Archive for July, 2014

2014
26
Jul
22:55

recreating the past

   Posted by: arcanai    in family time, pix, the turkey

when my MIL was about eight months pregnant with hubby, they came to the beach for vacation and FIL took her picture sitting in the monkey paw at the goofy golf place down the road. it’s always been the family story that this was hubby’s first trip to the beach and the reason he always wanted to live here.

MIL 8 months pregnant with hubby

this picture meant enough that, just before his 39th birthday, we did a beach vacation with his family and he and his mom posed with the monkey again.

mother, son, monkey - 39 years later

so it was always just an unstated understanding that, if we ever got pregnant, we would be paying a visit to the goofy golf monkey to celebrate the 8th month.

me 8 months pregnant with our son

the full monkey - i don't know if it had the evil red glowing eyes when MIL was pregnant

we three and the monkey

to me, this is probably one of the most special moments of my pregnancy. i love that we were able to recreate this memory that he and his mom shared and i hope that it means as much to her as it does to me.

capturing the moment, 48 years apart

2014
25
Jul
21:06

36 weeks

   Posted by: arcanai    in da belly, pix, the turkey

25 Jul 2014

still loving being pregnant… haven’t reached that “when is this going to be over?!!” point.  i was having some wicked heartburn that wasn’t all that fun but the Prilosec stuff seems to have licked that so woohoo for that!  a couple weeks ago, my knuckles started hurting.  a little in my fingers but mostly my thumbs… owie, owie  thumbs.  it started right after our marathon of furniture building so i figured at first that it must have been from the screwdriver i was using.  since it has continued and gotten worse, I’m pretty sure it’s a late pregnancy symptom.  it’s like an arthritic feeling.  i looked online and a lot of people talked about it being a sign of swelling.  i find it odd that it’s mostly confined to my thumb knuckles.  my toes are perfectly fine (also should be noted that my ankles are still ankle-shaped, thankyouverymuch).  so anyhow, that’s been interesting and achy.  my hands have been going numb while laying down too, so that probably doesn’t help the joints.  i also decided to measure my belly tonight, just out of curiosity… i have a 38 inch waist!  good golly that’s a lot of belly!

in other news, some of our closest friends announced this week that they’re going to be grandparents.  their daughter is about 8 weeks along and just moved back home with them.  I’ve been bummed that we’re going to lose all of our friends because they won’t want to hang around with us and our crying baby but if they’re pulling grand-duty, it’ll be great.  and this is hubby’s primary training partner so I’m sure they’re going to wear these kids out.  good times on the horizon!

2014
24
Jul
21:52

what’s the hurry?

   Posted by: arcanai    in the turkey

our dr is on vacation so today we saw one of the other drs in the group today.  it was our first cervical exam and also the GBS swab day.  everything is still looking good and healthy.  heart rate was 147 bps; fundal measurement was right on track at 36 cm; 1/2 cm dilated; 80% effaced; -1 station.  the dr said we don’t have long now.  we told him that our due date is the 23rd and that we’re hoping for the 28th… he laughed and said we’ll never make it.  he seems to think we’re looking at 2.5 weeks, 3 weeks tops.  i know that it’s all guesswork and we won’t really know until it’s go-time but it did light a fire under us. we came home and installed the car seat in the car and then started packing our go-bags.  things are getting real.  i still would like for the turkey to stay put until he’s fully baked but at least i feel more prepared if he decides he’s too anxious to meet mommy and daddy.  i’ll definitely be looking forward to getting our doc’s opinion on the way things are progressing next week.

2014
23
Jul
22:12

30 days

   Posted by: arcanai    in the turkey

aaaackkkkkkkk!!!

2014
20
Jul
21:05

last shower and a year saved

   Posted by: arcanai    in pix, the turkey

last night was our last baby shower.  our local friends got together and threw an awesome, tailgate-themed, coed shower for us.  it was such a cute idea to make the men feel comfortable celebrating all things baby!  i got all decked out in gator-wear and hubby donned some crimson tide gear and we celebrated bringing our baby into a house divided.  instead of a cake, they had a froyo bar; instead of a guestbook, they had a football for people to sign; instead of games, they had diapers and bibs and onesies for people to decorate… so much fun.

go gators!


