Miss Photogenic

I took this at the urgent request of my mother and my eccentric aunt who, when together, can get giddy beyond control, to say the least (picture two little old ladies...But not old. That's them.). I get a text message this afternoon that said "we want to see a picture of your belly right now" ...okay. So I take my immaculately groomed self to the mirror and the photo session began. So, thanks to these two, I'm able to share my "end of 26 weeks" photo marker.



Stunning. I know.

Let's see, while I'm at it. Updates? Not much. We made an offer on the house today. If all goes as planned, we should close in a month! My carpal tunnel is getting markedly worse on a daily basis. I struggled to hold a pen today. This could get pretty troublesome. Oh, this is kinda funny. Tomorrow we're going to have dinner at some friends' house who are due in a matter of weeks. Normally, I would take a bottle of wine and help our host/hostess consume it (read: hog it for myself). However, under the circumstances, I was stumped for an appropriate hostess gift. Never in my life did I picture this happening...I actually picked up a pack of Pampers. How can they not like this gift, right? Unlike a bottle of wine, I will not be stumbling away with half the pack of diapers.

Oh, and in lieu of anything else interesting to read, I'll post some pictures for posterity. Someday when Miss Baby reads through this she'll have some pictures of her dad. Here's Josh and my current baby, Sophie:



Okay, that's all for now. All is well on our front and I guess no news is good news!

:)

WHOA MAMA!!

Mercy. Things are gettin' ugly around here. Our last baby appointment revealed that I had had quite a productive month. I've produced a 15 pound weight gain in one month. Someone call Guinness -- the record book, not the beer company -- that's a LOT! I honestly don't feel like it, and very truthfully, I didn't think I looked like it either. I mean, YES, I look big. Bigger, for sure. No question, but THAT big?! Dang. And I haven't even been eating the "usual suspects" where weight gain is concerned. I mean, seriously, no chips, no pop, no Little-Debbie-brand-anything, not even an abundance of fried food! I even eat lots of good stuff, too. I eat carrots, yogurt, raisins, skim milk, and even an occasional protein bar for a boost! Now, I will say, I've been visiting McDonald's more than the traditional bi-annual throw-down. BUT 15 POUNDS?? HOLY MAC-MAMA!! Luckily, baby is right on track and is not turning into a stuffed piglet like her mother. Because if my growth was any indication of hers...we'd be exploring voodoo, herb ingesting, early labor tactics or something.

Next item of business, we found a HOUSE!! Yippee! We're going to look at it again tomorrow with my parental units. You'd think I was 18 trying to find my first apartment. I have drug these nice people an hour away from their neighborhood on more than one occasion just to look at a potential house, only to watch us let it get taken away by another buyer. Not this time, cousin! We're buying this one! It was built in the 20's, has a huge gorgeous yard with a killer side yard with great landscaping. It has plenty of bedrooms, great hardwoods, and a really peaceful pretty neighborhood surrounding it. It's SO perfect for us and Miss Baby and our three fur babies. We're all pre-approved so I'm hoping to ask for a fast closing and getting this party started! Nesting TIME!!

Fun little baby bit. Here's a first, I felt Missie roll - er, something. It was the strangest sensation, I felt her in one spot and then, as though she were on a little conveyor belt, she suddenly and smoothly transitioned to another spot. My little fishy felt like a little mermaid! So bizarre! She better enjoy it, as the countdown rolls on, her cozy little abode is going to get cozier and cozier. Roll while the rollin's good, kiddo! :)

Not so fun little employment bit. It's game time for school again. I started meetings and greetings on Wednesday and as of my "work day" tomorrow, I'm done with the pre-game festivities and kids are rumored to be starting on Wednesday. Eek. It's really pretty easy when it's just me, alone in my room, putting up adorable bulletin boards, mumbling explicatives to myself, etc.. But then it hits me, I'm going to have hoards of kids in there in a matter of hours and they'll all be looking to me (like cattle) to teach them something. Then I realize, I should probably think about what that "something" should be. Hmm. Is it bad to show a video the first week of school?

Okay, I think that about does it. Lots of changes afoot. Baby progress is rolling along and apparently, in considering my weight gain, so am I!

P.S. Chiropractor rocks. Rib still pops in and out. But we're managing. But I NOW have carpal tunnel syndrome. My hands and arms fall asleep at random at the rate of like 4-5 times in an hour, it's been happening for about a week. It's annoying and uncomfortable, but not excessively painful. From what I read I have a pretty severe case affecting both arms in their entirety. Apparently this condition is common in pregnancy and is due to excess of fluids in one's system. Carpal tunnel is supposed to go away upon delivery and while maintaining stride with my being extremely predictable and "text book" in about every step of this pregnancy, often makes its debut at the start of the third trimester. Ta-dah - trimester three starts next week....And, yes I am, fashionably speaking, above wearing those goofy librarian/professional bowler wrist braces (that's hot) to curtail my symptoms. I'll take numb arms...not numb fashion sense. Call me shallow - but that look just ain't me even with a great manicure.

Is my daughter a lush?!

