Bumpwatch Week 37

How Far Along: Just finished our 37th week! The Bump says the baby is the size of a wintermelon, to which, The Boy says baby sites be crazy (he is even more impressed with this week's vegetable Pumpkin, because these vary quite a bit in size). Next time, we will judge the baby's size by desserts. So at 37 weeks, it will be a very very big piece of cake.

Best Moment of the Week: Shelly had Aisley! She is very cute and hairy (who would have guessed!), and fresh babies just look so fresh I can barely stand it. Shelly had a planned induction a week early, but it seems to have gone well, and she generally makes the whole birthing thing seem pretty easy, so I am happy she went first. Happy this sweet baby is here, though it is always a bummer when big things happen, because it just makes you that much more aware that we all live far apart. Still, yay babies!

Most Interesting Prego Quirk: I am barely moving at all now (like getting 6,000 steps or less a day) and have long agonizing debates about whether to eat healthier (Halloween week was great for treats, but now we have that post-holiday regret thing going on) or to just say "F it" and enjoy the last few weeks of not having to feel too guilty eating whatever, because I am ballooned anyway. You get to the end stretch and start thinking about whether to transition where you can or go out with a bang, and I have to be honest, I think maybe going out with a bang is the right choice. I mean, if I commit to carrots and celery now, while I still have a giant riverdancer up in my ribs sucking my ability to spell out of my amniotic fluid, it isn't going to help me feel patient. I kid, but only sort of. May as well embrace the tragic landslide of the third trimester.

I Would Really Like Some: Baby Yoga (God help us all). I missed both of my classes last week for reasons I couldn't help, and I think it actually did really help keep me feeling fresh and flexible and such. Will get back to it this week.

 

Bizarro Thing No One Warned me About: Ok, they do warn you about this, but man, carseats! They also make putting baby furniture together sound difficult, but apparently those people didn't also move into their first house the same year, because it really didn't make a scratch. On the other hand, car seat pamphlets say all sorts of stuff, much of which is pretty confusing and sets multiple goals at once. 

Seattle has a famous Car Seat Lady, Sue Emory, who comes to your house to make sure you do it right. Not only did she make sure our base was put in perfectly, but she became the first person who said our 2005 Neon was actually a great idea for putting a baby in. Truly, she said if The Boy's family talks us into getting rid of it, she wants it. This whole pregnancy, I have felt like I was riding with Vin Diesel in a tin can death trap, so the news and explanation she gave us was pretty shocking, but I think it gave us a bit of a boost, and now the car seat is in, so that took a big thing off our list.

So really, the car seat thing is way harder than it seems like it should be. Nothing wrong with asking for help.

And The Boy?: Still freaking out, but we are reaching a weird point where the must do list is almost completely finished, so his panicking is less clearly directed? Also, the Car Seat Lady loved him (as well as the neon), and it always improves his mood when he can tell he is someone's favorite. Today he needs to put doorknobs with locks into the doors (for the sake of our many visiting parents), and I think we are hanging the art in the nursery, so nothing much will be left to do.

Looking Forward to: SAM date! The first Thursday of ever month, you can do art walks in Pioneer Square and go to SAM for free. So we are planning on doing that this week, and I am psyched about it. Otherwise, I am trying to destroy my quota for work early in the month so later I don't have to worry about it. 

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Bumpwatch- Week 28

Ack! I thought I posted this two days ago. Aunt Rene, I am sorry!

How Far Along: 28 Weeks, so hello third trimester! So far, the only differences I see are that Summer Sanders is much nicer on the work out video, and when I see myself in the mirror, I feel like a blimp of a woman (I don't know if it works this way for everyone, but I mentally think of myself as the same, then I see myself in a mirror or a picture, and I am still surprised). Also, Bumbo Baby all the sudden seems much bigger, not in a bad way, just in a "wow, you can really see him move from the outside" kind of way. According to the bump, this is because he is an eggplant.

Best Moment of the Week: The Baby Shower! My mom and cousin Shelly put on such a fun party for us with the planning of my Aunt Ann and decorating from my Aunt Rene. Everybody destroyed their jobs, so the food was awesome, the decorations were actually steampunk travel themed (who knew you could even really do such a thing!), and I felt like the games were genuinely fun. Also, The Boy's mom made a baby out of fruit. I was so touched that my family put so much time and effort into our party, and I was even more touched at how many people came to celebrate with us. Having a co-ed shower might seem like a stretch, but lots of our guy cousins and other gentlemen relatives came and enthusiastically played the games. Melissa traveled all the way from Colorado, and Shelly (and her angel friend Amber) drove up from Tennessee for this, and that means the world to me.

 I just felt really blessed, but even more, I felt excited that our baby has a lot of genuine love and enthusiasm around him. When you are going to raise kids so far from family, nothing feels better than seeing so many people who will put in the effort and who will show up for your family, and I hope that I am one of those people for your families as well (if not, kick my butt into gear!). Bumbo Baby Gort is going to have such a strange, hilarious, and wonderful collection of people around him, and that has to be one of the biggest, most beautiful revelations around the baby shower. I feel in a weird way like I know this very sassy dancing eggplant parasite living directly on top of my bladder, and I really can't wait for these caring people to meet him too. 

