Awkward Encounters: Doctor’s Office Edition

I’m not much for small talk.  I would like to think that I’m “friendly” (I always offer a smile!) but with strangers, I generally like to keep it to a short “How are you? Great! I’m good too. Chilly outside, warmer this weekend...”  But it seems that a big pregnant belly seems to attract converstaion with strangers.  Sometimes it’s nice, like the woman beside me on the plane who gave me some practical advice about pumping when I go back to work.  Maybe a little TMI to discuss with a stranger on a crowded plane, but her intentions were good so I didn’t mind.

Last week, I went to the doctor's office for my glucose test (which, by the way, my drink was lemon-lime flavored and it wasn't that bad!  and I passed the test - whew!)

After checking in, I sat down across from a couple in the lab waiting room.  The woman exclaims, “I love your shirt!  Where did you get it?”  As I peel off layers of coats and scarves, I explain that it’s actually a dress hiding under all of this, and I’m pretty sure I got it from Ross.

Nice people, always pleasant to start the day off with a compliment.

A minute later, the man asks the woman, “Do you see how big her ring is?”  Not a whisper.  Loudly enough for me to hear, purposefully for me to hear.  I have my arms folded across my stomach, so both my Aggie ring and my wedding/engagement rings are visible.  I smile at them and wiggle my fingers.

Woman: “Which one?!”

Man: “The one with the huge diamonds!  I gave Shana a ring even bigger than that. 

Woman: “Oh that’s too big, I woudn’t want that.”

Thanks? 

The man gets called back to the lab.  And the woman continues to make conversation.

Woman: “So how far along are you?”

Me: “Almost 7 months!”

Woman: “I’m only four months, but I feel like you!”

She proceeds to take off her layers of coats to display her belly, waiting for my response.  But it isn’t really a big round pregnant belly, it’s sort of just a cushiony, slightly overweight belly. 

What am I supposed to say here!?  Is she wanting me to tell her that her belly is big?  Or should I say, oh you’re barely showing!? 

Me: “Maybe he will be a big boy – do you know what you’re having?”

Woman: *huffs* “Not yet, I’m still waiting on Medicare.” *huffs again*

Me: “Oh, that must be frustrating.”

As a working gal with insurance, I’m not too sure how the Medicare process works, so I really can’t make any conversation around this or relate to her.

Me: “Are you hoping for a boy or a girl?”

Woman: “Well he already has 6 kids – 5 girls and 1 boy.  And I have a boy and a girl”

Me: “Oh my, a full house!  I bet you’ll just be happy with a healthy baby then.”

Woman: “I tell you what, I’m about to go doctor shopping to find me a doctor who will tie my tubes and give him a vasectomy!”

Might come across as a funny joke, but this woman was 100% serious.

Door opens.  “Mrs. Cooper?”

Oh thank God!  I’m terrified of blood, but I think I’d rather be back in the lab with a needle in my arm than hear what would come out of this woman’s mouth next!

Oh the joys of pregnancy :)  More awkward encounters to come soon.

My worst nightmare

I awoke this morning very grateful for my husband and the life we share.  It was a rare occasion where, at 7am, I was actually happy that my alarm was buzzing at me.  Waking me up from a terrible nightmare, worse than the usuals that haunt my dreams....

 - Worse than the ones where I get shot (Usually in the stomach, by the bad guys who are chasing me.  But I always live to tell the tale.)

 - Worse than the ones where I back my car into something (But it's never my fault! The breaks are faulty and I just can't stop the car!)

 - And even worse than the packing nightmares (Where I'm leaving on a trip in 5 minutes and frantically throwing things in a suitcase while someone honks a car horn at me from outside.  Seriously, the worst dreams ever, I will wake up in a complete sweaty panic!)

