My Opus

I would say that James and I are pretty logical and practical people. When it comes to large purchases, we do our research. We try to really think about how we plan on using something, and what will work best for us. I remember when we were remodeling our kitchen, I would wake up in the morning to the sound of the tape measure snapping shut, James hard at work researching and measuring and planning. The kitchen was his opus.

This baby and all the things that come with it are my opus. I have never conducted more research, read more books, given more thought to anything ever before. And the one item of all the necessary baby items that this has proven more true of is the stroller. I have spent more time researching and reading about strollers than I did when I bought my last car. Deciding on the perfect stroller for our family has been futile. It's all stemming from practicality. See, I really want to only buy one stroller. And every parent I have talked to about strollers tells me they have more than one. But what if I don't want more than one stroller? Is this really necessary? Does there not exist a stroller that will work for a newborn all the way up to a toddler, be built for either the mall or the trail, easy to fold and somewhat lightweight? If this does not exist, how come??

I have currently narrowed it down to two strollers. Problem is, only one is available at a local store for me to test drive. Do I take a chance and buy a stroller that I have not tested? Other decisions like the bassinet and the car seat are dependent upon this stroller decision. And I really do not want to buy a stroller now, only to turn around and buy another one in a few months. I want the perfect stroller. My question is, why is this so difficult?

On an unrelated note, here's the bump at 22 weeks, all the way from New York City!:

Halvsies

I am now officially halfway through this pregnancy. I can't believe it! It seems like it's gone by so fast already. In honor of my halfway point, I thought I would revisit this post and check in on my progress. Here is what I wrote back in March, with my post edits:

I will:
1.) Wear high heels throughout my entire pregnancy.
2.) Work out. (hahaha)
3.) Strive to thrift or refashion the majority of my maternity clothes.
4.) Have a natural childbirth experience with a midwife.
5.) Read a book on natural childbirth and a book about breastfeeding.
6.) Take a picture of myself every week and make a photobook documenting this pregnancy.

POST EDIT:
1.) Still rockin' the heels, baby.
2.) Working out about 2x per week. Not as often as I'd like, but it's something!
3.) While I haven't thrifted any clothes, really, I can say I have not spent more than $20 on any one maternity item I have bought. Furthermore, I have actually converted a couple of non-maternity items I already owned into maternity. For free!
4.) TBD
5.) Check and check.
6.) I think I have missed two or three weeks so far. I kind of lost track because of vacation.


I won't:
1.) Gain more than 30 pounds.
2.) Eat for two people.
3.) Find out the sex of the baby.
4.) Eat raw sushi, feta or gorgonzola cheese (just kill me now), or drink alcohol.
5.) Dedicate all Faceboook posts to pregnancy or baby-related topics.
6.) Act like I am the only woman who has ever had a baby.

POST EDIT:
1.) As of 20 weeks, my total weight gain was seven pounds. If I gain about a pound a week for the rest of my pregnancy (which is normal), that would put me at 27 pounds total pregnancy weight gain. Not too bad. Let's see if I can keep it up.
2.) I have not been gluttonous. I snack in the morning on almonds and in the afternoon on dried apricots or a granola bar. My meals are relatively healthy.
3.) We had our ultrasound and were not tempted at all to find out the sex, and I don't anticipate this changing!
4.) Um, OK...I have stumbled here, but only because I have read that it's actually OK to indulge in these things at a minimum. I have had probably 3 pieces of raw sushi. Don't even try and tell me that pregnant women in Japan do not eat raw fish! And it turns out that feta and gorgonzola are totally OK as long as they are pasturized. As for alcohol, I have had sips of James' beer/wine/margaritas, but never more than a sip. And I totally drank O'Douls on vacation. Hey, it made me feel like I was drinking beer on the beach, and let's be honest, what's a beach without beer??
5.) I probably err on the side of more pregnancy-related posts than not. But I try to be cognizant of it. I would grade myself a C on this one.
6.) Hmmm, I just asked James what he thought about this one, and he said that I have not been acting this way. I'll agree.

So, overall I would say I've been pretty good about following my rules. James told me yesterday that he was pleased I have not had the raging pregnancy hormones (read: total bitchiness and/or weepiness) that he's heard about. I really have felt much like my regular self...plenty of energy, overall pleasant mood and no weird cravings. But when I look at myself in the mirror, I cannot believe how my body has changed. I wasn't sure how I would feel about that, but I can say that it's really....awesome. It's totally weird in the sense that my stomach has always been relatively flat, and right now it looks like I have swallowed a bowling ball. But I feel the baby moving in there now and I wouldn't trade that for a flat stomach any day.

Speaking of bowling balls...here's my 20 week picture. We went bowling with some friends and I just couldn't resist!

Peek-a-Boo

We had our ultrasound on Wednesday, and we finally saw the baby! It's funny how seeing this baby, and feeling it move in my stomach, can really make this pregnancy hit home. I am growing a BABY. In my BODY. It's still so surreal.

The ultrasound was very fast, and thankfully, the baby is developing just perfectly. I'm not the type to worry, so I hadn't given much thought to the fact that if something was wrong, the ultrasound would most likely show it. It didn't really occur to me, until I laid down on that exam table and she put the jelly on my stomach. Then, I wondered what we would see. Well, we saw the heart and cranium, the spine, and little baby fists. We also saw the baby sticking out it's tongue and moving it's mouth. It is so amazing to me that this little baby started out as a speck, and now has all it's working parts. Speaking of working parts, it has genitals! We don't know which kind, but the ultrasound tech said they were "normal and unambiguous." Thumbs up for that.