Most Interesting Prego Quirk:  Baby shower gift opening is cuter, but also more pressure. To be honest, this part feels like so much pressure, because you can't seem too excited for one gift and not excited for the next. I just freeze up, but the nicest thing was that the gifts themselves are entertaining in their adorable babiness, and The Boy was there, so at least all eyes weren't on me. I don't know how to sidestep this challenge of the shower, but at least for the first time, you can kind of lean on the impending cuteness of your child. The speculation becomes concrete in the forms of onesies and baby hats, so you don't have to talk about the name or the gender for a minute.

I Would Really Like Some: Something other than the anniversary cake I made, which is no good. It feels like a shame when we have an excuse to eat sweets and they aren't even good. I mean, what kind of nonsense is that? I have been asking over and over again to go get seafood ravioli's (just like a lobster ravioli in a cream sauce, doesn't that sound good?) but thus far it has fallen on deaf ears both to the Boy and to the universe, because forbidden cheeses always get in the way. Curses!

 

Bizarro Thing No One Warned me About:  This is a small but remarkable thing, everyone buys you clothes for the first three months of the baby's life (let's face it, they are cutely small but not cutely cute at this age in most cases). You come out of a shower with a seemingly endless supply of 0-3 month clothes, and you are sure you can trade some of it in for your baby once he or she grows, but according to my mother, they need a lot of clothes. How this can be true is beyond me (I mean, can't you just wrap them in a blanket?) but I know I will learn. Janet says keep it all.

And The Boy?: I think he really enjoyed the shower, though he seems convinced the baby doesn't need much clothes. Please let my son be as cool as his dad about going to "girl stuff" and wearing a big ribbon the whole time. You have to love a man who is pumped to get his own gussed up business. He did not win the games, so he felt disappointed about that.

Looking Forward to: Leaving for our babymoon! This is the last big thing to look forward to before we are just stuck in the house, waiting to empty out this uterus. I am way excited to go to New Orleans (we have never been) and to eat lots and lots of delicious food. 

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Bumpwatch Week 27

How Far Along:27 weeks. This was the final hurrah of the second trimester, and to be honest, I am still loving the “honeymoon” period of the pregnancy. People keep asking me how I feel about my impending birthing decision, and right now, I feel like I have dancey company with me all the time. He feels like a sweet lovely presence, not something I am willing to bust up my lady pieces to expel. I know I will get there, but not this week.

Also, for my loyal readers (aka my family members) who are wondering why the baby shower isn’t here, it is not because I find the tactics of women’s bathrooms more interesting. Cross over day is Sunday, so the shower belongs to week 28. 

Best Moment of the Week: Being home! There have been so many great moments being with family and hearing their thoughts/ ideas/ jokes about what life will be like when the baby is here. Aubrey offered to let the baby have her blanky (better known as Danky), and I am pretty sure I have watched her murder a grown man to protect that business.

Most Interesting Prego Quirk: People (namely, older women) will let you ahead of them in lines for the bathroom. I feel like this is sweet, but also totally confounding. I mean, yes, I have to pee, but don’t you also? Aren’t you also in this line? How can we gauge who is holding it the most? On the other hand, BBG seems to have set up camp directly on my bladder, then conducts his regular dance parties, so maybe I have some sort of inappropriate panic on my face. It is kind of nice for airplanes, though my actual favorite prego accommodation is that people mostly will move out of the way for me, as I now take up the entire aisle. All of it. If I turn, the bump will whack someone in the face like a rebel backpack or especially aggressive purse.

I Would Really Like Some: I got to eat Leonardo’s twice in one day, so I can’t really say I want for anything. Clearly, between the bathroom lines and the pizza, BBG and I are spoiled. I am exceptionally excited because my Nana made her snickerdoodles, which are cinnamon sugar heaven. 

Bizarro Thing No One Warned me About:  My longtime friend Jenny took our prego pictures, and I know they will be amazing, because she just rolls that way. With the experience of engagement pictures and wedding shots behind me, I know that good photographers take more pictures than you can imagine anybody needing (my dad says a good photographer is really about being able to throw away the junk and see what’s good). I really just want a couple of pictures, but I know Jenny got us some great options and I am looking forward to seeing pictures. 

What I was not prepared for is how much pregnancy photography is about looking serene or contemplative or quietly glowy. I believe I have failed on all counts. How does one look serene? How does one not smile when they are getting their picture taken? My advice for pregos looking to have a document is to practice looking awed or peaceful in the mirror before you get there. Or I guess you could just be truly relaxed and peaceful, that is another way to do it. I will be practicing lovingly looking at my baby from here on out, so in every picture of the two of us together, people do not suspect I am telling him an inappropriate joke or teaching him profanities. Which is what I am planning on doing. But with a serene face, because motherhood makes you serene.

And The Boy?: He also failed at being a father model, but I think he actually enjoyed it. I have noticed he keeps mentioning his dad, and his choices, and why he thinks his dad spoiled them. I feel like this is the first step to being self-reflective about who he wants to be as a parent. Awesome. But mostly he made weird noises and intentionally stuck his nose in my belly button when he was supposed to be lovingly kissing my bump.  

Looking Forward to:  The baby shower, spending more time with my family, getting baby shoes and hats, because they are just the cutest. I am thinking about a new alternative parenting where the child only wears clothes neck up and ankle down. Everything else? Totally naked. It might ruin the carpet, but it would looking freaking adorable.

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