Baby Belly

Here's a good one of the baby bump. Yep. In other news, I think our odd neighbors might be moving out. Well . . . their stuff is still there, but they're gone. So . . . it's kind-of weird. Hopefully they don't turn around and rent the place to some more weirdos. I might have to call the owner (I have to figure out who he is and find his phone number) and raise some hell if he rents it out again. I just may have the stones to do that these days. Did I tell you guys that someone had come to our neighbor's house (we share a driveway) during the day last week (Willis and I assume this person had come looking to collect money from a debt)? Well . . . apparently that person was ticked off that the neighbor wasn't there, because he totally peeled out in his part of the driveway (slinging mud everywhere), and ran off the driveway into our yard crushing two of our solar lamp thingies. Douchebag. People are gross sometimes. Ooh! Baby's movin'. Random side note: Hobbes likes to eat freshly mown grass. It's weird. He likes it when it's in chunks so that he can pick it up and shake his head and pretend it's a baby rabbit or something. He likes to grab said grass when I'm taking him for a walk (which is mildly annoying, but I'll admit it's funny to watch when he's shaking it). I never said he was a smart dog.

Larsen Wedding

I really didn't take any pictures this weekend (at the Morrow/Larsen Wedding action), and it saddens me. I do have some, though. So, here they are!


View from my seat of the ceremony (Willi's up there—he's the short guy).


Here's a good shot of my man in his duds. It takes a manly man to wear pink, you know.


Boiler up!


Rear shot of that glorious Boilermaker Special.


That's a dog. (He spent the weekend trying to get Duncan, Abby, and Riley to play with him. I don't think he was horribly successful with that, poor guy.)

We got to see a lot of people we haven't seen in ages, so that was really cool. We had a good time.

21 Weeks

The doc appointment went well yesterday. The CNM went over the ultrasound with me, and it turns out that our baby is normal, healthy, and mobile. I was glad to hear that after that lovely ultrasound appointment from about two weeks ago. Speaking of that, I told my CNM about my ultrasound experience (with the wench ultrasound tech), and it became very clear to me that my OB's office is very much independent of what goes on at the hospital. In fact, the more I spoke with her, it became more apparent that we may be dealing with more battle axes when we go to deliver. She said that the maternity nurses are all kind-of "from the past" and aren't very kind and personable. She said I'll be assigned to one maternity nurse when I go in to deliver, and I'll only have to deal with that maternity nurse other than herself (my CNM). So . . . that was a relief. I'll probably have the stones to tell the lady off if she's a wench at that point, I'd imagine. At least I know what to expect, and I can start learning how to deal with it. So . . . that's kinda fun. Oh, and in case you were wondering, we still don't know the sex, and I imagine we probably won't know until this bugger comes out. I am unaware of any further ultrasounds. I'm okay with that, though, honestly. I'd rather not go through that whole experience again (especially since it wasn't as cool as I was hoping it'd be anyway). So, I didn't ask if there'd be more. There could be, but I'm unaware of any more. So . . . I'm assuming there won't be any unless they have a reason to look. Without further ado, I'll give you a belly update. Here's what I'm lookin' like these days at 21 weeks. Yes. It is funny that I'm standing next to a sign that says "Storage." This week has taken forever, it seems. Maybe that's because I've been working on five publications this week at work. *shrug* Dilly out.

