just testing...

yesterday my sister had the brilliant idea to walk this baby out of me. so, we headed off to pick up my preggers photos. i had thought they wouldn't be here until after the baby, but what did i know?

we picked up my photos, then i took my sis back and since nothing was happening, i went to work. at work i thought i felt some contractions, and had another interesting sign i won't go into here about. so, after work my sister calls to see if anything was happening and offers to come over to walk with me a bit so that my contractions might get stronger. i agree. at 10pm we start walking up and down my driveway. we have a flashlight and the dog and cat for company. after the walking i came inside and walked up and down the stairs. the contractions just faded away, they didn't get stronger. it was so disappointing. i got dan all worked up for nothing. he looked a bit haggard this morning at 5am. i felt really bad.

well, this pose is my fave. the other one i had to buy. here i am preggers in a garden.:)

i cry wolf

monday i called in to work, thinking i was in labor. surely, i thought, today was the day. it wasn't.

incidentally, monday was the day they printed the office newsletter, "bylines". i'm in there twice. having a baby makes me interesting.:) at the very least, it makes me newsworthy. it says that i was probably having my baby. "wolf! wolf!".

oh look, i got my preggers photos back. here's me frolicking in a forest glen...

jack's bassinet and a bit about gardening

i have a vintage "baskinette" bassinet for jack to spend the first few months in. it is so precious, and useful! i can wheel it right up to my bedside, or right out of the way. i painted it royal blue. i would say it looks blueberry. dan doesn't care for the color. he says it is "ford engine blue". well, that can't be helped. i could never have forseen that one! mom made it a white cotton seersucker liner and recovered my old bassinet pad. it looks so cute now. today she bought some white cotton fabric to make a skirt for it. i think it will look so glamorous when she's done. it's great having a sewing mom.

i did a bit of gardening again today. i pulled a few weeds and planted some more seeds and re-potted some begonias. just trying to keep myself busy so i don't go nuts waiting.

how the grinch stole my Christmas

i'm a day past my due date. bummer. i tried a lot of walking yesterday, i tried 4 packets of hot sauce on my chicken quesadilla at taco bell, i tried scrubbing the shower and tub, i tried exercising on the "birthing ball" and bouncing, i tried other so-called fail safe ways and i even pinned my hopes on the full moon... NOTHING. well, so much for those old wives tales.

today i am due

it is 4:36am. jack woke me up at 4-ish and i can't sleep. there are no magazines i haven't read, no movies i want to watch, no books i could concentrate on, no part of the house that really needs cleaning... nothing to do! except keep checking my e-mail and peeking in on my favorite blogs.

thankfully dan will be up at 5am. i am so awake and he'll be so tired and groggy and i will annoy him.:) but i won't mean to. it's a "cereal day" today since i made scrambled eggs and leftover biscuits for breakfast yesterday. should i have cheerios or cocoa crispies?...

less than 2 days to go...

here is a bit of an e-mail i mailed my husband's step-mom. --
"i'm due thursday. the suspense is killing me. other than that, some acid reflux and carpal tunnel and fatigue, i am doing well.:) i even cleaned the house really well today. tomorrow i will scrub the bathroom. if that doesn't bring on labor i am going to go up and down the basement stairs! i guess jumping jacks will follow soon after if THAT doesn't work."

seriously. one of the biggest days of my life is just LOOMING. i would say graduating from pcc and my wedding day were two of the biggest and best days of my life. they happened on a certain day i knew ahead of time and began at a certain set time. labor? crazy! it could happen anytime! i could be pregnant a week from now! or i could have this baby in a few short hours. insanity.

i put the car seat in my car today. i placed the newly painted bassinet in the bedroom with it's liner my mother made it, and the pad, and i placed the new sheet on the pad. then i decorated the bassinet with a blue crotcheted blankie my aunt made jack. it is waaaay too hot for it, but it looks precious.

jack just got the hiccups. again. i will not miss them.:) i will miss his wiggling.

