In the Thick of It

I'm in the thick of it...surrounded by boxes and mess (and stress!) everywhere I look. So far my brain hasn't exploded, but I know its only a question of time really. I just wanted to take advantage of a quick moment in which I am neither packing or sobbing (a rare moment to find, really) to let you know that I am still breathing. That seems like a feat in and of itself right now. Lets hope it continues.

Home Sweet Home (To Be)

We found the best apartment ever. Its in a revitalized historic district, with most buildings dating to the very early 1900's. Its got loads of character, loads of storage, and best of all.....its HUGE!!! We're going from an 8 X 8 living room to an entire floor. We have central air and heat, a washer and dryer in the apartment (now I really feel spoiled!) and a dishwasher whose name is not WB. (Though we still have a cook whose name is Synge)

I circled the whole gigantic area of the space that is our apartment in red, just because I am that much of a show off. Also it makes me very happy to see.

This is our entrance and ours alone. The apartment downstairs enters from a side door, so we have a front porch all to ourselves. Nice.

In addition to having a front porch all to ourselves, we have that humongous 2nd floor side balcony for fun summertime barbecues...its a little slanted, so drunk people can just slide right off.

This is the park directly across the street from the apartment. There are several fountains and lots of benches and some really nice flowers in this little park. If you walk about a block, there's this huge hill overlooking the river. Gorgeous.

This is the master bedroom. The photo does not do it justice. It alone is much bigger than our entire apartment now. WB got lost in this room alone, it was so huge.

This is the master bathroom. Two sinks. Count 'em. One...two! Right now our bathroom sink is smaller than an 8.5 X 11 piece of paper. The mirror shot is just for Mim.

This is the nursery, which we referred to as the "office" in front of the fabulous man who showed us the apartment. It has this great little super sunny nook (where WB and my adorable mother are looking) which is perfect for a rocking chair. I've already dubbed it the breastfeeding nook.

This is one of the 2 huge windows in the breastfeeding nook. Though I guess technically its a door, but whatever. Window, door...its still incredibly sunny.

This is the great room. and believe me, it is great. Its a living room, kitchen and dining room (eat in kitchen) all in one...with 2 working gas fireplaces!!! I peed in my pants a little when I heard that one. The kitchen is all redone with bamboo floors (a renewable resource, so that makes me happy) and counter tops made from recycled hardwood. I was impressed that they made an effort to be green.

My incredibly handsome WB in the kitchen space offering everyone gum, because he's just super polite like that. Also, he's super handsome and smart and funny and perfect.

Oh yeah, and all the appliances in the kitchen are new.

One of the working fireplaces in the great room, on the living room side of the kitchen island. The floors here are antique and the built in bookshelves are screaming to be filled with our many boxes of books.

Behold the miraculous machines which will make our lives blissful and about 90% easier. Also note the storage space. We're going from an apartment with one closet (and I use that term loosely, mind you) to an apartment with a downstairs hallway closet, 2 closets in the master bedroom, one in the nursery, and storage space above the closets in addition to this utility room. I can hoard sentimental crap to my heart's content! Also not pictured is the 2nd full bathroom...that's right, two full baths...with bathtubs! do you know how of longed for and dreamt about having an apartment with a bathtub? And now I got me 2 of em! I'm never leaving home again!

And the best thing about the apartment? Its 4 blocks from my good friend Muffin Face (who I adore beyond belief), and Muffin Face loves to cook. A lot. Could we be any luckier?

12 1/2 Weeks Posted at 13 1/2 Weeks With 13 1/2 Weeks Update (Confused Yet?)

So we're now closer to 14 weeks than we are to the 12 week shot I wanted to post...so much for being on top of things with this blog. In my defense, I'm training 2 people at 2 different jobs, packing (well, some packing and a lot of stressing over packing, which takes up a lot of time you know), and growing a baby. The last one's the most tiring by far.

So here it is in all its weird brightly veined glory. The scar is not recent...it was a crepe related accident incurred while trying to impress WB's borther and sister in law the first time we went to their house for dinner. That's what I get for trying to impress anyone! Though I was super tough and didn't let on for a second that I had just seared my flesh to the second degree.

Anyway....I'm definitely looking more pregnant these days, and getting fun new symptoms. I've been getting more cramps (my uterus is growing, and well, its just not always comfortable) and I was kept up all night the other night by heartburn (which was loads of fun, let me tell you. Poor WB, I finally woke him up too and made him join in the vigil of misery). My ankles and feet are swelling like nobody's business - especially my left foot. I had to take off my left shoe today because it was swelling right out of my shoe! The mood swings are no fun either, let me tell you...especially combined with moving stress.

