it official makes me anxious. All the looming paperwork really makes me anxious. After lots of "therapy" time with J yesterday (where I unloaded all of my insecurities about work, not working, and our childcare choices), I am trying to remind myself that this is not change that we just imagined up ourselves, but rather it is change that God is pointing us towards and is graciously providing financially for, and I just need to trust in that (and not worry about what anyone else might think about it). He has been so faithful to us, and objectively I know that's not going to change anytime soon. He has good plans for us, plans to prosper us and not to harm us, a la Jeremiah 29:11. When I remember that, I relax, about all of it really. I just wish I lived there all the time. And that's when I remember that this life is a process of sanctification - I'm learning, and stretching, and growing (both spiritually and physically right now!). And He loves me before and during it all.

"While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." -Romans 5:8

Thank the Lord that I don't have to pass some kind of quality control for him to love me.

Okay let's look at (quickly-snapped) in-progress photos of the office clean out!

The office-soon-to-be-nursery as it looks this morning

The books live above the kitchen cabinets now
(I am too short to use that space for kitchen storage, so this works perfectly for us)

The desk is in our bedroom

Neither of us works from home or anything, so we don't need a real office.
Ignore the unmade bed (I am blogging from that unmade bed right now)

And here's where we're going to put the rest of the stuff

Shelves moved from the office closet to the laundry room (okay, laundry closet), and the linen closet, where you can see our infrequently-used-and-so-relegated-to-the-closet printer (it should be easy enough to plug in the printer and laptop once in a while when we actually print something). The stuff next to the printer is our mailing stuff for a newsletter we help print a few times a year. The gift wrap is what's piled on the bottom. More craft stuff to go in here.

Our new linen "closet"

The Craigslist dresser we will refinish/paint (I'm hoping for turquoise drawers with a wood frame!) and put at the top of our stairs to store our linens.