A Changing Body

I remember at one point in my life saying "I can't wait to be pregnant and have that giant belly!" and "Pregnancy is beautiful." Well, insert foot in mouth. I don't think I am physically cut out for this pregnancy thing, and truthfully, I don't think I have been any uglier.When we got pregnant I weighed 120. The addition of this mis-proportioned weight is really starting to take its toll on my body and therefore zapping me of all energy.

Please don't mistake me. I am very excited about meeting our baby boy and I am thrilled with everything our future holds... even the teenage years. And I DO love feeling him move around inside me. In fact, I can't wait for when he will do it more regularly... however, I am sure I will be eating those words as well.

Last week my back pain was nearly unbearable. My pelvis and back were not in line I am sure of it. My pelvis was more like in my hip and the pain in my hips made me long for a girdle, just to put things back in place, for an hour, that's all I ask. I wear my chacos as much as I can because they have GREAT arch support. I slip them on while cooking and if I have to run errands. But, people in AZ don't realize how AWESOME they are, so I reserve wearing them for myself only. Usually.

Pictured with Big Toe Straps tucked under socks... that is even too much for me. Yikes. 

As for my belly, I do like that. (Minus the addition of the dark hair that has taken over my "happy trail"). I don't have to worry about my shirt being too tight and showing that I just had a large lunch. No, I get to look like that all day... and I get to relax. No more sucking in! I just didn't realize that my uterus itself would be so uncomfortable. Anytime I move a direction it doesn't like, or stand up too quickly, I feel like my insides are tearing into pieces. Ligament pains I am told.

Sorry for the REALLY bad cell pic. Really bad. 

And today, today I came home sick with some stomach thing that has been going on for 2 days now. The fear of things affecting our baby consumes me. This whole listeria thing REALLY freaks me out. Now that my stomach has been icky, and my body is achy, I have to think back to everything I have eaten and if I went out of the "Safe Foods" zone. Thank goodness I haven't.

I am still waiting for that "great hair" everyone talks about that happens during pregnancy. My hair is the worst it has ever been. Maybe it is the opposite with me. It is heavy and blah. All I can do with it is wear it wet on the way to work, pray the AZ heat zaps it of all its moisture before arriving at the office, and then put it in a top knot or French-braid by the end of the day. I am not exaggerating here... it is really bad. I have actually considered wearing my blonde Halloween wig that I pulled out of the closet last week. Also, I do not wear make-up anymore. I have barely enough energy to swing my legs out of bed in the morning and put my contacts in. Make-up is just 1 step too far during the week. I always promised myself I would never French-braid my hair and not wear make-up while pregnant. I promised myself that looking good would still be a priority. Well, here I am people... full of lies.

My yabos are definitely getting bigger, and for a girl with too big of yabos as it is, I am starting to get the upper back pain. I am finally accepting the fact that I need to get a bigger bra. But then there is that challenge. I REALLY hate bra shopping. Nothing makes me crankier. So. I decided not to bra shop and just pick 2 bras up on Zulily, my new favorite place to shop, from my couch. From everything I have read, "they" say to forgo regular "fashion" bras and go on ahead and get the nursing bras. So, that is what I did. In all truth, these bras have more lace on them than my current ones. (is this concerning to anyone else?) I have also read that my rib cage is going to expand 2"+ during my pregnancy, so I went 1 size up all together. If they don't work, well... I will staple them until they do. Because they will work.

My rump seems to be growing too, but not in a good way, not in the perky young butt way. I seem to be getting that "mom-butt" thing... but I get I am in "mom" territory now. I just need to start wearing the Levis 550s and I will be looking mighty sexay. My thighs are following suit. It's all one nice saddle bag package.
I have only gained about 15 lbs. Let's see where the rest of the weight is going to go in the next 3 months and how I will feel then.

I should say that is my perspective on my changing body. Pat sees a completely different image. He looks like there is light from heaven shining on my growing belly every time he sees it. Every morning he asks if it has grown and how IT is doing. He is mystified by the belly and doesn't seem to notice any other strange bumps that are starting to form on my behind body. And that is why he is a great husband. I can be ugly as sin and he would still say that my elbows look lovely. Or something along those lines.

Fall Fall Fall

I know it is cliche to blog about fall. In fact, I think it is now cliche to say it is cliche. How does one keep up?
When I lived in Idaho, my favorite season was summer. Also, I was in school the whole time I lived in Idaho. Summer meant family rafting trips and sleeping in. Now, summer is a scalding hell. But that is Arizona for you.
We are finally coming to an end of our indoor season. The last 2 summers we spent the days in the pool drinking and drinking and playing silly pool games, like handstand contests and diving for coins. Summer was like a permanent vacation... as long as we were in the pool. This summer I tried to play in the pool. But there is only so much fun to be had on my pool toys without an adult beverage in hand.  The sun just felt hot and I wasn't up for the sun damage. (My liver is thanking this baby). My growing belly made my bikini bottoms fit strangely and frankly I am not a skinny dipper.

Now that September is upon us, and the Weather channel claims we are out of the 100 degree weather it is time to start sipping on Pumpkin Spice Lattes from Starbucks and burning Harvest Candles.

