Think 'Cheery'

These scans aren't that great, but here are some of the fat quarters of fabric I picked to make quilt squares for our baby girl's bedroom curtains and a couple matching pillows. The yellow swatch with random polka dots is for her glider chair cushions.

Will She Have My Squinty, 'Smiley' Eyes?

This coming Tuesday, I'll be 35 weeks along = I have just 5 more weeks... I can't wait to meet my baby girl!

Some of these range from one semi-extreme to another, but most are meant to demonstrate I'm aware there's quite a range in possibilities... and some simply demonstrate my growing curiosity:

Will she prefer to be swaddled at night or will she sleep with her little arms and legs spread free?

Will she come when she's called or will she run away, giggling and defiant?

How old will she be when she wants us to change the paint colors of her bedroom walls?

Will she be content to take her time learning how to walk, or will she wanna be on the go as soon as she can get herself upright?

What will her first words be?

Will she be fascinated by the kitties, relentlessly trying to follow them around the house? - will she terrorize them? or will she totally ignore them?

Will she enjoy listening to music as much as I do? or will she feel that music is too distracting, too much like noise?

Will she be a cuddly baby or will she be a lil' squirmy worm, eager to be set down, to move independently and be free?

Will she be a quiet, contemplative introvert, or an outspoken extrovert?

Will she talk to herself and make noises, always motoring away, or will she be a lil' lady of few words?

Will she be shy and reserved, or brash and compulsive?

Will she eagerly eat her green beans and mushrooms, or will she be a picky eater?

Will she feel compelled to share her feelings and opinions, no matter the subject, or will she keep the majority of her thoughts to herself?

Will she like to sing?

Will she be a little chatterbox or quiet as a mouse? or a little of both?

Will she be a deep and long-night sleepy dreamer or will she fight it every night, afraid she'll miss out on something once she's in bed?

Will she be delighted to play in the tub until the water goes cold, or will we have to drag her to the tub?

Will she have a sweet tooth? - chocolate or vanilla?

What will her favorite color be?

Will she be a daddy's girl or a momma's girl?

Will she like using markers and crayons and paints or will she not be able to care less?

Will she be an active, agile athlete, or will she prefer to keep her two left feet planted firmly on the ground?

Will she be oblivious to dirt, or will sticky stuff on her little fingers drive her nuts?

Will she love nature, and hiking, and a weekend of camping with her family, or will she prefer a day at the mall?

Will she cooperate when mommy needs to wipe her snotty nose, or will she thrash and scream?

Will being told 'no' be enough for her, or will she insist that she test out what she's been told?

Will she wait patiently in her crib for someone to come claim her in the mornings, or will she squeal and scream? or will she take matters into her own little hands, like a lil' jail bird planning a break out?

Will she favor dinosaurs or pretty princesses?

What will her favorite food be? - - If I have any influence upon that one, I know it will be cheese...

Hold On to Your Socks!

Having scanned the Behr paint samples, I can see the scanning bed kinda whited them out...Did I mention already that the paint colors we've chosen for our baby sweet potato girl's room are kinda bright?

If not, consider yourself officially FOREWARNED!

Preparing zee baby's room for zee painting extravaganza!

Here's the first coat of 'Yellow Brick Road'

'Yellow Brick Road,' all done, taken yesterday morning!

And this morning, here's 'Yellow Brick Road' with a lil' peek of 'Dragonfruit' revealed to the left...Is 'bright' the right word for this? Now, although this pinky-red 'Dragonfruit' may seem a bit overwhelming, imagine a couple shelving units as well... A tall narrow one with 12 cubbies, 2 cubbies-wide and 6 cubbies-tall, that will be painted in the yellow, placed against one of the two 'Dragonfruit' walls, and then imagine a tall, wide, very bright 'California Poppy' red bookshelf with 6 shelves to be placed against one of the yellow walls. Now imagine that the inside of each cubby hole and the inside of each shelf is painted with another color, like the 'Melon' and the 'Apple Orchard' shown at the top, plus another green and an even brighter orange, both of which I used in the angel boy-O's bedroom as well... can't see it?
I'll be sure to post pics of the final product!

33 Weeks, TODAY!

Okay, this pic was actually taken yesterday... not a good pic either. I look more like a shapeless green blob... but lemme' tell ya, that shirt is one of my most comfortable maternity shirts!

32 Weeks! (from LAST week)

Not a great picture - - don't know what that look is on my face?

