39 WEEKS

39 weeks, can you believe it?!!! I know women do this all the time, but I am still a little bit impressed with myself for getting this far. I also realize I said I wanted to keep my mind open to the possibility that baby may come a week or so late, but I would be oh-so-happy to have her come out on the due date. I am feeling too big to be carrying this belly around at work and in this heat, and she is getting ever so heavy and low. Don’t be surprised if you find me going on long walks and eating spicy food the day before she's due...

SLEEPY KINGS

How darling are these handmade plush toys by SleepyKing?! I love these and want to put them in nursery for the baby. I especially love the fox and the bunny.

Also, in unrelated news but relevant because I'm listening to it right now as I post, the entirety of Passion Pit's new album, 'Goasamer' is available on NPR's First Listen for stream. So far, I'm into it. Go check it out now!

SUCCULENTS, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS FAT PLANTS

 Being in a house with so many windows makes me feel like it would be okay to invite some plants in to come live here. So I told K. that I would like some plants for my birthday and after a sort of tortured time in the greenhouse - how do you pick?! - we walked away with three succulents. An aloe, hen and chicks, and jade plant. I am ever so happy about these additions to the house.

ANTSY

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GASP.
That’s the sound of me coming up for air at the other side of the pool. The length of the pool being the work week, obviously, and yes it felt like I was holding my breath the entire time. Against what felt like impossible odds, I made it through, and I shall now think upon the freedom of the next two days. Everyone, appreciate yo weekend!

A SORT OF OUTDOORSY MID-WEEK DINNER

Being at work this week has been rough! mostly because it is going by extremely slow. Like a snail, on a turtle’s back, with no agenda. On Wednesday I felt sure that it had already been a full week, but it hadn’t. There was nothing particularly wrong or different about work this week, but it must have something to do with how antsy I’m getting, even more than I realize. My head is definitely someplace else, and it’s one of those things where you look at the clock and see 10:21 AM, only to look back at it 3 minutes later thinking tons of time has gone by and see that it’s only 10:24 AM. Yeah, brutal. What totally helps is the downtime between the work hours, and yesterday we enjoyed a slow and peaceful dinner outdoors because the air was so nice, and not horridly hot. We don’t have a deck yet so we’ve been doing our grilling out from our garage and Rusty usually hangs out with K. while he grills. Yesterday, I decided to join them and we didn’t feel ready to go back inside so we ate our food outside while gazing at the tall trees, spotting deer, and throwing Rusty pieces of shrimp.

 

 

LOCAL CUPCAKES

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Something about having the growing baby makes me feel really enthusiastic about cupcakes. Prior to pregnancy, I liked cupcakes well enough but usually wouldn’t be able to eat a whole one. These days, I stare at a box of four and feel positive that I could devour them all in one sitting. I’m a big fan of Pearl’s Cupcakes here in Richmond, especially their Double Trouble (chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream frosting) and C is for Cupcake (vanilla-brown sugar cake with chocolate chip cookies baked throughout the batter, topped with cream cheese frosting and a mini homemade chocolate chip cookie). But also recently, we stopped by Frostings so that I could get my lemon cupcake fix and my oh my, that was a good fix. Their Lemon Bliss (Lemon cake, fresh lemon curd filling, lemon cream cheese frosting) is so dang good I know I’m going to end up going there again this week to go get another one!

Also, in cupcake-related form, have you heard about the Lemon Drop at Cappellino’s Crazy Cakes in Charlottesville, VA? Apparently, several (19) overdue pregnant ladies went into labor shortly after having their Lemon Drop cupcake. Myth, coincidence, or lore – who knows, but I’m not opposed to trying it later down the road if I get desperate.

38 WEEKS

Personal facts and observations about week 38

1. It’s a small travesty when I drop something on the floor because it is impossible to pick it up without looking super awkward. Yeah I’ll say it- I’ve picked up my phone with my toes before when it’s fallen on the floor of the car.
2. Your skin becomes more sensitive to raging sun. The other day I took a 20 minute walk, and even with SPF 55 on my face, I felt like I got a sunburn on my cheeks. Granted, the temperature last week and this past weekend was deadly hot.
3. After all this time,
   I still have trouble remembering to take prenatal vitamins + two iron supplements, and now several evening primrose supplements, every day.
4. There is so much pain in my pelvic area. She is getting lowww. My least favorite parts of the day is when I am getting out of bed in the middle of the night or in the morning and have to take that first step because of the shooting pain. Also, leg cramps in the middle of the night! My friend Martha recently recommended coconut water for this though, and it seems to be helping.
5. The comments and questions about when I am due now come at me non-stop. I don’t mind it, but I DID mind it when this one man said, in response to me telling him I’m 3 weeks away from my due date, “Oh, I would have said you were due yesterday! HA-HA-HA”.  Har. Har.
6. I still need to get a nursing tank.
7. I am squished in between the two emotions of not wanting to be pregnant anymore, but still not feeling quite ready yet to have my life taken over by a baby. 
8. I feel like a hippo walking around on its hind legs.
9. I am finding that the keys to not looking as wretched as you feel is a shower, lots of lotion or body oil, bright lipstick, and good posture.
10. Sometimes I fall asleep at night imagining what it will be like to hold her in my arms.

