Finally, belly shot!

Here's Cree at about 26 weeks. She's been feeling good for the most part, and eats a lot of bananas.

Belly shot

In the absence of an up to date photo, here's a shot of Cree from a few weeks back, sporting her limited edition Descendents t-shirt!

Baby Shower Photos

I'm not so good at taking/sharing photos, but thankfully Bevin is! Here's some from our shower last weekend.

Here's me putting on some lipstick before all the photos get taken


Presents


This is when I started crying because everyone wrote really nice and sweet things in their cards.


Cree and Bevin modeling the baby sling


The cadillac of car seats


BurgerBaroness, Bevin and us with this really cute play mat and stuffed cow that Cree really wanted.


Also, an updated belly shot. Note the lovely and stylish prego-pants.

A few individual facts

One month from today, February 22, is my due date and I can barely put my socks on.

I have been wearing one of 3 pairs of shoes every day, none of which require bending down or tying.

The childbirth classes are informative, I am finally becoming desensitized to watching birth videos from the 80s.

Bringing a selection of decaffeinated hot teas to a birth center meeting will endear you to the group indefinitely.

Last night, I tried to make extra dinner to put in the freezer for post-baby-arrival, but then we ate it.

The baby room is almost complete but we still need to pack the hospital bag and install the car seat.

We had a lovely baby shower last weekend and had so much fun. I cried in front of everyone when I read the cards.

34 weeks!

Cree noticed that I've got a few things from The Great Maternity Clothing Gift that I hadn't worn yet, so I decide to sport one of the cute button-ups that I hadn't gotten around to wearing. I put it on, and it's almost too small!!
I guess that happens, but I didn't ever think I'd be growing OUT of maternity clothes! Especially shirts. I've grown out of a couple pair of pants already, actually.

We're big Philadelphia Eagles fans, and for any of you pro football watchers out there, you know that they are (inexplicably) in the playoffs, and doing pretty well. We were watching the game yesterday and Cree was yelling at the tv in her typical fashion and said to one of the players, "Aw, get up you baby! You're not even pregnant!!"

I asked for clarification, "Did you say that because it takes me such a long time to get out of the bed, or a chair?"

Obviously, the answer is yes.

It's hilarious. It really does take me forever to do pretty much anything now. I have become one of those slow-movers which definitely interferes with my perceived efficiency. Oh well. A by-product.

A New Year!

Happy New Year everyone!

Since I'm all clever, I scheduled this post for 12:01, although I'm certainly not typing it while the ball drops. If all goes well, I'll actually be out somewhere having a good time.

I can tell that the baby is getting bigger and bigger because I can feel pretty much any move she makes. I read that she will gain about a half pound a week for the next few weeks, so I keep trying to eat good meals and snacks to keep her growing!

One strange thing is that I've been waking up around 4 am and not being able to fall back asleep. This is completely foreign to me, as I've always been able to sleep, anywhere -- restaurants, on the bus, in a car, at a concert -- so it is a new experience altogether. It doesn't happen every night, but when it does, I usually get up and do something and then I can fall asleep rather than tossing and turning and keeping Cree up. Last night, I had a snack, unloaded the dishwasher and read the last 2 chapters of a book. I'm thinking I might start a mental list of middle-of-the-night tasks that I can work on in case this is an ongoing thing.

And here's a new belly shot. Don't worry, that's not our wallpaper back there.

my what is where?

As my belly gets bigger, I'm wondering how everything fits in there. At first, I was sure that my uterus was in front of all the other stuff, but as I get more weird sensations (and kicks) in different parts of my body, I'm not so sure.

Google to the rescue!

It took a little bit, but I finally found an image of a pregnant person's internal organs at 28 weeks (I'm almost 27 weeks):


WTF?

My small intestines are pushing into my ribs! My bladder is constantly being flattened (it's the unlabeled triangle shaped one at the bottom)! My stomach is displacing my poor lungs -- no wonder I'm out of breath after one flight of stairs.

