We Saw Him

Today we had an ultrasound scheduled to check our little kiddo-bean's growth progress. He's a wee bit ahead of normal size, but nothing unusual. So far so good...

The truly amazing part was seeing his face. He was snoozing away, with his left hand placed rather dramatically against the left side of his face, blocking our view, but the tech really got in there to get some great images for us. It was so surreal. He looks quite a bit like J from what we saw. He even made the same annoyed snarl face that J makes when you try to drag him out of bed after the tech had rolled around his sleeping quarters one time too many for his liking. He's a feisty little fella who fights back whenever anything presses up on his territory too much. He always jabs back at the monitor mic when the doctor is listening to his heartbeat. He also regularly takes a swing at my kindle, the elastic band on my favorite maternity jeans ("favorite jeans" and "elastic band" in one sentence still weirds me out), the desk at work when I lean into it too much... pretty much anything that gets too close for his liking gets a warning shot or ten. That's our boy.
I can't wait to finally meet him in person! 9 weeks to go (give or take one or two) (hopefully).

Butterfly

I think I've been more social the last couple months than I have been in far too long, especially considering we're in the midst of winter's cold when I'd normally be hibernating away until spring. I feel like I need to get in as many visits, dinner dates, and adventures with friends as I can before the little guy gets here.
I'm under the impression my social life is going to vaporize in late April.

Pride & Pain

There was one last very important business trip to be made.  We were both relieved to have dodged the bullet of me having to deal with any snow while J was away for the two weeks last month.  He left Monday morning for Seattle, and the first snow rolled in about 4 hours after he headed to the airport. 

I left work a little early Monday night to give myself enough time before dark to shovel the front steps, walkway, and sidewalk.  I wasn't even about to attempt to include the driveway and our back parking area, so with no parking ban in the area, I left my car on the street overnight.  I shoveled everything (despite being chastised for shoveling 'in my condition' by the neighbor across the street) and even threw down enough salt so that when I left Tuesday morning, there was nothing but bare stone, wood, and pavement under my feet. The snow was fairly light and fluffy, so when I got home Tuesday, I decided to tackle the back parking area, too.  I got it all done within an hour and was feeling pretty proud of myself (and thankful that our wonderful next door neighbor cleared our driveway with his blower while I was at work). 

Wednesday morning brought a new round of snow. And rain. And sleet. And then more snow.  Wonderful neighbor and J spoke earlier that day and by late morning the driveway, sidewalk and front steps/walkway were cleared.  I owe this guy a lifetime supply of coffee.  I was left with only the back parking area in need of a good shoveling. This same area that I'd completely cleared the night before was now buried in 6-8 inches of slushy, gross, heavy nastiness.  I got about half way through before my back felt like it belonged to someone 50 years older than me.  Ouch.  That snow was no joke. I don't even think it was actually snow, it seemed more like frozen concrete. I admitted defeat, went inside, and baked a batch of oatmeal blueberry muffins while whining to the pups about my aching back.

I vow to, from this point on, take quite seriously the warnings about back strain due to loosened muscles, joints, and tendons during pregnancy.  I am not supergirl.  Not even a little bit.