First Fire

So last night our friend Eliot came to visit us. He moved to Hawaii about 2.5 years ago, so our chances to visit with him haven't been very great since then. But he came last night, and we went out to dinner at Willimantic Brewery, and then came home to our house to eat leftover pineapple cake, listen to music, and generally chat about life and Yan Xin Qigong (the meditation practice we all do).

The house felt so cold when we got home from the restaurant that I suggested that James make a fire (which then I took over making, LOL). We got it roaring in no time since the wood we have is from last year and very dry. It was so nice to be snuggly and warm in our living room, and later on, in our bedroom.

This is probably the first of many fires--we got the woodstove installed last fall and used it as supplementary heating--meaning we kept the electric thermostats quite low and used the fire to heat the main living areas to a more comfortable level. We would make a fire each morning and keep it going all day and all night.

I grew up with a woodstove and it sets the whole tone of fall and winter to me--I love the happy warmth and crackling. I'm pretty excited that it's once again "that time". :-)

New Blog Features

I put in a blog labels cloud today. I have sort of wanted one for awhile so there it is! As part of this I just went through and reread pretty much the whole blog, updating labels where appropriate. It is funny to read it through like that. I want to do a better job of including pictures in my blog, but I guess my camera being broken isn't a good jumping off place.

I also finally deleted the poll on whether James was a boy or a girl. I wanted to somehow save and transfer it into a blog post but I wasn't sure how to do that, so I just recorded the results on the post where I originally asked people to vote.

I'm serious considering having my friend Alison design my blog for me, because I have zero HTML skills and she does amazing work, but I'm thinking that I want to wait until James is born so I can get some pics of him and our new family in the design.

Sleep is my Friend/Weigh In/Baby Belly

So my brief few days of insomnia have thankfully abated in direct relation to my success at washing, sorting, putting together, and putting away all of the baby things. Our living room is now nearly back to normal and I'm thinking it will be totally back to normal by tonight.

Now, delightfully, I am once again sleeping like (ha) a baby. However I am sleeping even longer and more contentedly than is normal (for me). I'm guessing, if left to my own devises, I am sleeping nearly 12 hours each night. I wake up feeling good, but I will sleep right up until 10:30 or 11 if I stay up late the night before.

In my opinion, this is awesome. The number one warning/piece of advice I get from people is: "Sleep now while you still can", and apparently my body has taken this to heart. I only hope that I continue to sleep this well right up until the birth and my body turns the stored energy into labor stamina. ;-)

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And my other update is my weight. After a month of holding steady (which I knew would NOT last), I am back to putting on weight. I am now up to 158 lbs from a starting weight of 131, meaning I've gained 27 lbs now. I'm fully prepared to go up to 30-35 lbs in the 6 weeks I have left.

Interestingly enough, my Mom weighed 131 lbs when she got pregnant with me, and went on to gain about 35 lbs during her pregnancy. Since she is still beautiful and in great shape at over 50, I am not at all abashed to be following in her footsteps. (She would totally deny being in great shape but compared to the average American she totally is.)

However, I would also be quite fine with staying closer to 30, though I really think I will continue to gain at least a pound a week, so I guess it depends on if he is late, early, or what.

Either way I'm not very concerned. I feel very lucky in that most of my pregnancy weight appears to be in my belly, which hopefully means it will be nearly gone between the birth and the week or two after. I guess my butt has gotten a little bigger, too, but I could have used some extra "junk in ma trunk" before. Hahahaha.

Anyway, I feel pretty lucky not to be one of those pregnant ladies that just gets generally fatter all over--legs, arms, hands, feet, face, etc. I actually always thought I WOULD be one of those ladies, so it has been a pleasant surprise to discover that that isn't the case.

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Along similar lines . . .

I have noticed for the last week or two that my stomach (ie, James David) seems to be growing by leaps and bounds. Suddenly it just seems SO much bigger than it had been, and (lil) James is starting to feel REALLY big and heavy in there. My belly button is still in, but it is seriously shallow. I guess it was pretty freaking deep before . . .

I keep trying to tell myself that it is still probably going to get like twice as big, especially if I go to full term. I'm at 34 weeks (yesterday), and he's supposedly 5 pounds in there now (according to the baby books). So obviously if he is born early at 37 weeks (3 weeks from now) he'll be quite a bit smaller than if he's born late, like 42 weeks (8 weeks from now). Then again I suppose how "done" he is probably has to do with his size anyway, so hopefully if he's a nice big baby he'll come a bit early and if he's a little baby he'll be more likely to need additional "cooking time".

Okay enough updates for right now, LOL.

Fingers Crossed for Cortney and Missy!

I wanted to collect some prayers and positive thoughts for a couple of friends of mine today--I mentioned them both here.

My friend Cortney, in her first cycle of IVF, has had a great response from her embryos and has her transfer tomorrow (babies back in Mommy). PLEASE PLEASE send her your prayers, hopes and crossed fingers that these are some sticky embryos!!

My friend Missy has just had her second IUI. Please send HER your prayers, hopes, and crossed fingers that a healthy sperm meets a healthy egg, and she also ends up with a nice sticky embryo.

These ladies would make amazing mothers. I am hoping with all my heart that a beautiful baby makes its way into each of their wombs (and then stays put!).

:::STICKY BABY VIBES FOR BOTH OF YOU:::