we are here

The movers showed up Friday morning ready to pack. I was told they would be there between 8:30 a.m. and 10:00 a.m., so you can imagine my surprise on my drive home from picking up Sadie that at 8:00 a.m. the movers were wondering where I was. I barked out some lame excuse about being told they would be there later and sped home. You know what I did while four men packed up my house? Nothing. I sat on the couch and watched tv, until they packed the tv. Then I mindlessly web-browsed for hours.

They ended up packing AND loading on Friday, so we were able to leave a day early. We arrived on Saturday night, got Pei Wei and rented "Role Models" (so funny!) and went back to the empty house. On Sunday one of the movers called to see if we wanted the hub's truck and motorcycle delivered. Yes!



Now, I'm not going to lie. This isn't pretty. Six month pregnant feet, after 2 days air travel, followed closely by 14 hours in the car. Sure, I walked every rest stop, but I can't stop mother nature. These ankles have roll marks! My feet are so tight from the swelling they are actually shiny.




Sadie hanging out on the movers' plastic walkways. So careful about carpet when the mud is red! And it has been raining in OK like nobody's business. She looks like I'm yelling at her because I probably was. I spent two days telling her to get out of the way.



On Monday morning, bright and early, our moving friends showed up to unload the truck. Here are the hub and Sadie keeping watch over the whole procedure, the hub's Starbucks shaken lemonade/green tea (sweetened) at the ready. This is as easy as moving gets people!



Our main mover Art referred to this as the "bingo list." As items came off the truck, they yelled out its inventory number and we marked it off.



Living amongst the boxes. Ugh. The hub is smiling because we haven't started unpacking yet. Fast forward to Tuesday night, and we'll both be cussing like sailors.




Do I want to unload every box and hang curtains and figure out where pictures should go? Of course. But what do I insist we do next? That's right - put together the crib. The crib we won't need for a minimum of four months. Who am I to question nesting?

the move

The hub and I got in around midnight last night. Our original flight was to have landed in Charleston at around 6:00 p.m., but as luck (our luck) would have it, Chicago was having bad weather, blah, blah, blah, and long story short we were rerouted to Denver - Dulles - Charleston. We kept telling the United reps that we had to be back in Charleston THAT NIGHT because the movers were coming the next day and didn't they understand how important it was that we get the house packed up? My feet were so big by the end of the night that my flip flops were barely staying on. Needless to say, once we got home and did laundry, I fell into bed.

See, I've been battling bronchitis and sinus issues all week. Love the pregnancy immune system! (But I still refused to wear the mask in the airport, swine flu be damned!) The bronchitis worked itself out by Wednesday, but the sinus problems only got worse with the plane rides all day. This morning I woke up to the alarm at 7:00 a.m. with the same sinus headache I went to bed with. I went to get Sadie from the vet, and on my return home the movers called me. See, I was told yesterday that they would show up between 8:30 a.m. and 10:00 a.m., so I felt safe going to rescue Sadie from the boarders at 7:30 a.m. WRONG. I rushed home and the movers went to town on my house.

Everything is now in boxes. And, for the first time in all my moves (and there have been A LOT), I did not have to pack a thing. Nothing. I've been sitting on the couch all morning watching everyone else work. And I loved every minute of it. It's been a whirlwind week for me - Monday was my last day of work, and to call it traumatic is simplifying it. I hate leaving a job I don't want to leave, and I had a ridiculous drive home, alternating between crying (missing my work people) and coughing (bronchitis). Early Tuesday morning we were on the plane to OKC. Wednesday we closed on our new house (and I won't even bore you with the details of how the mortgage company needed documents sitting 1600 miles away in my file cabinet), and Thursday we returned to WV. First thing I'm doing after the move, after everything is unpacked, is putting my swollen feet up.

April showers

I got to end this week with not one, but two baby showers! On Friday, my friend Katherine hosted a shower for the ladies at work and the magistrate court. I had a great time, ate delicious Spring Hill bakery cake, and got great gifts. It will be sad leaving these fantastic people that I get to work with every day.




Magistrates Yeager, Strickland, and Workman. Or, as I call them outside of the courtroom, Julie, Traci, and Paris.


Sarah and Kacie



After work the hub and I packed up the car and headed out to Virginia Beach. Jessica put together an amazing shower on Saturday at my aunt Jill's house. I got to see family - Stephanie, Kevin, Alexandria, Gavin, and Kristen, as well as friends. Again focusing on cake, there was a beautiful almond cake from Sugar Plum bakery, where I got my wedding cake three years ago. It was a great time!













And, of course, there is no trip to Virginia Beach without the beach! I have been landlocked too long.





All in all, a wonderful way to end the week. I feel so lucky to have so many people that care about us, this baby, and I don't know just how I'll let each one know how thankful I am.

the 23rd week

This week is the first time I have noticed the feeling of being "full." For some reason, my belly feels smaller in the morning and gets bigger during the day. But I have now noticed a continued inability to get off the couch or out of bed easily! And I keep bumping into things with my belly, as if I am now completely without intuition of personal space. The hub got a laugh at Wal-Mart when I did this weird squat maneuver to get something off the bottom shelf. I just can't bend like I used to! I've only gained 10 pounds total, which my doctor is happy with. With the family history of gestational diabetes, I *hope* that not gaining too much weight might help ward it off.

