Thar she blows

No not me.

There's just stuff blowing all over the back yard. Its crazy windy today & summer has definitely left us. Oh well. I love fall. Time to dig out the sweaters & fleece jackets. Too bad I have only one pair of long pants that truly fit at the moment. Get used to seeing me in brown cords for the next few weeks people. Good thing I've got two (count 'em -two!) long sleeved shirts to mix & match with said cords. Wow, am I ever stylish! At least I work at home & can pretty much wear those sexy red velvety housepants everyday. Or my gym working out clothes with the shirts that are now barely covering the bottom of my belly. Soooo attractive.

I am now officially huge people. Don't know what about the hugeness is actually official, but since it sounds official and stuff I'm going with it. Man, my brain sucks. I sit watching Jeopardy now making half-hearted attempts at forming answers into the form of a question and by the time I get around to doing that the answer is already being given so I blurt along with the contestant some incoherent babbling mumble of some fake word I think sounds like the words coming out of their mouths. Kind of like faking the lyrics to songs you think you should know. ("Girl with colitis goes by" anyone?)

Back to the hugeness. Though apparently not. Midwife visit yesterday (at home with Josee - yay!) keeps me at 36 cm fundal height so again a few days behind. Next door neighbour says I'm tiny but will have a humongous baby. I just don't know. I'm really not obsessed with my size or anything, its just part of the interesting package that is pregnancy & what it does to ones body. It is really fascinating seeing oneself grow in ways you may have imagined, but not ever fully expected to such a degree. That and watching the thing move. Kind of like when we put a blanket over the dog and he snuffs & snorts & tries to get out from under it. You can see the body move under the cover, but are never sure of what body part is actually making the shape. Then of course he finally gets out & pants & farts. Then he wants to go back in. I imagine foolishly that this is what birth could be like. A panting, farting baby that prefers it back in the oven after it has squirmed itself out.

Midwife appointment all good, though my blood pressure went up a bit (118 / 76), mostly I think because of all the laughing we were doing moments before. Turns out she's looking forward to our hillarious birth, just like the nurse at the hospital. All this pressure for a fun labour... what the hell are these people gonna do when I start swearing like a character from a South Park movie? Me and my 4 assed baby, though we are now assured it only has one ass unlike this poor creature.
















Apparently the bun has dropped a little bit (I'll post a belly shot this weekend so you can see if there's any difference) & I gotta admit, it has been feeling a little bit different the past day or so. Not as much pressure to breathe unless I'm sitting down (which is most of the time) & the belly is squished upwards. The ribs are still tender, but nothing like the time Calvin broke a couple of them swing dancing (try explaining that to the emergency room physician who is really thinking why the hell aren't we filing a police report?). Its getting a bit harder to walk, but I'm still not waddling anymore than my normal duck-like walk. Of course this may change once it drops even further, but I'm hoping what's left of my once decent posture will prevent the full-fledged waddle from coming on. Crossing my fingers.

I think the nesting has started as well. I've been cleaning up like never before - its like I've got company coming over all the time or something. Its very unlike me to acutally want to scrub the floor. I go in the bun's room & start organizing until I can't do any more.... then I just sit on the bed thinking & planning all the other things I need to do to the room. Its not as though we have a real nursery. For an interior designer, my room decor is pretty abysmal, though the walls are painted & the closet is finally getting organized. We still need a new dresser, some shelves, a dimmmer switch for the lighting & the crib (another donation coming - yay!). IKEA here we come. Too bad the nesting instinct has yet to reach into my office. There's just too many pieces of paper floating around & it becomes totally overwhelming soon after I begin any attempt at organization. It'd be nice to just toss it all out & start from scratch, but I think that would probably just get me into trouble.

Speaking of trouble, I'd just like to inform everyone that I started out with ice cream for breakfast & ended my day with a Beaver Tail. mmmmmm Killaloe Sunrise...... How's that for healthy?

Ya'll are evil....

But I still love you.

I've been trying to figure out for a couple of days now just what to write & how to express my sincere gratitude for everyone's generosity, whilst trying to maintain some modicum of funny. Its hard. I keep getting all verklempt (talk amongst yourselves.....) when I think about what a nice bunch of friends we have. Seriously, you guys are the bomb. (I don't know about you, but that expression gives me the giggles.)

