Getting Big!

4 weeks to go... yikes! It's about time I plan for this baby. My last day at work full time was Friday so this weekend Justin and I diligently prepared the baby's room, and I officially went into cleaning/nesting mode. My washer and dryer never stopped running, in fact it's still going at 11:45pm Sunday night. Justin and I often go into our now clean, organized baby's room and just stare at everything in silence. I can't believe this is happening - our little kid will grow up in this room! I am so grateful to friends and family for the generous gifts they have given us or let us borrow so this room could come together. Baby's going to love it! Speaking of baby... he/she is getting quite large. There is a lot of pushing, shoving, and stretching. Our baby's favorite position is L-shaped with long legs stretched out straight, feet poking out of my right side. It's crazy to actually see the odd contours of my belly when baby nestles into this position. It's definitely getting harder and harder by the day to move around, bend down to pick something off the floor, get out of bed, you name it - but I still feel great, and I don't have much to complain about. I did not take one child birth class, so aside from the bits and pieces I've gotten from various books, I'm hoping I have what it takes for a manageable labor. I go in to Portland Wednesday morning for one more ultrasound to check out a couple uterine fibroids just to make sure they will not conflict with baby's exit strategy, and then I'm completely ready. Bring it on!

Oh yeah, and Osama Bin Laden is dead.

8 weeks to go...

Today I am 32 weeks and 2 days pregnant. Justin and I are filled with the anticipation of meeting our little baby. We had a good prenatal on Wednesday - heart beat's strong, baby is head down and securely lodged in my pelvis, and sounds like we have a pretty big kid in there... please God, no 10 pounder! I feel healthy, although I'm noticing more fatigue- probably from my pregnancy insomnia, and it's getting harder to pull myself out of bed and off the couch because of this ever growing belly. Time is flying and I can't believe we only have two months to go. There are many fun things to look forward to in the coming months - spending some time with family, sunshine (hopefully), getting prepared for our home birth, and getting the baby's room ready. I'm really looking forward to being a mom full time and putting all my energy and attention into our little one.

Baby Moore

Ok, so we caved and got the ultrasound. I'm so glad we did; we have total peace of mind for the next 2 1/2 months until baby's due date. It was the neatest thing watching our child dancing around in my belly- our doctor said baby was definitely rambunctious, so it was tough getting a solid image, but everything checked out. She thinks our baby will be about 8 1/2 pounds at delivery, all limbs were accounted for, kidneys looked great, swallowing and processing fluids fine, the heart had four well developed chambers, and we saw a great profile shot where baby was moving its lips (Justin thinks he/she was trying to tell us to shut the damn ultrasound off). Can't wait to meet this little person!

28 Weeks

Holy cow, I only have 12 weeks to go... assuming baby doesn't decide to sleep in for two weeks like I did before I was born. I recently returned from Arizona and it seems that baby thrived with the warmer temperatures and laid back retirement lifestyle that Yuma has to offer. Baby had two full weeks sans stress, loads of Vitamin D, good food, and plenty of love from Grandma and Grandpa... sorry, Mom, Gram and Grandpa. I feel like time is flying by at warp speeds and I am not mentally prepared for the arrival of this baby quite yet. Thank goodness for Justin; while I was gone he cleaned the carpets and emptied the baby's room of all the guest furniture which is a huge start. We have a blank canvas to work from, and I'm excited to officially begin the nesting phase of this pregnancy.

25 Weeks

I was supposed to take a picture last weekend, but you know, life gets busy. I have been enjoying my growing belly and all the movement taking place. It's very distracting and I find myself zoning in on all the kicks and rolling motions throughout the day; it's like someone is playing pinball inside me. Physically I feel great, and I'm having more restful nights now. I'm starting to unwind and relax; this is my last week of work in sales and I'm trying to tie up all the loose ends before I leave for Arizona on Monday. I am looking forward to some warmer temperatures and sunshine to say the least. We've had a couple nice days in Hood River and it's amazing how many people start dancing around like their starring in a Broadway show when the sun comes out.

