Double Digits

Eating is best done with a distraction these days. SO while I choke down this awful granola, how about a nice, unorganized, rambly, graphic blog post?

The Calendar
Ten weeks down, thirty to go! This bun is one-quarter cooked. I just hope I have enough in me to transform this prune into a watermelon! I feel so drained. My stomach is so flat and empty, I can see my heartbeat shaking it. How’s that for ironic—my stomach is flattest when I’m pregnant. Ha. But I’m in the double digits now, whew.

The Lakecation
I almost forgot to include this part because I wasn’t THERE for this year’s Brown family lake vacation. I stayed home sick, near the hospital. My whole family except me and my missionary brother Kyle convened at Lake Entiat near Wenatchee, WA last week—they rented the same house as last year. Jeff, Jay, and Rose went up and spent 2 nights with everyone.

Nothing like a nice pile of boys

Jay is so grown up

Rose had some quality time with Grama Meri.

Ring around the rosie

3/4 of the cousins—poor little Dan got sick so he wasn’t feeling photogenic. Next year we’ll have 6 little kids all together (my sister Em and I are both pregnant and due a month apart).

We always have to measure Jay and Steve.

None of the Whites were here for this picture, and Dani was taking it so she’s not in it, but I just love this so much. I adore my family. And our feasts.

I’m so glad that Jay and Rose got to go see their only cousins, as well as those aunts and unks that live far away. It was hard for me to miss out on all the family fun, games, and food, but I’m glad everyone else had a great time!

The State of the Shaina
Oh pregnancy, how you hurt. Right when I think I’ve seen the worst, a new, deeper circle appears in the Inferno. Last Sunday when I hurled 4 times in 90 minutes, I thought for sure that was as horrible as it could get. But then Friday night rolled in. Out of NOwhere, right before bed, I hurled so hard that my throat bled. Later that night I woke up and did it again, and my nose bled along with my throat. Nightmarish. I was kind of freaking out about the red stuff, even though there was only a little bit. I texted good ole Dr. Weaver, and he informed me that it was normal to get micro-tears in the throat from puking acid, and he said to try not to do it again. I think he was joking a little on that last nugget of advice.

The State of the PICC Line
It is still very convenient and much-needed. I go in to the hospital 2-3 times per week for a “refill.” Story: my PICC line has a large sticky bandage covering it, which has to be changed and swabbed with alcohol once a week to prevent infection. Last week’s changeroo was fine, but this week’s bandage change was ultra-cringe-worthy. The nurse didn’t seem very experienced, so I was scrunched into a queasy little ball of tension while I tried not to watch but watched anyways. See, the bandage has to be peeled off without disturbing the purple tube it’s stuck to. The nurse was yanking and tugging on the sticky thing so much that the purple tube SLID OUT of my arm about 1-2 centimeters. SHUDDER. I about passed out. There wasn’t any blood, but watching this tube floss my vein nearly did me in. It is so weird to see a tube poking out of my arm. I feel like a Borg. Knowing that this tube is threaded all the way through my shoulder to my heart is just a little too much when I see it sliding around.   

The Mourning
I feel like such a shell of my normal Shaina self. I MISS myself—how weird does that sound? I miss waking up excited for a new day. I miss running in the cool fresh morning air and walking my kids to the library and the park. I miss hugging and kissing. I miss my brainpower and taking care of my home (even cleaning it!). I miss showering daily (I’m clean once a week right now—eeew). I miss church. I miss FOOD. I miss liking food and making food and buying food. I MISS JIF PEANUT BUTTER! I knew the storm was coming a few weeks ago when I licked some Jif off my finger and shuddered. I miss having energy and creativity. I miss being independent. I miss LAUGHING! Sigh. I know that life has its phases, and I’m in a phase where people take care of me instead of me helping them, but IT IS HARD anyways, especially since I can’t even make cute thank-you cards for all the amazing people who have pitched in already. Moan. Mourn.

The Hair
Jay went out to the farm with his aunt Steph this week, and he got so dirty that she ended up buzzing his hair off. I was SO glad because his hair was getting a little out of control.

Jay kept saying “my hair is all gone!” He is now a super-white-guy with this white-blond buzz. Goodbye sweet red tints.

Rose LOVES wearing “pretties” (hair bows). I attempted pigtails on her this week, and she begged for bows in each one. We don’t have any matching bows, so pink and yellow it was. She loved it. She walks around touching her bows and saying “diddy! diddy!”

One of our favorite books is Bink and Gollie. We’ve started calling Rose Bink when her hair goes a little crazy…

Definitely Bink.

My constant bedhead-reclinerhead could also qualify but I think Rose makes a much cuter Bink, so I’ll spare you my picture.

The Paint
I had a list of things I wanted to do before I got sick, but I barely made it through half of them. One of the things left undone was the kitchen paint job. Jeff TOOK IT ON this week as a last hurrah to his summer vacation (teachers in-service starts tomorrow). Have you seen the yellow paint sample on the wall in the backgrounds of any pictures?

Jeff has never painted a room before (neither have I), but I thought he did a good job.

The edges aren’t done yet (we later learned that it’s better to do the edges first. Oh well), and we’ll hang gauzy white curtains over the porch doors. The yellow is much yellower than I thought it would be, even with my painted sample, but I think it’s warm and happy. The light and time of day change the way it looks drastically. I think it looks darker than it is in this picture. I’ll get a better picture of it when it’s all done—or should I say I’ll have Jeff take a better picture of it when it’s all done. I took all these pictures from my recliner, so there wasn’t much choice of angle or lighting.

The End
See you later alligators.