Today I am...29 weeks pregnant.

What a great week! Thanksgiving and my LA baby shower. My in-laws were in town and they were troopers as John and I worked all day. We’d come home to find a home-cooked meal, house repairs done, and furniture assembled. My sister was nice enough to throw me a little LA shower earlier in the week. It was a casual thing at my house but it was great! So nice to get all of my friends together. Though the whole open presents while everyone stares at you for an hour is a little daunting. I hate being the center of attention so, in general, these type of events are not for me. But it was fun and then we headed to Cuyamaca for Thanksgiving with the whole family. I am proud to say that even with my big belly, I managed to take a nice sized hike around the lake and make it back up the mountain to my parents’ house. Quite an accomplishment.

And now enough of the bragging, on to the stats:

How far along: 29 weeks

Baby Development: He’s apparently about 15 inches which is so long! He must be curled up in there.

Baby Movement: Getting more and more frequent.

Water Intake: Pretty solid. How much water is in decaf coffee again?

Best Moment of the Week: Being in Cuyamaca for Thanksgiving. It’s so beautiful there.

Current baby/pregnancy worry: Probably autism again. 1 in 70 boys are autistic. Wow.

Symptoms: The usual. Heartburn, aches and pains.

Sleep Quality: Getting worse and worse and increasingly detrimental to John.

Food Cravings: turkey, stuffing, candied yams, cranberry.

What I miss: Being able to button up my awesome winter wool coat

What I’m Looking Forward to: Being able to break out the Christmas decorations and Xmas music without being called crazy.

Trying to get done before baby: Go to the movie theater to see good movies

John's POV: “I don’t know how usual it is, or tacky it is, or if it’s just not done in polite society to have two showers (not that I could care any less), but doubling up the showers was a result of wanting to have my mom in attendance for the occasion. Since she was only in town this week, and my sis is in Germany and won’t be doing a shower until she gets back to the States, this was the time to do it. My mom would probably scold us for making such a fuss, but it meant a lot to both of us that she get to be included in the merriment of…. doing whatever it is ladies do at those things.”

LA Baby Shower

This past weekend my sister was kind enough to host a little LA luncheon/shower for my local friends. We also wanted to take the opportunity to do something when John's mom was in town so she could join in the baby fun.
I am lucky enough to be friends with a super talented invitation designer, Carolyn, and she came up with a little something that perfectly fit me (and John). Casual, funny, movie-centric... pretty awesome I think.

With that invitation, my sister decided to do a school-themed shower. The tables were set with apples, fresh #2 pencils, crayons, and books. It looked fantastic.

We used bulletin boards to describe the menu which included school favorites like Mac n' Cheese, three different kinds of sandwiches, ants on a log, salad, and brownies, and an old family favorite, puppy chow. Delicious!

I'm not big on games but we needed an activity so I decided to have each guest paint a small little canvas that I could use to decorate the nursery. While people balked and said they weren't artistic, they all turned out fantastic! I was super impressed.

I got a ton of amazing baby gear, cute outfits, and am so grateful for everyone that could make it. I had a great time.

Today I am...28 weeks pregnant.

A few monumental things happened this week. One, I had to switch over to full panel maternity jeans. Do you know what those are? They look ridiculous if you see them without a shirt. Because starting below the belly, there is this sheer elastic fabric that comes up right beneath your bra. So attractive. But, guess what? They are comfortable as hell. So I’m not sorry that I had to make the transition.

Then mid-way through this week, John finally felt the little guy kick!! I’ve been convinced in the past that he was kicking so hard that John HAD to be able to feel him. But no. Yet, lo and behold, one night this week I was laying in bed and the baby was going crazy. John put his hand on my belly and finally felt him! Thank goodness. I was beginning to fear that John thought I was making it all up.

This week I also got the results from my gestational diabetes test. Negative! I was so glad because I was dreading having to go back for the 5 hour version of the test. The doc did say I had a slightly low iron level so now I get to take iron supplements in addition to my prenatal vitamins.

And now, the stats:

How far along: 28 weeks

Baby Development: The little guy can open and close his eyes. Good to hear because we have a pretty awesome pool and we want him to be able to open his eyes underwater.

Baby Movement: Finally can feel it from the outside.

Water Intake: I’m sucking it down at my desk with my handy straw.

Best Moment of the Week: Definitely watching John feel the lil’ guy moving inside me. Totally amazing.

Current baby/pregnancy worry: Making sure he comes out healthy.

Symptoms: My belly is no joke now. I look pregnant.

Sleep Quality: Certainly not what it used to be.

Food Cravings: Trail mix. Heavy on the M&Ms.

What I miss: Sushi. Ohh, delightful albacore how I miss you.

What I’m Looking Forward to: More and more movement from the little guy.

Trying to get done before baby: Buy a new family room rug that isn’t toxic.

John's POV: “I think I felt him once before this, but it was this one lonely little pulse, and wasn’t sure if it was the real deal or not. This week was. He’s swinging for the fences now.”

