Best Baby Ever

I’ve been neglecting the blog, since it didn’t seem as important to keep it up any more. But I’ve missed it, so I’m back. I’ve been journaling regularly in baby’s journal, so she’ll have that record at least, of the time that isn’t chronicled here. 

Now that Megan is pregnant, I’m reliving all of my preggo days. I can see now why I got so much advice from other folks – everyone loves a pregnant lady, especially other former-preggos (that is, moms). I’ve been trying to pass on all the best bits I learned during my own delicate time, while not over-burdening her with unsolicited advice. No one likes that. But since I can’t pass down clothes – she’s having a boy – I must pass down pearls of wisdom. 

I’m so glad I kept these little records for Vy – the journal, this blog, all the pictures and notes of how I was feeling and what was going on. Since I’m already dreaming about having another one, it will do me good to remember just how much it all sucked for a while, hehe. 

But she sure is the cutest little thing in the world. I’m in love with her hands this week. They are so little and cute, so expressive in ways she doesn’t intend. I want to eat them! I know it’s probably silly of me at this stage, seeing as she’s only 3 months, but I find myself hugging her to me, especially at night or early morning, when she’s sleepy and nursing and we’re all alone, and feeling just the barest hint of sadness at the fact that even as I can’t wait to see her grown up and gain the milestones ahead of her, I am already clinging to her babyhood, feeling like it’s just sailing by me all too quickly; that as much as I want to hear her talk, I already miss the fact that she can’t, that she just blows bubbles and smiles; and even in that I am nostalgic for the days only a few short weeks ago when all she did was sleep and eat and cry because she was just a newbie and too small to do anything else. Sweet, sweet pain of motherhood. I want you to grow up, but I want you to be forever my baby. 

Now that I’m back at work, Shawn has assumed day care duties. They are getting along famously. She’s only had one bad day so far, and he’s enjoying it more than he thought he would – I think we were both worried that she would be screaming all day, that only I could calm her and that she would freak out when left alone with him. But so far, they’ve become fast friends. I make him text me pictures during the day, and updates. Her picture is all over my desk, so I can look at her funny face all day long. I totally laugh out loud to myself at random intervals when I chance to catch one of her pics out of the corner of my eye. She’s the best ever.

33 Weeks and a Babymoon

Well, here we are at 33 weeks. My goodness. Baby is moving and shaking all day, and no longer in a cute way, but in a painful, those-are-my-ribs kind of way. I have to pee all the time, so this car trip down to San Clemente to visit the Godmama of Excitement is going to be an interesting ride, haha.

First, here's the info from BabyCenter for this week:

This week your baby weighs a little over 4 pounds (heft a pineapple) and has passed the 17-inch mark. She's rapidly losing that wrinkled, alien look and her skeleton is hardening. The bones in her skull aren't fused together, which allows them to move and slightly overlap, thus making it easier for her to fit through the birth canal. (The pressure on the head during birth is so intense that many babies are born with a conehead-like appearance.) These bones don't entirely fuse until early adulthood, so they can grow as her brain and other tissue expands during infancy and childhood.

 Let's back up a bit, shall we?

My first baby shower was on the 12th, and it was fabulous. Gramma D and Auntie Nicole did a crazy good job of making the house into a purple flower wonderland. There was tons of delicious food and giant cupcakes, and I went home with a carful of clothes, diapees and wipees, my bedding set, and a bunch of other baby goodies. Now I just need somewhere to put it all. And I must remember to do my thank you notes next week.

Then, I found out later that night that Miss Lila Jane finally had her baby girl, Ava Elise, at 8lbs 8oz. Everyone is home now and doing well, and hopefully next week I will get a chance to get out to see them.

Went in to see Dr. Hayes on Monday, Valentine's Day, and all was well. We met with the postpartum counseling lady, who went over some basic questions with me, gave me some info on what PPD looks like and so on, and her card, in case we should need to talk to her later. She was very nice.

Dr. Hayes seems less worried about my increasing girth than I do, so perhaps it is all in my head. She measured my stomach and was pleased, and we listened to Vyla's heartbeat again. At first the doppler wand was right on top of her, but then she scuttled away and hid somewhere, and it took a minute to find her again. But, you know, there are only so many places you can go inside a uterus, so we eventually found her and got a solid 10 second listen to her heartbeat, which is still strong and fast.

