Baby Gaunt

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I’ll skip a big announcement because I’m pretty sure the only people who will still read this are friends and family on Facebook, who already know, but for those who don’t, Mr. Gaunt and I are expecting our first baby this fall. *cue fireworks and tears, etc*

I don’t necessarily plan to blog a ton about this, blogging in general is taking a back seat to just my regular life. I feel no serious obligation to blogging, but alas, sometimes its nice to get things down on “paper” and hear a little feedback. It’s also nice for making lists and keeping track of things I need to do, or things I’ve done.

A couple of little factoids, aka Shit people ask me about a lot:

1. We are due November 7th (but assume we may be late because my mom was super late with all her babies)

2. I am 16 weeks along tomorrow. (that’s 4 months for you non-pregnant folks)

3. We are using a midwife and going through a birth center. (we are undecided about home vs BC birth, but have lots of time to decide)

4. We will be finding out if it’s a boy or a girl. (we got the paperwork to schedule our US yesterday, and we are hoping to schedule the week of the 19th)

5. I am pretty much over my morning sickness. I spent about 10 weeks throwing up every day, plus any and all other awful early pregnancy discomforts. At about 13 weeks they all faded, and now I just throw up once or twice a week out of hunger in the AM.

6.. We plan to cloth diaper. (I’m buying my first used lot of cloth diapers tomorrow, so excited!)

7. I do not feel the baby move, but we have heard the heartbeat twice now.

8. I do not feel mush-gushy and sappy in love with this whole experience yet, so yeah…minimal-to-no-glow.

9. I am not planning to do weekly belly shots. (not my thang)

10. Obviously I am concerned about my weight and how much is safe to gain (pretty much none) but I am not obsessing about it.

11. We have names 90% picked out, but will not be sharing them with anyone until the baby is born (because people are judgey about names….I am too!)

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Anyway so those are the basic facts so far. I also wanted to create a large  list that I can add to and cross things off as time goes on. Obviously first time mom behavior, but still fun. There is lots to do! Luckily we still have 5+ more months!

GOALS BEFORE BABY

- Schedule our ultrasound to find out if we are having a B/G

- Find 30-50 gently used cloth diapers

-Take a Cloth Diaper class (already scheduled for Wednesday June 12th, 6:00-7:15 p.m.)

-Research and interview Doulas

-Sign up for a prenatal fitness class

-Take a prenatal yoga class

-Research cord clamping

-research vacinations

-research hypnobirthing

-Sign up for a birth class

-Sign up for a breastfeeding class

-Make cloth wipes

-Make a wipe solution

-Wash all new things

-Prep all baby clothes

-Research Elimination Communication

-Research placenta encapsulation etc

-Install a diaper sprayer

-Find a pediatrician

-Prepare a freezer full of meals for postpartum

-Make a birth packing list

-Try on diaper bags

-Plan a Babymoon for July

-Paint and decorate Nursery

-Pull together all baby areas of the household

-Create an Amazon Registry  Ive been researching baby items I love for a long time.

-Create a new household budget (pre and post baby)

-Decide on maternity leave plan

-Research sleep training

-Research baby health insurance

-Write a birth plan

-Pre make tons of thank you cards

-Pre design a birth announcement

-Download a contraction timing app.

-Install roll down black out curtains for the nursery

-Buy postpartum items (bras, nursing clothes, etc)

-Decided if we want/need a baby monitor

-Install carseat and have inspected (once purchased)

-Download a Breastfeeding app

-Make a baby trip to Ikea (specifically to buy this dresser)

-Buy a crib We bought this one off CL for $100

-Research cloth diapers We watched videos 1-7, plus some of Mama Naturals videos too! Also lots of “this brand vs this brand videos.

-Buy a stroller We bought this one (in green) off CL for $20

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Trip, Sick, Self

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I woke up on February 2nd and I cautiously rolled over, and rolled over again. I breathed in deep, from my nose, from my mouth. I waited for my stomach to rumble, for the nausea, for the snot, the aches, for it all to come back, but it didn’t. I opened my eyes and it was sunny, and I felt healthy for the first time in 7 days.

