Week 23

I wrote this whole blog out using the name we've chosen but neglected to mention that we found out a few weeks ago that we're having a boy! Yeah, I wanted a girl, but I'm more than okay with a son. This made picking out a name much easier because we had a boy's name since before we got pregnant...so at some point toward the end of May, we will welcome to the world Miles Kenneth Brown! The first name is just one we both liked a lot and the middle name was my dad's first name. Now onto the blog...

As Miles and I enter week 23 we are experiencing all kinds of fun new things--mainly him moving. Patrick was telling me about his day on Monday evening and I guess Miles was listening cuz first there were little kicks and then there was this giant movement that sort of felt like a chubby little arm or leg. It pretty much freaked me out and the look on my face stopped Patrick mid-sentence. He spent the rest of his story telling session with his hand on my tummy hoping for more. Alas, nothing came but I'm sure Patrick will have other chances.

Since Miles and I are together--well, 24-7--I've been trying to get Patrick to read him stories at night. I bought several great books from Amazon and Patrick did read to us two nights in a row! He would like to read to us more but his schedule is wicked right now so Miles and I spend most evenings at home with the kitties, which will probably only exacerbate their jealousy once the baby's here.

On Saturday, our crib and dresser arrived at JC Penney. My Parents.com Daily Kick email said I should consider ordering the furniture sooner than later because it could take weeks for it to come it. As it turns out, it took less than a week so now the boxes are sitting in the garage. I won't be lifting them, obviously, so Patrick has to figure out which of his lucky friends or his dad will be the Chosen One to help him get them upstairs--at a minimum--and possibly help put them together. He has kindly wrangled his friend/co-worker to assist him this Saturday with putting up the border in the nursery so I suppose that friend will get out of furniture duty. I will say the changing table is coming from a different store and is definitely taking longer.

Let's see...what else...oh! I'm getting bigger. If I'm wearing baggy enough clothes folks who don't know me could possibly think I'm just really fat. But the folks I'm around on a daily basis agree that there's some growing going on. I have every intention of getting some kind of belly photo up sooner than later. Speaking of photos, I'm also searching for a photographer that specializes in baby photos. Our regular folks do not, even though I like them a lot I need to make sure this is done right. I did check out the Kiddie Candids place at our local Babies R Us but they put the littlest babies in such unnatural positions that it makes me uncomfortable. I also don't want to have to take out a loan to pay for the pictures so I'm in a bit of a conundrum and I'm sort of hoping the right one falls out of the sky...

...sort of like the job I'm currently looking for. I need one. I'm about done with my internship hours and my goal is to get in a good three months of employment before I take maternity leave. It's asking a lot of a future employer but hopefully someone will think I'm so beyond perfect for the position that they will work with me. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Halfway Point

So here I am at the halfway point of creating a life. This is an accomplishment I celebrate because as excited as I am for little Peanut to join us in this big world, pregnancy has not been the funest thing ever. I am trying to focus on the good things, the little successes but I'm not afraid to admit that it's been a bit overwhelming and there has been more puke involved than I would have liked. But whatever.

Patrick finally finished touching up the nursery--I think. Thanks to pressure from Mom I decided to get the wallpaper border that matches the crib bedding to help accent the wall and keep Patrick from going crazy with all of my other creative ideas. It arrived today and I'm wondering what the chances are that it will get put up this weekend?

I am also trying to put the final necessities into the baby registry--as if I know what I'm doing. I've read all the lists, got some advice from friends, and used my cousin's registery as a cheat-sheat. Thanks, Sum! The registry is, of course, tied to the baby shower which will be on Feb 28th. I was chatting with some women at work today who were schooling me on the Mexican way of doing a baby shower. Apparently it's customary to have the shower at week 36 for purely superstitious reasons. I told them I couldn't wait that long for purely organizational reasons. Also, I'm hoping Peanut decides to come really early.

I will also soon need to start thinking about the second baby shower my mom wants to have in Iowa after Peanut is born, which I guess will be less of a baby shower and more of a baby welcome to the world get together. Or a Peanut introduction gathering of friends and family who live in that part of the country.

Today I schedule Patrick and I to take all of these classes--a childbirth prep class, a baby care class, and a breastfeeding class. I feel that my friends and family have way more faith in me than they should about my ability to know what the hell I'm doing once Peanut is safely on the outside and I feel these classes will play no small part it the health and well-being of Peanut for the first few weeks of his life. I am also hoping the classes will calm some of my fears and such. There's a good chance, though, I'll leave having more things to be scared about.

Goings on Since The Last Post

It's been awhile since Peanut and I have had the time to blog about our goings on. With the holidays, me trying to finish school and celebrate graduation certain things fell to the wayside. Patrick and I spent Christmas in Arizona for the first time since we've been together--and the last. Although it was quite frigid (for Arizona, anyway) here it wasn't the same as being in Iowa so it will be the last Christmas the Browns spend in Arizona as well.

I am officially in the midst of week 19 according to the latest ultrasound pictures and I should be feeling movement at this stage. I have read lots of stuff explaining to me what movement at this time is supposed to feel like--someone said like the wind--and I'm just not sure I'm feeling Peanut move. I'll tell you what I am feeling--backpain. During the day it doesn't bother me, but every night around 2 a.m. I wake up and cannot get back to sleep thanks to the pain. Fortunately, Patrick has been on vacation since it started and has been able to rub away the pain enough for me to get back to sleep. Not sure what's going to happen since he goes back to work on Monday.

On the 30th we had our second trimester ultrasound and found out little Peanut will be coming out with man parts. Patrick is elated, of course. He thinks we're growing a little NBA star. He's probably wrong, but it never hurts to dream. Peanut was not shy about revealing his man parts to us at all. The lady asked us if we wanted to know the gender, I layed down on the table and he pretty much instantly flashed us. The nice ultrasound lady even printed out a picture of it for us. We immediately notified family of this news as Patrick's side seems to be involved in a buying spree for Peanut. This visit also revealed that Peanut is developing normally and a few days ahead of schedule so we're now due on May 26 instead of May 30.

Patrick spent part of his vacation painting Peanut's room. This activity took waaaay longer than it should have due to me being demanding and apparently unable to communicate my wishes well. Patrick eventually had a couple mental breakdowns due to several mishaps and the fact that he just hates the whole idea of painting and refuses to ever do it again. I am of the opinion that once he gets some distance from this not so good painting experience, he'll find it in his heart to paint another nursery should it become necessary. I think.