22 Week Belly

I think that's the same shirt I had on for last week's picture.  My maternity wardorbe is not varied.

22 Weeks

Another week down!  We think I'm getting bigger every day, which I suppose would make sense, as the little guy is growing leaps and bounds.  He's a kicking machine these days, and he's definitely starting to follow a schedule -- I know for sure certain times of the day when he's going to wake up and have a party in my belly.  It seems, too, that one of his favorite places to kick me is right in the cervix (sorry if this is too much information for some people).  I was reading about it online, and apparently it happens to a lot of people, but let me tell you, it is not the most comfortable thing in the world.  It kind of feels like he just might fall out.  But I've been assured that that won't happen (and the fact that it has been happening for weeks now and he is still where he should be is a good sign).

I've started to notice my belly getting in the way a little more, too.  I'm misjudging spaces that I would have normally fit through (like between the table and chair) and end up bumping my belly against something.  And if I'm sitting and bend down to put my shoes on, I can't quite reach as far as I could before.  I wonder when Chris will have to start putting my socks and shoes on for me :)  I already asked him if he would paint my toe nails when that day came.  He said he'd just pay for me to have a pedicure, which works just as well for me!

Another thing that seems to be getting worse is the pregnancy brain, also known as I can't remember anything anymore.  I wasn't bad in the beginning, so I thought maybe I would escape this particular pregnancy side affect, but whoa, has it arrived.  An example...Monday, I was supposed to work out of a different location.  The company was doing a drill to see how functional employees were at a location that they did not normally work at.  I was really excited to participate because the location I was going to was about 15-20 minutes from my house, as opposed to my approximately 1.5 hour commute I slog through daily.  But guess what.  I totally forgot.  I went to work as normal and didn't remember that I wasn't supposed to be in Chicago, but rather Downers Grove until I was digging through my bag for my key card and felt my little container of paperclips that I had brought home with me on Friday so I would have them on Monday.  I was so embarrassed.  I had to call a few people to let them know that I would not, in fact, be participating in the drill because I have no memory.

This week's belly picture coming soon...

End of an Era

For those of you who converse with me on my cell phone, you are quite aware that I am capable of about a 3-6 minute phone conversation before my phone dies.  And then, if I have access to a charger and an outlet, it takes about 6 more minutes for the dang thing to turn back on.  And when it does turn back on, it usually has a full battery, only to die again after another 3-6 minute conversation.  Oh, and don't even try pulling up a website or having an extended text message conversation.

This is because I have had the same phone for 3 1/2 years.  Chris got it for me for my birthday in 2008.  Props to RIM for making my little Blackberry Pearl so resilient (seriously, I have put this phone through hell) because seriously, how many of you out there have had a phone last for that long.  And really, I think the problem is not the phone, but the 3 1/2 year old battery.

Anyway, this brings me to my point.  Hallelujah, I have finally gotten a new phone...or at least ordered it.  Yes, friends, I am finally going to be the owner of an iPhone!  An iPhone4S, to be exact.  So very soon, I will be able to communicate and browse the web (maybe even at the same time!) without fear that my phone will poop out at any second.  No longer will I have to preface all phone conversations with, "if I suddenly am gone, don't worry, my phone just died" or "I'm going to call you back from my house phone in two seconds before my phone dies"

So Pearl, as of the 28th, or somewhere thereabout, you will be retired.  It has been lovely.

21 Weeks

Only 19 weeks left! I'm for sure getting bigger and kicks are getting more frequent and stronger.  Still feeling good, although my hips are starting to hurt more at night (sleeping on my side all the time is NOT comfortable).

Exciting baby news, but not our own.  Our friends Mike and Liz had their baby today!! Now baby Matthew just has to wait a few months for his best friend Johnny to be born. 

And here's this week's belly picture...I know, my CTU sweatpants are hot.  

A Beautiful Bride

That's what Kelly was this weekend!  In addition to the excitement of finding out we're having a little man, one of my best friends, Kelly, got married! 

It was an excellent weekend for such an event.  We had the rehearsal on Friday and the rehearsal dinner at this cute Italian restaurant.  The meal was served family style, which was excellent.  I got to have a little of everything, and as much of it as I wanted.  Sadly, the as much of it as I wanted didn't match up with how much my stomach can hold :)  We had penne with meat sauce, fettuccine alfredo, meatballs, chicken parmesan and salad. Yummmmm :)

After that, the bridesmaids went back to Kelly's hotel room.  We watched Bridesmaids, ate snacks and just enjoyed Kelly's last night as a single lady.  I brought the snacks -- word to the wise, if the pregnant lady gets snacks when she is hungry, watch out.  We ended up with chocolate and cheese: Milano cookies, little chocolate donuts, cheese pringles, tortilla chips and pretzels to dip in cheese dip....and grapes.

The next morning we all met back in Kelly's room to get our hair done.  Her immensely talented cousin did all 5 of our hairs, and everyone looked beautiful.  Mine felt 60s-ish to me and I was loving it :)

Saturday was sunny without a cloud in the sky.  Kelly was so stunning and her now husband, Patrick, was quite handsome (but Kelly wins :) ).  It was an outdoor ceremony with a pond and forest preserve in the background.  The reception was just inside in the Greenbelt Cultural Center.  We had a mexican buffet for dinner and dang was it good.  But I think my favorite part of dinner was the sweet table :)  Kim, the other pregnant bridesmaid, and I led the way to it :)

And some photos that I took from other people, since my camera was in attendance, but decided to die.  Awesome.



Before the ceremony



Oh, beautiful bride!





The Wedding Party



All of Chris' dreams have come true

That's right, it's a boy!! (For the record, my dreams would have come true either way -- I want one of each, so I would have been thrilled with a boy or a girl)  We are so excited!  We already have a name, too. Our little man will be named John William Collins -- John after my dad and William after Chris (if you didn't know, Chris goes by his middle name).  Chris is already planning camping trips :)



This is the best profile pic she could get -- you can see his little mouth open



Not gonna lie, this one is a little creepy -- the white blob in the middle is his face -- the dark circle in the white blog is one of his eyes and you can see half of the other one toward the top.  The c shaped thing is his little hand up by his face.

And here is the proof he is a boy :)  The white curved line just below the arrow is one leg -- if you look above that you can see the other leg and right in the middle where the arrow is are his little boy parts.

He was kicking up a storm, rolling over, covering his face and just being difficult for most of the ultrasound (signs of what is to come??).  However, she was just scanning around, looking for the next thing to measure, when bam, little one kicked his legs wide open and all three of us were like "WHOA!" and our tech was like, "Well, you saw that, too.  It's a boy!"  The picture doesn't do justice to what we saw at that moment.  It was so clear, you had to laugh.  You could clearly see his legs, feet, toes and....his, you know.  Then the rest of the ultrasound, apparently he was totally flashing us (that part we didn't see, we just took the ultrasound tech's word for it).  He heart was at a strong 150 beats per minute (we got to see all 4 chambers of the heart opening and closing...so cool).  I can't wait to see his little face in real life!

A technical note -- I know some of you have had issues posting comments...the issue should be fixed now, so commenting shouldn't be a problem.

20 Weeks 1 Day

Please excuse my sleepy expression -- it was 6:45 am and I hadn't put on any makeup yet.  And I promise I don't wear white socks with black pants -- it is raining today and I wore my rain boots.  And no worries, I have appropriate footwear at work :)