Freaked Out

So I just went to my own blog to blog-stalk all of my blog friends (blog, blog, blog) and I officially got freaked out by the floating fetus on my page.  No offense, Wyatt, but at 24 weeks, the rotating, spinning, cartoon baby that is supposed to be representing you is nothing less than terrifying.  I have no doubt that you are already about a MILLION times cuter than that scary little cartoon baby, but I feel the need to apologize to all of my loyal readers for the creepy hovering baby spinning around to your right.  YIKES! 

In my defense, I added that little widget (I love the word "widget"...it's just fun to say) because I can click on the specific week and read all sorts of fascinating information about my pregnancy, Wyatt's development, etc.  This week specifically, the first paragraph even said, "It's totally natural to be freaking out. Voicing your concerns about mommyhood will help you actually get used to the idea."  So there, my fears are justified because my baby countdown ticker said so.  Don't even get me started on the whole birthing process though...we'll get to that later and that's all I need to know right now.

My "What to Expect" app on my iPhone told me that Wyatt is the size of an eggplant right now.  Sam and I decided to check that WHILE we were in the produce section of Walmart last night, so of course we had to take a picture of me with the eggplant on the produce aisle.  Hence...

And just for kicks, we decided to go ahead and take the 24 week belly picture in the exact same spot.  Who doesn't like a little variety in background for the famous belly pics??  (And it sure beats all the pajama belly pics I've been taking over the past several weeks...)

So that's me at 24 weeks--obviously starting to show a bit more now than before.  Can you see the little eggplant in there?  Wyatt has started kicking around A LOT, and he's very nocturnal--just like his mommy and daddy.  Last night Sam and I could actually see my tummy poke out, move around, and go back to normal as he made himself comfortable in there...it was so fun to watch!!   We just happened to be watching the episode of the Office when Jim & Pam's baby is born, so I think Wyatt was particularly enjoying the show...

Okay, that's about all the time I have for now.  One last thing before I go...if you read my blog and I don't have you on my friends list (and we're friends--that's an important stipulation), please leave a comment so I can link your blog to mine.  I haven't been very good at updating my friends lately, and I know there are a few people I need to add!  Have a lovely day! :)

One Man’s Trash…

Let's see how many blog entries I can start with the words, "Oh yeah, I totally forgot I have a blog!" I seem to go in spurts updating the blog—some weeks I'm really good at updating, other months I'm not. Yes, I said months. I can't believe it's been a MONTH since I posted last!

This past several weeks has definitely flown by. We. Have. Been. Busy. I apologize to those of you who have been requesting a blog update for weeks now—this one's for you!

Sam and I have spent the last couple of weeks cleaning, organizing, rearranging, etc. in order to make our house more liveable for a family of 3 (or 4, if you count Zoey). It's amazing how much we have held onto over the past several years—"sentimental" things that we just can't seem to get rid of it. It's also amazing how quickly a baby on the way will change your concept of what is truly worth keeping and what is just plain ol' taking up space. We came across several humorous things while cleaning out drawers, cabinets, closets, etc., but this was my favorite:

That's right—Sam has been holding onto one of his baby teeth for the past EIGHTEEN years. It makes sense, given his love for teeth and the fact that he's going to be a dentist, but seriously?? I laughed for about 10 minutes, took a picture, and then finally coaxed Sam into admitting that it would probably be okay to go ahead and send this lovely premolar on it's way to the dumpster. Don't get me wrong—I definitely had my fair share of "precious treasures" that I went ahead and parted with as well, but the saved baby tooth was by far my favorite. Particularly because of the marked envelope it's in.

Zoey has been less-than-thrilled with our sudden focus on sorting out our life's possessions into 3 piles: keep, trash, or donate/sell, instead of focusing our attention on her. Want proof?

Now that's a pouty little puppy if I've ever seen one. And I apologize for the grainy, poor quality of this picture. My excuse stands—I'm just too dang lazy to drag out the camera & take the time to upload pictures onto my computer. It's much easier to snap a quick pic on my iPhone and email it to myself. Please don't judge me for taking the easy way out.