This post was supposed to be all about the new car & general blathering, & I guess I really do have to thank our new Kia Spectra for giving Calvin the excuse to get me over to Geoff & Katherine's place on Saturday afternoon to my surprise baby shower! G & K had mentioned getting a new car before so I was totally unsuspicious when Calvin mentioned that they wanted to see our new relatively cheap purchase so why not come over for some lunch after yoga class & they'd also give us some extra baby clothes or something like that. Okeedokee, sounds like fun. Little did I know that Katherine & Karen had been secretly meeting & going on lunch dates with my innocent hubby to plan their surprise attack. I do have to say that I got suspicious when I heard some vaguely familiar voices coming from the vicinity of the backyard & then Katherine didn't let us in the front door & made us go around back. Seemed a little odd.

So anyway, you got me good people. It was the perfect party; casual & comfy, yummy food, fun conversations with pals, boys & girls & kids all having a fun time on a late summer afternoon. I couldn't have asked for anything more & certainly did not expect even this much. In fact, I totally thought I was off the hook on the whole shower thing for which I was grateful since I don't really like being the centre of attention (that's more of a Calvin thing.... I just throw in snide remarks every once in a while to deflect all the glitter) plus we'd already been given so much already. But this was just the best day ever & just the kind of party I love so I have to thank with all my heart the lovely hostesses for putting on such a wonderfully festive affair. I'm even more grateful now.

And then there was the loot! (Try this link for a slideshow. Crossing fingers that it works.)Now I know why Calvin was bugging me to register for stuff. I mostly did it because its fun to go shopping with those zapper machines & pretend like you've got all the money in the world to spend. Same with the wishlist thingy. Its like some virtual world where you can get that shopping high without spending all your hard earned cash. Not like I ever expected to get any of it. But, thanks to all you crazy people & your gerenous gift giving natures, we're now stocked up in the cutest clothes, the softest toys imaginable, sweet sweet shoes, bath, boob & baby bum supplies, educational media & other great items to keep baby dry, cuddly & hopefully cry-free. We can't thank you enough! Gush, gush, gush.

Thank you all for being there with us & supporting us in our new adventure. Though its a scary ride in many ways & you all know I've done my fair share of complaining, we are soooo looking forward to meeting the bun in a few weeks & getting to know the little monster that has been having a grand ol' time dancing around in my ever burgeoning belly. I feel like I've learned so much more about myself & about life in the world in general since I've gotten knocked up. I know that sounds a bit trite & its not to say that because I'm pregnant I've got some weird advantage over someone who's not, but just that I've spent so much time on this emotional roller coaster that I can't help but come to terms with what I can & can't deal with. It is such a selfish time & yet I have no real sense of control over what happens to me or those I know & love... I guess its really a time of acceptance. So on that note, I gratefully accept all the help, knowledge, wisdom & even most of the assvice from everyone. I just keep taking it all in & letting it sizzle until the time comes when I'll need it most. And I'm sure I'll need it & appreciate it all even more then.

Thank you all so very much.

Visits & outings

Looks like I never got around to really finishing my post the other day, but we've been doing lots of stuff & I needed to put my feet up for a while to take some of the swelling down. Looks like I missed National Talk Like a Pirate Day as well so ya'll just have to wait until next year mateys. I've also missed a ladies night out due to complete forgetfulness & 3 belly dancing classes due to tiredness / laziness / sore feetedness. To top it all off we almost missed out on an entire Sigur Ros concert on Sunday night due to lack of moving air at the Bronson Centre. I think this would normally be a great venue for a show / concert as the hall itself was quite nice & the seats reasonably comfy, however, the fact that the place was at capacity without the air conditioning being on pretty much ensured that one felt like they were walking into a solid wall of hot, damp, stank air. You could see the moisture just floating around waiting to silently loft its way down to your unsuspecting lungs. ( I think my hair knew the gig was up..... as my niece Sophie says, my hair isn't so much curly as it is frizzy!) I lasted 2 songs of the opening act Amina before I had to bail out of our balcony seats to get some fresh air. We sat in the lobby for a bit before deciding that the bun was hungry & then made our way to Shanghai for some yummy tidbits. Eventually we made our way back to the show just in time to hear my favorite song & managed to stick it out in the back of the hall for the last 3 or 4 songs. Its too bad we couldn't have seen the entire thing, because what little we saw was fantastic. Calvin figures we paid about $10 a song, but I still think it was totally worth it. Takk takk Sigur Ros & the wonderful birds.

