4 things

I've exploded! Over the weekend my belly has got a bit more swoll than it was previously.

Bending over is awful, and makes me produce horrible grunting and gasping sounds that would be embarrassing if I didn't find them so amusing.

I haven't peed in my drawers yet, but I predict that if/when I do it will be at one of these times:

• I will be sitting down and laughing hard, or
• I will be rising to stand after a long time of sitting down.

In both situations, the baby has the upper hand on smashing my bladder in an unpreventable way.

And I've already nearly peed in both situations MULTIPLE times.

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We watched "What to Expect When You're Expecting" on Saturday.....it was stupid.

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I have become an Arbonne consultant! The products are super awesome, so I am excited to get started. If you want to be cool forever, then feel free to offer to host a party for me so that I can get more practice and meet more people. Plus, you get cool hostess rewards.

The facewash sample I used made my pregnancy blemishes disappear within about a week, and I noticed a difference in a day.

Yeah, it's that magical.  And the products are all natural, vegan, hypoallergenic, and fragrance and dye free.  Awesome stuff for sensitive skin!

Let me know if you'd like to know more!

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Try this awesomely delicious and easy shake and bake recipe:

• Slice up two boneless and skinless chicken breasts into thin strips (I go for just under half an inch)
• Grind up Ritz/any kind of cracker in a food chopper, or crush it yourself. You want crumbs.
• Add salt and pepper
• If you are using flavorless crackers (i.e. not Ritz) then add onion powder, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, and Rosemary to the crumbs. I never measure it, I just kind of guess. The ol' gut feeling.
• Put seasoned crumbs into a double bagged paper lunch sack
• Place one or two strips of chicken into the lunch sack at a time, and give the bag a good shake (holding the top closed, of course).  When the chicken is covered, remove it and place it on foil-covered cookie sheet
• When all the chicken is on the cookie sheet (as close as you want, but not touching), put little globs of butter on top of each piece of chicken (as much as you want or don't want.....your arteries are none of my concern......but, the more butter you have, the better it tastes :-9 )
• Cook at 325 until it is finished....I think it takes about 20-30 minutes, but you might want to check on it frequently just to be sure. Overcooking it makes it pretty dry.

I looooove to eat this. It's almost like eating fried chicken strips, except it isn't fried, so I feel virtually no guilt about eating too much of it.  And it makes two chicken breasts seem like a million. It makes enough to feed husband and wife, with a [slight] chance of there even being a little bit left over.

Yum.

A conversation wherein I reveal how adorably nerdy Mr. Hottie really is...

Darren: "You know something I've always wanted to do? Stick my finger in Optimus Prime's nose."

Me: "Can I quote you on that?"

Darren: "You have to look at him to know what I'm talking about!"

...He has a point.

I hope our next kid is a boy so that I can watch them be cute with their Saturday morning cartoons.

In the meantime, I hope he gets use to the idea of watching girly shows eeeevery Saturday when the time comes ;-)

My Due Week

1. There really are no words to describe how tired I am today.

2. Part of the fatigue is my fault. I didn't feel like winding down last night for a good while....not that I couldn't have fallen asleep when Darren went to bed, but for some reason I just couldn't make myself. I took a long bath and had some toast before finally going to bed.  It was wonderful, but now I must pay the price.

3. However, the first price I paid was completely worth it: I slept for 4 solid hours before needing to wake up and go pee. Slept like a rock. It felt fabulous. After that I kept on pretty solidly until my alarm went off. I was barely able to wake up when Darren told me goodbye before leaving for work. Baths before bed are magical.

4. I had my first official (like, from my doctor's office) ultrasound today.  Baby is definitely a girl, and as far as I can tell she has a super cute nose. I have some pretty good pictures of her.

5. She weighs 1.6 lbs, and my due date is Feb 4th, according the the ultrasound and Feb 6th according to my doctor.  I'm interested to know what the official due date is. I'm still averaging it out for the 5th.  They should just call it a Due Week.

6. I borrowed a yoga DVD from my lovely friend Kim, and though I have only done [some of] the workout once, I really like it. The lady's voice is super annoying (have yet to discover a yoga instructor who's voice DOESN'T annoy me), but I felt really good even from those 15 minutes I did.

