mr. fox

This is my current project.  It took me forever to design a fox that I didn't think looked mostly stupid.  So far I've only hand stitched the details of the fox out of various pieces of scrap fabric I found in my [highly disorganized] "craft trunk".  I have just enough fabric left to make a pillow cover but I need to acquire a sewing machine before I tackle that one.  I will post a final product, whenever that may be.

p.s. do you recognize the fabric from his tail with the banner above?  reduce reuse recycle, man.

it has begun...

That's right, my mother has already taken the liberty of buying baby clothes!  I'll just be fifteen weeks tomorrow, so baby is getting a head start.  To quote mom, "They were the only gender neutral clothes I saw, so I knew it was meant to be".  P.S. Jane, she says the grandma one is for both of you guys, haha.

Also, maybe you remember me mentioning I bought an alphabet poster?

Well...

Here's hoping baby's a girl.  Because that poster is pink.  But see how glorious it looks against those green walls?!  I'm sure if baby's a boy he won't mind.

V-DAY

Valentine's Day is always awkward for me. Don't get me wrong, it's not something I value and I certainly don't feel the need to put much effort into it.  But there's always that expectation I can't seem to avoid.  Curse you, society.

Tonight Rob decided to have band practice so he just left for Middletown and will be back unreasonably late. Therefore I am adopting Simon as my Valentine.  I got out the entire box of my mom's homemade Valentine sugar cookies she sent home with me yesterday and I plan on eating as many as I can while I watch as much Harry Potter as I can (we just got the boxed set!).  Sounds like a romantic evening in, if you ask me.

Simon hates the camera.

and then winter came

Midwest winters are lame.  Everyone is sick the whole time from the constant weather change.  Today we traded the 50-60 degree weather of last week for snowfall.  Snow is not fun for me because it means I am going to be trapped inside all day at my job.  One of the reasons I like being a nanny is the freedom to (within reason) go and do whatever you want during the day.  If it's a nice day, we go outside.  If we don't want to be at the house anymore, we walk somewhere in Hyde Park plaza, or go to Joseph Beth, or the Museum Center, or wherever we want really.  But when it snows, blah.  Little girl has had a nasty cough for months which she has recently passed on to me.  It's hard not to get sick when you are wiping snotty noses all day long and kids are coughing in your face.  So no playing in the snow, no getting out.  Woooo.

I am excited for today because Rob is planning a surprise vacation for us in April.  He even hired a travel agent yesterday (for free!  thanks to Rob's boss) so we will get the best/most awesome deal/vacation.  The only thing I know is that there will be a beach, because that is my only condition.

More baby stuff (I promise I will resist posting about it EVERY day) - I haven't really looked too much at baby stuff yet.  It is a little early, I think.  But one thing I have already splurged on is this presh alphabet poster from Rifle Paper Co.  I covet the items on this website and finally justified to myself a reason to buy something.  I guess here's hoping baby is a girl, considering the poster is pink.  But if not, baby boy Chipman will just have to deal.

so about our news

In case you missed the *facebook* announcement, Rob and I are indeed expecting our first baby, later this year.  The doctor tells me August 13.  While we weren't planning on announcing to our friends via social media, my beloved brother (who did not get the memo it was still kind of a secret) decided to share it with the facebook community, and so Rob and I backed it up.

Anyway.

Now you know!

I really haven't felt too terrible.  Up until week 9 I felt hideously nauseous all day long, making work the ultra suckfest.  Morning sickness has been limited.  And mostly limited to night?  The worst I feel during the day is driving home from work.  Apparently pregnancy makes me car sick and even turning my car makes me feel like I might throw up all over myself these days.  But based on what I've read about morning sickness, I'm getting off pretty easy.

I've just entered my 13th week and therefore the very start of my 4th month/2nd trimester.  Apparently you are supposed to feel better now but I'm still waiting for it.  I guess I've been on the steady rise since week 10 but I still am tired as crap and never feel like going out or doing anything.

Also, I heard the baby's heartbeat on February 1.  It was super relieving because I am terrified of having a miscarriage.  The doctor said everything sounded great and I almost cried. (hormones).  

Anyway, I've also given my boss notice that I will be quitting in April.  She is having her baby then and her mom is coming down from Boston to help out for a month or so, and I feel that would just be really awkward for me.  Plus I am planning on staying home with my kid so I would have to quit eventually anyway.  There will obviously be an awkward 3 month-ish gap where I will be unemployed but I am going to try and use that time to develop something I can do from home to generate a little income.  Not exactly sure what that will be yet.

We'll see!

i want to give this girl a hug.

If you scour blogs at all, chances are you have seen somebody share this post.  It is an article written by a 19-year-old girl for her college newspaper.  The article is an opinion piece where she takes the stance against tattoos on women.  Admittedly, the way she expresses her opinion doesn't look good, but it is just that: an OPINION.  I have seriously came across so many blogs, facebook shares, etc.  that literally bash this girl.  It's about TATTOOS, MAN.  You'd think she wrote an article in favor of freaking genocide with the amount of attention it's getting.  I felt bad for her to begin with, but then after seeing this response post, I felt even worse.  I still can't believe how badly people flipped out about this.  This girl is freaking NINETEEN, and it's an OPINION about something INCONSEQUENTIAL.  I don't necessarily share her opinion, but come on.  It's about tattoos.  Apparently people are super freaking crazy protective about their tattoos.

The end.

this week.

I have some news, news, news.  But I think I am going to wait until the end of the week to share.

For now, I will share the fact that my brother is a college fashionista.  lololol.  I am going to give him so much crap about this.

In other shareable news, Rob has started a new band with friends from church.   He is super excited about it, and I hope that it works out because I know that is something he really enjoys doing that hasn't been a part of his life for a few years.

Also, I have babysat from my mom's house/my own house for the past two days and it has been glorious.

The end.