29 Weeks+


She still doesn't have a name, but hey -- at least she's looking like a real baby. We had the ultrasound yesterday and got to see her moving around, kicking and yawning, and generally hanging out with her foot beside her head.

Now that we're kind of settled and de-mothballed and all, this whole "we're having a baby" thing is starting to seem real. If only because we're heading into the home stretch, and I am realizing I have less and less time to do things like uh...oh, I dunno...furnish her room? Yeah, well. Oops.

Basically at this point the baby has a handful of pretty dresses, a Beatles t-shirt, a Stanford onesie, and a Broncos warm-up suit. Oh, and cute socks and a lot of books.

Nothing to sleep on or in. No blankets or burping cloths. And, right, no name. La la la...

Physically, aside from continued fatigue, general aches and pains, and a bizarrely sore butt (the muscles right around the tailbone, so weird), I feel fine. I don't look especially pregnant -- I mean, I know I have a baby belly, but strangers don't seem to be 100% sure I'm not just super plump.

Oh! Although the grandmother working the check-out at Whole Foods asked when I was due. That was nice.

Versus the time I ventured into our town's new Wal-Mart back when I was in my early twenties, and ran into a guy I'd gone to grade school with working as a clerk there. He kept calling to me from across the store, which I ignored at first because he was calling me Tracy. Then, when I did realize he meant me, and I looked at him, he shouted, "You pregnant!?!?"

Let me tell you right now, there is no way to kindly, demure, off-handed way to reply -- from across a Wal-Mart -- that no, you aren't pregnant, you've just gained weight since middle school, but thanks for asking.

Anyway. Here I am, ten years later. Pregnant and not gaining weight. Hallelujah.

* * * * * * *

I have no idea what I've been doing with my time. I guess I've been puttering around a lot. I have spent the last four years wishing I didn't have a full-time job getting in the way of my writing/blogging, and now that I don't -- the idea of a blank page and empty hours scares the bejeezus out of me.

Use this time! Use this time! Now, before the baby comes and you never have a moment's peace again! Now! Hurry! It's slipping away...slipping...

So I start a blog draft or two or twenty-three. And then I hate what I've written and start something else and then THAT sucks so I close the computer and make a list of things I need to do "at some point" before the baby. And then I decide to organize my photos, which is a task I've put off for -- and I'm not kidding -- a good 20 years. So far, this has meant shuffling through the various boxes of photos and thinking about them, and then feeling so overwhelmed by where to begin that I wander downstairs and eat a lemonade popsicle.

Somehow I still believe that this process will lead to my writing a novel, but I haven't quite figured out how yet.

Also, I have an inexplicable desire to create decoupage wall art. I don't really know what I'm doing (shocking!) but some of the things I've seen are really quite artistic and amazing. And I have a lot of barren walls that need some new artwork (not that my Marilyn Monroe poster from college isn't still really pretty). I think if you're a fancy art person, you call such decoupage-y things "mixed media." I mostly call it "gluing shit I'm not talented enough to paint onto canvas. In my head."

* * * * * * *

I leave you with this. I assume by now you have all seen the Susan Boyle video, but if you haven't, please PLEASE do. I cry every time I watch, it's maybe the most inspiring thing I've seen online. In a "Humanity DOESN'T suck!" kind of way.


Click the image to go to the YouTube video.
YouTube has suspended embedding.



Here's a great article on her for reference.

Comments

  1. Hi Kristy, here's a name suggestion for you: Lily. It's my mother's name and I've always loved it.

    So why (you might ask) didn't I name my own daughter Lily? Well, because 26 years ago when my daughter was born, I decided to name her something REALLY unsual (my grandmother's name). Guess what it was:

    Jessie.

    That's right, Jessie. The most popular girl's name of 1983. Who knew? Not me. ....

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  2. Susan Boyle has left me weeping. Weeping.
    xo

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  3. Your baby looks beautiful. Your new posts are always fantastic, no matter how long they take to make.

    And Susan Boyle is amazing!

    Seeing Simon smile genuinely is also kind of new.

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  4. All I can think about is how much I now want a lemonade popsicle, but I'm at work so I can't just wander off and get one.
    So you ARE taking advantage of your free time. Sort of.

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  5. I realy hope you keep blogging after your baby is born. I know you said you would, but I just wanted to say that anyhow.

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  6. If it helps, a good sturdy laundry basket with a flat pillow works just fine as a makeshift bassinette ...
    XOXO,
    B

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  7. Susan Boyle is awesome. Brings me to tears every time I watch that video!

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  8. I was bawling by the time she was done singing. She couldnt have sung a more perfect song.

