The Perks of Bedrest

I finally figured it out.  I am so grateful and feel so blessed because everyone does everything for me all of the time.  And, I am so irked and feel so frustrated because everyone does everything for me all of the time! Quite the conundrum, eh?

Anyway, I am now 34 weeks along in my pregnancy.  Three more weeks until I am full term!  Hopefully this babe can stay in and cook a little longer.  As much as I despise bedrest, I am sooooooooo grateful that he wasn't born very premature at 27 weeks, when I first started having contractions. 

I was thinking more about the blessings that have come and the lessons I have learned through all of this so far.  Then I started wondering, have there been any perks to all of this for me?  I have to admit, there have been many!

1.  I have had many special eating privileges.  I can't sit up for very long, or else the contractions will get worse, cut off my oxygen supply to my brain, and I'll black out. (True story, it happened in the hospital.) So, I get to eat on the couch!  This is a big deal at my dad's house, since he hasn't allowed anyone to eat in the newly-remodeled living room...until very recently!  However, it can get tricky without a table to eat over.  Baby wipes often come in handy. 

2.  I'm getting far more rest than I've gotten for the past year and a half!

3.  Since I'm hardly on my feet, my feet and legs haven't gotten swollen yet (knock on wood)!  Huzzah for no cankles!  I'm just slowly getting fatter as I lie around all the time...though according to the doctor it "wouldn't hurt to try to fatten up more" since I'm on the low end of where my weight should be. 

4.  I have been able to read some books!  Leisurely books, not textbooks!  Yipee!

5.  When I'm feeling good, I've been working on some crocheting.  It's been fun taking patterns and adjusting them to what I want to make, and sometimes making them up completely by myself.  I still would like to open up an Etsy shop and sell the things I make...hopefully that will start sometime soon!  Here's a little taste of what projects I've been working on:

Well, that's all the perks I can think of right now.  Enjoy your weekend!

18 months!

On March 17th Grant turned 18 months old!  My little baby is all grown up...and attending nursery!  Jeff took him in for his first official day in nursery, and Grant cried and clung on to him for a bit.  Then Jeff took him over to the table where they were putting stickers on a paper, and was able to slowly sneak away.  When he peeked through the window, Grant seemed to be doing just fine.

When Jeff went to pick Tochan up at the end of church, Grant looked up from the paper he was coloring on, signed "all done!" and raced out of the door!  One of the nursery workers said Grant had a lot of fun during snack time...he took his little cup of water, swished it around, and then dumped it into his container of snacks!  Perhaps we should send him in with a sippy cup this Sunday.

We celebrated St. Patty's Day Thomas style!  It's crazy to think that this was the fourth year I've joined in to celebrate with the Thomas clan since Jeff and I have been a couple.  Two years ago we heard Grant's heartbeat for the first time.  And now that he's born, lucky Grant will always have a great celebration on his half-birthday!   

My happy boy!

We ate some DELICIOUS Irish stew (that Liz made) with mashed potatoes, yummy Irish scones, and Applebeer (which I choked on after taking a tiny sip and coughed on for ages after...it's been a while since I've had carbonation!).  

 

Some folks started putting together an awesome Irish puzzle.

Cousin coloring time.  Grant kept dropping crayons onto the floor and Laura would say, "Uh oh, Grant! Uh oh, Grant!"  He was more interested in dropping the crayons than coloring.

We played a fun Irish trivia game that Liz made up.  Too bad I was starting to feel really yucky during the game...I didn't contribute much to our team.

Now on to some fun Grantisms to help commemorate his 18-month birthday:

• Grant LOVES to be outside.  Now that the weather is warmer, outside is his favorite place to be!  When Jeff does yard work, Grant likes to try and help.

•  He knows a plethora of signs and is trying to talk more.  He's doing a great job trying to mimic us and say the names of all the people in our family...though he still struggles with some.  In the car the other day we went through the long list, and part of it sounded like this: 

"Say, 'Amy'!" 
"Mah-meh!"  
"Say, 'GramMi'!" 
"Ummm Mah!" 
"Say, 'Jonathan'!"
*Pause*
"Say, 'Jonathan'!"
"Pah Pah!"