"Nine Loads of Laundry" vs. "12 Lords a Leaping"

This past weekend, we were CRAZY busy with the domesticities of life! OH MY GOODNESS, yes!

For instance, I ran a few errands: Picked up 5 bags of maternity clothes from a friend (and tried on all 5 bags' worth later that night); Saw my sister and went to 2 different fabric shops together for her to help me pick out fabric material for some pillows I want to cover, and the glider chair cushion cover I want to make, all for the baby's room, all using a quilted squares arrangement; Went to Goodwill to drop off MORE stuff we don't need; Went to Target to return some items and buy some new 'stay at our house' clothes for the angel boy-O; Went to Ross to look for compact laundry baskets for the boy-O and the baby sweet potato girl; Went to Home Depot THREE times, 1) to choose paint samples, 2) the initial paint purchase and 3) more paint needed.

We (I) finally finished packing up alll EIGHT of our Sterilite 54-qt. size storage bins of Christmas decorations, and my honey-man put them all back out in the garage.

My honey-man also vacuumed up all the pine needles left from the removal of the garlands removed from our stairrails. And he changed out the litter boxes. And he collapsed all the numerous (a couple dozen) cardboard boxes we had saved in the garage for recycling day this week. Annnnd he finished cleaning out what has been his home office in order to graciously make way for our lil' one to arrive in less than 50 days from now, give or take a few days...

With the room finally empty, I masked and taped off the doors, windows, baseboards, and ceiling edges, and my honey-man masked the entire ceiling, itself, and the entire room's floor space, and then my honey-man paint-sprayed two coats of paint for two walls' worth of 'Yellow Brick Road.' Tonight he'll finish painting the rest of the baby's room using 'Dragonfruit', which looks like a bright, pinkish red, while I'll paint her 2 shelving units with 'California Poppy' red, 'Apple Orchard' green and a light 'Melon' orange. [PICS TO BE POSTED BY THIS WEEK'S END, PROMISE!]

And we did NINE loads of laundry, allll of which were folded by my honey-man. How is it possible for just two people to have accumulated 9 loads' worth of laundry in need of washing over one weekend? Do we have a lot of clothes, enough so that we can go awhile without washing anything? Well, yes, that too, but that's not really what happened: We washed a couple bath rugs and 3 toilet seat covers, 2 sets of drapes and 2 sets of bedding, and a very dark 'prone-to-severely-bleed-all-over-everything' red duvet cover as well. We washed the multitude of maternity clothes I just acquired from my friend. We washed all the Christmas linens, and every cleaning and kitchen rag we'd not washed for the last month. We had a load of reds, 1 of jeans and pants, 1 of synthetics on 'gentle-cycle,' 1 of underwear and dark socks, and a load of dark cottons. Oh, wait - - that's ELEVEN loads of laundry!

Pregnancy Latests

Trying to record some pregnancy details here from over the last couple weeks, so I'm just going to type 'em as I recall particular details:

I still haven't yet managed to scan any of the photos from our last sonogram.

I'm certain one of the reasons I haven't gained a lot of weight is because heartburn serves me as a seriously severe eating deterrent.

Two Sundays ago, I had heartburn so bad, I was up until 4am, tossing and turning, unable to sleep. This has happened 3 other nights since.

That same Sunday, two Sundays ago, it REALLY hit me that day that I had at that time only 2 months before this baby is to be born... I have been waiting to have a baby for several years, and now that it's about to happen, and there are soooo many expectations involved on so many levels, and from so many directions, I wound up spending that Sunday in tears, bawling about every 2 to 3 hours, feeling absolutely overwhelmed, drowning in a swell of anxiety, feeling wholly inadequate and totally unprepared... which is bullshit, really. But that day? You would have thought the sky was falling!

A week ago or so, I was sitting on the couch scanning through some work emails late at night, and Otis was curled around the left side of my belly... and the baby kicked him about 4 or 5 times until he moved off of me.

On our way to our first Lamaze class, trying to find the location on a dark street, we realized two other cars ahead of us, both driving slooowly, moving in and out from the curb, were most likely looking for the Lamaze class location as well. As one of the two cars made a U-turn to head back the way we'd come, I recognized the driver... My honey-man rolled down his window for me and he waved, and as they rolled down their window, I called out the person's name... His reply: "Angeline?!?" We laughed and then asked him if they too were looking for the same Lamaze class, and his next response: "You're pregnant!?! When are you due?" He apparently had no idea I'm pregnant, and he about flipped when I told him my due date. SOME BACKGROUND INFO: There are many who aren't daily regulars in my office, who are just now finding out that I'm over 7 months along. Well, anyhow, this fellow, he's apparently one of those, having not heard any earlier that I'm expecting, also unable to tell, visually, as he usually deals with me while I sit behind a large desk. I told him it was okay - - I didn't know his wife was pregnant, let alone that he was even married!

