Project Baby: Hair cut

One of the first things I decided upon discovering that I was pregnant, was that one of the last things I'd do before the baby was born was get a hair cut. Having spent 29+ years with myself has taught me that I tend to get a bit on the lazy (i.e. slovenly) side when I have a lot going on, so I was pretty sure that the transition from 9 months of pregnancy/baby preparations to becoming a new mom was not necessarily going to be a pretty one.
This is from the girl who had to make putting on make up a New Years Resolution, after all.

So, on Friday I headed out to my cute little hair dresser and requested a hair cut that I could neglect. Basically, mom hair that doesn't look like mom hair.

(See, I'm so mysterious and full of contradictions: I don't do my hair, yet I have my own hair stylist, yet I ask her for hair I don't have to style myself. I am such an enigma.)

And over here on the right is what we ended up with. The idea is that I can let it air dry after washing, and that I can let is grow for months and months before separating myself from my offspring long enough to get it cut again.

Do you think it looks like mom hair?

What do you think?

I think I like it a lot, but I also think that it makes me look my age. It's a 29-year-old hair cut. It's the right kind of 29.

So, here I am, literally sitting pretty with my new hair, all ready for my big date with this extremely young man I've been waiting to meet. Do you think he'll like my hair cut?

Project Baby: A sneak preview

Lest my last post has you too worried about my well-being, let me assure you that there is nothing wrong with my stubby little pointing finger! Nick has heard the call of my "I-wants" and worked very hard on putting together the nursery while I have sat in a comfy chair barking orders. The walls have been painted, the furniture is in place, and now we just need to get a few more things in place before we can call it finished and ready.

Until then, here are a few sneak peeks to give you an idea of what we're working on.




More photos to follow when we're ready!

Project Baby: Keeping busy - or at least wanting to.

The past week has been spent in the loving arms of my couch. Partly because I am big and uncomf these days, and partly because I've had a miserable cold. And, seeing as most of my friends are either pregnant or have small children, that has meant solitary confinement for me. Which, let's be honest isn't all bad: lots of naps and books, hours (and hours) of aimless interneting, hours (and even more hours) on the phone with my mum who never seems to get tired of me calling her.

But cabin fever is setting in.

Badly.

I've been trying to stay busy with a body that let's me know it's time to slow down after a load of laundry. Except everyone keeps telling me to slow down and enjoy this time to relax: Nick, my mum, my doctor, anyone who has ever had a child... But I don't really want to slow down. I want to get things ready! I want to clean everything and organize the closet in our bathroom and make our house all nice and ready for the baby. I want to get my hair cut and my eyebrows waxed and meet friends for lunch and go to the library and go shopping and all of the things that will not be as easy with a baby.

But instead I sit here on my couch with a runny nose and a kicking baby in my tummy and wait. Sigh. I guess "they" weren't kidding about the last month being the hardest.

OK, but before I get too doom and gloom and filled with self-pity for no good reason, let me point out that I did make this:



For you knitters out there, I used this pattern with a few moderations: instead of 24"x24", I made it 30"x30", and I crocheted around the edge instead of knitting.

Turns out lots of sitting around can be productive!

OK, readers, let me ask you: How would you suggest filling this last month? Ideas for things I can do when I can't really do much of anything? Any absolute must-dos before the baby is born?

Project Baby: Amazing!

People are always giving me knowing looks these days and warning me that having a baby changes everything, and, while it seems a little late to be sharing cautionary tales with me at eight big months of pregnancy, I believe them.

I know that there will be little sleep, lots of crying (on all parts), more poop than I've ever been confronted with, less money, less time for me, even less time for our marriage and relationship. Also, apparently, less personal hygiene. *Sigh*.

I know all of this, and am trying to at least mentally get ready for what that's going to be like. I'm trying to get laundry done, stocking up on quick and easy meals, and making sure Nick and I spend lots of one-on-one time together now, trying to be prepared.

However.

What I wasn't prepared for at all is my new relationship with my body. Yup: 20+ lbs, of weight gain, stretch marks, heart burn, permanently hairy legs because I can't reach to shave them. The inability to put my own shoes on, sounding like the little-engine-that-couldn't-but-really-wanted-to every time I move... It's all there.

And I'm really kind of in love with it.

