Somber Celebrations

I know I blogged about this last year, but how on earth can I be so busy when I have no job? This time, I'm not even looking for a job! :) It really feels like the entire month of August has been a blur. I realized yesterday that we've had another one of those stretches where we'll be out of town for 3 of 5 weekends. I think that really makes a difference, since we've either been recovering from or getting ready for some trip most of the time.

This will be an interesting weekend... I think I mentioned before that we're going to Houston for the wedding of a med school friend. We've been looking forward to seeing him and experiencing a big, fat, Greek wedding (both the bride and the groom are Greek). Unfortunately, it's going to be a pretty subdued celebration. The groom's father passed away on Wednesday. Our friend thinks his dad knew he may not make it because in the days before he died, he made it very clear to everyone that if he should die, he wanted the wedding to go on. So (if our flight gets in on time) we'll be going to the Visitation tonight, funeral tomorrow morning, possibly rehearsal dinner tomorrow night (I'm not sure just yet if that's still on), and wedding on Sunday. I really feel bad for our friend. I've always been so thankful that Pop was able to be at our wedding, but from my experience, I know it's really hard to have such a happy experience mushed together with such a sad one. It really is hard for me to think about our wedding without thinking about losing Pop. I actually have never watched all of our wedding video because of that. (Well, partially... also because it's really not good quality at all and that made me really sad.) I probably would be able to watch it now (almost 5 years later already!), but that first time, it was so overwhelming and all I could think was that it was the last day I ever saw him alive. I really can't imagine what Manny will be going through having the funeral one day and the wedding the next. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers. He said he hopes that this weekend will still be a celebration - both of the marriage and the life of a great man - even if it is a little more subdued than planned.

Entering the Home Stretch!

It's hard to believe, but this week officially starts the third trimester! It's really hitting home now that pregnancy generally lasts 10 months, not 9 (how is 40 weeks supposed to equal 9 months??). I said the other day that I was 8 months pregnant and got such a surprised reaction. Before it was me, I imagined 8 months meant that you were just days away from the 9 month mark, which naturally is when the baby would magically pop out. Maybe not. :)

It's been a relatively quiet couple of weeks. I had a terrible cold last week, which I think was coming on for the whole week before because I just felt really, really tired and run down (even for being pregnant). I've decided that I officially do not like being sick & pregnant at the same time. I'm surprised and very thankful that I haven't been sick more often during this pregnancy. I usually catch every little thing that comes along, but I really haven't been sick before. Anyway, I'm 110% better now! Yea! Ian and I are heading to Houston this weekend for a wedding. This - hopefully - will be our last big trip before the baby comes. That's a weird thought. I'm glad, though. We had to go to Houston this past weekend, too, and we ended up sitting in the plane on the tarmac for several hours and then had a very bumpy ride with no chance to use the bathroom. Not a good situation at all for a sick, pregnant lady! I'm hoping the flights this weekend are very uneventful. We're planning to do a lot of relaxing this weekend - and I'm getting my first pre-natal massage. I can't wait! Hope you're all well and having a good week!

A Day of First's

Sunday was a big day for me! Mostly because I went to my first mom's club event. I found this group online that seems pretty great. It's a Meetup group, which has been great for me so far because they have message boards and whatnot that I was able to participate in before we even got to Kansas (in addition to all of the real-life get-together activities they have). So, I've emailed with a couple people in the group (one's from Chicago originally) and put some posts on the message boards, but Sunday was my day to actually meet real people. They have a monthly book club, so I figured that was a good thing to go to without a kid. :) The people I met were great, so welcoming and really encouraged me to come to the playdates even before the baby is born. They said they ususally spend most of the time socializing while the kids play, anyway, so it would probably be more fun for me pre-baby, since I won't have to worry about keeping an eye on my kid.

