I’ve Been Showered . . . with Love (awwww)

On Saturday, my mom and my sister threw a baby shower for me. The whole thing was pretty exciting. I really liked sitting there, surrounded by all these people who really care about me and my little cupcake, opening fantastic gifts and eating delicious snacks.

My hostesses thought of every detail, making it all very special. There was a clothesline filled with adorable tiny outfits. The pack-n-play sat in as the gift receptacle. There were children’s books with coordinating stuffed animals next to them. There were three different types of cupcakes. I loved it all.

Now Baby will be ready to support the Tigers.
(If his parents knew when the games were. Ever.)

I only wish I had gotten more pictures of the guests—they’re some of my very favorite people. (Okay, I also wish I didn’t have such an enormous double chin in most of the pictures. But nothing to be done about that.)

And in case you were wondering how the belly's doing these days, here's me at 32 weeks. I can't really believe I have less than two months to go. Wow.

Notice that we have a crib now! And a mattress! Nice, eh?

Sleep is for the Weak

I've still got eight weeks (or only eight weeks, depending how you like to think of it) until my due date--but I may reach my breaking point way before that. Every night I spend an hour or two just . . . awake. Usually with a three-and-a-half-pound person thrashing around, getting all up in my internal organs' business. And this lack of restful sleep is killing me. I've never been one to deal well with not-enough sleep. It makes me sort of crazy.

For instance: Yesterday I cried in Babies R Us (again) because choosing a coming home baby outfit was haaaaaard. Then I cried when I got home, looking at all the baby stuff I now have, unsure what to do with everything and feeling terribly unready for this. This morning I cried because I was so hungry, and we were out of milk so I couldn't eat cereal. And clearly THAT is a good reason to shed a few tears.

And believe me, I know that the lack of sleep is only going to get worse when I am up every couple of hours for feedings and all that. Please don't remind me, or I will be forced to punch you in the face.

And if you tell me that I should enjoy the sleep while I still can, I also may have to punch you in the face (see paragraph 1). Just because the baby is still in the womb does not mean he is not already keeping me awake.

But! I have happier things to write about, too. My mom and sister threw me a lovely baby shower this weekend, hence all the stuff I now have. I had such a good time, and I will tell you all about it soon.

Updates, the Baby Edition

As promised, I give you baby updates.

We had our 3D sonogram on New Year's Eve. It was amazing. I swear he looks like me. And check out his little smirk and the way he is totally flipping us off in this picture. If this is any indication of his personality, the next 20 years will be quite trying.

I feel sort of huge. My back hurts sometimes, I involuntarily grunt all the time--when picking things up, when trying to tie my shoes, when rolling over in bed. It's going to be a long two-and-a-half months until he arrives. I recently heard someone say that all you can do in the 3rd trimester is get through it, and that's how I'm feeling about this. I'm just going to get through it.

My coat barely fits. I can button the top button, but then it just sort of flaps open. And it is way too freaking cold for this. Next baby should really think about being born in the summer or fall.

For awhile, the baby was spine to spine with me, which made my back hurt quite a bit, with these occasional shooting pains in one tiny area. And until he shifted around, I began to waddle. Every woman thinks it won't happen to her, but what can I say? Waddling was the only way to keep my back from spasming as I walked around. I am mad sexy, no?

All this thrashing and moving and kicking and poking is kind of getting old. And painful. Yes, it is a nice reassurance to know that he's still alive and well in there, but fewer jabs to the ribs would be nice.

In spite of the rib-kicking, the heartburn (have I mentioned the heartburn? Terrible.), the difficulty sleeping, the back pain, the waddling, and the feelings of hugeness, I am so in love with this baby boy. We read to him and sing to him, and I cannot wait to hold him in my arms. We've pretty much decided on his name (but it's a secret) and he just feels so real. It's still sort of surreal to think that he'll really be here in such a short amount of time, but he's got such a firm hold on our hearts already that I can't imagine my life without him.

And now I am going to go listen to Adele's "Make You Feel My Love" and "My First Child" by Nil Lara and maybe cry some more.

Updates!

For my first post of 2010, I give you updates. Updates on the holidays, mainly. Next time I'll fill you in on baby updates.

So. Christmas.

This was the year we spent Christmas Eve at my in-laws' house, eating delicious spaghetti and meatballs made by my brother-in-law, Lou. We watched Julie & Julia in front of the fireplace and stayed toasty warm in spite of the impending snowstorm.

This was the year it snowed on Christmas Eve, a lot. Like a foot or so of snow, on top of a layer of ice. Andrew and I actually had to get picked up in my father-in-law's truck or we would have been stuck in our house on Christmas Day. Then it snowed all day, and maybe the next day, and then a day of sunshine, then some more snow. And it was cold. Very cold. And the roads were slick and hard to drive on, which made all the family-and-friend-visiting more difficult.

This was the year Andrew and I opened our presents for each other at home, early (we were supposed to be at the in-laws' by 9:00), in front of our non-lit fireplace. Our unborn baby got a Spider Man ornament. He gave us Arrested Development on DVD. Andrew gave me a fancypants diaper bag (the exact one I wanted) and some lovely nursing/maternity pajamas. I gave Andrew a hoodie and a cardboard deer head (I swear it's cooler than it sounds).

This was the year we spent Christmas morning at my in-laws' house. It was especially nice because both Andrew's sisters could be there, so we were all together. We took turns opening gifts, and kept laughing because we all got iterations of the same things, so as soon as the first person opened it, we pretty much knew what was coming. But that made it all the more fun, because it was sort of a race to open something first.

This was the year we only opened our stockings at my parents on Christmas afternoon. We saved the rest of it for when my sister and family could join us. When they arrived, we celebrated Christmas a few days late--but it felt like Christmas Day. We ate our traditional brunch, drank hot chocolate, and opened presents. Baby got lots of presents, too. And Andrew and I were pleasantly surprised to receive both the crib and rocker from my parents. Now as soon as we get it all put together, the room will be practically complete. But I digress, because this post isn't supposed to be about baby updates.

This was the year that my company closed its doors from Dec. 24 through Jan. 3, and we all had to use four days of PTO whether we wanted to or not. I wasn't a big fan of this policy from the start, but it turned out to be a nice break. I spent some time sorting through a bunch of junk and starting a garage sale pile. I slept late, or at least as late as I could with this 2.5-pound person squirming around in my mid-section. I saw lots of friends and spent lots of time with family. So in the end, I enjoyed the long break from work.

Oh, and one more--this was the year my sister announced that she is pregnant with Baby #2. Hooray for her! So next Christmas we'll have three babies in the family. How fun will that be?