Some random thoughts before I lose my mind to "pregnancy brain" ...

Time for a little update…

As I type, I’m 19-20 weeks along.  I’ve been told that “pregnancy agrees with me” – I guess all those jokes about have “child rearing hips” and “being big boned” and “made for having babies” are starting to prove positive for us.

I escaped my first trimester with not a hint of morning sickness, or any kind of nausea for that matter. I had a slight sensitivity to smells, but nothing that made me sick. About the only negative thing I can report is a runny nose and a penchant for sneezing at 20 times in a row at least once a day. So far, I’ve only gained 2-3 pounds, so I’m sort of waiting for the other shoe to drop. Or, maybe I’m carrying around a little mini-me, who will be born too early and very small. 

We have an ultrasound on Saturday, so another photo will be coming soon. And, no, we don't want to know the gender. We're both completely okay with the idea of having a child together and, until we meet our bundle of joy for the first time, I can't really say if I truly "want" a boy or a girl. I just want a happy, healthy family.

I did have a bonafide chest cold a few weeks ago, which isn’t fun at all when you’re pregnant. Fortunately, I was far enough along that I could take a Z-Pak. I was down and out for a few days, though being genuinely sick might have been just what the doctored ordered. After a last minute road trip to DC for my company’s winter briefing, contact with 400 people, being on my feet for three days, and getting absolutely no sleep, suddenly being relegated to my pajamas and the couch and bad reality TV didn’t seem so bad.

The house is coming along, slowly but surely. Nearly everything in sight is finished, though we are using the nursery as the final resting place for what remains to be sorted. We’ve been jokingly calling it the “nursery hoard.” Once we get those last few boxes of stuff put away—and, I’m not kidding – most of the boxes actually say “stuff” on them—we’ll be tackling the last and most enjoyable part of moving in: hanging our art. This has been my favorite moment in every place I’ve lived, and I’m sure it will be just as satisfying to finally see the walls of our home warmed up with the pieces of memories we’ve both collected and purchased over the years.

I’ve also been working on the baby registry. Baby registry. How weird is that? One day, you’re adding “must have” books and CDs to your cart; the next, you’re trying to decipher what exactly it means to have the “best” crib mobile and choose between swaddling clothes and figure out how many BPA-free pacifiers we need. It’s extremely fun, though, to be picking out Buckeyes’ onesies and tiny little hats and mittens and socks. I think this one is my favorite so far:

 

The nursery is sort of complete in our heads, and needs to be pulled down from style heaven. We have a hand-me-down crib that just needs some lovin’, plenty of beautiful re-purposed furniture, and have already sold a pile of our duplicate books to start our stockpile of classic children’s books. I’ve dropped about 1,000 hints to my parents that I want my mom’s bentwood rocker that she rocked me in. My dad recently informed Matt that I’ll have not one, but three choices of rockers, which, if you know my dad, seems somehow exactly apropos.

Otherwise, Matt and I are just plodding along, trying not to fret too much. Every once in a while I think the both of us temporarily panic about our child having some horrible disease of deformity. And there’s nothing very comforting about the idea of paying bills, PLUS a mortgage, AND the never-ending list of obligations that come along with parenting. At the end of the day, we are very much in love with each other and our new home. Honestly, I’m only worried about two things:

1. How we’re going to juggling three jobs between the two of us and raising a child
2. The cats jumping into the crib

Everything else will work itself out.