20 weeks

This one is for you Melissa! I'm officially 20 weeks in this picture; the belly is getting tight. My abs feel like they're about to explode and I'm only half way there. Is this normal? And I believe I see a hint of a stretch mark creeping up from way below. I hear it doesn't matter how much Shea butter, oil and salve you plaster on it; this is hereditary and I am predestined to get tatooed with the best of them. I went shopping for maternity pants last weekend and didn't find one pair that didn't remind me of bad mom jeans that would land me on an episode of What Not to Wear. I'll stick with the rubberband method for now. I'm still dealing with a bit of insomnia, but that's about all I have to complain about. I had my second pregnancy dream last night and it was a fair-skinned, perfect baby girl. I wonder if my dreams are trying to tell me something...

Justin felt the baby kick for the first time at 20 weeks; he is loving this experience just about as much as I am, and he's enjoying my round belly and other rotund things a little further north. Our next appointment is February 2nd. We got to enjoy the heart beat again - this time it was a little longer and stronger, but apparently our baby is very active, so we heard more swooshing sounds from his/her movement than actual heart beats. I also found out I have an irregular uterus, yeehaw. I noticed that I always felt movement on my right side and after our midwife felt around my stomach she noticed that there wasn't much real estate on my left side. I'm prepared to be a tad lopsided as this pregnancy progresses; hopefully people don't mistaken my baby bump for an abnormally large tumor.

Bears vs Patriots 36-7 loss

Our whirlwind trip to Chicago over a very short weekend was an experience like none other. Justin's long-lived dream to see the Bears play at Soldier Field finally came true, plans were set in place months in advance, and this was about to become the highlight of our year... or so we thought. The trip started off great; I met Justin at our favorite hotel, the Hampton Inn (always clean, smells nice, comfy beds, great continental breakfast, military discount). He was already in Portland finishing up his monthly drill day. We had a nice relaxing night and we were both filled with excitement for the big event on Sunday. Our plane left in the morning Saturday; Southwest does not assign seats and we found that most travelers were solo flyers, so on both rows all the way to the end of the plane just one middle seat was available and people were not in the mood to scoot over or change the seats that they had already laid claim to. I ended up in between two fairly nice travelers, although one woman had extremely foul breath and she defaulted to sleeping with her mouth wide open, aimed right at my very pregnant-sensitive schnoz. We landed in Chicago and we finally got settled into our hotel, which was nice, but I noticed some very questionable stains on the comforter and plush head board, yuk. We planned to eat at Ditka's downtown, which would have been about a 25 minute walk, so we opted for a urine soaked van cab, with a driver that couldn't possibly be legitimately licensed. Justin ended up tipping him $4 just so he could get the hell out, much to my dismay. Ditka's ended up being a 2 hour wait and everyone was dressed to the nines so we took our scrubby selves right out and walked around downtown to find a more fitting dining spot. We landed at Rock Bottom grill, which was able to seat us right away, and we enjoyed a nice steak dinner. We left the hotel the next morning and walked to Soldier Field in 17 degree temps and full on blizzard. We had little warmers stuck to our feet, hands, and butts and the chill still found its way in. Soldier field was amazing, and Justin fit right in with his fellow Bears fans. We were given free Bears oven mitts upon entering the stadium, which was about the best thing about that game. After a $7 hot chocolate, $8 beer for Justin, snow flurries, biting wind, and borderline frostbite, we courageously sat through the entire game while the Bears endured a complete and utter beat down from the Patriots. It wasn't so bad once I started cheering for the other team; I never claimed to be a loyal fan. We left the game trying to stay positive about the whole experience and went searching for some Chicago deep dish pizza, which ultimately made our night. Lou Malnati's Pizzeria was our hero that night. Our plane flew out Monday into beautiful blue sky; I felt ripped off because due to our short timeline and horrible weather, we didn't get to experience much of Chicago at all. We vow to go back in the Summer someday so we can tour around a little more and enjoy some of the attractions.