Tonight my sister sent me a Tweet about the delicious Apple Cider tea she had made for the evening and how it makes her think of me. This year she is getting a real fall as she has moved back to our beloved home state. Leaves will change for her, crisp mornings will welcome her for her morning runs, and socks will be calling her name. This is the first year I haven't started in on my fall kick with her. This time of year, usually meant craft time and coffee talk for the two of us. She is usually the one to hold me back from decorating too early, which I am prone to do. But, it is practically mid-September and I will be pulling out my boxes marked "Fall" and changing the look of the house this weekend.
This also means the holiday season will be upon us in no time and I need to start prepping. I don't know what kind of mood or condition I will be in as the weeks continue to pass.

We are at 22.5 weeks tomorrow. My how time is flying.

2 Weeks Ago

I have a tough time sleeping. Apparently it is difficult to sleep when you are pregnant, given the constant peeing in the middle of the night, the inability to get comfortable, snoring dog and husband, etc... Strangely I have found that it is easier to wake up in the morning, however. Now, that doesn't mean that I function any better during the day, it just means I had enough time to put make up on in the morning, maybe do something a little more than a French-braid with my hair.

But, that is just the beginning of it. We bought a new-to-us 4 Runner from a guy on Craig's List. It was the best deal we had found. So, Pat and I jumped in my sweet ride to check this rig out. I stayed in my car because I don't trust people who sell things on Craig's List. Ever heard of the Craig's List Murderer??? Anywho, this is a decision I regret because after Pat drove it around, tested out the 4 Wheel Drive and windows, he gave the guy some moola and we were on our way.

When we got home I took it for a little test drive myself. It runs just fine! Then I was slapped in the face by a funk. The kind of funk that is only one thing... Cat Spray. Immediately Pat and I stripped our stank-ass clothes off and bathed. Then we took a whole tub of Clorox Wipes and wiped down all the hard surfaces (I gave up after a few minutes 'cause it was too hot for my pregnant ass).

I got onto Pinterest where I had read something about deodorizing a mattress. Here. Now, please know this was FULLY a temporary solution. We bought new seats for the 4 Runner last week. So I mixed together baking soda and lavender oil and dumped it all over the driver seat. That is where the worst of it was.

I think, had I gotten out to check out the car, I might have put the kabosh on buying the car. There are just some stanks that shouldn't be messed with. Cat spray being one of them.

Naturally, we started a load of laundry to wash our stinky cat-pee clothes and then started to get ready to go out for a bite. Pat was working on printing out the temporary license plate while I was putting my shoes on. As I walked back to the office to see if he was ready to go, I discovered a pool of water in the hallway. I yelled for Pat, who came splashing out of the office and nearly slipped and fell to his ultimate demise. He quickly shut off the washing machine, yelling profanities all the while.
40 towels and an hour later, we left the house. Pat deserved a beer.

After a great, stress relieving dinner, we returned home and Pat finally was able to tape his temporary license plate to the back window of the stink-mobile and I was giving the dog some water. That is when I noticed CJ playing with something black and slithery on the tile. At first glance I thought it was a worm. No. It wasn't a worm. It was a baby snake. I screamed several times, but Pat was outside. I flailed my arms around and ran out the front door, fearing for a moment that since I had taken my eyes off the serpent it would surely make its way into my bed. I yelled out the front door to Pat about the emergency- flailing my arms all the while. He came in, pushed CJ out of the way (which she was none-too-happy about) and stomped on the snake over and over and over and over. Then he picked it up and put it in the garbage disposal.

This is not at all what I expected him to do. Please note that this snake really was the size of a tiny worm... not even big enough to be fish bait. But, apparently, Pat hates snakes, and I am apparently newly terrified of them. They are second to scorpions, which are really like alien creatures. Anyhow, I was still shocked at his stomping. I thought he would pick it up with a tissue or something and put it outside. But, surely it would find its way back in.

Let's move on. This is giving me the willies.

At 9:00 pm that night Pat said I was out of emergency yells. Why am I always the one who discovers them???

With all this happening, I had to ask Pat if he had done anything bad to make the karmic beating justifiable. Neither of us can think of anything. So, I have decided we must smudge the house! Now to find a sage smudge stick in the East Valley. Anyone know of a place?

I am so grateful to have Pat as my husband. A guy who isn't afraid of hard work, a challenge or a little snake stomping. I have been hit hard with allergies this month and have been really low on motivation/energy. Oh, also, I am growing a baby inside of me. That takes some effort too. Pat really has to take on the brunt of all the heavy lifting here. He has to be motivated when all I want to do is lay on the couch. I give him a gold star for all he does.

Our Blue Moon Baby

I am not really sure if it was the full moon, the Blue Moon, or the music, but something got into our little one last night. Pat and I went to bed extra early because we haven't been feeling caught up on our sleep. Well, let's face it, I never do. I would sleep for 12+ hours a night if I could.We crawled into bed around 8:30 pm and started listening to some tunes on YouTube. With my iPad resting in my lap we checked out this gal, Beach House, that my bff told me about earlier in the evening.

Which then led us to rocking out a little to one of Pat's favorites, The Lumineers: Stubborn Love 

And Ho Hey

At that point, our little guy started moving and groovin' right along with the beats of the song. It was the first time we could visibly see my stomach moving. I was laughing so hard at the strangeness of it all. It was like he was doing DDR in the womb! Finally I simmered down and just watched our baby do his thing.

I hope he comes out liking music as much as he appears to right now.

It was a great way to spend the first night of our long labor day weekend. 


Also, in the "Stubborn Love" vid, at 1:08 - I am thinking of chopping my hair that short... giving it a month to decide for sure. Thoughts? Feelings?