Week 24, Day 2 - Update on me!

I'm in a happy place. =) I haven't weighed myself in I think, about 10 days - and it feels great! I have finally let go of this ideal image in my head that I was trying to reach, but miserably failing at - and feeling miserable because of it!

I have been encouraged in the mindset to really enjoy this pregnancy, not worry so much about weight - and just try each and every day to eat raw and/or plant based cooked. But as much raw as I can.

I had my doctor's appointment on Wednesday, and she said I should stop running due to my pregnancy hernia - it is slight but it is painful at times (but not super bad) and she said it could get worse. Power walking *is* okay and I am hoping to do that, 3 miles maybe 2-3x per week, but nothing set in stone.

For now I am....really REALLY into remodeling! Ha ha go figure - I get really into things and the energy from trying to eat healthy and exercise had to go somewhere, right?

If you recall, right before I got pregnant I got SUPER inspired to make my master bedroom a sanctuary, an oasis, a place of peace and calm in the midst of a (very) chaotic and stressful home (sometimes). I wanted to be able to walk into my bedroom and feel like I've entered a place of peace and serenity.

So I tore down all the fixtures on the wall, I even unscrewed the doorknobs and the light in our bathroom AND the mirror! Everything...no curtains either, but I did leave the blinds up cuz the neighbors look right into our window.

Our room was painted a raspberry red on the bottom half and a pretty dark sage green on the top half - but the REASON I painted it that way is cuz I was hoping DH would put up a chair-rail around the room (I even bought him a power saw for Christmas so he could cut the wood - hee hee!). He never did put it up though, and here it is 6 years later....

I primed all the walls and then sanded, many hours of sanding, the trim & doors since they were painted a latex over oil-based paint (big no-no --- oops, my bad 6 years ago!!) and every time we tried to wash them, it would peel once it got moist/wet enough. Ugh.

Then, I got pregnant. And MAJORLY sick. So it has stayed that way - barely functioning - although I had DH put the doorknobs back on, lol. At least, to the bathroom and main door, but not the closet.

Now, I am overtaken with this MAJOR desire to finish it!!! I know part of it is the God-given drive to get things done before the baby gets here - probably a major part of the reason that nursery items are so popular for pregnant women, lol! Probably a majorly booming business. =) Cuz you just want to DO it, and make it SUPER cute, blah blah blah.

So since we don't even remotely have room for a nursery in our house, just 3 bedrooms for 10 people, I've sort of made it my goal to finish that first dream that I had, way back when, before the baby gets here. In those first couple of months I spend ALOT of time in that room, and I want to be able to come home from the birthing center and open my door and just breath ahhhhhhhh.....I LOVE BEING HERE!!

I'm tackling the entire thing ---- myself. I'm going to do instead of a chair rail, a board & batten style of wall - cutting the boards and doing everything myself, only probably not with the power saw, just with a miter saw (handheld type thing). I'm super excited about it and have been researching and figuring out all kinds of measurements, etc, for weeks now. Here is the look that I love - the board & batten on the wall. Mine will be very similar to this look only it will be a bedroom with different decor and blue on the upper wall.

So things have slowly but surely been coming together - the bottom half, with the boards on the wall, will be white - a nice pure white that to me, is so serene and pretty. The top about 1/3 of the wall will be a soft dusty blue sort of color that is both classy and dreamy at the same time. My colors are going to be pure white (think sheer white flowing curtains, white walls, white trim, and fluffy all-white down comforters and matching white bedding), slate blue, and black. This picture I found online shows the look I am going for with the curtains:

I plan to paint the furniture black and also have other little details such as the light above the bathroom mirror, the doorknobs & hinges, and curtain rods black. Oh, and the bed frame too. Other colors added in, maybe silver - and DEFINITELY crystal, I love the idea of all of those colors together - I want a simple elegant chandelier in place of our really lame early 90's - ish light. And then a pop of color somewhere - maybe pink, or red....probably in the form of a picture or maybe flowers.

Of course, all of this takes money........which we don't have a ton of. But I *do* know how to do alot of it myself (painting, mostly!), and I *do* have the know-how to shop smart (overstock.com, Ebay, can you say GARAGE SALES?!!!) and especially to turn something ugly (like a brassy mirror for example) into something purty purty by just simply painting it!

So after saying all THAT, I am....um...six months pregnant AND um...mom to 7 kids that are pretty little still. As in, want to help me PAINT when all *I* want to do is just do it myself as quick as I can and not have to supervise or worry about paint splattered thickly on the wall, ha ha! And little toddlers wandering in the room and having to quickly put the brush down in order to go help a crying child.

Then I'm super tired quickly...my tummy is heavy...and of course after all.that.work I *still* have to do the laundry, supervise the house being cleaned, make sure the dishes get done, the floor gets swept...bathe the kiddos...yeah. So I'm super glad for 1)the burst of energy I've gotten lately and 2)eating raw because it keeps me really even-keeled and makes for the ability to get tons done!

