more cabbage, much more cabbage

yea, here is 30 week "fruit/food". more cabbage. though not of the chinese variety this week.

baby estimated weight = 3 pounds.
baby estimated length = 15 inches. (head to toe)

(stats are for the average THIRTY weeker. yea, that's me.)


what are you doing this GORGEOUS WEEKEND? karl's work has their "GO LIVE" this weekend which is much more lame than it sounds and really just means he has to work all weekend and/or be within ten minutes of a computer (like he wouldn't be.).

so i plan on walking a lot, resting, organizing, watching LOST, (ugh. we finally got ADDICTED. and the addiction is STRONG so please don't say anything. we just started S2.), finishing thank you cards from the shower, hanging with friends and family, trying not to spend money (that is a goal of every weekend but it never seems to work out that way).

SITTING seems to be increasingly uncomfortable these last few days (standing is much better) with the position of this child so if you need a mental image of me, picture me at work, at my desk, in a totally inappropriate for work old navy tank top (jeans and flips), standing at my keyboard, and typing this blog! really, my computer is at a good height for this whole stand-typing thing. maybe i will never sit again!

work is slow today so i am going to take advantage and work on my birth plan for a minute. cause, you know, i like to prep and plan... even if THE PLAN doesn't work out...i like to pretend i know what i am doing!

30 weeks!

please forgive me for being such an AW

sorry. the tree fabric has exploded into the beginnings of THE PERFECT NURSERY. well, for us anyway. :)

mary kay and i had so much fun putting this stuff up. i can't thank her enough for using her oh-so-wonderful talent to help me make the 'nursery-in-my-head' become the 'nursery-in-real-life'!

there is still a mural to paint and details to take care of so i am sure i will inundate you with a wealth of photos when it is closer to completion. the owl fabric has taken a backseat for the moment (oh but there will be owls!) and i am pretty sure the rocker is no longer going to be a part of the room - we are remaining flexible to whatever looks best/feels right. if you are in town, COME SEE IT IMMEDIATELY. it's even better in person.

29 weeks, 4 days

you know you should wear more clothes and brush your hair when

OR, maybe i should title this post, you know you look like a pregnant teenager when...

i got home from work today and took a nap.

i woke up.

put on some shorts and a tank top all sleep eyed and bed headed and make up flaked to run to the grocery store for milk, cereal, and some fruit. (and some mac and cheese but that is neither here nor there).

get in line to check out.

THEN the sweet girl (who is probably a good five years younger than me) checking me out asked if i qualified for WIC and had any WIC items in my cart. (looking pointedly at my three gallons of milk and cereal!)

(not that there is anything wrong with participating in WIC programs at any juncture in your life... but i just love when people assume things).

so, no need to be offended or anything silly like that...but karl and i have been giggling about it all night. and next grocery trip i will be, um, a little more dressed and awake, maybe? haha. i might even wear my wedding ring.

really, three gallons of milk was almost $15! i mean who couldn't use some lower food costs!?

29 weeks, 3 days

wonderful friends and SUNSHINE

ladies and gentlemen, DECK WEATHER has officially begun. my nose and shoulders are sun-kissed to prove it. i love the first sun-kissing of the year. (well, as long as it isn't a crispy fry).

i feel very grateful to friends and family tonight. it is overwhelming to be showered with gifts for the baby. huge thanks to elizabeth, audra, susan, and melissa for hosting the most perfect baby shower in the world. and for everyone who attended. thank you for coming. there were no april showers saturday; the weather was perfect - sunshine all around!

boys, babies, barbeque, and beer = perfect combination.

today, i may have had a mild anxiety attack trying to decide where all this STUFF goes. it is scary to have STUFF. babies use STUFF. my child will use the STUFF we received yesterday. a little frightening. but awesome. onofre loves all the STUFF he has gotten so far. he is currently kicking and punching his thanks.

29 weeks, 2 days

click click click: 28 weeks or so w/ arlo

ah, gratuitous photo taking of ME&BABY. let me tell you how much karl LOVES it. he takes about twenty images, i complain and yell at him about how they all look like crap and THANKS A LOT, then i download them, and i think, "oh those aren't so bad." let me reiterate: HE LOVES IT. it's comical really. pretty much he is quiet throughout the whole process. he just click, click, clicks and silently passes over the camera before heading back to his tippy tappy machine.

i must admit, i kind of love my basketball belly. it makes me laugh. i guess i fall in the category of "women who love being pregnant." (please don't say "JUST WAIT" if you have had babies or even if you haven't... every time i tell someone i feel good still, they seem to say "JUST WAIT" like it is going to TURN HORRIBLE any minute - i really believe some women make it through to the end loving being pregnant and i have convinced myself i will be one of them. (possibly and probably naively - i will be the first to admit! i'll let you know in a couple of months.) though the nail and hair and skin things - total myths for me. my skin is worse than a 15 year olds. especially on my arms. which is pretty sweet for summer. oh, and the recurring nose bleeds are a little annoying.