Monday night we went to Sears (and the online wishlist thing) & registered for some stuff since people have been bugging us (nicely!) about getting something for the bun. We really don't need much since our friends & family have already donated so generously to the cause, but if you must I've added links on the side here to stuff we've come across that's awfully cute, but not awfully necessary. We're totally set up in most of the essentials (still trying to decide on a crib) & we've got toys & receiving blankets coming out the ying yang so everything else is just bonus from here on end. Who knows, there could still be a whole lot of crap we need, but I think we're running out of room in our little house & I'm still trying to wrap my head around how many freaking diapers (going the cloth route until the amount of laundry overwhelms me) I'm going to be going through.

Oh ya, we do NOT know the sex, even though Calvin's mom thinks we are conspiring against her & not telling because we are just evil that way. I've gone back & forth in my predictions, mostly favouring the girl side & I've heard all kinds of opinions & old wives tales on the subject. Pro on the female is that I'm carrying high, fetal heartrate is over 140, the ring test went in circles & I've craved sweet things & fruit. Pro on the boy side is that I've also craved sour salty things, my skin has been nice for the most part, my pillow(s) faces north & that I've been incredibly good looking during most of the pregnancy (ignoring of course the bags under my eyes, the water retention, the feeling like a total bag & hey those spider veins on my legs look great amid all the freckles). At first I spread out ass wise pretty good & felt round everywhere so apparently that goes towards girly girl, but now I seem to have lost some of that extra padding & gained a bit of a basketball so that points to boy. Take it as you will. You can speculate all you want, start a pool (we'll donate it to charity) or just decide to wait it out with us. All in good time folks.

Yesterday we went for our hospital tour at the Monfort. Pretty nice for a hospital & Calvin was totally impressed with the crazy contraption of a bed & the pictures of the woman in a unitard using it with her chinoed partner. I personally liked the humongous tub that could probably fit about 5 people. Nice! Our tour guide nurse was super sweet & I think she wants us to page her when we come in because we (I guess mostly Calvin) kept her laughing the whole time & she told the lactation consultant we were hillarious. Yay us! Hanging out in the hospital is not my idea of a good time (though hubby really thinks the laughing gas would be swell), but we probably wouldn't be spending a great deal of time there since I can labour at home for most part & leave 4 hours after the birth if I want to. If it comes down to the wire & I don't want to move I've also got the homebirth option. This is of course as long as things progress normally with no complications. I'm going in to this with as open a mind as I can have & we'll just take it all as it comes. Its about the safety & integrity of the bun that counts in the end no matter what the bunmaster's plans are right?

Today was midwife day with Josee & we chatted about going to the hospital, using the birthing balls (apparently disinfected & covered up with pads.... something I was a tad curious about), what to do & not do when membranes rupture, group B strep, umbilical cord stumps & the fact that the laughing gas tank at the hospital is still out for repair after several months (poor Calvin probably won't get his treat though that's probably a good thing according to this story). I did the Strep swab (kinda gross), had another great blood pressure reading (108/68) & actually measured 36 weeks. I'm finally on target! I knew it had popped out a bit more, even though I still haven't gained any more weight. Holding steady at 25 pounds which is just fine with me, thank you very much. I can only attribute this to the Body Flow & Yoga classes as well as the fact that I can only fit about 10 mouthfuls of whatever I'm eating at a time into my shrunken stomach located somewhere up near my throat at this point.