My mom and I went to Portland last weekend. It was an awesome trip. We ate at cool places, and shopped at cool stores, and hung out with VERY cool people (hi Kelli!). We were chill and relaxed and vacationed just the way my mom and I like to vacation. There are very few people in life that make a good vacation match. My number one vacation buddy is obviously Mr. Gaunt, we like to travel almost exactly the same, although he likes to do little nature-y adventures, which I might not do on my own, which is good. My mom and I travel very similarly, only she likes to do slightly nicer things, have cocktails more often, pay for parking, that sort of thing. Both of them make me so happy to “travel” with. Spending this past weekend with my mom, just the two of us, to shop and gossip without any interruptions, was really awesome. I love her so.

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If it looks like all we did in Portland was eat and drink and haaaaang out, that’s because that is all we did. Best vacations.

Downside of the trip was that I got sick on Saturday afternoon. I managed to drug myself for two days and still thoroughly enjoy the trip/food/fun, but when I got back into town on Monday night, things took a turn for the worst. My swollen glands and sore throat turned into a full-blown major head cold. I called out sick on Tuesday and Wednesday. On Thursday I finally crawled out of bed for a short shift at work, got home at 7pm, ate, went to bed, and woke up at midnight throw my guts up. Apparently the cold warped into the flu. I went to bed for 48 hours, and slept until February 2nd. Healthy at last.

I still have a bit of the sniffles, but that is NOTHING compared to being sick as a dog for 7 days straight. Ugh.

Since then though, I have taken a new outlook on my health. I have not had any coffee or alcohol since Portland. I am currently steering clear of 95% of all dairy (rice pudding is all that makes me happy when I’m ill!) and am even reducing my gluten intake (although don’t sign me up for that bandwagon, I’m just reducing it). So yeah, from sickness comes health, and maybe some lessons on what I put in my body and the respect I should have for feeling good.

I might have more to say on this tomorrow! Off to bed!

For What You’re Worth

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In case you were wondering, I am NOT a janitor, nor am I a professional cleaner. This might seem odd to anyone who see’s me, as I pretty much ONLY clean for a living. I clean up after weddings, I clean up after toddlers, and I clean up after drunk people. I currently have THREE different jobs involving cleaning. I don’t even really like cleaning.

How did this happen to me?

Is this really all I am good at? Cleaning? Am I destined to be a professional cleaner? Will my brain and talent rot and waste away, filling my head with chemicals, and grime? Should I stop pretending I want something more? Should I give in and be content making minimum wage scraping old macaroni and cheese out of drain stopper?

Is this because I missed an opportunity? Did I turn down something I should have accepted? Is this because I’m bitchy and controlling and don’t really work well with others? Are my skills worthless because I’m anal and not a pushover? Am I not worth the hassle? Is this because I didn’t go to college?

Why at 27 years old, with over 10 years of retail experience, plus a zillion other skills, do I make minimum wage?

Will it ever get better? Do I stick with this, or do I just flit to the next shitty job? I am so close to quitting.

I feel utterly worthless right now. I absolutely resent everything about my job. I resent my coworkers, and my boss, and myself. I am angry that I could not afford a car payment, should we need to. That I can not save money for a baby, or retirement, or ANYTHING. I’m angry that I have no insurance, no retirement, and no options. HOW AM I TWENTY SEVEN AND THIS IS STILL MY PATHETIC LIFE?

Is it one of those things where you can’t have everything, and because I got a really good husband, I’m destined to always be poor and working a job I hate? I guess if someone offered me a nice husband or a nice job, I would probably pick the husband….probably.

To quote Justin Bieber:

As long as you love me
We could be starving, we could be homeless, we could be broke
As long as you love me
I’ll be your platinum, I’ll be your silver, I’ll be your gold

Whatever Justin Bieber! You don’t have to take out someone else’s dirty diapers, and Windex snot off glass doors all day long.

God help me, I’m drowning.

Did I age this year?

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Happy Saturday folks!

I’m cleaning the house today, and Mr. Gaunt is watching the Broncos game. We are obviously in full on BRONCO MANIA here in this house. I pretend to care about the Broncos, but the truth is, I don’t. I don’t understand the game, and I find it boring. I also have a lot of negative opinions about the NFL and pro sports in general, but that aside. I have a Broncos shirt, I buy Mr. Gaunt Broncos stuff, and I claim the Denver Broncos as “My Team”, but seriously, I don’t care at all.  I decided a few years ago to support my husbands sports love, and I think it was a really good relationship decision. Its one of the more mature things I have done in our relationship. I could hate it, bitch about, and let it be a wedge between us, but instead I have accepted it. Honestly, it give us something to bond over (kind of), it makes Mr. Gaunt (and his friends) immensely happy, and it has taken the sports resentment out of our relationship. Not that I don’t occasionally want to scream SHUT THAT GAME OFF, or get pissed that we cant do something becasue the Broncos are playing, but in general, pretending to love the Broncos has been one of the best ways for me to ACTUALLY love my husband. Sad that they lost tonight.