I don't know how many of you took an anatomy class, but I am completely surprised by this knowledge. Grosser, the large intestine is apparently pushed to the SIDE.

That's so weird.

Work Trip!

Tomorrow, Cree and I are departing for two events for my work. The first is to go to Rochester, NY and the second (possibly more exciting) is to Toronto where I'll be taking a class and Cree will be sightseeing.

I'm excited. It will be nice to get a break from things here, especially for Cree who has seriously been working her ass off.

In the meantime, here's another belly shot. Thank god for Photo Booth! Also, please note the fancy expandable sides on the jeans -- these were in installment two of the Great Clothing Gift Delivery from my lovely sister. Thanks T. I'm pretty much set for the rest of my pregnant or big days.

Gifts!

My sister, bless her, sent me some clothing. I should rephrase, it wasn't just some clothing, it was a lot of clothing. She sent two Staples paper-size boxes stuffed with Space Bags full of tops. Oh, and one dress.

I am so excited! It is like a giant awesome early holiday gift and now I have all the maternity clothes I will need for a while. She also said she had some pants to send, so I should return the Space Bags and they are on their way!

Here's a low quality photo of part of the stack.

Another milestone

This week, for the first time, someone who didn't know I was pregnant made a comment about it.

She is someone I work with who pointed it out in passing, saying, 'I remembered you being skinny' (or something like that), demonstrating that it is now obvious enough that I am not just putting on a few pounds.

That said, no one has offered me a seat on the public transportation or anything -- I'm not holding my breath for that one. I don't think people are actually that polite.

And here's a couple of photos I took while I was waiting for the trolley this morning.

This is my view:


And this is the side view:


The stripes only add drama.

I'm scared of my jeans.

I have these two pair of maternity jeans that Cree lovingly picked up for me at the thrift store. I was so excited to have them, because I knew that I wouldn't really want to spend a bunch of money on pants I can only wear for 6 months or so (I'm that way). I may have mentioned (several times) how I can't really wear my clothes anymore and that's especially true for jeans because they aren't very stretchy.

This may have finally hit me when I went to our friends' house to watch football and found myself in the video rocker, pants completely unzipped, like Al Bundy. Not pretty.


So, I have the maternity jeans. The other night I put them on and they are WAY comfortable, like they should be, and I was feeling pretty good. I asked Cree what she thought and she said something along the lines of

They make your butt look pretty long. Can you pull them down?

Long? What does that mean exactly? We're still unpacking so I had to work my way toward a mirror and then I saw it.




So now what? Cree (again, lovingly) offered to move the pockets down. I think it will really help, but I may have to break down for a pair of 2008 maternity jeans that I feel good wearing out to dinner or something. Or maybe just switch to skirts?

Belly shot

Another belly shot, courtesy of Bevin (thank you!!). One day, I'll unpack the digital camera and it will be all photos, all the time.

Oh, how we have changed

We've moved, started new jobs and bought a house all since the last post, which was about a month ago. That month has been crazy stressful, which results in much crying from me, and unending patience from Cree.

I have gained about 5 pounds since then, and my jeans are so uncomfortable to wear that I always have to have them unbuttoned. I got a couple pair of maternity pants for work which I've been pretty much wearing nonstop. Our friend Bevin came to visit last weekend and she took this photo of my emerging belly.


I promise that I'll post photos more often (belly, baby room, etc.) once we unpack the camera.

Getting bigger

I have grown out of my first pair of pants. It's week 12, and I know that everyone gains weight at different rates, but it was a strange feeling to take my pants off and have all kinds of those lines on my skin from when your clothes are too tight. I've already quit wearing some of my bras, but somehow that didn't seem as significant. We went shopping for maternity clothes at the outlet store, and I got some really cute things, that I hope will be practical and functional. Cree has been lurking around the thrift stores and has found some really good stuff in there, so slowly I'm building a wardrobe.

I realized today that I'm going to need a winter coat. The one I have now is one of those short ones with the elastic around the waist and it will definitely not work in a few months.