This dream, was the worst of all.  It was a few years down the road, and I was sitting silently in the kitchen, crying, watching Tom carry half of our belongingsout  to a moving truck.  We were getting a divorce.  Half of our couches, half of our towels, half of our daughter's clothes, half of her toys, and half of my heart, all walking out the front door.  I pleaded with him not to go, we could make it work, it could be better!  But, he left anyway, it was "for the best."

My parents came and took me to the Fort Worth Stockyards (random?), so we could grab dinner, wander around, get my mind off of things.  But throughout the day, Tom was sending messages to my phone.  He thought he was being helpful, sweet, by sending pictures of our daughter. Spending the day with him. Pictures of her swimming, pictures of her new room at his new house. Joking about how much more difficult it is to take care of a kid by oneself.  

I was a disaster in the dream, a total blubbering mess. It was the most heart-wrenching thing I'd ever been through, and it seemed so. dang. real.

Finally, the sound I usually despise rang out and woke me up.  And there was my husband beside me, still asleep, completely unaware that I was about to shower him hugs and "don't ever leave me"s!  (Funny story though, when I first told him I dreamt we were getting a divorce, he said "what did I do?" Naturally he thought I was divorcing him, not the other way around. Maybe I should take it easier on the poor guy!)

Today, I am so very thankful that I get to share my life with such an awesome man, who will stick with me through thick and thin, sleepless nights and dirty diapers.  Who loves me despite the fact that I hog the covers, let the trash can overflow, and never have a full tank of gas. And who isn't going anywhere.

Week 27 Update

Long time no talk.  Things have been hectic around here!  We’ve had full weekends and busy season is picking up at work.  I had plans a couple weeks ago for a “99 bottles of milk on the wall” post where I told you that it was only 99 days until the baby was due.  But I really couldn’t come up with anything else for the body of the post, and I couldn’t just have a clever title.  I also have future plans for some “nursery DIY” posts.  The nursery is coming together quite nicely, if I do say so myself, and we’ve done quite a bit of the work/decorations ourselves.  I’m excited to share!  Until I get my act together and get those drafted (and actually take nice pictures rather than iphone photos), here’s a weekly (monthly in my case) update to hold us over.

How far along:  27 weeks 3 days

Size of baby:  A rutabaga (don’t know what a rutabaga looks like?  Neither did I.  The baby should be about 14 inches long and roughly 2 lbs at this point)

Total weight gain:  15 lbs (8 of which were gained in December alone).  The holidays were good to me, really good to me.  So I’ve been trying to make healthier food and exercise choices in the new year.

Symptoms:  Week 26 was a dizzy week.  Every afternoon without fail, the room would be spinning.  It was very weird.  I checked with the doc, and he said no concerns, just another fun pregnancy symptom.  This week has been characterized by intense back and rib discomfort.  Focused on the right side, on the same horizontal plane, below my shoulder blade in the back and lower ribs in the front.  There is seemingly no comfortable seated position to ease the pain, which is unfortunate since I spend the majority of my day sitting at a desk.  Laying down and standing up feel great, however!  So I paced around my parent’s house on Tuesday night while we celebrated my mom’s birthday, and I stood through our entire lunch at Which Wich yesterday with Tom :) 

Cravings:  Sweets still.  Although that really isn’t pregnancy specific for me.  I’ve always craved sweets!  I just give in to the temptation more now.  Last night, I mashed up Thin Mints in Maggie Moos better batter ice cream, wish a splash of Blue Bell chocolate brownie ice cream.  Can I get three cheers for Girl Scout cookie season!?

Sleep:  Pretty good.  Occasional tossing and turning, the usual nightly restroom break.  But I won’t complain for now, I hear it’s only going to get worse over the next 3 months (2 months and 29 days to be precise).  And downhill from there once baby is born!

Movement:  Our little cheerleader is a mover and shaker!  As she’s getting bigger, I feel her movements much more often.  Sometimes I wonder if she ever sleeps.  Oh and the hiccups.  Poor chick, she gets them all the time!  I personally HATE the hiccups, so I feel terrible when she gets them.  And equally as annoyed as I’m sure she is when they keep us both up at night!

