Week 31 and 35th Birthday Brunch

Happy Week 31!  I've been feeling pretty good lately and gone swimming a few times!  We had a very low key small brunch to celebrate my 35th.  Time flies!
A lady nearby said she didn't even notice I was pregnant until I stood up and turned sideways.  Ah, the slimming power of the color black!  

Happy New Year!

Thanks to Jesper for taking these photos for us!  We had a lovely New Year's Day lunch with our Bay Area friends Noriko and Jesper. 
Happy New Year!!

Nesting Instincts: Nursery

Lately I've been feeling like "nesting"!  I was crazy to get my crib and set everything up in our bedroom nursery.  A huge thanks go to my lovely friend Janice who gifted us the crib, and wonderful Andreas who gifted the mattress! 

Here is the crib just assembled (sans mattress)--I absolutely love it! It's a "mini" crib designed to fit in small spaces.  I'm going to add a crib arm from which I'll hang our mobile as well as lace curtain I can drape around the crib to keep our cats out. To give you an idea of what I'm going for (only a little less frilly) I included a picture my mom has of a French baby crib from around the 1890's.

Below are some images of the mobile we'll be using.  My mom sent it to me as she used it for both my brother and I.  I love all the little hand-painted wood aircraft as we live very close to the Santa Monica airport and I'm sure my baby will recognize an airplane very early on! 

Happy 28 Weeks!

With my friend Lorie who drove up from San Diego!

28 weeks has been interesting. While you can't see it here, my baby belly has grown quite a bit!  I'm feeling very pregnant.  My center of gravity has definitely shifted--combined with my clumsy self is not a good combo!

This week was a little stressful due to something called a Rhogam shot.  My blood type is Rh- meaning I might have to get a shot if my baby is blood type positive (otherwise my body might attack him, or my next child). I discovered I could get a brand new Rh genotype blood test that will reveal the blood type of my baby (as well as confirm the sex).  Pretty cool!  I'll get the results next week and then decide if I'm going to get the shot. 

At this stage my boy can see light, and hear noises--so we've been trying to talk to him and I also expose my belly to light now and then :)

HAPPY 25 WEEKS!

Oh lovely bump and lady lumps! Everyone smiles at you when you waddle on by, which makes me smile, too! At this point, I've put away nearly all my pre-pregnancy clothing. It's all neatly vacuum packed into blocks, tucked away in my closet for a smaller-bellied day.


The belly has put on about 17 pounds by this point--it's a party in there! Full of Haagen-Dazs, Pudding Packs, and everything nice...my little boy is kicking away for sugar and spice. Luckily he has no hunger for snails and puppy dog tails!


My hips, back, feet, and knees have been groaning at me for weeks now to do something about this new addition--so I've had to invest in a new purse and shoes to shut them up a little.


Aside from all this, I think I'm starting to enjoy "being" pregnant; that said, I'm starting to see a point in the very near future where I will be ancy to not be pregnant. As you might imagine, everything inside is being increasingly compromised by my growing child--I'm particularly starting to feel my stomach and lungs smooshing up.  So while I can eat a wider array of foods....uhmmmm...it's still not so great!!

DIAPER ORAGAMI

I'm really excited to try cloth diapering! My lovely friend Janelle lent me her newborn stash to try, and I've been practicing the various folds on Mr. Hippo. There are a lot of different ways to fold the inner layer, called the prefold--which also moonlights as a burp cloth. Some folds are a little bit tricky, and remind me of oragami.  Diaper Oragami! I'm glad Hippo is happy to oblige!! A cute little outer waterproof wrap covers the prefold....I found some tutorials on how to DIY I might try!

If you are curious, here is a video on the different folds!  We will of course have to take into consideration that boys pee in different places than girls :)

BIRTHING A ROOT VEGETABLE--A SIGN OF GOOD LUCK?

Last night I dreamed I prematurely birthed my baby in the kitchen.  For some reason I wasn't panicked, and the labor was easy.  I was a little surprised to discover my infant was in fact a winter root vegetable, with a nubby red-brown top.   I carefully placed him into a container with cold water, blanketed him with fresh romaine lettuce, and then placed him at the back of the sink and left to go tell my mother.

My mom pointed out that he might get cold-- he might, in fact, need to be incubated.  Oh Panic!! I rushed back over but the container was gone!  Some house guests were eating the lettuce, and told me they threw my root-infant into the trash!  Alas, I could not find my baby-root in the trash!

Luckily I woke up at this point, before grief had a chance to settle in.  However, I have been worried about premature birth lately, and was also fantasizing about something my friend Sara posted on Facebook: 

This weekend, magical things will happen to these winter vegetables in a dutch oven, with shortribs, wine, and port

My mother in waking life told me it reminded her of how ginger was sometimes human shaped, and I was reminded of the mandrake root.  Interestingly, mandrake roots are also symbols of fertility--making an appearance as early as The Bible.  In fact many myths and superstitions surround this funny little root--and who could not love J.K. Rowling's use of it in Harry Potter's Herbology lesson?  I've decided my birth of the root baby is a sign of good luck!! 

Here are some lovely medieval illuminations of the mandrake: