Confessions of a Pregger

I'm almost at 30 weeks pregnant. Besides all the other crazy things that are going on in our lives, this one is probably the biggest. (Duh!)
Sterotypical things that go on during pregnancy have shown up in mine, I'm not any different from any other pregnant lady.
This week my new thing has been waking up at 4 in the morning STARVING. Feeling like I haven't eaten in weeks and that if I don't eat something -right now- I will implode. When in reality we eat dinner late (usually around 8 or so at night by the time I get home from work and have dinner ready).
Two nights ago this happened and I was totally joshin for a turkey and cheese sandwich. I've known all along you aren't supposed to eat deli meat while you are pregnant and I've been pretty fine with that, but man! I wanted a turkey sandwich so badly. I had an apple instead, even though the bread and cheese and turkey were calling to me from the pantry and the fridge.
Talking with Adam about this, he claimed that if I woke up last night he would make me a grilled turkey and cheese sandwich (I'm allowed to have the deli meat if it's been heated to kill bacteria), but only if I woke up at like 4:30 or so because he would need to get up to go to the gym anyway.
This morning- sure enough at 3:58 I awoke with that gnawing feeling in my stomach. I woke Adam up and told him I was hungry and as we were having a (brief) conversation about how hungry I was, I fell back asleep. I must not have been that hungry. But before 6 I was up and was really hungry by then. I laid on the couch until Adam got home from swimming and he made me the turkey and cheese sandwich I had been promised for breakfast.
It was better than I had imagined it would be.

Oh Baby!

I forgot about my doctor's appointment on Friday. Wait, no I showed up, I just forgot to mention it on here. We are healthy and everything continues to look perfect. Mister sits mostly on my right side causing a lot of pain in my ligament on my right side and likes to hide his feet behind my left rib. But he looks cuter and cuter, but mostly still like Skeletor.
And my little ticker kindly reminds me that I only have 75 days left until my due date.
Now I start going to the doctor every two weeks. I'm starting to get really comfortable in her office.
Pray for us, we'll be traveling to one or two churches in the next month to meet and candidate. I'm planning on traveling until my doctor and I feel it's no longer safe. She's pretty open on me traveling into April as long as I remain healthy and I may need every moment of that time.

The Oscars

Tonight The Oscars are on. This time last year, I could have really cared less about them, as we haven't gotten out much to the movies in the past four years (lack of disposable income will do that to you). But over the past year while Adam has written his thesis on all the Academy Best Picture Winners, we have learned a lot about the Academy and film in general. Oh yeah, and we've watched over 80 films in the past year.

Yesterday Adam and I spent 12 hours at the AMC theater with good friends Joanna and Gilbe watching all the nominees for the Best Picture this year. We had a great time seeing all the films and hanging out and critiquing them a bit afterwards. Adam totally got a kick out of seeing all of them and I liked eating popcorn all day. Also, I think I might hurl if I ever smell popcorn again.

Just for those of you who might care, here's my run down of the nominees and what I think (without ruining the movies for you in case you want to see them):

Michael Clayton
I really enjoyed this movie more than I anticipated. Plus it has George Clooney in it so how can you lose. This movie was different from the other four and was a great lawyer suspense kind of movie that wasn't scary, but totally enjoyable. Did I mention George Clooney?

There Will Be Blood
There was some senseless killing and parts where I had to turn away my eyes but in general I think (?) I liked this movie. About an oil man at the turn of the century and him building his oil business. Daniel Day-Lewis deserves best actor for this one.

Atonement
I knew I would like this move and I did. I like Kiera Knightley in general but I enjoy a period piece very much. The bit at the end that seems to be current times with Briony looking back kinda ruined it for me though.

Juno
I still loved this movie even the second time around. In fact, I think I liked it more and still found it really funny and sweet and all of those things. Plus I just love the soundtrack so much. Ellen Page for best actress. She does such a great job adding an edge to teenage problems without being bitter or whiney.

No Country for Old Men
I did not like this movie at all, at first. I do not typically like the "grainy" and detached kind of movies, but I see why it is up for best picture. Tommy Lee Jones is decent in it though. I did enjoy it better after Adam did an online search about it and explained some of the ideas behind it. Like that it is allegorical for death and fate and life. Ok, at least there was a point in all the killing. And I wanted Woody Harrelson to be more funny in it.

My Pick for Best Picture: I would love to see Juno win because it was different and quirky. I think Atonement could win because the Academy loves period pieces (especially WWII ones), but I'm afraid that with the recent trends of detached movies that have won the past few years (Crash, Departed, Million Dollar Baby) that No Country for Old Men might have it tonight.

