24 Weeks

I'm heading off to Florida tonight to meet up with John, who has been there all week on business. My mother-in-law happens to live in Florida too, just 20 minutes from where John has been working, and so we'll be spending a long weekend with her. As far as mother-in-laws go, I have a good one, and it certainly doesn't hurt that she lives in south Florida. In a condo with a pool. Across the street from the beach. She's also made appointments for us on Saturday for massages and facials (seriously, isn't she great?) and I may just take myself somewhere for a pedicure tomorrow while John is in meetings all day.

Sunshine + Beach + Massage + Facial + Pedicure = Heaven

This weekend comes at a perfect time, because I've been feeling rather off lately. My body is an oil factory, I'm breaking out like crazy, feeling large, working with a limited wardrobe, and there's not much I can do about any of it. That whole pregnancy glow thing? I don't think I got it.

But I'm not complaining. Because I feel my little girl moving, and I could care less about what I look like.

Still, I'm really, really, REALLY looking forward to this weekend.

Nursery: Before

After hours and hours of searching and deliberation, I finally found the perfect wallpaper for the nursery. I ordered this perfect wallpaper from a local shop, and picked it up last night. I then went straight to Home Depot, where I had them make me a gallon of the perfect color paint to match the perfect wallpaper. (We're covering one wall and painting the others.) The best part of all of this? Total cost of perfect paint and perfect wallpaper was less than $100.

Of course I couldn't wait to get started, so I immediately broke out the brushes and rollers and got to work. But first, I took these "before" pictures of the room that we've called "The Nursery" since we bought this house almost three years ago.

I painted one wall last night, and taped up a piece of the wallpaper to see the print and color together.

How does it look?

Perfect.

The Sweetest Sound I Ever Heard

No, you can't always plan these things.

I work for a small company. There are somewhere around 45 employees, and I'm one of the youngest. Also, since the company's inception five years ago, the first pregnant employee. We've already determined that I'll need to apply for short-term disability when I have the baby, and the powers that be have agreed to let me return part-time. I'm not sure that I'll have the same job I have now, but they say they'll find work for me somewhere, doing something. The plan is to have a friend watch our little girl two days a week, and I'll work a few hours from home. (By the way, said friend happens to be pregnant with her third, and found out last week that she is having a girl too! Due just two weeks after our little one. I'm already planning play dates and slumber parties.)

Anyway, back to the point. I work for a small company. Two weeks ago, a group of us went out to lunch together because our company was moving from our downtown office to an office on the east end of town, and we all wanted to eat at our favorite downtown restaurant one last time.

If I may go off on one more tangent, the new office location is quite snazzy. Everything is brand-spanking new, it's closer to home, and conveniently located by a gas station, grocery store, and a Starbucks. No more interstate traffic, parking garage, crossing Main Street and walking a block in the cold and rain. The only problem with our new digs is that the bathroom is now a 60 second walk from my desk. It was a 10 second walk before, and now that I'm settled into my second trimester of pregnancy, I find myself making that walk A LOT.

So. Lunch. We were all sitting around a large table, about 15 of us, waiting for our food. I was sitting at one end of the table, talking with those around me about who knows what. I looked up at one point and made eye contact with our VP of Technology, who was sitting at the opposite end of the table. That's when he asked, "When are you due?"

"July 2nd." I said.

"Oh, you'll learn." He said.

"What do you mean by that?" I asked.

"Well, for example, my mother had three kids. The first one was born in August. The next two were born in December and January. You'll learn." He said.

And then I understood. He was telling me to plan my pregnancies to have my babies in the cooler months. To avoid being pregnant in the heat of summer. Ha. Ha. Haha. Hahahahahaha. PLAN MY PREGNANCY? Oh, NAIVE SIR, it's not that simple.

"You can't always plan these things." I said.

"Well, you sorta can." He responded.

"No, you can't." I said again.

He stared at me, like I didn't know what I was talking about. Like, it's really not that hard. Like I should know how it works.