I have been starting to feel more connected to the baby, now that I can feel it. It wasn't that I felt disconnected before, but I guess seeing is believing. Obviously, I've known all along that there was a baby in there, but now that I can actually feel it move, well, that is a feeling like no other. It's kind of unexplainable, but in the best possible way.

I just feel so happy. So happy I am having a baby, and so happy that James and I are going to be parents. Of a BABY. That I am GROWING. Crazy!

Oh, and since we skipped last weeks pictures (have I mentioned this project is a burden?), I thought I would post another shot or two from our vacation.

Tiny Dancer

Today I felt the baby move for the very first time. It was subtle, yet so obvious that it was the little rascal moving around. It felt like gas, except without the, well, gas. I felt it four or five times in a span of about a minute. I guess the baby likes Chick-fil-A's Spicy Chicken Sandwich as much as mama does!

It was the coolest feeling in the whole world. I cried.

VACATION!!!!

The title of this post, in all caps (which means I'm yelling), comes from a cruise director on the cruise James and I took a couple of years ago. The entire cruise, he would randomly yell "VACATION!!!" It was really annoying and the opposite of relaxing, which is what vacation is all about, no?

If I don't get to the beach at least once a year, I get...pissy. I love vacations, or any traveling, really. I love planning it, packing for it and and all the "stresses" that come with travel, like spending money and flying. I. Love. Vacations. I need to go places every once in awhile. For me, travel is not a burden, it's necessary to keep me sane.

Our most recent vacation was to Cape San Blas, Florida. It's my husbands most favorite place on Earth, and he's been wanting to take me there for the last six years. Although at first, he wanted me to go camping in the State Park. Um, I like camping, but for a maximum of two nights, and certainly not when it's hot. So, we rented a house on the beach and we were both happy. :) It was so beautiful there, and so un-crowded, I hesitate to talk too much about it because I don't want everyone to go there and make it crowded. But we literally did almost nothing all week except lay on the beach. The one day we actually did something, we rented a boat and drove to the tip of the Cape, which is only accessible by boat or hiking seven miles from the state park. I can honestly say, it was one of the best days of my life. Have you ever had one of those days where you felt like you were in a movie? That was this day. We found shells that were as big as my hand. We plucked sand dollars straight out of the ocean. We saw a school of dolphins that were swimming along side our boat. We saw a bunch of stingray, and even a sea turtle. It was awesome.

Being on vacation got me thinking about how our vacations will change once we have a baby. Or will they? Do they have to, really? I mean, I realize that there are places we will go once we have kids that we may not have gone before (Disney World), but more than anything, I just want to instill my love of travel in my child. I want to make an effort to go places and do things, regardless of how much (literal) baggage I must carry. For us, travel and vacations are a high priority, and I want it to continue to be that way. I want my children to learn to entertain themselves while on a road trip or an airplane. And I want them to be excited about going places, to relish the journey and the destination.

While on our trip, we did have some fun with photos. I was so relaxed on vacation, that my baby bump grew quite substantially. Here's evidence:


And this is one of the seashells I plucked off the ocean floor:

For Real

I've been a little behind on my blogging. And picture-taking (see last post). But we're going to get back on track here. There's so much to say!

First, we got a crib. And, according to my friends, we are way ahead of schedule. I guess the prime crib-purchasing time in pregnancy is sometime around six months along?? No one told me there were rules about when it was appropriate to purchase things, sorry. Would you believe me if I told you that we didn't plan on getting the crib so soon? Because we didn't, I swear! The crib had been out of stock ever since I found it and decided it was the one. I just happened to check one night, and there it was, back in stock. So, James told me to buy it and I did. I'm sure he wishes everything were this simple.

I will tell you that putting the crib together and in place in the work-in-progress-nursery was the very first moment of this pregnancy where it felt REAL. Like, we're having a BABY, real. It was pretty cool. For days afterward I would just wander into the nursery to look at the crib and the little onesie that we put in it. I can't wait to paint the room so I can get my decorating on! We (I) have decided not to have a theme for the room, more a color scheme of bright colors like yellow, lime green, orange and turquoise. Because nothing says "baby" like citrus colors! Haha

Here are a few random things I have noticed lately:
1.) I can no longer bend at the waist with the same flexibility. This affects everything from painting my toenails to bending over to pet my dog to leaning forward in the sales meeting. I'm told it will get worse, which means I'll have to pay to get a pedicure, have James pet Chloe for me and bring a cot to my sales meetings.

2.) If I stop drinking liquids at 8pm, I can almost make it all night without getting up to pee. However, when I get up the next day, I'm so dehydrated that I drink my body weight in water for the next 12 hours and therefore spend the day in the bathroom, peeing. There has to be a better way.

3.) I'm going to have to invest in new undergarments. In a larger size.

So, for my sixteen week pictures James wanted to go to the Pennybacker Bridge. It was a gorgeous day, although the very instant we hiked up to the lookout, the wind started blowing something fierce. It pissed me off, since I can't really pull off the Victoria's Secret catalog windblown look. For multiple reasons.

15 weeks

This little photo project is turning out to be quite the burden. I feel the need to go to these great places and get these fantastic pictures. But it's wedding season, and my husband is very busy taking pictures of other people, so, I'm relegated to Sunday photo sessions. Those of you who know me well know that I have a long-standing tradition of not showering on Sundays. I've been not showering on Sundays since college. Sunday is a day of rest, people, and showering and putting on lotion and blow drying hair and putting on makeup is not restful.

So, last weekend I thought I would take full advantage of my no-shower Sunday tradition and go bike riding downtown. That gave me an excuse to look like crap in these pictures. But you can really see the bump in my workout clothes! We took these pictures in front of the Stevie Ray Vaughan statue at Lady Bird Lake.