Gender:  It’s a girl!

Name:  Madelyn Grace (aka Maddie).  Side note, it’s funny, everyone else (family, friends, coworkers) seem to call her by her name now.  But more often than not, I still refer to her as “the baby”.  As excited as I was to decide on a name, I don’t do a very good job of using it yet!

Style:  Maternity clothes.  But I’m not complaining, they comfortable, and I think they’re cute!  I have a lot of pre-pregnancy blousy tops that I thought would look awesome at some point during my pregnancy, but somehow I missed that week, because they’re all too tight now.  Or too short.  That’s a major issue.  Can’t have this little belly exposed to the world!

Nursery:  Still a work in progress, but moving along quite nicely.  And I am loving it!  Pink, green, polka dots, birds, it’s everything I love :)  I hope she’ll love it too.  Here’s a sneak peak:

Best moment of the week:  We had the best weekend last weekend!  On Saturday, we had a 3D ultrasound, and our moms joined us!  Maddie was such a little cutie, all curled up in a ball.  The sonographer kept saying, “she’s all hands and feet!”  It was true, her hands and her feet were all up in her face.  In fact, she really wouldn’t move her hands away from her face the entire time.  And for a little while she was holding her foot up there by her head too, hanging on to her big toe!  I just have to say, technology is so cool.  What a treat it was to get a sneak peek at the little munchkin in my belly.  And then, on Sunday, I had a baby shower!  The girls did such a wonderful job putting it on.  It sounds like everyone pitched in with decorations, food, and games.  And it turned out so perfectly!  I had a wonderful time, and we are so grateful for all of the gifts we received!  Here are a few pictures from the ultrasound and the shower:

Worst moment of the week:  When I realized my linea nigra  (dark pigment line that forms down a pregnant belly) is starting to show.  Which, in itself, isn’t all that terrible.  I know it will eventually fade away.  But, it’s crooked!  At first I was horrified, but now I just have to laugh a little at the belly button stretched to its limits and the crooked line zig-zagging across it.

Tuesday marked exactly 3 months until our due date, and we just can’t wait!  Everything is [almost] ready for her, and we’re so excited to bring her home!  Now if we can just get through these next few months of tax busy season….

Wish us luck! :)

Happy New Year! (and a silly post script)

Happy New Year!  Can you believe it is already 2014!?  A good friend of mine posted a very humorous photo yesterday that her younger brother had sent her.  It was a photo of the inside cover of his history book at school, where her name has been neatly written with the school year “03-04”.  First thought, that means we studied that book 10 years ago.  When did we get so old??  And second thought, sounds like the school needs to invest in some updated books!?

Surprisingly, I really don’t love this time of year. You’d think that with my propensity for planning, I would enjoy goal setting and new years resolutions.  But truthfully, I find it a little overwhelming and worrisome.  Setting out grand plans for a full year can be a daunting task.  In fact, I found these  depressing statistics on new years resolutions.  Only 8% of people are successful at achieving their resolution!?  At least I fall into the category of 39% of people in their twenties who achieve their resolutions.  But still, not very inspiring.

Nonetheless, I have set a resolution this year, that will probably only last until April, when everything in my life will change dramatically :)  Tom and I actually set the same resolution this year, and it is to: wake up earlier!  I am a notorious snoozer.  I smack that button over and over like a game of whac-a-mole.  I snooze snooze snooze then rush rush rush - to get ready, pack a lunch, feed the dogs, find a fast (and usually unhealthy) breakfast and get out the door.  It makes for a stressful start to the day and then it gets worse as I get frustrated by the dang traffic that’s making me late to work.  Except that it’s not the traffic making me late.  It’s me!  Me hitting the snooze button!  I’m doing it to myself.  I know that traffic is bad.  It’s a given.  I need to plan better to account for the traffic.  This I know, so why do I keep putting myself through the same terrible morning routine!?