We just got the bedding that we ordered for Wyatt last week, but since we haven't picked out his furniture yet, you'll have to wait in suspense for those pictures. Who knows, maybe I'll bust out the REAL camera for those pictures? Or maybe not. Who really knows? Perhaps a recent belly pic will suffice for now…

That's me at 22 weeks. I just realized that I pretty much look sick-a-lick in all of these belly pics, mostly because I wait until I'm about to get into my PJ's and go to bed before taking the picture. It's the only time of day that my photographer is available (Sam), so I'm hoping I don't look quite so disgusting at all other hours of the day. I had my 22 week appointment last week and the doctor said everything looks great! Wyatt is growing right on schedule, my weight gain is right on schedule (for now), and I'm feeling really good most of the time! He has started kicking around A LOT more, which occasionally will make me jump when he kicks really hard and takes me by surprise. I love it though—it's definitely my favorite part about being pregnant so far. This pregnancy thing is truly an amazing experience…

Happy Spring Break to those of you who get the week off! To those of you who don't, I feel your pain. Have a great week anyway! J

And the doctor is 99% sure it's a...

BOY!! I had my 18 week ultrasound earlier this week and we found out that we are going to be bringing home a baby boy in July!! This is great news for several reasons:

1. Our firstborn will be a son!! Which means our subsequent children will have a wonderful big brother to protect them, love them, scare off bullies/bad boyfriends, etc.

2. We have had a boy name picked out for YEARS, so now we get to use it!! Wanna know what it is? Well you’ll just have to hang on, I’ll get to that in a minute.

3. Sam’s hopes & dreams of coaching little league are THAT much closer to becoming a reality. In a few years. Oh man, I hope I’m a good soccer mom…I really hated getting up super early on Saturdays and standing out on cold, windy soccer fields. But again, I’m sure it’s TOTALLY different when it’s your own child playing and not your annoying little brothers (no offense, Cody & Corey! :))

4. I finally get to start on decorating the nursery!! I’ve been itching to get that going pretty much since I found out I was pregnant, and now I finally get to pick everything out and get started. The only problem is that I’m so incredibly indecisive right now, I’m having trouble making a decision about ANYTHING. Or am I? Maybe I’m not. I don’t know. Yeah, I am. I think. Or not.

The ultrasound was so much fun, because we finally got to see our baby for the first time when he actually LOOKS like a baby, and not just a jellybean in a black hole (Wyatt, you’ll see what I mean in several years when I show you that first ultrasound picture from when you were 7 weeks in utero!) Did you catch that? We are naming him Wyatt Owen! And yes, we realize that this means his initials will be WOW. People keep asking us if we did that on purpose and the answer is no—we just loved the two names together and the “W” in Ward just happens to create a word. So, in July we will welcome our little WOW baby!!

I feel like I should probably post a few more entries from way back in November when Wyatt was just a little speck, because I’m getting pretty far behind on that and need to start focusing on the here & now pretty soon! (I’m having enough trouble as it is updating the blog in the PRESENT tense!) So here you go:

November 10, 2009 (3:58 PM)

Dear Baby,

Hello my little sesame seed! You are now a sesame seed instead of a poppy seed…congratulations! I’m so proud of you for the huge strides you’ve made in the last week. I wanted to tell you that I’m anxiously waiting to hear your precious little heartbeat on the monitor in a few weeks at our first appointment, but everything I’ve read said that THIS is the week that your sweet little heart will actually start beating! So, I’m trying to be extra careful about what I eat, making sure I get plenty of sleep, and drinking loads of water to give you the healthiest little environment possible to give you a healthy heart start on life. It would help a little bit if you quit trying to get me to eat a bunch of junk instead of fruits/veggies, but for now I am bigger and I’m the mom so I win. (Okay, you win sometimes…) And did I just say “because I’m the mom” already??? Get ready to hear that over and over for the next 18 years …

Love you, love you, love you, love you,
Mommy

November 12, 2009 (10:44 PM)

Dear Uterus,

Please accept this as my formal plea to you to quit waking me up in the night with your growth pains. I am all for you growing and expanding like you need to, but if you could cool it with the cramping, that would be awesome. I apologize for what we’ve done to you…I know the space that has been empty for the past 27 years has suddenly been invaded by a tiny alien (the size of a sesame seed, might I add), but you two are just going to have to figure out a way to get along for the next 8 months. 8 MONTHS. Wow. That’s crazy…I just realized my self-calculated due date (thanks to www.babycenter.com) is exactly 8 months from today! Anyway, I digress…

What I really want to say to you is thank you for being there for me through the past 27 years, and thank you for being there for me now when I need you the most. I look forward to the time we will spend with each other in new ways as you become the home of all my future children, and the decades and decades we have to spend together. I am doing everything I know to make you as comfortable as possible as you grow to 1000 times your original size, but if you could just keep the cramping to a minimum, that would sure make my life a lot easier. Especially right now at a point in my life when I freak out at EVERY little ache and pain.