Last week, I had a huge burst of activity, enough so that by that weekend, I was totally exhausted. I got about 9 hours' worth of napping done by Sunday afternoon.

I was in a meeting this Wednesday, sitting against a wall with a colleague sitting directly to my left. I was tracking the meeting minutes on a laptop, and during a long pause in my typing, our baby sweet potato girl went into what I call her teeter-totter rock... It's quite the visual presentation! I'm hoping to catch it on video somehow... Anyhow, so she's rockin' away, and in my left peripheral vision, I could see that my colleague had turned his head, staring down, wide-eyed at my moving belly.

I had the chance to watch a friend's darling 9 pounder, 5.5 week-old daughter for a little while during the day earlier in the week. She totally passed out on me! She was lying on my chest, situated on her tummy with her tiny arms hung slack, out along my ribcage, and her bitty legs tucked in with her tinsy bum settled atop my sizable pregnant belly like she was set on a shelf. As long as I lounged back a bit, I was working hands free!

Still no sign of any stretch marks.

My OB gave me the green light yesterday to begin using Zantac to combat my chronic heartburn! YAY!

And now it's time for bed!

P.S. We think we've chosen her name! More on that soon.

Contraction Begins... and R-E-L-A-X

We had our second Lamaze class tonight. Among a number of things, we learned a new breathing technique and several new relaxation body positions... The last relaxation position we were taught, we were asked to stand facing our partner, toes eight inches away from the other's. The momma is to lean toward her partner, legs remaining straight, both arms slung around her partner's neck, placing her right check resting on her partner's right shoulder. The partner should then be able to reach around the momma to help the momma sway her hips gently back and forth, and to rub the momma's lower back, while the momma begins with a 'cleansing breath,' followed by 'paced breathing,' aiming to help relax the momma's back during contractions.

Soooo, we were practicing this back relaxing position and when it was time to stop, I stood back, upright, smiling drowsily at my honey-man, and then I leaned in to give him a kiss on his neck, and as I moved back, away from him again, I noticed something... and with shock and awe in my voice, I spoke of my realization aloud: "I drooled on you!?!"

Three neighboring mommas and a couple hubbies within earshot were quite impressed! I guess I was really relaxed.

Why I Love Mah Honey-Man ~ Reason 35

Because he bought an ELO album with the iTunes gift certificate he'd had for nearly a year. For those of you too-young-to-know, clueless as to what ELO is, that'd be the Electric Light Orchestra.

Anyhow, my honey-man is presently standing before our front room stereo speakers with his acoustic guitar, trying to play along with the bass lines of each ELO song blaring from the aforementioned speakers.

He's such a cute lil' geek! I think I'll keep him. Yeah.

Why I Love Mah Honey-Man ~ Reason 34

Because my honey-man told me last night and again this morning that I'm mighty sexy as a pregnant woman, and he meant it.

Bring on the Baby Gear

For several years and the recent months preceding our conception plans, we've managed to acquire a number of baby items from our 'eager-for-Angeline-to-conceive' friends and family...

Here's what we had BEFORE I got pregnant (most of which are hand-me-downs*, but all in great condition):

Onesies up the wahzoo (sizes 0, 3 and 6 months)
2 darling baby girl Old Navy sundresses
Several other pieces of lil' girls clothes
Baby swing with 6 speed settings*
Travel baby swing*
One of those baby loungers that vibrates*
Infant bath tub*
Inflatable toddler bath*
First Years bottle warmer*
Fischer Price floor gym*
Crib bedding (a set of bumpers, skirt, blanket, one set of sheets)
Door-hanging diaper storage bag
Graco Pack n' Play*
Baby Bjorn*

And here's what we've bought on our own so far (it's not much); most are garage sale buys*:

Diaper Champ* (was $2 bucks!?!)
Travel baby bather lounger* (also $2)
Crib with nearly new Sealy mattress* ($50 smackeroos)
Some uber cute girlie-girl clothes from eBay - see pics!
Several 0-6 months footsie pajamas via eBay
Several 6 months Onesies via eBay

And here's what we've been given since we announced our pregnancy:

Microwave bottle steamer*
Glider chair*
Co-sleeper*
Wicker bassinet*
Dotted diaper hanging pad
Dotted rubber duckie and 4 washcloths
Diaper bag - see pic below!
Baby girl's frilly Tutu - see pics below!
Nursing Mothers Companion book*
Several other cool pregnancy books (about 6)
and Gobs of ridiculously darling baby girls clothes, including a crocheted set of baby booties made by my late great Grandma Ruth, a precious cable knit yellow and green baby cardigan, and a soft, fleecy baby hoodie styled so the hood has lil' ears and a horsey mane with plush fleece baby cowboy boots!

