Archive for August, 2008

Hello folks!

We’ve been up to our ears in all things baby.  Between sorting through piles of clothes and other assorted goodies (thanks, Sarah!), meetings with a new midwife and childbirth classes, I’m feeling positively maternal. If that wasn’t enough, Murloc Baby has taken up a correspondence course in kickboxing. I’m not sure where she’s learning her new moves, but they’re effective… although it’s a bit unnerving to look down at my lap and see my stomach moving by itself.

Which leads me to… my first belly shot! Yay! I know, I know, I’m light years behind the times and over halfway through this pregnancy, but let’s face it–I had a pretty significant belly to begin with, and until recently it pretty much obscured the more subtle changes. The last couple weeks made for a belly growth spurt, though. My belly button is begging for its life, and I see maternity jeans in my near future. Which reminds me, if you’re a plus-size mom and you have recommendations, please send them my way. I’m clueless when it comes to clothing, and so far the thrift shops and mainstream clothing stores in the area have turned up nothing short of a mumu and an old potato sack.

Oh, and bonus pic: I now have glasses. This probably doesn’t mean much to you, dear Internets, but if you could have seen me in the first five minutes after leaving the optometrist’s with my new prescription, you’d understand the impact. It went something like this:

Me: “OH MY GOD LOOK OVER THERE!”

Tim: “What?!? What!?!”

Me:”That sign! See that sign!?!? I CAN READ IT! It says ‘Welcome back students!’ WOW!”

Tim: “… Uhh… yes, glasses are great like that.”

Me: “OH! And look over there! See that one?!? It says ‘Bennoch Road!’ And there! That guy’s license plate! It says…”

Tim: “… so, uhh, how long are you going to do this?”

Me: “Man! The world… it has edges.”

We had our second ultrasound yesterday, and I’m so proud to present to you, dear Internets, our adorable alien daughter.

Our first ultrasound was done in May, around 7 weeks, and at that time there wasn’t much to see. Our baby was a cashew-shaped blob on the screen (making me wonder if I’d had an affair with Mr. Peanut–it’s hard to resist the monocle) and the only thing that differentiated her from such was a heartbeat. Most cashews don’t have heartbeats. Obviously she’s grown a bit since then… and she actually looks like a baby! Yay!

She’s kicking up a storm in there, too… she skipped the light fluttering stage entirely and went straight to tap-tap-tapping, and those taps are growing stronger every day. The ultrasound showed her kicking and bouncing her little legs up and down. More pictures at Flickr!

My favorite nicknames for the babe so far:

• Little Boo
• Ghostie
• Murloc Baby
• Alien Baby
• Thumper

I’ve been satisfying my creative urges by cooking and baking. In fact, I’ve been acting the part of the housewife lately… cleaning, cooking, nesting, barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen… it must be the hormones. It’s on these little domestic escapades that I wonder what it would take to fix the sewing machine I bought at the thrift store a while back so I could make something with it. Nevermind that I haven’t used a sewing machine in years, and I’d probably end up sewing my little finger to whatever bundle of fabric and fluff I attempted to patch together… ahem. OK, so maybe I’m not that domestic. It’s likely the coolest thing I’ll ever make with that sewing machine will involve a camera and a pretty girl in a pretty dress. And that’s perfectly OK with me.