The bun is up in my ribs & there is one foot that really likes to jam itself in there furiously when I least expect it. I got a huge bump in the night around 3 am yesterday when it decided to kick me full force in what I think was my stomach, waking me almost puking. That was nice. Its still in the same position with head down, ass up (I'm not going there.....) but has not dropped yet. I can feel limbs moving around constantly on the right side of my body, which is cool, surreal & sometimes painful. I think I'm feeling Braxton Hicks when I walk the dog. Sometimes I have to stop & catch my breath they are so strong. I'm getting incredibly tired most of the time now & walking for any length of time just kills my feet... man I feel pathetic. At the end of the day my hands are feeling puffy now too, but hopefully I won't have to take off my ring until the end. Bun should be around 6 pounds now & is most likely developing all those cute baby fat rolls so everyone will have something to pinch. I know you can hardly wait. Me? I'm going for a nap to bide my time.....

Whining & belly shots

Sorry its been a few days people. I'm overwhelmed with exhaustion & emotions at this point so I'm finding myself taking quite a few naps which leaves considerably less time to type. I lurve napping! It prevents me from becoming the uber-bitch that I was feeling like last week. It was like super pms just hit me over the head & then rammed itself like a mac truck into poor Calvin's unsuspecting mind. He keeps telling me oh so sweetly that I'm the bestest ever pregnant lady in the whole wide world so I don't think he was up for my descent into hormonal hell, but like I said the naps have made me much more pleasant again.

I probably wouldn't need so many zzzzzs during the day if I could just get a good night's sleep. (As if that's ever going to happen again.) Despite the antacid regimen there's still the ever present heartburn & mild sore throat (is this going to do some permanent damage?) that warrants me drinking litres of water, which then promotes never-ending bathroom jaunts. This is now coupled with me feeling like a turtle on its back waving my little fat feet in the air to try & get some leverage just so I can get up out of bed to do said peeing. Plus the grunting & groaning as I attempt this daredevil feat would be totally embarrassing if anyone besides Calvin & the dog were around to witness it.

Getting around is now generally a whole lot harder than I ever thought it would be. Tying my shoes, getting in & out of the car, bending over to pick up crap that I drop on the floor, touching my toes in exercise class.... all becoming more & more difficult as time flies by. Stupidly I always imagined myself to not be one of those pregnant women who had these difficulties, because damn it, I'm flexible. I'm so freaking bendy that one of the yoga teachers used to call me Gumby. Those were the days. Looks like reality has hit me square in the belly now & I have come to the realization that trying to bend one's body over a soccer ball is severly limiting. Trying to shave my legs has become quite the interesting ordeal, not to mention the bikini area. I really have to ask myself why bother? I haven't gone swimming in about 2 months though I keep pretending that I'll go tomorrow. I am also becoming very limited in my choice of footwear as my feet are feeling tremendously puffy by day's end. We went into the Aldo outlet the other day since stuff was on sale & I really need some new cute but plain black footwear & let me tell you just how nice it was to see water retention fat rolls hanging over the sides of really pretty shoes. I know I really don't have it all that bad compared to many other preggos out there, but hey, I'm allowed to have a little wallow into self-pity land every once in a while. Maybe I just need more naps.





















This is what I really look like.

But......

This is what I really feel like.

Birthdays, weddings & countdowns

Post coming later... gotta work right now.
These pics should tempt you to come back.

Were you tempted?

Just wanted to wish a few more Happy Birthdays to my uncle Denis, Stan the man, Beezer, myself & my darling sweet hubby Calvin. Here's to you geek!


Proof of the geekness. Hanging out in Dorval airport searching for wireless hotspots. None to be found sadly so it was off to get a beer & magazines after this. Of course, idiots that we are, we left the magazines at the bar so we had nothing to read on the train ride home.

After getting back to Ottawa we had 2 days of work, then it was wedding weekend number 4 of 2005. Our pal Jody came to stay with us so we fed her poorly & kept her out 'till the wee hours of both Friday & Saturday nights. Friday was rehearsal pub night at the Fox n' Feather on Elgin, which consisted of Calvin whinning & complaining about how cold he was out on the patio. It was a bit chilly & I had persuaded him to leave his big leather jacket at home since I figured we'd be inside all night. Big mistake! Though I apologized profusely for my major blunder, he would not shut up about it for the entire weekend. I even went back to the car to see what I could find for him to put on & found what I thought was his long sleeved biking jersey. Whoops. Turns out it was King's smelly short-sleeved jersey which had been in the car getting dank for about 2 weeks. He put it on anyway & suffered all night like a miserable sucky-baby. And guess what? I drove home again.

