Updates

We went to my monthly appointment on Monday and everything is fine. Nothing exciting going on. I was pleased to find out I hadn't gained too much weight because I've been feeling so big lately. I just want to be within normal range. I'm not scared of gaining weight as long as I'm not gaining too much.

I've been having bad back pain (in my sciatic nerve) which I have found out is common in pregnancy. The difficulty is trying to get out of bed at 3am without crying out in pain and waking William up. I have to move very carefully which is no easy task when you are surrounded by a huge body pillow that doesn't allow you to move easily. Man, I feel old and fat... but it will all be worth it.

The baby's room is coming along really nicely. We bought a chair on Friday along with a rug. Those are the two final pieces for the baby's room. They won't be in for 4-6 weeks so we're anxiously waiting to see how everything is going to fit together in his room.

Here's a picture of our baby bedding (the colors are a bit deceiving - the grey color is actually a brown and the words "Cole" are not emblazoned on the quilt). :-)

We finally registered on Saturday at Babies R Us and Target. That was an interesting experience to say the least. Babies R Us took forever and it was quite overwhelming. We were there 2+ hours and after going home and doing more research, I worked 2+ more hours going back and changing some of our registry items based on people's ratings. "What does a baby need?" -- that was the question of the night. We registered for some expensive stuff (that we don't expect folks to buy) because we found out you get 10% off on your registry items when you close everything out. Who knew a car seat would be be $170. And that's just an infant car seat - only up to 30 lbs - and after that we have to do this all over again. Yay. Kids are truly expensive. I am just now beginning to learn all of this. Eek. William and I are entering a whole new world (and demographic).

I'll hopefully update more regularly soon once we get the house squared away. The second trimester hasn't been all roses as the books say. Today I went to church and had to walk out before the sermon started because I started breaking out into a cold sweat and thought I was going to throw up. I was really looking forward to being in church too. It was all because the room was a bit warm. I sat in the car with the air blowing in my face and told William to go back in. I just literally "chilled" in the car and listened to my podcast of This American Life. I guess I'll download our pastor's sermon later (thank God for podcasts).

I feel so much like a wuss lately. I also took Thursday off to just rest because I've just barely been able to walk anywhere without feeling completely fatigued and breaking out into a sweat. My heart has been doing the flipflops again and I can't stand for long periods of time. The doctor said I was on the verge of being anemic so I've been taking iron supplements (in addition to all the other vitamins I already take). Hopefully those will kick in soon!

Speaking of kicking, William felt the baby kick for the first time on Friday night. I think he was a bit shocked at how it feels. I've been trying to get him to feel it but he always just misses the window of opportunity when the baby is kicking away. As soon as he places his hands on my belly the baby is like the frog that just ribbits and stops the song/dance performance. (Some of you know the cartoon I'm referring to, hopefully!)

That's it for now!

I'm going to pretend that it's 7:45PM last Monday and I'm dutifully updating our blog complete with scans of the ultrasound and the results of the exam. So, with that in mind… Things went really well and we found out that we're having a little boy, which made us laugh when she told us because about 95% of everyone we know has said we're having a boy and of course we were saying we wanted a girl. But really what we want is a healthy and happy baby and the way it takes a leak is totally irrelevant. So all you gals having little girls in the near future or with daughters within a three year range…game on.

We're going to name him Bono and I think you all know why and if you don't, ask Clay Satterfield and maybe he'll send you his doctoral thesis Bono is Awesome and Here is Why. It's been strange and exiting actually referring to the baby as "he," which gives everything a much more personal and realistic quality, making him feel more like part of the family rather than some abstract idea which may or may not be truly happening.

And now back in real time, it was a busy Labor Day preparing for Mr. Vox (that's Bono's last name) and we FINALLY got everything moved out of his room (well, ok, not the closet…Karla, that's your territory), which enabled us to give it a good vacuuming and a once over with the wet/dry vac as well. Karla decided that all the room really needed was a touch up and not a full scale paint job. I guess we'll go that route and then see what we think. We plan on assembling the crib, etc sometime this week and trying out our first idea for an arrangement. Stay tuned for pix of the progress once we get further with that.

We also spent some time (and money) with getting the new office/playroom/hang out room/studio/disco up to speed and it's starting to take some shape though is still far too chaotic at this point for any photos. Part of the chaos is due to Ikea, who are currently on my "do not trade with" list. I think I've complained most to Sarah about this so go to her for details 'cos this is a happy place.

I'm not sure when Karla's next appointment is but I'm guessing it's pretty soon. She's been feeling much, much better lately. Her cold finally, finally went away (three weeks) and her heart has only acted up in stressful situations (like driving through CRAZY Cincinnati traffic this past Friday). She's had pretty good energy and a pretty normal appetite, no real cravings and not even really a lot of issues needing to hit the can every 20 minutes, maybe once during the night if that. The baby moves around quite a bit she says but not enough where I can feel him yet, though I do put my mouth up to her tummy and sing Bowie, you know, "Ground control to Major Tom…"

Wow, this is really happening. Eek!

I've found a bunch of old, old pix in the rearranging process and your bonus for this session is one of myself and M Andrews at J and KC Smith's wedding way back in June 00…just a couple of 20-something swingers (you did know Michael was a swinger, right?).

Until the next time...