I will usually hit the snooze button no less than 3 times in the morning, sometimes 4 or 5 times.  That’s close to an hour of interrupted, half-awake, worthless sleep.  Which really equates to an hour of wasted time during my day.  And there never really seems to be enough time in the day, agree??  So it is my goal this spring, to wake up earlier and utilize this valuable hour of my day.  I don’t have any specific plans for this hour.  Sometimes I might work out, or walk the dogs, or maybe I’ll cook breakfast, watch the morning news, or just get to work earlier.   Whatever I do in that hour, I will not STRESS.  I will not RUSH.  And I will not start my day FRUSTRATED.

I know that a successful goal must be: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound.  But gosh that puts some real pressure to succeed at the resolution!  I know in my heart that I will be happier when I achieve my goal, so right here, right now, I am making my goal “SMART”.  I resolve to: wake up by 6:15am at least 4 out of 5 weekdays every week, until April 1, 2014.  In order to make this more attainable, I will be in bed with lights out by 10:30pm on weeknights. SO, wish me luck and help keep me accountable!?!

Best wishes to all of you for a happy new year and success with your new years resolutions!  And remember - early to bed early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.


P.S. On a very random aside, I just have to tell you about that one time I called 9-1-1.  It was yesterday.  The first time I’ve ever dialed those numbers on my phone!  I was headed back from Dallas to Austin late last night, and as I was nearing the end of the drive on I-35 around 10pm, I came up behind a large, maniac, swerving bus - right blinker on, veering across all 3 lanes of the road.  I initially made up some excuses for the bus (it’s foggy, it’s windy, these lanes are narrow) but as the minutes and miles passed, the bus wasn’t making any driving improvements.  So I nervously decided to try and pass the bus.  I sped up, but just as I got close the bus, it swerved into my lane.  UGH.  Ok, nevermind, I’ll just take it slow and hang out behind the bus.  But even this seemed to be a little dangerous, as the bus kept changing speeds.  I contemplated my options and tried to estimate how long the bus has been driving erratically.  Finally, I decide I should report the vehicle, this is just dangerous, and aren’t the people on the bus nervous!?  So I dial 9-1-1 on my phone.  But I just can’t get up the nerve to press CALL.  A few more minutes pass.  A few more swerves, still with the blinker on.  I press CALL.  The dispatcher answers, I explain the situation, give my location and a description of the reckless vehicle.  I remain on the line with the dispatcher, and I kid you not, it is less than 5 minutes before a police office is pulling the bus over!  It was awesome!  I was very impressed with the timeliness of the response and action.  And I felt like a real newsperson: Casey Cooper, reporting live from the scene of the crime, where a crazed, drunken felon has hijacked a bus full of elderly men and woman and sends local police on a high-speed chase down the interstate as he tries to flee the country with a suitcase full of drugs and backpack full of stolen cash. It’s quite a scene out here!  Ok ok maybe that’s not exactly how it went :)

Christmas with The Coopers

I’m a little late on this post (a running theme on my blog), but we have been on-the-go with our annual Tour of Texas the past couple weeks.  Since December 19th, we’ve put over 1,100 miles on my car.  Austin to San Antonio, back to Austin, Austin to Houston, back to Austin, down to Canyon Lake, back to Austin, up to Temple, back to Austin, down to Concan, up to San Antonio, up to Canyon Lake, back to Austin.  WHEW.  Not to mention we still have one more quick trip planned to Victoria before we’re back at work next week, which will put us just shy of 1,500 miles.  That’s roughly 25 hours in the car and the equivalent of driving from here to Washington D.C..  We are true road warriors!  And we don’t pack light.  Adding a baby and baby gear to the mix next year will be challenging to say the least.  Christmas at our house instead!?

