Saturday, February 28, 2009

My Vacuum's Vacation

So I did it. Actually, PetSmart did it for me.

David weighed him, and they removed about 4 pounds of fur.

He looks a little naked, and pretty rediculous, but I don't have to follow him around with my dustbuster, which I think will make me a little nicer. And seriously, he'll look like a teddy bear again, probably before the baby is born.

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Our "Nursery"

I really am trying to get ready for the baby to come. Realistically I have 2 months, but there is always a chance we'll be caught off guard and bring our little boy home a little earlier, so I am trying to set up an appealing nursery. It's a little difficult, since it is really just a small portion of our apartment, but the hardest part is choosing actual "Decorations", like wall hangings and such, since the baby's room is in our bedroom. But this is what I have so far:


This is the bassinet and changing table that I am S-L-O-W-L-Y organizing. Right now I'm pretty sure there are a pair of scissors in the bassinet, along with sanitizing bags and 3 or 4 stuffed animals, but I'm working on it. The bassinet was given to us by one of the moms at the preschool I work at, and the changing table was a gift from our British friend Georgina, since she and her family are all moving back to the UK this week.


This is kind of the "nursing area"- where I will try to spend tons of restless nights feeding the baby instead of using it as a catchall and hauling the baby into bed with David and me. I'd like not to start "co-sleeping" since I hear it is a vicious cycle to break, but sleepy Nicki isn't exactly logical Nicki. This chair was David's grandpa's, I think, and it is CRAZY COMFY. I have a dim lamp too, so I don't stump my toes on the way to get our nocturnal party animal.


Lastly, THIS is the baby's closet. It's the linen closet between our bedroom and bathroom, and it is already packed full of books and clothes and socks and shoes and teensie tiny wonderfulness that I want to dress Jack in just to see if he looks good in pastels. I refrain however, due to the fact that he looks more like a mop dog than a cocker spaniel and is currently trying to drive me insane with dog fur. I've been waffling on whether to get him groomed in freezing cold Michigan February or wait until it gets that much worse. I'm leaning towards the groomed-dog-in-ridiculous-coat option.

Monday, February 23, 2009

31 weeks

 

After all of that complaining, here is my post-prenatal yoga workout photo of the week. I've been going every week since just after Christmas, and I highly recommend it to anyone pregnant or thinking about being pregnant. Sometimes I feel refreshed, sometimes I learn stretches that will help for childbirth, and sometimes it is nice just to hear from women who are WAY more pregnant and uncomfortable than you are- just for some perspective. It's awesome to know you are not the only one who isn't sleeping, or nesting, or calmly counting days until your little one arrives- and hear instead from a lady who says "I haven't slept in days, my husband forced me to come today because I have been a living nightmare for the last week, and I feel like the train has left the station and I don't know where we are going!"

 
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Sunday, February 22, 2009

Just keeping it real...

So the thirtieth week of pregnancy wasn't exactly one of my finest ones. I get asked a lot how I'm feeling, and for some reason I feel obligated to put on a big smile and tell whoever asks that I feel glorious, happy glowing pregnant lady, miracle of life and all of that. And sometimes I do. But lately, I think the third trimester stinks a bit. It's really hard to get comfortable around all this belly, so I toss and turn and can't fall asleep. If by some miracle I do fall asleep, I wake up 4 or 5 times a night to go to the bathroom, and most nights I wake up another time to work out a leg cramp or two.

This girl ain't so sweet without a decent night's sleep. I never have been, and I know this is just a hint of what's to come. I know.

But also, some first trimester-y things have returned, namely the aversion to garlic (when I can smell), some hard core mood swings, and homeboy has figured out how to kick me in the stomach- causing me to lose my dinner. Ah, miracle of life indeed.

I really never felt crazy emotional in the beginning like all the pregnancy books said I would, but lately if David doesn't gleefully run to do whatever I ask, I get my feeling sorely hurt and this afternoon I cried for 15 minutes for LITERALLY NO REASON. I feel like a crazy woman. With insomnia. After gastric bypass surgery.

However, it is nice to see single digits of weeks until we meet our little boy, and even though the thought of labor and contractions and medicines and vaccination decisions and countless other decisions makes me hyperventilate a little, it is all still very exciting.

I realize I have been a little vague about due dates and super vague about names, so I will try to clarify. Our due date is officially April 25th, but I continue to say "End-of-April/Early-May" so that when April 25th comes and goes and my little boy stays in my belly, I don't have too much of a let down. From what I read, most first babies are born after their due date, and the average is something like 41 weeks and 4 days. Since I am using a midwife and not a typical obstetrician I will be less likely to be induced until 42 weeks or if there are any concerns. As for names, we are deciding between two favorites right now and I think I will keep it under wraps until we've made a decision. Unless I get super indecisive and decide to make you guys vote and decide for me.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

On Instant Messaging with a PreTeen...

I just checked my facebook profile and my one of my little brothers, Jesse, started to talk to me using the instant message function that the website has. A few lines in, we went from talking in sentences to something a little more like this:

Me: How is school going?
Jesse: Awsom, gr8! I M coming 2 visit u dat wil b so gr8. I no I spelt dat wrong.
Me: Oh my god, why are you writing like that? My brain is bleeding.
Jesse: U shouldn't say God like dat, U should say Gosh.
Me: You shouldn't spell that way or I will have an aneurysm.

