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29 weeks, butternut squash, and puppy kisses

Here's The Syd, hanging out with the 29-week belly.  According to Babycenter, our little bug is about the size of a butternut squash right now.  I love butternut squash.  In fact, I had plans to make this Winter Squash Soup with Gruyere Croutons a few days ago (with leftover gruyere from the pie crust... how thrifty am I?).  However, while I may have six pounds of Ghirardelli chocolate chips, eight Scharffen Berger chocolate bars, seven Dagoba chocolate bars, twelve cups of Valrhona cocoa, five pounds of sugar, and a box of exquisite raw chocolate cacao nibs in my pantry right now, I have no chicken broth.  So no soup. 

Trimesters one and two were pretty easy and uneventful - the occasional teensy bout of nausea, a strange and distressing aversion to pizza, a previously-unheard-of dependence on Tums.  Now that I am firmly ensconced in the Third Trimester, various new and sneaky pregnancy ailments are creeping up on me.  It seems that a full eight+ hours of endless project meetings and sundry lab experiments/mini-science-disasters leaves me a bit ouchy at the end of the work day - lower back pains, achiness around the hip areas, assorted muscle soreness.  Waddling to and from the kitchen for ice cream feels like a marathon endeavor (though worth it... definitely worth it).  Oh yes, and the feet swell to (even more) gargantuan proportions.  This last development is truly appalling.  Truly.  But despite creaking around like a large, roly-poly wimp for most of the day, I'm feeling healthy and peaceful and centered and excited to meet our little baby girl in eleven-ish weeks.

Here is Sydney giving belly kisses, completely unaware of how much worrying she will face once the baby arrives... she thinks worrying about us and the kitties is an exhausting job...

28 weeks and a cat

28 weeks already?  Time feels like it's flying by.  This puts the little bug at about two and a quarter pounds and almost 15 inches long.  My doctor's appointments are getting more frequent and so are my naps.  Shoes and wedding rings are getting more snug.  And a disappointingly significant percentage of my maternity clothes do not seem like they will be able to go the distance (eg. the shirt in the above photo - not much more belly room there).

Still plenty of room for Georgia to stake her claim though.  "Mine," says Georgia Cat.

25 weeks and a cat

Here is the Cathy-belly at 25 weeks (and look... shorter hair!).  This puts the kid at around 13 1/2 inches and about a pound and a half.  At my usual weigh-in, the doctor pointed out a noticeable "growth spurt" in the past four weeks.  This may be due to the normal growth and development of our little baby girl.  This may also be due to wanton consumption of chocolate chip cookies.  Who's to say for sure?

We are slowly picking out the various baby necessities, accessories, and accoutrement that exist to lure away cash from first-time parents.  I am finding that the Baby-Industrial-Complex is even more gluttonous than the Wedding-Consumerist-System.  And more sneaky too, with their subtle use of guilt and paranoia.  For example, do I buy the "Wipe Warmer" and shield my innocent little girl from the discomforts of that cold, cruel baby wipe?  Or do I deprive her of such luxury and teach her from Day 1 that one of the terrible realities of life is that sometimes, perhaps when you least expect, your ass gets cold?  Needless to say, we're having fun with this.

Here is the Cali Cat.  She is sitting very still, hoping I won't notice her presence and try to pet her in any way...

Life itself is the proper binge. -Julia Child

"Eating for two."  This, my friends, is a fallacy.  A deception.  A sham.  Or at the very least, highly misleading.  As it turns out, when one of the "two" is only about the size of a large rutabaga, "eating for two" means about 300 extra calories a day.  Gone are the visions of gastronomical freedom and bliss.  300 calories?  That's a Snickers Bar!  And yet, with only these measly 300 calories to play around with, a pregnant woman is supposed to eat 7 servings of fruits and vegetables, 6-9 servings of whole grains, 4 servings of lowfat dairy, and 60 mg of protein.  Plus the largest multivitamin you've ever seen in your life.  There's barely room for that Snickers bar (although that doesn't mean I don't find room...).

So, to put a dent in the fruit, dairy, and protein requirements, I usually drink a protein smoothie in the  morning.  This morning it happens to be in a large coffee mug not because I desperately miss my large coffee in the morning (which I do... desperately...) but because horrible things are going on with our garbage disposal and kitchen sink that you don't even want to know about.  Suffice it to say that there are no clean glasses in the house right now. 

The smoothie consists of one cup of original organic soy milk, one cup of organic kefir (it's like a liquidy yogurt), a scoop of Whole Foods vanilla soy protein powder, a tablespoon of psyllium husk powder, and half a bag of Whole Foods organic frozen berry of choice.  The psyllium is for fiber.  If you're going to increase your protein intake, trust me... you want to increase your fiber (slowly!).  This is not sweet at all.  If I wanted it sweeter I could use vanilla soy milk and half a banana, but I like to save my sweet calories for things like Baskin Robbins chocolate chip ice cream (which, I figure, is also dairy and protein). 

In no way, shape, or form am I recommending that you try this smoothie.  You don't want this.  What you want to do is drive your nearest Starbucks.  Order up a Venti Mocha Frappucino.  Perhaps with an added shot of espresso or two.  And enjoy.  And think of me. 

23 Weeks or Gratuitous Vignetting

Here is the 23 week profile.  She's starting to poke around much more insistently these days, usually when I'm in the middle of some important meeting or when I'm trying to fall asleep.  Charlie can feel her acrobatics in evening and thinks she's going to be "feisty."

We spent the weekend picking out baby furniture (though not actually buying anything) and thinking about clearing out the room-that-will-soon-be-a-nursery (though not actually moving anything).  Baby steps.

Here's The Georgia Cat, checking in on things:

Guardian of the Belly

Here is The Georgia Cat, fulfilling her duties as designated belly warmer and protector.

*yawn*  Belly-draping is hard work...

...but well worth the effort.  Such a trooper.

A New Blog

Hi there!  I'm starting this new blog to keep family and friends updated on all the exciting new things going on these days.  Since "belly shots" are a popular request, here's one at 22 weeks.  That makes the little one about 11 inches and almost a pound.