Well, so what spurred the posting of these lists is the following two pics (plus my OCD need to make myself an inventory list to help me remember what we already have). The first item showed up in the mail yesterday! And the second, it's cuteness just absolutely kills me.

This is the diaper bag I'd registered for - - that I was NOT AT ALL expecting to actually be given.
Can I tell you how much I LOVE IT!?!

and Behold, a 'Twirly Tutu' for our baby girl!

This next picture is to indicate scale (yeah, right): If I'd known this morning what Otis would do once I had this on him, I would have video recorded the 8-10 seconds of well-worth-it kitty torture... He made three very high, distinct, but short leaps into the air, in a circle around the bedroom, like a lil' delicate ballerina!

Oh, I almost forgot! Here are some of the eBay pics of some items I bought in the first week after we found out we were having a girl:
I only just realized this morning that the last few months, even the last few years, are merely the beginning of all that will take over our home from here on out, in terms of the baby gear we've yet to acquire, and the overflowing 'baby-girlie cuteness' potential of such items. I can't help but grin... I've been waiting for this for a very long time.

Meow?

Someone asked me recently about Otis and Owen and when was I gunna post something featuring their cute lil' fuzzy mugs... That's an easy blog request to fulfill since it doesn't require me to remember any time specific details, nor to write any truly coherent sentences in an organized paragraph form, soooo, here ya go!

These two think my Snoogle is THEIR Snoogle...

I was at home with some sniffles (and zero sleep that night before), and these two camped out on the bed with me alllll day looong.

Otis used to be the only one to insist he supervise my computer time, strategically placing himself over my typing hands...

Owen about to take a nappy with his lil' yellow mousie-pal.

And here's Owen napping with his 2nd FAVORITE 'kitty toy,' one of his plastic flies... see it to the right of his lil' sleeping head? I'll have to tell this story someday. (Click image to enlarge)

This 'trunk' is full of baby gear... I guess Owen's guarding it?

Otis used to be the only one to lounge upon our couch's corner back cushions...

He's a bad influence on Owen.The full body length shot of this moment features a super soft, fuzzy kitty belly, but it's totally out of focus. But you can see how content he is, can't you?

Otis demonstrating his talent for imposing computer typing restrictions upon me.

I have a baby blanket I need to finish the binding on... Owen LOVES the material for this blanket, so it's usually kept in a storage bin. Every time I take it out, he manages to find it, and claim it as his very own.

My 2nd favorite sleeping partner...
My honey-man would be #1, of course, although he and Otis argue about that on a regular basis.

Owen, lover of clean laundry.

My aunt and uncle brought over a used glider chair and I told them that Owen would soon claim it as his... It didn't even take a full minute before he got all comfortable. I plan to recover the cushions soon - - I'll post pics of that if and when that happens.

Trying to keep Otis off my 'mouse' hand, I tucked him into my left arm, where he hid his face and slept peacefully for 2 hours.

I have nearly a dozen shots taken from this moment... They alternate back and forth, in which there will be one showing how he's looking directly at me, and in the next, he's looking away, trying hard to pretend I'm not right up in his face.

Owen's the best at ignoring me when I've got a camera up in his face.

Again, Owen, lover of clean laundry... He always finds it.

My aunt gave me an UBER CUTE lounging maternity outfit... Owen apparently approves.

He also approves of the uber soft, cozy Old Navy throw blankie given to me for Chrimpus from the angel boy-O.

So bold! He's LYING DIRECTLY ON TOP OF MY LAPTOP!?!
I imagine his kitty voice saying, "You will now pay attention to ME!"

This pic was taken on my birthday, while I was talking on the phone with an enthusiastic birthday well-wisher... It was the day after we'd gotten home from our holiday break. The two boys wouldn't leave us alone for nuthin'.

Guilty Confession #11

Whenever I see anyone wearing something made by Ed Hardy, my honest knee-jerk reaction/judgment is this:

"You're stupid."

