Auntie Anne sent us a very fun shirt!!    I imagine it’ll grow to be even funnier as Baboo grows but I wanted to show you its cuteness!   Thanks, AKH!

PS–Speaking of Baboo’s growth, (s)he is now the size of an avocado!!!

So I guess I popped while on vacation because I am getting comments about how pregnant I look from everyone I talk to.  I don’t feel bigger, but I guess it’s more noticable to others.  I have also started panicing.  About what, I’m not too sure.  I don’t know if it’s about labor, or going home with an infant, not knowing how to get on a schedule, or the next 20 years….  I guess it’s all of that.  Oh well, there’s no going back now.  I just have to go one day at a time.      

I do my glucose test today which I’m very nervous about!  Since I do diabetic teaching at my other job, I know I won’t be able to practice what I preach!  The diet isn’t complicated, but it’s not fun either.  I like starches too much. :)   

Baboo and I have returned from New Jersey where we had a delightful time at a company event.  We stayed under the tents during the Beach Party and chose not to participate in the hula hoop, limbo, or tug of war contests but we did enjoy some rum-less punch and some poker played with Lorna Doone mini cookies as chips!

I can’t tell you how many comments I got from people along the lines of “you don’t look pregnant!”   I guess that’s a good thing but I kept telling them I would be happy to pull down my pants/skirt and show them the pooch if they really wanted to see!  :-)  It wasn’t until Tuesday night when I wore a dress that someone said, “okay, you look pregnant now..at least from the side.”   So maybe they believe me after all.  It was bizarre to get all the concern for my physical well-being– I constantly was asked, “how are you feeling?” and “are you doing okay?”  Since these comments were often followed by, “you know, you can just leave this meeting and go lie down if you’re tired, ” I’m thinking I might just stay preggers forever! 

In other baby news, congrats to Seth’s sister and brother-in-law on the birth of Rachel late last night.  Apparently it was a relatively quick delivery so I’m sure that’s a relief!!

Feeding the boy.  TinyO likes to eat every 2 hours, for 20-45 minutes each time, most commonly 35-40 minutes. That’s 7-8 hours a day of breastfeding.  Wow.

Owen is 10 days old now.  For his 1 week birthday, my mom made cupcakes and we each had one candle (except Owen, he was sleeping and then had breastmilk sans candle).  Each day he’s a little different.  Sleep pattern changes a bit, maybe is a bit more awake, and looks a little different.  His conehead is gone, the bruise from the vacuum extractor is gone, and he’s starting to put on a little subcutaneous fat.  Like all newborns, he was really skinny with lots of extra skin, like a shar
pei dog.  Now he’s starting to fill in a bit, especially in his cheeks.  He still has back hair, but smaller sideburns, so he looks less like Baby Wolverine from Xmen.  When he’s unhappy in any way, he turns beet red and generates some loud cries, leading to his other nickname, Mr. Furious.  Fortunately, he’s a pretty good little guy.  TinyO likes hanging out in the baby carrier while his dad does things around the house.  Travis has been blogging more about being a dad (see the Elkridge Hollerer).

Six years ago today at First Presbyterian in Waco, Texas, Seth and I got hitched to the tunes of all French composers in order to celebrate Bastille Day.  Baboo was just a very, very, very, very, very far-off gleam in our eyes but we’re looking forward to having him/her around as we celebrate lucky number 7 next July.

I’m happy to report that I’ve persuaded Seth that we’re not going to be able to do any painting in the next 3 weeks.  It seems to me that every aspect of this baby decorating thing depends on something else.  I want to select the bedding first so that we can then figure out paint color, crib color, and general design plan.  And while it’s practical and cost-effective to choose a strictly neutral-colored bedding set, I still feel like I’m going to want to wait until the ultrasound before I buy any bedding.

Thankfully, Sheils the librarian knows how to work her research magic online (even though they didn’t have this crazy internet thing when she was in grad school!) .  She’s been sending me links to all kinds of bedding websites.  I’ve discovered that even though I don’t know what I want, I do know what I don’t want!  It’s like looking at china patterns all over again!  (Geoff– maybe you should pick us a bedding set since you did such good things with the Noritake!)   Finally, after looking at thumbnail pic after thumbnail pic, I found 2 sets that I actually like.

Of course, it’s never that easy.  I then turned to a great book that Jen got me called Baby Bargains and found that neither of the 2 brands that made the designs I liked got the highest rating.  By the time I read through the section on bedding, I was so confused about whether bumpers are good or bad that I just had to walk away.  I really need to get into some stores and see what this stuff looks like in reality…

Coming back from getting the mail yesterday, I noticed that there was a slim brown package outside our door.  I saw it was from Barnes & Noble and figured it was something Seth had ordered.  Then I noticed that it had my name on it and “Baby’s Momma” written underneath!!   Hmmm…..who would write such a thing??  What a mystery!

I opened it to find the FUNNIEST book ever and a message from a most surprising sender.  One of Seth’s (male) Sherwood Science colleagues purchased the book for me and wrote a hysterical message that involved, among other things, a plea for me to steal him some of the “good tylenol” from the hospital!  Ah, I love Seth’s teacher friends!

I’ve posted a pic  below.  You MUST read this book!   Basically, it’s full of individual vignettes with the fuzzy chicks posed and narrated in all kinds of situations related to pregnancy and motherhood.  I tried to take pictures of a few of the interior pages but the text came out blurry.

WARNING:   Exposed flesh!

Although I didn’t make it out for a walk this morning, I had every intention to do so and thus put on my “athletic gear” which of late has involved some XL Sherwood shorts belonging to Seth.  The tank top I put on is a bit shorter than it should be but the two together made me contemplate the trickery of clothes as they relate to the maternity belly growth.

Exhibit 1:

Yes, I look a little thick.  But there’s nothing screaming “preggers”, right?  

Exhibit 2:

 Pull down the waistband a little bit and VOILA!!  Instant Baboo!!

 I guess we should all be happy that the super low-rise pants craze is supposedly on its way out? 

**Editor’s Note:  These pics were taken using a self-timer camera propped on the ironing board.  Yes, Seth could’ve taken better pics but I’m impatient!

Even though I’m on vacation, I had to continue reading our baby updates.  I’m in Deep Creek Lake with Drew, his parents, his sister and brother-in-law, our niece, Emma, and Emma’s up in coming sibling who is currently gestating @ 15 weeks.  We got a great house this year, which I think we’ll be coming back to for years to come.  It’s on an inlet off the main part of the lake and has a great back yard covered in goose poop. 

So far, activities havecomprised of board games, movies, Wii games, fishing off the dock,  swimming in the lake, feeding the ducks, and collecting tiny frogs in Tupperware containers and keeping them until they suffocate.  Good times.  The boys are going to play golf tomorrow or Thursday, rain pending. 

Thor is 27 weeks today and must have gone through some kind of growth spurt yesterday.  He squirmed around more yesterday than all of his days combined.  That I could feel that is.  TUMS is no longer cutting it anymore and I have had to move on to bigger and better drugs, but I have no complaints. 

Ewwww.  Emma just squashed a big hairy spider.