dairy queen

So, I'm 38 weeks pregs today.  The past 35 weeks have somewhat flown by...but these past couple of weeks have been dragging by.  I haven't been in the mood to blog much because, let's face it, all I would be doing would be complaining about my aching hips, my swelling fingers, the fact that I can't even wear my watch anymore, how I grunt when I put on my boots, peeing like Seabiscuit every 30 minutes, my ever expanding nose, getting the new Victoria's Secret swimsuit catalog and ripping it into shreds and doing a rain dance on it...I mean, who wants to read about how miserable and cranky I am???  For the most part, this pregnancy has made me a nicer person!  I feel like it normalized all my crazy hormones (minus the missing extra sauce meltdown incident) and people have even commented on how I'm a nicer person now that I'm knocked up...by the way, should I be offended by that?  Nah, I know it's true.  But these past couple of weeks have been torture for me.  Most days, I'm convinced that I have more than one baby in my belly.  I'm sure there are 4 feet playing soccer with my vital organs or possibly 3 babies swinging from my ribs.  No matter how many babies are dancing around in there, I'm ready for them to be out!

Lately, the only thing that calms my nerves is eating something sweet.  I've lost all my cravings (not that I had that many) and also I don't enjoy eating anymore.  But brownies, gooey butter cake and ice cream seem to loosen my choke hold around the victim closest to me.  I've never been an ice cream junky, but Dairy Queen has become my new best friend.  But all of a sudden, the words Dairy Queen have had a different effect on me...now that I finished the book, Breastfeeding Sucks.  Meaning, in a couple of weeks, I will become the new Dairy Queen.  EEEEK!!!  I've never been a fan of scary movies, but I would rather watch Pet Cemetery (as you can tell, I haven't watched a scary movie in a long time...) a million times over than read this chilling book again!  But the most horrifying part is, I'll be living this book pretty soon!  I will become the new Dairy Queen, which is the scariest character in the book!!!  I've been having nightmares about breastfeeding!  I know that people all over the world do it everyday and it's not a big deal...but for some reason, I am terror stricken with the whole thing!  As much as I'm ready for my little lady to be here, I'm not sure if I'm ready to be a leaking milk machine 24 hours a day...I already warned my milk machine friends that they will be getting phone calls (at all hours of the day) so I can get some encouragement and not give up on my milking task.  All you Dairy Queen mom's out there, I nominate you for Anderson Cooper's CNN Heroes!!

A picture of Stephanie Dillow and me (hope you don't mind I'm using this pic, Steph!)

I'm using this as my 38 week photo...possibly the last time I stand in front of a camera!  

(Almost) 30, flirty and as big as a house

In less than three weeks, I will be turning the big 3-0.  Yikes.  In about 4 weeks, I will have a baby.  Double yikes???  I never really pictured celebrating my 30th birthday sober and as big as a house!  I'm not complaining because I know it's for a good reason.  And actually, getting older doesn't bother me as much as it used to.  I find myself looking forward to the future and eager to see what it may bring.  I'm pretty sure my change in attitude has to do with this little lady growing (and kicking/flipping/hiccuping/ stretching/punching) inside of me.  In an instant, my priorities have changed and what I want for ME has changed to what I want for my family.

Not being able to have a big 30th birthday bash has been a little easier to digest because of the huge 29th birthday bash I had last year.  My friend, Erin and I share the same birthday so we did it up big...80's style! I'm pretty sure I'm STILL recovering from that party.  Just thinking about The Goonies and 16 Candles makes me a little nauseous...no...more...bright...colors...

Yes, that's a tape cassette headband...something I may pass down to V...if she's lucky...  :)

Yes, we are going to be parents soon...eek!  

So...much...blush...

Did you know Pac-man yellow icing can stain your skin??  For a couple of days???

Like I said, I'm fine with calmly and quietly celebrating my 30th birthday!  

35 weeks pregnant and 35 days to go!

Wowza.  I can't believe that 2010 is long gone and I'm at week 35 with my pregnancy with only 5 more weeks to go.  2010 literally feels like it disappeared in the blink of an eye.  There were so many things to be thankful for in 2010.  I graduated with my master's degree, my sister got married to a wonderful guy and of course, my pregnancy.  There were a million other things that happened that I'm so grateful for, but those are just a handful of things that stick out in my mind.  One thing is for sure, I would not have been able to get through the end of 2010 without my friends.  I'm pretty sure they're sick and tired of my constant barrage of questions regarding my pregnancy.  On New Year's Eve, I was sitting with two of my closest friends after a wonderful meal, and I turned our lovely conversation into a Q & A session  ranging from contractions to nursing bras to poopy diapers...not your typical New Year's Eve convo...I'm sure my friends were thrilled...  Little do my friends know, the bombardment of questions is only going to get worse once my little lady is here!

All these questions of course, stem from slight (or major???) anxiety as the big day gets closer.  It's not like I've never been around babies or changed diapers before...but you still don't know what to expect with your own child.  I keep having dreams that my baby is a boy!!  So then I wake up feeling a little nauseous in the fact that I might be pregnant with a boy and that he's going to have to wear pink for the first 9 months of his life and that I'm still going to have to name him Violet Ann because of all the personalized/monogrammed things that I have with that name!  Then I also worry about losing all the baby weight that I've gained and how I'm going to have enough time to work out as much as I need.  Working out has always been an important part of my life and I realize that my priorities are going to change drastically once V is here and I wonder how I'm going to deal with the re-prioritization...like I said, I've been driving myself nuts with all these different questions/scenarios/thoughts.  But one thing is for sure, I'm so ready to have this baby (whether it's a girl OR a boy)!  I know that I'll figure out answers to all my questions (or most of my questions) day by day and learn from my mistakes as well.  2010, you've been so good to me and 2011, let's get this show on the road!

Big and uncomfortable...notice the fake smile...