target baby shopping update

well, i ordered the "cocoa" bundle me, and the baby bjorn potty chair in red. they came swiftly thereafter and i am so pleased. those will be my splurge purchases. well, i really didn't splurge, i used a gift card. but, you know what i mean. those are frivolously nice items that jack could have muddled through baby-hood without, but they're cool to have.:)

i have rethought the diaper stacker and etc in navy gingham. i just don't think they will adequately match the bumper and quilt my mom is making for jack. i think i will just get some solid blue pieces, eventually. anyway, like you care.:)

i can't think at 4-ish in the morn

yesterday jack woke me up about 3:30-ish. i got up around 4 and decided to answer some e-mail. ok, sure, but i shouldn't have tried to make any decisions in a sleep impared state. sorry lauren! at least now i know my weakness. i will not try to make any decisions before 6am from now on. except maybe scrambled eggs versus fried. :) i made us (dan, andy, jack and i) fried eggs, sausage and toast for breakfast this morn at 5-ish. yum. the house reeks of fried meat now. not so yum. i prefer the lingering smell of bacon. am i right?

even more fun pregnancy symptoms!!!

with just a week and a half to go, i developed a new symptom! yeah. it is a little thing called carpal tunnel syndrome. crazy, right? my right arm feels all tingly and my index finger tip and thumb tip feel just insane. like when you hit your "funny bone". at first i thought i gardened too hard last saturday. then i blamed arthritis. now i blame jack.:)

15 days until i'm due!

only 15 days. i have the armoir together and loaded with clothes. the changing table is together and filled with diapers. we have the car seat, the stroller, a ton of blankets... so ready. my bags have been packed and re-packed. i even have a borrowed "birthing ball" (exercise ball). now i just have to figure our how i am supposed to use it.:) i think i will check out webmd for some info.

photo opportunity

i really didn't have much luck getting a good photo of myself preggers. so i decided to go to wal-mart (yes, i know, ew. disclaimer: i do not personally support "the man"!) and get a few quick cheap shots. i went yesterday and managed to get 2 poses that i can live with. question: do i really need a 10x13 photo of myself? does anyone?:) well, i had to take it.

the photographer asked if i would like to try a few shots in costume (gorilla costume?) or in a feather boa. i passed.

photos should be done in three weeks. ooo, the suspense.

may is one busy month

my gramps just had a pacemaker put in thursday. he's doing great. his father had one too and lived on into his 90's. gramps walked over last night to see what my manly man was doing. what dan was doing was trying to squash a metal barrel with his bull dozer. boys.


i have so much to do this month. i have dr. appointments, Bible studies, niece claire's "3 piggy opera" on friday, baby shower for a church baby on saturday, a cowboy themed choir concert for andy, mother's day approacheth, gram's b-day, my b-day, pirate's of the caribbean III comes out may 25 (got to see it! hope i can see patrick from pcc.), and then memorial day weekend and hopefully JACK! tons to do.

got about 10 hours of sleep today to make up for the general lack lately. i woke up extra early for a shower from dan's side saturday. i woke early sunday to finish preparing coffee time food for church. i ambitiously made a cheddar-bacon-egg-bread casserole, a bacon-cheddar quiche, and a sun-dried tomato-basil-feta quiche (an interpretation of my favorite dish from "madison's" in pensacola). i used fresh basil from my breakfast nook garden! the best part? besides my piece that i had, only the pastor's wife was brave enough to try a piece of the feta quiche. she loved it, by the way. both bacon dishes were completely demolished. so, i took the feta quiche back home and had it for lunch and dinner!:) hooray! a whole day of quiche! oh, and i had it for lunch yesterday, too. i could live on quiche.

yesterday i worked 8-5. those 8-5's kill me. i get so tired. my feet get so puffy. i was feeling really queasy in the morn, too. blech. i felt so miserable i wanted to call in, but i figured, "you wimp! you just have a sit down job!". well, it isn't so sit-down when you have to go get the ad copy, then go to the printer after you print the finished ad, then head to the bathroom about twice an hour, and head to the water cooler to fill up about 4 times a day.:) that adds up to a lot of up and down. still.

