Baby Daddy

My god....Thanksgiving I love you in all your turkey and cranberry sauce glory. We went down to HomeTownVille, IN on Thursday for a brief tour of theMan's grandma and my Grams at the nursing home.

It was so nice. My belly is all big and round so it was fun for everyone who hasn't seen us in awhile to see it and us. Plus the following words were said aloud in conversation at the dinner table: "pocket pussy" and "long dong" and when referencing seeing a sex toy catalog, theMan's grandma calmly retorted "It never hurts to look."

We brought my dad and brother up to stay in Chicago for awhile, plus my mom was up here and my sister's in-laws. We cooked for 2 solid days...a feast of spanish turkey, chipotle-roasted pecan sweet potatos, 3 layer marscepone cheese terrine...my god. Plus I got to see my niece and nephew on the holidays just drink up all the love and attention.

And, if I must brag for a moment, our 1 month old niece rolled over on her own!! Awww, family.

I entered my 25th week today. Feeling pretty good. I get freaked out when I don't feel Addie for awhile but then she punches HARD. Especially around 4:00 a.m. I just lay in bed and feel her and smile. My body though, it's starting to ache. I feel like I pulled a muscle in my ass and my back is absolutely killing me. But well, I just don't feel like I can complain. I mean, I'm so fortunate to get to have her with me and well...it just seems worth it. Although I don't mind using the pain to get theMan to carry the heavy groceries.

Glucose test on Tesday and our first baby shower on Sunday. EEEEP. I'm going to cry non-stop, at both. :)

Jacked Up

Sorry about the jacked up blog background. My tech support assures me it will be fixed soon. (Hint hint theMan!)

I also realized I never linked to the awesome photos my man got of our ultrasound appointment when we found out it was a girl! Doh! Here you go! I think they are absolutely beautiful and I'm so stoked I have him capturing this journey we're trekking on.

So this week is Thanksgiving here in the States. I'm planning on helping my sister make a HUGE gourmet feast for our families. She's even going to teach me how to make our grandmother's famous rolls. I created this ridiculous marscapone cheese dessert for the occasion as well that is freezing in my freezer and mocking me to try it early.

Hard to believe but in 1 1/2 weeks our baby shower is being held. EEEEP. So surreal! My GWO girls are really coming together to make it awesome, and a lot of our extended family are going to be there. I will probably bawl the whole time, and eat cake. It's a little early since we're having this kid in the dead of winter, but it's not like I'm NOT showing or anything. Lord.

On that note...I swear this belly gets bigger every day. It's hard and round. I can't see my crotch or my toes without bending forward. And all this smug "I love pregnancy, it's been pretty easy" is catching up to me as now I ache all day and night. Even turning over at night feels like I'm a beached whale trying to hoist herself back to sea.

But then she flips around or kicks her dad in the head and well, I'm really looking forward to another 12 weeks of her in there.

Almost there

I'm about a week and a 1/2 away from my third trimester starting. So far this pregnancy has been pretty easy going. I mean, yea, it was a rough beginning with the hormones and 45 ultrasounds and weird pains around 14 weeks for a weekend, but honestly...knowing how hard my sister and friends have had it, I feel so blessed and lucky and have really enjoyed every bit of it.

However, my back has recently started to ache all day, not just in the middle of the night. I'm starting to notice a waddle in my step. I'm also finding I'm tired, really tired again like my first trimester. Still, not complaining, no complaining here, but I bet there will come a time when I'll be ready to have Addie make her appearance, sooner than later.

So far though, I love just having her hanging out with me all day, kicking me and reminding me I'm so lucky to have her.

Diaper Cake Fo-Shizzle

Not sure if I ever mentioned this, but one of my diaper cakes is now up at parenting.com. Even a quote and a photo credit for my man. Kinda surreal yet, hey...they were a ton of work so I'm glad more people get to see them! ha ha

No idea

No freaking idea why my body wanted me up and alert so early last week. I assume the kid just absolutely had to see stupid videos on www.youtube.com or finally finish "Singles" that we got in the dollar bin at 4:30 a.m. I am going to just go out on a limb and say she took a quiet nap in my arm or something far away from the no-no hole when I woke up theMan for some lovin.

(Hey, it was 5:00 a.m. I already had breakfast and the worst craving he's had to induldge is a milkshake run at a reasonable time while we were still in the car from previous errands. At least sex wouldn't be something he'd feel cheated because he only got one sip.)