"It took us eleven months to conceive." I said finally. "You can't always plan these things."

Someone immediately started talking about the weather and that was the end of that conversation.

23 Weeks

If I were a superhero, my energy would come from the sun. We've had five beautiful sunny days in a row, and I feel like a new woman. Last week, I made it to the gym four days, and I made it back again this morning. There is just something about waking up to daylight at 7am that makes the whole work-out thing a lot easier and a lot more fun. And as the weather continues to warm up, I look forward to taking evening walks around our neighborhood, showing off my ever-growing baby bump.

I feel my little girl moving around in there every day now. Two, three, four times a day. And sometimes, when I lay on my back and lift up my shirt, I can actually see my belly poke out from her little kicks and punches. The other night, I was eating Sour Patch Kids, and the little one went absolutely wild. I'm not sure if she was protesting, or begging for more, but I'm over the craving for sour candy now. Although, I must say, my sweet tooth has officially returned.

In my first trimester, I suddenly stopped caring about sugar. It was the strangest thing, coming from someone who could eat a brownie sundae for dinner. Instead, I wanted SALT. Buckets and buckets of it. I'm now disgusted by the measures I took to satisfy my craving. Ramen noodles. Noodle soup. Chips. French fries. Popcorn. Oh, the popcorn! As my pre-pregnant self, I always bought low-sodium popcorn. So when my SALT cravings hit, I'd add about a cup of SALT to my low-sodium popcorn, and when all the popped kernels were gone, I'd suck on the leftover un-popped kernels for that extra bit of SALT. No wonder my feet and ankles are now swelling daily. I've probably got enough built-up sodium in my body to last a lifetime.

The swelling is manageable, really. Some days are worse than others. Like two weeks ago, when I had to abandon my search for maternity jeans early because my ankles were rubbing against the top of my shoes and I couldn't walk another step. But most days it's minor, and my ankles are back to normal in the morning. Fresh and ready to swell again.

There is heartburn and indigestion too. Again, some days are worse than others. Good news is, Tums seems to work, and it's on the list of "safe" medications I received from my doctor. So these pregnancy symptoms are manageable too.

I have a regular check-up appointment with my OB on Wednesday. Can't wait to hear the little girl's heartbeat again. She should be about the size of a large mango now, and weigh just over one pound. Four weeks ago, at The Ultrasound, she weighed 11 ounces. Speaking of The Ultrasound, I had one of her 3D pictures blown up for John to put on his desk. I also have her picture hanging in my cubicle. I can hardly believe that beautiful little baby is growing right now in my womb.

I have a child. Geez la-weez, I am a mother.

One Year

One year ago, I started this blog. We had been trying to conceive for three months, and I was just beginning to grow frustrated with my period and her antics. I was slightly concerned, but still full of hope and optimism. Still analyzing every potential sign and symptom, and thinking of Clomid as some distant and unnecessary solution for a problem I probably didn't have. I thought I'd start a blog to record my private thoughts, keep track of "baby things" I'd eventually buy, and chronicle my soon-to-be pregnancy. I had no idea that I'd be here, one year later.

Here, is 23 weeks pregnant. If we had conceived month one, we would have a 6th-month-old now. But it took us 11 months, and baby isn't due for another 17 weeks. While we were living it, each month felt like an eternity, and toward the end of our conception journey, I was going crazy with grief and despair. I was emotionally volatile, desperate and depressed. And then I got pregnant. And then 11 months of waiting didn't seem so bad.

Here, is also public. As in, I'm not the only one who reads what I write. And I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE reading comments on my posts. I love twittering and reading other blogs and following along as other women travel along similar or totally different paths. I had no idea how much this whole blog thing would become a part of my life. But now I think about life experiences as potential posts, and I spend more time reading blogs than books.

So, "Happy Anniversary" to me, and a happy one it is. Because the end of this road is in sight, and mommyland is right around the corner. I only wonder what another year will bring.