Goodbye Grandma Bev

This past weekend my husband and I made a very sad trip to Iowa to say our final farewells to my husband's wonderful grandmother. The visitation and funeral were beautiful. And I will tell you now, pregnancy hormones make it just that much harder to deal with a loved one's passing. It's still very hard to believe she's gone. We are very grateful that we got to see her a few weekends ago, right after they found the tumor that took her life. But despite the reason it was a nice trip. We got lots of much needed family time in and got to see a friend of ours who was back home for the month between his military assignments.

The flowers we got from the bouquet at the very end of the funeral. The poor pink rose started wilting right away.

Step-Grandpa had already started going though her things so we got to take 3 of grandma's house plants home. He told me I could take as many as I wanted because if people don't take them they are just going to die since he doesn't have a green thumb like grandma had. And my husband got to take an old cigar box that had belonged to his grandpa (whom passed in 1999 from cancer). Inside was an old safety razor and pipe that had belonged to great grandpa. He was very happy to get those things.

A very beautiful peace lily, violet and ivy. I love the little behind and legs pot hanger, I hadn't even noticed it was there till we got home. But for some reason I find plants to be one of the best things to get from a passed loved one. I think it's because you know all the love and work they put into that plant. And keeping that plant alive and well can be a very meaningful way to keep someone's memory.

Today I'm 20 weeks pregnant. I think what has been hardest of all for me is knowing how excited grandma was to be a great-grandma. She was dropping some not so subtle hints last Christmas at my husband and I. My husband being the eldest grandchild (21 at the time) and first to get married.

Well tomorrow morning we find out the sex of the baby. We are very excited. But with this excitement there is some sadness and a bit of apprehension. My husband and I are going to be happy with whatever the baby is but since this has all happened even my husband who wanted a boy very badly is now hoping for a girl. Because if this baby is a girl, she is getting grandma's middle name Ann. My husband and I decided to wait till we know before we decided if it will be her middle name as well or if we will use it for her first name over the name we currently have chosen.

Maternity Renaissance Dress

This dress is coming along so nicely, but I've got so much I need to do still! The chemise, detachable sleeves and all the trims and adornments that will really make this dress amazing! I was planning on having it wearable come next weekend for a renaissance faire but there was major communication breakdown between the former entertainment directer and the brand new one and the royalty group I travel with got the raw end of the deal and aren't playing the royalty! So this dress is getting put on the back burners for a second time! *sad face* But not all hope is lost for this dress. I for sure get to wear it the end of October! But now I'm going to be at a different faire selling CD's for my awesomely talented husband and the Scoundrels he sings with (I guess they are pretty good to... ok they're awesomely talented to!). So I have to get to work on the maternity stuff for that.

Here's a close up of those pleats. A lot of work, but they look amazing! And don't you love the pink on pink? I just love it! And I'm nearly positive it's 100% cotton fabric and I got for only $2 a yard! You can't get much better than that!

And the trim! Leftovers from another dress I made! Just the perfect amount to, I only have 2" left

And the beefy hook and eyes for front closer. I'm going to put a frog on as well but I know I'm going to need more than one poor little frog trying to keep all that dress together in the front. Just hope these do the trick!

Note to self: Time to repaint fingernails!

And what else have I been working on? Christmas gift making! What am I working on now? One of the only things you can make fuddy duddy penny pinching dutch grandparents that only like useful things and don't need anything for around the house since they keep everything until it falls apart. (I say that will all the love in my heart! It's just who they are. I wouldn't change them for the world!) Socks!

As you can see I've just gotten started on Grandpa's. But don't you love the colors! I have a feeling I'm going to have troubles letting go of the pair for grandma! Such pretty colors! And grandma and grandpa would be so proud, I got the yarn on clearance! 

4 months!... Really?

So it's been nearly 4 months since my last post! EEEK! What a bad blogger I am! But what a busy and exciting 4 months it has been! So lets start at the beginning.....

April and May: I spent April in on mass sewing mode getting ready for the start of my husbands and my Renaissance Faire Season! And at the end of April we started our 8 out of 10 weekends of Faires! Gone on the weekends and sewing during the week. What fun it was but talk about exhausting. Speaking of exhausting....

May, not so exhausting part: May 1st was my husband's and my 1 year wedding anniversary! Yay! One year done, another 50+ to go. But look at what he got me!  

He got me Syphillis, Mono and a White Blood Cell to fight them off. Aren't they cute! They are Giant Microbes! They are on ThinkGeek.com. And my husband bought me the book "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies", which I've just finally started reading. And if you are wondering, yes my husband and I are geeks!

May, the exhausting part: Aside from the nonstop traveling and sewing I had something else tiring me out all month. On May 24th my husband and I found out I'm pregnant! It wasn't planned, I was on the pill and until both the lines turned pink I swore up and down that I wasn't pregnant and it was just stress! Hahaha, the joke was on me! After a few hours of shock my husband and I got super excited. We wanted kids we were just planning on waiting a few more years. But now we wouldn't change a thing! 

June: The day before I found out I was pregnant I started getting all day  nausea... And it stayed and the exhaustion got worse. Way worse. I managed to make it through our last two weekends of faire mostly unscathed beyond a sore foot from a bench falling on it. And for most of the month I took the great liberty of doing not much more than sleeping, eating, going to the bathroom and watching movies. But midway though the month my husband and I went to our first Dr's appointment and we had a sonogram and got to see our little 9 week old gummy bear and it's heartbeat! It's amazing just how real that little picture made things!

July: I finally started having some more energetic days and my all day nausea was now just evening nausea. And it was just in time for me to actually enjoy our 4th of July weekend at my parents house! Where my already showing baby bump just made my family gitty. My parents are so excited for their first grand baby and both of my sisters are super excited for their first niece or nephew. And my dog Jack Jack, whom has been staying with my parents since we moved, finally came home with us. And we brought home one of the kittens that one of my parent's momma cats had. His name is Puck. I'm so happy to finally have fuzzy babies at home with us again!

August (aka:now): As of today I'm 16 weeks pregnant! And yes, relief has come! The nausea is finally gone and I'm getting my energy back! I finally feel like a real person again! YAY! And even more exciting news; I've started feeling the baby move. In fact little one is wiggling about right now!