Saturday turned out to be glorious weather wise so yet another perfect wedding afternoon was had by everyone at the beautiful Billings Estate Museum. Katherine looked gorgeous, Geoff looked super duper happy & the Timbit was as cute as ever. Delicious food by Nate's Deli, a whack of yummy cakes & chocolate fondue topped it all off. That & Jesse's Girl. Everyone had such a great time, though it seemed to end too fast. This was remedied of course by going back to Elgin Street for a whiff of desperation. If you've ever been to Maxwell's you'll understand what I mean. It just oozes off the cougars there. The place is great for a laugh & can be tons of fun if you're drunk, on a stagette or just want some entertainment. If you are 8.5 months pregnant & stone cold sober, its only mildly entertaining. The dance floor was downright scary so even though Calvin tried to pull & persuade me up there, I high tailed it back to an empty barstool. From this vantage point I had a fantastic view of many tight t-shirts encasing large fake boobs bounce around boys with greasy long hair. Ahhh, a perfect way to cap off a fine wedding.

For some bizarre reason I was the one who woke up with a hangover the next day, not my fellow housemates who'd been merrymaking all night long. Screw you both, you bastards! Must have been the all night urge to urinate every hour on the hour. Either that or the frequent feeling that the bun is trying to punch & kick its way out via my ribcage. Anyway after a nice Sunday brunch our jolly Jody left us with a lovely parting gift for the little monster that our dog now wants to devour. Its a totally cool little toy that lights up, rattles & squeaks in all the right places to tempt Joxer the Mighty Dog in all the right ways. I'm a little concerned that I'll be spending a fortune on Dollar Store stuffed toys just to keep him out of the baby's stuff.

Speaking of baby, we've made it to 34 weeks so only 2 more until term. That's freaking scary! Looks like it weighs about 5 pounds now & is pretty much just getting fatter by the day. I'm still the same weight as a couple of weeks ago, but I think I've expanded a bit more. I'm still measuring about a week & a half behind fundal height wise (32.5 at 34 weeks) & my blood pressure was totally excelllent at the last midwife appointment (108 / 60) as was bun's heartbeat. Thrashy McKicky is slam dancing quite frequently against my ribs & is almost always facing my right side which is actually more comfortable than the left as it always manages to find my spleen or the scar tissue left from the ovarian cyst I had early on. Uncomfortable to say the least. The past few days I've been constantly starving so I'm trying to eat lots of small teeny tiny meals to keep the hunger & the demon heartburn away. The super-duper strength Zantac & Gaviscon combo the doctor ordered seems to be working pretty well, but I still have to stay away from evil foods such as onions, tomatoes, soft drinks, caffeine (I water down the coffee in the morning) salads, spices & supposedly, chocolate though I haven't had too many issues with that - probably mind over matter.

Anyway, since some of you are far away & want an update on my girth, here's a couple of pictures from this weekend.


ADIDAS
Aren't I saucy?

Here's one from the wedding on Saturday. I'm wearing my "L" pin Amma gave me ages ago. Calvin likes to call me Laverne when I wear it. I like to call him jackass.


Wedding belly fun.

Where'd I go?

To the Rock of course. For wedding number three of 2005.

The trip started off with a train ride to Montreal (love the train) & then we jet-setted it off to Halifax so we could hang out at the airport for 4 hours while we waited for our connection to St. John's. If you want free wireless internet at Halifax International go hang out at the pub near security. You too can look like a total geek while you booze it up.

We got into town & were soon regaled with gifts via Calvin's mom. I now have more than a gazillion receiving blankets, burp pads, & warm fuzzy blankets to last through eternity. I'm still not totally up to speed on the dynamics of receiving blankets, other than they're great for drooly babies that like to spit up frequently. I kind of thought that's what the burp pads were for. Man am I ever dumb when it comes to this stuff. I'll just blame it on pregnancy brain though & hope for the best. Seriously, even if you tell me what its all for or what something does, it'll all go in like whah whah whah whah whah (ala Charlie Brown's teacher) & leave me remembering diddly-squat. I'm telling you, don't even bother. Brain has officially turned to mush though I apparently have enough left to remember some people telling me it'll never come back. Great. So much for all the "gifted" classes I was in once upon a time. Gifted my ass.... more like my ass is gifted. Bwah ha ha I'm so funny.

