following directions

The other day I freaked out and ordered a bunch of stuff for Baby O [new nickname ala my co-worker's kids]. Today I got the pack and play amongst a host of other things that Lady had to examine and be suspicious about. She's watching you, diaper pail! 

Our previous try at a temporary sleep solution took us two days to assemble [someone doesn't utilize instructions], so when we ordered this one J said "you put it together." 

Challenge accepted! It wasn't a challenge though. It took about 5 minutes. The instructions were just pictures with arrows. Needless to say, I'm happy we exchanged the old one for this one. 

Lady was a big help as you can see. I'd be lost without her. 

on sharing your pregnancy pillow

My pit bull thinks she's pregnant. Naturally. She sleeps all day long, after having slept all night. She expects to be waited on hand and foot. And worst of all, she expects to be allowed full use of my huge pregnancy pillow whenever her little heart desires. Which is often.

We're currently sharing it. I'm lucky I got her to move for long enough to squeeze myself into a spot. She's sleeping like a champ. I'm not. 

My graduate school classes started yesterday and I'm already overwhelmed about how I'm going to keep up with everything and take care of a baby. I just keep telling myself that it's been done before. 

We hit 33 weeks this week. I can't believe how much better my attitude is about 33 weeks than it was about 32. I got over the hump and now it all seems downhill from here. Except for the sharp incline right at the very end.... Oh we'll make it. And it will be wonderful!

Check out my killer puppy pants. Be jealous. 

Pregnancy pillow love. 

Lady needed a hug the other night. Seriously, too cute. 

blog from bed

Because I'm beat and my back hurts.

I may have dusted today.  And I may have wiped up the kitchen twice... or thrice.  I've lost track.  I also may have started the laundry, and baked two dozen monster cookies.  But no one can be sure.  Lady is my only witness, and she'll never tell.  Plus she stayed in bed until 12:30 pm today.  She hates the cold.

When I got up, it was 18 degrees below zero with a windchill of -43!  Hooo mama that's cold!  It's currently 11 below with a windchill of -37.  It's this horrid out and I didn't even notice until after noon that I forgot to turn my heat up, it was only 61 in the house.  I turned it up for Lady, but I felt fine.  Being pregnant is weird, have I mentioned that?

Tomorrow I have my 32 week appointment.  I can't believe it's so soon.  I feel like I was just there.  I doubt they'll tell me anything new.  They'll just tell me to hang in there and keep resting.  I hate resting  I felt like garbage all weekend.  Today was the first time I've felt good since Thursday.  I honestly thought I was in labor the other night because my contractions were so uncomfortable and regular.  Luckily they stopped being uncomfortable, went back to their normal selves,  and I was able to sleep.  I'm so excited to meet my little guy and have him outside.  It's amazing that I'm growing this little human, but I'm getting ready to meet him.  I had a meltdown last night that I technically still have 20 percent of this pregnancy left.  That feels like eons, despite the fact that 80 percent of it is behind me.  20 percent is still a decent chunk.  Plus I still have to make it through the delivery!

Our bathroom is making progress.  Justin sheet-rocked this weekend, so there are no more gaping holes in my wall.  It's beautiful.  I can't wait to get it all painted and put in our new toilet and vanity topper.  It's going to be a classy little guest bathroom.  Justin found the most perfect farmhouse near Des Moines yesterday and emailed it to me.  Naturally, I'm heartbroken because there's no way we could move there now and by the time we do get to move it'll be gone.  It's the house of my dreams.  Oh perhaps someday we'll find another...

Weekend phone pictures, etc. COMMENCE!

Lady needed to cuddle hardcore this weekend.  And pillows were a necessity.  Please excuse the dog toys and clean laundry.  

Extremely blurry.  And orange.  But here's the bump at 32 weeks.  80% there.  It still has 20% to grow.  Oh yikes!

lady

Lady just belched. Did you want to know that? I didn't want to see it. Also she rolled on the dirty laundry. Rolling on stinky stuff is her gig. 

She's not allowed on the couches anymore. 

This is how Lady feels about not being on the couches. 

Here you see her pout. She's so sad. 

No one understands how hard it is to be a pitbull. A maybe pitbull mix. Maybe fullbred. We don't know. It's hard when no one even knows how old you are. AND YOU AREN'T EVEN ALLOWED ON THE COUCHES! 