The very same thing happens for other various ridiculously priced 'designer' clothing brands. I just can't seem to help myself on this one... it's all such a waste of good money.

Nothing But Good News

We saw our perinatal doc on Tuesday, and then I saw my regular OB GYN just yesterday. Overall, we've got nothing to share but good news:

1) I've gained only 11 pounds thus far and my doctors are very pleased with this (and I have zero stretch marks thus far -Knock on wood!)
2) My last blood test for anemia was negative; my iron levels are perfect
3) My gestational diabetes test also came back negative; my sugars are perfect
4) Our baby sweet potato girl managed to gain over a pound since Nov. 24th
5) She now weighs a respectable 3 lbs plus one ounce
6) She's approaching 15 inches in length
7) Tuesday's sonogram also revealed she has A LOT of hair already
8) She's now positioned in such a way that she can (and does) kick the underside of my left ribcage 24/7
9) If anything is to go wrong with her kidneys, heart or nervous system, it would show by now... but everything looks great, no problems.
10) My perinatal doc suspects our wee one now has a strong chance of going to full term!

We were also given a recording of Tuesday's sonogram - - the office burned a DVD of the whole thing, which begins with a big baby yawn!?! Very cool. I hope to soon post a couple stills from that sonogram once I scan them.

Over the next 6 weeks, I'll be seeing my OB every 2 weeks. Thereafter, I'll see my OB every week until delivery. As for my perinatal doc, I'll see him again, early the first week of February, and 4 weeks from then, I'll see him again and every week thereafter until delivery. I can't believe we have only 66 days until she's due?!?

Guilty Confession #10

This is bad - - sooooooo bad... I can't believe I did this:

This morning, I was running late for work AND I was starving. As I ran out the door, I was so desperate to eat what I'd prepared for my breakfast and not start over, that when I dropped my freshly made egg sandwich on the garage floor beside my car (the english muffin's bread side was down), I stared at it for about 4 seconds, and then went ahead and picked it right up, brushed it off on my shirt sleeve, and I ate it anyhow.

Yeah. And that's generally how the rest of my day went from there.

O' Christmas Tree

This was meant to be shared on Dec. 18th: This year's Christmas tree has got to be my favorite yet! See, my honey-man, he favors colored tree lights, and for the last 3 Christmas trees we've had together, our tree lights have always been in color... until this year! Yes, our 'every-other-year Christmas tree lights swap' has officially begun, as of Christmas 2008. Yup, this year, I finally got to have my way: White tree lights! I'm totally cool with using colored lights in the windows and outdoors, but for the Christmas tree, I absolutely favor the white lights because they better feature the actual colors of the ornaments with greater clarity than the colored tree lights.

This here is the quite darling tree ornament Wendy's sister, Leslie sent me.
(click the image to enlarge)

I'm proud to say neither Otis or Owen have ever terrorized a Christmas tree in their lil' furry lives. Instead, they like to right beside 'em, and sometimes, right beneath them, staring up into the tree, totally zoning out, as my lil' Owen is seen doing here.

Noooo, yer Not Mistaken, You ARE in Vegas

This post was meant to be posted on Dec. 17th - -

This pic is meant to feature the western Vegas Valley snowfall, taken Dec. 16th.On the way home from work, stuck in wheel-spinnin' traffic.

The main loop through our development...

Anyone for volleyball?

The snow cover lasted for 5 days!?! The day we had our pre-Christmas celebration with the boy-O and his mommie, Wendy and her lovin'-man, on the 20th, there was plenty enough snow to make snowballs! And we have two of 'em sitting in our freezer still! - one from the 17th, saved for the angel boy-O, and the 2nd, he'd made on his own once he was in Vegas.

Why I Love Mah Honey-Man ~ Reason 33

Because he didn't insist upon going out for my birthday, although he, and my aunt and uncle, had both offered to take me to dinner tonight. All I really wanted was some quiet time at home alone after we'd been away for 12 long days, and then some homemade mac n' cheese.

So I made my mum's mac n' cheese for our din-din, and my aunt and uncle came over with presents and an angel food cake and some pink birthday candles. Oh, and earlier in the day, I had wanted to go see a particular movie, another birthday wish my honey-man dutifully fulfilled as well [and that guilty confession, I'll save for a later post]. OH! Annd my honey-man also did allll our laundry today! He must love me.

It was a nice, low-key birthday. Thanks, baby!