We'll see. We're having a bunch of friends over to watch the festivities and eat lots of junk. Hopefully, I'll be able to stay up that late to see who wins.

Late Valentine

Here are some pics of the Valentine Craft I mentioned earlier but forgot to repost about.

It is made from felt- I glued in a snack sized baggie to keep the Stash Tea from going stale inside it. I exchanged the tabs on the tea for some hearts and circles. Looking at the embroidery, I still need to work on that, but at least it was made with lots and lots of love. :)

A new haircut = A new outlook on life

I got my haircut yesterday. I don't normally pay for a haircut (Thanks Jess!) but opt to get them in the dining rooms and kitchens and bathrooms of different houses whenever Jess and I have a few minutes to spare. But alas, I haven't seen Jess since October and won't see her until June, and I was looking pretty sad.

I skipped out on work early yesterday to go and the lady getting her haircut in the chair next to me was very friendly, telling me about her four month old son and how much she loved staying home with him and loved being a mom. She was really kind and was a big morale boost for me. As my haircut ended and I was heaving myself out of the chair. She said, "A new haircut when you are pregnant is like a new lease on life. It makes you feel so much better about yourself." I smiled and thought, "Yeah whatever lady." But then I was walking through the mall taking a look in Gymboree, Pumpkin Patch, and Baby Gap, and I realized I was walking a little taller and smiling a little bigger. Maybe it was the 4 lbs of hair she seemed to have cut off or maybe there's something to this haircut theory.

In other news....

In my blog reading today greeting cards from Alternate Greetings came up and I loved them so much I just had to share at least one with you.... This one is my favorite. That and the one about needing a cocktail at a baby shower....

Twenty-Eight Week Pics

Here I am. Growing well (hopefully). We go to the doctor on Friday for a check up and I should have some new pics of Mr. Mister then as well, just wanted to get these up while I thought about it.

Thoughts on being seven months pregnant

This week I am 28 weeks pregnant. A fun/terrifying adventure so far. But I hear it's all downhill from here until the baby's born.
There are certain things that are interesting about being seven months pregnant.

Some where I lost the ability to see my feet. And then also reach them. I realized the other day that this is a hindrance for two major reasons. One, I can't paint my toenails, and two, I can't tie my tennis shoes very easily. This was all in the matter of two minutes as I was deciding which shoes to wear to work. I couldn't wear sandals because my toes weren't painted and tennis shoes were difficult because I couldn't reach them to tie them. Closed toed slip on flats from here on out people. At least until I can convince Adam to paint my toenails. :)

Nobody really warns you about the ability to pop every joint out of socket while you are pregnant, especially your hips and legs. My bones have always popped and cracked when getting out of bed in the morning, but now I'm a regular percussion section all on my own getting in and out of bed, out of my chair, out of the car, etc. Apparently this crippling pain I feel in my leg where it meets my hip has a name and everything, "round ligament pain" is now my companion. And it has a cure too, actually two of them. One- Have the baby. Two- Don't do any activity that aggravates it. Mine's caused by moving, so I'll apparently not be doing any activity for the next three months.

Nesting is not only at the very last stage of pregnancy before labor. Adam had to stop me from vacuuming between the ceiling tiles in our bathroom this afternoon. What?!?! Who does that? Apparently this crazy pregnant lady.

There is a reason why pregnant women in their 7th month are not physically able to have 5 month old children. It's impossible to hold or care for them for longer than 10 minutes standing up. We watched Kate this weekend and while I watched her perfectly easily two or three weeks ago without any issue at all, I discovered this time around that my body was not physically able to stand and hold her, sway and bounce in an adequate fashion for more than 3 seconds. Thanks nature, you sure know what you are doing.

One Crafty Thing...

I did make one fairly simple crafty thing for this holiday. My boss has acquired quite a collection of my crafts over the past few months and reminded me to not forget the one for Valentine's Day. How can you resist a request for a craft. Now for Tina especially, it had to be sufficiently cheesy. That meant I had to pull out the doilies and the pink. :)

Here is her Valentine posing among the Thanksgiving Turkeys from Martha Stewart and the Christmas Penguins Elea and I made for everyone in our department.

Happy Valentine's Day...

No big crafts for this lovie day. I was talking to a friend yesterday about how uncreative we both feel this year. Yeah I'm in that boat. I'm working on so many other projects that the holiday has had to take a back seat.

Baby Mister has been getting quite a few gifts lately. Yesterday a box came chock full of cute little clothes from Laura in Florida. Oh how I wish we had decent consignment shops around here, she found the cutest things at the one near their house.

