Big Belly Chronicles - Volume 30w

30 weeks, 3 days down... So much is going on, including the little girl's first trip to the hair salon for mamma's much needed haircut, (that's right, I haven't had a haircut in 8 months... don't judge me!) first baby shower and first hiccups on Sunday! I'll have to post a few pics of my sweet friends at the shower later this week.

As seems to be the common thread in my life right now... things that should be progressing at a certain rate, are going a little... bit... slow... EVERYONE thinks my tummy isn't quite big enough to be 2 months away from delivery. I think it's huge! And most importantly my doctor thinks its just fine and the baby girl is smack dab in the middle of the growth charts. (Its a chart that I never fit on... from my birth at nearly 10 lbs, until I was grown... I think the affectionate term was "off the charts.") Our little girl weighs approximately 3 lbs based on her measurements! Here's a pic of my tummy. And the rest of my tired body. I'm still getting over this nasty cold we had last week... and last night was the first time in a week that I slept through the night without even one coughing fit! But I still feel SO EXHAUSTED! Shout out to Target for these great lounge pants that I wear every night when I get home from work. So flattering I know...

No, I haven't been back to that CVS yet either. I intended to go back to buy some more cough drops and just have them double it, but I found some more in my cabinet, and haven't needed to go back. But, I will.

Here are pics of my SLOOOOW knitting progress

as well. You can't tell, but the white thing is my baby's first blanket... almost. Well, actually there is QUITE a bit to go, and I haven't picked it up since Thanksgiving, but I will get back on the horse soon. My green scarf, the original project, has taken a weird turn. I was using it to practice my different stitches, but then lost track of what I had done, so there is NO pattern at all. Just a bunch of weirdness. You can bet I'll wear it proudly anyway.

Last thing..... Little Curley's room. The blue tape is still up, but the painting is complete. Kevin did such a good job. I know it doesn't look like a little girl's room to you all yet... but I promise it will. The colors are "Heart's of Palm" green and Snoop Dogg's "Grizzle Grey." Open your minds... I think it's going to be so fun! I get lots of weird looks when I try to describe it so I won't even

bother, you'll just have to see it. Just as long as she keeps on cooking for 2 more months, we'll make it.... she will have a bed and everything! ONLY TWO MONTHS!!!!!!!! :-O

A thief in the night

Its kind of pitiful when you look at my archives and see the downward spiral of my # of postings each month. I'm going to vow to be a little better in December. Maybe if I say less, I'll post more... Which will be easy tonight, because I am sick... really really sick. (Feeling at least a little better, because I have not even wanted to pick up my head, let alone my computer)

I was NOT going to get sick this winter while being pregnant! I have been washing my hands like crazy, eating right (mostly), taking vitamins, drinking water, thinking positive thoughts, staying away from sick people.... oops except for ALL the sick people in my family over Thanksgiving, and all the sick people who walk around in the hospital and clinics where I work. Hmmmmm. My mom has always told me the road to hell is paved with good intentions.....

The road to hell probably has a bunch of thieves on it too... I am now officially a criminal. (speeding tickets don't count... right?) Kevin and I are both sick and on the way home from the doctor's office tonight we stopped at CVS to get some medicine. I picked up some Ricola sugar free cough drops and we walked back to the pharmacy counter where they keep the "controlled substances" that we needed. Kevin swiped his Driver's License that is required to get any of the good stuff (pseudoephedrine HCL) and signed his name on the contract that stated he would not be using the medicine to make methamphetamines. He paid for the stuff in his hands, and we walked out. When I got home I picked up my cough drops and realized I had just STOLEN them from CVS! I'm so embarrassed! I will go back and pay.... it was $2.49, so probably a misdemeanor right? But why did no one stop me? Kevin said I would have been even more embarrassed if someone had stopped me, but I would rather have been called out (and blamed it on being sick and pregnant) than have to go back in a second time and explain it....

I'm tired, don't feel good and a little grouchy about it all... so that's all for now. One last thing... my criminal offense caused me to have to put this cartoon in. My mom also always says "Ass is not a bad word... it's in the Bible!" Love ya mom!

I scream from the top of my lungs...

Apparently I took a little break from blogging... I didn't even notice so much time has gone by! A few noteworthy things have happened in the last couple of weeks!

1. While cleaning my house last weekend... I found a cheerio... while changing my sheets. It was down between the mattress and the headboard. I admit that I DO eat cheerios! One of my favorite breakfast treats! But NOT in BED! Gross! So, this means that I must have walked around for some length of time with a cheerio on my face or in my hair or on my clothes before it fell off... in bed. So it was yet another indicator that I am definitely a "mom." Right? I mean we have all seen the frazzled mommies with weird cereal pieces or suckers stuck to them... but usually they have like 3 or 4 little ones they are running around after, and everyone completely forgives it. My child isn't even born yet? What is my excuse? I'm just a pregnant slob!!

