Nine Months

Boy, nine months really creeps up on you; for me that is marked by Saturday (36 weeks). Ive been so lucky as to avoid the pregnancy pains -- no swollen feet, very occasional muscle cramps, not waking up at night to pee, heartburn that is solved with one big Tums. But there is no getting around that fact that by nine months, you feel like someone strapped a watermelon to your middle as if you entered some silly summertime relay race. Sitting, breathing, walking, has become somewhat challenging, and you can just forget about anything that requires me to bend over; anything on the floor will just stay there, rot, or get eaten by one of our willing animals.

Even the baby is uncomfortable. He has been fussing for days now; rolling around best he can, punching the walls to try and make them expand, looking for a comfortable position unsuccessfully. Hes feeling claustrophobic and so am I. On the one hand, I am SO ready to just git er done here. Pop out the baby and move on. But on the other, there is SO much to do before he comes -- schoolwork, house repairs, dog training -- that will become infinitely more difficult when he arrives. I think its the final limbo which makes the last lap so mentally hard. In the end, he comes when he comes, and we just keep plugging away at the to-do list until then.

Hiccups

I tried catching the baby's movement on camera because you can see it through the belly big-time. It literally looks like something out of aliens where the baby is just gonna bust right out and grab food off my dinner plate. But all Ive succeeded in is catching his hiccups on camera, so thats what Ive posted on my youtube channel. The link is on the right side, under Our Home Videos, but here it is for ease: http://www.youtube.com/user/Rachroth1#p/a

Baby Bump - 31.5 wks

People are all so nice to me now that Im pregnant. They let me go ahead of them in line, carry my bags out to my car, or just make nice small talk about their pregnancy experiences and inquire after mine. Its really a much happier world, when seen from this point of view.

Kelley's Island

Happy July 4th!
Avi and I and Cody took a trip to Kelley's Island today. Cody was amazing on the ferry, she ran and swam so hard that she was falling asleep on the golf-cart as we drove around the island. Animal sightings included a water rat eating a dead fish, and a huge water snake stalking the rat. We stopped at the glacial grooves, and in town, but Cody couldnt go any further, so after a last cool-down swim, we took her home. A fun celebration of our fifth anniversary.

Registry

I put a link to it on the right side of the page, but in case people are looking for it, we have a registry here:

http://www.alternativegiftregistry.org/view_registry_public.php?registry_uid=5520

Joy

Im making no commitment in this blog to discuss the baby every day, though I will give you the update for good measure. Hes sitting right now along the bottom on my belly -- tush on the right, head on the left and somewhat downward facing. Both his head and his butt make bumps on either side of my belly. He seems to be sleeping at the moment; I think all my activity around the kitchen lulled him to sleep.

Cody and I took a walk today in which I realized why I love having a dog, and why despite it not making sense to spend time and money on a canine, it is so very worth it to me. She was off-leash (always fun), walking with me on a wooded path when we came across one of her favorite things: a sprinkler. When she saw it, she lit up and spent 10 minute (I had to drag her away), running through the sprinkler like a happy four-year old. Back and forth, standing over it, trying to catch the droplets in her mouth. Watching her unadulterated joy brought back the joy we have as children in the little things. Sprinklers did used to be a cause for celebration, and for her, they will always continue to be -- she is in a perpetual state of childhood. Moments of pure joy like that are not easy to come by, but with a buddy who reminds you constantly what an exciting place the world is, you get to experience them daily.

Hello!

So many people have been asking for pictures and updates (and I hope that only grows with the baby), that I thought I'd better start the blogging now. Avi dubbed the baby "Seamus," judging that a strong warrior name and far enough away from our heritage to be out of the true name-running.

Right now Seamus is 7 months old (which puts me at 31 weeks), counting from the time that his cells first started multiplying. He is roughly 14-15 inches long, and about 3 lbs. We dont know much more about him. He likes "crazy train" by Ozzy Osborne, and gets really excited by eating (but duh, hes a boy).

Pretty much everything else remains to be seen in T minus 9 weeks. Im bringing nearly no expectations for what he'll be like, since I only provide the "nuture" part of that equation The one this he cant be, unfortunately, is an asthmatic. For no reason other than it would be really tough for him to fit in here at the Zoo, and well, everyone else was here first. Other than that, Ill keep you posted on his progress, but I imagine the exponential photo-video-blog growth is yet to come...