sorry to overinform you of my pregnancy news but it is a little hard for me to concentrate on anything else lately. i hope you don't mind! i had a doctors appointment today. i was all prepped to get my SHOT IN THE BOOTY. (rhogham for rh negative factor). Guess what? Um. I'm not negative. No shot necessary. Yea, they rewrote my blood type incorrectly on my new chart when i switched doctors. Um, have I mentioned I love doctors/western medicine model? On one hand, I am less mad at OB#1 - he didn't tell me b/c there was nothing to tell (and I am still glad we switched). On the other, HELLO. it makes sense why my mom was like "are you sure?" and I didn't know prior. Gaw. Was I wrong to trust them when they said I needed a shot? (Another reason everyone should have an advocate when they go to the hospital for any reason! There are some stats that say every patient who is checked in a hospital experiences at least one mistake throughout their stay. Don't know the validity of the stat, but I don't find it that hard to believe! )


Anyway, whatever, no shot. All "the usual" tests done - baby heartbeat in 140s, blood pressure on target, urine clear of protien (oh i know you needed to know that!), gained two pounds this visit (gained five last so kind of evening myself out), belly measured right on target (i love that they measure you with like a fabric tape measurey thingey; it seems so antiquated amid all that medical technology), doc said if he had to guess by feeling he would say baby is head down, so that is good. um, i meet with the two other doctors at the practice my next appointment (one more monthly visit and then i go bi-weekly, then weekly). so, overall doctor had nothing bad to say. in fact, he said he wished all his patients were as easy. i like to hear that!! don't you? he made me feel like i was doing everything right. which is good. so, to celebrate, i MAY HAVE had two coca-cola classics today. don't tell him. i promise to only drink water tomorrow. ;)


28 weeks, 4 days

28 week fruit - a chinese cabbage

i also got "A SACK OF FLOUR" as a comparison. i like the cabbage. hmmmmmm... cabbage. i have no idea what chinese cabbage is vs. regular cabbage? yum yum yum. however, don't ever do the cabbage diet. STINKY.

i have pregnancy brain - i can't concentrate on ANYTHING. i have a doctor's appointment tomorrow. will keep you posted.

28 weeks, 3 days

Team Pink v Team Blue

i mean, really, does it matter?

a few snapshots from my family time in STL. my beautiful cousin bridget finally gets a belly pic in reverse - i am usually the one with my hand on her belly (she has 3 babes). blue v pink features her youngest, mylee jayne, and my cousin jake's youngest, daniel patrick.

karl is still holding out for team pink and i for team blue! i'll share some belly pics shortly for little ono who has been flipping and flopping in some strange positions in there. (um, please just get your head completely down and stay down, please and thank you child. he was laying head down last week but this week i am pretty sure he is in some weird sideways/diagonal position. it's a little early to worry about baby being positioned exactly right, but it would make me feel a whole lot better to feel those kicks back up in my ribs).

28 weeks, 2 days

fabric: i heart you. all of you.

i have a general LOVE for fabric. sometimes i surf the web for fabric. someday i will DO MORE with fabrics. CREATE more and what not. (read: learn how to sew!) for now, i will be thankful to have a fabulous mother in law (thanks Mary Kay!) who is helping me create a dreamy tree nursery. fabric #2 with the trees is THE ONE. it will be our crib skirt and curtains and some other stuff. the owls are just fun and for some small accent stuff (pillows for guest bed and possibly portions of crib bumper... we'll see where it fits - don't want to overwhelm the room in patterns. (sheets will be a solid on big bed and crib bed - yes, we are keeping our guest bed!) more updates to follow on progress. (does this interest you? i never know.)

finally, i would like to share something. my belly button is BRUISED in a perfect little circle from popping out. (oh, and it popped out.) HA. this pic is a few days after the bruise was discovered so it has faded a bit. who would have thought it would BRUISE - it cracks me up. and doesn't hurt. the ole tummy seriously starting to STRETCH OUT. and it is lopsided in this pic - generally it is lopsided one way or the other. please close your eyes if this is not something you wanted to see. sorry! (and, yes, i'm like, pregnant, for all of you wide-eyed out there! hahaha!) i am still looking pretty small. people keep telling me how small i look and i never know whether this is a good thing/compliment or not. i'm taking it as one! i have had three people at work tell me this week (not people i work with very often) they felt silly because they had no idea (which means i must be SHOWING - 7 months later). doctor said my torso is SHORT (really? thanks dude i had no idea!) so i will be going OUTWARD from here on out.