“our local friends put together an awesome tailgate baby shower! we had so much fun and seriously appreciate everything that has been done for us and given to us.”

From PCB Shower, posted by J’Lynn Holloway on 7/23/2014 (65 items)

Generated by Facebook Photo Fetcher 2


today was the big all-campus beach baptism.  that means that roughly one year ago i was baptized and made new in Christ!  thank God for saving a sinner like me and for all of the blessings in my life.  i am so grateful that i can bring my baby boy into a family of faith and i pray that we are able to raise him to be a believer and follower of Jesus.  i love baptism days!

2014
18
Jul
18:59

35 weeks

   Posted by: arcanai    in da belly, pix, the turkey

18 Jul 2014

last week, i mentioned to the dr how horrible the heartburn has been lately.  he advised me to go to sams and get the generic Prilosec otc and take that.  oh!  my!  goodness!  that stuff is made of pure magic!  i haven’t had a lick of heartburn all week.  it’s been fantastic.  granted, heartburn is a very small price to pay for all of the joy I’ve derived from this pregnancy but it is so nice to be able to lay day at night without feeling like puking up fire.  they don’t really tell you that the third trimester is like the first trimester on steroids… double the fatigue, double the heartburn, okay maybe not as much nausea but it’s still back.  but, i also have this absolutely amazing alien moving around like crazy in my belly.  i watch his elbows and feet jutting out at odd angles all over the place.  i laugh at him when he gets a bit ouchy trying to pull my ribs loose.  i am so awed by this itty bitty person!

2014
17
Jul
21:48

dolphins

   Posted by: arcanai    in creatures in the backyard, pix

sometimes i just can’t believe how blessed we are. this morning, i woke up and went out on the balcony to find a momma and baby dolphin pair playing in the shallows right out back. i enjoyed watching them for a few minutes before it even occurred to me to grab the camera. usually, I’m just disappointed because it’s hard to get the camera to focus on creatures in the backyard with all the moving water around them but i do believe these are the best ones I’ve ever gotten. unfortunately, i wasn’t able to capture the tiny shark that was following them around or the momma chasing him off when he finally worked up his courage to go after the baby (the shark was actually smaller than the baby dolphin so it really never stood a chance).

2014
16
Jul
22:49

momma’s contribution to the nursery

   Posted by: arcanai    in pix

I’ve been seeing posts on fb for months about people going to paint parties where they are taught how to paint some really cool artwork.  last week, some of our friends went to one and I really wanted to go but I just didn’t like the painting they were doing (a funky-looking crab) and couldn’t bring myself to pay to paint something that I wasn’t going to want to bring home and hang on a wall.  this week, however, they were doing a cute turtle that I thought would go well in the turkey’s room. it was something out of my comfort zone but I had a great time. hubby had to work so it was just me and sunny and scooter. there were probably about a dozen of us in all and the instructor was very nice and easy to follow. i wasn’t 100% happy with how mine came out… i got the head too green and too much white all throughout… but i was really pleased with it overall and proud of my first effort. not to mention, i had fun so it was a very worthwhile night. they are doing a fun looking wine bottle/glasses one next week that i may go back for.

the blank canvas

laying a foundation

our finished masterpieces

2014
13
Jul
21:10

a weekend of learning, nesting, and beaching

   Posted by: arcanai    in pix, the turkey

yesterday was our childbirth and breastfeeding class.  both classes were at the hospital where we’ll be delivering.  the childbirth class went from 9-12, was taught by one of the labor/delivery nurses and she did a great job of answering questions and letting us know not only what to expect but also the way that they handle things at this hospital.  I really don’t have a lot of concerns about labor/delivery… I’m sure it’s no walk in the park but I don’t see any point in worrying about something that I can’t control.  all I can do is try to stay calm and concentrate on getting my son here as safely and healthy as possible.  I prefer to go natural and I’ve been told I’m stupid and naïve for that but I’m going to try my best to not drug my baby on his way into the world… if something happens and I can’t handle it or have to have extraordinary measures taken to get him here, then so be it.  I’m not going to let myself feel like a failure if things don’t go according to “my plan” but I’m not going to get all stressed and worried about it beforehand either.  /tangent.  anyhow, I was saying that birthing hasn’t really been a source of concern to me but it was good to get all the information that they had to offer and to know more about what to expect during the whole process.  after the birthing class, we got to take a tour of the L/D floor of the hospital so we could see how the L/D rooms are set up, how close the operating rooms are in case of emergency, and what our post-partum room will be like.  we also toured the NICU, which is a level III and is very nice and which we will hopefully never see again.  after the tour, we headed back to the learning center where they served a lunch before the breastfeeding class.  I was glad that I wasn’t the only woman there who was highly confused about the fact that they served lunchmeat to a room full of pregnant women who have been told for months that we are not allowed to eat lunchmeat.  I ended up making a cheese sandwich and eating that with a bite of potato salad, a bag of chips, and too many brownies.  the breastfeeding class was the one that really had my attention.  all of my worries have revolved around breastfeeding… will he take to it?  will he latch right?  will my milk come in?  the class really helped calm my fears and I left with more knowledge and less stress.  definitely a good use of the day.

