Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Dazed and Confused

I'm sorry, what week am I? I think my doctor confused me last time I went in, when I thought I was 16 weeks and he said 15. As he kept looking at his little handy little chart, and going back and forth on how far along I was, I trusted him when his final answer was 15. Now, even though I just posted week 18 last week, it appears we are officially 20 weeks. Where did 19 go? Of course the confusion isn't helped by the fact that one website says I'm 19 weeks, while the other says 20. Sooooo, what the heck? The tech said 20 weeks after taking measurements, and my stomach measured at 21 weeks. I thought baby was a mango, baby is really the size of a cantaloupe, even though I am measuring like a banana.


Which would explain the weight gain. I was doing to good too. Minimal weight gain had me well under the line, and then POW! I'm now right on the line. So, I'm still in good shape, as long as next month doesn't bring another weight spike, and then another, and another. Although I'm pretty sure all four of those pounds could be just from the weekend. Mexican on Friday, biscuits and gravy on Saturday, Sunday brought Steak n' Shake, and since I won the bet with Mason on Monday, we had Five Guys, Burgers and Fries. Sounds like a fat weekend to me. Of course those extra pounds could be directly related to the mass amounts of fluid resting in my feet and kankles, I mean ankles.

Oh, what bet you ask? The gender bet. The winner of the bet got to pick where we ate for lunch and the looser had to pay. That fact that it would be coming out of the same bank account doesn't matter. Mason picked boy, and I picked girl. We are having a girl! We pretty much have a name all picked out, but you know me, it will probably change once I meet her. I'm a little hesitant to tell everyone what it is, because people have an amazing ability to voice their opinion about your terrible choice in potential baby names. However, since I have all of 9 followers, and 4 or 5 active readers (that I know of anyway) I might as well tell you. Mason is 90% sure and I am about 80% sure that our daughter will be Elina Anne (Lina for short).
Although there is still some debate between my mother, my sister and I about the spelling. Here are the Greek meanings for each spelling:
Elina (eh LEE nah)- Torch; bright light
Elena (eh LAY nah)- Wicker, reed, shoot; torch; basket
First of all Elena sounds too close to Elaine, which I don't care for at all. Nor do I want to name my daughter after a basket. The pronunciation of Elina is exactly how I want it to sound. So no, it is not spelled wrong. If we go with this name, it will be spelled Elina.

Friday, March 26, 2010

Dreams

This post is a little belated, as I had the dream Tuesday night. According to the wives tales, what you dream is the opposite of what you are having. According to my neighbor, what she dreamed was exactly what she had.

Mason had a dream a few weeks ago, and while he couldn't remember the details of the dream, he knew it was a girl.

I dreamed that we were in for the ultra sound and instead of seeing the little black and white fuzzy version of our baby, there was a real baby on the table before us. This baby was wearing a thin paper like diaper thing, so we couldn't actually see anything. But the tech announced that it was a girl, and when I looked, I could tell she was right.

This is the second sign that I have gotten that it's a girl. A while back while driving home after work I heard a voice that said, "It's a girl." It's a voice I've heard before and one I've learned the hard way to listen to. It comes to me like a thought, in my own voice, but they aren't my words. I know this may sound weird to some of you, but I also know at least one person will understand what I'm talking about. Call it my guide, my instincts, whatever.

Even after hearing the voice I was pretty sure I was having a boy. But now, I'm leaning towards girl.

Also, in unrelated news, I'm going to try and incorporate more pictures in my blog. Even if they don't relate to what I'm talking about. Which may be hard since I don't usually blog while I'm at home, with the camera and access to all my pictures. But that is my goal.

Monday, March 22, 2010

Week 18 Brings... Spring Cleaning?

Our plans for Saturday were unavoidably canceled. So we cleaned. And hung some things and rearranged some things and I made a list of everything I wanted to do to each room. I am proud to say that after I purchase a few candles and clean some towels, the guest bathroom will FINALLY be at a place I can call done. One whole room that is complete, well except for the eventual lighting fixture change which is a little lower on the list. As soon as I have more funds, then I will finally get the rest of the house the way I want it. Which means a lighter color in the living room which will be done in WASHABLE paint (now if we try to wash it, the paint comes right off). Then something calming and airy in the main bedroom instead of the dark dungeon we now sleep in. I didn't mind it at first, but now, it depresses me. I'm just not a dark and drab kind of person. And I'm sure I will love it as much as I love the new curtains in the living room once it is done.

My feet. Oh my poor feet. I thought they were doing better, after all I was on them ALL day Saturday with very minimal swelling. Then come Monday morning, sitting at my desk at work... poof! Huge feet. Although it wasn't all bad, I did get a foot massage out of the deal without even asking for one. So Tuesday morning, I woke up again to very minimal swelling and in less then an hour of being at work and the were so big they were almost painful. Today, when I woke up, they were still quite poofy. Thankfully, I am working from home, so I can prop these suckers up all day and watch as they slowly deflate.

