24 Weeks

I am 24 weeks pregnant.  We have about 12 weeks left to go before we need to be ready for D-Day.  We don't have a lot to do, but then we haven't started yet and we're entering the third trimester... so yikes!  Time to start thinking about baby's exit.  He's about the length of an ear of corn, and now weights more than one pound (well, our child probably has weighed more than one pound for a few weeks now).  Still a lot more growing to do!

We had a prenatal appointment this week to discuss general progress and to ensure I am prepared to travel to Florida next week.  Baby's been very active, kicking (I think, maybe punching?) on one focused spot over and over.  I remember this sensation with Bradley; you can actually start to feel sore because it's so concentrated!  He seems most active when I settle down, like when I hit the couch in the evening around 7 PM or when I settle in to read myself to sleep around 9-10PM.  I am *still* trying to sleep on my belly a little and I've noticed he likes to complain about that.  I have to do more of a side tilt to keep him happy, which I find amusing.  I've started using an extra pillow to keep my knees and hips more comfortable.  At any rate, the appointment went well.  My blood pressure and weight are fine, baby's heart rate is fine, we are cleared for travel.  I received the special instructions to get up often and walk, and if I cannot walk (e.g., there is a napping toddler on my person) I can do some leg pumps to keep the blood in my legs circulating.

Running and yoga both feel harder than ever, but I'm keeping up with them just fine.  I ran a 5K last night, which I try to do once a week or so, just to prove to myself I'm not insane for signing up for a race in April when I'll be 8 months pregnant.  I need some extra support for the belly now when I run, and my performance fabric shorts and capris are not fitting well.  I may need to search out some new gear for the third trimester, but I'm thinking I'll make do with some old gym shorts if possible as it's such a short period of time to have to buy something.  And I don't know if they make maternity exercise gear anyway, beyond yoga pants of course.  Yoga pants are EVERYWHERE these days.    (Oh, would you look at that; it turns out they do make stuff.)

Some pictures from this week:

P.S. Happy Valentine's Day!

Movie Time

Pat is big into the Oscars, and has been since he was a teenager, trying to watch the nominees and show each year, and watching past Best Picture winners when there was nothing else catching his eye at the video rental store (What a weird kid, right?  My favorite stories about this time in his life involve his going by himself to see The Bridges of Madison County because no one else he knew would go, and watching The Graduate but not really "getting it," because of course he wasn't old enough yet to understand the context or tension).  So, anyway, continuing the tradition together as adults, every year we try to watch as many nominated films as possible and then tune in with our at-home ballots to the show.  We have a little friendly competition to see who can predict the most wins.  He usually beats me, but the years when I do it's tremendously fun (for me, at least)!

We haven't had as much luck seeing the films beforehand since becoming parents, so we've focused on the best picture race, and with about a week to go before the show this year we have three nominees left to see: Les Miserables, Amour, and Zero Dark Thirty.  All three look great, and I actually bet Amour might be my favorite.  We may be able to take a few on the laptop for our trip so we have some quality entertainment after Bradley's asleep in the hotel room at night.  The big show is on the 24th, while we'll still be in Florida, so we'll watch that live without our TiVo to skip through commercials... BIG SOB!

This past week we've seen Argo and Life of Pi.  It took a while to get through Argo, as we started it about an hour before the power finally failed us on Friday night.  We kept starting it, having the power flicker off, restarting the computer, watching another five minutes, having the power flicker off, restarting the computer, etc.  Very frustrating!  We finally were able to see it Monday evening.

I thought Argo was captivating from the very first scene, and I always enjoy historical dramas because I like to learn history but need an entertaining delivery to stay engaged.  The story kept me on the edge of my seat, the costumes and hair and makeup were hilarious (yeah, 80s!), and I have to jump on the bandwagon and say I am surprised that Ben Affleck didn't receive a nomination for best director.  I think this was my favorite overall film so far this year, and at this point (with three left to see, of course) it's what I'll be rooting for to win best picture.

Life of Pi was equally entertaining, and now that I'm finished watching it I can say I enjoyed it, but yeeeeesh was it hard to get through at times... I don't want to give the plot away to anyone who might see it, so let's just say it combines one of my biggest fears with one of my biggest pet peeves in watching film/television.  I was in tears a few times telling Pat half-jokingly that I hated the movie while holding a pillow over my head just like my little brother, Steve, used to do as a child when he was scared of something on the screen (like Ewoks... those really got to him!).  My father's read the book and says it's great, and I can absolutely see that.  I think this needs to go on my "to read" list... if it doesn't give me nightmares, that is.