when we got home, we decided to go ahead and put together the rest of the nursery furniture which had been delivered earlier this week.  we put the crib together Monday night but hubby was out of town for a couple of days on condo business so the changing table and dresser were put off.  so we finished it up last night.  it wasn’t bad… the crib took us about 1.5 hours, the changing table took 1:20, the dresser took 1:15.  we definitely learned as we went 🙂  after getting everything assembled, it only made sense to stay up until 1 in the morning going through all the gifts we’ve received and putting things up where they belong.  I felt good about the progress we made and the room just about looks like it’s ready for a baby.

today was our church campus’ beach blast.  after the service, we had a big cookout on the beach behind the restaurant next door.  it was a great afternoon of fellowship and we got to know people we see at church much better.

2014
11
Jul
18:58

34 weeks

   Posted by: arcanai    in da belly, pix, the turkey

11 Jul 2014

today was our last ultrasound, to find out the baby’s size. they measured him up and estimated his weight to be 4 lbs 15 oz, which is right about on target according to the books I’ve been reading. the dr guesses he’ll be right around 7 lbs at birth. as for the ultrasound, our little turkey was quite the entertainer. he had his head pressed against the wall, facing us most of the time so we never got a good still pic. the creepy alien below is the best we got today (sadly our camera that we were trying to take video with failed us). what we did learn, however, was that our boy is a licker. we watched as he kept putting his hand up to his mouth but instead of sucking his thumb/fingers, he would stick his tongue out and lick them. and then, the part that really had us laughing like crazy, he stuck his long giraffe-like tongue way out and licked the wall of the womb! it was so cute and hilarious. the tech said she’d never seen a baby do that before. I kept thinking of my younger nephew when he went through his “I’m a doggie” phase as a little one and went around licking everyone and everything he came across. yep, our boy’s going to be one of those 🙂 I could’ve sat and watched him all day. other good news was that there’s plenty of amniotic fluid, the kidneys look good, and he’s exercising his lungs really well. all signs point to healthy!

take me to your leader

2014
9
Jul
21:55

bang bang

   Posted by: arcanai    in Nuthin' Special, work schmirk

hubby had to leave town yesterday to take all the guest room furniture up to his parents’ house. tonight, sunny and I got together for a nice little girls night out dinner. it was great to get out and just talk and hang out for a while. we talked about her busy business and her volunteer work at a local animal rescue. I told her about my exciting call yesterday where it sounds like I am going to get the opportunity to transition out of my current position, back into a tech writing position that I’ve been chasing for years. we sat at the restaurant and talked for over two hours about all kinds of nonsense. sometimes it’s nice to just get out and catch up with a good friend

2014
4
Jul
18:37

33 weeks

   Posted by: arcanai    in da belly, pix, the turkey

4 Jul 2014

2014
4
Jul
13:19

kalaidescope of color

   Posted by: arcanai    in pix

to celebrate our independence day, we woke up early and walked down to the mall to cheer our friends through the color run. they were both injured so they walked it and we ended up walking most of it with them, avoiding the color stations since I didn’t think it was great for me to be breathing all that in. it was a lot of fun and there was a great turnout there. lots of kids and families. I think the turkey will really enjoy that in a few years. between walking around the race course and the walk to and from the mall, we probably got in more than five miles this morning. much needed exercise for me and baby.

chef and trainwreck, colors of love

aww, i'm such a cute pregnant chick

showing off the baby bump