Keep up the good work (just a little less painfully, if possible),
Crislyn

November 12, 2009 (10:49 PM)


Dear Google,

Thank you for being so google-icious. Although you’ve done your fair share of freaking me out as I look up EVERY little question I have about this pregnancy so far, you’ve also done a great job of showing me really neat things about what’s going on inside of me, how cute the maternity clothes at gap.com are, where to look for adorable baby bedding, and what that little nugget is doing inside me as I type this. Although I don’t fully appreciate all the foods that you listed as possible “gas causers”, (all my favorite foods?! REALLY?!), I do appreciate you for the vat of knowledge that you are.

Just a click away,
Crislyn

And the fuzzy, taken-on-my-iPhone, 18 week belly (sort of) picture to leave you with. Sorry in advance that I look so gross in this picture, I can't actually believe I'm posting this...

My Latest 3 Excuses...

Well hello again!  I apologize for the 2 week furlough...I got distracted by a few big events the past couple of weeks!  Here are my top 3 excuses (pretty good ones, I think) that have kept me distracted from posting lately:

1) Babies.  My BFF Marie and her husband Hank had their sweet little baby girl, Addison Rose, on January 24th at 1:15 AM!  I have lots of pictures on my camera, but I'm too lazy to upload them to my computer right now, so instead I will direct you to her fantastic blog so you can see pictures of this precious baby girl!  She is perfect and will either a) be besties with our baby if it's a girl or b) marry our baby if it's a boy.  Either way, it's been decided already! :)

2) Winter Weather.  Ice Storm 2010 struck with a vengeance.  Or maybe the ice wasn't NEARLY as bad as the weathermen kept predicting (shocking, I know), but Sam and I sure enjoyed our snow days!  We took Zoey for a walk in the snow as it was coming down pretty heavy on Friday, and it was so beautiful!  Here are a few pics from my iPhone that are easier to post on my blog right now than uploading the HUGE icicle pictures from my camera.  (Reiterating my laziness, once again.)

Sam & Zoey playing in the snow.  If you look closely, you can see that Z's eyes are squeezed shut

because we made her look right into the blowing snow for the picture.  Poor little puppy.

My Snow Angel (beautiful, I know)

3) Chick-Fil-A.  I have literally been to Chick-Fil-A four times in the past week, once just for the waffle fries.  I realize this isn't a healthy habit to get into, but my body just NEEDS Chick-Fil-A right now.  The baby keeps asking for it.  In fact, I was on the phone while I drove home for lunch a few days ago, and before I even realized what I was doing I was pulling into the Chick-Fil-A parking lot.  I had EVERY intention of going home for lunch, but the baby autopiloted me to Chick-Fil-A instead.  Who can resist these???

YUMMY!!!!

Okay, so this post is getting a little long.  I'll leave you with a final picture of my latest belly picture...taken approximately 27 minutes ago for this very purpose.  I'm 17 weeks today, so you can definitely see where the bump is STARTING to form.  I still feel very much like I just have a gut though...I'm ready for this baby bump to actually look like a baby bump and not a bowlful of jelly! :)

17 Weeks

I'll try to post some more letters in the next few days from the earlier days of this pregnancy, but right now my stomach is growling and I'm seriously contemplating another Chick-Fil-A run.  Just looking at those waffle fries is making my mouth water.  Mmmm....

New Trimester, New Toy...

We’re officially in the 2nd trimester, baby!! (And everyone else…) I had another doctor’s appointment last week and set the ultrasound date for February 8th, so the countdown is on to find out the sex of this little nugget! The doctor said everything looks good and the baby is “growing nicely” (AKA: your belly is getting larger by the minute), so we are really thankful for that!