20 Week Ultrasound

Oop! I forgot to mention one more thing I got for my birthday that was really cool: Justin and Maggie (friends from work) got me a cool thing that allows me to listen to the baby's movements and heartbeat with ear phones. It runs on a 9 volt battery, and it is -like- basically a stethoscope with a mic in it or something. It's totally sweet. It also allows for recording as well, which I am hoping to do once I capture this kid's heartbeat. In the meantime, we're able to hook up to headphones to it to listen, and we've been able to hear swishing sounds as this kid break dances in my belly. It says in the instruction manual that you may not be able to hear the heartbeat until the third trimester, so it may be awhile on that yet. It's still pretty cool. I'd never heard of one of those for home use before. Oh, man. The ultrasound was today. Let me just begin that whole saga with this: I had to drink 32 ounces of water between 7:30 a.m. and 8 a.m. I was told to be at the hospital at 8 a.m., ready to go. I was there about ten minutes early with Willis, water gone by 8 a.m. on the dot (believe you me, I spread it out as much as possible). I got in and registered fairly quickly, and then we had to go sit and wait in the X-Ray/Radiology area. We sat there for about 40 minutes (nearly in tears, and nearly sitting in my own pee) before I turned to Willis and said, "Do you think you could go to the desk and ask them if they have any idea how long this is going to be?" So, Willi got up, went over to the desk, and politely asked them about how long they thought it would be before we'd begin the ultrasound. He mentioned that it had been over an hour since I was asked to start taking in fluids, and I was beginning to be extremely uncomfortable. The ladies seemed a bit flustered and surprised, and they started trying to track down the technician that was supposed to be seeing me. They told him that they'd get back to him about that as soon as they get a call back (they had called the room, and apparently the lady wasn't there). They also said that if I "absolutely have to go," I could just let out a little bit of urine to relieve the pressure. When he told me this, I thought, "Uh . . . is that even possible?" It's possible. Five minutes after waiting for a response and getting no answers, I decided it had to be done. Even if someone came at that moment to get me, I knew I'd pee somewhere in the hallway in transit to the ultrasound rom. So . . . I peed a little bit. Just a trickle. It was painful. I about cried, but it was possible. As soon as I stepped out of the bathroom, the technician was standing there waiting for me with Willis—looking fairly annoyed. She walked us back to the room (at ten minutes til 9:00 a.m.), had me lay down (the table fell a little as I laid down which was total murder to the bladder that was still very, very full—full enough that I didn't have to drink any more water even after peeing a little), and then she took the measurements she needed with the full bladder. Then, she told me I could go to the bathroom and empty it. That was a relief considering I couldn't think about anything but trying not to pee and/or cry during the experience. After a few moments, it occurred to me that this was obviously not going to be a 4D ultrasound (I'm quite certain my CNM had led me to believe that we'd be doing a 4D ultrasound, and I was really looking forward to it), so I asked the technician, "Now . . . is this just a regular ultrasound, or is it going to be the 4D ultrasound?" In the coldest voice ever, the lady goes, "No. We don't have 4D." So . . . I had to get over that while I was trying to decipher what we were looking at on the screen. (I had to somewhat crane my neck to watch what was happening as this session was clearly not something that's for the parents to enjoy.) The lady was not at all forthcoming with any information about what we were seeing, etc. She had mentioned that she can't tell us anything about measurements, etc. because she doesn't read the ultrasound—she only takes measurements and photos. So, we understood that and what it could mean for her, but we thought she could've at least been like, "This is your baby's butt, etc." While she was shifting around the ultrasound head, I was able to catch glimpses of the baby and its features (or what I believed to be the baby and its features). I saw its little fists of fury, moving about like I thought they'd be. I saw it move its head a little bit. I wished she'd have taken a bit more time at those moments so that we might have been able to watch it move a little longer. So . . . the kid is active and alive, and that's good news. Other than that, we didn't really garner any serious knowledge other than the due date is still basically the same and there's only one in there. She guessed the sex (and still claimed it was too early to tell even though I'll be 19 weeks tomorrow), and said, "If I have to guess, I'd say it's probably a girl, but don't throw out your receipts." What do you do with that? You can't go rightly telling everyone you're going to have a little girl with a statement like that. What if we're wrong? So . . . we're still not having a clue as to what the sex is. I suppose that's alright and all, but . . . I was kind-of looking forward to knowing. I called the doctor's office today to ask about when we'd find out the "real" information about the ultrasound (after a radiologist reads the information), and I also talked about my experience and how unfulfilling it was. From what I could gather, this experience wasn't normal . . . so . . . that's both sad and a relief, I suppose. Anyway . . . without further ado, I'll show you the only photos that the technician supplied us with today. This is the profile of the baby: face, shoulders, upper torso, and arms, I think. I'm not too terribly sure about that since she didn't really tell us . . . That's our baby's alien face in there. *sigh* I just totally thought it'd be so much cooler than it was.

Friends Come to Visit

I have to make this brief . . . because I am sooo tired today.

Firstly, we had a blast this weekend with some friends of ours. We had a lot of people in our living room at one time, and it was awesome.


