Hello ladies!!!!Before I get started I want to say a very big thank you for all the lovely comments, emails, and other forms of communication from you all over the past few months. It has been a whirlwind since October, and your notes of encouragement and congratulations have meant a lot, so thank you.
I could probably write a four-screen post today about all that has been going onin my life since I last posted, but of course I won't. But those of you who were kind enough to check in regularly here at Armchair Housewife before my absense can probably guess that it's been pretty crazy for such a blabber-blogger like me to take such a long hiatus. And you'd be guessing right! God is so good and I am anticipting the arrival our Baby Armchair at the end of April, but pregnancy has been one tough road for this mama up until just recently.
I pretty well spent the 2nd to 4th month on the couch. I was terribly nauseated all day long, and was unable to eat much at all. My house ended up looking like a tornado had gone through it, I was so behind on housework as I was totally unable to get up and do much. I still went to work 3 days a week most of the time, but only becuase I have a wonderful Christian work environment and very understanding boss who allowed me to come in late, and not come in at all some days, but when I wasn't trying to get through what I could sitting at my work desk, I was home on the couch or in bed, trying not to heave. I was pretty miserable to live with, and my husband definitely wins husband of the year 2009 not only for putting up with me being a zombie, but also for picking up the slack and doing cooking and cleaning that he never really had to do before, and not complaining about it.
2009 has definitely been a year of ups and downs. Getting pregnant was a wonderful, exciting thing, and yet being pregnant was terribly hard on me physically, and eventually emotionally as I started to wonder if I'd ever feel like myself again. Along the same lines, Caleb and I were blessed to be in a position to start looking for our first purchased home right before I found I was pregnant in September, and were able to get the house searching and the purchasing done before i got too sick, which was an exciting and amazing blessing. At the same time, however, the reality of moving, and into your first house no less, in the midst of that terribly sick time was difficult despite how excited we were to be so blessed with our own place. If it weren't for our family, I'm not sure how we would have done it. On moving day I was in bed until almost 3pm I was so sick, and was all b ut useless with the move. My Mother-in-law pretty well did all my share of the packing in the house, and I was pretty useless during the move. Everyone was gracious and kind, but I must confess that was a hard time for me, as I felt like such a burden and unable to contribute.
After the fourth month, things got easier, I was more sick in the morning and sometimes in the evenings if I had had a long day. But I still wasn't feeling great, because I found I just had zero phyiscal or mental energy. One good example is painting our new place; it took me forever to pick colors for our main living area because I just didn't have the mental capacity to commit to a color! It sounds so crazy, but that's how I felt! And then once I did pick colors, if it weren't for the gracious help of friends and family, I wouldn' thave gotten the rooms painted, as I was trying my best but energy level, as well as my growing belly, were a hinderance to getting so much wall space covered. In fact, I still haven't painted the upstairs rooms, but I am hoping to get those done before baby comes. It's definitely been an adjustment for me, learning to accept my limitations at this time.
But slowly, things have gotten better. This Sunday marks the beggining of my 27th week of pregnancy, and a few weeks ago on the drive into work (I'm just now, in the past couple of weeks, starying to get to work at a normal time in the morning) I had a realization that I had finally gotten to a point in my pregnancy where I felt more normal than zombified, and that I was finally able to say I was actually enjoying this experience. I have more energy now, the nausea is all but gone (although when i have to get up extra early in the moring I still have a rough first hour, my body likes to wake up when it wants to these days!), I can think more clearly, and life has resumed a more normal pattern. In addition, I am feeling our little one swimming around, punching and kicking all the time and it's such an exciting thing and has made what has been for a long time a very abstract, almost inconceivable reality much more tangible and has helped me to realize this whole crazy enterprise has been MORE than worth it. Let me make it clear: I am by no means complaining or wishing I hadn't gotten pregnant.. .I have wanted to be a mom for years now and am so thankful for this blessing. But the reality of the difficulties of pregnancy for me did make things like blogging basically impossible.
BUT, it's a new year, Im in a new phase of pregnancy, and I'm in a new home and actually starting to feel like a home maker again, and I'd really like to get back to posting about working at being the best wife, homemaker, and soon mother (yay!!) that I can be, with the Lord's help. I still may not post as frequently as I used to, and you'll have to forgie me if my traffic at your sites isn't that speedy at first, but I do plan to getback into the swing of things, and hope to have my old bloggy friends back for the ride.
I also know that I am owing someone some give-away prizes, and some other loose ends i have to tie up. Truth be told, I have to go back and figure it all out, I've been away so long I don't even remember the ends I need to tie! :) But slowly and surely I'll get back into it, and thank you for your patience and your loving notes of encouragement along the way.
Coming up soon: pictures of yours truly all preggors, pictures of the new house, with some befores and afters, starting to think about my nursery and wanting your advice, and more!
Thank you, Ladies!!
