Judecorp.

I thought this was a funny little comparison. (x-posted to blog)

( It's funny what a difference 14 or so weeks can make! )

On the drive home, I cried all the way through "I'll Follow You Into the Dark" by Death Cab for Cutie.

Oh my goodness, but I am so embarrassed.

I have such a love-hate relationship with hormones. On one hand, I love what I've been able to accomplish (and will soon be accomplishing) by messing around with my natural set-up of hormones. I'm doing something that I'd been told and always thought was out of my reach, and hey, what can I say? I like to do the impossible. But on the other hand, it's been 27 months now that I haven't been myself. I don't even really recognize myself. I'm some medically-twisted New Me.

( Lots of random blather about gender and hormones that you can feel free to skip. )

But I know that I look at pictures from three years ago and see myself, and look at pictures from now and wonder who that person is. I guess I will keep telling myself it will get better with time.

I stopped for gas this morning at the same old gas station I always stop at, because I'm lazy and it's right there and because it's usually 2¢ cheaper than the other places. So I pull up to the pump and I'm pumping my gas. The weather is gorgeous and I'm wearing shorts and a VERY maternity tank top - the kind that is stretchy elastic over the breasticles and then just tents over the belly.

I guess I look bigger than usual in this shirt because out of nowhere, the Big Gas Station Lady comes out of the booth and puts on her suave voice and says, "You look like you're starting to get mighty uncomfortable, my dear," and makes like she is going to pump my gas for me! Thankfully I was totally done and putting the pump back into the tank and chirped, "Naw, I feel great, thanks!" and then she sticks around and takes my receipt out of the machine (pay at the pump) and hands it to me.

She says, "Boy or girl?" and I say, "Girl," and she tells me she knew it because I'm carrying so high. (Whatever, I'm 'carrying' 4 weeks behind!) So then I say very quickly, "I just hope they're right or I'm in trouble," and I scurry into my car and drive away.

SCARY GAS STATION LADY WAS HITTING ON ME!!!

Estimated weight: 4lbs 7oz (49th percentile)

There was plenty of fluid, there was a VERY head down baby with hair on her head, and everything looked good. We don't have the "official" word from the midwives or anything but the ultrasound tech said everything looked great.

I honestly don't know where 4lb 7oz of baby is hiding in my little gut. I think I might have a tilted uterus because the tech found baby's butt to be higher on my abdomen than the midwives have been measuring. I can't believe there's a baby butt so high in my gut and I can't even tell.

It was a good time and definitely worth it. We got to fall madly in love with our kid all over again. What I thought was a stray foot poking me was actually her knees and elbows, which would explain why it hurts so much sometimes.

Yay baby!

Not the most flattering photo by a long shot. It seems like all of the photos catch me off-guard because Jen tends to accidentally hit the power button instead of the shutter button, shutting the camera off. Then it's a mystery when the photo will be taken! (I think I had a good smile going before the camera shut down.)

Either way, things are getting pretty big up in there. It is hard to believe that most of the world who is as far along as I am is actually /bigger/, because I think the gut is getting pretty big.

I honestly don't know what I'm going to do when I have to go back to work full-time. I get so much done in the mornings before I have to be at work. Mornings are my most productive time of the day and it's nice to use that productivity in the house instead of a job!

This morning I finished the laundry, put it away, put the dishes away, cleaned up the kitchen, cleaned out this bucket of nasty water that for whatever reason was hiding in a laundry basket on our guest bed (buh?), found the angel statue that I want in the baby's room, made a list of things Jen and I need to get done in the next couple of weeks and then the next couple of months, sent rizzo41 the window measurements for the curtains she is making, filed some stuff, cleaned out my car, and went to the post office for some old stamps for this week and new stamps for next week (rate change, yo). And still ended up at work about 30 minutes early!

Clearly, I am super woman. I also remembered to find the checkbook so that we can pay the instructor at our first birth class tonight and mailed all of the Mother's Day cards.

~//~

In funny belly news, yesterday my grandmother told me she wished my belly is bigger. I told her I still have two months to grow but she was not hearing a word of it. She just kept telling me I was going to have a very petite baby. Aah, Grandma.

Gosh this picture is awful. Not only did Morgan and I walk 20 minutes in the rain on the way to my car (gotta love that rained-on hair!) leaving me to look like a frumpy hausfrau, but Jen INSISTS on taking all of the pictures while I am standing and she is sitting on the couch.

Anyone can tell you that picture from below = instant double chin. Must be why I'm sporting that cheesy smile.

But the belly, it is taking on a life of it's own. I used to be sort of generically round but now it has a distinct shape. And sides. And it moves.

I love this shirt, btw. It is the most comfortable thing imaginable. I even slept in it last night after work. So stretchy! So soft! So worth clearance at the Gap!


( And here's a fun one from the front: )

I often need a weekend to recover from my weekend. This weekend is no exception.

We got up early yesterday and headed into Boston to have haircut appointments with The Dark Overlord. (It wasn't the reason for our trip, but since we were going to be there, what the heck, right?) Haircuts done, we ate some lunch and headed up to Somerville to spend some time with Olex, and then went over to Shani and Matt's place because Jen wanted to go to a Game Night before the baby comes and we aren't as able to make 2 hour drives/4 hour roundtrips for board games. After Game Night, we went back to Olex and Jen's place to crash for the night. Good lord, I was tired. I'd gotten crap sleep on Friday night. But we got to see some peeps, including Ms. Katherine who is getting too cute to live.

We got up this morning, showered, and headed to Ball Square with Olex and Jen to eat at SoundBites. It was delicious and also full of Brazilians. I am usually a strict "bowl of cereal" girl when it comes to breakfast, but had chocolate chip and strawberry pancakes, and then Jen and I split an order of home fries and an order of sausage. The home fries were like fried mashed potatoes and I could have eaten 20lbs of them. I didn't, but still felt like I was going to die after.

We went back to Olex and Jen's place and played a game of "Last Word" with them, which was fun. And then we bugged out so we could drop in on Melissa (the wife of our illustrious mortgage guy) and their new baby, Nolan. We dropped off a little baby gift and hung out there for several hours, enjoying the breeze coming in through the open windows and the smell of the neighbors burning lawn refuse. Mmm. When I started to drop into starvation land, we bid our goodbyes to Melis and Nolan (sorry, Jeff!) and decided to check out this diner that Melis said had awesome milkshakes. Which they did. Even if mine was frozen yogurt. It was still tasty! So we pigged out AGAIN and then drove back to the Valley, stopping at the grocery store briefly before getting home. Thud.

And then I realized that we'd gotten a bunch of our next-door neighbor's mail, which gave me an excuse to go next door and meet him. He was very nice, and was officially the first stranger to assume I'm pregnant and ask when the baby is due. This means, of course, that I am in love with him.<3 <3 <3 I have major belly going on these days so it isn't surprising, but still gratifying after all of the crap I got in earlier weeks.

Now I have to get to the Sunday Ritual stuff. The garbage is out but not the recycle, the laundry needs to be done and I should unpack from the weekend. Jen's gotta do the cat litter (good times) as well. But we got the screen doors up instead of the glass panels which is SO NICE.

I have to be at work by 9am tomorrow to interview some potential grad assistants for next year. It stinks to go to work so much earlier than usual. But it will be SO gratifying to leave at 2:30 instead of 5, especially when it's expected to be in the 80s tomorrow. GLORIOUS.