No, I'm kidding. She's not a lush -- I think she just had her first bout of hiccups today! We're at the point now where we can see her movement crystal clear when my tummy pops up. It's been rather entertaining. I'm also happy that Josh can finally feel her movements, now he can surrender to the fact that this baby is not an elaborate hoax. ;) Now, he can not only feel them, but he can see them as well. Some of these movements are strong enough to be seen through my shirt when I'm lying down. Well, today I kept feeling really strong movements, so I took a peek to see what was happening and I was seeing my belly contract and pop up in the same spot like every 5 seconds or so. It happened like 7 times in a row and I could only assume that this was hiccups. They say this can happen, but I forgot to be watching for it, so it took me a while to catch on to what this probably was. I guess it's good, all the books say that hiccups are a sign that she's learning to use all of her reflexes. Which is ironic because when I get the hiccups it's not a sign that I've mastered anything other than incessant giggling or too many pints of ale!

Cheers!

PS - Two side notes, I got my first stranger comment --- we were handing our tickets to be torn at an outdoor theatre performance and the guy goes, "what about one for the baby". I literally had to think for a second who out of the two of us was the baby... Yeah. That might take me a second to get used to.

And a second note, all of my eBay treasures are starting to roll in. That has been SUPER fun!! I'll try and find some of the links to some of the little darlings.

I got this little Ralph Lauren dress in hot pink and in light pink. She'll be ready for Aunt Bev's first pool party for sure!

Ralph Lauren terry dress & hat set -- needing yet another pool party!

Tralala jumpsuit - isn't this sweet?

Baby Nay Pink/Chocolate Kimono set - I love this, it matches her nursery decor. Like baby camouflage...I hope we can find her.

Baby Nay sleeper sac -- this picture doesn't show the traditional sleeper sack, it kind of flares out, but I couldn't find another picture. (It's NOT pink!!)

Baby Nay "Harvest Toile Kimono Set" -- I got this in the 6 months size and it is SO teeeeeny. We just kept looking at it going "WOW, that's small!"

Okay, yeah, there's more...but that's a bit much for now (from a posting stand-point, not from a shopping stand-point, of course!)

I'm no Heidi Klum...

These were taken today at 24 weeks and 4 days. I'm not sporting the adorable round ball that so many pregnant women do - I have like a droopy beer belly needless to say, SANS the beer. Oreos, perhaps.



  

  

  


And while I'm displaying my fancy foto footwork I thought I'd post these from 18 weeks when we were at Epcot in Florida. One is in "Moroco" and the other is in "Jolly Old England" and I think I shrank them down so small that you can see nothing...effective, ain't it...look how petite I am. Hee hee.












Alright, I don't think I shrank this one down too much. Again, it's Florida, Gatorland -- Josh's favorite! And this is me by the pink flamingos. They have better legs than I do.




Oh and here's Josh being eaten by a shark

My aching back

I'll just start this by saying that when I recently told my midwife that my lower back was really starting to hurt, BADLY, her response was, "oh nooo, already??"

Yeah. Already.

So anyway, apparently I'm having severe back pain a bit early in the game. I had battled low back pain before but only when I was on my feet for an extended period of time, not the daily dose that I've recently gotten to experience.

Well after some investigation I found that my insurance is marvelous and I'm allowed 26 annual visits with NO co-pay! I received a referral from my OB office and the next day made my first visit. Ahhh! Sweet relief.

FOR ABOUT AN HOUR!!!

I went back two days later and sure enough my low back problems appeared to have subsided and after having pretty regular visits I dare say we are on the mend! Now, here's the fun part: after my low back issue subsided I began to get really painful mid-back issues. My chiropractor (she's wonderful!) proceeded to focus on this area, having me rest on ice for 20 minutes after each treatment, etc. Then this seemed to subside. For about 10 minutes, all was right with the world (or the world of my spinal column at least). Then, the excruciating happened - I had a rib pop out of place. HOOOOOLY DISCOMFORT!! Yikes. You can't breath without wincing. And then I noticed that once one area gets messed up many others flare up as well(e.g. the low-back of yester-year and the mid-back that I thought I had seen the last of, etc.) so this particular evening I was wincing with pain, which nothing seemed to relieve. She warned me of this and, really, it makes plenty of sense - if you are irritating a bunch of muscles everyday, they're bound to rebel. I know I would and, frankly, I do!

GRRR. I went in the next day and she put the rib back in place - instant relief. But she warned me that that kind of irritation to the muscles around it will probably make it sore.... YES. She was right. It did. So the rib back in place was really not any better than the rib OUT of place. This brings me to today, I'm currently having some pain where the rib was out but not near as bad as it was in the days immediately after the rib "replacement". I'm going back tomorrow and I'm hoping to either be NOT in pain, or to have this pesky rib put back in if it's, in fact, popped back out.

(On a completely RANDOM and borderline inappropriate note, why is it that all of this talk of ribs makes me only think about eating bar-b-que?)

Ultimately, I'm sure that my chiropractor will get all of this fixed up, I'm not too worried about it (for now). She indicated that over time I'll adjust more and more easily and the problems with my back, with regular visits can be eradicated fairly quickly. We'll see. And to be really honest, it's free. How many other "in preparation for baby" rituals can we say that about? I say, crack away, doc!

(Oh and on a side note Miss Baby loves going to the chiropractor. She has never missed an opportunity to make her presence known when mom's "on the rack"!)