theologista: February in our Home

February in our home was a month of fatigue, preparing for baby Hudson, watching Esther emerge and settling into a rhythm/routine (that will soon be interrupted once again by another major life change... which is kinda the norm since we seem to get those about every 3-6 months in the past few years).

The month started off overcome by fatigue, fuzzy-headedness and shortness of breath that made it hard to get almost anything done. I was getting to the point of needing a nap every day (a nap a week is typical for me during pregnancy) and couldn't even concentrate long enough to write out a to-do list (usually my favorite activity of the day!). I started to suspect anemia and asked for a blood test from my midwife. Though I was in the normal range, I was on the low side and so I still decided to take a vitamin B and iron supplement to see if it would help (This is the one I settled on after a lot of research. I have also heard good things about this one. Most iron supplements contain a synthetic form of iron that is not easily absorbed by the body and usually causes constipation). Since starting the supplement, I'm feeling much better now, with just the amount of fatigue/shortness of breath that probably should be normal at 34 weeks of pregnancy.

This month certainly hasn't been a month of blogging... sorry friends! I have gotten much behind on my writing. The fatigue certainly didn't help that, in addition to the fact that I have been doing a lot of reading so I have had little extra time for writing. But most of all, our computer, which is coming up on 7 years of age, is just very slow and frustrating. The OS is so old that many websites don't even work properly (like Amazon and YouTube), and its not uncommon to wait three or four minutes just to get into email. Getting on the computer is so draining that I have been doing the bare minimum, and am really far behind on emails, in addition to blogging. So, if I owe you an email message, know that my slowness to respond is nothing personal!

We are taking baby steps towards getting ready to add another member to our family (pun intended :) ). As we gave away or sold most of our baby stuff before our big move from California, we are mostly starting from scratch when it comes to preparing for a new baby. But God has been good, and we have gotten about 20 baby boy outfits in various sizes from a clothing exchange bin at our local community center. Most of these clothes are high quality and seem like they have only been worn a few times. Its not even like these hand-me-downs are stained and worn, which I would still accept, but God's grace has abounded to us to give us more than old stained things. We have also been offered a car seat to borrow for the time being. Since we already have a crib, cloth diapers and baby wrap carrier, all these things together have the bare basics pretty much covered, which is a relief. If you would like to get something to welcome baby Hudson into the world, here is an idea of some of the things we could use. We also love any and all hand-me-downs! :)

Esther's first time ever playing in the snow was this month!

Esther is turning into quite the little girl. A couple weeks ago, I had her "help" me bake some cookies for the first time. Now she can't get enough! Since then, any time I am in the kitchen, she yells out "THIS!!! THIIIIIIS!!!" (her way of saying she wants something) and drags a chair over next to me to "help" out. As long as I have time for everything to take me twice as long as usual, I let her help. She has also gotten really into taking care of her dolls and stuffed animals, which is not only super cute but makes me more excited for her to be a big sister (again). She likes to put them down "for nap" (face down in a box covered head to toe with a blanket), apply essential oils to their feet (she learned that from her crunchy mama), and bounce them over her shoulder while shushing them.

One of the things on my "to-do-before-Hudson-comes" list is to get a number of sewing projects done. So far, I have been working on making cloth napkins, which has taken much longer than I had imagined it would. But I am very happy with the results (thus far) and am looking forward to a new set of napkins to replace our old ones that are starting to look more like rags than napkins. Also on my list to make are bibs and diapers for Esther's baby doll (to go with her new found interest in baby care) and a matching dress set for Esther and her baby doll. Lets see how much I can get done in the next 6 weeks!

What I have been reading this month: