Still Hung-over from the Weekend

I'm still tired, but I thought I would share all of the photos from the big family baby shower.  It took me forever to type in this html.  Why does blogger put what you paste in a box at the bottom of the edit page?

Doesn't Robert remind you of "Wilson" from the show Home Improvement?  That would explain some of the faces I was giving him from time to time.  

This day was sort of like our wedding day.  I really missed being able to visit with my family and friends, especially those I don't get to see much.

BTW, my midwife appt. was this week and she said everything is still looking good.  She said T-Bob is head down and weighing in around 3-4 pounds.  He was way active tonight.  It seems he is facing my left hip.  All of that action just tickles me to death.  As a matter of fact, I kid you not, while lying out by the pool he kicked so hard it nearly knocked me off of the chaise lounger!

The Big Baby Shower - sneak peak

Well, I'm exhausted and the shower was on Saturday!  My feet have been swollen for two days.  I way over did it, but it was nice seeing family and friends.  I only had enough time to say "Hi" basically.  I really missed getting to talk to every one, but there were so many people there.  It was wonderful.  

It's late right now.  We just got back from our Bradley Birth Class and I have an appt. with the CNM tomorrow, so I really need to hit the sack.  I'll give a better update soon, but for now I will leave you with this "teaser" photo of me and Robert.  Thanks everyone for stopping by!

USS New York

Here SHE is ...

USS New York.

It was built with 24 tons of scrap steel from the World Trade Center.
It is the fifth in a new class of warship - designed for missions that include special operations against terrorists. It will carry a crew of 360 sailors and 700 combat-ready Marines to be delivered ashore by helicopters and assault craft.
Steel from the World Trade Center was melted down in a foundry in Amite, LA to cast the ship's bow section. When it was poured into the molds on Sept. 9, 2003, "those big rough steelworkers treated it with total reverence," recalled Navy Capt. Kevin Wensing, who was there. 'It was a spiritual moment for everybody there.'
Junior Chavers, foundry operations manager, said that when the trade center steel first arrived, he touched it with his hand and the 'hair on my neck stood up.' 'It had a big meaning to it for all of us,' he said. 'They knocked us down. They can't keep us down. We're going to be back.'
The ship's motto? "Never Forget"

30 weeks "P"

My 30 week picture!  Sweet Mary, Joseph and Jesus -- I NEVER thought I would make it here!  We have definitely been blessed.  In this picture, taken just 30 minutes ago, I've made a smirk.  Why? you ask ...  I think there is something wrong with the auto-focus on my camera and I wasn't sure this one was going to come out clear.  Luckily it did.  It's the only one out of ten pictures that i just took.  BTW, I'm feeling fine, I'm just not wearing any make up and my Bridges-inherited dark circles are very apparent.  Also, I'm fighting the "mask of pregnancy".  Try as I might to wear waterproof sunscreen when I'm swimming, it doesn't really do the trick all that well.  Oh, well!  C'est la vie!

Well, this week I've discovered some new preggo pains.  My back is in a state of non-stop soreness and achiness.  I wondered if my select comfort bed needed to be adjusted, so I've been messing with that.  I usually sleep with it pretty soft, like a number 35 or 40.  Over the past two weeks I've been adjusting it up (firmer).  A higher number, like 65, feels good when I go to sleep, but I wake up with my hips hurting.  I can't tell if it's the change that is hurting, if the number is wrong, or if it's just because I'm pregnant and that's what happens.

Skeletor is getting a new name ... I'm calling him "T-Bob" for now since we aren't going to name him until we meet him.  Robert hates being called Bob, but holding to his cajun roots, I can't

 pass it up, calling our lil 'un "T-Bob".  God, I hope it doesn't stick!

My big family shower is coming up a week from today.  I don't want to speculate, but I probably won't be that far off if close to 100 guests show up.  I'm really looking forward to it.  I love seeing all of my aunts, uncles and cousins.  Most of them are aware of the troubles we have had trying to get pregnant and stay that way.  I think it will be a very joyous occasion.  I'm lucky to have a family like I do and I hope they know how much I appreciate all that they have done for me.  

The highlight of this week, so far, is that my bestest friend Tiffany is back in town to attend this shower.  She's the one from Chicago.  I've been very fortunate that she has been showing lots of support and excitement for me.  I don't have many girlfriends and especially being almost 37 years old, I don't have much else in common with other couples that we know around here.  So, via email, Tiffany and I have been cyber-shopping like crazy for the past few weeks.  

I've been doing a lot of diaper-obsessing and I've read that it is a common thing among moms-to-be that want to cloth diaper.  Whew!  What a relief!  I was beginning to think that I would need some sort of 12-step program to stop.  Since this is stuff that I almost definately will not receive as shower gifts, I went ahead and bought a few things that I will need.  I found on ebay some inexpensive wool soakers.  I won them for $17 each, so I got a small and a medium and the brand is Babyology.  I bought two dozen infant prefolds from Green Mountain diapers, some Charlie's soap for doing the laundry (which turns out to be three times cheaper than what I'm using now), some wool wash and conditioner (which I think I've already mentioned) from Blue House Soaps .... YIKES!  IBS JUST KICKED IN  --- WILL BE BACK WHEN THIS SUBSIDES.

Ok --- where was I?  Oh yes, shopping!  I also ordered some other wool soakers and I think they were a small and a medium, but for the life of my I can't remember from where.  Now, THAT will be a surprise when the UPS/Fedex guy comes!  Like Sara, I LOVE my delivery guys!!!!  They are SO AWESOME!  This week will be great ... expecting 3 packages and preparing for the shower on Saturday.  I also need to buy a pair of shoes to go with my dress.  I'm hoping Tiffany can help me out there because she is the shopping queen.  I could easily live my life out barefoot or in tennis shoes.  I have NO fashion sense.  Another great thing going on this week is that JCPenney called yesterday and said that our crib is in and ready for pickup!  Yay!  It's early. 

 Hopefully, Monday night Robert and I can go there and pick it up.  The nearest JCP is about 30 miles away, otherwise I would run over there myself right now.  Speaking of Robert, he is

 diligently working on the shower, finding some more short-cuts and having to fix them.

Man, this post is turning into a long one.  I didn't think I had much to say.  

Anyway, this week I made the Black and White pound cake and it was very good!  I think I over mixed the butter part with the eggs because it was just the slightest bit dry, but cake is cake and look at how awesome it looks!  ( I have to laugh, because only I can make a cake with 10 eggs and a pound of butter dry!)   Thanks Frank and Kym for the recipe!  I like how the chocolate part swirled into the white part all on it's own.  I'm definitely going to have to do this one again!

Pictures from our first shower

Click here to get the  slideshow for Kodak.

Weird day - weird feelings

After our birth class late last night i decided to take today off.  I was super tired, despite having a one hour nap in the afternoon.  I just felt like I needed to stop for a day.

Today I've felt ... heavy ... only in the belly.  I wonder if this change is what I'm going to be feeling for the next ten weeks.  Any advice from any of the experienced moms would be appreciated.  I've been very tired and I feel like I'm going to topple over forward. 

So, my day of planning to vacuum and pick up the the living room got shot to hell.  I did some online shopping and managed to eat well (healthy that is).  Hopefully the rest of this week will get easier.  I'm still looking forward to working my full schedule.  I also have BIG BIG plans for making the Black and White Pound Cake!

BTW -- This company has some great homemade soaps for ALL purposes.  Their name is Blue House Soaps.  I ordered the wool wash soap bar and the liquid wool wash for washing wool diapers, when the time comes and a bottle of their Aloha hair conditioner.  I was really impressed with the ingredient list and awareness of not using products that destroy forests.  Here's the link to their blog and heres the link to their website.  If you try anything (they offer sample packages), please mention my name or email address.  I'll get a $5 gift card.  Also click on the tag at the bottom of the website and get 10% off of all of your orders.

29 weeks and 3 days

This a picture of me with my friend Wendy, caught her just after making the "oh my gosh, look at how big it is!" face.

Life is going fast and furious.  I love it!  The past week we've done some more de-cluttering and cleaning, although our house looks trashier than ever.  I had to give up the lease on my massage studio since I can't do that kind of work (Ashiatsu) right now and I haven't used it since January.  That note was killing me.  Anyway, we have a house and garage chock-full of "stuff" as the late George Carlin would say.  My left hip has been flopping out and causing me difficulty with walking so I've been skipping the swimming exercises and I missed one day of work.  Besides, the rain has been interfering with the pool stuff anyway.  I did have an appointment with my acupuncturist this week and she did a great job in relaxing the muscles that have been pulling my hip out of place.  BTW -- I weighed myself this morning and I'm just a notch under 200 lbs.  I started this pregnancy at 154 lbs.  That's a 45 lb. gain so far.  I'm expected to gain about a pound a week from here on out.  I guess that's not too bad considering all that my body has had to go through to get here.  

When I'm at home, this is generally the view I have from my easy chair. The only exception is that I had to wake Rita up to get these pictures.  Here she's like " what?  got milk?"

Here she's like "enough with the camera already!  you didn't even bring milk!!!"