They need to remove the skinny skank from the front of the instructors though....I want the second trimester heifer to be at the front. The skinny one doesn't do anything for my confidence. I couldn't bend like that for some of those moves before I was pregnant, and definitely can't now, no matter how modified you make it. I don't want her there.

7. I'm obsessed with drinking nearly every single fruit juice.

I Got Domestic

 I had some free time yesterday, so I decided to make good use of a pie pumpkin that I had purchased a couple of weeks ago and try my hand at homemade pumpkin pie:

VERDICT: It was delicious. And I am super proud of myself.  As far as I know, I have never made pumpkin pie other than from a can, so it was fun to feel really cool about making it completely from scratch.

I followed the instructions/recipe found at this blog.  I also opted for his option to make the pie denser (use less eggs and milk).

Baby Love

About 24 weeks

I finally have a doctor! Without going into all the ridiculous details, I will just sum it up by saying that securing one was no easy feat. She seems really cool and helpful, so I am super pleased.

My sister, Amanda, got me a bunch of little girl clothes from a garage sale, and they are darling! However, I washed them yesterday, and let me tell you: that load was deceptive. It looked like a medium, possibly a large load at most, but something about being IN the washer made them expand or something. It was almost more than the poor washer could take, and then it took forever to fold.

That being said, a lot of it is savable for when Baby is older, so I packed most of it away.....kind of can't wait for her to be old enough to wear some of it.

I'm already missing her being a baby, and she isn't even born yet. Sigh.

As I predicted from the start, the bigger my belly gets, the more my hiney disappears. I'm going to be sittting on the back side of my stomach by the time this is all over with.

Exercising

My dreams are getting more physical.

I keep dreaming of doing things like running hard and playing fun sports, but there is always a point in the dream when I remember, "Wait, I'm pregnant. I have no business exercising this hard, especially since I have let myself get so out of shape".

And then I argue with myself. "But, Emily, you feel so good! Keep going! One more lap."

My interpretation?

My body is craving an intense workout.  After this baby is born and I wait the correct amount of time/have my doctor's permission, I am going to engage in the most hardcore workout experience of my life.  And they won't be "modified".

See if I don't.

A half-complaining post

Sorry, but this will be a bit of a whiny post.

As much fun as all the fun things about being pregnant are, I have to say that this week has eaten the cake in lower back pain.  Back pain is not exactly new to me--it has been an acquaintance for years. HOWEVER.......this is different. I feel like there is an entire colony of ants in my low back and pelvic region just biting the nonsense out of me. It buuuuurns.

Which is why I am blogging at 7 AM instead of enjoying my last precious hour of sleep. I cannot get comfortable enough to even just lay there and laze away the last hour before I have to get up.

Oh, and getting out of bed all night is an excruciating experience.....a full bladder makes the weight of rising a billion times worse.

Boohoooo =(

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1. In slightly more positive news (though I'm sure it has a lot to do with what is going on above), I am fairly certain that Baby Girl had a growth spurt. My belly was plumper, harder, and heavier to bear yesterday than it was the day before. Bending over has started to hurt (a nice reminder to not squash the human I'm growing OR tempt gravity).

2. My afghan is making slow, but fairly steady progress:

The squares aren't connected yet of course, I just like to lay them out and envision the rest of the blanket.

Again, my camera phone doesn't quite capture the colors of the yarn.

I have completed 13 squares. (Do not ask how many I have started and unraveled/discarded...). Thirteen doesn't sound like much, but I'm proud of my progress =)

3. "Once Upon A Time" is back (along with "Bones", "Castle", and "Parks and Recreation")! Etc. I have a few shows to get caught up on already.  We here at the Brown's are suuuuuper  pumped.

4. Darren made dinner yesterday....it was spectacular. And so nice to not have to lift a finger (except to bring the grub to my face ;-) ). All in favor of him cooking every day say "Heck yes!". He's such a good cook.

5. Going back to bed now....wish me luck. I promise not to be such a whiner in my next post!