The other first was that I believe I had my first Braxton Hicks contractions during church on Sunday. The doctor said anything that comes on suddenly, takes your breath away, but doesn't increase in frequency or intensity is probably BH. The first one definitely took my breath away! We're at the end of the 2nd trimester now and I'm feeling the baby move a ton. It's interesting how this is such a positive thing, but also makes me way more paranoid than before. :) Before I could feel her, we just had to trust that everything was developing as it should. Now there are all sorts of new and different sensations all the time and the more intense ones make me a little nervous that something's wrong. Ian and I were saying the other day that it's good that I'm going to start seeing the doctor every 2 weeks (now that I'm in the 3rd trimester) instead of every 4 like I had been throughout the pregnancy. I used to be totally fine for the first 3 weeks, but completely convinced something was wrong with the baby by the day of my appointment. I just went to the dr. last week and kinda wish my next appointment were a little sooner than next week!

We have discovered one other first in the past several weeks that isn't so fun... it looks like I have my first real negative pregnancy symptom. Apparently, my gallbladder has had it with being pregnant and has decided to make its protest loud and clear. It could be from the overabundance of fast food we ate during our move, but that's around when I started noticing regular pain in my right side. It's gotten a lot worse in the past few weeks and I'm loosely back to my first trimester diet - rice, crackers, bread, oatmeal... anything without much flavor, basically. We've determined that there isn't an infection that could hurt the baby - just obnoxious pain for me - so I've rebelled against my new diet a couple times. Somehow, I decided it would be fine if we went out for Mexican food one night. Not so smart, really. It would have been worth it if it were fabulous Mexican food, though. :) I'm too far along now for them to consider surgery (although they sometimes do during 2nd trimester) and all the medical treatments are a no-go for pregnant women. So basically, I just have to suck it up for a few more months. We'll probably end up having the surgery done about 6 weeks after the baby's born. So, it's certainly not the worst thing that could happen and I'm so thankful it's nothing that will bother the baby, but it's probably not going to help this last trimester go by very quickly. Boo.

Hello again!

Today's a very big day - we had our cable & internet service hooked up. Hooray! We're once again connected to the outside world. It's been a while since we've been in touch with everyone very much. So, here's a general update on everything...

The move went about as well as could be expected (with the small exception of a 3 hour stand-still traffic jam followed by a 250-mile detour to get around a chemical spill in Tennessee). It was a long trip, but we were able to spend 2 nights with family, so that gave us some bright spots to look forward to along the way. There were some hiccups with getting into the house (last minute touch-ups weren't done), so we had to spend 1 extra night in a hotel, which was a bummer, but in the end, it all worked out fine. The first weekend we were here, we went to a BBQ the sales guy for the development hosted for a couple of our neighbors. It was great to get to know a few of them right away. It was actually a going-away thing for one couple, but the other 2 couples at the party will be around. One of the ladies actually volunteered to watch Connor & Pooka while we were in Texas, so that worked out beautifully.We were here for about 10 days with a very, very empty house before the movers came with our stuff. Now we just have a very empty house. :) The cats have been enjoying it because they can run and slide across the hardwood floors without anything to block their path (except for walls, if you're a big Connor Cat).

We spent most of last week in Texas with Ian's family. They hosted a baby shower for us on Saturday, which was fantastic. We really had a great time at the shower and just visiting with the family in general. It's amazing how generous people are... We're very thankful to have such a wonderful family - and friends!

Now we're looking forward to visiting with my family when they come to Wichita for our 2nd shower in September.

Other than that, our lives have mostly been focused on unpacking our meager belongings. Ian started work on Friday, but it'll take a while for that to be very busy, so he's been able to help a lot with the unpacking. I discovered that unpacking is WAY easier when A) Ian is around to help (which hasn't often been the case in our many previous moves), B) I can't really lift anything. Darn. :), and C) Your stuff doesn't take up all the space in your house. One of our poor neighbors was downsizing when she moved and 6 months later still has a garage full of boxes. Their cars had to spend the winter outside last year because there was no room for them in the garage. We actually managed to get just about all of our boxes unpacked in about 3 days. It also has helped that we don't have much furniture (including tables & bookcases), so we can't put away too much just yet. It doesn't help in terms of feeling settled, but it's great for emptying boxes! So, that's where we stand now. We've purchased a sweet fridge and a washer & dryer, so we feel like grown-ups. Now we're just waiting for the paychecks to start coming and we'll be ready to move on to furniture. Yea!