For Posterity Only

It's really no coincidence that I don't have any pictures of me plastered on my blog in the last, well, 9 months. First I was green and by the time I felt good, I already had a belly (which at the time was huge and not cute but I now realize it was cute then), and NOW I'm swollen all over (mostly fat I'm sure), with acne, and the list goes on. This pregnancy thing can be a real joy. So you see, there hasn't really been a prime photo shoot opportunity. I'm glad I'm coming to the end and looking back realize that the hardest things I've done in my life are the most worth it. So, this little girl's going to be the best thing E-V-E-R!!

Anyway, with her in mind, I had Brian snap a shot. I decided I would have loved to see my mom 9 months pregnant with me. But, please oh please don't blow it up. It's large enough! Actually it's our little girl that's large! At my appt. last week, the doctor said I had been measuring larger than I should have my last couple visits and wanted me to have an ultrasound done to measure baby versus fluid and stuff. So, we took a picture hoping I could get an 'outside' shot of baby and an 'inside' shot as well. The technician wasn't really up for a photo op and just did her measuring. She said our baby looked about 8 1/2 lbs at birth (or so I THOUGHT.)

Come to find out at my appointment this week, our chubba-lubba was 8lbs 7oz as of the day of the ultrasound!! They say these estimates can go a pound either way, which means, normal size, or a 9 1/2 pound monster! They told me they don't usually recommend inducing a first time mom, but they also are not a fan of delivering a 12 pound baby. For the record, I'm not either and I'd like to at least use SOME of the newborn clothes I have. It all became very real to me as they said they'll schedule an induction date at my next appt. for later next week. NEXT WEEK!!?! As in, 7 days from now I could be a mother. whoa. Granted, I could go into labor tomorrow, so I guess I should stop panicking.

Anyway, here I am in all my glory--this is my, "Brian, hurry up and take the picture so I can get this over with" face.

Crafty

So, truthfully it was my mom who I conned into being crafty, but I was a very good supervisor. heh. I bought a cradle on craigslist for super cheap and have been looking everywhere for a cute bumper for it. You'd think with all the baby stuff around, I could find one I liked. Well I finally did, and of course, like my to-die-for wallpaper, it was $80. For a piece of foam and some fabric!?! Not to mention our little lady will only be in it four months max. So I started searching the blog world for a tutorial to make one. A little, well, A LOT of help from the mamacita and ta-da a totally cute cradle ready for my baby. (which is good because her room is still a little bit in shambles.)


I was then inspired to be a little crafty on my own and while looking through tutorials found one to make nursing covers. I had looked at these covers online and they're kind of expensive, not to mention they didn't really have fabric options I liked, so I decided to make some! And this time I can take full credit!




This last craft project I started as soon as I found out I was having a little girl and was a little intimidated by the world of accessories. Honestly I was hoping for a boy I could put in a t-shirt, jeans and chucks and call it a day. Don't worry, I have pink chucks for my lady. But the hair bows and the shoes and the dresses, it took me a while to warm up to the idea of it all. I'm excited now, but here are the first of the hair things I made. Amateur, yes, but I'm getting better.

I Spy...

I spy with my little eye, I spy something the size of a tums but definitely IS NOT A TUMS!!!

A couple nights ago after a trip to the loo I walked my zombie self back to my bed, grabbed a tums to calm the heartburn, and BIT DOWN ON A PENNY!! Shocking and scary and disgusting all at the same time. Plus, it hurt my teeth. It might have had the same alkaline effect as an antacid, but I wasn't going to take the chance.
(don't worry, the penny no longer resides near the tums, I just had to re-enact it in the picture for you.)

Olive Edwards

I had an "Olive Edwards Moment."

Okay, for the few of you who remember sweet Olive Edwards, you'll laugh at this like I did. For those of you who never had the pleasure of meeting this sweet lady, I'll try and explain.

Let's travel back 10 years or so when Olive was the organist for our church ward. She was elderly and seemed to get more frail each week. But, she diligently came to play the Hymns for us, slow and steady, no matter what the tempo should have been. After playing the first couple of Hymns, she would scoot off the bench for a more comfortable seat to listen to the speakers when, "HONK!!" she would accidentally tap her foot to a pedal and startle us. It soon became endearing as it started happening more frequently. I'm sure by others she was more well known for her kind heart, but I appreciate the comic relief she provided.

So there you go.

How do I fit into this?? Well, I've been the Primary pianist for the past little while and because we have so many kids in our ward, we have primary in the chapel. As soon as the postlude of the organ stops, I begin playing the piano to let people know, "PRIMARY IS STARTING...get a move on!" (don't worry, the music I play sends a much more subtle message than that.) So, I hop up to the piano quickly to get all situated, and this last week, as I sat down on the bench, "HONK!!" My belly played about 10 keys!! First I winced at the thought that my belly had grown that much in a week and then laughed as I thought about how I've joined the Olive Edwards club. It's makes me a little proud to be in such good company.

25 Days...

Really, only 25 days? Scary thought. The counter on the side of this blog was a bad idea. 3 1/2 weeks still sounds far away, but 25 days!! The way the days are flying by, that's practically tomorrow! AND, one more thing--that little baby floating in the bubble is totally false advertising! There is floating you can feel at about 5 months and every movement is exciting, like a little fluttering butterfly that you feel and see against your belly every so often. NOW, it's full on stomach morphing mode. At one point my stomach was completely square with her bum and part of her back pushing out of me. That's not the best exit strategy. There's a better way out my dear. Anyway, people say you'll miss the feeling of a moving baby inside you, but I don't think I'm among their ranks. I'm ready to meet this little one face to face and see what all the commotion inside has been about. (ps--she's totally kicking me right now. I think she can hear my thoughts.)

We have finally scrounged up some baby pictures to get an idea of the potential growing inside me. We've been having fun trying to guess who will pass down what traits.





Make that 24 days until we meet our little lady. I'd better get to sleeping before I don't have that option anymore!

My T-Rex Arms

Anyone else remember this "Far Side" comic? I recall it being funnier...and black and white. But alas, google only gave me so many options. (Is 'funnier' correct grammar? Should it be 'more funny?' oh well.) I thought of it the other day when I opened my front door and smacked my stomach. For a second I thought my arms shrunk, then I looked at my enormous belly and realized that wasn't the case.

Doing dishes has also given me a T-Rex complex. It makes me laugh in the "funny uh-oh" kind of way, not "funny ha-ha." (This is how my husband categorizes humor.) When I reach for utensils at the bottom of the sink, sometimes it's a stretch. The best is when I'm finished loading the dishwasher, I look at my belly and I've got a wet strip across my shirt where I've been up against the sink. By this point I'm laughing because it's "funny ha-ha."

I'm sure most of you have been there before, but I've had an urge to record these things for my daughter. I'd love to know what my mom went through while lugging me around for 9 months. So, I'm sorry if I'm boring you.

Confessions.

I might wear the same outfit 3 days in a row.

If you see me more than once in that time period, don't judge. I'm running out of clothes.

I'm Already On "Mommy Time"

After talking to a friend last night about some of the joys of pregnancy, I realized that my body has been in training for sleepless nights already. The middle of the night bathroom runs are conditioning me for my newborn. Last night I checked the clock with each wake up call and here's what it looked like:

12:30--Bathroom Break

3:15--Bathroom trip again, followed by some tums, water to wash the chalk out of my mouth and a couple rounds of free cell on my ipod since it was taking so long for me to fall asleep again.

4:45--Bathroom Trip

7:30--Again with the Bathroom! At this point daylight is usually here to stay and I can no longer fall back asleep regardless of how tired I am.

I've had shockingly good sleep throughout this pregnancy and it's been my saving grace. These last few weeks I've been losing hours each night trying to find a comfortable position after getting up, or laying there running a million things through my head. Some nights I'm tempted to get out of bed and DO something besides watch the minutes tick by on my clock. Regardless, I think the sacrifice of sleep is going to be the hardest thing for me to cope with. I like my sleep. I'm sure it will be worth the time I get to spend with my baby. I'll keep my fingers crossed at least.

