I had my 24 week appointment with the midwives yesterday. Everything looked good, blood pressure was great, my uterus is right on target growth-wise, and baby was trying to kick the fetoscope as Lennon was listening for the heart tones. She asked me what we wanted to do with the placenta (if we wanted to keep it or wanted them to dispose of it) and we told her our plan to plant it with a tree. She mentioned she is going to bring my the list of supplies to have handy for the birth (like, how many towels, special sheet for the bed to go under the regular sheet, stuff like that...not the actual medical supplies) and I got excited because I just can't believe it's time to start thinking about all that already!!! I know I've said it before, but I just can't believe how fast this pregnancy is going.

In other news, the rash seems to have finally disappeared! So YAY, it probably isn't/wasn't PUPPS after all!

Overall, feeling pretty good still although I'm starting to deal with some ankle swelling. Hate that!

The remodel is going well, thanks in large part to Anthony's help. It's still going to be another week or so, but it's nice to start seeing all the progress.

Elijah had his first school play last night. He was SO cute! He was in the chorus and he was really into it, singing loudly and dancing along. You could tell he felt really good about it! I wish we had some pictures to share though. We still don't have a camera, but our neighbor loaned us hers to use....we ended up not getting good pictures at all though because of the glare in the auditorium. I'm so bummed about that :(

Two weeks until California!!!

Ok so it's not a sure thing, but...

Everyone knows my estimated "due date" is September 12th. Now, don't go and get me started about the fallacy of "due dates" (or as some people tend to think of them as - expiration dates). Needless to say, I don't put a whole lotta stock in them. I'd be pretty surprised if I had this baby very close to that date at all. The women in my family tend to really cook em. I'll be happy if I have the baby before October, frankly.

I've told a couple of people that for some reason, Sept 23rd is stuck in my head for this baby's arrival. It just seems like a good day to have a baby, and almost 2 weeks over my "due date".

Today there was a discussion on my online due date club (bunch of ladies due in Sept) about how babies tend to come around the full moon. This prompted me, purely out of curiosity, to look up the date for the full moon in Sept. Guess when it is? The full moon is on September 23rd!

Now, I have no real delusions that I can actually predict the date of this baby's arrival, but wouldn't it be funny?

OY

I couldn't think of anything else to name this post. It's pretty expressive about our lives right now. Thinks are...hectic to say the least. We are doing this remodel and it's more intensive than I originally expected. We pretty much gutted out the unit and we are putting in new floors, light fixtures, tub and sink hardware, and new baseboard and trim as well as resurfacing the bathtub, putting in a new water heater, and painting. It's hard to believe so much work can go into such a little place. We will eventually be getting new counters and cabinets, but that will most likely take place in July. We are staying in a tiny one-bedroom unit with ALL of our stuff for the next few weeks. Cooking, getting dressed, you name it...everything is hard. I'm happy it's getting done but I will be so glad when it's over!!!

Pregnancy-wise I'm so so. I still feel pretty good overall, but I'm going to be 6 months (24 weeks) in just a few days and I'm feeling more pregnant than I am I think. What I thought was sciatica is starting to seem more like something called SPD. It's basically where your pubic bone relaxes too much and it causes pain in the pelvic girdle. It's still mild, but I hope it doesn't get worse! I also think I may be getting PUPPS again...which is a pregnancy induced rash straight from Satan. I'm not 100% sure thats what it is, but it looks like it. Also, about 70% of people who have PUPPS have boys, so my conviction that this little one is a girl is falling by the wayside.

I will be so glad when we can get back to our normal routine.

Hustler

22 weeks and 3 days along today. That 6 month mark is creeping up on me. The baby will be putting on about 1 to 1 1/2 lbs this month. It's getting crazy to think this baby is due in just 4 months. And since technically the "due date" is set at 40 weeks, but you can be considered full term and go into labor anytime after 37 weeks, I could potentially have this baby sometime at the end of August. I really doubt that happens, I fully expect to go well overdue, but you just never know. I hope this baby stays in to cook for awhile because I HAVE SO MUCH TO DO!!!! I still need to buy all the cloth diapers + supplies not to mention various and sundry other things. Plus Gretchen will kill me.

Realizing all of this, I made a mad dash to hurry along the renovations on our apartment. Many of you know that when I announced my pregnancy to my work, I also pretty much demanded (ever so sweetly of course) that they finally allow me to fix up the apartment like I had been promised for the past 2 years. Getting a timeline and pinning down Mr. and Mr. fix-it (aka Jay and the other caretaker dude) has been a little tricky.

So this weekend we are moving all of our stuff out of our unit into a vacant 1-bedroom for the next two weeks so that the house can be painted and our new floor can be laid. After that, we should be able to move stuff back in, although there will still be puh-lenty of work left to do in there, it will just have to get done while we are in there.

I'm super stressed about getting it all done, and I really want to make sure that it gets done while I am still mobile...I remember at 5 and 6 months pregnant with Elijah I was still getting around fairly well but then 7 months hit and I was rendered completely useless. I'll be 7 months at the end of June, so I need to hustle!

Belly

Well I'm going to do something extremely brave. People keep asking me if I'm showing yet. See for yourself...I mean, I look HUGE.




Sorry they aren't very good quality, I took them with the webcam on my laptop.

I feel giant. I wish I could say that it was all baby, but no. I'm really trying to eat healthfully and not go overboard with treats or anything. I've stopped buying anything to keep in the house that is junky (like ice cream). I still have some treats here and there, but not having anything readily available without cooking or going to the store makes it less likely that I will overindulge. I'm also going to yoga classes for 1-2 hours twice a week. I'll be walking daily once the weather is nice (today is beautiful out, so it will be my first walk in awhile!). We aren't eating out hardly at all, and aren't eating any fast food or anything. Even though I feel about 90 times healthier than I did when I was pregnant with Elijah, I cannot keep the weight gain down it seems. My midwife is threatening to confiscate my scale. It's so hard not to be overly concerned with my weight gain when I KNOW full well how much effort it is going to take to lose it...especially when I had so much to lose in the first place. I'm really struggling with my feelings about it. It's much harder than I thought it would be. I seem to just pile on the pounds, regardless of the amount of calories I'm consuming. I'd say on an average day, I'm eating 2,400 calories per day, sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less. They recommend that you eat between 2400-2600 when you are preggo if you started out overweight. I can't figure out why I keep gaining. It is NOT all in my belly either! My face looks HUGE.

Honestly though, to get some perspective - I feel pretty great. I just have to keep eating healthy and being active, and thats all I can really do I guess. I'm sure glad weight watchers has a program for nursing mothers, that's all I can say!