Open Letter

Dear C-Train Bastards,

I bet you feel pretty good about yourself, pushing me out of the way to sit down. Even better that it was two separate occasions and two different men. Kudos to the both of you; karma will definitely be shining down on your souls.

And to all the people who feel that their bags deserve seat space... MOVE THEM THE F**K OUT OF THE WAY and let people sit down.

All of you, just wait until the weather is nicer and my winter coat is no longer camouflaging The Buddha; I swear as God is my witness, you will know the displeasure of a pregnant woman who has to stand.

Dear Really Nice Bus Lady,

Thank you so much for giving me your seat last week. It was really good to sit down. I doubt you will ever realize how much that meant to me and how grateful I was. I think I loved you for that entire bus ride, no, I did love you. Again thanks, my swollen legs and feet will forever be in your debt.

So, had another doctor appointment this morning. All is well. Dr. St33d is definitely a nice man, he did spend some time in Lethbridge so we chatted about that. The Piglet is doing well and is on track. I've gained 12 pounds total, for the 1/2 way mark, I think that's pretty good. I'm trying to keep the crap food under control, it's probably a good thing that I don't much care for much right now. Although, Ryan (from work) did give me his apple fritter at lunch time; I ate it on the way to the train station when I got off work. Actually I ate 1/2 of it, I just remembered the other 1/2 is still in my pocket. Anyway, food just doesn't have the same appeal to me anymore. I eat because I'm hungry but nothing is TO DIE FOR; no cravings, even my grape tomato phase is over.

I'm hoping that Steven will come to my next doctor appointment so he can hear the heartbeat. It is so amazing. I know I'm talking like no other woman has ever given birth but c'mon, indulge me please, everything is a first for me. It's huge. I can't wait until I can feel him. (& by him, I mean The Piglet not Steven)

I'm so tired right now. I didn't leave work until after 530p; on the positive side, there was no traffic but on the negative side, I didn't have time to cook dinner & Steven wanted the dirty bird for dinner... yum, I can feel my arteries hardening as I type.

Oddly enough, my jeans are too big. Not too sure what's going on, I washed & dried them last night but they feel all stretched out, it's not like I lost any weight, I better not have to buy another pair of ridiculously priced maternity jeans. Although, I might go out and buy a skirt and another pair of dress pants; it's getting pretty boring wearing the same 2 pairs of work pants over and over again.

There's been some comments that my writing is witty, funny... oh stop, I'm blushing... umm, what was I saying... oh yeah, I was telling Steven this and we laughed because when we go out I'm normally pretty quiet and (these are his words, not mine) he's a prick. People must wonder what happened to our personalities, then we determined that we only brought our A game to each other, I mean really, it's too much effort otherwise. (I'm sorry, that was so much more funny in my head)

Week 20

Wow, 1/2 way there. It seems just like yesterday.

The Piglet is between 5 1/2 - 6 1/2" from crown to rump, and between 9-10" from head to toe. He weighs about 9 ounces (although, it's estimated that he actually weights about 1 pound... he's a porker). Over the next month, he'll gain about a pound. Right now, he is about the size of a mango. His permanent teeth are already starting to form behind his baby teeth. These permanent teeth won't be mature for several years. By this point, he can move his eyes, though not always in tandem. What were sweeping left-right motions last week are turning into eye rolls. Eyebrows have formed, and hair is beginning to form on his scalp. He's begun to produce vernix, a white creamy substance that protects his developing skin in utero. From this point on, he seems to be able to differentiate between mornings, afternoons, & nighttime and starts to become active at certain times more than others. He also has all of the neurons in his brain that he'll need.

-excerpt from: “Great Expectations: Your all-in-one resource for pregnancy & childbirth” by Sandy Jones

I wonder if it's too early to go to bed. I wonder if I go to sleep now, will I sleep thru the night?

Anyway, went to the Winter Club this morning. Our company is sponsoring the Special Olympics Provincial Curling Championships and Al threw out the first rock with Tom & Ryan sweeping for him. Crystal & I took pictures. It was pretty cool. Watched curling for awhile, chatted with some other people that were watching; then we went for lunch. I think I really need to eat lighter meals, more often because I just get this overly full feeling and general discomfort after I eat. I didn't even eat my entire lunch. Drove Crystal home, swung by the office, ran some errands and dropped into get my eyebrows done. I love those girls. Oh, and the best part? I wore my company golf shirt, thank goodness for stretchy material. I felt a bit like the Incredible Hulk, like any second I would burst out of the shirt and start turning green or something. Or maybe blue like Violet from Willy Wonka. Whatever, you get the point. I should have gotten the picture taken because you could really see The Buddha. Maybe if you rub it and make a wish, it will come true! Seriously tho', don't touch my tummy unless you ask first. Don't just swoop down on me, I don't like it. Although, I did ask Liz if I could poke her belly. Just to compare, I can't believe how hard The Buddha is getting. Well, hard under my top layer of fat, it's not like anything I thought it would be.

