3rd Trimester adventures

So I'm starting to feel the pregnancy weight pack itself on. Believe it or not, I only weigh about 3-4 pounds more right now than I did when I first got pregnant (I told you all I lost a LOT of weight at first). But over the last week, I've noticed that my socks have started to feel a little tighter around my ankles, and yesterday morning I moved my rings to chain to wear around my neck. My fingers are starting to swell by mid-afternoon. Those are the two big things I've really noticed, other than it's just getting a little harder to move around in general.

Emotions have also been running high this week. It's kind-of ironic...this is the time when Ben and I "should" be the happiest. We're preparing for the birth of our first child, and going through all sorts of firsts, and getting excited about her impending arrival. Instead, we fight over cribs. We argue about strollers. We nag each other about paint and bedding. We haggle over prices. It's not fun. Cribs have been the theme of the week. Twice we have agreed on a model and price, and both times, the color we wanted (white) was unavailable. And of course, cribs are only available online these days, not actually in-store, so that isn't even an option. It's very frustrating.

Not exactly an "Irish blessing"

More pictures

This is what I refer to as my "Target employee outfit" -- red shirt, khaki pants. Ben took these photos yesterday. I'm 27 weeks along.

Various and sundry pictures

I have a small collection of pictures that I've taken over the last couple of weeks, and figured I'd dump them all into one post to share them.

First, we have the puzzle:


Ben bought this for me on our California trip back in October. We just got around to doing it in the last week or so.

Next we have my great finds at Joann's. I needed to hem some maternity pants so that they would fit. While I was wandering around Joann's looking for a few supplies that I needed, I stumbled across an endcap with these rotary cutters on sale:

Regular price for this rotary cutter is $23.99. You can see the sale sticker on the packaging -- what a deal at $9.97! I knew, however, that a rotary cutter wouldn't do me much good without a mat and ruler, so I checked to see if they were by chance on sale. Turns out they were...sort-of.


I was at Joann's at about 8:45 on a Saturday night. They close at 9:00. They had already put up the sale prices for the following day, so they honored them for me. Forty percent off -- yay!

Next, I have some baby stuff. Until a couple of weeks ago, I wasn't sure how excited my mom was about the impending arrival of her first grandchild. My mom is generally a very mellow person, and doesn't tend to get excited about things, so it's been hard to tell. A few weeks ago, I get a package in the mail from her. Rather, the package was addressed to Julie Joyce Nutter, but since she currently has limited use of her limbs and digits, I took the liberty of opening the package for her. Mom had bought a bunch of baby and toddler clothes and wrapped them in gift boxes with wrapping paper. I knew then that she was getting excited. Then this week, on Valentine's Day, another package arrived from Mom. Well, two -- one for me, and one again for Julie. As Ben and I started to look through this batch of clothes (and shoes), I came across the following t-shirt:


There is now no doubt in my mind as to whether my mom is getting excited or not!

Lastly, on Wednesday, I got home from work and Ben informed me that I apparently had another boyfriend that I hadn't told him about (whoops!). These flowers had been boxed up on the porch, and addressed to me:

They were from my dad, with a note that said "You'll always be my sweetheart." Thanks, Dad! I love you, too.

First look at trailer

I saw this on Yahoo! this afternoon, and had to share.



I just have to wonder -- is he still going to be fighting the Germans?

Love is where you find it

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!








"Found Hearts" posters courtesy of Rick Ruggles at http://www.foundhearts.com/

Not entirely binary

A character on a favorite TV show of mine, when asked "how pregnant" his ex-wife was, replied that, as he understood it, pregnancy is a binary state -- you either are, or you aren't. That may be, but over the last week, I've started to feel "very pregnant."

Saturday was my 26 week mark. That means that I am officially in my 3rd trimester. I started feeling like it last week. I imagine I'll feel better for another week or two before it starts to feel like I've been pregnant forever, like everyone tells me I will.

Last week was when I first had the thought "why do women love being pregnant??" It was not a great week. For about 3 days, I had very painful gas (though, thankfully, not particularly stinky). My lower back has started to hurt when I have to stand for any length of time, as I tend to be sticking my belly forward and my shoulders back, in an attempt to distribute the balance of my weight. I can feel my uterine muscles stretching to accomodate my growing baby. I also think my digestive organs are finally starting to get squished. I'm still just as hungry as I have been for several weeks, and want to eat just as much, but I find that afterward, I feel much fuller -- there's less storage room now. As my belly grows and stretches, the skin is getting incredibly itchy. I'm sleeping fine, but it's harder for me to get to sleep in the first place...I don't know if it's because I'm not tired enough when I go to bed (I feel tired), or if I just can't find a comfortable position. And you don't even want me to get into the emotional roller coaster I rode last week (and dragged Ben on -- poor guy).

Yet, despite all that, I am still enjoying being pregnant. I don't yet have that "I've been pregnant forever" thing going on. I know that I will still grow lots more before the end. I fully anticipate that. Julie is moving a lot, but it's not uncomfortable yet. It's still a really neat (and very weird) feeling, not painful at all. She seems to be most active in the morning, after I wake up but before I get out of bed. I like it because that's when I'm least active, and I can fully enjoy her movement.

With moving into my third trimester, I've also become painfully aware of how much I still have to do before she comes, while also being fully aware of the fact that she really could decide to come at any time now. Until last night, I had yet to choose bedding for the nursery. I haven't painted it yet or bought a crib either, because we've been waiting to choose bedding colors first. There is so much to do, and I really feel like I'm under a deadline now. I enjoy my job (even though it's temporary), but I'm starting to get anxious for it to be over so I can be home working on stuff.

Anyway, it's been a long while since I've posted anything, and I just wanted to share some updates of how I'm doing.