Midnight Snack

Brian gone on a night shift + Natalie no morning responsibilities = 

MonkeyBread ("skinny" recipe) at midnight.

 Pathetic? Maybe. But definitely quite yummy.

33 weeks

It's unmistakable, Little Girl is growing! 

This week she is apparently the size (4.5 lbs and 17 inches long) of a pineapple, which sounds really uncomfortable. At least this week's comparison is a fruit that I can visualize... last week was a jicama. What the heck? The point of this whole vegetable/fruit weekly comparison thing is to give me a visual that I can relate to since I can't actually see my baby. Using a jicama then, since I have never seen one, defeats the purpose. (But maybe I am just ignorant and everyone else in the world knows exactly what a jicama is.)

Things Little Girl is enjoying right now:

Rolling from one side of my abdomen to the other.

Sticking round hard parts of her body out on my right side (never my left).

Giving Brian "high fives" when he pokes her.

Experimenting with her athletic skills when I am trying to sleep.

Bumping against the inside of my lower ribs when I try to slouch. 

Sleeping (or at least, not bumping around) when I am on an elliptical machine. 

Things I am enjoying right now:

Going to the gym in the morning (and taking as long as I want! No rush to get to work!).

Reading books about natural childbirth (just finished "Ina May's Guide to Natural Childbirth" and "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Natural Childbirth." Currently reading "Your Best Birth." My definite favorite has been the Idiot's Guide).

Wearing T-shirts and yoga pants/pajamas every day.

Taking naps whenever I feel sleepy.

Getting together with friends (and having an AWESOME baby shower!-- maybe pictures will come later)

Cleaning our apartment.

Working on projects.

Quilting.

Here is my first finished project of the summer-- a quilt for Little Girl's room!

 I love the turquoise and pink and gray together! I just can't decide if I like the front or the back of the quilt better. It is a nice size (about 50x75") for the recliner chair that we have in her room.

This week I am determined to be extra productive, although Brian is on Labor & Delivery night shifts (6pm-7am) all week, so his sleep schedule may throw a wrench in my plans for productivity.

Hiccups and Quilts

3 1/2  more days of students

5 more days of work 

22 days until James (Elder Evans) gets home

54 days until my cousin Julie gets married

and 

70 days (approx) until Baby Girl comes!

 

Yay! We are 3/4 of the way there! Baby Girl seems to have run out of real estate inside my torso and is rapidly expanding outward. According to Brian I "look a lot bigger in real life, the picture doesn't show how big Baby Girl is." According to BabyCenter.com, she is probably almost 16 inches long and weighs about 3 pounds. Her bones are strengthening, which I can definitely tell based on the visible bumps and bulges she makes when she decides to wiggle.

Last week she had hiccups for the first time! I was actually pretty worried because I was lying down and I felt some repeated bumps in the same place near my belly button. But they were too consistent to be normal kicks/punches. My first thought was that I was feeling my own pulse, but after realizing it was NOT my pulse, I jumped to the conclusion that it must be HER pulse and HOLY COW WHY CAN I FEEL HER PULSE?! Then I remembered a BabyCenter email from several weeks ago mentioning that I may be able to feel hiccups from this point on. I calmed down and laughed at myself for a while, then Brian got to watch/feel them for a bit. After getting up and moving around for a while, they stopped, but later that evening they were back. I haven't felt them since, but it was definitely a weird experience!

I also took a trip to Hobby Lobby and found some fun prints for Baby Girl. The lady at checkout just looked at my pile and said "Lemme guess-- you're having a girl?"

But I can't start working on baby girl stuff until Julie's wedding quilt is done. It is going to be awesome, I am so excited for the final product! But so far this is what it looks like:

 

I have all the fabric cut, which means I'm approximately 30% there! My goal is to be done this week... we'll see if I make it!

Names Have Power

We have approximately 84 days in which to decide what to call this new human being of ours. And it's really hard.

 

“Names have power.”
― Rick Riordan, The Lightning Thief 

27 Weeks and a Project

I can't believe we only have 13 weeks left!

I definitely look way more pregnant in real life than in pictures, but here ya go:

  

This week I also finally finished my first big baby project. This awesome dresser was given to us by our good friends when they moved.

BEFORE

 

I have wanted to refinish it for the last year but haven't gotten around to it until now. 

AFTER

 I am so pleased with how it turned out. I only spent $30 on the whole project ($12 on knobs, $10 on polycrylic sealer, $8 on brushes, the dresser was free and I already had the paint).

My favorite part is (are?) the knobs! So pretty!

Which Elephant

This picture sums up today pretty accurately:

Which elephant are you? I think I had moments today being each one...
Here's to tomorrow!

Week 24

Hello from 24 weeks! Apparently, Little Girl is now 12 inches long and weighs over a pound. To celebrate the fact that she is now the size of a $5 Foot Long, here are some updates and answers to questions that I get most frequently:

Food
I haven't really had any overwhelming cravings, I just have an excuse to want things that I have always liked, including:
-popcorn
-pizza
-grapefruit cups (from Costco...mmmm)
-sunbelt fudge covered granola bars
-fig newtons
-dill pickle chip dip
-wheat thins
-quesadillas
-Costco hot dogs
-bread, in all it's wonderful forms
-Reeses Peanut Butter Cups 

During my first trimester, I absolutely did not want anything sweet. It was very unusual for me, and Brian said that he realized why husbands gain "sympathy weight"-- because their wives stop eating dessert and the husbands eat it for them!  In the last few weeks I've definitely gained back a desire for  sweets, but I can't handle as much as I used to! So I've learned to be sparing, or I end up sick.

Names
We have a few names we like, but we will wait to tell or decide until after Little Girl comes. Basically the only thing decided right now is that the name has to be easy to cheer at sporting events- because Little Girl will definitely be involved in athletics. :)

Nursery
We have an extra room, but it will double as a guest room because we don't want to get rid of our extra bed, and we love visitors! We're going with a lot of white with accents of turquoise, light green, and pink. Check out some of my inspiration  here, here,  here.

We will probably be traveling a lot in the fall when Brian starts doing away rotations, so we are planning on using a pack-n-play instead of a crib. Then Little Girl will be used to her bed wherever we are.

Right now I'm working on painting a dresser white and replacing the knobs with clear crystal ones. My next projects will be painting the bookshelf white, finding space in the closet, embellishing the white curtains, painting the frame of an oval mirror I got at goodwill, making flag bunting, piecing a baby quilt, sewing matching pillows to go on the guest bed, making a hanging bow/clip holder.... I am going to be busy and have so much fun!

Other Weird Pregnancy Stuff
I've had really weird, crazy, vivid dreams. In one I was trying to drive a car with an infant in my arms. In another, I was teaching my class on a boat at they were all sailors. In another I was really worried about running out of toothpaste. I have always had very vivid dreams, though. At the beginning of every school year I dream about trying to teach procedures but having no control, with students all over the place. I also have recurring versions of dreams where my teeth are falling out in my mouth--I read somewhere that teeth falling out in dreams is a sign of stress. At least I haven't had that dream since I've been pregnant!

I get equal amounts of comments saying "I can't even tell you're pregnant!" and "wow, you're starting to show!"  I'm not sure what to make of either one. You can't tell I'm pregnant? Do I always look this pudgy? or for the other half, wow? Am I that big?  I'm sure everyone is just trying to be nice and tell me what they think I want to hear. So thank you, all you nice people. :)