Week 24

Because we have a courtyard entrance, our front door isn't visible from the street so when we first moved into our house, I made it a habit to use the front door when I was going to the mailbox as a way to check for packages and make sure every thing was find out that way. Yesterday, I didn't go out that door but used the garage instead. Imagine my surprise when I saw a note in the mailbox that we had a package at the front door. And not just any little box. A great big box all the way from Michigan full of maternity clothes courtesy of a friend. Hooray for (very generous) imaginary friends!
Clothes, clothes, and more clothes. What fun! I'll be able to share the bounty with some friends who are due later than me (in late April and late May) because they'll need two seasons worth of maternity clothes.

As for the rest of it, I've been going crazy finalizing vendors for the upcoming Holiday Ole' that Junior League is doing this weekend. I think we'll have about 32 or 33. Maybe 36, depending on everyone getting their application in. I hope they will soon. My eyelid has been twitching for the past two weeks because of this. But it will be worth it--I think it will be a great event.

Paul is just going crazy because of work. Seems to be worse than usual this week with some problems. Throw in that he's leaving for Berkeley on Friday and it ups his stress level. He's always more stressed before he leaves on travel because he's trying to finish up everything at work in preparation for being gone and so it won't be looming when he returns. We're staying home for Thanksgiving--hopefully he'll be able to relax some next weekend.

One funny thing from this week--I was lying in the recliner and the cat was lying on me across my belly when Baby kicked up a storm. The cat gave me the strangest look like "What the hey?" then walked over to the other chair to continue his nap, uninterrupted. I think he and Baby will get along great.

This week's belly shots. Paul only took a couple and this was the better of the pictures. I'm good at blinking.
And just in case there are any questions:
That's right. Pregnant is the new skinny.

And I was reminded why I hate the mall

I've had friends and acquaintances who start wearing maternity clothes at the first sign of pregnancy bloat. I was not as excited about giving up my normal clothes. It's not even that I'm a fashionista with great clothes but I do like the clothes I have and I've finally got my "style" figured out--whatever it might be. I honestly didn't expect shopping for maternity clothes to be this difficult. My first attempt to buy maternity clothes a a month or so ago ended in tears with nothing really being purchased. I picked up a few items when I visited Donna but I was still mostly wearing my pre-pregnancy clothes with the pants unbuttoned. Taking the advise of a friend to order a bunch of stuff online and try on in the comfort and security of my own bedroom, I placed a couple of orders online and ended up with a few more things that I really liked. You have no idea what a happy pregnant woman I was when I walked out of the house on Tuesday wearing a denim skirt, black cable knit sweater, and black knee-high boots. For the first time in weeks, I felt like I looked like me. As I told one of my coworkers, this is what I look like when I'm not pregnant.

Every year for the past however many years, my mother-in-law always takes me shopping for my birthday. It's our annual outing and just a fun way for us to spend time together. And I will not say no to someone wanting to buy me clothes. We went again today as I didn't have school. When I was first pregnant, I knew that I'd have this day to look forward to in the maternity clothing department. However, I was also functioning under the assumption that I wouldn't actually need maternity clothes until about this time. Because in my head, I'm apparently much taller than I really am in the real world.

I had a few things to do this morning at the house, including waiting for someone from one of the roofing companies to come give us an estimate. I was told he would be at the house between 10:30 and 12:30 (hate that). Guess who showed up at 10:15? Guess who was just getting out of the shower when the doorbell rang? But it worked out fine and I was able to head over to my in-laws' house earlier than planned and my MIL and I were able to have lunch before heading out.

Shopping for maternity clothes isn't as much fun as shopping for regular clothes because it was pretty much us looking at stuff for me instead of both of us shopping and having a good time. MIL said she didn't mind since it was for my birthday but it will be more fun again next year when she can be a full participant. We only went to a couple of stores but I was able to find several new tops, pants, two dresses that I LOVE, and a couple of cardigan-type sweaters. Thank you for all you've done, veterans, including providing us with ridiculous sales like 25% off everything at Gap Maternity including sale items. Of course all the pants have to be hemmed which goes back to the not as tall as I think I should be.

There are still things I look at longingly that are sitting there in my closet, just waiting for me to be able to wear them again. I guess liking my pre-pregnancy wardrobe is good motivation to lose all the baby weight I gain.

And for the title--seriously. I hate the mall. Mobs of wandering teenagers and those obnoxious people at the kiosks who want to sell me hand cream or gold chains by the foot, or a onesie that said "Made in Burque" or "505" in Old English script like the gangstas all use. Although that last thing would be pretty funny for a little gringo baby. I might have to brave another trip....

The sweetest response yet

So, this weekend pretty much sucked rocks. I honestly spent the majority of the time crying or trying not to cry for no real reason other than hormones. I mean, I wasn't THRILLED with the idea of turning 35 and haven't been for quite some time but it really didn't warrant the sobbing. Or the moodiness. Or the general gloom and doom that I was projecting.

I was snuffled my way through church service on Sunday and while the sermon put me in a better frame of mind, I was still all moody and melancholy. We were standing in the Narthex afterwards, talking with some friends as well as Paul's parents and their friends. Last Sunday, I wore a maternity dress to church for the first time and the thing about maternity clothes is that you look very pregnant. Coupled with dinner after church service, I thought pretty much everyone knew I was pregnant.

