Belly Update

I went to see the doctor yesterday afternoon and actually got right in instead of waiting an hour and a half in the waiting room. Wohoo! Apparently the exchange for speedy service was dealing with a nursing staff with no personality. I guess I'll take that exchange any day. In good news: I've gained weight! *ahem* ...6 lbs. in a week and a half to be exact. Sooo....I got a little overzealous with the campaign to pack on some pounds. The nurse actually gave me a little stink eye for gaining too much weight to which I wanted to reply with any number of snarky pregnant lady comebacks: Seriously? Lady, you've been giving me stink eye for the last eight months because I haven't gained any weight and now that I finally go overboard you're disappointed? Gah! I just can't win. Luckily my doctor had just come from seeing a woman who had gained 20lbs over the last two weeks, so I don't feel bad. It was worth it for the pie.

But seriously, things with Bailey are looking good. She scoots away and kicks any time they try to listen to her heart beat, but the fact that she's so active speaks well for her. The Doc checked and found out baby's head is "way down" I'm assuming that means she's already dropped, but she couldn't tell if I'm dilated or effaced yet (I would guess that means no). Apparently my uterus just wasn't feeling cooperative. Better luck next time.

I'm to the point now where I'm going in every week for appointments and people are starting to look at me yet again like I might explode. Looking at the January calendar, I've tried to pin point some event every week that I'd like to make it to while still pregnant, so's not to get my hopes up that Bailey will come early. It's not easy. Mostly because these "events" are silly things like hair appointments and Bunco night. It's going to be a long month!

A Very Jedi Christmas

Christmas has swiftly come and gone, yet again, in a blur of wrapping paper and turkey comas. This Christmas was really exciting since it was obviously all about Audrey. It makes the holidays so much more special to see them through her eyes and the excitement is contagious. This year, her biggest gifts were her Jedi robe (from Papa) and a super sweet light saber (from Uncle Joe). Mama and Papa also got her a pink retro play kitchen and refrigerator...she hasn't stopped playing with it since the grand unveiling.

We celebrated with all the normal family traditions: Clam Chowder on Christmas Eve, candlelight service at church, biscuits 'n gravy for breakfast on Christmas morning, a marathon session of opening gifts (pretty much all for Audrey) and one heck of a Christmas Dinner. YUM! We did break from tradition, for me, and went to see Sherlock Holmes on Christmas Day. (Fantastic, by the way)

By the time Sunday rolled around, the amount of transient family members about had dissipated and the house looked like a bomb had gone off. We spent most of the day trying to get things cleaned up and organized. I also fell into a fit of intense nesting; I'm motivated to get things done early because I want Audrey to have time to adjust to all the new stuff that's going to be around the house. (not to mention springing a new baby sister on her) So, we got the pack n' play and most other stuff we'll need for Bailey set up in our room. John also dragged the swing back out of the closet and I've compiled an official To-Do List to complete before the munchkin makes her appearance. I remember the day we brought Audrey home from the hospital being a very stressful experience; we really didn't have our act together as far as anticipating how things would need to be set up in our room and the entire evening was spent running around, moving furniture, trying to shove food in our faces, and figuring out how to care for a newborn. I'd like it if that were a little less intense this time.

That being said, all this nesting is really bringing back a lot of good memories too. Now that the crazy holiday season is over for the most part, I'm starting to honestly get excited about meeting this kid and if she wanted to make an early appearance, I feel like I'm at least ready for it. Ideally, we'll get most of our To-Do List checked off and then have plenty of time to revel in some quality one-on-one time with Audrey. It's a little sad for me to think that the days of us being a super-awesome duo are numbered. We've got a routine...we hang out and eat snacks...life is good. But pretty soon we'll be thrown into the chaotic world of new babyhood again. I have a feeling Audrey will take to big sisterhood like a duck to water and will be critiquing me on my parenting techniques in no time.

I'm working on getting all the Christmas pictures uploaded on Picasa, but it hasn't been easy--I got John a new computer game for Christmas and have been lucky to check my email, let alone upload and caption new pictures. On a side note, our camera died half way through opening presents and we couldn't find the power cord for about 12 hours...which explains why they cut off abruptly and also why John didn't get to take any sweet candid photos of relatives stuffing their faces with turkey. Tragic.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas! Believe it or not, even though we're crazy busy, we're thinking of you too!

Did I say something about not nesting?

Scratch that. I've got Bailey on the brain.

Ironically, the same night I wrote my last post, I had a little preterm labor scare. I had had a low backache all day and felt like Bailey was putting a lot of pressure on my hips, but being used to discomfort, I naturally ignored it. I was just settling down to sleep when I had a contraction. I kind of pawned it off as a fluke and was trying to drift off to sleep when I had another one. And another one. And another one. This lasted a little over an hour, which is really no big deal, but let me tell you--that was a long hour of laying in the dark THINKING.

John really needed to get a good night's sleep because he had to be in for training super early in the morning and I figured it would be less trouble to deal with contractions at night than a sleep deprived husband in the morning. So, there I was laying in the dark trying to make myself realize that if these things didn't peter out relatively soon, I might be headed for the hospital and consequently another child soon thereafter. I was making mental notes of what would need to be done around the house, things to take to the hospital, loose ends I wouldn't have time to wrap up and counting contractions in between.

...and then I woke up. It was morning. Audrey wanted to get up and all was well with the world. But let's just say I'm no longer in La La Land where pregnant bellies stay that way forever. The next day was spent making sure I at least have the essentials ready just in case Bailey feels the need to make an early arrival. I still won't be surprised when my due date comes and goes with nary a peep out of Bailey, but at least I'll be able to rest easy knowing I've now got my head in the game.

I haven't had a hint of any funny business since that night, so I'm taking this particular incident as a divine reality check. Thanks for the heads up, God. Turns out, there's a baby in there!

Let it Snow!

It has been a cooold week in the Tri-Cities and Audrey got to play in the first snow of the season this past weekend! We've been busy, busy, busy getting things ready for Christmas and baking up a storm around here. Audrey is officially my new baking buddy; she likes to stand on a chair at the counter next to me and help mix up cookie dough (read: eat flour). We've been baking goodies for Christmas presents and a cookie exchange we're going to today. Consequently, Audrey has cookies on the brain. She says "coo coo" for cookies and this morning it was pretty much the first topic she brought up after waking up. At least I'm teaching her young!

In Bailey news, I'll be 35 weeks tomorrow. I have no idea how that happened so fast, but it's got me thinking about how unprepared I feel this time around. I've got the security blanket of having been through it all before, so I'm really not worrying too much about the logistics of going into labor and subsequently bringing home a newborn. That also means I haven't been nesting at all. Aside from pulling out the cloth diapers we'll be using and depositing them in the proper place, that's about all I've got going for me. This could get scary, y'all.

Anyway, I'm going in to the doctor this afternoon for a Bailey check up and I'm pretty sure I've packed on at least a few pounds, so that should make the medical folk happy. I'm still on progesterone and scheduled to quit next week--the week after that I'll technically be full term and they theoretically wouldn't stop me from delivering if I went into labor. Yikes! I'm still planning on being at least a week overdue though...it's the only thing keeping me from a frantic fit of nesting in the midst of Holiday chaos.

Don't forget to check out the latest Pictures on Picasa!

Nutcrackers and Bone Crunchers

Well, gang, we ventured into Portland (and Vancouver) this weekend to see the notorious Duck (aka D'Arcy and Audrey's best buddy) play Clara in the Nutcracker. She was so beautiful and danced so well, it was really an amazing show. We've only been privileged enough to see her dance about the living room (usually with Audrey in tow) but seeing her on stage was just amazing; the girl's got talent! I can't tell you how proud I was to see her lead the bows at the end of the show. I know she made two of her grandma's cry if that's any indication.

Our trip was a short up-and-back trip on Saturday and Sunday. We stayed in a nice suite in Vancouver and Audrey actually did really well with the car rides, wacko nap times and nonexistent bedtime. Kathryn and Jeff rode the train down from Seattle for the weekend and Elizabeth rode over with John and I, so even though we didn't get to spend as much time as we'd have liked with the Moore clan, we still got to get in some quality time with the Paynes.

I thought I was handling the travel amazingly well until I tried to get out of the car when we got home Sunday afternoon. YOWZA! I'm starting to understand what all those crabby pregnant women are talking about. I've had hip issues since I gave birth to Audrey that have, until recently, gone untreated. For the most part, it's not so bad, but apparently having a four-pound baby in my belly brings out the worst of it.

I've just started going to a new chiropractor who specializes in pre(and post)natal care. He (honest to God) looks like Lex Luthor...almost a perfect cross between the guy from Smallville and Kevin Spacey. This just makes him more awesome. Anyway, it looks like I'm going to be going in every week for adjustments and he's really been helping pin-point a lot of my hip problems. Yesterday I got the elbow-of-death treatment on the back of my hips and he noticed that when I think I hear my hip popping, it's really almost coming out of it's socket. Wow--what a mess! I'm so used to either being medically boring or just sucking it up that it's very strange for me to admit that I need treatment for something.

I'm hoping that most of this is purely related to toting a bun in the oven and that it'll be relatively easy to maintain a healthy back and hips once Bailey gets here. I know John at least is tired of me moaning like Mama Seal and sleeping with twelve pillows, but I do have to brag on him too. After a looong weekend of driving, I sent John out at 7pm on Sunday to buy me an exercise ball so I could sit comfortably. Not only did he do it without complaining, but he came back with cookie dough ice cream and Ghirardelli chocolate too. Now, that's love!

Eggnog Day and other festivities

I'm beginning to realize that I celebrate a lot of strange personal holidays. I guess I just feel the need for excessive celebration when making pies, being allowed to drink eggnog or when Halloween and Valentines Day candy finally goes 50% off. If that's wrong, then I don't want to be right.

Curiously, eggnog day does have a history. I think it's safe to say that I was (am) addicted to eggnog and once upon a time, the lengths I would go to to procure it knew no bounds. I was running rampant in a world where there were no rules about how much eggnog one could imbibe within a 24 hour period. Startling, when you realize that 1 cup has 200 calories. *yikes* Something had to be done...so my ever-faithful husband stepped in and decreed that no eggnog would be had before December 1st every year (he tries to do this with Christmas music too, but I cheat) and I'm also only allowed 1 cup a day. I won't lie...the first few years with this rule were brutal. But, alas, life goes on!

Anyway, because of this, December 1st is kind of the kick-off for the holiday giddiness to begin for me. We've decorated the tree and brought out all the annoying plush singing, dancing toys. The stockings are already hung by the fire and the amount of Christmas music blaring from the stereo is almost nauseating. I'm pretty much constantly thinking about what cookies and pies I'm going to bake in the coming weeks; it really is the most wonderful time of the year!

Happy Eggnog Day to one and all!