Baby is now a sweet potato. I don't know about
you, but I have never bought a small sweet potato. Which would explain why it is now such an ordeal just to roll over in bed. I'm really not sure how Mason can sleep through such commotion. Perhaps if it were warm so I wouldn't need covers, and if I had the whole bed to myself it wouldn't be so bad. But that is not the case. Baby's ears are also fully developed, so I stuck my headphones in the giant belly panel of my pants on Monday so Baby could listen to his or her future favorite song. I know, I'm weird. But it works. Plus this way, I won't hear it so much that I will get sick of it, and I can use my work hours to do something productive. You know, other then work, of course.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

"OMG That's Huge!" News

The swelling has already started! I'm pretty dang sure it's to soon for that non-sense. It appears my cute shoes will not be making an appearance this summer after all. My cabbage patch feet will be sporting flip-flops and ballet flats where my skin can bulge out of the top. It's going to be a LONG summer. Although, apparently I favor my right foot, as it is officially 10 times bigger then my left.

In other "OMG That's Huge" news, I finally gave in and went bra shopping this weekend. You know those bras you look at when you first go bra shopping cause your trainer bra is no longer doing the job and you think, "those are huge!" Welcome to my drawer big huge bras. Try not to intimidate all the little ones still in there.

While I was shopping Sister discovered baby snow suits on sale for $5. How does one pass that up? Surely they will be gone by the time I actually KNOW if I should buy the pink one or the blue one. Since we can use Miss O's old suit if it's a girl, I was convinced to buy a blue one and just return it if I ended up not needing one. I figured it evened out Linda's purchase of a girl outfit, so it was okay. But really, me buying anything gender specific for this baby is HUGE news.

What else is huge you ask? I finally got my drool-worthy camera. Perhaps not huge news for most of you, but ginormous news for me. With all the AMEX and Visa cards I got from work, and the earnings from photo shoots, birthdays, and so on, it finally worked out that I could go and get it. This camera is not without controversy though. The big debate is, who gets to use my old awesome camera. Sister who called dibs long before I was ready to purchase the new camera? Or Mason, who wants to learn more and be more involved in what I am so passionate about? So, I'm trying to win another one of a different brand so that I can get myself out of the middle of this situation. I should just put my old camera at the end of a scavenger hunt and let the two of them duke it out. Or maybe just work out visitation rights.

Baby is now an onion, and that seems huge to be inside of me. I know, I know, just wait it will only get bigger. People are like onions, they have many layers. Baby is working on those layers as we speak, building up some baby fat to keep warm. Little onion now also has finger prints! Baby is also making it more difficult to sit up from a reclined position. You know, the one I lie in to help the swelling in my huge feet go down.

That's all for now. Please be sure to tune in next week for more "OMG That's Huge!" News.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

I Have No Idea Where This is Headed

I seem to have a complete aversion to anything looking remotely like work today. So I thought, "Hey, I'll write a blog." Except for one minor detail. I really have nothing to say. No wonderful stories to share, no dead dogs on the side of the road to tell you about, nothing. Maybe I share to many stories verbally and then forget to mention them here too. Or maybe my week has been nice and dull for a change. Or maybe, just maybe I'm to tired to notice.

Except for Wednesday. Wednesday was a great day. I was fortunate to be working from home that day, so I got to open the back door and let the fresh air come in. I needed that warm fresh air, it was a fuel that had been missing from my system for those long winter months. I wanted to hop up, and dance around the room with the stereo blasting. I was even tempted to clean while I danced. But instead I was glued to the couch dealing with needy customers. And then I started thinking, and planning and wanting to pull out all of my craft supplies. Instead I grabbed my dusty sketch book and jotted down my ideas. And then I called my Dad to share my ideas with him and see if he had what I needed "in stock." Dad does have a rather large inventory. See Mom, this is why we don't throw anything away. You never know when you (or I) might need it.

Remember not that long ago when I stated that I was showing? One moment I thought I was just starting to show. The very next day, I looked down and thought, "Holy Crap!" And it is a strong little baby in there. Yesterday (or was it the day before? I really can't remember) I got punched or kicked hard enough that I actually said "ow." Out loud. Oh, apparently baby doesn't want me to tell this story. I just got kicked in the side. Anyway, when I say "ow" out loud it means one of two things. 1. It really did hurt. 2. I saw it coming and I thought it was going to hurt, it usually does not. So my sweet little baby's movements no longer feel like weird gas bubbles. They now feel like getting elbowed in the gut, from the inside.

And now I have to actually try and get some work done. As my To Do folder is filling up and my time is running out.

Monday, March 8, 2010

Just Call Me Hormonally Challenged

Saturday was a challenging day. Mason was on call this weekend and had to run off to fix the world. By the time he got home, I was busy getting ready for a birthday party we had to go to. As soon as I stepped out of the shower, I had a raging hunger with nothing in the house to eat. I sat down on the couch and sweetly mentioned to Mason that I was hungry. I'm not exactly sure what I was expecting him to do about that, but it clearly wasn't what he chose to do.

