The First Nail* in the Wall

*The first nail is the wall was really for either a shower curtain rod or towel hook, but this is about the first aesthetic hole in the wall, so much more noteworthy.

Up to this point, Lee and I have hung nothing cute on the walls. I wanted to get all the painting, curtains and furniture worked out first. Since that's been going a little slowly, the walls remain empty. But now that I'm working from home, I felt the need for some kind of bulletin board/dry erase combo. I wanted to be able to pin up reminders and pretty pictures, and have some dry erase lists that I could easily take off the wall to write on and then put back. Of course, this needed to be cute.

After many trips to Staples, Office Depot, Target, Walmart, etc., we have the solution:

The corkboards are from Michael's, as are the glass picture frames which I bought for a past project. I'm loving it! So much nicer to look at than a blank wall (although beautifully painted).

Now to tackle those to-do lists...

The First 16 Weeks

Last Friday marked 16 weeks of pregnancy! Since it was an Internet secret until last week, here's what's been happening...

We weren't trying to get pregnant necessarily, but we weren't not trying to get pregnant. So while there was a good amount of shock that it actually happened, it wasn't that surprising when the pee stick said "pregnant" on October 30.

Much to my joy, when I called to schedule a doctor's appointment, they said they could get me in the next week, which was only 5 weeks. I was still unsure when I wanted to start telling people but after the appointment it seemed time to notify immediate family. That and I knew I wanted everyone to know by Thanksgiving because I hate big announcements like that, no matter how happy.

We just kind of showed up at our parents' houses and told them. It was fairly anti-climatic. They kind of guessed what was coming since we just showed up out of the blue. Especially my parents, since we drove two hours to see them on a Monday night. Everyone is ridiculously excited, sometimes overwhelmingly so. Nugget (better than "it" until we find out gender) will be everyone's first grandchild and 3/4 of our grandparents' first great-grandchild. And for my grandma who already has great-grandkids, this will be the first one in-state.

I felt perpetually a little nauseous for about two weeks around Thanksgiving (Fortunately that didn't keep me from eating turkey. I just had to keep eating the saltines between turkeys.), but have been doing mostly okay since then. I'm still prone to more nausea than pre-pregnancy, but am fine most of the time. I've only vomited twice so I consider than I win. And only 1 really bad headache, but those are becoming the more predominant situation.

Considering I've always been prone to sporadic food cravings, I'm not sure how much of this is pregnancy or just me being me, but in the past few days I've wanted a lot of peppercinis. I have also longed for Panera's Greek salad (with Parmesan instead of feta) and French onion soup. Tragically, I have a huge, unsatisfiable (for another 6 months) longing for Dragon King's Daughter Sushi and the Banshee roll (cream cheese, garlic, avocado, salmon and basil outside). In the meantime I'll have to settle for some cooked sushi, but it's not the same. I've already checked with my doctor that I can eat raw fish while breastfeeding and I might make Lee stop and pick us up some on the way home from the hospital. Unless anyone wants to bring me some to the hospital, which means I will love you second best, right after Nugget.

Yes we will find out the sex of the baby in about another month. Elizabeth (possibly Elizabeth Ann) for a girl (This has been my plan since 1998 when I read Pride and Prejudice the first time.) and Albert Lee Earley V for a boy. We're still debating what we want to call Albert, so if you have any good nicknames, do share. We would go with Albie, but Albie Earley is just too cruel. Especially since if he takes after his father, he'll be genetically disposed to be late. Hal is currently in the lead.

Hmm...am I leaving anything out? I currently have no "feeling" about if we're having a boy or girl, and while I've always really wanted a girl, lately find I don't care as much. Oddly enough, I have the boy nursery idea much better planned out (light blue, red and white nautical theme) than the girl nursery (Peach and gray? Pink and yellow? Paris? Purple and gray? Tea party? Flowers?) I will hopefully breastfeed (unless it proves physically impossible) and want to cloth diaper. I've decided to switch from an OB to a Certified Nurse Midwife (still giving birth in a hospital!) since I'm hoping to do this with as few medical interventions as possible. I'm still debating on if I want to take Bradley or Lamaze classes and I'll picking a doula soon.

It looks like I shrunk back down some. Is that possible?

Yay for finally sharing all of that! Feel free to share any advice (Especially on products. Is an Ergo truly the superior toting device? What's a good breast pump/car seat/crib/stroller?) and let me know if there's anything else you're curious about!

An Update. Finally.

I have been missing for quite some time. My second blogiversary, the holidays, all passed with nothing happening here. Mostly because there was so much happening and so much floating around in my mind, but none of it seemed appropriate to blog about at the time so silence seemed best. Today, I'm ready to talk.



1. For awhile now I've wondered what exactly it is (if anything) I'm doing here on the blog. I just kind of started it on a whim and never thought I would stick with it. Once I proved this was something I would like to do regularly, I kind of wanted to start over with some kind of purpose or goal. I've been wondering and waffling about this for at least a year, but the past few months I've been thinking more specifically about where and what I should do blog-wise.

2. I lost my job. I knew this was a possiblity and I wasn't exactly in love with what I was doing, so I'm not too upset. I had been thinking about what I would want to do next, just wasn't ready to have to do that now. For the moment, I think I'm going to try some freelancing and open an Etsy stationery shop -- those things I would love to do but am generally too afraid to do. To continue the thoughts of #1, I'm going to have a new blog that doesn't imply I'm inconsistent in the title (I can't assume everyone recognizes it from Pride and Prejudice, but they should. ;)  ). I'm hesitant to look for another full-time job because...

3. We're having a baby in July. :)