Sinks & Showers & Bears, Oh My!

We are victorious! My handy husband conquered in a major way in our semi-renovated bathroom this weekend.  We now have two beautiful, granite-surrounded working sinks in our main floor bathroom, and just in time for my "the-baby-could-be-here-any-minute" deadline.  I'll spare you the details of the last 9 weeks of sinklessness, but it was worth every minute of waiting.

The title may lead you to believe we have also gained a functioning shower, but I am tricky one (we were fortunately not really ever without a functioning shower, don't worry).  I was sweetly showered though for several hours on Saturday with all kinds of baby goodies, and this helped boost me solidly into the "stick-a-fork-in-me" phase of pregnancy, because I'm done!  While I do want time to continue earning my final paycheck and to organize all of the aforementioned goodies, I am quickly losing my pregnancy graciousness, and gaining in pregnancy irritability (just ask Handy Husband).

I would be remiss if I didn't also mention the Bear.  He has a keen fascination with anything we bring home for the baby and does a very thorough job of sniffing each and every item (I'm sure to guarantee Tinslett's utmost safety).  We had several gift bags lined up on our hearth on Saturday evening and Bear took a good 2-3 minutes (that's 15 to 20 dog minutes) to inspect the gifts, sometimes moving to a new bag only to return to the previous bag, for comparison's sake I'm sure.  He seemed content with the results, although he looked confused as to who these items are for, since they are surely not for him.  Don't feel too bad for the chocolate buddy, since he did get a tasty squeaky lobster for his third birthday last week.

Speaking of third birthdays, happy anniversary to my handy husband!

Chubby Hands

This week in church, our pastor taught on 1 Timothy 2:8 ("I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling"), and he discussed how our hands are metaphorical for who we are as people because we use our hands to accomplish so much of what we do throughout our days and lives.  This is amazingly true and reminded me specifically of how much I love my mother's hands.  They are not idealistic, model hands.  They are petite and feminine, strong and accomplished, and have found an admirable balance between staying busy, and relaxing.  


I want my hands to be accomplishing good things throughout my life, and I am excited about the journey my hands are getting ready to embark on with me.  They will be holding, bathing, changing diapers, cooking, cleaning, taking pictures and typing stories on my new blog :).  But I also want them to be helping John, my family and friends, and others in the same way my mother, my mother-in-law and so many other women I admire have served those around them.  Let's hope these chubby hands learn to juggle.

As a point of reference, my rings used to be able to go past my knuckle.  This was literally as far as I could force them.  As I haven't worn them in about a month, I surprised myself when I went to take this photo.

Can't wait to hold this little hand!

Six Weeks & Counting

I've had intentions of starting a blog since the first trimester, and due to a lack of genuine desire, here I am writing my first post at 34 weeks.  Better late than never right?  I figure those that will tune in most often are really going to be more interested in the stories to come once Tinslett actually arrives.

None-the-less, the next few weeks will be quite exciting, at least for my anxious heart: baby shower, our third anniversary, childbirth class (hope the bun stays in the oven at least until then), finish renovating bathroom, fix and sell two cars (anyone want to buy a car?), buy one new car, and finish working on August 15th.

Meanwhile, Tinslett is running out of room and becoming quite violent about it, dang sharp little elbows.  My goal is to capture some of the "belly dancing" on camera and post it.  I'm getting butt bumps at the top of my belly, elbow jabs on my far right side, and kicks all over my left side.  Fun statistics:  Tinslett weighs about 5 1/2 pounds, is about 20 inches tall (give or take of course), and his/her fingernails have grown to the tips of those little fingers.  Keep baking little one...you're not done yet!