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  9. My husband is still mocking me for the tears I cried while watching susan boyle sing one of my most favorite songs....but he is probably going to hell for that..right?

    truly inspiring.

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  10. Tons of onesies and receiving blankets and diapers and Oh God there is so much you have no idea, but you will figure it out really quickly. The little ones get really gross in a big hurry, so that is why you will need so much basic stuff. They have liquids coming out of all orifices and you'll need clean stuff all the time.

    The Susan Boyle youtube is so wonderful in a time when things have been not so great on the international scene lately.

    Aren't the sonograms wonderful! I remember when my dil had the first one when she was carrying my grandson. They didn't have them when I was young and pregnant.

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  11. Thanks for the Susan Boyle link. I had not seen that. And now I've ended my day by crying happy tears, as opposed to the "work is shitty" tears in this morning's shower.
    BTW- don't worry too much about baby stuff. I was so worried about getting a crib and a place for the baby to sleep, and then she slept between us till she was old enough for a bed of her own. (Easier to night nurse that way).

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  12. I suggest finding an old fashioned name, something that is nice but not heard over and over. I named my daughter after Elton John's song "Harmony" she has since changed her name to the more grown up Harmonia which is actually quite nice.

    Emily is a nice name and Lavinia is pretty too.


    Love seeing the baby! Good Luck!

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  13. Hiya! Just wanted to pop in with my suggestions for names. :) Isn't the interwebs a wonderful place?

    I like Emry or Wyatt for girls.

    That is all. Have a nice day.

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  14. Since I love your blog so much, I'll offer you the use of my daughter's name - Quinn. :)

    Also, the last time I WASN'T pregnant and someone asked, I simply turned to him and said "Never ask a fat chick if she's pregnant. We don't LIKE it!" (this is ignoring the fact that I was fairly well hammered at the time he asked, and chain smoking, so I'd like to believe he's just an idiot) I thought he was going to die right then and there on his bar stool.

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  15. this whole post made me happy

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  16. Just get a bunch of onesies and you'll be all set.

    Susan Boyle rules.

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  17. I think you will be fine with being prepared for a baby. If it comes down to it, there is always a 24 wa* mart...but I doubt it would ever come to that. You're a creative, well rounded person with a lot of love, which is probably as much preparation as anyone really needs...probably more.

    About writing...it comes when it comes, and nothing you do can speed it up. I always get really upset with myself when I find I've spent several weeks lounging around, watching you tube, cooking fancy new recipes, wandering the supermarket aisles, sitting in cafes...and yes, eating popsicles....I start to wonder what I'm doing with all of my time. And I get upset...and you know what? Every. Last. Time. I come out with something that surprises me. Nothing time is good for writers, and its good for moms-to-be, don't be so hard on yourself...the book will come! It might take sleepless nights with a screaming baby to really get whats up there out...but you are a great writer!

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  18. Hi,
    Baby name suggestion: Alida. Its my friends name and I love it! (ah-lie-dah)
    Good luck!

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  19. On my mom's side of our family there is a relative way back who didn't ever get named. He was just called "Boy". Finally, when he was 7 years old, he named himself. So don't stress about the name, you have other options. At least if your family is a crazy as mine you do.

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  20. And if you're taking name suggestions, our girl names (that never got used because apparently we only make boys) were Silvana, Carolyn, Cosima. (If we'd had a girl she would have had all three, but we decided that would be cruel to do to a boy) I'm also kind of in love with the name Odille.

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  21. WOW! The excitement of new life growing. And you're doing!

    Hmmmm . . . "Nothing to sleep on or in." Many a baby has, for his/her first bed, had a dresser drawer, set on the floor beside the parents' bed. Not exactly elegant, but functional.

    Decoupage wall -- why not? My late mom did decoupage for years. Mostly small stuff that could be hung on a wall. Yes, it's "mixed media" -- I have a friend who does quite a bit mixed media. No matter what materials, you simply need to develop and eye for what "fits," and then go for it. Wall-sized would be dandy.

    And Susan Boyle! What an amazing singer. She even touched that old curmudgeon Simon Cowell -- something that few can do!

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  22. who needs more than a handful of dresses and a beatles t-shirt? sounds like enough clothes to me!

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  23. Oh sweet girl, your baby is beautiful (and so is your bod, woman!) I suppose Susan Boyle as a name is out of the running?

    Have been afraid to watch the video after all the hype - is it really that good? Am kind of excited now. :)

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  24. Hey, I had that crazy tailbone pain when I was pregnant, too!!! Everyone else I've mentioned it to has looked at me like I'm a maniac. So it's good to hear that at least one other person is maniacal like I am. The bad news is that pain is just now going away...two years after the birth of my second child.
    Sara

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