Ok so let’s start at the beginning.  Thomas was, unfortunately, out of town when our nephew Connor was born on December 16.  (Work training in Orlando, Florida – rough life).  So as soon as I picked him up from the airport on December 19, we headed straight down to San Antonio for a visit.  We fell in love with our sweet nephew, and really enjoyed holding him.  Neither of us can recall the last time we held a baby, and we are very grateful for the opportunity to “practice” with Baby Connor.  And the advice from Trey and Annie will surely prove to be invaluable!  I really did not want to leave their house, I could have cuddled Connor all day!

Next up on our tour was Houston for an early Christmas celebration with Tom’s mom’s side of the family.  There were nearly 30 family members gathered together for dinner and a white elephant exchange at Tom’s grandparent’s house.  It was loud and fun, and oh so different from small family Christmases I’ve been accustomed to for the past 26 years. (Usually just my parents and brother, occasionally my grandparents – we’re the only ones who live in Texas, our extended family is out of state).  It was, honestly, a little overwhelming.  It was great to visit with all of his family though, many of whom we haven’t seen since our wedding last summer.  The food was delicious, and the gift exchange was a lot of fun!

We stopped back at home for a night to do our own Christmas gift exchange, just the two of us and the dogs.  Tom got new cowboy boots and I got beautiful diamond earrings.  The dogs got new toys, which were fun for all of about 3 minutes, and then Bailey put herself to bed upstairs.  The poor pup just cannot stay awake past 8pm, so she missed the rest of our family fun night.

Next stop: Canyon Lake for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  We had a great time taking it easy at the lake, soaking up the pleasant Texas December weather, and visiting with Tom’s family. Trey and Annie came up both days with Baby Connor and we were so pleased with how our dogs behaved with the baby around.  Sure they were their usual annoying, whiney selves when we stuck them outside alone, but they were very sweet and calm toward the baby.  I was a little apprehensive about them meeting because our dogs have never been around a baby, but it really couldn’t have gone any better.  We went to a rather interesting Christmas Eve mass at the local Catholic church (imagine a priest singing Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer during his homily, and referring to an infant in the congregation as a “little baby Jesus”). We enjoyed a wonderful Christmas morning and lunch the next day, then ended the night by visiting with family friends.  They put on a fireworks show and only had one little mishap that caused a minor grass fire, but really, would Christmas Day be complete without an incident like that?! Also, if we weren’t already expecting, I would really have baby fever right about now.  Over the course of two days I saw 4 tiny babies under the age of 2 months.  So many adorable tiny toes!

Our final Christmas celebration took place in Temple, the day after Christmas. We had a yummy Tex-Mex dinner at my grandparent’s house and a great gift exchange with my family.  I got an awesome Ju Ju Be diaper bag and Tom got a new rifle.  Yep, you read that right, I got a diaper bag and Tom got a gun.  Merry Texas Christmas, y’all! Over the next couple days, the guys got in some golfing and hunting, and the girls did some shopping and painting. We had a great visit!

Then it was time to head back to our house to unpack, unwind, and take down our Christmas decorations – which I felt we hardly had time to enjoy since we were on the road so much!  Down came the tree, the decorations, and the cards.  It was nice to have the house back in order though.

We didn’t last long at home though before we hit the road again.  We headed down to Concan, Texas for our 2^nd annual New Years Eve on the Frio River.  It was an awesome, low-key New Years Eve complete with an Aggie football win (WHOOP!), good times with good friends, and a sparkling apple cider midnight toast for me :)  Thanks again, Nick and Katie (my favorite engaged couple), for hosting!

On the way home from Concan, we stopped in for another visit with Trey, Annie, and Connor as well as a pop over to the lake house for a quick hello.  And finally, we were back at home.  We were so lucky to both have a long holiday from work (17 days to be exact) and it worked out very well to spend time with family and friends.  Back at home, we started a DIY project that we thought would take a day or so MAX.  Fast forward 3 days and we’re nowhere near done.  Once completed, I’ll share the details of our project :)

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  Best wishes for a wonderful 2014!!!

