hello maternity leave

okay, so not quite maternity leave- but medical leave prior to maternity leave. in any case, i am officially done work! this means i no longer have to be in pain sitting at my desk for hours, but i can be in pain sitting on my couch for hours! (this is much better, trust me)

during my long 6 weeks i have till my due date, i don't anticipate myself getting bored very easily. many people suggested i tough out being at work for a little while longer so that i don't get bored while being at home. AS IF that could happen! i have too many projects on the go, and i am interested in seeing how many of them i can get done this month.

today we have our first foundation specialist coming over to take a peak at our cracked and crumbling basement walls. we hope to get in as many estimates as possible by the end of this month so we can decide how to proceed during the summer. if the damage isn't considerable, we will likely try to tackle it ourselves. once the walls are patched and repaired we will be making a small bonus-rumpus-ruckus-family-television-play room down there, just large enough to hold a television, sofa, and children's lego table. it will be small, and because our basement is only about 6.5 feet tall, it will also be short. but kids are small, so who cares!

the ongoing projects i have for this month are; to continue painting all of the doors and trim in our house. the lady before us apparently loved the look of yellowed cream trim and it makes the entire house look like we smoke non-stop in every room. it will be refreshing to have a bright white to contrast the paint.
i also ordered a damask stencil online that just came in. i will be doing a feature wall in our dining/sitting room on our main floor with white damask stencil. i think it will look quite charming. i just have to paint all of this ugly trim to match!

the only other project i have on the go is starting my garden inside. i planted 8 tomato plants inside before we left for saskatoon for easter and when we got home, ta-da! 6 of them have sprouted and are growing wonderfully! i plan to also start my beans inside as this year is going to be a heavy bean canning year for our family. i've decided to spend 1 year at a time focusing on one specific vegetable so we can have a high enough yeild to make the canning process really worth it. we of course will have our tomatoes, lettuce, carrots and corn in the garden, but just enough for us to enjoy through the summer.

ummmm. geez what else? well i don't have any pictures of myself or growing belly, OR the baby shower (which was fabulous by the way), or even our easter visit to saskatoon. i just don't care for pictures right now. partially due to our miserable camera, and partially just because... i have NO desire to look pretty right now! i am wearing my painting clothes from before the pregnancy almost every day, the pants are tied together with a huge elastic band, and the shirt doesn't cover my belly so i wear a huge apron to try to cover things up. not really an attractive maternity photoshoot type of getup.

anyways! we are getting excited for Elliot to arrive! (yep. we decided on a name. no, we aren't going to change our minds. no, it is not a secret. and what if he doesn't look like an elliot? well, we are willing to take that risk) last night i slept on my tummy and woke up in a panic. did i squish my baby? i stayed up for 3 hours trying to get him to move. i tried all the classic tricks, cold sweet beverage, i ate some spicy salsa, i walked around.. nothing. so i went back to bed having horrid nightmares about a smashed up baby. luckily around 6:30am i woke up to a nice bout of hiccups in my crotch. "oh thank you, thank you crotch dwelling baby, for confirming that you are alive!"

take care! i will likely post more often now that it is crunch time. i am 34 weeks today and i hope to post every two weeks from now on, so we will see you all at 36!