She'll Always be Our First

Our darling little girl is 10 weeks away from being the "older sister," and we have a sense she is none to happy about it, what only child wouldn't be? We've been trying our hardest to do everything the "right way" when it comes to your pet and a new baby; we let her smell all the baby clothes, the diapers and the bedding- I even left her with at my mom's when our nephew was in town so she could have some kiddie time. But still, Lee can't help but feel sorry for her and what is about to be her topsy-turvy world. On top of the baby coming, we finally closed on our new house(hooray!) and have been slowly moving into it. Every once in a while we take Lucy with us and let her run around the house- this only results in the most horrendous nervous gas on the car ride back home.
So, being the good daddy that Lee is he moved our overstuffed chair into the house at his first opportunity hoping that when we take her to the NEW house, it smells faintly familiar to our OLD house and she wouldn't be so nervous. ( I know.... adorable.) And wouldn't you know it? The very FIRST thing Lucy does when we get to the new house is hop up in that chair and "supervise" as her parents moan and groan pushing around boxes and arguing over the precise placement of the couch versus the love seat.
Everyone keeps telling us that when Hailey comes, we won't be so concerned with Lucy because we'll be too busy with the baby. As with all of the non-solicited advice we receive, we smile and say "We'll see.." When in REALITY, when it comes to that particular advice, I telepathically give them the finger... no offense, and maybe these people just aren't "dog people" or maybe we're the weird ones because we are "dog people"- but we both have the strongest hopes that the transition goes somewhat easily for Lucy, because we love her and yes she maybe furry, and have nervous gas, and maybe slightly addicted to anything that gives a light reflection, but she will always be our first baby.

Turn on a....

Just in case you were wondering... a US dime fits snugly in my belly button.

I guess I really had no concept of how big "we" are getting, that was until my mother started taking pictures of me this weekend. With our nephew in town, every day has multiple photo ops, and I have officially realized that I do indeed look my gestational age, even if the camera didn't add 10 pounds (which is where most of it HAS to be from). Everyone has been really nice about it, saying "oh at least it's all in your belly..." or my Dr.'s favorite line " well, you don't look pregnant from behind!" THANK GOD MY BUTT DOESN'T LOOK PREGNANT! ( whatever that would look like, I'm not sure...) Anyways, I've decided that as of today, I fully embrace the whale-like state that I have become and will further graduate into in the next 11 weeks. So come on pregnant butt, show yourself... I'm ready... 79 days to go.

Can you OD on Potassium?

The past few days, I have HAD to have as many bananas as possible, as in I have eaten three or four in one sitting... well I usually finish one before I even sit down. The only catch is, I get terrible heartburn afterward. How one of the most bland foods on the planet does that to me is beyond me. Dr. gave me a RX for Zantac, but I never got it filled because A. the heartburn was never that bad and B. I'm never very good at remember to take meds on time or repetitively. Lee and I are not very big on popping pills for every little thing, so the only thing we had in the house was Children's Pepto ( Lucy gets a dose every once in a while after a visit to Grandma Pam's House of Endless Ribs and Dog Treats). So here I am in the kitchen thinking... this could work right? Nausea, Heartburn, Indigestion... everybody sing along now.... YAY! Pepto Bismol! Well it worked anyways, so this is what the kitchen counter is stocked with. 82 days to go.

Behold...Her Cavernous Navel

So my sister and I decided to take a few pictures of my now well rounded belly. We tried the first few sitting down in her papasan chair only to reveal that you could eat a small serving a cheerios out of my belly button. I feel fortunate to still have an "innie" but.... GEEZ! With my next update I will let you know which American currency presently fits in there. Annnyways, we tried a variety of angles only to discover that there really is no attractive way to photgraph the additional 30 pounds that is hanging of my front end. That's right.... THIRTY POUNDS. I know Hailey is measuring rather large, but she really has to stop ordering take out at 2AM and she should probably cut back on that daily jar of peanut butter... which brings me to a wonderful update.
It seems that when you are pregnant and eating ungodly amuonts of peanut butter, you can completely ward off anemia and gestational diabetes. We had our first last trimester check up today, and the Dr. says that I show NO traces of either. She asked me if I was consuming large amounts of meat because my iron levels were really strong. I explained to her that the shear thought of red meat is repulsive and strictly prohibited in our house, and that most of my protein has come from either a turkey sandwich or a ladle full of peanut butter ( that may or may not have been smothered ontop of a chocloate chip cookie, I mean.... apple slices).
All in all, mother and baby checked out just fine, which is all we can ask for right? 83 days to go.

A little catching up

Now that I've finally made it into the last trimester, it seems there isn't much to do but sit and wait. It seems as if the first 12 weeks crawled by and now here I am in the last 12 weeks grasping at the calendar days as they fly away. Being pregnant with her has given us a whole new perspective on the world. Yes, "her." Even though we swore up and down that a baby boy was going to give testosterone a fighting chance in our house, the ultrasound brought a crashing halt to that train of thought. Now poor Lee will have to constantly dodge the estrogen meteors for the next 18 years. He says he knew never stood a chance anyways.

It has been so fun to watch her grow, both excitedly on the ultrasound screen and bittersweetly in my waistline. I feel blessed that I got to skip the morning sickness and other terrors that EVERY other woman who has EVER been pregnant HAS to tell you to watch out for and how to take care of it. Maybe it was the fear of having half of my head be curly and the other half straight or having those tiger claw stretch marks, that mentally prepared me for what little symptoms I did have, to make them seem not so bad.

All in all, Lee and I both feel extremely lucky to be where we are and to have each other and our families to share in it.. not to mention all the strangers at Starbucks my mother just HAS to tell. So here starts the count down to Hailey Maureen's world debut.... 84 days to go