Things are ok sometimes though. 

Especially when you're a pitbull or maybe only partially pitbull that gets to sleep like a human and use pillows. 

the lie about pregnancy

I've mentioned it before.  I am absolutely sure that people are lying when they say they "loved being pregnant."  I've gagged.  I've moaned.  I've spent so many hours on the couch, it's a miracle there isn't an ever deepening imprint of my bum.  My face has erupted into volcanic acne.  My hormones have sent me on a whirlwind of emotions.  And finally the capstone to all of this so far you ask?  [Please note, it isn't labor because I haven't had the privilege of experiencing that yet.] Anyways, the capstone is ROUND LIGAMENT PAIN!

As I sat in the most treacherously stressful movie of my life, Gravity, with my husband and several kids from work [this was obviously unplanned, and sitting through a movie with a kid who suffers from tourette's across the aisle is distracting, but I digress] I began to notice towards the end of the feature presentation that I had some pain.  Great.  I was so tensed up that I gave myself contractions. I thought.  As we left the theater the pain got worse.  By the time we were home I announced I was going to bed.  An hour passed and I was writhing in pain, whimpering to my husband.  He is always calm in a situation and said "call the midwife."  So I texted his mom, the OB nurse, who said "It's probably round ligament pain, but call the midwife."

The midwife was utterly nonplussed by my plight.  "Take tylenol.  Take a bath.  Get some sleep.  Call me in the morning if it's worse."  The tylenol was a joke.  I wasn't going to risk a bath for fear of being stuck in the tub.  So I tried the sleeping part.  Holy horrible.  I finally fell asleep at about 4:30 and made it 2 hours.  Then I napped the rest of the day on and off.  My dear, cuddly pit bull knew just where to position herself to aid in my muscle discomfort.

I woke up this morning still in pain so I called the midwife again and they did a urine screen to rule out kidney stones or infection.  Thank goodness it's neither of those things.  They suggested a support girdle, and I shuddered.  Is not "girdle" the ugliest word??  It is.  I'm going to try an exercise ball and ask my yoga instructor for some moves to do at home tomorrow evening to try and start feeling better.

Is this what I get for marrying a giant?  I grow a huge baby that my petite frame can't handle?  Are some people just not cut out for having nice, easy pregnancies?  Or is there some chemical process that happens after labor that makes you forget how much pregnancy sucks and changes your words to Oh I loooved being pregnant. 

Lies.

I'm 19 weeks now.  Ultrasound is a week from today and I can't WAIT to see the little thing in there wiggling around.  We're almost halfway, and I'm counting on the impending holiday season to help speed things along.  I realized last week that I get to make an Easter basket for this baby and had to call my mom to gush about it.  She said "Yay!  You get to make it AND you get to eat all the candy!"  Hadn't even thought of that!  Leave it to my mom to brighten my day with the idea of candy in my future.

Here's the 19 week picture.  Ignore the fact that my shirt is see through.  Justin complained that you couldn't see my belly in last week's picture because of the sweater so I left the sweater off and froze for the 5 seconds it took me to take this.

Also.  Sorry I look like H.  But other than the toilet paper, notice how clean the bathroom is?  Nestinggggggg.

Beach.

We're at the beach for the holiday loooong weekend and I'm so happy about it. This place has been a true constant in my life, although since we cleaned it out last month for the renters it's strangely impersonal and not quite right. I know there's no old cedar chests to go spelunking through for dancing outfits circa the 1940's and no moth-ball-smelling closets to explore for other various fashionable pieces from days of yore. Now it's gutted to its bare house and furniture bones. Its character largely stripped and hauled away to thrift stores, the dump, and my mother's basement. 

I still love it, but it's not the same. My arms feel a little wibbly wobbly about that. I have a hard time with change. Thank goodness there are some things about this place that will never change. Such as the way the house greets visitors with its distinct pleasantly musty smell. Or the friendly, but slightly alarming floral wallpaper in the bathroom. The sound of the waves rolling up on to the sand. And most eerily, the creaks from upstairs. There are many stories from everyone that visits about the presence of ghosts in this house. I know they're true. I'd come back to visit this place too. It's kind of nice being back at Gram and Grandpa's house with them together again. Until I think about it, and then I go back to feeling wibbly wobbly. 

PS, we aren't vegans anymore. Hooray!