On The Cutting Edge of Yesterday

Week 26

Whoa belly where did you come from?! I feel like I really popped this week. I’m starting to lose the ability to sit with my legs crossed. Tying my sneakers has become a speedy fingers race since I can’t breathe when bending over while sitting. Time for a yoga class or two to keep me a little more flexible in this new body. 

These past two weeks (sorry for no week 25 photo) have been inundated with baby preparations. Registering for all that stuff you need to take care of a new tiny person takes a lot of time and thought. A lot like my husband Marco, I like to know everything about something before investing in it. So registering has turned into spending endless hours reading reviews and blogs about various products. I know it sounds a little obsessive, but we do this for almost everything we buy, so it’s not just the baby-crazy. If you don’t believe me, read one of Marco’s product reviews. 

I had my diabetes test this week. Still no results. I’m a little nervous because I love dessert. My midwife wants to start seeing us every two weeks now. Completely normal. It’s just that time in the pregnancy that everyone gets checked on more often. But I couldn’t believe I was at that point already. I even asked her if she was sure because it didn’t seem real that I was actually that close to the end. So Marco and I quickly signed up for birth classes starting in a few weeks. I’m a little freaked out but I’m also increasingly anxious to meet the little kicking bundle I’ve been building. 

Yesterday was my birthday. I’m now 29.

In the past year we bought a house, got a puppy, traveled to a few countries, ate a lot of good food, flew in a helicopter, grew my photography business, began some home improvements, and started building a new person. Yup, 28 was a damn good year.

Week 24

Each week I have two poses for the belly photo, one laying down and one standing. While taking the laying down photo, baby boy started kicking the blocks resting on my belly and made them jiggle. He’s getting stronger every day. 

I’ve been avoiding buying a maternity coat. It has been nice that the winter was mild so far and I’ve been able to get away without one. But as the temperature drops and I can only button one button at the top of my coats, I’m starting to feel a serious draft. I don’t think I can make it through February without one. Any recommendations where to find cute maternity coats that don’t just look like you’re dressed in a huge sleeping bag?

Speaking of avoiding things, I must confess I’ve also been avoiding the third trimester section of my baby book. I didn’t want to get freaked out too early. But I think it might be time to start looking ahead. With only one more month left in this trimester, I should start getting prepared for the final three months. I’m also going to look into local baby classes as well as take a trip to the birthing center. It’s starting to become more apparent that this little fella is on his way.

Marco is going to be a really great Dad. 

I love this! Especially since we just bought our son a Portal onesie. 

via 5by5illustrated: Build and Analyze #58: The Cake is Blue

Week 23

This has been the first week we were free to say baby boy to everyone! (Except Uncle Johnny, who doesn’t want to know until the baby is born.) No name decisions yet. Every few weeks we test out our latest favorite. If baby were to be a girl, we were ready. But for some reason boy names are so hard. We want it to be easy to spell, masculine, different enough that there won’t be 12 other kids in his class with the same name, but not so different that people can’t pronounce it. I got Marco a baby name book for Christmas and he has already rejected a third of the book. But whatever name we choose, we will be keeping it a secret until our little boy is in our arms.

Let’s think of longer days, green trees, and spring flowers. 

Emily & Matt

Lindsey & Donnell

Just ordered this for the new boy in my life. I couldn’t resist. 

(amytangerine on Etsy)

It’s a boy! 

Since Marco and I decided we wanted to know the sex of our baby before the birth, my mom wanted there to be a bit more of a surprise reveal than just a phone call. So she threw us a little cake party. The inside of a cake is dyed blue or pink and when it is cut, the gender is revealed. 

So we had a small gathering of family, cut the cake, and announced to everyone we are having a boy. Marco is so proud to be having a son and is looking forward to dressing him in tiny jeans and black t-shirts to look just like his daddy. 

Now we just have to agree on a name…

Today is Hops’ First Birthday!

He doesn’t get it. 

Week 22

Starting to notice the waning of my belly button. I didn’t think I would mind seeing it go, but as it slowly creeps away I am having trouble saying goodbye. 

This week I have the added bonus of a numb spot on my left thigh just above my knee. Thanks baby for sitting directly on my nerves. It pretty much feels like I was shot with Novocain. It doesn’t hurt, just feels a little weird (or doesn’t feel weird depending on how you look at it). The midwife and the internet agree it is no big deal and everything will be normal again once baby moves off my nerve. 

Lots of kicks these days. I’m even seeing my belly move here and there with a few of the strong ones. 

Christmas had the added bonus this year of baby gifts! Lots of super cute owl goodies for the nursery, an owl hat, and baby PJs from my Mom (she doesn’t know her Grandma name yet). And a beautiful Eric Carle Christmas book from Marco’s Mom (Nona).  

Week 20

Welcome leg cramps! Waking up with a Charley horse and yelling bloody murder while half asleep is really a great way to spend an evening. My one thought at that moment was how the hell am I going to birth a baby if just the leg cramps are this painful. Thankfully I’ve learned a few helpful stretches to avoid another rude awakening. 

I had an abdominal cramp situation that made me nervous this week so I called the midwife to ease my mind.  She assured me it was just growing pains or maybe even a gas bubble. I’m so thankful to have that resource even late in the evening for non-emergancy questions. I really didn’t want to use the internet for answers that would only freak me out more. 

Baby loves to kick me. Everyday the little jabs are getting stronger. I’m going to have to get used to them to avoid Tourette’s-like exclamations I keep making when I’m surprised by the force every now and then.  

This was the first week I got a little down about being pregnant. Maybe it’s a bit of sadness over losing my body and fear of losing the “us” Marco and I have. We both agree that at this point we are, on a scale of 1 to 10, about an 8 freakout level. Realistically, baby is going to be a big change, but we currently don’t travel, we don’t stay out late, and we don’t really do anything in our free time that a baby will hinder or stop. I’m mainly frightened of the permanence. There is no going back now. But I bet everyone feels this way, at least a little bit the first time.   

We are doing some remodeling and as the demolition progresses, we found a few cool items hidden in walls. 

So far, we uncovered some newspaper pieces from 1923 and a half dozen baseball cards from the 60s and 70s.

These are some of the more interesting sections of the newspapers. I love the hand drawn ad headlines, the car prices, the office rents, and the situations wanted. 

These two baseball cards were the oldest of the seven that were found. Most of them are worth between $0.50 and $3.99 according to the internet.

As Marco pointed out, with the dating of the newspaper, everyone who read that paper or had anything to do with its creation is probably long gone. It’s pretty neat thinking of the families and people who previously lived in this weird little house of ours and the evidence they left hidden in the walls.