2. Baby girl Curley demonstrated her love of music... alot like her mom! She is soothed and calmed by it mostly... when she is very active and I turn any kind of music on, she seems to stop (and listen I think) and fall off to sleep for a minute. But for the first time she really jammed out like her momma. We were in the car and a song came on that is quite possibly the GREATEST song of the 1990's and we rocked out to 4 Non Blonds "What's Up." I think she was playing a little air drum as well as doing a little headbanging and lead air guitar. It is one of those songs that just does it to you... you can't help but get worked up when it comes on... and then you sing it.... for days and days after that. And if you don't know the song well, here is a link to the video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXcQGsoDkDk Listen and you might understand why my version of this song, while it is an excellent impression, might drive my husband a little crazy and cause Beans to look at me crooked. I hope my little girl shares my taste for ALL kinds of good music and enjoys singing it from the top of her lungs as much as I do. (Kevin hopes she doesn't)

3. The baby took her first trip to Aggieland! Kevin had some work in Bryan so we took a tiny trip. We got to see cousin Brad (who will graduate in May)... and Professor Houghton! (My very good friend Stephanie from high school completed her PhD in Economics and is now an AGGIE PROFESSOR! Hard to believe!) And Little Curley had her first taste of Wings-n-More..... mmmmmm..... She loved it. I've been craving this for years now and Stephanie and Adam met us there for dinner! What a yummy, prefect way to end our quick trip! Kevin and I wondered if it would be as good as we remembered it... it was... better maybe. I guarantee this will be the first of many trips for our little Curley. (To Aggieland and Wings-n-More)

I know there are VERY FEW people on earth who care anything about the stuff I have written about today... but if you are one, I wrote this for you. And thanks for reading. :)

Last thing... Can someone please tell me how to put music on my blog? I just want a song list that people could click on to hear one or two of my favorites if they want. (Like 4 Non Blonds) But this seems difficult for me for some reason. :)

Big Belly Chronicles - Volume 26 w

So, this was me last week actually.... at 25 weeks. Today I'm 26 weeks and slightly poochier, and finding it seriously difficult to GET UP! If I'm having trouble now... we should all be worried. I have 3 months to go!

I have to take a moment and talk about maternity clothes. At first I was determined to just make my regular clothes somehow work throughout this whole thing in order to save money (yes, I'm cheap.... and not that smart I guess). I even had my friend who is a hard core garage-saler scoping out maternity clothes for me at $1 a pop. I went to Target and found a couple of things that my wonderful-but-not-always-so-eloquent husband likened to trash bags. And finally broke down and went to a couple of specialty stores and left feeling SO much better and more comfortable. And I wanted to give a shout out to Michael Stars who made the shirt I have on here. It is the greatest, because it will just keep stretching.....and stretching.... and then when you wash it it returns to its exact perfect original shape. The ladies at the shop said they even have a few of his tops that they wear all the time (not pregnant). And that I will be able to wear it long after the baby comes! Now... they are one size. Do you hear what I'm saying? No sizes... everyone wears the same shirt.... so my fear is being out somewhere with one of these shirts that has made me so happy and then seeing one of those adorable, twiggy, pregnant girls who look like models with basketballs under their shirts, wearing the same shirt as me and looking WAY better in it. (Thanks to my Santa Fe friend for sending me this pic :) Anyway... I'm very happy with the shirts. And wanted to pass it along to all you pregnant girls... check out Michael Stars tops... unless you will look cuter than me in it...

A couple more updates. The baby girl is still a girl... confirmed for the 6th time (3 ultrasounds times 2 people operating the sono). She is still perfect. She weights approximately 2 lbs, measures exactly on target and is strong as an ox! I sometimes wonder... if this is what other people are feeling all day, every day, how come I don't see other pregnant people startled and jumping and grabbing themselves in surprise all day long? She gets stronger by the day. And the other day I actually said these words out loud... "Its like there is a little person in there just kicking the heck out of me!"

Here is my knitting... again, a week ago. I've made a little more progress on the original scarf and the new purple one. And I have knitted one row of our baby's first blanket. I can't wait to show pics of that!!

The next two pictures are of our Little Curley's room. Surely we can find a spot for her. This poor unfortunate room in our house quickly became our "we-don't-have-room-for-this-but-don't-want-to-get-rid-of-it-yet-so-put-it-in-that-room" room. But our pending arrival has caused us to finally clean it out. So this is the "before" picture. The picture actually doesn't do it justice.

I thought I would put all these things the Curley's have in progress, together in one posting.

Deer and duck seasons are also in progress for Kevin.... so I guess I better add a pic of one of the poor little animals he and Beans got on opening weekend. He got a couple of wood ducks and a wigeon. ?? Here is Beans with her daddy's wigeon. I'm going to look into making a Turduckin this holiday season... and I also wanna try to make some duck jerky. I don't know how, but I'm not afraid to try...

