My Hips

My mom told me this little anecdote about seven years ago, I think, relayed to her by her school speech therapist friend.  I don't suppose I'm remembering it entirely accurately, but it went something like this:

The therapist was working with a little boy on being able to say th. 

"Where does ice cream go?" she asked, obviously hoping the answer would be in my mouth. 

"To my hips!" he said, proudly.

That little boy must have been listening to his mother a bit too closely!


There are two reasons this story comes to mind.

First, my hips.  I've had hip pain, which comes about mostly by sleeping and then hangs out for much of the day, for a while now.  But it's reached new heights lately.  This week, I gave up trying to stay in bed with Steve.  Turning over in place takes an effort that usually wakes me up entirely, and with only my Snoogle pillow along one side, I was having to maneuver pillows each time I turned, too.

So this week, I built an entire fortress between my Snoogle and a traditional body pillow on the bed in the nursery.  Bonus: that bed is more pillow-topped than our bed, making it just a tad comfier.  Penalty: no Steve.  Unless he wants to squeeze into the eight inches or so of bed space left.

The result?  I don't know if I'm sleeping any more efficiently (according to my FitBit), but my hips don't hurt.

I'm already super-glad we made that bed work!

The cats like my pillow fortress, too.

 
The second reason that story comes to mind is weight.

In the span of about a year, between 2010 and 2011, I lost 50 pounds.   I gained about ten pounds back during and after my first pregnancy and miscarriage.  (It's amazing how fast that can happen!)  Mostly after, when I slipped into old habits and allowed comfort food to help me feel better.  I just didn't have the energy to worry about making good choices. We got pregnant again before I had time to lose more than two or three of those ten pounds gained.

And now I've already put on about thirty-two pounds (if I weigh myself naked in the morning, so it's probably more) during this pregnancy, with more than seven weeks left to go.  The scale is creeping dangerously close to that number I never, ever wanted to see again in my whole life.

I still go to Weight Watchers (almost) every week, although I don't weigh in and I don't count points.  The meetings are a good reminder to stay on track, to not go overboard with the cookies (being that I kind of did that around Christmas time...), and to eat a variety of healthful foods that will benefit me and the baby.

I've been getting on my little elliptical most mornings for the last several months, and I'm trying to make a point of doing at least ten flights of stairs a day.  And, of course, walking the dog.  It's probably not enough, but it's something.  

As I'm quickly coming up on being a mother, I need to figure out how to find a balance between making sure I'm healthy myself and not making too big a deal about it.  I'm afraid of instilling this I can't eat that because it goes straight to my hips mentality in my children.  I want to model healthy behavior and not have it be a big thing that we all worry about all the time.

So, there's that.  I suppose I'll figure it out as I go...

But, you know, my hips don't hurt today, and that's a big win!

32 Weeks

Yesterday was the 72nd (I think) anniversary of my grandparents' first date.  If I live to see the 72nd anniversary of Steve's and my first date, I'll be a cool 100.  Wow.

I was talking to Grandpa on my way home from work, and he told me a story about when my grandma was pregnant.  She was standing in line at a store, and the woman in front of her turned around, patted my grandma's belly, and said, "Any day now, hmm?"  And my grandma still had two months to go.

At least I come by this giant belly naturally.  *laugh*

So, 32 weeks.  According to my Guide to a Healthy Pregnancy book, 32-weekers usually end up with no lasting health effects and catch up to their peers very quickly.  There's some comfort that comes with knowing that it can only go up from here, and if this baby comes anytime after now, the outlook is good.

I already posted about everything exciting that happened this week!  The only thing of note is that the cat-proofing of the crib and dresser seems to be working.  We got the crib mattress last weekend, and within about two minutes of having it in the crib, Renny had jumped in and was making himself at home.  I quickly covered another large piece of cardboard in upside-down packing tape, and lined the rails with the same tape-covered-cardboard, and so far, no evidence of cats.  The real test will be whether or not it holds when the cardboard is removed.  I'm half expecting to come home that first day to find Renny curled up in the corner of the crib like it's nothing.  We shall see.

