Building Bug

It may or may not be a good thing, but I tend to have a “if they can do it, so can I” attitude about most things in life. Now, I don’t have the desire to do everything, but when my friend Kara posted the bookshelf that she made, I was interested.  Then she made a bed.  I was inspired.  I headed over to ana-white.com, where she got the plans for the bed.  Then I really started feeling the itch.  There are so many great projects, and the blog is written by a woman.  And that’s when the “if she can do it…” kicked it.  I looked at all of the projects over and over, dreaming of making beds and armoires and coffee tables.  For a long time, that’s all it was – dreams.  When Carter’s bookshelves fell apart, I asked my neighbor to help me make some cuts and build a new set.  As much as I would love to take the credit for them, mostly I just watched him cut and then assembled them.  I still really wanted to make something on my own though.  For Christmas, Mike got me a Kreg jig.  If you don’t know, it’s a system to make joining pieces of wood much easier than just nails and glue.  So then I was waiting for it to get warmer so I could do my cuts outside.  Finally I just decided that I needed to just get going on something or I wouldn’t ever get to it.  So I did.  Every workshop needs a good workbench, so I started with that.  I know that these are horrible pictures, but it’s in a corner in the basement with a lot of other crap.    And then I got to work on some more bookshelves for Samantha.  Since we put her in her own room, she has been keeping her books in cardboard boxes.  Real classy, right?  I had been promising her some for a while now.  At one point she told me I should just go buy some.  But I’m glad I didn’t. Once I finished building hers, I finally painted Carter’s while I painted Samantha’s.  And here are the finished products: 

Carter’s painted and ready to go back upstairs: And Samantha’s all finished! 

It may be a small thing, but I love it.  I feel so much pride when I look at them.  They aren’t perfect – for my next project I will look harder for better wood.  But I love that I made them from start to finish on my own.  I love that they are so sturdy. I love that I can make something with my own hands for my kids, even if they don’t understand how great that really is.  I love the confidence it gave me.   And now I can’t wait to do more!  I’m thinking a new bed for Sammy.  Or maybe a coffee table?  Workbench for the garage? 

Déjà vu

I had my 32 week appointment today.  For the most part, things are looking good.  My Dr. gave me a maternity belt, which is amazing. It’s like a hug for my belly.  I was just telling Mike last night how heavy it was.  In his dear, sympathetic way, he replied “yeah, it is really big.”  So sweet.  Honestly now, am I really that big?

I’m totally kidding, I know I am.  What happened to my boobs?  I guess they have been swallowed up by the great expanse which is my belly. 

Anyways… as my Dr. was feeling the baby, she asked if that was a head or a bum up in my ribs.  Like I have any idea.  So she pulled out the ultrasound and yes indeed, this baby is breech.  Just like Mr. Carter was.  Now, he still has 8 weeks to flip, but at this point, most babies stay where they are at due to space restrictions.  We’ll try to flip him at 37 weeks if it hasn’t happened by then, but if not, it looks like another C-section for me.  I’m not heart broken because obviously, we’ve done this before, but I would really rather have him naturally.  A C-section was hard enough with just one baby, I don’t want to do it with 1 baby and 3 other kids.

Here’s hoping he does a 180! And that this isn’t a sign of things to come…