Time flies...

Okay, so my intention was to update more often now that we're getting closer to the due date, but somehow between starting renovations on our house, catching a nasty sinus/ear infection and growing a baby, the posting to the blog seems to have fallen behind. Good news is...most of that is behind us now. Moving forward there shall be more effort put into more frequent postings. :)

So, the update on all the happenings. Firstly, LBP is growing and still a very active baby despite its lack of space in my body. Lately I think the little one has concocted an escape plan that involves bursting out the side of my belly Spaceballs-style and doing a little dance (if you haven't seen it click here for a glimpse). I do actually think somedays there is dance practice going on inside. I have tried several times to catch the alien movements on video so I could post it, but alas, this little one is too quick for me. You'll just have to take my word for it that its a bit freaky, and really cool to see a full foot or a knee go cruising across your belly about an inch further out than the rest of your body. The latest belly photo is included for your amusement. Photo taken 08/07/09 (about 2 weeks pre-due date).

As for the infections, let's just say its not very fun to be sick and 9 months pregnant. I think my immune system is not quite up for the work it had to do this week. Luckily, each day gets a little better and I've been at least moderately functional this week. Last week I pretty much spent in bed. The cough was so intense I was nervous all the stomach contracting was going to send me into labor, but I think LBP knew it would be more wise to wait it out inside than to come into the world hearing that horrible hacking noise.

The renovations are coming along wonderfully. The boys are doing a fabulous job trying to get everything done before LBP arrives. I think its going to be a tight race. All of the framework is done and the new windows are in and they look amazing. Most of the insulation in the roof and walls is done and the new sheetrock is going up this week. We're very excited to see the finished product. I'll put up some photos once its done showing the progress along the way.

Okay, that's it for now. Stay tuned for more postings, more often, someday to include much more adorable photos than pictures of my big belly.

Less than a month...

Yes, we are down to less than one month to go...exactly 4 weeks from today is my due date. People keep asking if I'm nervous, and I keep saying no, because consciously I don't feel nervous about any of it, however, my dreams are telling a slightly different story. I keep having very funny anxiety dreams about things like breastfeeding or not knowing what to do with the baby, right down to the concept of how to carry it. In that dream I actually put the baby in my pocket to bring her downstairs (yes, it was a girl in that dream too). Despite the fact that we still keep referring to it as "he" because we both feel like its probably a boy, it is still always a girl in my dreams. I did have a minor breakdown the other day about how crazy it is that we make all these important decisions for this little being that could affect its whole life and that I didn't feel qualified to be making these decisions. It started with me thinking about medical decisions, like vaccinations and circumcision, but then it turned into such decisions as what to name the baby. I mean, why are we qualified as parents to decide what this child is going to be called for the rest of its life. It just all of a sudden seemed so permanent and important. (And yes, we are still not sharing the girl name we've decided on and we still have yet to settle on a boy name).

So, despite all my no's to the question of whether or not I'm nervous, I suppose subconciously I have a few worries popping into my head. Other than that though, everything is going as great as possible. I still feel wonderful most of the time and the baby is very active and fun. As of tomorrow's midwives appt, we start going in every week to be checked out which makes it feel really close. I guess it IS really close now. According to the fruit chart we are up to watermelon size and that's about as big as it gets in the fruit world, so we must be close. Stay tuned for more updated belly photos. We've been good about remembering to take them more often now, but I have been less than good at remembering to upload them to the computer.

Speaking of memory...I'll share one quick and funny story from last night. One of my friends asked me what the most challenging part of being pregnant has been, and my answer was this, "Well, I think I'd have to say there are 2 things that I've struggled the most with. The first one is that I can't stand being this emotional about things. I feel like I'm usually a fairly rational person when it comes to emotions and judging whether or not I'm overreacting to things" (although I know some of you reading this may disagree :) "...but lately I don't have any idea what is a rational thought and what is just the hormones making me completely irrational and it drives me nuts not being able to distinguish the two. And the second thing is...hmmm, I know there were 2 things I was thinking of...what was the second thing?? ummmm, wow, I can't remember what the other thing was that's driving me nuts...(insert long pause)...OH YEAH, its that I keep forgetting everything and my memory is horrible"

And no, I was not just trying to be funny about it, I honestly could not remember that my memory issues were the second thing that's bothering me about being pregnant. Unbelievable.

Moving and Nesting...

So, with 6 weeks to go, we finally realized that it might not make sense to try to buy a new house right now. We've decided to stay where we are at least until after the baby is born and to make better use of the space we have so that we can be comfortable here for several years if we need to be. We're actually very excited about the decisions and about our plans for renovating the porch and turning it into an office for Bev so she doesn't have to try to work from home in our living room while the baby and I hang out and have fun (or scream or cry or change poopy diapers) right in the same room for 3 months while I'm on maternity leave.

Also, in making that decision, we've officially begun the nesting process. We painted the baby's room (and by "we", I mean Bev); we did all of the little baby laundry that needed to be done before we put all the cute clothes and blankets on our little baby Pigeon (and by "we", I mean Bev, although this was coincidence and not that I couldn't wash baby clothes while pregnant); and we prepped all of the cloth diapers we have by washing them several times to get rid of the natural oils in the cotton and make them more absorbent before use (this one I actually did do myself...see, I can still do laundry). There are still a few more chores to get done, but we're on our way. This week's projects include making roman shades for the baby's room (yes, I'm actually using the sewing machine I asked for last Christmas), rearranging the furniture in the baby's room and setting up the crib, and most likely, getting the hospital bag packed and ready to go. Its totally stressing Bev out that we don't have the bag packed yet. :)

We decided on a tan/brownish color for the walls with all of our jungle themed greens and such to add some color. I'll post some finished product photos when its done. For now here's the work in progress:

Fully Showered...

We have officially been fully showered, with love and support and more gifts than we can fit into our little yellow house. In the month of June we were lucky enough to have 3 separate gatherings of friends and family to celebrate the coming of this little Pigeon. It is amazing to see how well loved this baby is before its even here on the outside, although its becoming more and more obvious that it is "here" already based on the size of me. :)

We'd like to thank everyone for such wonderful celebrations and I thought I would post a few photos of the events. Most of the photos are from the surprise shower that my family threw down in Massachusetts. The bottom photo was taken at the shower in Maine where many of our friends and Bev's family all got together to share in the celebration (including my little helper of the day Ryan). Unfortunately, I don't have any photos of the third "shower" gathering that my frisbee friends arranged the following day where we got to see so many of LBP's future little friends (nearly all of them have kids under the age of 3 already).

I'd also like to give Bev a little round of applause for doing a wonderful job at helping and keeping secrets and organizing, and sitting with me to be the center of attention for all the gift opening. Thank you for that and HUGE thank you's to everyone for everything. We are very lucky and grateful to have you all in our lives and we can't wait for LBP to be able to meet everyone...soon, so soon!!

Belly update...

So, I have been told by several people recently that I need to start posting belly photos now that LBP is really taking over my body. I am definitely still small compared to most women due my week, but it sure feels big to me somedays. My most recent "realization of the belly" moments include hitting my belly on a door as I open it because I don't have the clearance I'm used to and my favorite, getting my shirt wet every time I wash dishes now because I don't realize that its overhanging the edge of the sink. So much fun.

We actually are in the most fun stage of LBP movement right now. Apparently the most activity for the baby happens between weeks 28 and 32, when the baby is strong and able to kick and punch with much more power than before, but before it gets so big that it doesn't have enough room to move around. I definitely feel like there are times when its getting a running start and launching itself into one side of my body. It makes me laugh every time though. Bev has been reading bedtime books to LBP every night now and although it has not been a properly controlled study, we do think it has a real preference for "Goodnight Moon" (thanks to Mike and Ella for that one). LBP is usually very active just before bed anyway, but it goes nuts when she reads that book. Its a noticable difference. (Bev won't let me do the real scientific experiment of trying to test our theory by using different voices or changing the words, etc...she wants to just enjoy the moment of it. I suppose she's got a point, but don't we get to experiment on our kids? Isn't that part of what they are for?). I feel like with every kick I get a little more of an idea of who this little baby is somehow. Though I can't really define what its saying, the movements feel like some sort of communication. I like to think its telling me things like "hey, we should eat more chocolate today" or "maybe we should sleep in instead of going to work" or sometimes "hey, I'm stuck in here...can I get a little help?!".

Of course, we still have 9 weeks to wait for that point, which is also a crazy realization of the week. We are down to single digits in 'weeks until my due date'. So exciting and a tiny bit scary. I'm not sure we're entirely ready yet, but we are so excited to meet this little one. I'm sure then next 2 months are going to fly by.

Side note...I haven't acknowledged the 3 wonderful showers that have been a part of our last 2 weeks because I want to get some of the photos sorted out to post when I write about them. Coming soon...