We're Okay

I can finally say we've made it through "The Blizzard of 2013."  I know I asked for some pre-Florida winter weather, but yikes.  We got about 2 feet of snow at our house, which was not fun to remove as we lost power Friday evening around 8 PM and therefore couldn't use our electric snow-blower... whoops.  Saturday the temperature in the house was hovering at 58, which was fine.  We spent a lot of time shoveling (me more than I probably should have at 5 months pregnant, but I was careful not to lift much snow at a time; Bradley spent a lot of time pushing snow around with a snow brush!).  Pat and I played chess and read magazines to stay entertained.  We were able to nearly boil some water with our camping stove and made some tea (this worked well and was a welcome relief) and quick oats (mushy mess which didn't even stay warm long enough to eat, yuck).  We couldn't convince Bradley to have any tea because it was steaming, which he equates with hot things.  We sent him off to bed in his sleeping bag and some extra layers of clothing.  When we woke Sunday, the house temperature had dropped to 47.  Bradley wouldn't put mittens on and his hands were red from cold.  The news was projecting power restoration for Monday at 12 AM, but our electric company was projecting more like Tuesday at 12 AM.  We were worried about Bradley (plus Walter and I weren't faring too well, to be honest) if we had to go two more nights without heat.  We had friends in the area with power back but I frankly could not imagine taking our toddler and dog to a friend's for three days and two nights... so around 8 AM Sunday morning, we packed up some clothing and essentials and headed to my parents' in VT, a 3 hour drive, as the travel ban in Massachusetts had been lifted the afternoon prior and I knew we could stay there comfortably for a few days if need be.  The roads were clear and the rest stops were even open, but the drive was definitely NOT fun; our car shook at any speed of over 45 mph for the first 45 minutes or so (maybe it had snow packed in the wheel wells, maybe the oil was very cold?) and for the first 2 hours of the drive there would be random snow drifts blocking entire lanes on both side of the I-93.  We stayed in the middle lane and made it just fine.  Boy were we all glad for some heat and normalcy!  We worried about Pat, though, who had stayed home to monitor the house situation, ensure the pipes didn't get to the point of freezing, and keep the turtle warm enough however he could.  He heard from our neighbor early that morning that there were businesses open about a 20 minute drive north, so he headed out and got some warm food and coffee a few times that day.  Power came back on to the house around 5 PM (after every single person we know, which is what happened during Hurricane Irene too, our street is apparently unlucky!) and Pat said the house finally got back up to temperature around 9 PM.  We were still quite happy we'd gotten Bradley out of the situation.

The only problem NOW was that the forecast to drive home Monday morning was less than ideal: snow, freezing rain, etc.  It seemed like everything would be over by 2 PM so I could wait till then to leave; it also seemed like no snow or rain would start before 10 or 11 AM, so I decided that if we got up early and it was clear, we'd leave.  We woke around 6:30 AM and the sky was overcast but clear, so I packed us up, fed us breakfast, and we were out of the house around 8:30.  Upon leaving I realized I hadn't remembered to bring my wallet from Rhode Island, and my parents had both now left for work... how was I going to fill up our gas tank?  My mother had given me a Valentine's Day card with some cash and told me to buy dinner tonight so I'd have one less thing to worry about.  I checked the card... it held $40.  Okay.  I knew it took over $50 to fill the tank, but we weren't on empty, so I reasoned that could be enough gas and didn't call either of my parents.  We went to the cheapest place nearby and put $40 in the tank, and it came to just shy of full.  Phew.  No cash to stop on the way of course, but we had snacks and drinks so I figured we'd be fine.  About 30 minutes into the drive, it began to snow.  This was no big deal yet as it wasn't sticking and visibility was still okay.  At about 60 minutes into the drive, the roads began to get messy with some packed snow in usually just one of the two lanes.  There were signs everywhere flashing a speed limit of 45 mph, so we stuck to that and just stayed in whichever lane was clearest.  I wished I hadn't left, but was still doing okay.  Then it got worse... both lanes became snow-packed and we began passing vehicles that had gone off the road.  For the next hour or so, the drive was treacherous with snow-packed road and low visibility and accidents every few miles.  At one point in shifting lanes so as to drive around an accident, I lost traction and swore for the first time in front of Bradley ("Sh*t, sh*t, sh*t, sh*t!" to which he replied, "What's wrong?" ha) but got traction back after about 20 feet of anti-lock braking, and gave myself a pass for the poor language.  I kept thinking how I'd really like to pull over and find somewhere to stop but I couldn't really (had no license or way of paying for a room, had the dog with me) and besides the local roads might be even worse.  My sweaty palms were locked on the wheel at 10 and 2 and I just kept on going forward.  FINALLY, FINALLY we hit Massachusetts and the snow turned to freezing rain.  I didn't mind this one bit, because the roads were finally clear of packed snow.  We just kept on trucking, very slowly and in the middle lane to avoid the snow drifts that still existed randomly on both sides of I-93 (we saw countless crews of three dealing with the issue: bulldozers to dislodge the snow, loaders to heft it into dump trucks, dump trucks to haul it away to who knows where).  Traffic in Boston was hideous (I gather roads are still not clear due to parked cars) but we just kept on going.  When we eventually reached Rhode Island the weather picked up again with some fierce wind gusts and heavier rain, but the road conditions remained okay.  I have never been happier to arrive home.