27 weeks, 5 days

27 week belly pics from baby's first cards game

these are the 27 week belly pics you get! (sorry for the low resolution images - my camera died the second i took it out so i had to use my phone. boo.) it was a beautiful day for a game - i must say i miss the old stadium, but MAYBE only because it is just that: old. i have now been to several games in 'the new' and, well, it's pretty nice. PLUS, the weather was GORGEOUS and the seats were in the sun. and dad ALMOST caught a foul ball. (bounced off his hand). AND the concession stand dude gave me free nachos "for the baby." (like i needed them with my hot dog!) oh, AND, THEY WON and are off to a great start for the season. (side note: i never realized that pujols was our age. seems like he has been playing forever. really, the majority of the team was around our age or younger. i guess we have been in our careers for years, so it makes sense, but still!)

more family pics to follow. not to tease but MY FABRIC GOT HERE YESTERDAY and it even dreamier than i imagined. nora kate/bridget kathleen/imogen/anna/lorelei/hayes/eliot/gabe/reid (price matheney robus) HILLS is going to love it. er, love throwing up on it?
27 weeks, 4 days

1/2 marathon: 2 hours, 6 minutes and runner etiquette

we are back from our weekend jaunt to STL. we flew, which makes both of us very happy. (short weekend plus driving sucks. plus karl was running and who wants to drive home after that?)

the weather was perfect and karl had a GREAT race. it was a half marathon; 13.1 miles. there were over 13,000 total runners across marathon and half categories. 2:06:27 was his official chip time (for you non-runners, they time the race according to a chip you attach to your shoelaces. the chip starts when you cross the official 'start' line (think long rubbery mat) and it picks up your time as you pass over several mats along the way. the race stops when you cross that final mat!) i think karl was pretty pleased with his time. he wanted to break 2:10 and he did. YEA! now he might take a break. er, not. he is really looking for his next race. ADDICT.

as for that last picture down there, i put it up to share with you a little bit of runner's etiquette. these ladies took the cake of poor runner's etiquette for the weekend. so i took their picture. i don't know who they are, but they should know better. shame on you ladies! what was their fault? they were, shown here, "running" with the less than 8:00 minute mile group. do these ladies look like they will be putting out eight minute miles for 26.2 miles? NO. this photo is at the start and they aren't even actually running. (which is great - walkers are awesome! anyone who participates is awesome!) BUT you line up for a race according to your pace group. please don't make people who are seriously competing for time run around a group of walkers who like to be in the front. line up with your race pace. please and thank you. (also goes for 5Ks, 10ks, and, well, really any race. nothing more annoying than having to fight your way around people in that early break out shuffle). rant over.

we also hung out with fam and saw the cardinals (pics to follow). additionally, i have belly pics, fruit (oh, it's funny), baby pool updates and fabric on the way this week. stay tuned.

27 weeks, 3 days

third tri exhastion has begun

i think TOTAL EXHASTION has returned. my energy has been taken from me. i know i have a list of people to return phone calls to and i promise tomorrow you are all getting a call or email. cross my heart.

being exhasted and carrying extra weight can be trying at moments. also, craving cafeteria food (can't get enough corn/veggies at the moment) and then trying to go to luby's at lunch only to find out the luby's in NLR is closed - like sign ripped off the awning, windows taped over closed - (franke's is better anyway!) CAN AND WILL make a pregnant girl burst into tears. other things that made me cry today: a new project at work (too much!), forgetting my milk at work, and another work issue. let's just say preparing for maternity leave has brought up some issues AT WORK. work, ugh. i think i need to take a day off. (can't; saving all those for maternity leave since they don't pay for any leave! yea!) i cried all the way home! haha. ridiculous. none of it was that big of a deal.

on to more important things: BABY NAMES (as promised!)

here are our preliminary LISTS!

TEAM PINK:
bridget
nora (maybe nora kate since we do live in the south now and double names are standard, right?)
lorelei
anna

TEAM BLUE: (WE HATE BOY NAMES!!! WHY ARE THEY SO DIFFICULT?)
hayes
aiden (yea, yea, it's popular blah blah blah)
emmit
reid
elliot
gabe (ok, i just threw this one on just now)
seamus (fine, karl vetoed this one BUT whatever!)

we really don't LOVE any of these little man names. so, really, we are open for suggestions.

you can vote if you would like BUT if you have a negative opinion about one of our name selections, please do NOT make this pregnant lady cry for the 6 millioneth time today. oh, and, don't even bother asking about middle names, unless you have a GLORIOUS suggestion! these were difficult enough.

oh, and also, i like the name imogen. and james. (one last for each list!)

26 weeks, 5 days