A little late in the game, I'm thinking about public cord blood donation.  I'd have to have all the medical paperwork in by 34 weeks.  Anyone have any experience with this?

Just Call Me Holly Homemaker

I'm pretty impressed with my memory for 8th grade sewing class right now.  I got my first sewing machine for Christmas this year, and on this three-day weekend, I put it to darn good use.

First, I figured out how it works.  All by myself.  I had serious thoughts about calling my costume-maker friend Gen to walk me through it, but I decided to give it my all first.

Once everything was set up, I decided to ease into the craftiness with a chance find we picked up at JoAnn's while gathering supplies (good scissors, thread, material to back the curtains... important stuff).

You know those no-sew fleece blanket kits they sell?  Steve happened upon one that matched the curtain material perfectly.  It was 40% off, and I had a coupon for an additional 15% off my entire order, so we went for it.

So my first sewing project of the weekend didn't involve any actual sewing.  Ha.

Then I tackled the curtains.  I mentioned that I haven't sewn anything since eighth grade, right?  So I was kind of winging it.  I measured, cut, pinned, ironed, and sewed.  I backed the Mickey fabric with plain grey, to hopefully help keep the room a little darker.  About two and a half episodes of Grey's Anatomy later, I had myself a set of curtains!

Originally, I'd wanted to do the no-sew blanket first, then the duvet cover, then the curtains, because I thought that would be the order of difficulty.  I am so glad I did the curtains before the duvet cover, because man, that thing gave me a hard time!

The sheet I already owned was jersey material.  I went over to Goodwill to see if I could find a white flat sheet, and the only one they had was also jersey material.  And it turned out to be stretched funny.  More like a parallelogram than a rectangle. (Guess we know why it was at Goodwill...)  Nothing I did would stretch it back into shape.  I should have scrapped it and just bought myself a regular cotton flat sheet, but what fun would that be?  I like a challenge.  Usually.

So I stretched, pinned, and sewed.  (I also might have stomped around the living room with a few choice words un-befitting of the Downton Abbey episode we were watching...)  It (unsurprisingly) came out a little crooked, but what the heck. 

The nursery is on its way!  I have a bit of extra material from the curtains, which I'm thinking of using to make a crib skirt.  I also have two pictures to frame, and that low (but wide) brown book case to empty out.

But I didn't stop there!  I'd bought a pair of maternity work pants online from the GAP on a really good sale months ago.  And they were too big.  Too long and too wide.  Of course, I never got around to returning them.  So while I was on the sewing train, I decided to try to make them wear-able before I don't need them at all anymore.  I hemmed them and took in the legs.  Yay for a second pair of pants to wear to work!

And!  I patched a hole in Steve's favorite pair of cargo pants, sewed a button back on to another pair of his pants, and sewed up a gaping tear in one of the fitted sheets we use to cover the couch so Chloe's fur is easier to get rid of.

I'm feeling pretty accomplished right about now!  And I'm ready to make years worth of Halloween costumes.  (Maybe.)

Skype Shower

I have to start off by saying that my friends are awesome.

They threw us a Skype baby shower! 

Showering it up from Illinois

I meant to take a bunch of screen caps, and I totally forgot once things got going.  Sad face.  This one was before everyone had arrived, even.  Double sad face!

But they gave me some pretty great "unsolicited parenting advice" like It's okay to read InTouch Magazine to your baby as a bedtime story and You will get poop on your face... and puke... and you'll get peed on... and If mama needs a glass of wine, it's okay to hand the baby to Dad and pump and dump and, from one dad to another, You will always be doing things wrong according to Mom, but just go with it.

The kids thought the Interactive TV was pretty cool, and you know what?  So did I!  It was my first time Skyping.  We got webcams for us and for my mom for Christmas so that she can read the baby bedtime stories from Illinois (and, you know, just chat in general), and I am pretty impressed with technology these days, I have to say.

It was so much fun!  And we got some pretty great baby loot, to boot.

Thanks, guys!

