Friday Evening

This evening I returned from work feeling fairly deflated. I began the day with an oatmeal upchuck, and throughout the morning this babe kicked me over and over. My back was sore, my hips seemed to give out each time I stood up, and my walk home felt like a major feat. I entered our house, opened the windows, and plopped down on the sofa and snoozed a bit while listening to the breeze. Somehow, I had a second wind and decided to head out on a walk. This is a small assortment of photos from my 5 or so block stroll around the neighborhood.


I remember collecting (what we called honeysuckle) Columbine flowers when we were young and eating the ends of the flowers where the "honey" is stored.

While taking photos, I was distracted by my bump.

Head Down

We just returned not long ago from an appointment to check on this babe's progress. By simply feeling my stomach (and performing a few other checks), the doc could tell this little one is positioned head down, aiming for the exit. We don't even know our son/daughter yet, but he/she is already making us proud. Somehow this has assured us that the babe is right on track for delivering "right," and it has sense enough to start getting into position. I am a little nervous that he/she might change his/her mind and flip back up, but at 5 1/4 pounds and 18 inches long, this sucker's running out of room to maneuver him/herself. Now those jabs under the ribs and at my sides are making a lot more sense, as I imagine its little legs bending and straightening.

Good for the belly

There are two weeks left of classes left at WKU, and unbelievably, the beginning of Baby 101 will soon follow. Despite the nausea that has failed to cease (or ceased to fail?) during these past eight months, the time has gone faster than I imagined it could. The babe inside has now found a crevice under my ribs and delights in poking under them once in a while. When I feel movement, I put my hand on my stomach and feel its little bum, or elbow, or head... who knows!
To ask us if we feel prepared, our answer is wishy washy. The diapers are stacked up, little onesies are waiting to be spit up upon and the blankets are ready to swaddle.
But. We are not settled on names, especially in the male category. The car seat is not installed. And most importantly, will we know what to do with this new being? Will it love us as much as we are prepared to love it?
I thought I would include a photo of my recent purchases from the back up and running farmers market... this week we are enjoying asparagus, greens, strawberries, beets and new potatoes. And I was just out to our "farm" (ie; the community gardens) and was pleased to see large onion, corn, bean, and pea sprouts (along with a large crop of weeds!). I added tomato, pepper and squash plants to the mix and then called it a day before the rain rolled in.

Call Us Crazy

Or later you can tell us "I told you so," but we're giving the cloth diaper bit a trial. With a little twist... these are hybrid cloth diapers, otherwise known as gdiapers. They have a cloth exterior with Velcro® tabs and...

A removable plastic snap liner, which contains a disposable insert. Or one might use a cloth insert. The disposable option obviously makes it the hybrid. But instead of taking 500+ years to decompose, it takes two months. We're not trying to be weird, we just think this makes sense. Figuring how many diapers a babe goes through in a day/week/year, that's a pretty hefty plastic footprint. And expensive one at that. So we'll keep you posted, but for now, we are sold on them, and hope it is a successful venture.

Expanding

In another day I will have reached 33 weeks. The babe is now most likely around a whopping four pounds, and might be around 17 inches, head to toes. Today I took a walk up the hill from our house and felt those extra pounds I am carrying, along with the zapped energy this babe is sucking up from me.




Spring seemed quite a ways off when we discovered we were pregnant back in September. Now that it has descended upon us, the due date at the end of May seems quite tangible.



I love the way sun streams into this future baby room in the evening. As you can see, we have not done much transforming as of yet, but the babe clothes are certainly starting to stack up.

Farmin' and Egg Smashin'

One of the only things missing from the Colonel Crump house is a big, sunny backyard. Yet as luck would have it, the city rents plots of land at a nearby park for gardening. So Josh and I spent $30 to rent a 30'x60' plot of Kentucky soil. We arrived at our "farm" this morning and had quite a job ahead of us. This new garden is about ten times the size of our garden back in Roanoke, and we only made it through planting rows of corn, onions and greens before we had to break for the day (it did not help matters that each time I leaned over to plant it felt like I was balancing a basketball between my chest and legs). We are very excited about the potential of this garden, if we're actually able to get through planting everything!

Later in the day we headed over to Rachele and Scott's place for an egg smashing party. The goal was to decorate an egg in an appealing manner, which we then judged. Afterward we partnered up and knocked eggs with our opponent. The winner (unsmashed egg person) competed against another winner. In the end, it came down to Scott and me, and as you might gather from the photo sequence (thanks to documentarian Josh), I was a bit overly surprised about my win.

Three-way tie of best egg-designs

Ingrid's "smushed" egg

My trusty unicorn egg

(I just like that Mila's giving the peace sign in this photo)

The young spectator of spectacles, Mila

After all the eggs were smashed, Rachele and Scott made a salad out of the egg "guts"
(Thank you Josh for all of the photos)