One Year Ago

October 15th, 2010, Matt and I got married.  Here are some of the highlights from our wedding day.

I really thought I would have a baby on my anniversary, but now that I don't, I'm happy to say we had one year of marriage before we had a family!  I love you Matt! Thanks for making this year memorable and the best of my life!

Trying to think of something other than babies...

I don't have a baby yet.  I am 7 days overdue.

Moving right along!

Lately I have been filling my time with walking, coffees and lunches with friends, laundry, watching tv and reading.  If it turns out that something that I thought was recorded on my PVR isn't actually recorded, it's as if the world has ended and I may or may not get very irritated.  Then I realize it's TV and get over myself.

I have heard a lot about The Hunger Games from a few different blogs (like Healthy Tipping Point and Healthy Ashley) and thought I should give the series a try.  I really liked 1984, which is another "big brother" type book, and I also liked Twilight, a teenager series of books about vampires and love, so why not try this seemingly mesh of the two!  (I'm sure George Orwell would cringe at the thought of his book and twilight being mentioned in the same sentence... sorry George!)  I read through the first of the series in two or three days, and so off I went to get the next two right away.  (I tried putting the series on hold at the library, and I was about 200th in line for them for all three, so I just bought them instead.)  They're really good, in spite of being written in first person, which I tend not to like.  They keep me interested, have a LITTLE taste of a love story (I'm only halfway through the second book right now, so the love factor could get more or less important from here forward), lots of big brother type stuff, and a little bit of Harry Potter esque challenges (which is another series I went wild over).  If you like any of these books, I suggest you give them a try!

I'm off to pretend like I don't care I'm still pregnant!

Changes

This time last year I was extremely hungover.  Because a year ago last night, I was doing this:

It was my bachelorette party.  We ate some sushi, sang some hilarious karaoke, drank a bunch of shots, then I did a bunch of throwing up, and Kristen took me home.  Everyone else continued partying and apparently had a great time!

If I can remember correctly, exactly one year ago, I was standing outside my house with a giant bowl of stuffing that I had made, trying not to be sick again and about to eat a giant thanksgiving feast.

Oh, how things can change in a year!

Thoughts at 40 weeks pregnant

I would like to preface this post by saying that I have the nicest, most caring friends and family, and what I'm about to talk about does not mean that I'm annoyed by them or am trying to make them feel bad.  I'm really just trying to be funny.  I really love them and am thankful that they care so much about me.

Today is my due date.  I'm 40 weeks pregnant.  The little thing has gone from nothing to a full on baby.  Crazy.  The people in my life are really excited.  How can I tell?  Here are some common questions / statements I have received in the last week.

• How are you feeling? How do you think I feel?  Is there a way to answer this question to satisfy you?  I feel large, uncomfortable, slow, a little impatient, a little nervous, or my most common answer, "fine!".

• Any changes?  Changes in what exactly?  Would you like me to describe what my vaginal discharge looked like yesterday and what it looks like today?  How about the cloudiness of my urine?  I really don't know what this question means or how to answer it.

• Any baby news?  Oh yeah, didn't I tell you?  I gave birth last week.  It was quadruplets.  We named them after the first four Duggars.  No there's no baby news.  I think I'd mention it.  Really.   
• Has the baby dropped?  I don't know.  That probably means no.  Even if it had, it really doesn't mean that I will have the baby immediately.  Why don't you call my midwife and ask her.

• Are you excited?  Am I excited to have a baby?  Sure.  I'm excited that I will have a baby.  Am I excited to give birth?  Let me tell you something.  I have an app on my phone that gives me a daily description of my body, the baby, and little tidbits of random info.  Today when I opened it, when I looked under "size of baby", it said "pumpkin".  PUMPKIN.  I'm not even joking.  I'm really really not excited to push a pumpkin sized baby out of something that I promise has never housed anything close to pumpkin sized.  
• Take advantage and sleep now!  On what planet does one sleep well when they have a 25 pound beach ball between their legs?  I have to flip sides every HOUR because my hips are so sore.  I can't sleep on my back or my stomach.  I have to pee every two hours.  It takes me a good minute to get out of bed, and when I get back in, it takes another minute to arrange myself into a moderately comfortable position.  Yeah, I'll get right on sleeping my little heart out.

• The wait between when you're in labour and when the baby is born is going to kill me!  Really?  REALLY? Kill YOU??!!  Put yourself in my shoes.  Oh wait, I won't be wearing shoes, or pants, or underwear, and I'll have people staring at my crotch watching me push a pumpkin sized baby out of my vagina.  I really feel for you.  Maybe I'll call you midway to see how you're holding up.  

• (Said by someone who is pregnant and due later) I'm so ready to not be pregnant.  I hope my baby comes early.  Shut the f&%k up.  Thanks.

• Are you sure your due date is October 5?  You look like it will be another 10 days or two weeks!  Oh, I don't look like I could give birth on the 5th?  According to you?  Ok well I'll just change up my calendar, let my medical professionals know, and sit tight for two more weeks.  Also, do you think this is something a 40 week pregnant person WANTS to hear?  Because I really don't want to hear it.  Really.

That's KIND of how I feel today.  Except I'm not actually angry or bitter like this implies.  I'm healthy, as far as I know the baby is healthy, I don't have to go to work, I can go for coffee with random friends whenever I want... I'm really not in a bad place.  But every single time one of my friends or family members asks me how I'm feeling, I kind of want to kick a puppy.  

Photoshoot Success

I'm quite pleased to report that we didn't do terribly on the photoshoot.  I think everyone is their own worst critic, and Matt tends to "not see" a bunch of things I think are deal breakers when it comes to good vs bad pictures, so my idea of a good picture and his were quite different.  That being said, we walked away with a handful of pictures I liked, and that's that.

New Look

I've wanted a new look for my blog recently, and although things might change a bit more once I stop being pregnant and start being responsible for another human, I figured I had more time now than I will in then.  I didn't have to guts to take the plunge and write "mother" or something crazy like that in my "about me" section, but that can come later.

I messed around with the new dynamic layouts that blogger provides, but they just didn't really seem to work the way I wanted them to.  I'll chill with this one for a while and maybe tweak it a bit.

Since I've finished working, I have done the following:

• Had last minute coffee dates
• Slept in (if you can call 7:30 sleeping in...)
• Made some granola
• Had a romantic dinner date
• Walked to the new gluten free bakery and bought some amazing bread
• Forgotten to go to a friend's house and then rushed to get there an hour late after she called to see if I was still coming
• Made some chocolate quinoa crepes
• Gotten acupuncture
• Panicked a little about the thought of potentially having a baby in the extremely near future

On the docket for today is trying to take a few pictures of me in "my condition" as keepsakes.  I'm not really into getting pro pics done in a studio, especially the seemingly intimate ones that people tend to get when they're pregnant. I don't think there's anything wrong with getting intimate pictures taken, pregnant or not, but I do find it weird that people show them to everyone.  I don't ever want to see a picture of a close friend or family member lying on a bed with a sheet hiding their privates, pregnant or not.  Sorry.  Little side rant there.  We will stick to fully clothed outside pictures in the nice fall colours.  Matt and I don't have the greatest history when it comes to taking pictures (we aren't good at taking pictures of each other... I think I may have alluded to that in my belly pics post) so I'm hoping today works out!

Any tips for my new blog design??