My next appointment was scheduled for two weeks later, on March 7th, after which I will start coming in about once a week and they will start checking me for all kinds of different things, and, I imagine, doing at least one more ultrasound to figure out how she's laying in there.

This weekend, Shawn and I are driving to San Clemente to visit Aunt Margaret, or the Godmama of Excitement, as Shawn christened her when he was a kid. She calls him Shawniecakes. I think that's awesome. It's raining and poopy outside, but we have the Jeep, so I'm confident. It will be fun to see the place where I plan to get married next year, and to take one last trip just the two of us. Of course, once she's here we'll have all kinds of fun family trips that we can take, but the nostalgia of having a trip, as a couple without cares, for the last time, is nice. I must admit, there is a part of me that sometimes wishes we had held off on this surprise for a time. I've never been sad about this pregnancy, nor am I now, but every now and then I think about all the things I would have liked to have done as a carefree couple that we sort of skipped over, and it does make me a bit low -- for example, even though I love the idea of having my baby be a part of my wedding, and I think it will be so much more special with her as a part of it, I still sometimes think about having been able to have my wedding first, and then moving into having a baby.

But then, I don't plan to stop being fabulous just because I become a mother, so really, what is all this worry for? In fact, I will be extra fabulous, because I will be Fabulous Me + Adorable Baby + Super Hot Husband. So really, all the more to admire. ;)

Monday Monday

I have finally updated my belly pictures, but so far they're only on Facebook, so you'll have to find them in the Oh Baby! album there until I get around to posting them in the blog. We missed a week of pictures while Shawn was at NAMM, but it's still a pretty good slide show. It's so funny looking back at some of the earlier pics when I thought I was showing so much, compared to now when I really am. I was so much smaller then. Well, I will be again, someday. By September, I hope, when my Mom gets married. I'd like to have most of the weight worked off by then.

I spent some time with Lila last night, who's due date was just moved back to February 5th from January 28th. She's jolly and round like Santa, hehe. We checked out her nursery, which is darling, and ate cheesecake and tea and talked about weddings and babies and life changes. It was nice to have some quality time. She's still working on remodeling the house with her hubby, and hopefully they can have it mostly finished in a week.

My shower is in two weeks, and the more I see that gifts are being bought from the registry, the more excited I get. Not in a greedy way, but because I'm finally and actually going to have her things in the house, and I can start getting ready for her for real. I'm pretty close to chucking out a lot of the stuff in the house, like half of what is stuffed into the closet. I just don't think I need it all, especially the two boxes that were never unpacked from the move... Shawn is going to disassemble the changing table before the shower, so that I can send it home with Vicki to paint all pretty. And it looks like someone purchased my bassinet, so I'll have that to set up, and acclimatize the cats to its forbidden status.

The baby is kicking and I have a bit of something in my contact lense. I want a venti iced latte...

New Clothes!

Super big thanks to Nicole and Kim for donating two big bags of maternity clothes last night. I have seriously doubled my wardrobe. I wore a combination of both gals to work today -- Kim's khaki's, and Nicole's navy top. My own sparkly flip flops, hehe. Pops is giving me some money to stock up one some other things, like some outwear and a couple more pairs of work pants, and so on.

I had a dream last night that we were at the ultrasound appointment -- me and Shawn, my mom, Shawn's parents -- and we found out it was a boy. Premonition? Or resurfacing of everyone telling me it's going to be a boy? I don't know, and I'm trying desperately not to get my hopes up for one or the other. Also, I came up with a really fun way of breaking the big news to the folks waiting in the waiting room, in my dream, and when I woke up, I was like, huh, that's a really good idea. So now it shall come to pass.

Felt another little kick today, but he/she isn't terribly active yet, and least not that I can feel. Braxton-Hicks contractions from time to time, usually at night or first thing in the morning. Registered for a freakin' adorable bassinet online this afternoon. I'm jealous. I wish my bed was that cute.

Today is my one year anniversary with Shawn. We're celebrating by having a kid. Hehe. But seriously. I guess none of this has felt like a big deal to me because it seems like we've been together for so much longer than that. We both looked at each other last night and thought, really? Only one year? Time has gone in slow-mo for the last year. I suppose Thanksgiving is as good a time as any for all these things to come up. Cause no matter what, I really am happy and thankful for him in my life.

So, sappy moments aside, hope everyone has a wonderful evening, and I shall be back tomorrow with pictures of the belly at 19 weeks. Can't believe I'm encroaching on the halfway mark already. Christ. Slow down in there!!