OK... not.

Back to the presents. Mrs. D also made us this lovely quilt which I hope to never get any forementioned baby puke on. My favorite part is the butterflies border. The back part has ladybugs & other cute insects along with a message from Grammy to the new little terror. He or she will be wrapped with love. Ain't that sweet? Here's a pic.


The new quilted love wrap.

Besides the wedding festivities we mostly hung out with the family rather than do anything touristy. No fish n'chips at Leo's. No excursions around the bay. No fantastic hikes. Just lots of napping on my part. We did manage to get in one glorious afternoon at Cape Spear with Bruce & Susanne & the boys. The weather was fantastic & you could see Skademia sailing gently by. Thomas enjoyed the flashlight tour of the old amunition bunker & I almost passed out on the stairs up to the lighthouse. Despite the rack my sister so nicely pointed out already in the comment section, my lungs are probably the size of a rabbit's at the moment making any physical effort on my part a gaping mouthed panting & huffing ordeal as I try to suck enough oxygen out of the air around me (already stagnant with my exhalations) to sustain my momentum. Here's a souveneir of our day before I was totally winded. I'm the one that looks like I've been devoured by a crazy bubblegum monster.


Bubblegum pink.

After our day at the Cape, we all went out to celebrate our birthdays at a restaurant down in the Gut. The food was yummy, especially the scruncheons & the berry crumble. Mmmmmmmm. I couldn't stop laughing the entire night so my napping must've paid off. Add to that jokes about Ron Hines, something about pirates & this

lonely man with ascot & you've got me in hysterics. Good times man, good times. Love the ascot. No really, I do.

On to what we went to Newfoundland for. The wonderful wedding of Walter & Justyna in Portugal Cove. To sum it up, gorgeous dress, sunny skies by the ocean, a nice Catholic ceremony (we've been to some that have been really loooooong) & a priest that messed up the bride's name. Nothing like being called the wrong name during your weding ceremony to make your special day all the more special. Afterwards Calvin I drove out near Fox Trap to see if we could see the Queen Mary II that was sitting in the bay. You could see it from far away, but as we got closer it was hidden by Little Bell Island so we decided to go to Berg's for some yummy ice cream instead.

mmmmm soft serve twist cone mmmmmm

Then back home for a change of clothes & on to great food & dancing all night at the reception at Murray's Pond. Calvin started off with a G&T, then moved on to the Caesars, followed by red & white & sparkling wine with dinner, then some more G&Ts to be topped off at the end of the night by some fine single-malt. Needless to say, Calvin has now fully taken advantage of the free designated driver situation he has. Good thing it was also his birthday so he was in less trouble than he could've been from me. Cheers to you good buddy!


The happiest couple ever.

Anyway, after a much fun-filled time in Newfoundland we headed off to Halifax to see my sister Andrea for a couple of days, along with Pete & Sophie & Emma. It was a great way to wind down before going home & back to work. Finally got in some great fish n' chips & yet more ice cream (you should all buy stocks in Lactaid at the rate I'm going.... & of course Zantac) & homemade fudge. I got a very pretty necklace for my birthday that Sophie picked out herself & also a wonderful blue manicure. It was Soph's first day of grade 5 at a new school the day we left so Uncle Camel & I got to walk her to school & check out her oh so hip & cool outfit along with several of her friend's Avril Lavinge shirts. On the way home I tripped myself up on the sidewalk & went down pretty hard on my knee & hands. Nothing like seeing a pregnant lady fall to get some attention. I think Calvin caught me sort of on the way down & the belly missed the sidewalk so that's good, but now my ankle is kind of blue & swollen while the other foot is messed up near my toes. Don't think I'll be doing much dancing at this weekend's wedding (#4 of 2005). Oh well, I'll just keep thinking about ice cream.



Ice cream buddies