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. :)

Our Big News

We are having a baby girl!!! Go ahead and oogle at her cuteness:

 

(this is her profile, she is looking to the left)

 

 

(These are her legs, crossed at the ankle. Her knees are at the top and her ankles are at the bottom.)

 

(another profile)

And now, for the traditional side maternity pose. I haven't taken any yet, because I really just look like I've eaten too many cupcakes (aaaaand frankly, side paternity poses are really awkward). But, for documentation purposes, this is what I look like at 20 weeks:

 

 Halfway to July 27th!   FIST PUMP!!

College Cup!

Vanderbilt Medical School takes "Student Wellness" very seriously. They have all sorts of programs to keep the students as well-rounded as possible while they are studying their brains out. One of these programs is the Advisory College. Before their first day of classes first year, they get "sorted" into one of 4 "colleges." (Harry Potter, anyone?) They are a part of this advisory college for all 4 years of medical school. There are 2 physicians who head the college and throughout the year they do all sorts of mentoring and connecting and general advising. It's great. But the BEST part is the annual COLLEGE CUP: An entire weekend of competitions between the colleges. There is a swim meet, basketball, soccer, volleyball, and ultimate frisbee tournaments, iron chef, trivia, water polo, and more. Each college does their best to scream louder than everyone else at all times and basically everyone acts like they are in high school. It's a blast. 

Brian's college is "Robinson" (and I even get to participate as a Robinson Raven, too) Basically, they are the equivalent of Slytherin in everyone else's eyes. In their own eyes, they are the equivalent of awesome. (I am holding the Dean of the medical school's head in this picture. Brian is to the right banging some sticks together)

Dr. Pilla, one of the physician advisors (an ex-rock star turned anesthesiologist. No, I'm serious.) even dressed up as Snape for opening ceremonies. (In this picture, Brian is the one holding Dean Rogers' head and I am on the left of him.)

I swam in the meet. 2nd place in Backstroke!

that is a temporary tatoo of a Robinson Raven on my shoulder haha!

We both played Ultimate Frisbee.

 Brian totally rocked as water polo goalie. Only 1 point scored on him in 2 games.

 ...and doesn't he look hot in that water polo cap? Smokin! :)

It was such a great weekend that really made both of us miss the times we were doing competitive organized sports. We had so much fun and Robinson DOMINATED. It's always a plus when your team is the best. :)