Week 22 Update

Some blogger-moms-to-be do one of these “pregnancy weekly updates” every week.  I admire their dedication.  I have a hard enough time remembering to take a weekly photo in a timely manner (usually at XX weeks and 6 days, the last possible day before I cross over into the following week).  But, I like this idea, so I’m going to do it periodically.  Yes I know, I’m starting more than halfway into my pregnancy, but hey better late than never, right!?  In this post, I’ll do a catch-up of the last, oh, 22 weeks or so.  NBD.

How far along:  22 weeks 3 days

Size of baby:  A papaya (who even knows what a papaya looks like? Not me. At our 20 weeks 4 days ultrasound, she weighed roughly 12oz.  And the week 23 fruit comparison is a grapefruit.  Maybe that provides some clarification)

Total weight gain:  9 lbs.  Sigh.  I actually started out by losing weight during the first couple months of pregnancy.  It wasn’t until about week 18 or 19 that I started to gain weight, and then it came very quickly.  I know that a pregnant body is a beautiful body, growing and nurturing a tiny human being.  But that doesn’t make gaining weight any easier, and seeing the numbers rise on the scale is never easy.  Our doctor told me I should gain anywhere between 25-40 lbs.  (40lbs!?  You’re kidding, doc.) 

Symptoms:  Knock on wood, this pregnancy has been nearly symptom free so far.  I only had morning sickness once, right before work in the morning during week 14.  I was having a lot of back pain at the end of the 1^st trimester, but truthfully that might have been caused by my awful uncomfortable chair at work.  That didn’t stop me from taking warm baths every night, utilizing a heat pad in “Tom’s” recliner, and insisting that I needed a giant pregnancy pillow for my birthday. But that’s a whole ‘nother story.

Cravings:  Nothing too bizarre.  The only cravings run Tom has made for me was cheese and crackers one night (pasteurized – don’t worry!).  I’m doing the stereotypical pregnancy pickles and ice cream thing (but not together).  Cotton Candy ice cream from Maggie Moos was my go-to for a while, but it turns your mouth bright blue for days.  I can’t even take myself seriously looking like that.  I’ve always been a lover of chocolate and sweets, and pregnancy has been a great excuse to indulge a little.  Cookies, brownies, candy, bring it on!

Sleep:  Decent.  I usually wake up at least once during the night for a potty break, but other than that I’m sleeping through the night.  I’ve struggled to find a comfortable position to sleep in.  I always thought I was a side-sleeper, but now that I know I’m not supposed to sleep on my back, I always wake up on my back during the early morning hours and toss and turn to get comfortable on my side.  The giant pregnancy pillow is really too big for our bed, so I’ve transitioned to just having an extra pillow supporting my back.  I’ve also put a folded blanket under my pillow to prop my head up a little to aid in digestion and breathing.  Ta-da, there you have it, my magical fixes for a good night of mid-pregnancy sleep!

Movement:  Yes!  Oh my goodness, yes.  This girl is very active.  Her most active times are:  early morning, lunch time, late afternoon, and 9pm.  Feeling her movements gives me really mixed emotions and feelings.   All at once it is amazing, special, weird, alien, sweet, uncomfortable, and sometimes annoying.  But feeling her movements always makes me feel reassured.  I’m so happy that she is comfy cozy and growing like a weed.  And whenever I nervously think wait, have I felt her in the past few hours?  She always seems to give me a nice big kick to the bladder.  Oh good, you’re still in there.

Gender:  GIRL!

