Bump Update - Week 27

Great, great week. Ed is maintaining about the same as last week. It's really nice to be able to say he's stabilizing and to not have such dramatic changes week to week. We'll be on the same path in regards to his health for the next month or two until his treatment regimen changes. 

I'm doing very well, nothing new to report. Still swimming, still trying to sing and talk to baby, still enjoying being pregnant. This second half of the pregnancy is much more in line with what I thought it would be and I'm loving it. Yes, there have been aches and sometimes very painful pains, but... this pregnancy thing is pretty sweet. :)

Also, the news I was saving from last week...

We bought a car! The truck was a bit of a tight squeeze so we expanded a little. I'm not a fan of big cars - I'm a pretty nervous driver and I don't like gas guzzlers - so I tried to find the smallest family car possible, and it looked like the CRV was our best bet!

I wanted to keep it hush, hush for another week so we could surprise Dad and Debbie when we pulled up at their place. That was a big success. :) I'm in love with this car. There's a usb hook up, plenty of passenger and trunk space, and even a back up camera. To be fair, I'm a sucker for Hondas in general but I truly enjoy driving this thing. We haven't named the car yet... I've never been very good at picking out car names.

So we took our new car and drove out to Nevada for turkey day, and it was a lovely drive. The roads were clear but we still got to see some beautiful snow up in the Sierras. 

The visit was really nice and low key. Dad and Debbie had just bought a tree, which was great because we're forgoing a tree this year. I love the smell of Christmas trees... just really brings back a flood of good memories. We had some great meals and caught up. There's a pond near their house and we went down to feed the ducks. 

I didn't take too many pictures of dinner, I was too busy eating it allllll. But I did get a couple table setting and turkey pics!

The turkey was huuuuuge - 17 lbs if I remember correctly. Really delicious. I should have taken a picture when it came out but I was facetiming so I missed my chance. It was a really pretty bird.

Pretty and delicious :)

We all struggled to stay awake the rest of the evening... we watched a family favorite, Trading Places, and just spent time enjoying each others company. I don't know if it's a nesting thing or what but, I'm just so eager to spend time with family and friends and relax. Maybe my subconscious knows when baby comes we'll be pretty hunkered down here so it's trying to get me enjoy our carefree times now!

Beautiful Thanksgiving sunset, with Jackson, the white cat in the middle, making a special appearance.

Bump Update!

How far along? 27 Weeks

How Big Is Baby? A 14.5 inch cauliflower, about 2 lbs according to the app.

Sleep: This is hit or miss again. Mostly it's good, but things are starting to get heavy and unwieldy. If I do sleep through the night, I wake up feeling stiff. If I don't, I wake up feeling tired. Ah well!

Best moment this week: Thanksgiving dinner. So nice to just sit around with family and have a good meal and enjoy happy, quiet moments. 

Movement: So. Much. Baby is freaking out in there. Last Saturday was a day long marathon of crazy movement. Ed gets to see more and more of it from the outside. Unfortunately, baby seems to be a little shy when others come around to feel... hopefully that changes when we visit the east coast! Also, ice cream seems to make baby scoot around a bit more. I'm all for reasons to eat more ice cream :) 

Symptoms: Just general aches and pains, nothing new there.

Food cravings/aversions: Breads of all kinds... rolls, loaves, waffles, pancakes... I can't get enough. Aversions are pretty minimal these days but they still pop up and surprise me. 

Gender: The holiday season is hands down the best time for the kind of baby clothes I prefer. Both genders are all decked out in primary colors, polka dots, stripes... And there's no lack of that bright red that I can't resist. Babies look like little presents! 

Belly Button in or out? In... kinda. Pokes out more and more everyday! But when I'm standing it's still completely in.

What I miss: Waking up without soreness. I think it's just the weight of the belly and things shifting in my body, but just getting out of bed is quite the production.

What I am looking forward to: Every. day. this. month. The holiday season is my absolute favorite and this one is going to be better than ever. Visiting the east coast, a massage, hitting the 30 week mark, squishing Emilia's cheeks, Christmas at Omi's, the baby shower, seeing friends, holiday cookies... There are just so many good things about every single day of December! 

Funny moment of the week: Nothing hilarious, just so amusing having Ed put his hand on my belly and watching it jump up when baby gives a good strong kick. Always makes me smile :)

Labor Signs: nope

Weekly Wisdom: I read a little quotation about gratitude begetting happiness. I've been having some emotional dreams lately - one about Opa visiting me and one where I was very sick - and I wake feeling so grateful for all the good things we have. I'm so grateful for Ed's health, my health, the baby's health, and for all the family and friends we have to love.  

Milestones: Buying our family car! Car seat installed and ready. :) 

Such a happy girl because she has such a good mom!

"My hands are shakin' from carrying this torch"

Well I jumped on here prepared to write about the joys of the holidays and I realized I'd fallen terribly behind on all my chores. Not chores of the household sort, but more like, wedding chores and writing chores... planning and self-betterment chores! Oh how they pile up and become an insurmountable obstacle to functioning like an adult.

I dutifully made breakfast, got Ed out the door, had my green tea, played my brain scan games, and then went to check my email. Somewhere around the twentieth junky-email cleared, I remembered I still had to write the caterer back and respond to Zach and Clay (of thebittenword.com, who were very sweet and helpful in giving advice about my wedding venue) and give them details and specifics and get to the nitty gritty of planning and making decisions... But then suddenly, out of the blue, I realized... you know I've always wanted to read the dictionary and I should really do that right now. It's quite urgent, really... And also! I think there are three dishes in the sink that need washing, and I could scrub the tile in the bathroom and also learn how to fold a fitted sheet.... all very, very pressing matters....

Essentially, it comes down to this one thing. I am the worst at making decisions. The. worst. I much prefer to be the person that offers a vast and eclectic array of choices and then someone else, wiser and more decisive can come in and make a well informed choice based on my research. I always enjoyed researching papers for school.... actual execution of the assignment was not my strongest suit (see all of my grades, ever). I was the ridiculous student who did ALL of the reading, but maybe half of the assignments. Excellent example, for AP World History in high school, junior year, I failed the class. Literally, failed. But I received a 4 on the test for the college credit! This is not necessarily a trait for bragging about... more a point of frustration. I am so envious of those who can execute. Those who do not get caught up in the details and mindlessness of little things. The doers of the world. Ed appears to be this way. He'll get up and do what he says he will without hesitation or delay and I'll congratulate him on his initiative and then go take a nap. Maybe futzing is in my genes? I know my mother and my Omi are futzers...I wonder if my sister futzes... she's always been more on the doer side of life.... I digress.

Today I am determined to be a doer. I already ordered some beautiful Christmas ornaments:

And I'm determined to continue on, ticking off things one by one on my long list, preparing for the onslaught of holiday activities. So even though I've managed to completely avoid writing about the holidays (as I'd intended!) I have at least accomplished a blog post today. :) I'll leave you with a quick photo recap of our activities in the past two weeks:

Family trip to L.A. for early Thanksgiving!

More next time :)