Several of Paul's parents' neighbors also attend our church and they've known Paul since he was just a twinkle in his mom's eye. One of the women, Mrs. R., is honestly one of the sweetest, gentlest people I know and I think she genuinely sees only the good in people. When others tell me stories of a mischievous younger Paul, Mrs. R. will talk about what a cuddly baby he was or how he was always smiling as a little guy (probably because he was up to no good). And she always, always gives us a hug and a kiss on the cheek when we see her. Yesterday, after we greeted Mrs. R., Paul asked if she had yet heard the news and motioned in the direction of the bump. She didn't know. I told her it was going to be another Paul and tears came to her eyes. She told us that this news just made her day. Another round of hugs and kisses and

A bit quiet around here

Things are going well as far as the pregnancy goes. Weeks 22 and 23 have been relatively uneventful as far as any new developments. My OB appointment during week 22 included a sonogram which my mom was able to be there for. Baby was moderately cooperative with the pictures although he wouldn't pose for the profile picture my mom wanted. The doctor declared both mama and baby healthy and deemed there to be no reason for me to continue with the perinatologist visits.

This past week, I attended my first Pregnafit class at the gym. It's basically really, really low impact aerobics for pregnant people. I'm going to try some of the prenatal yoga classes as well. I'm doing a decent job of hitting the gym most weeks and either doing the treadmill or elliptical machine and some light weights. I think it's doing a pretty good job of keeping the aches and pains at bay. I've slacked off a bit the past two weeks and have felt more icky the past two weeks than I have any other time. So exercise and prenatal massages are worthwhile indulgences. I can also say week 23 is when I definitively felt the baby kicking on the outside. He's apparently taken up kickboxing classes about 4:00 every afternoon. And then he'll do his softshoe routine on my bladder. Love this boy.

I've decided to not take any classes next semester since Baby will be making an appearance right about midterms. I'll have 18 hours at the end of this semester--halfway through the program--so I'll definitely continue with it. I'll probably take one class during the summer and then go from there as to how to finish up.

Other than that, things have been pretty quiet for both of us. There is a bit of melancholy that seems to have settled over the house. Paul's job is going through a rough time--more work than money and they are having to cut a few more people which makes for even more work for those left. He's understandably stressed about that as well as how the impending arrival of a wee one will impact his crazy work hours. I'm just moody and hormonal and not liking the number today's birthday brought which is making me even moodier. It's been a great weekend around these parts, let me tell you. Cheery. Festive. Woohoo. But we know how to work through it and we're doing just that. This too shall pass and things will be cheerier once again.

Some people move. We remodel.

When we first started telling the neighbors that I was pregnant, quite a few of them asked if we would be moving. We have no plans to any time soon. In fact, Paul has devised the four-year plan to pay off the mortgage and own the joint out-right. Instead, we remodel. Both Paul and I love our little house--it really has been a great place for us and we have really good (for the most part) neighbors. I guess this is our way of making the space even more perfect. And it is cheaper than buying a new house.

The first remodel we did four years ago added Paul's office space while enclosing a rarely-used yet enormous (9x11) balcony to expand the second upstairs bedroom and add a walk-in closet. The second remodel last year took out the two extraneous windows that I HATED in the living room and upgraded the kitchen countertops. And yes, we're planning a THIRD remodel on our house.

One of my complaints about our house has always been that the living room is too small. I think this will become even more evident when we add in a little guy and all his stuff. Heck, we just got one hand-me-down from friends yesterday (a glider thingy) and already, we're seeing how things can quickly grow out of control and we can quickly run out of room.

When we built the house a little over 9 years ago, we had an option on what we wanted to do with a front room. Some neighbors left it open, others enclosed one wall, others made it into a bedroom. We opted to make it a guest bedroom with a door onto the hallway. We also added a shower to the downstairs bathroom, making it a 3/4 bath. This worked well since the bedroom door was next to the bathroom door. Except that in nine years, the guest room was used about one week out of the year so we have 1oo sq. ft. of usable space that hasn't been used much. Earlier this year, we moved the bed out and I bought a small desk and a new futon for the room to make it more of an office/den space. Still not used much but a little more usable than it had been.

I'd been plotting for a while another remodel that we might do to open up the living room space and make the front room more usable. I even tried to convince Paul to do it last year but he didn't like the idea. Enter the positive pregnancy test. Now, even Paul has had to admit that it wouldn't be a bad idea to change the house one more time.

The plan right now is to make what is the guest room into more of a den space, opening it to the living room. To do that, we'll enclose the door that leads into the hall from the bedroom and make that a solid wall. We'll then open a space on the wall that faces the living room and open it up with skinny French doors--something like these. I'd like to rip out the carpet and put in hardwood flooring of some ilk. We're then discussing buying a twin sleeper chair and storage ottoman and probably a twin air mattress as well for guests. The remodel will require a little bit of electrical work since we'll have to move the light switches and one electrical outlet but hopefully, it won't be too time-involved. We're not sure when we're going to do this--maybe even before the holidays. I've asked my friend who is a realtor about the ramifications of changing the room but because it will still have a closet, technically we can still call it a bedroom if we do decide to move (you know, since we've pretty much exhausted every remodel option).

Of course, of most pressing need is to call a roofer to come out to the house. It seems that the two inches of rain a couple of weeks ago and then last week's snow both found the leak in the roof. It's in the new bedroom upstairs (what will become Baby's bedroom) where old-meets-new after the first remodel. It had a two year warranty so we're out of luck there but thankfully, the damage inside isn't too much so hopefully it won't require an entire roof. Just one more of the joys of homeownership.

To give some idea as to what I'm talking about, I found this old picture from Christmas two years ago. The hallway door just visible on the left will be enclosed and the new doors will go roughly where the hall tree is--a little to the right actually.