My dear friend Darci picked this onesie up and had to give it right away on Sunday when I saw her.

I LOVE IT! It makes me laugh so hard. I should put it away until I can wash all the tiniest clothes for Mister's arrival, but I've left it laying around the house because it makes me smile and laugh every time I see it.

Any suggestions?

For pregnancy migraines? Last night was the second one I've had and I can find nothing that helps (especially last night at three in the morning while I was still up and staring at the ceiling of my living room feeling incapacitated).
But these are the cutest things- I mentioned them yesterday and we finished a bunch of them last night. I sure wish I was going to this shower....

Busy Weekend

Saturday
Friday Night was only the beginning to my busy busy weekend.

Saturday I met my friend, Jen, for an early breakfast at the Cliff Cafe. It was super Retro Swank and I loved every minute of it. I will be going back and soon. I was sold when I asked for hot tea and the server brought out a wooden box full of Harney & Sons, my ALL TIME FAVORITE tea. Then I found out they make their own granola.

Then I went to a bridal shower for one of Adam's coworkers and had some more lovely tea and Sprinkles Cupcakes. You may remember our Sprinkles Cupcake adventure from Adam's birthday. So needless to say I was told that I would not be welcomed back into my own home unless I brought a cupcake home with me for Adam.

Then I spent some harrowing hours with Stephanie searching for just the right things to make her Baby Shower invitations for her shower in New York. But gosh darnit we found it and they are the cutest things in the world (I'll post a pic later as we are finishing them tonight).

Lastly, I capped off the evening at a Sara Groves concert with my lovely boss, Tina and had a wonderful time trying to figure out what Charlie Peacock means in his songs (I love metaphors, but some of his are beyond me). This is the second time I've seen Sara in the past three months and I love her more each time. I also love attending concerts like this because we were 5 rows back from the stage and could see every facial expression. It was a great time. I even went ahead and bought on of her CDs, which I wouldn't normally do. But when I read the title "Station Wagon: Songs for Parents" I knew that I needed it.

Sunday
Sunday we had our usual, plus some- Church, Lunch at Snowpea (my favorite Chinese restaurant, where Adam got to witness me explain to yet another person that really it is just one baby and that my due date is still three months away), more work with Steph on the invites, small group where a couple mean rounds of Super Mario Bros. 3 where played on the Wii, and the grocery store.

This morning I wondered why I felt like I hadn't really had a weekend. Hmmmm any thoughts on that?

Spiritual
I frequent a leadership blog for Christian Women in an attempt to add some "spiritualness" to my mostly mundane day. I admit though, sometime I find myself too busy to read it or just skimming it to see if the topic really interests me. Today, however, I found myself reading it and then was so glad I did.

Most people would never suspect that one of the biggest anxieties I have is fitting in. In most situations I consciously or subconsiously think that I am the strangest one in the room. You know something along the lines of Sesame Street's "One of These Things is Not Like the Other" song they used to sing on the show.

The article (found on this link) addresses that almost everyone feels like they don't fit in at church and raises the question of there possibly being a larger spiritual issue here. I might just agree with that.

What really struck me was the last lines of the article, which I will close with-
"But I do remember a wise person once telling me, 'If you assume that everyone you see at church is feeling lonely at some level, you’ll be right nine times out of ten.'”

Surprise Date Night!

Today Adam told me that we would be going on a surprise date. Here's the thing. I hate surprises and not knowing and all that jazz. I like to be informed. But I was super happy about this surprise date thing today. I got to wait around all day anticipating what we would be doing. In fact I was so excited I couldn't even take a nap today.
Adam had scored some free tickets to Studio Movie Grill and took me to see Juno. Studio Movie Grill is a pretty neat place where they have set up the movie theater like a restaurant/bar and have servers and everything bring your dinner and drinks during the movie. We got there a little early so our food came out right as the movie was starting and we enjoyed it throughout. The food was better than we expected as well. We had wanted to see Juno for a long time (we even had sneak preview tickets but it was back in the "oh my goodness I'm so exhausted because I'm trying to grow a lung and a liver" part of my pregnancy where I couldn't get off the couch or even be bothered with watching tv). But I had really wanted to see it since it was nominated for and Oscar for best picture. You know after all that best picture screening I thought it would be nice to see one before it won (and we DO hope it wins).
I was thoroughly entertained with the entire movie. It took something that was sad (teenage pregnancy gets me every time, having taught high school and watching many of my students go through the experience) and turning it into something that is real and still heartwarming. We really liked it. I might not have liked it so much had I not been pregnant. But the humor was still there, however, I was the only person laughing at some points which makes me believe it was the pregnancy humor at those points.
Now Adam is talking about how girls names can be cute (like in the movie Juno gets called June-Bug and her little sister's name is Liberty Bell - which thoroughly amuses both of us for some reason) but how boy's names have to be tough. Like Killer and things like that. Ok maybe not quite like that, but you get the gist. Which brings me to say that - No, we still do not have a name for the thing living inside me, but we are still compiling a quite interesting list of names to choose from and will hopefully be narrowing it to two this week (at least that's my goal). And no we still aren't telling. And nope, we don't want your opinions (at least at this point).
I did some crafting today while Adam was having a phone interview with a church (more about that if things come to fruition with it) but I can't post about the crafting until the receiver receives it. But it was Valentine's themed and involved felt, embroidery, and tea. Three of my favorite things. I've also be cracking away at my VVS blanket for Lil Kipp and have added 12 or so rows in the past few days and plan on adding more tonight. I'm feeling the need to finish up some stuff before I get too fat and lazy to do anything.
I'm also thankful for running into old friends. Tonight we by chance ran into friends who I haven't seen in probably 2 1/2 years. Gosh that's forever. And we found out they are expecting a little boy this summer. How much fun is that?

