Twenty-Two Weeks

Today is July 21, and Caleb is due November 21. That makes ONLY FOUR MONTHS to prepare! Holy cow! I cannot believe that we're that close.

So, what has happened this week? Well, Caleb has certainly made his appearance! He is 11 inches long and weighs almost a pound! I've now had two people who didn't know, ask me if I was expecting or how far along I was. I'm working on a nice round belly, and am a little nervous about the fact that it should grow quite rapidly all the way to the end. My muscles have felt so tight around my abdomen, it literally hurts to take in a big breath of air and stretch it further. Sneezing has become quite dramatic (or traumatic), first because of the pain and fear of bursting associated with big breaths, and then with the effort to not pee from the force of the sneeze. Yeah, maybe that's TMI, but there it is. Pregnancy.

I have gotten so many goodies from family and friends! I've been taking pictures, but new things keep coming, and it's hard to keep up! So hopefully soon I'll be posting all the new things for Caleb.

Jon and I have picked out our glider, which is uh-ma-zing and comfy. It's big enough for Jon to be comfortable, which was important for us. And my grandparents have wonderfully helped pay for it, which is a big blessing that we'll be enjoying for years to come.

My other grandparents are providing the bedding for the nursery, through the sewing talents of my Grandma. One day, we both went to JoAnn's in our respective towns, and came back with fabric. Grandma came back with exactly what I told her I was looking for, and I came back with something completely different! Haha! I haven't completely made my decision, yet, but I think I'm going to go with what Grandma picked, with the addition of a couple more colors in the form of accents. It's fun to pick out all these things, but still hard for me to visualize since the "nursery" still looks like an "office" to me.

So, along those lines, Jon and I have August 9 on the calendar for the beginning of the Big Shift. Organize the garage to make more room, move the computer(s) to the living room, and everything else to the garage. My parents are coming Labor Day weekend to help us get the nursery together--mostly for my mom to help me organize. So yes, we are cleaning out the garage in August in Texas. I'm voting for a 6am start time so we'll be done by 11, and hopefully it won't hit 100 degrees, yet. I'm also voting for LemonBerry slushes from Sonic to be on tap.

Sheesh, there's so much planning required to have a baby! Besides that, what else is going on?

Oh, my worst fear has come true--my ankles are swelling. I know, you're all thinking, "So...what's the bad part?" I mean, in the spectrum of things that can happen during pregnancy, swollen ankles don't seem so bad, but my ankles are my vanity. I think they're pretty, and now they're swollen. Not bad, yet, but I have more (and hotter) months to come. So sad. It would figure that God had a plan to cure me of my pride.

My hips are still hurting, and--with the help of a friend--I believe I've diagnosed myself with sciatic nerve pain as well. Woohoo! But as long as I'm sitting on a nice cushy chair, I'm okay. Sleeping with hip pain/discomfort hasn't been the greatest, and that's been hard on both Jon and I. I could swear Jon used to be a heavier sleeper than this, but once I'm awake and shifting around, he can't sleep either. He said this morning, "Well...there's more of you to shift, now, and it shakes the whole bed." That's my sweet man. :) I TRY to not move too much, but I end up tossing and turning, which is hard to do when a body pillow (and two cats who have planted themselves on the body pillow) is involved. Okay, so Jon might be right about shaking the bed.... I slept better on Karen's couch over the weekend, and I'm wondering if it's because of the way her couch cushions sink in so nice. I may be moving to the couch (or the soon-to-be-acquired glider!) sooner than I expected!

Well, I think that's enough for today. I've been finding myself getting a little overwhelmed with all the decisions required in the next few months. I can only think about it for a certain period of time, and then I'm done. :) So, after this post of all the things that need to get accomplished, I think I'm finished with baby stuff until this afternoon, at least.