Not quite there yet, Buddy!

• The other day I stepped outside after one of my bathroom trips to see my boys.  Grant started signing 'fire,' and we quickly looked around but couldn't see anything. Then we realized that we could smell a fire.  What a smart kid!
• He has started to chatter away on the phone when people call, or he will chatter away and show things to people when we video chat with them.
• He likes to hug, kiss, carry around, and feed toy dolls or his stuffed animals.  He is going to to be such a good big brother!   

• A few weeks ago, Jeff was carrying Grant and helping me walk.  When Grant saw our hands clasped, he wanted to hold our hands, too!  Now sometimes he will just reach out to us like he wants something, and grab onto our hand and hold it.  I just love it!  When he was a baby he didn't really cling onto our fingers when we put them in his palm, and I was a bit sad about that. But now I love having his chubby fingers in my hand!

• Grant is a very curious fellow and loves to explore.  He goes from one thing to the next and to the next.  He won't sit still and do one thing for very long, unless it challenges him mechanically and he wants to figure out how it works.  Once he does figure it out, he will do it over and over again.  However, most things he finds interesting are expensive, potentially dangerous, or require an adult to undo what he put together (over and over again), so they aren't often in his reach to play with.  The result is that he will get into thing after thing and go from place to place finding different ways to amuse himself.  This is why PawPaw calls him "The One-Man Demolition Crew."
• He loves to take baths, jump on the trampoline (and every other surface), Cookie Monster (and cookies!), ice cream, chocolate, cheese, pizza, marshmallows, books, dancing, music, dogs, shoes, fire, bubbles, spatulas, horses, cars, buttons, airplanes...he loves life and is learning more every day!

 

We love our Tochan boy so much!!

My Two Loves

These guys...

...are my favorites.  

The two most handsome guys on earth, in my opinion! 

Jeff and Grant have become best buddies since I've been on bedrest.  I admit I am slightly jealous that Grant has become such a daddy's boy!  He has become quite attached to Jeff.  But, I am glad that Grant loves his dad so much.  They'll do great together when much of my time will be caring for the new baby soon.  

When Jeff has to go to work, most often Grant will be terribly sad and start to cry.  Someone has to pick him up and take him to the window so he can wave bye-bye to Daddy in his car.  He always wants to be wherever Jeff is.  If Jeff wants to go downstairs really quick to get something, Grant will fuss, throw a little tantrum, and shake the baby gate at the top of the stairs until he sees Jeff again.  It's hard to comfort him with words or distract him with other things...he usually stays distraught until Jeff is back into sight.  He loves to play with Jeff and thinks Jeff is the funniest person in the world.  

These two have had many adventures and fun times together! 

Watching the surfers at the Provo Beach Resort

Bubble bath time!  

 

Just chillin' and watching some Baby Signing Time

First time attending Nursery at church!  Grant will officially be 18 months this Sunday, so Jeff took him in last Sunday to familiarize him with it all.  Grant did pretty well!  This was his favorite part: eating the snacks, one by one.

 

 Riding horses and cows together

 

 Jumping around

Bonus movie:  This is PawPaw's favorite way to watch Tochan...Grant still loves him, anyway!

(He's actually trying to wake PawPaw up by kissing him.)

A New Theme...and Blessings Galore

At the beginning of the year, Jeff and I were trying to think of what our theme for the year should be.  We decided to read through the General Conference talks from last October for our study time together.  We marked the phrases we liked from all of the talks, and then we went through our list to pick out our favorite one.  This is the one we chose: 

"Resolve to find happiness, regardless of our circumstances."  
- Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Two Sundays ago, Lloyd Newell shared a thought on Music and the Spoken Word that went perfectly with our theme:

"While wealth, ease, and other external circumstances may influence our happiness, they do not control it. Happiness, it seems, comes from something deep inside us that we choose to nurture. We determine our happiness. Otherwise, how do we explain why one person "can smile or find balance and perspective amid tragedy and despair, [while] someone else can be surrounded by all the good things of the world and yet wallow in gloom”?... [We] can choose to be quite happy even if our circumstances are not ideal. It means that true happiness is within reach for all of us."