*side note* A couple of my piano students are learning the song "Skip to my Lou" and it totally makes me laugh now because at night it rings in my head with altered lyrics: "skip to the loo." Although truly I walk like a zombie, there is no skipping involved.


There have been some other interesting nighttime developments at the Arnold house. My subconscious has become aware that I'm pregnant as my belly has become a part of my dreams these days, well nights. It's a little unnerving. I have horrible nightmares. Embarrassingly gruesome nightmares. Situations I've never thought about in my LIFE, somehow fabricate themselves in my dreams with me as the victim. (Usually I fight them off, but it's HOW I fight them that's creepy and disgusting.) I'm sure someone could have a hay-day with how messed up this must make me. But now it's a little scarier when I float into dreamland because all my pregnancy symptoms follow me! It's not as easy to kill a river boat guide with 40 extra pounds hanging on you or run away from your neighbor-turned-serial-killer since I haven't run in months! You get the idea. Sometimes I'm very grateful for the potty breaks that come 4 and 5 times a night to get me out of my own head!

I don't really know why I'm sharing this. Rantings of the pregnant lady I guess.

Enjoy.

Nursery Update

So, our nursery is coming along...not quite like I envisioned in my head, but at least there's a crib for her to sleep in. As soon as I got some energy I boldly went to the paint store and looked for some pink swatches. Three days later, I had a hot pink wall in my baby's room that glows a little down the hallway. Yikes. I hope it doesn't induce epilepsy in my child. I was just afraid that I wouldn't feel great for that long so I made a ton of snap decisions to feel like I was actually accomplishing something. The other three walls are a few shades lighter on the swatch and by the time I finished it, I hated it. I'm not sure if it's because it took me a whole stinkin' week to do and I was sick of looking at it, or if I really did despise what I had just created. Either way, she's stuck with it, 'cause I'm too tired to re-do it!

It does still have potential for success. Her crib is white, I've enlisted the help of my dad to finish the white paint on a dresser I got on craigslist, we picked up a chocolate brown glider and I finally pulled down the giant chocolate teddy bear I had in my closet. (pictures coming soon.) I'm keeping my fingers crossed these neutral colors will break up the insanity.

Well, Pottery Barn to the rescue! I splurged on this gorgeous butterfly mobile/chandelier to save the day. I was originally going to copy cat my own for a quarter of the price, but after copying a Thanksgiving calendar of theirs last year, I remembered sometimes the savings is not worth your time.



It really is mesmerizing. When the AC kicks on, I go up to her room and sit in the glider just staring at it's gentle movement. I hope it has the same effect on me while I feed her at 2 in the morning. So, no matter what the rest of the room ends up like, at least there's one piece in there I love.

I AM

IRRITATED!

Yep, it's true, I've been taken over by another being that has turned me into a nightmare! I'm usually level headed, but this hormone shenanigans has gone on long enough. I hope my husband can survive the next 4.5 weeks of this as most of the irritation has been spewed toward him.

The worst part is that I can't hold my tongue. It would be different if I could be irritated privately and keep a smile on my face, but it's not possible. I MUST say it out loud. I have this NEED to correct people when they don't do things my way. (That's part of the reason I've become a hermit lately, I've shoved my foot in my mouth one too many times.) I mean, do I really care how Brian brushes his teeth or eats corn on the cob? OF COURSE NOT!! But that doesn't stop me from informing him he's not doing it right...and then when my brain returns, I get irritated that I'm irritated by such frivolous nonsense! It's a vicious cycle.

Wish me luck. Well, wish Brian luck.

It's getting better as the light at the end of this tunnel gets brighter and closer, so I'll get back to blogging. Despite the misery of this pregnancy and all of its splendor, we have managed to sneak in a few things worth remembering.