New Belly Pic

Here's my most recent belly pic. I was headed to a bridal shower and asked Nick to snap a picture before I headed out.

2 Ups

- We're getting closer!

- Our appointment with the Midwife went really well. I received all the paperwork for the 'pre-admission' and my birth plan and all that. Next appointment I have to turn it all in! It's amazing how time flies!

2 Downs

- We're getting closer! (Yikes!!! I don't feel ready yet!)

- The fatigue is back. Friday and Saturday night I was asleep on the couch by 8pm!

What are your ups and downs?

28 weeks

I keep forgetting!

To post this! I finished up the baby blanket I began before I knew our baby was a 'she'. The blanket matches the bugaboo and has an 'O' in the center (our last name begins with O). It's a super soft, machine washable merino wool. I'm tempted to use it as a lap blanket before our baby comes, but just as I decided not to use the diaper bag as a knitting bag until she comes, I'm saving the good stuff for her arrival.

Things are good

Things are going well. This spring is going to be chaotic, but I'm looking forward to it. I have a couple weddings to attend, a couple showers (bridal and baby) and I'm just excited that spring has sprung around these parts.

I've been sitting here as our little girl keeps kicking and rolling around and it just amazes me. I can't believe some extremity of some sort is rolling around just below my ribs. I know those ribs are just starting to stretch as they're a little achy. Also, I think my abdominals pulled a little farther apart this afternoon too, as when I laugh I get a 'muscle soreness' pain right at the upper right ab insertion. It makes me smile and wince all in one. I'm also a little frightened as to how big I'll grow, but I'm happy to know that she's just happy as can be getting exercise in my abdomen. It's crazy to imagine.

Oh, and I think I've figured out what braxton-hicks contractions feel like... weird.

I received a lovely package from my mom today. It's 2 newborn sleeper sets with a super cute monkey bib... I love it. I looked at it and held it up while I was at work. I said "Really? This only fits a baby up to 8lbs? They come out this big!?!?" After a minor freak out, I'm back to playing with these clothes and trying to imagine a little version of Nick and I wiggling around in them.

I get to see my Mom next week and I'm pretty excited about that.

27w, 2d

Nick's getting on board

So, as I've mentioned numerous times, Nick's been great. Really, really great. He's been such a good emotional rock for me, he's helped me off the couch (ha!) and he generally makes sure I'm calm, collected and comfortable.

This weekend, just before heading over to my brother and sister-in-law's for easter, he asked me what the phone number was for Kaiser, and, if the appointment line is the same one we should call in case "anything goes wrong" or if we just needed to ask some questions. I looked at my handy-dandy Kaiser pregnancy wallet insert and gave him the appropriate number. He promptly entered it in his phone, and in mine. He wants to be prepared.

Then, while at the Easter dinner table, a discussion of breastfeeding came up and I stated that I don't want our child to be fed with a bottle for the first few weeks, if we can help it. Nick then turns to me and says "So, I'm not going to get to feed our baby with a bottle?" Oy vey. My response? "Honey, I'd like to make sure both the baby and I are used to breastfeeding prior to introducing a bottle. So, once we're both 'ol pro's' at it, you can feed her with a bottle"

So, the good news is he's getting ready. The bad news is I realized in my pregnancy crazy research, I need to talk to him about these things prior to setting things in stone (ha, nothing's set in stone, I'm just laying down some "ideals"). In any case, it's great. I'm super excited he's realized that there is less than 3 months prior to our due date. So much to do, so little time!

Oh, and the nest is irritatingly slow! grrr...

27w even

New belly pic! (a little late)

Here's my most recent belly pic:

My 2 ups:

-I'm doing relatively well, I'm in stage 2 maternity clothes and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they last until the end (here's hoping!)

- I'm excited for spring and after a minor freak out as to how little time we have left, I've realized it's time to just enjoy the last few months of being a couple before becoming a family

(one more up, because I wanna)

- This morning I told Nick to watch my belly, because she was kicking around. He decided to come over and talk to the baby putting his lips right around my belly button. As he was talking to her, she kicked his lips! He was pretty shocked and excited. It was really cool to see the two of them 'interact'.

My 2 downs:

- I had to go up a couple sizes in underwear. Weird feeling.

-I miss wine. And cocktails.

(one more, because I wanna)

-I think I'm officially up 30 lbs.

What are your 2 ups and 2 downs? (obviously, add as many as you'd like)

26w, even!

Thank you baby!

I've been trying to decide whether to include this story in my blog, but I figured it'd be something good to look back on later on.

So, we have this car:

And, I love it. It makes me happy. It's the perfect car for us. It's sporty enough for Nick to love it, it's luxurious enough for me to love it (leather seats and butt warmers are two things near and dear to my heart).

So, our beloved 4Runner suddenly started to sound like it was running bad. We didn't hear it from inside the car, but rather when one person was pulling into the garage while the other exited, they could hear it. THEN we realized that it was actually when the air conditioning was on. Whenever you hit 'auto' for the air, the A/C comes on automatically, even with heat (this is normal, apparently). So we decided when we took it in for service, we'd ask what this sound was.