K: I'm hungry.
M: We're going to eat at 5.
K: No we aren't. The party doesn't start until 5:30, and you never eat right when you get there. Plus it's 3:30. That's two hours away, I'm hungry now. (At this point, I'm starting to get a little short with him).
M: Then eat some crackers. Eat an apple. Eat a banana.
K: Forget it. (Start to storm off)
M: Well, what do you want me to do about it? You want me to go get you something?
K: I want you to at least offer a better suggestion then "Eat an apple." Which wouldn't fill me up, not to mention we don't even have any of those things! (I am now crying as well as yelling because I can actually hear the words that are coming out of my mouth, I just can't stop them).
M: Are you trying to tell me to go to the grocery store? There are nicer ways to ask that.
K: Just forget it. (Storm off to finish getting ready an try to stop crying).

Mason then stormed off and out to the grocery store, and by the time I stopped crying he was home bringing groceries in. So I went out to apologize for my complete overreaction and explain that I just got frustrated that he didn't seem to understand that pregnancy hunger isn't like regular hunger. Regular hunger goes like this: Hmm, I'm getting hungry. What should I make for dinner? Pregnancy hunger goes like this: If I don't eat something RIGHT NOW I am going to DIE!

After that lovely example and further explaining that I was sorry but I couldn't help it, Mason then made the mistake of telling me I needed to "get that under control." I'm sorry, how does one go about getting their hormones under control? Telling them to "get that under control" is not the way. I was oh-so-close to yelling "You did this to me!" Lucky for him, the front door was open, and I did have a little remaining control. I will give him some points though, after I was finished getting ready he was heating some soup on the stove and if I couldn't wait for that, then there were doughnuts on the counter. And the soup was the perfect thing to fill me up without making me too full to eat at the party (I also bowled the best game of my entire life, but that's a different story).

Boy is he going to have fun when I go through menopause.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

The Mooning Gymnast

Today's post is brought to you by the makers of The Mooning Gymnast. Wait. That doesn't sound right. Okay, let me start over... Today's post is brought to you by The Mooning Gymnast!

I went to the doctor on Thursday, and since Mason has to save his vacation days so he can spend some time with us after the baby is born and we didn't have an ultrasound scheduled, he didn't come. So Mom and Miss O came instead. Mom was so excited to hear the baby's heart beat, little did she know she was also going to witness the acrobatic styling of The Mooning Gymnast. Instead of strapping on the heart monitor Dr. B decided he would rather take a look at the baby. Miss O thought the ultrasound was the WORST commercial she had ever seen, there was no music, no bright colors, nothing. Mom and I however, we were fascinated as we watched my little baby flip over to face my spine, flip over to look at us (sort of) and then flip back over to moon us. Hence, The Mooning Gymnast. Dr. B said some people are able to feel them moving at this point, but I couldn't yet. I'm not gonna lie, I was feeling a little cheated here. Oh wait, I have an awesome baby growing inside there. I'm not getting cheated at all! Friday evening while shopping with Mom and Sister, my little baby woke up and started flipping around. How do I know this you ask? Cause I FELT it!

We have just over 3 short weeks before we can (hopefully) see if we are having a boy or a girl. According to Dr. B, my week really starts on Saturday, not Thursday like I had originally thought. So today, baby is an avocado. Little Cado is getting taste buds and ear bones. Wait, that means he/she can hear now... I'M NOT READY FOR THAT YET! I don't have my song picked out yet! I haven't even started shock therapy on Mason and his video game potty mouth (violent games make him say very bad, no good words)!

Okay, we are going to have to hurry and pick a song. So here are the top 2. I had to veto Beautiful, I just can't get the creepy video out of my head.
Unwritten, Natasha Bedingfield
Somewhere Over the Rainbow, Israel Kamakawiwo'Ole

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

I'm Afraid

I'm afraid that the constant pregnancy hunger has officially started. I eat until I'm no longer hungry (cause eating until I'm full is just plain uncomfortable these days). Five minutes later, I'm hungry again. I mean, really hungry.

I'm afraid that one of these days the hormones will get the best of me and I will actually say out loud what I am thinking to those who overstep their boundaries and annoy me. Regardless of who that person is and how it may effect my future with them.

I'm afraid that the baby will come long before I get all this laundry put away. I'm not even counting what hasn't been cleaned yet.

I'm afraid of September. September scares me to pieces. Surprisingly, the brand new baby concept of September scares me the least. Being in 30 million places at once with a brand new baby, raging hormones and a worn out body stresses me out to no end.

I'm afraid that my stomach is going to be so large this summer that I will fall over just by standing still. Not really, but I can imagine it happening, in the cartoon world anyway. It already feels huge, and it's just started.

I'm afraid I will never be able to get this, this, or this. But I can't wait for Miss O to have a cousin that may end up looking just like her (especially since she looks like her Aunt La-la).