"i have the power!"

that's a quote from He-Man. i used to watch that cartoon growing up, and She-Ra, of course. my cousin had Skelator's castle. kind of demonic, kind of cool. who lets there kids play with a creepy skull shaped castle? when they are, like, 7 or 8? icky.

anyway, i digress. i finished jack's armoire. i got to use the power tool.:) there was just a little more to do. i couldn't wait to use it so i asked if i could finish it in the morn without dan. so, next morn i screwed on the 2 back panels, installed a shelf, put on the door and the knob, and put in the drawers. yeah me! gorgeous. then i spent the entire afternoon washing tiny clothes, folding them, and putting them away. a whole afternoon spent sitting on the floor while preggers in surprisingly exhausting. my body felt like it had been run over by a truck, but the armoire looks fab. it is full of sweet little things. lots of pale blue and white... like a nursery dream. well, my nursery dream anyway.

preggers update - 9 months!

i reached nine months friday! wow! can't believe i have only 23 more days to go! (until the due date) i can't believe how well everything is going. the knees are in scary condition, but i'm not in a wheelchair and no emergency surgery has been needed. the meniscus is still torn and the right knee catches all the time. it bothers me more than pregnancy symptoms do.

jack kind of feels like a lead balloon sometimes. i can't imagine these poor ladies with huge babies or multiples. the kid squishes your internal organs! he pokes your bladder! that's a panic moment, there. ultimately, though, i love being preggers. i still love to feel and watch my belly move. jack likes to stretch out his leg on my right side and he does it all the time. never on the left side.

belly button still hasn't popped out. jack should gain about 2 more pounds if he goes until he's due, and i shouldn't gain too much more than that. will that be enough to pop it out? i'll keep you posted. i am betting not. anyone take that bet?

what's up with me and the bump

not much up. i have been working, cleaning and resting. i scrubbed the shower and cleaned the bathroom and dusted the house yesterday. and rested.:) and then i went to work for 4 hours. oh, and i made cupcakes! i saw an mtv cribs show recently where the dude had 2 boxes of "sprinkles" cupcakes on his coffee table. he showed them to the camera and i was like, "i gotta have cupcakes". so, i made chocolate cupcakes with vanilla icing and... sprinkles.

today i worked 8-2. i hung out with the boys. i walked over to my grandparent's house and chatted a bit. i discovered my transplanted mayflowers were blooming next to the house and i dug up half the plant to put in my breakfast nook. they will be right between basil and parsely.

my sis-in-law also stopped over tonight. she asked what food i wanted at the baby shower she is throwing me next weekend. since it will be cinco de mayo, i told her: refried beans, chiles rellenos and salsa! :) not kidding. that would be good. she's not going for it, though. !que lastima!

8 months preggers

yesterday i reached 8 months preggers. woo hoo! and i still fit into my pre-pregnancy jeans. that tells me two things: 1. i am not gaining too terribly much weight 2. those jeans were way too stinking big! fat mama jeans. i am hoping to come out of this pregnancy smaller than when i got in. also... NO MORE DOUBLE CHINS! ever. amen.

mooshy

does pregnancy make your belly button more flexible? i understand that at a certain point my belly button might "pop out like a turkey timer". it is not quite there yet. i think my belly button feels mooshy.

why "second breakfast"?

i suppose you are wondering why i am naming this "second breakfast". if you are a j.r.r.tolkein fan you would know that hobbits eat a lot. they even have "second breakfast". well, i am eating a lot of "second breakfasts" these days. i have breakfast at 5:15-ish with dan and andy and then i need another breakfast again about 10am. sometimes i have a bowl of cereal just before bedtime at 10pm. sometimes i get up with insomnia and hunger and have more cereal. breakfasts four and five? forget taco bell's fourth meal, when you are pregnant there are many many meals, my friend. thankfully these supplimental meals seem to consist of bowl of canned fruit or cereal.