All by myself. . .

Yep.  The title is, indeed, true.  I'm living the single life for the next 7 days while mi esposo is working in Galveston helping with the hurricane recovery process.  Granted, the single life involves a 31-year old (almost 32) who is 22 weeks pregnant, full of aches and pains. . . not exactly living life on the edge of excitement.  

Truthfully, any excitement in this situation is because I get the bed to myself.  For a whole week.  Now, you may be thinking, "Poor Chris, doesn't she love him anymore???"  I do.  Promise.  BUT, my pregnant body loves sleep more.  Turns out that one full-sized body pillow, one 5 foot-long pregnancy pillow + one pregnant lady+one needy cocker spaniel +one husband is too much for one queen-sized bed.  Umm. Yeah.  Possible solutions occuring to you right now:

1. "Just throw the dog out of the bed!"  Clearly that means they have not spent time with my OCD dog, Humphrey.  I'm not exaggerating.  He's really certifiable OCD.  So kicking him out of the bed would lead to pacing and panting and scratching at the side of the bed, begging for permission.  Over and over and over. . . 

2. Get rid of a pillow or two!  I've taken a very informal survey, and pregnant women everywhere agree this wall o' pillows is vital.  Nonsense you say.  Ha.  Try sleeping on one side or the other, and nowhere in between combined with aching hips.  You'll see.  Those pillows are essential.

3. Get a bigger bed.  A good idea except we STILL haven't sold our house and a king-sized bed isn't going to fit in our bedroom.  And we love our bed.  It was a pretty penny that got us queen-sized memory foam heaven.

See my predicament?  This is exactly why I am thrilled to have 7 nights to spread out all over!  This means: sad during the waking hours because Chris is risking life and limb in Galveston and pure relief to climb into bed and not worry about crowding him.

I hope you all are having a restful week!

Murphy and his law strike again! (Some good stuff, too)

Sometimes things come along just when you need them--like an acquaintance who was storing baby furniture and goodies in her garage for her son and wanted to sell to a first-time mom!  I was really needing some good news this week and it came in just the right time.  Today, Stephanie and I went to investigate what I was sure would be Baby M's furniture.  I was right!!!  The furniture had no outward, noticeable signs of wear and it was 50% off the regular price.  We got the convertible crib, changing table and a carseat with an extra base.  All of this was $320!  It is all dismantled right now, but when it's set up we'll post pics.  This good newshelps make up for the fact that:

1.  A large part of my hospital/doctor care bill is due.

2.  I might need 2 new tires for my car.

3.  My 'Service Engine Soon' light came on last night.

Bleh.  This is inevitable because we got that bonus check last week.  Savings was the plan, but there goes our plan!  Sometimes life has other ideas. . .

Everything with Baby M seems to be much the same as my last update.  The only big change is that I can feel him squirming around at least daily!  It is the most reassuring of sensations and makes me smile inside everytime I detect this movement.

On to housing news--Chris and I are getting very impatient to know what the future holds for us with housing.  Just as we contemplated taking our house off the market, it was shown Saturday to a couple who had already sold their house, so we know it is a must that they find a new place to live.  Their realtor even called Rod to arrange a special showing time--unfortunate for Chris' sleep, but well worth if it leads to our house selling.  

I'm pretty sure that if our house does sell, it will be in the next week because that is our luck and Murphy's Law.  We found out on Friday that Chris will be spending September 29th-October 6th in Galveston.  This will be a bit of a burden, but it's for good work and will include overtime pay, which will be much appreciated around here.  I figure our house will sell, he will leave and I will have to pick out a house without him!  Ah well, it would be a good burden to have, I think. 

The Great Bedding Decision

You were on pins and needles waiting for this decision, weren't you?  I knew it.  Well, after much searching and internal debate and not a little bit of making Chris look at stuff on the internet, a decision has been reached.  

Here's the goods  (I am evidently too dumb to figure out how the heck to actually post pictures directly here):

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/images/B0019LX628/sr=1-6/qid=1221328456/ref=dp_image_z_0?ie=UTF8&n=165796011&s=baby-products&qid=1221328456&sr=1-6

The best part is that I got a surprise bonus check that will pay for the bedding with some left over!

A small taste of heaven. . . & Half-way updates

My mom convinced me to finally use the giftcard for a facial my sister gave me for my birthday.  Yep.  My birthday.  As in, takes place in December.  I'm bad about such things, I admit.  So my mom got a giftcard to the same place for a facial for Mother's Day, so it seemed like the perfect mother-daughter outing, especially since she made the appointment for me.

We braved exaggerated-Ike weather (seriously, like 2 wind gusts and some drizzle) and headed to Facelogic.  Dark room.  Reclined in a chair with knees bent comfortably.  Calming music.  Steamed towels on my face.  Scalp massage.  Finger massage.  Shoulder/chest massage.  All of this equalled bliss!  Of course by the end, Baby M was making my stomach growl horrendously loud which the aesthetician was polite enough to ignore.  I even left with a some new face 'product' ( as my sister would call it) to address my hormone-enraged skin.  Almost heaven.

On to other things. . . I can't believe I'm half-way through incubating Baby M!  The first trimester drug on and on and on. . . well, you get the pciture.  Now well into my second trimester, time is speeding on like crazy!  I am definitely feeling the urge to stock up on all things baby.  Right now the current debate is about bedding.  I found a beautiful custom set on Ebay very reasonably-priced--it is is a lovely damask print.  Very sophisticated, in my opinion.  But then, I've also fallen for an animal-themed bedding. . . I can't make up my mind!!!  Chris, bless his dear heart, is interested--just not passionate about it.  Understandable, to be sure.  My thoughts are torn--if we are still in our current home (as it looks now) the custom bedding is not overtly 'baby' BUT the animal-themed stuff is so cute.  I am worried that if I go with a theme that Baby M will be inundated with themed items.  I don't know if that makes sense to anyone but me. . .

Other than the bedding-drama (not so dramatic to anyone but me), everything seems to be going well.  For the most part, I have energy and I feel well.  This is not to say there aren't aches and pains--chronic heartburn, achy feet, growing pains in my lower abdomen, back pain--oh, and difficulty sleeping.  All to be expected with the job, I suppose.  

Something that has returned to normal?  My appetite.  I have found my inner Betty Crocker, or as Betty Crocker as I get. . . I made some snickerdoodle cookies last night and tonight it was strawberry shortcake with homemade whipped cream.  Yummy.  And I couldn't pass up the brownie mix today at the grocery store.  Mmm.

That's it for now.  It's off to bed for me!

The BIG news!

Whew!  It was a long, anxiety-filled day for me!  Our appointment wasn't until 4:15, so I was on pins and needles all day--needless to say, I wasn't the most productive person at work.  As each appointment approaches, I find my anxiety level rising in proportion to the proximity of the appointment.  Chris and I had little pre-conceived expectations about gender, I just wanted to make sure Baby M was alive and well.  This may seem a bit silly, I realize, but I've been feeling so good and can't really definitively say I've felt the baby, so I start second guessing.  

So as typical for our doctor's appointments, we waited about 30-40 minutes, which was excrutiating to me!  We chit-chatted with the doctor and then it was down to business.  He immediately went to the little heart beating away, and then spent probaby 10 minutes taking various measurments.  Everything on the baby measured between 17 1/2 weeks-19 weeks, 2 days.  This is right on with my due date, so the litte one is progressing right on schedule!  

Okay, okay I've procrastinated enough. . . We're having  A BOY!  It is just awe-inspiring to see the live, wiggly little being inside of me that I can't really feel.  And when I say wiggly, I mean it!  IT was difficult for the doctor to get some good still shots because the little bugger was moving about so much.  

More good news:  My uterus has streched enough that my placenta is safely out of the way of my cervix!  Hooray!  This means I can go back to my yoga class--I am so ready, as are my aching back and hips!  This also means a significantly less chance that I would need a C-section.  Whew!  

I'm going to stop there, but needless to say I am just over the moon to finally know the baby's gender, and most importantly that he's healthy!  Let the shopping frenzy begin. . .