Baby in Motion

Since most of you are far away, I thought it would be fun to catch our little girl in motion.  Luckily this isn't a difficult task since she is always on the move. :)  This is pretty much 80% of her day right here:



And now we are almost 33 weeks, putting us about 7-ish weeks out until her big arrival!

I've really, really enjoyed being pregnant.  I've been incredibly fortunate and this pregnancy has been very good to me, so I'm thankful for that.  I'm not to the point of feeling "done" just yet, but the temperature here has been steadily rising towards the 90s, so I'm sure my readiness for delivery time is around the corner.  I do however, have a few things that I'm really looking forward to:

• Sleeping on my stomach*:  For the love of all that is good I am so f-ing ready to sleep on my stomach again!  Sometimes at night when I'm lying awake, body sore from sleeping on my sides for hours I daydream about what it'll be like to soon just roll over onto my belly once again.  I'm half expecting harps to play and angels to descend from heaven the first time I get to do it again.
• Sleeping on my back*:  I don't expect this to be as exhilarating as sleeping on my stomach, but for now even if I lean back too far in a recliner it cuts off blood circulation and makes me dizzy and nauseous.  I could do without that.
• Sushi:  I am going to eat the shit out of sushi post-baby.  Consider this my declaration of war on the inhabitants of our oceans.
• Dying my hair:  I am too white to have light colored hair.  Either my hair or my skin needs to be darker in order to make things right and given the fact that my pale, white Irish skin is incapable of turning anything other than red, I'm in desperate need to dye my hair. I know it'll probably be a bit after the baby's born and not a need immediately met, but I'm still looking forward to it nevertheless!

There are other amenities that I'm looking forward to (cold beer on a hot day, regular caffeine intake, the hope that one day I can go back to not having to wear a bra again), but none as strong as those listed above.

* For those of you thinking "Sleep, what sleep?!"  Please accept my serious eye roll and know that it's no secret that new parents don't get much sleep.  On top of that we've had like a million people remind us of this.  We get it.  But I am going to rock the fuck out of those 10 minutes of rest by laying blissfully on my stomach :D

Another Before and After

Hurricane Casey's path of destruction.

I love to eat.  Now, I haven't really had any weird cravings during this pregnancy, but I will put down shrimp and ice cream (not necessarily together you understand) like it's going out of style.  I've had more Po' Boy Sandwiches in the past 7 months than my entire life combined.  Mmm, shrimpies.

As most of you have seen, Steve and I recently had some pregnancy photos done.  Our uber talented friend Anna Lee Fields did an amazing job and we're crazy happy with them.  If you've only seen the Facebook pics, be sure to check out the rest of them here (password: basketball).  And then go check out Anna's website at http://www.annaleefields.com/ to see her skillz.



We had fun.

And speaking of pregnancy, we're not the only ones getting ready for a baby!  Steve and I have a mama robin who made a nest and is busy laying eggs right out on our porch!

8 more weeks folks!

Hello 3rd Trimester!

28 weeks!

Well this week we said goodbye to the 2nd trimester and hello to the home stretch!  Looking at this picture it's hard to believe me and the babe have more growin' to do! :)  Random people/strangers are starting to ask me when I'm due and when I say July I pretty much get the same look.  One of surprised disbelief quickly followed by an "ohgoshIbettersmilenow" kind of look :D  I thought this kind of stuff would anger me, but I not-so-secretly kind of love it.  It's similar to how I feel about the sudden decrease in crotchetiness of old people when they see my belly and the random help I get with my bags at the grocery store. 

We also now have our very own doula!  And she's kind of fantastic.  She's this fun woman from Philly (turns out we lived just streets away from each other) who works as a doula and part-time bike messenger.  She was super nice and very accepting of mine and Steve's "needs."  Plus she really looks like my long-time close friend Chelsea and so we were both having really positive transference with her :)  She'll meet with us twice before the big day to help us prepare and twice after to check in on how things are going and how I'm feeling.  Plus she'll come over when labor begins to help us labor at home before going to the hospital, which is super great.

Apparently I'm having Braxton Hicks contractions...actually, I've apparently been having them for the past 10 or so weeks, I just didn't know it!  They've always felt like the baby was turning in my belly so I just figured that's what it was.  But nope, I'm getting them more often now (which is normal) and realize that it's just my body going into training mode for game time.

In non-baby news, we're having a bit of an electrical problem at home.  Steve was vacuuming plaster dust in the nursery when the outlet crapped out, causing the electric in the dining room and kitchen to die as well.  To be fair, this is what lies behind the switch in the dining room:



Needless to say, we're looking for an electrician.  In the meantime, I'm appreciating that it's staying light out later, allowing me to cook under a combination of natural light and the little one above the stove.  Good times.