Things are still messy around here, as evidenced by the drive in this morning with black ice aplenty, lanes blocked by snow drifts, and some cars off the road.  It does feel good to get back to a normal routine.  Work is a safe place to be, and so is home.  Phew.  Hopefully with some warming temperatures today, the roads will get better.  Maybe crews can get after those snow drifts and the afternoon commute won't be so hazardous.  I'm just thanking my lucky stars that we're all okay and we have power restored (there are still 2,700 without it in Rhode Island and many more in MA and CT).

We head to Florida on Tuesday for what will be some MUCH APPRECIATED warm weather, and we've started to pack and get organized (okay, I have, nobody else is that excited I guess!).  I'm a wee bit nervous about flying with Bradley, just making sure he is calm and comfortable and not disturbing others.  I'm going to pack plenty of snacks and entertainment and hope for the best.  I am debating teaching him to chew gum this week.  We'll see.

In other news, Bradley is back to napping as of Saturday, yay!  After talking with my mother about it over the weekend, I think perhaps he was just overtired from 4.5 days of daycare in a row last week and was too wound up to nap.  He napped and slept GREAT all weekend and seems to be mostly back to his usual, chipper self.  I'm going to refresh my memory on sleep needs for this age, but we're planning on having him nap for a lot longer if we have anything to say about it!  Pat napped up until he went off to Kindergarten; here's hoping!

Sorry Everyone... I Ordered This

So, I think I owe everyone who lives in New England an apology... we're headed to Florida on the 19th (12 days, but who's counting?) and with how sunny and warm (okay, warmer than Vermont) it was last weekend I had thoughts along the lines of, "Gosh, I wish it were more winter-y with lots of snow so I felt like I needed the Florida weather more before we go!"  I guess in a way I ordered this blizzard we're about to have...  oops!

If you don't live in New England and you possibly haven't heard, we're expected to potentially get 1-2 feet of snow in about 24 hours starting this afternoon.  Snow doesn't bother me much, especially if the majority of it is falling on the weekend (we can make a snowman! go sledding! have a snowball fight!), but that plus the combination of the wind (gusts of up to 60ish - by itself not that unusual around here) makes me fear that if we lose power, it'll be out for a while.  Not ideal to be cooped up with no power in cold weather, frankly.  At least we have tons of blankets and all that jazz.

Bradley had his first preschool parent-teacher conference on Tuesday.  It went very well!  His teacher says he's eager to learn, follows (and even reminds others of!) rules, has picked up lots of skills, and is generally a joy to have in class.  Yay!  We always are, but Pat and I felt especially proud of him that day and he's had a terrific week since, despite my having to work Wednesday (Microsoft Office training) and us having to skip our usual "Bradley-Mommy Day" together.  The only weird thing about the week for him so far has been that he did not nap yesterday at daycare... that's the first time he hasn't napped in his life!  Eek!  I hope the pattern does not continue.  I sent him off to bed a half hour early, but he truly seemed fine.  Pat and I are running scared, let me tell you!

He has been asking the most fantastic questions lately, and has Pat and I impressed.  A few recent examples come to mind.  He asked Pat why the cell phone tower nearby had a blinking light, and then if the tower was traveling with them while they drove in the car.  It does kind of look that way sometimes.  At dinner one evening we had the milk carton out and he asked me if birds drink milk. I launched into a little schpiel about how only mammals produce milk for their young, and that baby birds eat the insects and berries and other foods that their parents bring to the nest for them.  When I was finally done talking, he said, "Then why is that bird on the milk?"  Good question, buddy.  Turns out, Stonyfield Farms has partnered with the Audubon to showcase how birds are affected by climate change, and thus how important sustainable farming practices are.  We talked a bit about climate change and how it affects animals' habitats (a word he's been using for a week or so).  Little smarty pants!