All of which is making me want sugar as comfort. That's bad. That's so so bad. (And so so good)

Boobs, Blessings and other Blabbering

There comes a time in every woman's pregnancy where she looks into the mirror at the blossoming essence of womanhood that her body is exhibiting more an more each day, and thinks "Oh my God! Did I get a boob job in my sleep and not know about it? Was I kidnapped by a group of rogue gypsy plastic surgeons dedicating their lives to the breast enhancement of all womankind? Where did this gigantic rack come from, and how did it get on my chest without me noticing?". That day, folks, was today. Mark your calendars. The Bleu Bust Explosion of 2007 is now officially underway. I'd include pictures, but this is a family blog, and WB would be forever horrified, as would most, if not all, of you readers. Suffice it to say, the carnage is great.
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And in another vein totally unconnected by anything but alliteration, WB, the Little Funky Monkey and I got blessed by this amazing woman, (click here for the trailer of the film made about her) who is not only known as India's hugging saint, but is also widely respected for her tireless and expansive humanitarian efforts. We waited until 2:30 in the morning for this, but it was well worth it. I've felt much more of a sense of peace since we received darshan, and I love the fact that we got blessed together as a family. WB actually got blessed twice, as he received a hug and a kiss alone, as well as our family hugs and kisses and blessing. He also heard her say "There is no pain" in Spanish while holding us in her embrace, so I say whether or not this is what she actually said, this is our blessing. It was a beautiful gift to us as a family, and a beautiful gift to the pregnancy. Her devotees who kept the line moving are very protective of her, as it certainly takes a lot of energy to hug and kiss thousands upon thousands of people for hours upon hours without taking a break. So they are quite diligent about keeping those going along, and it was almost a bit aggressive to me as they pushed us on to her bosom and pulled us away. This only slightly marred the experience, however, and despite being pretty exhausted from the whole event and waiting until 2:30am, I'm still so very glad we had this opportunity, It brings good energy to the baby and to our little family. (And WB really dug the chanting.)
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And now for the long awaited blabbering. We move in 2 weeks. 2 WEEKS PEOPLE! ARE YOU PANICKING? I SURE AS HELL AM! As of this moment, I have officially packed...one crate. Yes, one whole crate. Amazing, I know. This is a cause of great stress in my world, though as a friend of mine said the other day, it will get packed. Whether or not it gets packed how I want it to be packed is another thing, but at the very worst we'll just start randomly throwing shit into boxes and will move that way. It will get done no matter what. And my mother brought up a very good point, that I work best under pressure. Hmmm, 2 weeks to make a major interstate move and a big life change...nah, no pressure there.
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Yesterday on the subway a seemingly nice woman gave up her seat for me on the subway, despite the fact that she had an entire apartment's worth of stuff in about 6 enormous bags with her. She said she'd been there; she understood. I thought that was incredibly sweet of her, and we began to talk about pregnancy, and this woman, who has evidently been there before was evidently giving birth to a microscopic organism before, because she guessed that I was 6 months pregnant! 6 months! I felt far too ashamed to tell her I was only half her estimate, so I lied and told her I was 4 months along. Then I got off the subway and cried. I'm definitely showing now, and I'm showing rather early (we're 13 weeks tomorrow), but people...I DO NOT LOOK LIKE I'M 6 MONTHS ALONG! So I'm including some crappy cell phone pictures (which do not accurately reflect the awesome boobage that is going on here), to prove to everyone that I am not that much of a beached whale...yet. (That would be your cue to leave nice comments about how perfect I look for 3 months...)

(Fear not...although many unexpected things have indeed issued forth from there due to pregnancy, despite all appearances to the contrary I have yet to produce an electrical outlet from my ass)

(Bellies clearly make me happy. And blurry, but I'm not supposed to talk about that in public.)

Oh, I also think I forgot to mention that I cut my very long hair in what was probably a hormonally inspired move wherein I woke up one morning and decided that I could no longer tolerate even one more second of my long wavy hair and that I had to get it cut that instant! Fortunately, WB convinced me to wait a few hours until I could get an appointment at this place in our neighborhood, where I walked up to my fabulous stylist and told him that I was pregnant and needed him to "fix me". After explaining to me that he really had no interest in all that, he got to work on creating what is actually a very adorable cut when my hair is actually, oh say, washed and maybe even combed?

And just for the record, I don't usually wear flowers or other girlie things. This is a borrowed maternity top (albeit one that I picked out - but I picked it out for a friend, not me) and its very comfortable dammit! I am not turning girlie, I'm just pregnant. There's a difference, I promise.

And now, I must go eat. Right this second! When the 6-months-along-looking-belly calls, I must answer. There is no other choice.

Oh my god, I want to write a nice long post but I'm just way too exhausted to say anything other than "mmmppphh."

Mmmmmppppphhhhh. mmmmmppppphhhhhh. mmmmmpppphhhhh.

I think I'm sleep typing.

And I can feel my uterus growing as I type this...yeah, that's fun.

We hit 12 weeks this past Saturday...I'm just waitiing for my Golden Trimester to begin any moment. Really, any time now would be great! Especially with all that packing to do and a move in less than 3 weeks now....
Hello?
Is this thing on?
Hello?

A Beatle in the Belly?

I thought this was too funny not to share....my dear friend Jessica has brought it to our attention that we are gestating a rock star. Please note the similarities below :

Little Funky Monkey - young George Harrison...can you tell which is which?

Presenting......

Why won't this let me post a title? [editor's note: this seems to be a weird Firefox only problem, as I was able to post a title later with Safari] Oh Blogger, not even you can ruin my good day. And you know why? Because, ladies and gents of the internet, may I formally introduce you to the Little Funky Monkey!

