What's Been Up
I didn't realize it'd been more than a month since my last post. So, here's what I've been up to in that time:
We had the baby shower. It was a lot to plan and prep for, but it came together nicely, and was really fun. I think everyone had a good time and I was really happy with it.
The nursery is coming together. I chose the colors and Hubs did the painting. The walls are a sagey green (called restful, I think) and the accents are yellow (icey lemonade). Stenciled yellow sunflowers line the floor around the room, and suns of various sizes are spread across the room. It's adorable. Hubs did a really, really great job. We got the cradle moved from his parents' as well. It's the cradle he slept in, and is made from wood that came from his dad's family farm, so it's super special. We've also got a diaper changing station mostly set up, the dresser is beginning to be filled with clothes of appropriate sizes, and her bookshelf has been put together. I really loved going through all the books we got from the shower and placing them on the shelf. Where some people sort their books alphabetically or by genre, I tend to sort mine by vibes and it's really enjoyable. :) I still need to move the rocking chair back in there, and I want to find a rug for the middle of the room. That's not super important, though, and I haven't been able to find anything I like that will fit since the room is pretty small.
I'm 33 weeks along. At our appointment last week I found out she has hair (thank goodness the heartburn hasn't been for nothing! :P) and weighed approximately 4lbs9oz. Being pregnant has been a really interesting journey. Tiring, to say the least, but so very intriguing. Every time I feel her move it's like a preview to the first time I'll get to hold her in my arms. Some women love being pregnant. I wouldn't say that's the case, but I haven't hated it either. There are pros and cons and while I'm eager to meet our little one, I'm also fine with letting her cook for as long as she needs. I guess we'll see if that sentiment changes as things get more and more uncomfortable here at the end.
I've been working on propping up a county Democrat party where the shell of one once was, and that's had some challenges. I serve on a three-person committee and we're trying to figure out how to fill the rest of the seats. Most of the challenges so far have been internal and endlessly frustrating, but I'm hopeful that we'll be able to build something that will do good for our county and communities.
I began trying to visit my folks twice a week instead of once, because I felt they needed more help than I was able to provide just one evening a week. But it hasn't worked out very well. They cancel on me a lot, because they don't feel well or they're too tired or they worry about the weather. Sometimes my schedule gets in the way too. Things aren't going terribly, though, as far as the house goes over there. So I'm not stressing too hard. Though I really do hope we can figure something out so things don't go haywire after I have the baby.
I enrolled in a grant writing certification class with my local community college. It's offered online and completely self-paced so I'm hoping I'll be able to finish it before 6 months is up, but if I take the whole 6 months because being a mom takes a lot of my time and energy, so be it. I'm hopeful that this could be a way that I can transition to full-time employment that brings the parts of my life that I am most passionate about together. Rather than working full time, and doing political advocacy, and writing.. maybe I can work full time by writing grants for non-profits and other organizations that serve my values and push for the kinds of positive change I want to see. Fingers crossed. Toes and eyeballs too. I fear my mental health really needs this to work out.
I've also been a little more social, making time to hang with friends whether in person or on games.
Oh, and I've been weening off of my ADHD meds in preparation for breastfeeding... which has been interesting. I juggle a lot of hats, and being unmedicated/undermedicated makes that all the harder. I decided to start weening early so I can adjust before I'm also adjusting to having a newborn, and so I can figure out what systems I need to put in place for myself so I can continue to function in all the ways I need to. I'm worried that parts of my life I'm passionate about will fall to the wayside, so I want to give myself every possible opportunity to figure out how to add this giant new ball to my juggling act without dropping anything that's important to me.
I found an app I really like called DoMind. It's a sort of productivity/planner app but you don't have to enroll with an email or anything, just put a name in and get started, and it doesn't back up to any cloud unless you specifically want it to. It's very privacy-minded, which I appreciate a lot! It has a lot of features I really like. The developer has also been very responsive to questions I've had and some feedback I've provided that I hope will help improve my user experience in the near future. It's cheap and hopefully will help me keep my head on straight while I figure out how to function without some of my medication.
I think that just about sums everything up. I haven't been reading or writing as much as I'd like and I'm still struggling to get the heck off my phone most days. But I'm giving myself grace—just existing is hard sometimes!