Pregnancy Blues

Well, I finally feel very pregnant. Once I crossed into this 34th week, it’s like I suddenly can't escape being uncomfortable no matter what I'm doing.

I feel like my back is in a perpetual, unnatural bend. My lungs, bladder and stomach are constantly squished and make it hard to breath, eat normally or stay away from the bathroom. My low back pretty much always hurts, and that squished up feeling makes me feel slightly nauseated. I’m also exhausted because it’s getting harder to sleep, which means I am prone to cry for no reason again. Sigh….I have a feeling these last five weeks are going to feel very long! The belly is getting heavier…and bigger. Here’s a picture…


We had a nice Christmas down in Kentucky visiting with mom, Becca, Justin, Grandma and a few of my cousins. It was good just be home for a few days, too, though with nothing really to do other than regular chores. We’re looking forward to hosting Anna and Andrew this Thursday for our annual New Year’s Eve dinner.

Fun weekend

Tonight I started off a sure to be packed-with-fun weekend a good night of girl time with Sara. It was great to catch up and pamper ourselves!

Tomorrow, we're looking forward to celebrating our birthdays with B's family and possibly going to look at cars. Yes, we are considering getting a family car, but there will be no mini-vans in our future.

Sunday, I'm looking forward to lunch at Echo and shopping with Paula! Great weekend line up and a short work week and Christmas to look forward to next week. Yea!

Rest and Relaxation

Brandon and I had a great, relaxing birthday weekend retreat to the Inn at Honey Run in Millersburg, Ohio. We took Monday as a vacation day and spent two nights just resting and relaxing in secluded Ohio. We typically go to the Hocking Hills (one of our absolute favorite retreat spots) this time of year, but decided that was too remote and potentially too icy for us, given that I’m seven months pregnant. I finished re-reading (for the third time…) Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets over the weekend and look forward to diving into Prisoner of Azkaban once I finish wrapping Christmas presents and making Christmas cards this week. I have about 20 more cards to go…love the result, but the process can get tedious – especially when you put off the work because of school!

This weekend, I’m looking forward to lots of girl time – Sara and I are pampering ourselves Friday night with manicures and pedicures. Thanks to a present from Jane, mine is going to be free! Whoo hoo! On Sunday, Paula and I are going to have lunch. Can’t wait to see both of them.

On Saturday, we’re having our annual birthday celebration with the Harpers so Bess, Kevin, Anna and Andrew will be down to Cincinnati. We’re looking forward to their visit and showing off our holiday décor. (Eventually I will post pictures…this is the problem with film cameras. GRRR) This week is officially 32 weeks into our pregnancy – yikes! He’s almost here. We’re getting excited to meet our son and resolve all the questions hanging out there. This medical illustration really struck me today – no wonder it feels like a little alien is squirming around in my abdomen. Look how big he is. We have another ultrasound on Monday, Dec. 21.


Hope everyone’s holiday season is going great!

Busy December

We spent the weekend doing holiday-oriented things, including our second annual trip to cut a Christmas tree at Dirr Nurseries in Goshen on Saturday. We had a great time and -- amazingly -- were able to find yet another PERFECT Christmas tree. :) I'll post a video montage of the experience later this week. We spent most of the late afternoon Saturday decorating the outside of the house. It was bitter cold and, unfortunatley, two of our four lit garland strands had died. After trips to Lowe's and Big Lots, we had the supplies we needed to finish the outside decorating and it looks great. (video to come...digital camera is still not fixed.)

On Sunday, dad drove down and we put up our Christmas train and had lunch. It was a fun time. We always love getting that train out. It's a 1950s Lionel train that we had while I was kid, so it is a nice heirloom. Dad and Brandon also work well putting the train up.

We also decided it was time to gate our bedroom off from the cats this weekend in preparation for the baby. Sassy promptly wiggled her entire body through the 2 1/4 inch slat (YIKES) so we had to double gate our room. Baby's room had a new tall gate that Leonard has yet to figure out how to jump with a box blocking sassy from climbing through. So far, there's been no retaliation from the cats other than the ocassional whining. Keep your fingers crossed.

This weekend Brandon and I are looking forward to a long weekend escape to Amish Country to celebrate our birthdays and try to get one last couple's retreat before our lives change forever and we become parents.

Grad School

Today is my last day of class until after the baby is born. WHOO HOO! I'm lookig forward to getting this one thing off my plate for now so we can focus on prepping for baby and enjoying the holidays.

Our New Toy

Ann and Willard bought us a flip camera so we could share videos of the baby with family once he arrived. Brandon played with it at Thanksgiving...this is me oiling our free-range turkey in prep for cooking. I'm testing whether the video is viewable by posting this way...http://sharing.theflip.com/session/56e6bff31bf36290809e5df0926e4f43/video/7655112.

I also took this "self portrait" over Thanksgiving weekend. The belly keeps getting bigger, but that is good because the baby is growing. He is now estimated to weigh 3.3 pounds. Nine more weeks to go until inducement.