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Which brings me to today’s post, growing up. I’m not talking about age (well, maybe I am) but maturity. I feel like in the last two weeks, since 2013 started, I have suddenly decided to think a little more before I speak. I have also decided to eliminate some of the “drama” that I watched on FB (not involved in, just voyeurism) because although it can be entertaining in the moment, I realized I was taking some of those feelings with me all day, and that is unhealthy. I am also trying really hard to not get involved in family judgement, be more respectful to Mr. Gaunt, and be overall happier with myself. Say what?

I read this list the other day:  15 Things That Will Guaranteed Happen to you in Your Twenties.

And while I don’t agree with all of them, numbers 1, 3, 4, 12/13, 14, and 15 ring pretty true. It made me realize, that YES I do really genuinely like myself, and instead of doing things that make me dis like myself, I really want to do things that make me pleased with myself. I also do not need the internet to hurt me! I am almost glad that my blog has remained some-what un-famous, as I couldn’t take negative comments. The internet is not worth ANY tears! From friends or strangers. I also have been thinking about deleting my Facebook should I get pregnant. I cant handle the judgement and commentary that comes with being a “social media mommy” it’s not for me.

Lastly I love my friends so much, and I honestly want to continue to better my relationships with them. It is so easy to not get together with people, and I have been really lazy about not traveling to see them. This year, I plan to really work on this. Starting with a trip to Portland at the end of the month!!! I just feel like my friends are so similar to me, and when I have children, I want them to be raised around people like Mr. Gaunt and I. I want my friends to be their extended family.

So yeah, I feel like I’m growing into maturity. Growing into happiness, and feeling more and more self assured. Plus I love the shit out of my husband, so that’s nice.

2013 Goals

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If you know me, you know I love to make a goal. As a small child I wrote in the back of every journal things I wanted, and then as the years passed by I added items or crossed them off as I accomplished them. I truly believe that if you write down a goal it will eventually happen. Something about “putting it out into the world” that makes this happen. Past goals can be seen Here, Here, Here, Here, Here,  Here,  Here. So yeah, lots and lots of goals and lists. Most of them health or weight loss related, becasue well, its kind of my thing.  No real resolutions this year, just goals. So without further ado, here are 2013′s goals.

1. Do 25 weddings this year.

2. Lose 50 pounds each. This is always a goal, but we do need to nip our weight in the bud.

3. Focus on eating for fertility. (this is something I may discuss later on, but there are foods and healthy diets that supposedly help with fertility)

4. Have a baby. (say what? Yup it’s a goal this year, but because of our wedding business we have a pretty strict time frame, so it’s not right away. Ideally we would loose 50 pounds and then get pregnant….we can dream right?)

5. Build a larger patio. Remove the old paint from the front steps, and landscape the side yard. Plant bamboo against neighbors house.

6. Fix/replace the back fence (this is a far stretch and would involve our landlords too)

7. Develop a routine for meals (planning, shopping, cooking)

8. Go to New York for our 2 year anniversary, or Christmas.

9. Buy a Cannon Rebel

10. Go on more local hikes. Seriously this is one of our huge New Years resolutions to research and start doing these on the weekends!

11. Expand my business a little, or at least jot down some goals for expansion. I wish I had a ton of money to just do it.

12. Support my mom and any plans we can make to get me self employed!

13. Do a needlepoint. I’m a grandma like this.

14. Visit my out of town friends more.

(The following are Goals Mr. Gaunt came up with. Some of them are my goals too, some of them aren’t.)

15. Fix/replace the bathroom sink

16. Finish organizing my DVD collection

17. Keep a log of all the movies I watch

18. Open Amazon shop again.

19. Hold my employees more accountable.

20. Do a board game night.

21. Go to a Mariners game

22. Go to Colorado twice

23. Go to Ocean Shores.

24. Go tanning on occasion to fight the winter blues.

25. Go golfing more.

25. Ride Mountain bikes with Jace.

26. Buy a new Xbox

27. Upgrade to an iPhone 5

28. Grill/Fire pit more in the summer

29. Host a BBQ at my house for my employees.