BOLERO

 The most recent Radiolab podcast tells two stories of an artist and a composer – stories which both revolve around the piece, “Bolero” by Maurice Ravel. I loved this episode even more because of how much I love this painting. It’s obsessive, colorful, and orderly, and I would put a giant print of this in our living room. The painting is by Anne Adams, who quit her job as a biologist to become a full-time artist when her son was in a bad car accident. At one point, she became obsessed with Ravel’s famous composition, “Bolero”, and decided to paint a visual representation of the piece. The podcast then goes to explain how both Adams and Ravel experienced a degenerative disease that may have made its first appearance in the piece, “Bolero”.  Check out the episode here.

DINNER WITH FRIENDS AND SWEET BABY GIRLS

 

 We had our first official dinner on our new dining table with a couple of our dear friends who came over to hang out and pray. K. grilled up some shrimp kebobs and brats, and we had some naan, tomato & cucumber salad, tzatziki sauce for a simple and greek-themed meal. For dessert: cooked peaches drizzled with honey and topped with toasted almonds and vanilla ice cream!

 Also, can I share some photos of how fun it is to have a sweet and funny little 9 month-old around the house?? SImone is constantly making me laugh and watching her boldly go after Rusty and squeal with delight was probably the highlight of my week. She makes me so glad we are having a little baby girl...!

 

 

INSTAGRAM PEEKS

bits and pieces of life lately...

SUFJAN STEVENS, STAR SPANGLED BANNER

I'm really enjoying Sufjan Stevens' cover and interpretation of the Star Spangled Banner. It makes me hear the lyrics of the song in a way I never have before. Go Sufjan, go.  

Happy Fourth, everyone!

A PEDICURE TO SAVE THE DAY

Listen, when a lady can’t reach her toes, one of the best things that can happen to her is that one of her girlfriends gets her a pedicure (thanks Care!). Realtalk is that my toenails needed to be cut, my feet are swollen, and the chipped remains of the last polish were looking pathetic at best. Believe me, pedicures take on a whole new meaning when you know you can’t do one yourself. First of all, soaking my feet in water is like my new favorite thing to do. Secondly, you are so filled with gratitude that someone else is taking care of your feet, and you kind of feel bad, but not really. Also, I have never loved a massage chair more. That’s one of the upsides of pregnancy. You appreciate things like massage chairs and someone else painting your toenails like you never have before.

STRIPEY TEA CUPS

As a lover of stripes (who isn't?) I think these striped teacups by Ferse Verse are darling.

37 WEEKS

Sometimes I feel totally normal. Other times I feel like when one gets to be 9 months pregnant, they should be quarantined in some community with other 9 month pregnant women, left to be as cranky and nervous and excited as needed, whilst waddling/limping around with gigantic bellies. I know that being pregnant is extremely natural and all of that, but recently I’ve started to feel more and more like a freak. I mean, come on, a girl spends 28 years of her life NOT being pregnant, and then all of a sudden her body morphs into something almost unrecognizable in a span of nine months, and even if she KNOWS it’s normal, it doesn’t always feel that way.

Whenever I imagined what it would like to be pregnant, I didn’t fully understand or realize how hard the belly actually gets. When women would say that they have trouble bending over or shaving their legs or seeing their toes, it was puzzling to me, and now I see it’s because I had been imagining a pregnant belly to be like a fat person’s belly – just more fat and skin. But that’s not it at all!  It’s more like – especially these days – I’ve strapped on a very large bowling ball or a rock to my stomach. Can you imagine that? Picking up my phone that dropped on the floor is no easy feat if you have a large and heavy bowling ball occupying the space between your boobs and pelvis. You can’t bend! It’s awkward to even lean over the bathroom sink to rinse after brushing my teeth. Washing the dishes is much harder because I am that much further away from the sink. And turning from one side to the other side while sleeping is a production; it requires extra effort and hands to help balance the turn. I shall never take for granted the feeling of living life without something so hard and large be a part of the front of my body. Amen.

It’s been extremely hot and humid these days in Richmond, but I am blessed to live in a time and place where air conditioning is plentiful, so it's not terrible. Plus, it’s all the more excuse to eat more watermelon and ice cream. It’s frustrating not to be able to do as much, and it drives me crazy that my back starts hurting because I carried a bag of comforters upstairs, but such is the pregnant life. Unpacking is slow, but that's okay. I have 3-4 more weeks until baby comes and that is a good amount of time to unpack/organize/clean/nest, right? Right.

HELLO HOUSE: SNEEK PEEKS

 

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We’ve moved! I went to work on Thursday, while K. stayed at home and worked on the logistics of the movers moving our things from the apartment to the house. (P.S. Even though it was pricey, we do not regret hiring movers – totally worth it!) The big brunt of the move is over, but it is amazing to us how there are still a hundred things left to do! K. has been like superman, getting so many things done, most of them without my help, but we will still be busy this weekend trying to cross things off of our to-do lists.

I was really looking forward to being moved in, but I was still surprised by how GOOD it felt to get home to the new place and have all our things there, ready to be lived and used in this new context. I think it wasn’t until I saw all our stuff in the house that the reality that we had bought and moved into a house really sunk in. Being in a home that we bought and worked for definitely feels different than just moving into an apartment that I know we will abandon in a year. I already love this house – not because of the house itself, but because of what it symbolizes for us. The house itself is just a building, but it is also a dwelling place where so many of our days and plans and prayers have gone into and will continue to go into, in order to make a home for a family.