Recently, things in our family life have not been that easy, mostly due to me having to be on bedrest with this pregnancy.  Five weeks of bedrest so far, people.  FIVE WEEKS.  Sometimes I get so frustrated and sad about not being able to do things I want to do and go to places and events that I want to go to.  Most of all, I miss just being able to take care of my family.  I despise the feeling of being so useless and so dependent on others to do everything for me and to take care of Grant. I miss the satisfaction that comes with doing motherly things, like picking up my son to comfort him when he's sad or watching him play outside in the warm weather.  At times I feel like an outsider in my own family...watching or hearing things happening around me and yearning so much to BE a part of it.  I miss being able to cook a good meal and do my share of cleaning around the house.  

That said, there are many things I have learned and my eyes have been opened to so many blessings that help me to see that Heavenly Father truly loves us and is taking care of us.  Even though life is hard, I'm trying to look at the positive and be happier.  Things have been so crazy, but we have seen how we have been led to where we are today.  His plan is perfect, and He will make sure that everything will work out all the time.  

Story time.  Jeff really felt like he needed to take a leave of absence from BYU this semester.  His thinking was that he could do some of his generals through Independent Study classes, get them under his belt, and then jump into his major next semester.  Since he took the leave of absence, he could no longer work at the carpentry shop on campus.  Finding a job took longer than expected, and with no income coming in, we were obliged to move out of our apartment.  Thankfully, Jeff's parents were able to welcome us into their home and give us a place to stay for the time being.  Then, Jeff got a job at Tucanos!  Yahoo!  (He's been doing really well as a meat server.  All of the leads are so impressed with his work and always say good things about him.  Atta boy!)  About a week after Jeff got his job, I was in the hospital with pre-term contractions.  Five weeks later, I'm still on medication and bedrest.  

Blessings:

• Since Jeff doesn't have a set school schedule, he's been able to watch Grant when everyone else is at work.  He didn't have to go through the hassle of dropping classes to take care of us, and he can work on his schoolwork at home and on his own time.
• Tucanos let Jeff have Tuesdays and Wednesdays off of work since no one is available to take care of Grant those days.
• Jeff's family!  I'm so grateful for them!  It has been such a comfort for me to be living with them.  They are some of the best people in the world, and it has been nice getting to know them better.  Jeff hasn't had to worry about cooking every meal every day for us.  When they come home from work, it's nice to have extra pairs of eyes and extra playmates for Grant.  They are always so positive and happy and willing to lend a hand.  As much as I love being independent and having my own space to live, they have been a big help for us through this difficult time.
• PawPaw has also been a huge help in watching Grant while Jeff is at work.  He has recently cleaned (without TOO much fuss) the most poopy diapers, besides Jeff! Grant adores his PawPaw and wants to see him everyday.  My mom and Derrick also have helped countless times and given many hours up to entertain, feed, change diapers, and put Grant to sleep while Jeff is working late.  Really, every member of my family has helped me so much.  By helping with Grant or calling up to check on me, they have been so kind and supportive. 
• Jeff.  This man is Superman, folks!  He has been such an amazing father to Grant.  Taking him to church and keeping him under control during long classes, giving him baths, feeding him, putting him to bed every night, dealing with his tantrums, playing with him....on top of that helping me out, making sure I have food and am comfortable, helping me walk to the bathroom when I'm too dizzy to walk there myself, taking me to doctor appointments, and tucking me into bed when I'm not feeling well.  AND on top of that, going to work, doing the laundry, working on his classes, helping clean and do yard work around his parents' house, and trying to have time to himself as well.  Best. Husband. EVER!!!

There are so many more blessings and things I have learned, but this post has gotten far too long already.  I'm trying harder to look at the bright side and be happy.  Are you?