Every day I'm amazed that my body can do this thing. Every time I've thought that surely my skin can't stretch much further, it does. My skin stretches, my organs squish and my body does exactly what it's supposed to. A-mazing!

This might not sound like a huge revelation to anyone else. But to a girl who (sadly, like many others) has spent much of her life not being too impressed by the body she was given, it's kind of a revelation: Oh, so this is what I was built for!

My wide hips, so often lamented for not fitting into cute dresses, that my ever-loving mother dubbed "child-bearing" when I was about 13, are proving very handy for accommodating what looks like a very big baby.

No gestational diabetes, no high blood pressure, no complications along the way. Who knew my body was capable of getting it so right?

Sure, I don't love how the stretch marks look any more than the next person. But I do love what they mean: my body is growing a baby.

And that baby is our baby. And our baby will be here next month!

The New Year

The distinct advantage of spending lots of quiet time in my own company, however, is that I've had lots of time to think. And, seeing as we are only one week into the new year, I've been thinking about new year's resolutions and what 2010 will bring to our little family in particular.

Let me start by saying that I'm generally not much of a New Year's Resolution sort of girl. I like to think that you can, and should, set goals and try to renew and improve yourself constantly, no matter the season. And so January 1st has just seemed like a forced, somewhat unrealistic time of year when people set goals for themselves simply because they were expected to. Just post them on Facebook, give it a go for a couple of days and then call it good. Because that's what everyone else is doing.

Then it occurred to me: That's what people say about Valentine's Day! And I love Valentine's Day! of course, I happen to be married to a man who is just as happy as I am to get a little on the sappy side, but dedicating a few days in an otherwise dark and dull month to love and romance is just a wonderful thing to me.

And then there are the people who say that Valentine's Day is dumb. That we should be loving year round, and not just on some arbitrarily assigned day when flowers and chocolate suddenly cost three times as much. And I agree. If Nick only told me he loved me once a year and did so by slapping down a $75 bunch of roses in front of me, I'd not be too impressed either.

But, people: If you're so dedicated to expressing love all year round, why not do it on Valentine's Day, which is equally as much a part of the year as any other and a time that people traditionally think of romance?

But, Tamsin: If you're so dedicated to making goals and changes all year round, why not do it in January, which is equally as much a part of the year as any other and a time when people traditionally try to improve themselves?

So, that was a long, long way of saying that New Year's Resolutions are a go for me this year. After all, this is the year that we become parents. This is the year that I turn 30. This is the year that Nick and I will celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary. This is the year we leave one decade behind and start a new one.

My resolutions include:

1. I would like to be more positive, and less critical/cynical. There's enough crappy stuff in the world without me pointing it out all the time, and there's too much good that goes unnoticed. I want to try to see the good.
   
   
2. I want to really enjoy my time with the baby. There has been so much waiting up until now that I really want to remember to not take parenthood for granted.
   
   
3. And finally, in a fit of realism and personal insight, I hereby solemnly swear to put on make-up every day until the baby is born. No promises after that, though.
   

Project Baby: Five weeks to go!

I haven't really been in the mood for blogging lately.

What I have been in the mood for is reading books, taking naps, wearing comfy clothes, knitting and placing hot water bottles on my lower back. Which only seems reasonable, seeing as I am now one small week away from officially being 8 months pregnant.

And: While I don't typically share details of my medical history with the internets (as I've said before and will say again every time I share details of my medical history with the internets), let me tell you that it's looking like this baby could be huge. HUGE. Hee-yooge. At 34 weeks, my tummy is measuring as big as it should be (on overage) at 39 weeks.

So, really, on average, I'm more like 9 months pregnant, and likely to stay this way for another month. And will continue to grow and expand over the coming weeks. Perhaps not the best time to wear my Goodyear t-shirt collection?

Yes, you may bring me dinner and mop my floors. Thanks for asking! Also, may I suggest some really moist and dark chocolate cake? Perhaps garnished with a strawberry or two? Oh, you are such a dear.

With all of this pregnancy going on, it has been hard to really think about anything else, and so I have decided to embrace that. Bring on the mommy blogging! Yes, until the baby arrives (and let's be honest, probably after that too) I will be writing about everything that goes into preparing for the arrival of our baby. And unless you have kids, you probably have no clue how much that really is.

I know I don't.