Name:  We have decided on a name!  And I’ve ordered the wooden letters to hang on the wall, so no going back now ;)  Our sweet little thing’s name will be:  (drumroll please) … Madelyn Grace.  We will call her Maddie for short.  And I’ll probably lovingly call her Maddie Grace, Miss Maddie, Baby MC, Maddie G, etc.  What can I say, I like nicknames :)

Style:  I have transitioned into maternity clothes.  Well truthfully, I started wearing some maternity pants back in like, week 13.  They are just SO comfortable, I really might never go back.  I can still wear a lot of my regular shirts, but it’s getting to the point where I might stretch them out, so I’ve ordered a few basic tees.  My usual maternity-uniform tends to be these pants from Old Navy, a tank top, and a cardigan sweater unbuttoned.  Rinse and repeat, every day.  Sometimes I toss on a scarf, or a cute necklace.  My favorite place to shop for maternity wear is by far Old Navy – reasonably priced, super cute and simple.  I also happened upon a few cute things at Target.  I dislike Target’s website design for ordering online, so I’ve only picked up a couple things from the limited selection in store.

Nursery:  Love love love her cute nursery.  Although truthfully, I was really more excited about designing the vintage airplane nursery for a boy.  Instead, I’m buying pink and green and loving it just as much!  We themed the nursery around this quilt from Pottery Barn Kids.  It’s pastel pink and green, with touches of blue, yellow, brown, tan, purple etc.  (no really, the description says it has 16 colors.  Which sounds outrageous and obnoxious, but they’re so subtle that it’s perfect).  It also has a combination of polka dots, stripes, gingham etc.  If you’re thinking it sounds hideous, check the link, I promise it’s not!  We have already purchased and assembled (I say “we” very loosely, Tom did all of the assembly) the crib and changing table.  They are basic white and were ordered off of amazon.  We are using Tom’s childhood dresser, which is dark brown wood, and we have plans to purchase a glider in a similar shade of brown stain.  Yeah, we’re mixing and matching, and I don’t really care anymore.  I initially had GRAND plans to paint Tom’s dresser white, paint the walls pink, add chair rail, paint the bottom part of the wall gray…. and then I just got lazy.  Nah, I didn’t get lazy, I got realistic. I just don’t have the time or the energy for that, and I’m actually really loving the tan walls and the mismatched furniture.  Now that the furniture has been assembled and arranged (then rearranged 100 times at 10pm one Saturday night, and finally put back exactly the way it was before), I am starting on the decorations and organization.  I’ll save those for a post devoted to the nursery.

Best moment of the week:  Strangers have started commenting on my bump!  Which, granted, I realize means I’m getting large.  But it also means we’re getting closer to meeting our girl, and now everyone can notice and share in our excitement.  I love getting questions about our baby (gender, due date, names etc), and I don’t even mind when people want to touch!  Although so far no strangers have touched, so that’s good.  That might be weird.

Worst moment of the week:  Getting dressed for my work Christmas party.  Last week, I had tried on two separate dresses (one borrowed from my mom, and one purchased from ASOS) and I thought, oh perfect, these look great!  Either one will work!  Fast-forward to Saturday night when it’s time to get dressed… somewhere between Tuesday and Saturday, these dresses shrank.  Ok maybe it wasn’t the dresses.  But really, they just looked all wrong, in all places.  I must have spent an hour in the closet trying to decide what to wear.  So then we were an hour late to the party, and there may or may not have been some tears shed in the kitchen when I came downstairs and Tom told me I looked beautiful, but all I wanted to do was put my sweatpants back on and crawl under a blanket.  I blame the hormones.

So there you have it, 22 weeks of pregnancy summed up in one weekly post!  What a fun adventure it has been so far.  In other exciting news, I’m an AUNT!  Tom’s older brother and his wife just had their first baby boy on Monday.  I am so excited to visit and hold baby Connor tomorrow!  From the pictures I’ve seen, he is just the cutest little thing.  Chubby cheeks and a head full of hair.  Love him already!!  What fun it will be to have our two babies so close in age.  And lucky for Tom’s younger sister, she is totally set for a ring bearer and flower girl at her future wedding.