Gimme a P! Gimme a P!

What does it spell? PeePee!

That's right, we're having a boy.

Steven & I had our first ultrasound appointment on Wednesday morning. It was AMAZING. The Piglet was wriggling around, all squirmy, legs & arms everywhere. The technician was trying to find different parts of the body and he would move his head or move his arms to cover his head. Didn't want his picture taken, just like his father! Even up until I was laying on the table, we weren't exactly sure if we were going to find out The Piglet's sex. Because I didn't give okay to the technician, she wouldn't tell Steven one way or another. At one point Steven was watching the screen intently, and was questioning the technician but she wasn't answering. Finally I told her that it was okay, we'd like to know the sex. So the technician turns to Steven and says "that's the baby's arm". And she moves the wand to The Piglet's private parts and says "it's a boy, it's pretty obvious". And Steven response? "and what a boy!". But there's no mistaking the penis. Our son.

This ultrasound was the detailed one. She went over the body parts, organs, brain and did some measurements. Time-wise, I'm right on track give or take a day. According to measurements, The Piglet is 9" long and about 1 pound. And definitely a mover. I can't even describe the feeling of seeing our son. Of knowing that I have a person growing inside of me...INSIDE OF ME...A PERSON! I am in awe of this process. I feel so inconsequential when it comes right down to it, I mean.... wow. I can't wait until I can feel the baby moving.

Behold the Beauty of the Old Lady Shoes

Just shut it. They're comfortable. Steven picked them out for me. This is what the tag says:

SLIP RESISTANT FOOTWEAR

-Oil Resistant

-Non-marking Outsoles

-Flexible Construction

-Unique Molded Sock Design With:

-contoured footbed

-heel cradle

-arch support

-heel to toe cushioning

-Laboratory tested

And last but definitely not least.... they are called safeTstep.

C'mon, if that doesn't just SCREAM sex, I don't know what does!

I also bought another pair, they at least look fashionable.

The biggest selling point is that I don't have to bend down to put my shoes on. Frankly, I'm finding bending down more & more difficult these days.

And, a big thank you to Stacey for the Princess Moonbeam Sunnypants name suggestion. So far, possibly the one in the lead! We tossed around Fancypants but then decided it sounded too much like a cat. Now, there's a friend with imagination. She's not trying to pawn her own name off on us, quite the opposite in fact she is steering us away from her name, she's quite protective of it... wait a second... is the baby not good enough for your name? Is that it? Think you're too good for us? Hrmph. I get it now. It's ON! (as she walks away muttering evil things under her breath..."thinks she's too good for us, does she?"..."I'll show her who's too good for that name"...)

I've been kicked out of better places...

yeh, that's right you heard me.

McKenzie came to town and we went to the Science Centre on Saturday afternoon. Because the last time (& only other time) I went with Tam & her family we went to WOW Town. I really enjoyed WOW Town & wanted to show Steven the shadow "game". But apparently WOW Town is for the 3-7 year old set and we were asked to leave. Bastards. I felt kind of bad because they singled McKenzie out and asked him to leave so I went over and said "no, it's my fault I was the one who wanted to come in here."

We're still kicking around names: again, (probably) NOT going to name my child after someone that I know. So please here's more names that we will not be using... Kelly, Jennifer, Alan. And after you read the next part, you'll understand why I may have to disqualify Steven from choosing names.

Me: what about Marilla?
Steven: GORILLA?
Me: yes, what do you think if we named the baby gorilla?
Me: Jesus
Steven: I don’t like that one either, too much expectation with a name like Jesus
Me: ….

I just figured out how to change the time zone stamp on my entries. I'm such an idiot sometimes. I was wondering why I was in Pacific Time Zone all the time.

We did go get Coco Brooks pizza and while it was not to die for, the crust is a cornicopia of awesomeness. I would definitely go again. We got 2 personal pizzas (to share) and a salad (apparently I was supposed to share that as well but I ate it all). Poor Steven, he was still hungry, but really it's not like 1/2 a salad would have filled him up. Maybe if he ate the bread bowl, which for the record, I did not eat but gave some to Riley (shh, I probably shouldn't have).

Watched The Departed, The Prestige and The Black Dahlia this weekend. Good, good and meh, I really thought it was about the Black Dahlia murder; the best part of that movie were the clothes from the ... what was it the 1950's?

Took another kick ass nap. Since Steven starting nights this week, we took a nap on Sunday afternoon after Church and old lady shoe shopping. He only slept an hour, me, well I slept for about 3 or so hours. Lovely, simply marvelous. I can't get over the goodness of the nap concept. Anyway, my plan was to stay awake with Steven to keep him company on Sunday night since Monday was a holiday. Holy crap, I had such a raging headache from being awake that long that I thought I was going to vomit. I stayed up until about 1am; which isn't late by any stretch of the imagination but almost killed me. Frankly, I still have a headache.