In other news, I have temporarily (or maybe permanently) become the latest victim of the “PS3 Neglected Wife Syndrome”. Sam decided to combine his birthday & Christmas (his “birthristmas”, as he calls it) money to buy himself a new toy over the break, resulting in hours and hours and HOURS of this…

Of course, Zoey’s not complaining because Sam is way too entranced with his new toy to make her get off the couch. Let me clarify, Z is NOT allowed on the furniture, but by the time I get in there she’s all cuddled up and asleep on Sam, and I just don’t have the heart to make her get down when she looks so cute and cuddly. Plus, I’m buttering her up for the real bombshell to drop in about 6 months when she most likely becomes a permanent “outside/garage” dog. That is going to cause some serious drama, I’m afraid, but that’s the rule. Babies first. Doggies second.

I’m not sure if anyone is interested in reading the continuation of my pregnancy journal entries or not, but I’ll post a few more entries below if you want to take a peek…and if not, just leave me a comment and tell me these are incredibly boring and I’ll stop posting them. Deal? Deal.

November 2, 2009 (9:30 AM)

Dear Baby,

I woke up this morning and realized that the test was REALLY positive, yesterday REALLY happened, and you are REALLY growing inside of me right now! It still hasn’t all set in completely, but I did call this morning to make my 8 week appointment (set for December 2nd), which was the first time I told someone else that I was “pregnant”. Oh my goodness…it was such a strange feeling to actually say those words out loud. Of course I’m worrying about every little thing I do right now (what I eat, how I sleep, how I move, what I wear, etc.) and wondering if I could POSSIBLY be hurting you, but my logical side knows that you are just a tiny little miraculous ball of cells right now that is completely protected deep inside of me. (You’re welcome, by the way, for the extra padding surrounding you that is making your environment extra cushiony and comfortable right now. I did manage to lose 18 pounds BEFORE you took up residence inside of me, but there is definitely still plenty of insulation there for you to enjoy!)
I hope this doesn’t hurt your feelings, but you just don’t feel real yet! I’m SO excited about you and am SO looking forward to the next 9 months and then the rest of your life with us, but it’s all just taking a little while to sink in. That 8 week appointment seems SO far away right now, but I know it will be here before either of us knows it! Until then, you just make yourself comfortable, use anything you need from me to continue developing properly & healthfully, and know that you have two parents who cannot express how excited they are to bring you into this world!

I love you already,
Mommy

P.S. You have already made me pee 4 times this morning, and it’s only 11:45. On the plus side, my sense of smell is like nothing I’ve ever experienced before! I can smell things so far away I don’t even know where they are coming from...

P.S.S. You REALLY love Puppy Chow (human kind, not dog kind). I’m afraid I’m going to gain 5 pounds before I even hit the month mark from this dang Puppy Chow alone! Oh, but you’re SO worth it! At least you don’t like something gross like brussel sprouts or something…

P.S.S.S. The BabyCenter website I have visited seven times today (I’m having a bit of trouble staying focused) says that you are the size of a poppy seed. I love you, my precious little poppy seed.

November 3, 2009 (1:46 PM)

Dear Lay’s Kettle Cooked Barbeque Potato Chips,
Thank you for temporarily satisfying my craving for something salty, crunchy, AND sweet. I’m sorry that I devoured about 3 servings of you in approximately 1 ½ minutes. Apparently it’s not a good idea to wait until I’m STARVING to go home for lunch. Well, that and the fact that I’ve been avoiding you like the plague for the last 2 ½ months because of Weight Watchers. Lucky for you, this baby doesn’t care for WW at all. In fact, it’s encouraging me to eat you. So I did...

Feeling Crunchy,
Crislyn

November 4, 2009 (11:24 AM)

Dear Admissions Refrigerator,

Thank you for having Sprite! I think that you’ve always had Sprite, but until this week I really hadn’t noticed. Apparently the hormones are making me crave Sprite, which is perfect since I can actually drink it! Thanks again.

Thirstily,
Crislyn

November 4, 2009 (11:25 AM)

Dear File Cabinet Drawer,
Thank you for being such a great keeper of the Saltine crackers I have secretly stashed away. Items like saltine crackers (especially in combination with Sprite, as mentioned above) are dead giveaways that something sneaky is going on with a lady in her mid-twenties, so I really appreciate the fact that you are so great at concealing my secret snack. Sadly, we’re going to have to keep this little secret between us for at least 2 more months…

Mums the Word,
Crislyn

Have a lovely day, my blog friends! :)