Pregnancy News

I feel like we are rapidly approaching our baby's due date.  The beginning stages were glacial and now here we are, 3rd trimester, barreling towards the cliff.  I am crossing over into the uncomfortable stages of pregnancy now: heartburn, trouble sleeping, the need to grunt when putting on socks - you know - all the good stuff.  Despite the discomfort, I am relishing these last few months and have loved the opportunity to be pregnant one more time. 

So here's how it's going at 29-ish weeks of pregnancy:

• An alien is trying to escape out of the back of my leg.  I hope it ain't successful.

• I failed the 1 hour gestational diabetes test and had to return for the 3 hour test.  A normal person would probably say, "Hmm...I might have diabetes...I'd better lay off the carbs and sugar."  Not me.  I said, "Hmm...I might have diabetes...I'd better eat everything I can before they tell me I can't anymore."  (I have restraint issues.)  But, I successfully passed the 3 hour test.  I was alone in a room for all of those hours and had my blood drawn 4 times.  It was boring and boring.

• Baby is measuring a week ahead of schedule and continues to be doing well.  We had a new ultrasound technician for our most recent ultrasound and she also commented on the baby's long legs and arms.  I'm expecting to give birth to Jack Skellington. We didn't get a picture of baby's face because it wouldn't get it's freakishly long arms and legs out of the way.
• I feel mostly really good except that my tailbone hurts when I sit and I breathe like an asthmatic beluga whale.  And my ankles swell if I don't wear my old lady compression socks.  And I snore.  And I can't get off the couch without help. I'm really quite attractive and Michael is one lucky guy.
• We are still struggling to come up with names for this baby.  I'm starting to worry a bit that we'll resort to Kid.

We're almost there. I am so excited to meet Kid!

Spring Break

I looked at the calendar one day and realized Spring Break was only 2 weeks away.  What?!  I've been slumbering under a rock.  When we lived in Oregon my sissy would always come with her kids for Spring Break so I didn't have to think about it or plan for anything except popcorn every night.  

And then someone moved all the way across the country.  

And then someone's kids decided to grow up and go to college or get married.

And then I was caught un-awares with zero Spring Break plans.

I thought about just staying home and doing nothing but that seemed too dull.  It was too short of notice for Mykey to take the entire week off from work but he did some hustling and secured 3 days off.  What to do, what to do...where to go, where to go? 

I remembered that Kitty had told me a little while ago about a Harry Potter experience she had seen on the Wizarding World website she likes to visit.  I checked into it and saw that it was in Atlanta.  By George, we can do Atlanta in a few days!

So Atlanta it was.  We crammed in as much fun as we could into our trip and it turned out great.  We only had 2 hiccups along the way: Kitty came down with a sore throat and cough our second day there. Typical. And we waited too long to eat lunch the day we went to the Georgia Aquarium and exchanged angry words on our excursion to a greasy-spoon lunch counter - Kitty was hankering for a hot dog and they didn't serve hot dogs. Don't worry, we reconciled on a bench in Centennial Olympic park and then found Jeffery a toy ball on our way back to the car.  It was exactly like the one she loved and lost - a Spring Break miracle!     

Our first excursion consisted of fun at the Harry Potter experience, where Kitty and Michael dressed up.  Michael 3D printed a moving eyeball to replicate Mad Eye Moody and Kitty was Hermione (naturally.)  I dressed up as the chubby pregnant lady.  I'm sure there's one of those in the Harry Potter world.  It was fun to see movie props and the elaborate exhibitions they had set up.  We had a great time there.  

We also visited the Georgia Aquarium where we saw an enormous sea turtle and Kitty saw fish and penguins up close when she crawled into a viewing tube.  It was incredibly crowded but still a fun time.  There were also Dippin' Dots.  You know how the nerds feel about Dippin' Dots.

We found ourselves at a Medieval dinner show one night.  Kitty got to see a falcon up close and then during the show it flew right over our heads!  I thought it was going to clip my ear and leave me maimed like van Gogh.  (It didn't.  Apparently it's trained not to rip off the guest's ears.  That's good business sense.) 

And of course there were shenanigans in the hotel pool.  I sat on the deck and sipped an ice cold soda while Kitty and Michael played.  It was perfect.

The days flew by and it was time to head back. We took the long way home so we could hit up Ruby Falls in Chattanooga.  There's a natural waterfall inside a cavern!  It was spectacular and a great way to spend our final day.  We were walking through these narrow caverns and then suddenly it opened up to a giant waterfall.  Definitely worth the trip.  It also happened to be St. Patrick's Day.  Luckily Kitty and I had made green bracelets a few days prior to protect us from the pinching.  They worked. We also stopped at a Buc-ee's gas station on our way to the falls. I'd heard all about these gas stations from various people and I gotta say it didn't disappoint.  It was more of a tourist destination than just a gas station. But I didn't take any pictures there because unlike Buc-ee's, I am a huge disappointment. 

And to cap off our journey we had the most delicious ice cream at a local place in Chattanooga called Clumpies.  It's a shame Chattanooga is far away because you know how I feel about ice cream. 

Well...we did it.  Even though it was different and I missed my sissy, we pulled off a successful Spring Break.

Next year maybe I'll be more prepared.

But I doubt it.  I'm a huge disappointment.

Swumming

Kitty had her first swim meet recently.  We were excited for the event and it didn't disappoint.  I've never been to a swim meet before and it was electric.  Fantastic!

Kitty was disappointed and annoyed when we realized the meet wasn't what we were expecting.  We were expecting races where you place and she would compete head-to-head against kids her own age.  What it actually turned out to be was a chance to race against other kids - mostly her age - in an attempt to beat your own personal best times. It was also a learning experience to see how a meet operates, since her team had never competed before.  Kitty had a hard time getting over the fact that she didn't come in first place in her events and that she was competing against older kids.  She felt embarrassed and frustrated.  After a long discussion about expectation vs. reality, she softened and recognized the event as worthwhile and fun.  

I was also incredibly impressed with the team we were swimming against.  They had a lot of teenagers and experienced swimmers on their side.  Those big kids cheered and hollered for our little team made up of 12 and under swimmers with limited swim experience.  It was heartwarming.

Kitty did great for her first time in the pool with other swimmers.  She swam the 25m freestyle and backstroke, and competed in a couple of relays swimming freestyle. We now have recorded times so she can track her improvement. It was fun to watch her compete and to see how much she has improved in just a few short months of being on the team.  I was so proud of her and look forward to many more years of exciting swimming events.

Hooray for Kitty!

Chef Kitty

I love to cook and bake.  I've always longed to have Kitty join me in the kitchen.

She couldn't be more uninterested.

Well...she was uninterested until she spotted this baby at the library:

Suddenly Kitty was thrilled at the thought of cooking with me. She flipped through the pages and chose a variety of recipes for us to make together.  My heart was fluttering with excitement at the prospect of having her in the kitchen with me.  She joined me for making marshmallows and peppermint meringues.

And that was it.  

I made a couple of other things she had bookmarked on my own - with no Kitty in sight.

Sigh.

Well...it was fun while it lasted.