A finished project

I finished A blankie today for baby Ali. Here it is to go in the mail tomorrow to her in Ohio. I wanted something sweet but a little bit sassy, just like her mommy and I'm sure like she'll be.

Crafty Update

I started a few new projects this weekend and didn't finish any of them. But in reality they are bigger projects, so I didn't expect to really.

Button Cards

Earlier last week I went on a card making binge brought on by How About Orange's cute button cards. They so reminded me of spring that I just had to make a few to fight the cold that had settled over North Texas. Luckily my fighting worked (or seemed to anyway) because this past weekend was 70s and 80s including today, but my fight was only temporary since the temperature is dropping into the 30s tonight with a high in the 50s and 60s the rest of the week.

CAL does not stand for California in my book
I also joined my first Crochet A Long. It's a group you join to encourage each other through a given project (mostly grouped by pattern). I joined the Vintage Vertical Stripe CAL (or VVSCAL) on Ravelry to help push me through working on this blanket for my own little one. Luckily, a bout of insomnia last week got me rockin and rollin on this blanket. I love that it is a random pattern with lots of colors and allows flexibility for whatever I want.

Monkeys in a Barrel and Rocketships
I also wanted to start embroidering little onsies for Mr. Mister and decided to do a couple following the theme of space along with some other fun ones. I finished two out of 8 already. The last one is sure to be Adam's favorite once it is finished.

Girly Diaper/Hand Bag
Not Pictured is the Diaper Bag that I started this weekend as I was going through some sewing basics with Lizzie who's wanted to learn how to sew. She had some great ideas and helped me change up my design in an unexpected way with the fabrics. I've got it all cut, but haven't started any of the sewing yet. The pattern I'm using is an altered Pleated Handbag from Amy Karol's Bend the Rules Sewing that I got for my birthday last summer. I've had trouble finding a "girly" bag that would be fun for me to carry but something that's not too girly. All the one's we've found I don't like or is something that Adam and I would both carry (= not girly).

Beautiful things to look at
I've also been enjoying these little surprises that were left at our house by a wonderful husband to remind me of his love while he was out of town.

Random Comment of the day

While I am in the bathroom earlier today at work (in the STALL mind you) I had the pleasure of having this conversation.
Random woman: So you only have what, 7 weeks left?
Me: (ugh I hate talking while I'm trying to use the restroom) No, I actually have 14 weeks.
Random woman: Oh my goodness, you are going to be huge!
Me: Yup (Thanks Lady)

Here's the latest Skeletor picture of our child. More and more he's beginning to remind me of Skeletor from He-Man.

This Adam-free weekend was great for me (though I did admittedly really miss him by the end of the weekend). But since he brought me home Mike-Sell's bar-b-que potato chips and Cheryl's Cookies and Donato's Pizza and venison jerkey made by Dad I was able to eat my way out of the sadness. Whew it was was some good eating last night for me before I went to bed.

I spent the weekend crafting and resting and watching Pride and Prejudice and lots of Friends on DVD and hanging out with real friends and babysitting. Yup, I was not in want for anything to do.
I promise to have another blog update with pictures showing off my projects that were all begun this weekend, but none were completed.

Adam's weekend went well. His presentations went well (so said many of the people who attended) and he had the chance to see many wonderful friends that we miss so much. Thanks to those of you who sent back hugs and belly pats. I so wish I could have come back to visit you all as well.
He also got to practice holding little ones, as he got to visit and hang out at the Music's house with baby Ali and her family.