See? We're all definitely playing You Don't Know Jack. Good game. Fun times.

Oh, and here's where Hobbes was sitting:


Aww.

Yesterday was my birthday, and I got some flowers from the Shines (oldest sister and fam). They're daisies and they smell yummy. I tried to take a picture of them with my phone, but my phone has decided that I can no longer upload those photos from my phone . . . which is odd.
Willi's getting me a garage door for my birthday so that I can open and close it in the middle of winter without dying. So, that is sweet of him. 

Ma and Pa came and took us out to dinner last night. That was good times. This is why I'm sleepy today.

I need a nap. For real. That is all.
*edit*
I completely forgot to mention that Andy and Jordan stopped by our house on their way back to Lebanon from Chicago on Sunday afternoon. (I should not post on tired days.) Andy's the other Graphic Designer I used to work with at the Daily Sun (before Whitney joined the crew, of course), and Jordan is his wife. I have mentioned him before in prior posts (which I'm sure are very hard to read now that I've changed the format of everything on this site) about the newspaper, etc. That mostly happened when I worked there back in 2005 and before we moved away. Jordan's pregnant now just like me—only she's about 6 weeks ahead of me. It's wild: she looks absolutely fabulous pregnant, and I was standing next to her and realized that my belly is about as big as hers is. Oi. I'm beginning to think that I must just be a huge pregnant person (even though I've not really gained weight at all).
It was nice to catch up with them a bit. They're good people. It'd be cool if we could see them more often. It'd be cool if we could see all our friends more often. *sigh*
*second edit*
Holy crap . . . I also forgot to mention the awesomeness of the speaker system that Jason and Nic brought to our house. Jason designs speakers for Klipsch, and he totally hooked us up with a sweet little system. It's completely changed our lives. He has so royally spoiled us, it's not even funny. We will never be able to watch TV with just the sound coming from the TV again. We're too good for it now—now that we have this awesome system. We totally win. Thanks again, guys!

18 Weeks - Belly Shot

Well . . . many of you have requested it. So, here it is.



It's my baby belly in all its glory: just a day shy of 18 weeks.

*Addendum*
I haven't really mentioned anything about this lately, but Willis spoils me. It's serious. It occurs to me every day, but I never mention it. I figure it's high time that I do.

Firstly, the guy goes to the grocery store for me. I hate the grocery store. He hates it, too, but he sucks it up and goes for me. Plus, he always gets everything that I write down on the list (and, many times, he remembers things that I forget to put on the list and gets them for me, too).

Secondly, the guy rubs my feet -like- every day without being asked. It rocks. I try to scratch his back once a day, but I think he tends to rub my feet a bit more than I scratch his back.

Thirdly, (and this is more of a random, hilarious story) Willis doesn't know he did this yet, but he definitely put his hand on my bum in the middle of the night last night, which woke me. I looked over at him, noticed his eyes were still closed, and I said, "What are you doing?"

He said, "I'm trying to feel the baby move."

Hilarious.

But yes, he makes me laugh a lot, which helps me tremendously. It hurts my belly muscles (which have moved to the sides lately, BTW), but it's good for me.

He even does little dances for me to try to get me to smile if I'm ticked off. It doesn't usually work at the time, but when I think back on it later, it's actually pretty stinking funny.

He also makes dinner when I'm not feeling up to it (and sometimes even when I do feel up to it, he makes dinner). He's also been -like- branching out and trying new recipes and whatnot with dinner, and it's going really well. I think this guy knows how to cook!

He washes the dog for me when the cat sprays him in the face. (This happens more than we like to admit.)
He has requested that once a week, we have this time together where we sit down next to each other, turn on our favorite album, and just enjoy each other's company. I haven't denied him that request. I don't intend to.

He helps me put the clothes away when I wash them, and he carries all the baskets up the stairs for me (sometimes he carries them all at once). Then, he thanks me for washing his clothes. (He can do laundry, too, but I prefer to do it 'cause I don't trust him to check labels when things are "questionable" for the dryer.)

He mows the yard. He trims.
He picks up after himself (most of the time).

He vacuums for me when I ask him to (and actually tries to do a decent job).

And last but not least, he's my human calculator and dictionary/thesaurus.

I like him.