28 weeks!

Artwork by Daddy

How far along? 28 weeks. Wow. That means 12 weeks to go.... wow.

Total weight gain/loss: Still around 22 pounds I believe.

Maternity clothes? Now that it's getting warmer, I've found that some of my yoga pants still fit. Score!

Stretch marks? This week I was really hating the look of them for some reason. Before it wasn't really bothering me at all, but the ones on my legs apparently warranted a huge emotional outburst recently. Sorry Ben!

Sleep:  We rearranged our bedroom this week and gave Henry some new digs.

The room is much cozier now - although looking at this picture, the rug definitely needs to be switched out. (For a red one!)

Best moment this week: Ben and I got SO MUCH done this past weekend. Soon we will reveal the cubby system we built for the nursery closet. It was a somewhat complicated project, but we designed and constructed it ourselves, without any problems! (Other than the time we spent waiting around for the Lowe's guy to cut our wood.) I can't wait to get it painted. We are also almost done with a coat/hat rack to hang up in the nursery too. I was inspired by this:

shelterness.com

Ours is much smaller, and with brighter colors. I really like how it is turning out!

Movement: He is still rocking away in there. He's big enough now that I can tell when he flips his head into a downward position, which he does a couple times a day.

Food cravings:  All I want to do is drink milk all day long. And eat cheese and ice cream. Maybe his bones are doing some extra growing :)

*New Question: Nursery: Other than the diy projects we did over the weekend, I haven't touched the nursery this week. Except I did vacuum once. Heh. 

Labor Signs: I had a few more Braxton-Hicks (maybe?) contractions this week - these aren't actually labor signs, but a little unnerving anyway. This morning I woke up to a horrible cramp in my calf, and I kid you not, my first thought was "Please don't let labor feel this bad". Lol. I have a feeling I am in for an unpleasant surprise come June...

Belly Button in or out?  I noticed this week that I am carrying Henry lower than I was even last week. From my perspective, my belly looks smaller than it used to (though it doesn't in the mirror). I wonder if this means my innie is saved?

What do we want to teach Henry about?  Catching bugs and playing in the mud. :)

What I miss: Being able to easily reach my feet when I dry off from a shower.

What I am looking forward to: Ben and I have the entire next week off together! He's been on a fairly easy rotation, so we have been spending more time together than normal, but I am so excited for us to both be off work at the same time! :) 

Weekly Wisdom: I finished my breastfeeding book this week. I was worried that the information might be too much of a good thing - but I think it was really great! I read "Breastfeeding Made Simple". I have never actually seen anyone breastfeed - nor have I ever really talked to anyone about it - most of the mothers I know bottle-fed their babies. I feel much better prepared and confident that if something goes wrong while I am establishing feeding with Henry, that I will know what to do about it. I'm actually really excited about it!

Milestones: Today starts month 7 of our pregnancy! Only 3 to go! (You know - because 7+3=9. Why do they lie and say nine months when it's really 10?!)

Daddy's Thoughts:

I've been thinking about my impending fatherhood more and more, probably because it's inescapable at this point.  I think about my own dad and what he must have felt like in my shoes. First they had my older sister Carrie, which was probably a trial, I'm sure (here's looking at you Care, ;).  Then, two years later, they had me.  And boy what did they get there.  I'm sure I was nothing that dad was expecting:  I read a lot, played video games a lot, and was generally a nerd in about every way you could imagine.  From what I'm told, in his pre-daddy life, dad spent a lot of time out with his friends, playing softball, fishing, and generally raising hell.  He was a farm boy and a man's man and, from what I've gathered, the exact material from which you would expect a dad to be made.  

True, maybe he did overdo it a little at times.  I remember grandma Gladys telling me once that she honestly never thought dad was going to settle down with anyone, and then he met mom.  When she met mom, she told me that she understood that there was someone out there who would be willing to settle him down.

Anyway, I can't say I feel like I'm really that kind of "daddy material".  I still play video games a bit, I read, I'm a pretty big nerd over random facts and figures, and maybe I got a little too excited when I learned the definition of "millinery" this week?  (it's hat-making)  I know that pretty much anybody who tries will make a pretty good dad, but I know that whatever kind of dad I'm going to be is not at all like the image of "dadness" that I'm familiar with.

Seriously, my proudest moments in high school?  Probably getting the leads in the school musical and being scholar bowl captain for a couple of years.  And maybe speaking at graduation.  Worst moments?  3 years of playing football terribly and 1 year of playing golf even more poorly, letting my loneliness for a girlfriend constantly get the best of me, and squirreling all my thoughts away into my green "thought journal" that I guess I would somehow use someday?  I don't know.  When I think about dad, I wonder if he was ever able to relate to any of that.  It's just so far removed from the farm work and social activities where he always seemed most comfortable.


And yet, he was always there.  If it was important to me, he'd be there.  Even my scholar bowl meets he would try to make it to if he got the chance.  We'd talk about the questions he knew the answers to after the meets and I always found it them to be rare moments when I felt like we were touching each other, across the difference of our lives.  He'd come to both nights' performances of the spring musical when I had the lead, and you have to understand that my dad is not the kind of man who can sit through a sermon, let alone an entire 2 hour high school production easily.


I remember yelling at him, misunderstanding him, and generally being mad at him.  As high school drifted on, though, and college became a prospect, then a reality, I remember how things began to get easier and easier between us.  I was and still am as weird and geeky as ever, but that really didn't seem to matter as much as it used to.  I realize now that as different as I was back then, I don't think there was ever a time dad said something that said he wished that I was different.  Maybe it would have been easier if I were the son who like baseball and sports and all the things that I was supposed to like, but from what I can remember, I don't think dad ever said he wanted me to be anything else than I am.  He just gave me the opportunities and let me choose what I wanted.


How to be an understanding father, even when your son's as weird as I was.  Huh.  Just one more important thing he's taught me, I guess.


Love you dad,


  Ben