This exchange went on for much longer, but I don't know how to look up past Chat logs and I really don't care that much so I can't quote us verbatim. And I'm not picking on Jesse, because I know my other brothers on Facebook, Ben and Zack, also instant message and text this way. And the fact that they even have profiles on Facebook is an entirely other issue, because I was on Facebook when you had to have a COLLEGE EMAIL ADDRESS to join. The message you should catch is that apparently I have grown grossly out of touch with TeenSpeak, and have instead become a fourth grade grammar and spelling Nazi.

This made me think about an exchange I had with Tammy when I was a little bit older than Jesse is, and how she could not stand how many times the word "like" crept into my phone conversations with my best friend, Tiffany. It was something like this:

Me: So she was like, ohmigosh (for you Jesse), I can't believe she like, did that, and I was like, well, It's like, when you like someone, you like, do dumb stuff.
Tammy: Do you know how many times you just said like?
Me: I don't know. Like, a lot?
Tammy: Too many to count. Stop saying like. Just try it and see if you can.
Me: Like, I want to, but like, its...like...hard. Like (Ugh) I mean, Like when you can't help it. It just, like
Tammy: I AM GOING TO DIE IF YOU SAY LIKE ONE MORE TIME.
Me: Sorry. It's just, like, habit.

Eventually I grew out of it, and miraculously Tammy's brain did not melt and ooze out of her ears, but I'm sure there were some close calls and many jokes made at my expense. It's also funny to see how I am suddenly "old" and these young 'uns and their text speak and newfangled cellular phone devices drive me crazy. Because if I wanted to use "text typing" I would have to reprogram my phone to let me intentionally misspell things, and change modes in order to mix letters and numbers so many times that I might as well send my message via carrier pigeon.

But as a warning, Jesse- If you write a paper with that kind of spelling, I would fully expect to be demoted a grade or two.

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Week 30


Only 10 or 11 weeks to go, depending on Dr. Peanut's timing. Hopefully that will give me plenty of time to finish this...

I guess once I've started baby projects I might as well keep the ball rolling.

My Valentine...


I love this guy.

Friday, February 13, 2009

Forced Nesting, part II



At least I can say I finished a project for the baby. I finished the sweater Wednesday night at a "craft night" one of my friends was having before she sold her sewing machine. It looks just like something Dr. Peanut's trendy daddy might wear.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Crazy Preggo

I'm not sure if it is just because I couldn't get comfortable last night or if the Sudafed I am taking for my cold jacked with my sleep patterns, but after an hour and a half of laying in bed trying to go back to sleep last night, I got up and dusted the living room and pieced together the baby sweater until 4 am. I am surprised by how un-zombie-like I feel.

Monday, February 9, 2009

29 Weeks


Here is the latest shot of my ever expanding self. AND, I cleaned my bathroom mirror, just for y'all!

Forced Nesting

I have been reading websites and blogs of other pregnant woman and have felt pretty guilty about my lack of a nesting instinct so far. Other women are decorating nurseries and making sweet things for baby and ripping out kitchen cabinets and I am compelled to do little more than nap and occasionally bake myself large batches of brownies and chocolate chip cookies. Saturday I forced myself to at least do a little baby-related crafting.

This is a knock-off "Moby Wrap", which is essentially a 5 yard long piece of knit fabric that you can strategically wrap around you to hold the baby so that you can do other things around the house, hands free. I tried it out at work today and although it doesn't really work with my 7 months pregnant belly, one of the other moms and one of the aides used it to tote around one of the lighter babies and it worked fine.


These are actually the front and back of a baby sweater I started two Christmases ago but promptly forgot about. I have one sleeve left to knit and then I have to put it all together, but it looks really cozy and should stretch to fit the baby once it starts cooling off again in the fall (unless he's ginormous, in which case I will have to give it to someone with a normal sized baby).

Thursday, February 5, 2009

7 month midwife update

There is not a ton to update on, other than I had blood drawn for the gestational diabetes screen today and will hear back on that tomorrow, and I met the stand-in midwife while mine is on medical leave. She was really peppy and David and I liked her a lot, and she said that the baby seemed "happy" from his heartbeat and measurements. When she asked me about concerns, I told her that I thought our son had extra knees and elbows, but we seem to be doing pretty well.

My new hobby is to lay in bed or in the bath and watch my belly contort as he flips around and gets comfortable. I think he is a little squished when I sit normally, and reclining gives him a little more room to maneuver. But it is mostly freaky and magical at the same time to wonder if the movement under my skin is a back or head, and whether he is trying to reach up through my belly button to wave or if that is just by accident. He has also gotten hiccups a couple of times which is funny. I'm not positive that they're hiccups, but if not, he likes to drum a beat on my belly and keeps pretty good time for a fetus.

Most of the books say that I am solidly in my third trimester, which means his eyes are no longer sealed and can detect light, he can hear us, and his lungs could probably handle breathing air if he were born early. Which, to me, means oh-my-gosh have I still not really come up with a final name for my son?!

Sunday, February 1, 2009

28 weeks

 

David took this picture right before my baby shower yesterday. We got a lot of great baby stuff, and I had a blast. I did learn a valuable lesson about mixing social groups, however. I invited our neighbor, who is very outspoken about breastfeeding and all that goes along with it, and didn't let anyone else know this was a hot button issue for her. This lead to a couple of awkward, heated discussions about discretion during breastfeeding and let me know why many people still use seating charts for weddings and formal dinners.

The more pregnant I get, the more I realize that most of the time it is best to nod your head and keep your mouth shut about EVERYTHING.
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