31 Weeks

Last week, I mentioned that people had started commenting on how big I am.  Well, I spoke too soon.  I've now had two people ask if I'm having twins.  Here's how the first conversation went:

New Coworker: When are you due?
Me: April.
Her: April?  My daughter-in-law is due in May!  You're MUCH bigger than she is!
Me: ...
Her: But she's petite, so maybe that's why.
Me: Yeah, maybe.  (So, I started out gigantic, is that what you're saying?)
An hour or so later:
Her: Are you having twins?
Me: No.  Am I that big?
Her: *laughs* Well, is this your first?
Me: Yes.  (If it wasn't, would that explain the huge-normous belly?)

The second woman wasn't even talking to me.  She was talking to one of my coworkers, about three feet away from me, clearly within my hearing range.

Woman: She's going to have a baby soon, huh?
Coworker: Yep.
Woman: When's she due?
Coworker: April.
Woman: April?  Is there only one?
Coworker: Yes...

OY.  Come on.  Am I really that big?

This week, I had my third trimester fancy-pants ultrasound.  I'm still amazed at how much you can see on those things!  Again, everything looks super-duper healthy, so that's quite a relief.  Although, it was probably the last time we'll get to peek in at the baby before he's born, which is a little sad.  I really enjoy those peeks!

Alien-like picture of Kidd MacDougall

He has a thing for keeping his hands in front of his face.  No matter how much jostling of my belly the ultrasound tech did, he would not move them.

Also, he had the hiccups.  Which was adorable, for some reason.

And he's still a boy!  Please don't laugh at me that I wanted confirmation.  You wouldn't believe the number of people who have told me stories of mis-reported sex.  I haven't had a single ultrasound since my 20-week one where they told us he was a boy, so I just wanted to hear it again.  Before I stock up on baby clothes and all.

The baby is measuring in the 92nd percentile, at 4.5 pounds (at 30 weeks, three days).  The doctor said the average for 30 weeks is about three pounds.  He said if he goes to term, he'll be right around 9 pounds.  Eeek!  He actually suggested that Steve and I start having daily sex at about 36 weeks to hurry things along.  (This, after I was reading an article in the waiting room debunking the idea that sex jump-starts labor, but who knows, really.  The doctor's explanations did make sense...)

So, um, 36 weeks is only five weeks away.  We won't even have finished our birthing classes by then.  (The hospital wouldn't let me sign up for classes that ended sooner than 2-4 weeks before my due date.)  If the sex thing works, I don't know how long it takes to kick in, but I guess I better start sewing those curtains for the nursery!

The doctor also suggested that, if I do end up having a C-section (fingers and toes crossed that I don't!), I see if they can remove the large fibroid in my uterus while they're in there.  Again, it supposedly doesn't cause any problems, but it takes up space. 

So, could-be-nine-pound-baby + large fibroid = belly that looks like it's carrying twins?  Hmm.

Won't you be mine?

Happy Valentine's Day!

Steve found a recipe for salted caramel brownies.  Homemade caramel, homemade brownies.  Oh. My. Gosh.  They're... amazing.  About 7 WW points each, the way we cut them, but worth every single calorie.  He made them early so we could enjoy them the rest of the week. ♥

30 Weeks

"You still have two months to go?"

"Your belly's so big!"

I'm hearing these things pretty frequently now.  It's always fun to be told how gigantic you are!

This week, we started getting the nursery together.

When our roommate Gen moved out around the time of our wedding, we had a decision to make.  Keep the "big" bedroom as our bedroom and turn her room into the guest room (and essentially not use it), or move into the smaller room as our bedroom and leave the big room as the guest/computer room. 

We opted to put both rooms to good use.  And I have to say, after a decade or more of having my computer in my bedroom, it was heaven to have a bedroom that was just a bedroom.

Someday, I'll have enough space to not multi-purpose rooms, but today is not that day.  So Steve and I are back to sleeping with computers nearby, but I think overall the arrangement works well!  My friend J came over with her two boys (ages four years and five months) to help Steve and me swap the rooms.  I kept the boys entertained while they lugged the dresser we'd obtained from Craigslist up the stairs.  We (sometimes by "we" I mean "they") moved our bed back into the bigger room, the guest bed into the smaller room, and we (this time I do mean we) put the crib together.