Last week, we took it in for it's 55k mile service. They said we'd have to pay to diagnose the problem (grr) ok, fine. When they called back, we received terrible news: "It looks as though part of your air conditioner compressor is broken and to fix it it will run about $4900, assuming the worst case scenario. Oh, and you need new brakes."

Well we had a big problem with that. The way it was described was poor (initially) and the cost is outrageous for a car that only has 55k miles on it and is only a 2004. When we went to pick it up, Nick dropped me off at the service desk while he went to search for parking. I went in, hormones raging and belly bulging demanding to know exactly what happened and why. Is it something we did? Or, is this the time things just start to break down? One of the reasons we purchased a toyota was to ensure things like this wouldn't happen. Things just don't "break". I was yelling and screaming and causing a scene. And, when things do 'break' they shouldn't be as expensive as this to fix this early on.

Then, Nick walked in. Once that happened, I softened. I just told them "I don't understand. I know things break, but we bought this car as to not have a problem with things malfunctioning. I know we're out of warranty, but this sucks" Then, I welled up. Nick took the opportunity to say "Let's just go pay" (pay for the days service, brakes and diagnosis. $700 later...

Our service advisor ran out to my car as I started to drive off. Apparently, me causing a scene and crying caught the attention of the manager and our service advisor went to him after we left and said "Isn't there anything we can do? They're just getting started (insert other heartwarming words here)". Well he pulled me over on the side of the street and after a few more tears he proceeded to tell me that they'd cover it under a 'good will warranty'. He said because we've been such good customers (bringing the car in every 5k for service since we bought the car) and are just starting out, they wanted to take care of the entire thing. Free."

Holy crap. That's fantastic. So we took our car back in the shop about a week later and they're currently replacing the entire A/C system (something exploded and sent metal pieces throughout the lines including under the dash, minimum labor is 15 hours). AND, although they've ordered all the parts already, they need to order an additional part that's on back order, so my car's in pieces and it was supposed to be back to us last night but they don't know when it will be available, so they set us up with a rental.. And, with that additional part, apparently the part total for the job is up to $5k, with $2k in labor... sheesh!

They let me pick the rental type, I went with this:

It's actually a fun little car. I don't have any of my 'luxury' features, but I'm enjoying driving something a bit different. Nick got in the car and smiled... he laughed at himself when he said this "It actually wouldn't be a bad family car!" We discussed how silly it'd be to sell our beloved 4Runner and get one of these and pictured every one's reactions... After driving it today, I thought back to the 4Runner and realized it's still the perfect car for us.

Anyway, thank you, baby O for allowing us to maintain the value of our car, ensure we have air conditioning for this summer when you're here. Oh, and for this spring because with the pregnancy hormones I've been way hotter than normal and turning A/C on when it's only 70 degrees outside (so not like me! I'm always cold!)

25 w, 2 days

How to make a pregnant woman pout:

Last night I ran to grab a couple of items from the grocery store on the way home from work. To my delight, I saw a group of those infamous green vested little girls with their cookies at the exit of the store. I think those cookies might as well be considered a martini in my eyes because they made me just about as excited to see that they were there, waiting to be purchased. (That, and, everyone's been talking about recieving their orders for weeks now or that they picked them up at the store and are freezing tons for later in the year.)

I run in, grab my items, get to the check out and grab some cash (I never carry cash). I waddle out the store to the exit and look around. No tables, no trash, no girl scouts and no cookies. It was like a terrible mirage. I pouted as I walked to my car sans-samoas (or whatever they're called now) and looked around for little girls running circles around a car as the mom packed up the goods. I was going to accost them in the parking lot armed with pregnancy hormones as my only weapon. How sad, they made their get-away without allowing me to buy them out.

I went home and pouted for at least an hour.
24w3d

Knitting & Nursery

Here is a picture of our little girl's first hand knit sweater and hat. It turned out so well, I'm quite proud. I took it in to my favorite knitting shop and the woman in the store (that's helped me many times before) said 2 things that made me smile:

1) "You've grown since the last time I've seen you!" (yes, lady, that's what happens, but I'm not bitter)

2) This sweater is fantastic! It turned out perfect. No mistakes, it's beautiful, there isn't a mistake on here!" As a knitter, that's quite a compliment.

To the right is a detail shot.

Also, while I was in the nursery/guest bedroom taking pictures, I snapped a super quick pic of the room and how it's come together thus far. I promise better shots when more decorative 'stuff' gets in there, but this is basically a shot of the layout. The dresser to the right will act as a changing table, obviously the crib, to the right of the crib is a blue velvet rocker/swivel chair from my grandmother (with a baby blanket I'm working on draped over the back of it, a detail shot of that once it's complete!) and right in the front left of the shot is the corner of the guest bed. The closet is to the left of the bed. It's snug, but I think it will work out just fine. Sorry for the lighting!

24w,2d