Merry Christmas (24 weeks!)

Merry Christmas! Here I am with our tree at 24 weeks! So many things have happened.
#1 After two years of pining, researching and saving we got our dream tv! In fact, we took so long that new technology came out (LEDs, oh boy). But prices also lowered (yay!). We couldn’t decide between a 42 inch and a 46 inch so we made newspaper mock ups and hemmed and hawed some more. Here’s josh modeling our newspaper tv as I check out the view(s) from the couch.

Josh with our mock-up

We love LOVE going to the movies. It’s really our thing. Josh is the best movie buddy ever. One year we went 20 times! Still... basically that left no fun money for anything else. So a lot of what we own is second hand, furniture, decor, clothes… which is completely worth it to support our movie habit. I suppose seeing a movie on DVD once the baby comes is like going second hand so I guess I’ll get used to it (sob!). I’m going to assume our movie money will just go to diapers now anyway.

Well, with baby bot our traditional dinner and movie date nights are going to take a serious hit. So we got a 42 inch, 120 Hz, LCD 1080p LG with Netflix streaming video. I could kiss it. I actually did kiss it, and I hugged it. It is possible that bot kicked it (I was pressed against it for a while)

#2, (this one is baby related news)
We got the crib! It was in stock, had great reviews in Baby Bargains and we were able to knock 130 dollars off the price between the Christmas sales and a "50 dollar off a 250 dollar purchase or more" coupon. I didn’t even care at that point that they didn’t make a matching dresser that could double as a changing table. If bot’s parents can have second hand mix matched dressers so can he! We ended up going with a traditional crib. The latest trend is to get a crib that is made up of the headboard and footboard of a full size bed. So the top part is higher (the headboard). We were leaning towards this crib at first:

NOT THE CRIB

Well, Josh didn’t want his 5 year old in a full size bed, and I didn’t want a constant reminder of the conversion rails (to make it into a full size bed)we wouldn’t buy (for some reason all I could see was the headboard). So, we went with a one that just converts to a toddler bed. I also like that the two solid side panels helped eliminate that “cagey” feeling with all the rails.. I love it!!! I searched the web for people who have my crib in a decorated nursery so you could get the idea.

I like this first pic because it also has a dresser that doesn’t match and I like it too!

THE CRIB!!!

Okay, so I made the crib shopping seem pretty easy, but in reality…
I spent two weeks researching cribs and then 7 hours shopping for a crib (literally from 1pm to 8pm). We went to Buy Buy Baby then Babies R Us then Buy Buy Baby again (keep in mind these stores are 20 minutes away from each other), then home to do some internet research to see finished nurseries with my crib (well, josh took a nap). In those seven hours I was calling my sister (2 phone calls total) and my mom (5 phone calls total) to look up the cribs online we were deciding between. I proceeded to drive them and josh absolutely f*cking nutz before driving back out to Babies R Us to make the purchase. I had like ten panic attacks just taking it to the register. I mean this was the start of THE nursery! If I didn’t get this key piece right, I was screwed. It was redunk. But in the end, I’m so glad we picked it!

Sad and stressed. Poor bot!

Sorry I haven’t posted in a while. This has been a horrendous week. Very stressful and very sad. The Friday before last, Nemo became very sick. We made the decision to put him down rather than have him suffer again when his illness flared up. It was very sudden. Leela has been meowing her sad meow and running from room to room. I’ve keep thinking I see him in the corner of my eye. I’m getting better. I know the reason it hurts so much is because Nemo is getting comfortable in his new home, which is in my heart. We are still going to hang up his stocking this year.

Nemo 2003-2009

Last Monday Charlie got out and was gone for 5 hours. I thought he was stolen/dead/lost forever. Feeling that way for hours put such a strain on me, I literally forgot a coworker’s name when I got back to work. I have never cried so much and so hard between Nemo and Charlie.

It all came to a head on Thursday 12/17 at 23.5 days pregnant I began having contractions. When it is not true labor they call them Braxton Hicks. If you get more than 5/6 an hour you are supposed to go to the hospital, because it starts to get dodgey on rather or not it is faux labor. Well I definitely exceeded that. On top of it I was dizzy, vomited and felt extreme fatigue. I had been eating and drinking well, so that wasn’t it. So, I called my midwife, and she told me to check myself into the labor and delivery ward. There I was hooked up to monitors to track the contractions for about 90 minutes. It turns out that I am having mild contractions but my cervix is a mile long still (their words not mine) so luckily the contractions are NOT telling my body to start having a baby. They are uncomfortable and scary. I’m trying to relax. Usually walking upstairs or picking something up sets one off. The doctor told me that if they start getting more frequent come back for another cervix check (lovely). If it starts to shorten, I fear being put on bedrest this early.
Side note: Josh sitting beside me while the nurse shoved her fingers up my vag to check my cervix made him firmly decide that his place will be at my head while giving birth. Not to mention I got reacquainted with the dildo cam.

Extra sidenote: Bot was kicking so much! We could hear him on the monitors even when I couldn’t feel him. Everyone who came in agreed that he was a very active baby and was going to be trouble when he was born.

Nursery Ideas

I’m feeling in a nursery mood! Keep in mind that I am not looking at prices or reviews or the like. Just exploring the world of baby stuff, and I am getting pretty psyched about decorating this here nursery.

First of all I must have a tree on the wall. I’m thinking I will get a tree decal, paint over it and have it be a white silhouette. But I am not sure how crafty I will get! We will have to paint the whole thing white again when we move, but that’s fine. Here are my inspirations:

I’m also feeling a gray blue wall. I would love to have green, but we all remember the disaster of finding a “sage” green for the living room. 6 paint samples later and they all look like either toothpaste or grass or puke. I finally went with “Almond Paste” also known as off-white. I don’t think you can mess up gray/blue.

So then I thought: what about a forest theme.? Please note, that is NOT jungle, NOR farm/zoo animals. These are forest animals that have no discernable sounds. Cows moo, lions roar, monkey’s chitter. But what about a deer? A raccoon or a squirrel? I feel like the room is peaceful already. And the nature vibe totally won josh over. Ideally I would get a transportation theme. But Josh thinks that gasoline is the drink of the devil and cars are Hitlermobiles or something.

Last night I stumbled across a couple of beddings that I like:

Counting the ways

As you all know I had a difficult first trimester. I wrote an email to josh counting the ways that I appreciated him when I was in the heart of darkenss (aka the toilet bowl). This list was made when I was about 8 weeks pregnant. I didn't edit this. I know for a fact that this isn’t really the half of it:

got me flowers every other week
went to buy pregnancy books with me twice
read up on that how to make a pregnant woman happy
went grocery shopping and got me fresh fruit
ordered ginger drops online
got me wristbands, ginger gum
got the car serviced, made a new fit key
did research and booked the vacation
doing pretty much all of the house chores (dishes, laundry, charlie, bathroom)
getting me water, my purse, and other things I leave downstairs
getting me pretzels and saltines
cleaning up for company coming over
doing the video blog
letting me decide where/what we are going to eat
working hard on perfecting the smoothies and washing that damn blender by hand
giving me a hug when i get home
lots of stuff!

My belleh!

We had a photo shoot today. And I have zero idea why we hadn't included Charlie until now. He's so cute! I also think I popped. Here is me at 19weeks. Notice I am wearing a combination of maternity pants and non-maternity shirt.



Here I am at 21.5 weeks. It might not seem like a big change, but the belly to boob ratio is expanded. Right at 20 weeks I started getting the strangers noticing. One woman I was helping at work cut me off mid sentence and pointed at my belly and said: "Oooh, look at that!"

And now for some Charlie interactions. Here he is wondering how I could do this to him.

Lastly I put bare belly photo on the right bar. I will continue to do this until I feel/look disgusting and/or the orange pants don't fit.

Some of the highlights of the last week

Forewarning this blog post is all over the place:
I‘ve been getting kicked a bit more. But only on my left side. One night, we couldn’t sleep, I got like 5 kicks. Big booming ones.
Baby loves chocolate milk. I had a big jug of it, and I finally felt those low flutters I had been hearing about on Friday Nov27th. In fact, it kept me quite entertained, and I zoned completely out of the conversation I was in. Apologies to the Miller Family.
Baby had the hiccups I think on Nov 30th. It made me giggle.
OOOh update! I got kicked in my lower belly while typing. It makes me laugh, it’s like I heard a hilarious joke. It just warms my heart!
I googled what a 22 week old fetus looks like, because for some reason, when I think of baby bot, I just see him in ultrasound form.

A concern:
I have no idea what I’m going to name this baby. I had like ten girl names that I LOVED and could pull from. I got no short list with boys. Nada. And worse, when I think of one, josh always always says either, “nah”, or shrugs. I don’t want trendy, (Cayden, Hayden, Jayden) but I am also bored with traditional (Michael, Ethan, Christopher). Josh says we have plenty of time, but I want it to marinate for a while before the birth. I have a feeling it’s going to be something ridiculous or stupendous. So get ready for it. (PS, we are keeping the name a secret when we do pick it. I’ll take suggestions but you will have to wait until the day he is born for bragging rights on picking the name.

My small pet peeve:
People who say “Just you wait” I can’t even freakin’ yawn, without someone saying, “Think you’re tired now? Just you wait!” I excuse myself to the bathroom and I get “Oh you will be doing that a lot more, just you wait.” If some kid cries in the next room? Oh that’s a big “just you wait”
Can I please just enjoy the moment?
This is almost as bad as people who say “Enjoy (fill in the blank activity) now, cause that’s all OVER when the baby comes.” Buzzkill. Plus, I think after ten years of it just being me and Josh we can hardly complain that we didn’t have a blast just the two of us before becoming parents.

Besides those little things, truly, everyone has been really great. I do enjoy pretty much everything else about being pregnant. I don’t care if people touch my stomach or anything like that. In fact, I might be the only pregnant lady who loves it. I guess I am touchy feely. Or maybe because I secretly longed to touch pregnant bellies while trying to make this baby.

Top five things I love about being pregnant right now:
1. I don’t have to suck in my gut. I just let it all. hang. out.
2. Laughing fits. It doesn’t take much to set me off. The most recent incident was a college kid having trouble scanning his hotdog buns at the self checkout machine. He was so hilariously disoriented and confused when his checkout light started blinking, the computer voice started yelling at him and like two employees rushed at him like he was trying to stuff hotdog buns down his pants. I had tears in my eyes.
3. Watching my belly grow. Strangers are making comments now!
4. Josh utterly spoiling me rotten.
5. The anticipation, surprise, and wonder of little bot doing his calisthenics.

Biggest adjustments
1. Not dieting. I have to remember it is okay to have juice, or a second helping. I try hard to get all my calories in, but cutting them is a hard habit to break. Josh is constantly reminding me to EAT. I will just have to watch helplessly as my ass expands.
2. Trapped gas and round ligament pain. I thought I was headed to the ER, but I just needed to toot. And how cute that josh clapped his hands for me when it did.
3. I can’t sit on my butt for more than an hour without it hurting. Movies suck and so do roadtrips, youch.
4. The awful guilt I feel when I eat junk food.
None of this compares to the horror of my nausea and vomiting first trimester. So when people ask me how I am feeling, I smile big and honestly say “I feel GREAT!”

Nobody is going to believe this

Nobody is going to believe this.

That’s what I was thinking when it happened.

First let’s take care of old business before we move on to new business. The final cylon was revealed on Battlestar Galactic. Also an unprecedented occurrence happened: Two cylons did the horizontal mambo and totally made a baby! With the destruction of the resurrection ship (which had previously granted immortality to cylons), being able to reproduce the old fashioned way is a big deal for the future of the cylon race!!

Trust me, this useless fact will play into the new business soon. So for all of you who skimmed the last paragraph (mom), you might want to read it!

SO! On to new business! Me and Josh are watching our umpteenth episode of Battlestar on Saturday night. A real marathon that only other fraking nerds would appreciate (frak is the f-word in the future!). During the show, I feel some gas bubbles in my tummy. I figure even if it isn’t the baby, maybe josh should put his hand on my tummy to see if he can feel something too. Not three minutes later it happens!

The baby kicks for the first time, and josh felt the first kick for himself with me! Unbelievable!! It felt like a boop! It felt like a bop! Basically, it felt like a tiny foot kicked me. I had always expected that I would have to dim the lights, sit still and turn off all noise and really focus to feel something. But this was like Pow! -right in the kisser! The best part about it? There was no mistaking it! Finally!

I turned to josh and said “Did you feel that!?” And he said “yeah, it got me right here (points to area right below his ring finger)”. Of course I ruined the moment by making josh do a play by play of what exactly happened, the pressure of the kick and his initial reaction like 5 times. I had him poke me in the arm to demonstrate the strength of the baby. I also corrected him when he pointed to a different area of his hand that was kicked. On and on I went.

I have not felt a kick since. But I am starting to think these rolling movements are the baby. Like a tongue moving on the inside of your cheek. Granted I’m really gassy. So that’s still up in the air.

So, ready for crazy coincidence number 2? Remember that knocked up cylon? Well not 10 minutes later they have their own tender scene where daddy cylon feels the baby kick! Both cylons burst into tears of joy. I gave josh the side eye wondering what happened to the waterworks on our end(!!). Long story short, the cylon baby fetus and his tear jerking kicking scene upstaged us. Big time.

Halftime Update

This is Josh: The ultrasound showed boy, which is supercool, but the really good thing is that everything checked out fine. All the measurements and whatnot. So now we’re at the halfway point, everything has gone great, Stef’s belly keeps growing, and it’s awesome that I’m witnessing a once/twice/thrice in a lifetime event.

During all of this, there’s a feeling of time passing slowly, yet forcefully. It feels like a long time since Stef got pregnant (and I know that means nothing coming from me because she’s the one going through it all). But April is coming quick, we’re already at the holidays with the new year around the corner. I feel like we should do something to make the most of our last days before parenthood, but I don’t know what.

At the same time, there’s something about having our kid growing inside Stefanie’s body that makes the passing of time very cool, and I want time to continue moving. Each week brings a new adventure. Once time drums forward to April, the future of life will arrive.

(And then that future of life has 20 years before they’re outta here! Hey, maybe that’ll be his name: Future. I gotta run that one by Stef.) - Josh

How far along?

How far along? 20 weeks
Total weight gain: 6 pounds. They say you should gain 25-35 pounds, so I can’t wait to start eating my way to that! Oh boy!
Maternity clothes? There are a couple shirts I can still wear, but the maternity pants are a must!
Stretch marks? None.
Sleep: I hate sleeping on my side. The body pillow helps nothing.
Best moment this week: Having the ultrasound. I can’t believe there is a baby in there. He was moving so much.
Movement: I don’t think so. Nothing that shouts baby. Instead it could be gas, round ligament pain, or even just my uterus growing. Sometimes I think something rolled over, but the feeling lingers way too long.
Food cravings: Buffalo chicken dip (shredded chicken breast, cream cheese, frank’s hot sauce, blue cheese) heated up until it is melty and spread on toasted French bread. YUM!
Food aversions: Pizza sauce- still and salmon
Gender: It’s a boy! 75 percent for sure!
Labor Signs: Negative
Belly Button in or out? In, but starting to stretch a bit
What I miss: Sedatives and sleeping on my back
What I am looking forward to: The holidays with my family! Thanksgiving with the in-laws and Christmas with my immediate family. So excited!
Weekly Wisdom: I am not deformed. I am pregnant.
Milestones: Healthy baby at the midway ultrasound.

First Outfit/First Gift!

First outfit!
So yesterday I went to Target to see if I could find an outfit that would inspire me. I hadn’t bought any baby items yet, and I was determined to make this whole baby thing more “real”. It was actually harder than I thought! First of all Target’s newborn boy section was sprinkled throughout only one and half racks. Secondly, there were a lot of too warm wintery type things, Christmas type things, and a lot of sports themes that didn’t have single baseball on it (my compromise to josh). I immediately nixed the outfit that proclaimed “Here Comes Trouble”. I also gave the side eye to the one that declared “I Like Mud!” I refuse to raise a messy delinquent!!!
So basically I ended up getting a very gender neutral, arguably boring sleeper. I think the stars say, “I’d like to be an astronaut, mom!” or possibly inspire him to be a star on Broadway.

But, when I got home this little outfit completely transformed. It was like the baby was partly home. I can’t stop stroking the little tummy and fussing with the buttons. I didn’t even take it up to the baby’s room. We have it laying on the couch, and I periodically pick it up to fiddle with, lay on my tummy, or just hold up in front of me and sigh.

First gift!
A huge thanks to Adam and Keri for sending us a baby gift! I feel like there is something in there for the whole family. I’m sure josh will benefit from the stretch mark cream. Although if they are coming, they are coming! And josh: We are already married, so tough cookies if your woman goes all crazy body with the map lines post-baby. Nobody said motherhood was pretty! :)