These were my 4 favorites of the 9(!) our super awesome ultrasound tech printed out for us. The whole process was rather quick - minus the customary wait in the waiting room due to lack of anything that might remotely resemble organization. We went in, she squirted about 2 gallons of the very cold ultrasound fluid on my belly and then proceeded to put huge amounts of pressure on my abdomen right by my hip bone, which was not really a very pleasant feeling. She then took a bunch of pictures of the neck, explaining to us (if one can really use the term "explaining" here) that the first trimester screen measured the baby's neck. Ummm, ok. No explanation as to why or what they were looking for. But the neck was duly measured and then she turned on the sound and we got to hear the heartbeat! It sounded like a huge herd of galloping horses and instantly brought to mind the famous Chincoteague Pony Penning, which I always wanted to go to, but never did (though we did go to the Eastern Shore several years in a row for vacations)....I guess that's what I imagine it would sound like. Like a fetus' heartbeat.

Ok, don't make fun of the pregnant lady, even if her connections ain't that tight.

Though WB had seats front and center and even backstage passes, I myself was unable to see a thing for the whole exciting process up until this point. Finally, I suppose my barely contained (read not at all) enthusiasm won her over and she turned the monitor towards me and I got to see the baby again, in far better detail than we had before. She fired off pictures to be printed in rapid succession while I, of course, cried like a blubbering sentimental fool. The coolest part was definitely when she did a sort of closeup on the head and face with one hand sort of waving (see the very bottom picture), and internets, I swear to you that baby has one enormous schnoz. And that enormous schnoz must definitely come from its father (though genetically speaking I must admit that both of my parents have pretty large noses and both of my grandfathers could fit a grand piano in each nostril so who knows). I like the idea that we can start attributing features to one parent or the other while the child is in utero, even if later we end up finding out that that is a butt and not a head.

And folks, this baby is right on schedule developmentally...lord knows where it got its punctuality from, certainly not either of us! I'm just happy to know that its healthy and that there are a million very strong sounding horses stampeding in my uterus as I write this.

(Actually, it does look a little monkey-ish in these pictures, doesn't it? I swear this child is human, I swear!)

The Most Magical Moment Imaginable

Last Thursday (yes, my blogging procrastination is indeed that bad) we had our second official prenatal appointment. This was the big exciting visit where we were to possibly hear the heartbeat through the doppler (though I never thought we'd be able to... 10 1/2 weeks is a bit early, after all, and the baby's heartbeat just isn't that super strong yet). I was prepared for disappointment (and by prepared I mean I was totally freaking out and biting the hell out of my newly grown fingernails) and I was ready (and by ready I mean trying not to cry about the possibility) to have to wait another week to even know if there was a real honest to goodness baby in there or not. Somehow I had pretty much convinced myself that I was Mary Tudor and was having a hysterical pregnancy, because really my symptoms have been so mild, and also because clearly I'm bat shit crazy.

But not that crazy. I know (....now). I got me some proof.

My midwife (who by the way was so totally confident she could get the heartbeat) tried valiantly for quite a while to find the Little Funky Monkey's heartbeat. We did hear quite a bit of my heartbeat, which if I may just flatter myself here a little, sounded so soothing and comforting. I was actually a little jealous of the LFM that it gets to hear that all the time (except it can't really hear yet, but shhh....don't tell WB, I love that he talks to LFM every day, its really so sweet). I actually would love a recording of that to fall asleep to...in fact it was relaxing me there up on the table at the midwife's office. But while I could have listened to my own heartbeat for hours, it wasn't about me, and we were seriously bummed not to hear the LFM's heartbeat.

That is until our rockin' midwife rolled the portable sonogram machine into the office, dimmed the lights (clearly the baby needs mood lighting to overcome its shyness), and began the show. And what a show it was! Oh my god, the appropriate words aren't even in existence, much less the proper combination therein, to describe what we felt. It was magic, pure magic. We were both struck completely dumb, mouths agape in awe, squeezing each others' hands as the tears rolled freely. I'm still tearing up at the thought of it, one whole week later. We saw the Little Funky Monkey Monkey! We actually saw it! And folks, not only is there definitely a baby in there, but that little sucker was dancing for us and I swear it waved. The midwife was definitely stoked that the LFM made her look so good and moved on cue. She also showed us the heartbeat (which was pretty darn cool to see) and said that it looked to be right on schedule developmentally and was the right size for 10 1/2 weeks.

I think we're still glowing from it all. Its the most magical wondrous thing imaginable. Its better than unicorns and kittens and ice cream. Its like being in love to the nth degree (which is a dizzying high, let me tell you)...not only is our bond strengthened between the two of us, but we're both totally head over heels in love with the LFM already!

And the best part is, we get to do it all again tomorrow! We had a previously scheduled appointment for the first trimester (which is almost over...hooray!) screen, where they will measure the baby and check everything out and best of all, if we're really good and behave very well, we get pictures! Yay!

(We also did find an apartment that's about 500 times better than the one we didn't get last time, but that's for another post. One celebratory post at a time, lest the excitement be too much for you to bear)