I am enjoying pregnancy and wish it wasn't going by so quickly. I have a feeling that, like everything in life, it will be a piece of time I forget the details of in the future. Even now, I have a hard time remembering exactly how it felt/what happened when we found out I was pregnant. So, I've started a book for Baby B called "Letters to You" where I write letters detailing what is happening. Mostly I stick with a letter updating for doctor's appointments, and then any milestones (cravings, kicks, etc.). And I've included pictures. I love how my niece Caroline gets such a kick from seeing pictures of Jessica when she was pregnant with Caroline. Hopefully Baby B will get the same enjoyment from this book.

the reward

I just read an interesting article at ABC. Seems there is a new movement in baby delivering called a "push gift." Really. A push gift is a gift that your husband gives you in exchange for all your hard work during labor and delivery. Here's part of the article:

Marty Suttle is one of those mothers, and was happy to receive a matching amethyst necklace and bracelet from her husband when she gave birth to her now 14-month-old son Christopher in January 2008.

"I did get a push present," Suttle, who resides with her family in Raleigh, N.C., told ABCNews.com. "My husband liked the idea and surprised me."

There is a divided camp among women (when isn't there?) as some women argue that it's the baby that is the gift. Ahem. I know that's politically correct and all - that the pushing the sweating and tearing are all forgotten in the beauty of holding your child for the first time. And I am sure, without having experienced it, but having witnessed it, that it is amazing and an experience one never forgets. But it seems that the notion that the baby is the gift leaves one thing out - I have to share it. Spoken like a true twin.

But isn't that the point? Did I keep track of every bout of morning sickness, every ligament pain, every headache and bloody nose blowing and ache and mind-drowning fatigue moment just so I could point it out in the end and say to the hub, "I win." No. And I think as two adults we are both acutely aware that the pushing IS hard, and that I am the one who has to do it. And the best part is I have someone beside me who wanted this baby too, who wanted to delight in my growing belly and hear stories and statistical information from my pregnancy books and go to the doctor appointments and go buy me gatorade when I couldn't keep anything down. He went to the gas station at midnight for the coke I had to have now, and rubbed my feet when they ballooned, and picks up the heavy stuff at the store. We're doing this thing together.

So, while I will take credit where it is due, I'm not about to ask the hub to waste a good portion of our joint checking account on some jewelry. A massage gift certificate and a pedicure on the other hand......those I'll take with glee!

the doctor is in

One of my biggest fears upon learning we were moving to Oklahoma was about my medical coverage. At first, I considered I may have to pay for COBRA, which would probably come to the grand sum of the baby's college education. Then, I figured maybe we would just have to go to an OB/GYN and haggle, gypsy flea market style. I mean, who turns down cash? But luckily, the hub's insurance does not consider pregnancy a pre-existing condition, and they will welcome me with open arms (once I am no longer employed, of course). My last day being April 27th, I just don't feel comfortable going one minute without health insurance. We're flying to Oklahoma on April 28th to do the house walk-through and closing, then returning on April 30th. Come Friday, May 1st, the movers are packing everything up and leaving the next day, Saturday. That means that come May 3rd, Josh and I are driving the 14 hours (with mandatory leg blood clot preventative walks at rest areas) to Oklahoma City. That's a lot of traveling in one week, and I cannot be uninsured. That's inevitably when something goes wrong. I can get insurance on 500 rental cars - the one time I don't is when some fool runs into me. That's the way the world works!

So, luckily, I will have the insurance. And then, I needed the doctor. I've heard stories about how OB/GYNs won't take someone as far along as I am. I understand - they fear you haven't been under a doctor's care until now, there will be complications, the doctor already has enough patients delivering in August, etc. But the guy who manages the development of the neighborhood we are moving into suggested his wife's OB/GYN. And they have 7 children. I figure that if you like your OB/GYN enough to go back 7 times, she must be good.

I will take this moment to state that yes, my OB/GYN must be a female. I need a tattoo artist who actually has tattoos himself, know what I mean? I don't take my car to a mechanic who doesn't own a car. So, I'm excited this doctor comes recommended and is a woman!

I called her office yesterday to make sure she is accepting patients (yes!) and takes the hub's insurance (yes again!) and then I mention I'm 22 weeks pregnant. "We'll have to get back to you. I'll have to check with the doctor to make sure we can accept you." Worse than waiting to find out if I got into college!* But they called this morning, and I've been accepted! No thick envelope in the mailbox about cafeteria plans and dorms, but thrilling nonetheless. Whew!

*Proud 2001 graduate of Virginia Tech. Thinking about the Hokies during this solemn anniversary time.

the pink stuff

Here I am in all my 22 week glory! The Mickey Mouse tee-shirt makes me really want to go to Disney World, where my niece and nephew are right now. With the hub's parents so close to Orlando, and season ticket pass owners too, we are a Disney family through and through. In fact I asked them tonight to pick up an Eeyore for Baby B on their next trip to Disney World. I am getting nostalgic, and nesting. My mom came to visit this weekend, and we had fun shopping and going out to eat. I drove her to the airport this morning, and it was early, and the weather was beautiful, and I realized what a great weekend we had. I will miss her when we move. Happy Easter to everyone!

So, that pink stuff? I'm all over it. I was not an especially "girly girl" growing up, but I'm all about some pink and dresses and little mary janes.





And that nesting? Combined with pink stuff? My coworkers will love the strawberry cupcakes I made tonight. I can't leave goodies in the house or I will eat them all. The brownies are still in the oven.