Scaaaaaary

In my last entry of October, We are the champions, I promised an explanation of the funny cat in the picture. Last Saturday night, we became pumpkin carving champs (check out our award winning pumpkins if you haven't already)... AND... I discovered that I am SERIOUSLY allergic to cats.

We had a cat during my entire childhood... Grover (aka THE PUSS). I was NOT allergic. He was over 20 years old when he finally got so sick that we had to say goodbye. But he was our "little brother" for our entire lives. His claim to fame was his meow. It never failed that every time someone in our house was on the phone, Grover would let out a loud one, and the person on the other end would say "Is there a baby in your house?" Mr. Puss was loud, and proud. He also had one tooth that grew and grew and grew until it couldn't even fit inside his mouth anymore... it just hung over his bottom lip and made him look really old and slightly evil. He was a great long-toothed puss. And when he died... several years ago... I haven't had an occasion to hold a kitty cat again... Until last weekend.
Matt and Sara's cat is a Ragdoll cat. The SOFTEST coat you've ever felt on any animal, really. They are also not allowed to be outdoor cats, some say this is because they are non-defensive and can not survive because they do not use their claws and have no survival instincts. And some say its because they're too dumb to find their way back home. I haven't gotten a great explanation about the "hair-do" but I'm sure there is a reason they shave the poor dumb animal to look like Simba. One more fun tid-bit, apparently when you pick them up they just do this...

It may not be apparent in the picture, but the cat was completely relaxed. And I was hysterical! And then... about 10 minutes later... I began coughing just a little, and then reached up and felt little bumps all over my neck, and then my eyes began to itch, and my face felt hot. And I looked a little something like this...

I had to drive us home from the party (over an hour away) and on the way home, my skin began to feel like it was on fire. I had hives on my back, chest, both arms, face and scalp! By the time I got home, I looked like this...Cute huh? It was pretty dramatic. I was actually worried that if I got pulled over on the way home (for driving way too slow because I couldn't see through my watering eyes) that the policeman wouldn't believe my story and was going to think that Kevin had beat me up until I was crying and swollen. But we made it. And I washed the dander off and began to be able to breath again. My face was swollen for 2 days. ;) Scary Halloween!

We are the Champions... my friend...

We may not win Most Intricate or Most Artistic... but we WILL WIN something even if we have to go for funny, thought provoking or vulgar. Its just who we are!
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Some friends of ours had a wonderful pumpkin carvin party last weekend. We entered two pumpkins to improve our odds and walked away with TWO first place pumpkins! We WON two of the categories! Kevin's disgusting (awesome) entry won 1st place for "best use of props and accessories" and mine won for "funniest" (although Kevin insists that he won both and that you could only win one category, so my 2nd place was boosted up to 1st.... I'll let you be the judge....)

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Here are a few pics of the award winning pumpkins! We did help one another with our ideas so the awards are really "ours." Hope you like them!
(ABOVE) Yes, they made us wear name tags... but it was a fun party anyway. ;-) Check out the gynecological-looking pose I'm in with my mama pumpkin... quite unintentional.

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(BELOW) Kevin's entry "the Dumpkin" complete with his bumper-dumper (an actual toilet seat that attaches to your trailer hitch so you can feel at home even when you're miles away from civilization... Kevin's prized possession, especially this time of year), TP (Charmin... only the best for my man and his dumpkin), and a lovely specimen on the ground below.

Kevin won a Chia Shrek... and a NICE gift card! I'm hoping to get the Shrek in my Christmas stocking.

Below you'll find my entry "Where do baby pumpkins come from?" Unfortunately she doesn't photograph well, but if you look closely you can see her mascara, painted toenails and even her tears. Oh what we mothers do for our babies..... ;) There are a couple of angles so you can get the full effect.

ABOVE - My prize! And Lisa and Mandy in the background... what tasted to good on that spoon Mandy?

BELOW - Pics of our friends, Brandon and Lisa, who one 1st and 2nd for best overall pumpkins. A couple of true artists! Lisa's on the left and Brandon's on the right. (I realize that you could probably figure out which one of these humans is Lisa and which is Brandon, but I am referring to the pics of their pumpkins below that...) Although I'm EXTREMELY impressed with these FREE HAND carvings (and quite jealous of their prizes), I believe that if you have a degree in art you should disqualify yourself due to having an unfair, God-given advantage. AM I RIGHT?

I know... they are so good! For anyone who loves this stuff like I do, I'm posting some other pumpkins from the party. There were some really good ones.
Brandon at the mic with his guitar.And our lovely hostess Sarah with her yummy jack-o-lantern cake. I didn't get a single pic of her husband Matt. (So sorry!!) But they are the most gracious hosts. Thanks for everything... great fun... great food... great prizes... great cat! (sort of)

Here is a pic of their cat. An explanation will follow... promise.

And a couple of grown men on a bounce house slide...