However, apparently she wanted to make sure we were both WIDE AWAKE so her poppa could feel her kick for the first time. I've been feeling her for a couple weeks and I always try to explain it, but there he was...resting his head on my belly silently begging her to just give him a sign. And she kicked him right in the side of the head.

I assume her adolescence will be similar.

3:00 a.m.

Who, me? Is that who woke up wide awake at 3:00 a.m. and is now sitting in her dark living room eating cocoa wheats in her robe still at 5:00?

Yes. Yes, that would be me.

Birthing Videos

Okay, apparently there are ways to spend a Monday night that doesn't include you holding your vagina and promising to buy it flowers in the very near future. Also, I'm moving to Belgium before March.

In trying to educate myself and see if what I'd like is what I can do...I thought I'd go to youtube.com. EEEEP. Let's go down the list (warning: some, while it's nature, aren't safe for work).

How I'd like this play out in March:

1.) I'd love to labor in a tub, but give birth outside the stew. Water births.....Screaming raging huge stuck baby or soft playing classical music in space-age birthing tub in Belgium. You decide.

2.) Maybe something with catchier music, although I'd opt for the non-surgical part.

3.) Possibly one fully clothed upon birth, handy.

4.) I'd love way more tattoos to be involved.

5.) The squat, made to look and sound really elegant by the voiceover and that it's French.

Good god.

1,500 Post

Appointment on 11/6...everything is fine and they got pics of the heart! The tech called Addie a little sh*t b/c she wouldn't budge. Still laying in the same position (head up on right side) breech. Thought I was going to have to come back again next week (they graciously said if I had to come back, they wouldn't charge me--look at my kid already getting me deals!!).

I knew she didn’t move, I still felt her in the same place kicking around. (More on that in a sec)

I had to chug ice water and turn on both sides and then finally she tried it with me sitting up. That did the trick! Baby didn’t move but the tech was able to get the right pics of the heart. 4 chambers and it looks good! I could see her shoulder too just snug as a bug in there in her spot.

She's still breech, they say I have time for her to turn but man, she looks awfully snug. Makes me wonder if she will. She's using one of my fibroid cysts as a pillow currently. Her head looks nice and small and round and I got to see her whole arm and legs better. All of the bones were nicely formed and much clearer than a week ago. Amazing how much she grew in a week.

Towards the end the tech was like “Well cutie, let’s get some pics of your face for your parents” and then the baby waved at us!!! She had her hand under her chin but picked it up and said “Hey biznitches!”

OH and I forgot!!! I saw her kick and felt it at the same time!! That was NEAT!!!

I have pics but they are seriously the most unflattering ultrasound pics ever. It looks like she has a full set of teeth and a weird nose. They didn't look like that on screen, no idea why it printed like that.

On another note, I've been feeling her move more regularly. She is pretty active in the mornings and late evenings. She was tumbling around last night as I laid in bed. It seriously is the best feeling ever. I thought all my life I would be so wierded out but it's just...I can't explain it. It's the most comforting thing ever. theMan spends most of his time with his head or hand on my belly trying to feel it too. Thinks he has a couple times, but Im guessing it won't be too long before it's a definite.

Before I forget, this is my 1,500 blog post. Wow! I sure like it around here, think I'll stay.

Oh thank goodness

Whew.

What was an exhausting and long and somewhat annoying election season is now at an end, and with a result I am mos excited about. However, the pictures of people celebrating around the country here have me tearing up.

Biggest voter turnout since women won the right to vote. Way to go human race. Way to go.

Steel Magnolias is relevant in every conversation

...and here's proof. Email chain from work:

Co-Worker: I wonder if we have a voting code on our time sheet so we don’t have to take PTO. I seem to remember seeing that, or maybe that was my old gig. I could be mistaking one gig for the other.
Me: Not sure.
Co-Worker: You know, most of my friends and siblings are getting out of work at 3—pretty much the whole city is shutting down. We are staying until 5. Ugh. I am not holding my breath, but it would be nice. Polls are going to be packed. I don’t know if I would be able to make it to my place in time.
Me: Well you should have voted early. Why do you hate democracy?
Co-worker: HA! I swear to goodness I forgot we had that option. But you got me. I do hate me some democracy.
Me: Democracy only wants to help you help yourself. Let it in.
Co-worker: But, but, I have been hurt before. It’s hard to open up again. It’s hard to trust. I am afraid of letting anyone in. I can’t do it on my own.
Me: I could run to Texas and back BUT MY DAUGTHER CAN’T!!!!!!!!
Co-worker: SHE NEVER COULD!!!

Just do it