38 Weeks and Swollen

It's not like I haven't been dealing with swelling before now... but for some reason today, I was possessed to take a picture of my feet and legs at work... because when I try to point my feet, I can feel the skin stretching.  And it's not just my feet and legs.  Oh no, my hands are feeling it too!  Luckily I removed my wedding band long ago, as I knew that I would not be passed over by the swelling fairy. 

Other good feelings this week include no sleep (although Benadryl helps), complete absentmindedness (which is especially fun at work when you're trying to maintain a level of professionalism), and a hunger that simply won't quit (which is great for my hopes of ever looking normal again).  And I said I was going to be one of those women who DIDN'T complain about pregnancy in the end days.  Well, that has gone down the drain.  I'm crabby, and I don't care who knows it!  Come on, John Michael!  It's got to be getting crowded in there!  There's so much space out here!

Well, at least others can laugh at me at this point.  Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

A Time to Make Peggy Raybon Proud

I'm now within the last month of my pregnancy, and my doctor has told me that I am to "take it easy and keep my feet propped up."  He realizes that I work, so basically I'm supposed to work and go home and that's pretty much it.  I don't know if it's because of my swelling or what- but if you know me, you know that it's not easy for me to just sit around all day and do nothing.  Well, maybe it's not that hard. :)

So, since I have all of this time on my hands, I decided to do something creative and useful while sitting on the couch.  Enter the christening gown that my brother and I wore when we were baptized.

Our names are embroidered on the front bottom left panels, along with the dates we were baptized.  Look at how beautiful this is...

So, naturally when my nephew Bradford was born a little over a year ago, he wore this same gown for his baptism.  Wanting his name to be added to the embroidering, my sister-in-law took the gown to a woman in her hometown.  However, nobody wanted to touch the gown because they said that the fabric was too thin.  One woman said that she could do the embroidery by hand, but that it would take over a year.  Well, by that time, I was going to need the gown for John Michael's baptism.  So, after consulting the brilliant Brenda Keith, I gained the confidence I needed to tackle this whole embroidery thing myself.  I knew that I couldn't do as fabulous a job as my own Godmother had done on our names, but I decided that I would try anyway.  

I bought some embroidery thread, and after two nights of sewing, I finished Bradford's full name and baptism date.  

No, it's not perfect.  But, I never said I was a professional seamstress either.  However, I really enjoyed doing this.  Now all I have to do is John Michael's name, and I'll leave the baptism date for later to add on.  In the meantime, I'm really proud of myself.  I think I would have made my 8th grade home-ec teacher, Peggy Raybon, proud as well.  The only thing she ever saw me sew was a button- and I didn't do that great a job with the button!

I'll end with one more shot of my handiwork. This is Kay, signing out at 37 weeks pregnant, and obviously bored.