So far in my room, I have managed to keep it clean all the time (BIG big job, cuz you know, for some reason it's the kids' favorite place to come in and leave a trail of...THINGS...when they leave. Hmmmm. And, I have painted exactly half of the bottom of the walls WHITE and also half of the trim. Which I have to do all over again because it needs a second coat. Bleh. That's the BORING part.

Right now I am just ITCHING to go put on a second coat so at least I can say that half of the bottom is finished being painted, but I am so, so weary I can barely even get up off this chair!

Today I managed to:

Get up early at 7am and go to Walmart for diapers and necessities, then squeeze in a LOVELY hour & a half of garage sale-ing, which I (heart) soooooo much. I found a couple of nice Lego collections for $15 for Isaac8's birthday coming up, and a really fun bike for Jack3, and just overall really enjoyed myself.

Rushed home to get Rachel12 and James10 up with just 20 minutes to spare before Grandma was coming to pick them up to go to a parade in another town.

SUPER nice just to have 5 kids at home for the day - DH was gone all day until about 4pm doing prep for his big Hood to Coast race coming up. As soon as R & J left, I plopped myself down in the boy's room and proceeded to RADICALLY clean it. I mean, it was spotless when I was done, and before...well, let's just say there was alot of sorting of Lego's, marbles, mega bloks, cars, papers, LOTS and lots of trash. I cleaned under their bunkbed, sorted everything, and threw away ALOT of stuff...of course, making a pile of items to sell on consignment as well! (oh, and don't forget the extra "helpers" trying to find treasures and mess up all the nicely sorted piles I was trying to make...grrr...or maybe that should be a smiley face?) lol

Once it was clean, I got inspired and moved their entire bunkbed over to the other side of the room, vacuumed the floor (and the hallway & the girls' room after I quickly tidied that too), and then washed ALL of their sheets & pillowcases AND blankets. That felt very good to accomplish because as some of you most likely know already, little boys turning into older boys can be very smelly! Ha ha.

After that, my tummy was yelling at me to REST ALREADY, you IDIOT!!! But by then it was lunchtime and the kids were crying and hungry so, proceeded to make their lunch. The whole house was pretty messy by that time - dishes from the night before because the dishwasher wasn't unloaded when the child in charge of rinsing & loading was doing them.

Sigh.

I was so tired....

So I put Harmony2 to bed a little early, right after lunch, made myself a raw chocolate shake (hadn't eaten anything up until then - not sure where THAT energy came from?!!) and then lay down in my bed for about an hour watching a show and checking my email & surfing the web.

Then, enough resting - up I jumped, I was just itching to start painting my ROOM with the white paint I'd bought last night! I spent a good 2 hours on that, with Marie5 as my helper - she would dip her paintbrush in the paint and kind of glob the paint on the wall, and I would come after her once in a while to smooth it out with my roller. I think the walls got a big more paint than normal but oh well, no harm done! She LOVED it and all the other kids were clamoring to help too - but I can't supervise more than one person helping me without going crazy so after her turn is Grace7, then Rachel12, then Isaac8.

Time to get Harmony2 and Jack3 up from naps, and time to tackle the house! I set the kids to their normal tasks of each cleaning the rooms they're in charge of, and cleaned the kitchen while they were doing that. Then, the laundry - big pile of it on the couch, but didn't take much time due to my awesome method of just sorting & storing, little to no folding.

Then, oh dear Lord, they were hungry and oops, no plan for dinner! MAJOR major time of crying and yelling and throwing fits...wow. At one point I had four of them crying and ... yeah. It was interesting.

Funny, writing all this out it doesn't actually seem like I did a humongous amount today - but it sure feels like it. I guess it was the garage sale-ing (which I do love, but tires me out for the rest of the day if I go very long) compounded with tackling two BIG projects, cleaning the boys room and painting. Moving that bunkbed by myself probably wasn't such a good idea, especially with the hernia...but it's hard to remember things like that in the moment. I am totally an independent person by nature so waiting for DH to get home to help me, no way, I want the project done and finished NOW!

Also, DH was gone all day and night too, since he took Rachel12 out for her annual birthday dinner. I'm super glad they got to go, any chance to knit their hearts together I am ALL for, especially when she asks if Dad can take care - that is HUGE. Usually she wants to do fun things with just me. =)

But regardless of the reason he's gone, when he IS gone, it is just an extra added burden as I'm sure you know! Having to get all the kids to bed myself and no, it is not very smooth in our house - always a reason or battle on their part to finagle their way into staying up later. And lots of kiddos to pray with...

...I'm enjoying not having to think about food and weight all the time, as well as the stress of pushing myself to go run. Or workout. I'm going to sit back and enjoy THAT freedom for the rest of my pregnancy, but concentrate alot on eating as raw as I can.

G'night, thanks for reading this far! =)