Week 19

Can you believe it? 19 weeks pregnant. It's going by so fast.

I keep wanting to capture our feelings and images so I can never forget. It's simply amazing. For how blase we both are, we are enthralled with being pregnant, with the possiblity of a child, raising a baby to be a good person with morals and proper values. It can be daunting.

Anyway:

The Piglet is between 5-6" long and weighs about 7 ounces, about the size of an apple. If The Piglet is a girl, early ovaries contain follicles with forming eggs. Soon, half of the genetic material for our potential future grandchildren (!) will be formed. Pictures of babies at this age show them touching their own faces, reaching for the umbilical cord, pedaling their legs, and sucking their thumbs. He may already have a preference for the left or right hand. In the brain, areas of nerve cells that serve the senses of touch, taste, smell, sight and hearing are becoming specialized and are forming more complex connections. Loud sounds as well as any feelings I may have of stress or alarm may be communicated to the baby. He responds to these stresses by becoming more active.

-excerpt from: “Great Expectations: Your all-in-one resource for pregnancy & childbirth” by Sandy Jones

We went out for wings after work yesterday. Sitting there talking about random things, rather I was saying that we'll be great parents, it'll be hard but we'll survive and be okay. Then Steven laughs and says "right about now there will be this phrase underneath us saying six months later and we're disheveled, disoriented and frazzled saying well I thought we'd be okay". He's too funny.

Not much going on this Family Day long weekend. We're going (hopefully) to buy some shoes today, work boots for him and slip on dress shoes for me in a bigger size. Maybe a baby name book too. Oh, and I think we'll be going to Coco Brooks for either lunch or dinner. Apparently their pizza is to die for. Brenda & family are in town this weekend. Still hoping that there will be a trip to the Science Centre in our future. And haven't seen the Airdrie folk in a long time; I wonder how smart they are feeling.... it may be trivia time. Steven starts on night shift on Monday so I anticipate a nap over this weekend as well. (I love me some nap time!)

I was saying that I felt like a weeble-wobble this past week. My ass is getting a shelf. A SHELF. It's making me very sad. I was prepared for the front to pop out but not the back, I mean c'mon, my ass was already too big but it's getting bigger. Le sigh, whatever am I going to do? And really, if you're going to say "but you're growing another person in you, it's natural..." Just shut it right now, I don't want to hear it. It sucks to realize your ass looks huge and could be it's own little time zone.

We watched The Trail3r Park movie last night. Y'know, it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. How's that for a review? I was gathering all my charitable donation receipts and trying to catch up on my current donations while I watched it so it wasn't that great because it wasn't holding my complete attention but it didn't make me want to leave the room. So I think that I'm just waiting for one more receipt and we should be able to start taxes, well at least my taxes. I think Steven's waiting for one.

The Belly aka The Buddha

I thought that now would be a good time to try and photo document my belly progression. Easier said than done. I think I may need Steven's help for this. I tried to take some self portraits in the mirror, all that it accomplished was me cleaning the bathroom mirror after seeing the picture. And then because the mirror was so clean I cleaned the sink and the counter. Then I took some pictures of Riley:
 

I think he hates you.

I also made some snowmen in the backyard to greet Steven when he comes home, but it may be too dark for him to see them. And gosh only knows, by tomorrow they could be littler and possibly yellow.

But here are some pictures of The Buddha, please note TB is referring to the belly NOT the baby.

I tried different angles but frankly my arms, they are just not long enough. I'll try and get Steven to take some pictures on the weekend.

Here's my bitch of the day. I really like using Pant3n3 Daily Moisture Renewal Shampoo & Conditioner (not an all in one); but darn it if it's impossible to find in stock. So, taking a page from my friend Jen, I wrote a strongly worded email to the company asking why this is so. I'm hoping for some kind of response because I'm getting really tired of my hair being all dry and fly-a-way. What happened to my shiny hair? And for that matter where the heck is my glow? Still nothing. Anyway, back to the shampoo fiasco... everytime I'm out & about I look for it. It makes me so very, very sad. I'm using all sorts of crappy non-working stuff that it's making me sick. Stupid hair products.

Here's a happy thought for the day. At work there's this Donald Duck spoon. I get unbelievably happy whenever I get to use it. I reach my hand up to the cupboard where the silverware tray is (I'm so short, I can't actually see the spoons) and on days where I get the spoon, I KNOW it's going to be an okay day and days when I don't get the spoon, my heart falls just a little bit. I don't even know why we have such a spoon but we do. I'm almost tempted to go out and buy a bunch of cartoon silverware for myself. I'm such a dork.

Check it out! I can't see my feet.

From the bottom up. Check out my rack! heh.