Rejected Invite

I am super excited about my upcoming LA baby shower. We ended up with an amazing invitation but I feel like I have to share the runner-up. Also fantastic but the winner edged this one out a little.

Today I am...27 weeks pregnant.

The start of the third trimester! I have to say that I can’t believe I am in the third trimester. Time has gone by so so fast. I am sorry to say goodbye to the honeymoon trimester because it’s been fairly nice and easy (knock on wood).

This week I had to do the obligatory gestational diabetes test. I was dreading it for many reasons. One, I didn’t want to fail it like a lot of my friends had. Two, I heard the orange sugar drink was pretty nasty. And three, the test means another needle and another vial of blood drawn. Turns out, it wasn’t that bad. I guzzled that orange drink quickly with no problem and maybe I’m even getting used to having my blood drawn. Who is this person?!

This week was a little rough because all of the many pregnancy newsletters I receive talk about the baby’s movement and what’s “normal” and doing kick counts. So, of course, the pessimist that I am, one night I felt like I didn’t feel him. I hadn’t felt any movements in a while. Of course, the logical, intelligent person in me looks back and thinks, yeah, he was probably sleeping. Leave him alone. That’s not exactly how it went down at midnight though. I freaked out, got up, tried to walk around a lot, had a big glass of orange juice, and put on some music. After what seemed like an eternity, I felt something. A little something. But it was enough. The following day he moved a lot, just to reassure me that everything was okay. But I wish someone had told me that this happens all the time. Babies will have active days and then a completely quiet day. Would have saved me from a lot of panic. Or maybe not.

And now here are the stats:

How far along: 27 weeks

Baby Development: He’s as big as a cauliflower and is sleeping and waking at regular intervals.

Baby Movement: Well, like I said, it’s up and down.

Water Intake: Going well. I’m proud of myself.

Best Moment of the Week: Hearing the little guy’s heartbeat at my doctor’s appointment.

Current baby/pregnancy worry: Everything. I’m kind of a worrier.

Symptoms: More heartburn and acid reflux. How do people deal with this on an ongoing basis?

Sleep Quality: Not too bad. I still can usually make it through the night without getting up.

Food Cravings: Chopped salad. Hear that? I do like some healthy stuff.

What I miss: Brie. What a fantastic cheese.

What I’m Looking Forward to: Hopefully my back will hurt less post-pregnancy.

Trying to get done before baby: Need to clean out my closet and give stuff to Goodwill.

John's POV: “Belle & Sebastian’s 'Boy With the Arab Strap' is what we used to get the baby moving. Specifically the title track. And a combination of the natural sugar of OJ. But I’ll never hear that record the same way again. Oh, and we went right out and ordered a fetal heart monitor. Anything not to put ourselves through that again.”

Today I am...26 weeks pregnant.

Halloween was this past week and John and I were invited to a costume party. A costume party where we had to dress up as a movie or TV character. Well, when you’re pregnant, the choices are pretty slim. After narrowing it down to Juno or Katherine Heigl in “Knocked Up”, we went with Juno. (Only because Heigl wouldn’t have required much of an outfit.) Of course, before we went, I said out loud, “I hope there are other pregnant women there because I’m sure they’ll be Juno.” Guess what? There were TWO other pregnant women there and BOTH were dressed as Juno. With BOTH of their husbands also dressed as the Michael Cera character. Poor John. Bad enough that he had to wear short running shorts. But then he had to be one of three guys wearing running shorts. Oh well. It was still fun and I think a costume success!

And now, let’s get down to business with the stats:

How far along: 26 weeks

Baby Development: He’s supposedly two pounds and has all 5 senses! Which means he can taste the deliciousness of the burrito I had for dinner. And which also means he’s probably more than two pounds.

Baby Movement: Not as much as the baby newsletters made me feel like I need. But maybe our little guy is just as mellow as us. Not like John or I are out there bike riding or doing mountain hikes.

Water Intake: Drinking like crazy and continuously filling up my cup at the work water cooler.

Best Moment of the Week: Picking out a crib for the little guy and finally having some concrete ideas about the nursery.

Current baby/pregnancy worry: If I’m getting enough nutrition with my diet. I think I am…

Symptoms: Not many really. This is a piece of cake!

Sleep Quality: As good as could be expected.

Food Cravings: Chips and salsa.

What I miss: Feta cheese. Do you know how many delicious salads and sandwiches have feta in them? Especially in LA.

What I’m Looking Forward to: Getting baby stuff!

Trying to get done before baby: One of these days I should really get a haircut.

John's POV: " I wanted to go as Nick and Carla Tortelli, since Carla was knocked up in almost every season of ‘Cheers’, but Lisa claimed no one would know who we were. Apparently because one of the most popular sitcoms of all-time was too obscure. So I joined the other prospective fathers at the party in looking like a jackass in USC running shorts.”