The beginnings of a nursery

I'm pleased that we were able to fit the full-sized bed in the baby's room.  I can't explain exactly why I wanted it in there.  Because we're sort of set up for guests still (Steve and I can sleep with the baby, guests can have our room)?  Because we can now sleep with the baby without him getting used to sleeping in our room?  Because there will be a place to lay down for mid-night feedings?  Because we didn't have to get super-creative with where to put an extra bed, short of getting rid of it?  All of those things.

Next up is the fun part: I have fabric I bought that I'll use (with my new sewing machine!) to either make a duvet cover for the bed or curtains.  I bought new drawer pulls for the dresser and painted them dark brown to match the crib.  I have a picture to get framed, and there's the possibility of wall decals.

And the not-so-fun part: cat-proofing the baby's room.  I'm not sure exactly how to keep the cats (especially Renny) from getting up on the furniture.  Upside-down chair mats don't work, and I laugh at the thought of utilizing spray bottles. The dresser will double as a changing table, and I don't want cats in the crib.  (Now I'm singing that Harry Chapin song, "Cats in the Cradle".)  So I covered cardboard with packing tape--sticky side up--and am leaving it on top of the dresser (and, once we get the mattress, inside the crib) for a while.  We'll see!

Cat-proofed.  I hope.

My fear is that, once the cardboard comes off, Renny will think he's got free reign again

But it's exciting!  We have ten weeks--or, as my mom points out, six and a half if we go by my history--to get everything together.  Plenty of time, right?

(Famous last words...?)

29 Weeks - Escape to Catalina

We have eleven weeks to go.  77 days.  Ohmigosh.

This week, Steve and I went to Catalina Island with Steve's parents for a little weekend getaway.

It was raining when we left Long Beach Saturday morning, but the ferry ride over was very smooth.  Smooth enough to be able to play a few games of Skip-Bo, even.  We got some sunshine on the island before the clouds rolled back in, but they only dropped light rain on us.

We walked through "downtown" Avalon before taking the trolley up to the botanical gardens and Wrigley Memorial.  We saw several species of plants that are only found on Catalina Island.  Some of our favorite plant names (not necessarily of endemic plants): Sticky Monkey Flower and Lemonade Berry.

The Memorial with the fog rolling down

From the top of the Memorial, looking to the ocean...

We finished off Saturday with dinner at a pizzeria, and finally located Dessert Island for a decadent caramel-and-chocolate dipped apple.  Yum!

On Sunday, we'd scheduled a mild hike through Avalon Canyon.  Because it had rained the day before, the trail was perfect for spotting deer and Catalina fox tracks.

Deer and fox tracks in the mud

From the top of the trail along Avalon Canyon

Plaque near the Cubs' OTHER Wrigley Field

Yep, Wrigley Field.  I've never been to the Wrigley Field, despite living in Chicago for 23 years and having a sister who lives practically just around the corner from it.  I hadn't known the connection to Catalina before visiting, but apparently William Wrigley Jr. bought the island back in the early 1900's, and the Chicago Cubs did their spring training at Catalina's Wrigley Field from 1921-1951.

Wrigley Field, not used for baseball anymore.

The rumor our fascinating hiking guide told about Mr. Wrigley and the Cubs was that Wrigley would sit at his manor up at the very top of the hill and watch the Cubs train on the field below through his binoculars.   If he didn't think they'd worked hard enough, he'd call the coach? manager? and make them run up the hillside to say goodnight.  If the team had trained hard enough, "goodnight" could happen via phone.

Bathtub graveyard.  What?  There were a few more than pictured here.

The ocean from Avalon

There's a herd of about 150 buffalo that roam the interior of Catalina Island.  We didn't see any (we stuck pretty close to Avalon), but we did try buffalo burgers for the first time.  (Is that morbid?)  I have to say, I'm not usually very adventurous in my meat consumption, but buffalo was surprisingly good.  At least in burger form.

The ferry trip back was sunnier than the one over, but the ocean was a lot choppier.  I couldn't take my usual Dramamine, so I had picked up some Preggie Pop Drops and a pair of Psi Bands from Babies R Us.  I'm sure they helped some, even if only as a placebo, but I was still glad to "land" back in Long Beach.