This morning at preschool they are having a healthy fruit salad treat together.  They asked for volunteers to bring in different fruits, and the kids will use plastic butter knives to cut and prepare the salad.  Bradley chose to bring in pears.  He's been cooking more with me at home lately too, using my chef's knife and a steak knife while I guided his hand and even using a butter knife on his own to chop some fruits and veggies.  He loves to talk about whether any knife we're using has "little teeth," or serrations.  Earlier this week he helped me de-seed some pomegranate.  Here are some pictures of my little chef-in-training (with our aprons on so as not to stain our clothing with that deep-red juice!):

23 Weeks

I am 23 weeks pregnant, so roughly 5 months.  Baby's roughly the size of a large mango, and is now able to hear sounds outside of my body.  He's also been much more actively kicking and moving, and where I used to only feel him very low in my belly, I now feel him up near/past my belly button sometimes these days.  He sure seems strong, and I think Bradley will have a soccer pal!

Running and yoga are getting more challenging, for sure.  The balancing activities during yoga class are particularly difficult, as I'm wobbly to begin with!  I'm still glad to be doing both activities though, and despite some soreness after running I'm sticking with it for now.  My sweet friend, Cara, gave me a solid perfume with good, calming essential oils.  I am going to wear it to yoga so that I can associate the scent with focused breath and the calming sounds our instructor plays (which she is planning on burning to CD for me).  Hopefully I'll be able to lean on those associations during birth; I'm sort of viewing yoga as childbirth class this time around.

We have our next prenatal appointment on Tuesday, February 12th.  We'll get a little package of notes (a clean bill of health, if you will) to take with us when we travel to Florida on the 19th should any need arise.

Here are some pictures from after my run the other day:

Clearing My Head

Grandma Bea's service was Friday morning.  We went up to stay with my parents in Vermont on Thursday and stayed through Sunday.  My aunt and her husband, my uncle, and four of my six cousins (and their significant others) came for the service.  It was nice to see them, though also odd as we don't get together often.  Pat had never met some of them, and only met others once or twice.  Bradley had never met any of them.  It was a nice service, at the local Catholic church where Grandma served as my confirmation sponsor years and years ago.  She would have been pleased, I think.  My brother and cousin, Dan, did the readings; cousins Tara and Kerry offered the gifts; I read the prepared remembrances that my mother and aunt had written (which was a little hard to get through, but as it wasn't something either of them felt they were up to that morning, it was also quite an honor).  Bradley made it through roughly 30 minutes of sitting in the pew with all of us (his first experience in church of any kind, actually) before Pat had to take him home for lunch and a nap.  We *think* he understands what's happened on some level (he asked if he would see Grandma, and if she had a boo-boo) and/but that he's okay with things.  Several of my grandmother's relatives who live in New Hampshire came, plus local friends of my grandmother's (three she affectionately dubbed her "boyfriends," gentlemen whom she had coffee and conversation with nearly every single day for the past few years at a local cafe; also the lovely woman who works at the cafe and, as it turns out, made personalized scones for Grandma every single day, since she preferred a different recipe than the standard fare - such treatment!) and of my mother's (work friends, family friends, all of whom had been lucky enough to meet Grandma over the years).  Saturday night, when it was "just us" (cousins and aunts and uncles had left), we reminisced after dinner and were able to share stories and some laughs and tears.  While there, my brother and Pat and I helped my parents go through Grandma's things in her apartment and get 90% of it sorted and out of the house.  I still feel sad, tired, and emotional about it - but I also now feel a sense of closure and I am coming to peace about not having Grandma around anymore.  She was just such a gem.

Yesterday Pat stayed home with Bradley during nap and let me go outside for a run (it was cold, 32ish and windy but sunny and MUCH warmer than in Vermont).  Though at this point in the pregnancy I suffer from lower back pain and hip pain after running, I'm still sticking with it (actually, a few lovely coworkers and I have entered a 5K for April 6th!).  Running in general and going outside in particular is very soul-soothing for me.  I ran around Mount Hope Farm, enjoying the sunshine and views of their pond and the Mount Hope Bridge.  I don't know how far or fast I went because I left my GPS watch at home, which is very enjoyable after a full year of training with specific workouts.  It felt like my head was clearing a bit, some nice therapy through exercise and exposure to the outdoors.  Here are a few pictures I snapped, of my bridge view from the crest of the hill and the resident mallard population: