New blog link

New year, new blog.

From now on, I will be blogging at

http://thehayesnarrative.blogspot.com/

Hope to see you over there.

Goodbye, imlindsayb, it's been real.

overdue.

Well, I'm officially two whole days overdue. When I started my third trimester, I was vocal about how I knew I'd be overdue, mostly because I wanted to expect it and not feel like I was waiting forever. I read somewhere that only 5% of babies come on their actual due date, but I guess somewhere in the back of my mind I still thought it would happen right on that day. It's just been my countdown marker for so long, and now I feel somewhat disoriented. And it's almost turned this whole experience into a hoax. You expect your life to change on that day, but the day came and no baby--like you've been tricked. No baby is coming! Fooled! And then you expect life will just go on and you wonder what you are going to do with the 200 count diaper stash in your closet.

As much as I wanted Jack to come this weekend, it's sort of worked out great. Matty and I had zero plans and just lounged around. I read two whole novels (working on my third), watched three Christmas movies, ate whatever I wanted, and slept in (as late as Mickey would let us, anyway). It's good that we had a rest for the long days and nights that I expect will come this next week.

My doctor has made me an apt for this Thursday morning to get induced. So there is at least that end date in sight. Which means in a matter of four days I will be holding a baby Jack. I'm not sure how they expect me to work the next three days. I will be totally useless.

Why having a mom is great.

Sometimes, like when you are 39 weeks pregnant, you can totally get away with wearing slippers to any and all public places. Most people are so distracted by the baby bump that they completely miss your shoe selection or else they just understand that this is acceptable practice. All of Thanksgiving day and all my black Friday shopping took place in these slippers. I can't praise their comfort enough.

 

And then December hit, and because I live in Utah, that means lots o' snow. And I quickly realized snow can quite easily get into my slippers and make me freezing and a lot bit more miserable than wearing my much-too-small tennis shoes. 

I tried yet again to stomp my way into my last winter boots and ended up out of breath and frustrated.

My two choices were 1) to no longer leave the house (sounded tempting), or 2) actually go and spend money on real shoes (which sounded awful since I hopefully only have one or two weeks left of my role as Big Foot).

But before I could decide, I received the most amazing package at the door. It was sent from my amazing mother who is checking up on me often from her California homestead. It contained two brand new pairs of shoes--both of them one size up from my pre-pregnancy size. Just perfect for my third trimester feet. 

Moms are the best.

Oh, Christmas tree

Last Monday (the Monday before Thanksgiving, yes), we set out to get our Christmas tree. We needed to be Christmas-ready as early as possible since we don’t know when baby d-day is going to hit. Also, Thanksgiving is late this year, so really we weren’t getting it all that early. We headed to the store and picked out a very plump and short Christmas tree—perfect for us (it looks a lot like me these days), and it smelt ideal. We asked the workers to come help us, and they proudly declared us the first people to buy a fresh Christmas tree at Lowes in American Fork. No prize awarded, just pride. Matty shoved it in the back of our civic, and we played Christmas tunes on the way home.

I’m not sure there are many things that get close to the joy of decorating a Christmas tree. We played music and tag teamed stringing the lights. Mickey was sniffing the needles, very curious as to why we brought a tree indoors most likely. This is only our second Christmas together, but we already have a good amount of ornaments. My mom bought Jack his first one, which is a baseball glove and ball with his name on it. We have a First Christmas together and a few I had from my single days. Last year we also bought a grab bag pack at Savers that was filled with little vintage toy ornaments. We took turns hanging them all until there were no gaps on the tree to be found.

Once we turned out all the lights in the house except for the ones on the tree, it was hard not to call our house cozy.

one year.

A year did not go by. There is no way.

But because denying that fact would also mean missing out on some needed celebration, I'll admit it has.
It's been a whole year since Matty and I were  married. There.

I've learned some important things about him since becoming man and wife.
Namely that he is probably the easiest person in the world to live with. He has such a good nature and never seems to experience "moodiness" like the rest of human kind. And he's truly the best friend I personally could have asked for.
I've also learned some non-important things:
He throws away pennies because he thinks it is a useless form of currency. He puts handfuls of pepper on everything, like even on salad. He is not allowed to use the pretty place mats when he eats because food tends to jump off his plate and on to the table. And he listens to his music at an abnormally high volume when he drives.

This love is bigger than anything else. I feel blessed to have it.

Now we are off to Park City for a getaway weekend. See ya!

harvest.

When we first bought our house, there was a picturesque plot of land that had been designated for a garden. This really excited me for so many reasons. Matty and I went to the store, in the garden center, which was then a very new experience (now we frequent it often). We picked out the type of seeds to plant--corn, pumpkins, and snap peas, respectively. We also bought a very small cherry tomato plant just because.

It was my very first gardening experience (outside of a few times helping out my grandpa in the garden when I was just a seedling myself). We googled "how to" in some cases and winged it in others. We weeded, we watered. Matty put up a little white picket fence that surrounds it. 

I'm quite proud of it. It probably doesn't produce enough to make us post apoctalypic survivors, but it has done well enough. The cherry tomatoes are being picked by the dozen. And we had our very first dinner on Sunday with our own freshly picked corn on the cob.

We had an official 'harvest day' on Monday. We plucked all the corn and picked all the pumpkins. Matty had the idea to bunch up all the dead corn stalks together and make us some decorations. Now our front entrance way has some fall energy.

Happy harvest!

28 weeks

Upppdatee:

More stomach pictures in my bathroom. I should probably find a better place to take those.

When I first found out I was pregnant, I signed up for some baby newsletters and such. They started out really helpful and cute (e.g., "What kind of fruit most resembles your baby?" "Tricks to find out the gender before the big reveal" "What can you expect from your bundle of joy?").
Now that labor is approaching, they have gotten most UNhelpful and very UNcute (e.g., "What a natural birth and C-section really look like?" "Signs of preterm labor" "The truth about Gestational Diabetes"). This isn't a game anymore.
 
I've been waking up with numb hands almost every day. They feel the size of baseball gloves, and I have to shake them to give them their function back. Also, my new feet are the size of two of my old ones. Apparently I'm not living a lifestyle where I can elevate them enough.

I read there is an actual decrease in brain cell activity going on in my head right now. I try to battle this using my new word search app. It has been almost impossible to be smart at work and actively take part in conversations--the words I say are never the words I'm thinking. Sometimes I'll just stop mid sentence because I literally cannot think of what the next word is, or exactly the point I was supposed to be making. I think I have lost vital brain synapses that I sure hope I grow back. I wanted to write letters to baby boy. You know, cute ones he and I will treasure. But I've found that all literary writing for me is, again, impossible. My brain isn't up for it. (Go back through the last few posts and watch for the degeneration.)


Sometime in the last few weeks, I purchased a crib. Matty spent some time in the living room putting it together. It looked beautiful, and I am very happy with the purchase. He brought it down the hall, turned the corner into baby's room, and...well, it didn't fit through the doorway. Poor Matty had to disassemble most of it, push it through the room, and then reassemble it. I'm sure the craftsmanship was even stronger the second time. Now it's sitting there, awaiting a resident.

I registered last week with Lisa. I had a few mini heart attacks at how overwhelming the whole process was. Thank goodness she was there, because I was lost in this new world of baby gadgets (do babies really need their own nail clippers?!).

I've pretty much thrown all the pregnancy literature I've been reading aside and am focusing on the baby part of it. It's making me dream pretty much every night about different baby scenarios. (Last night, for instance, I dreamed I called all my family and told them the baby was coming. They all came to the hospital, and the doctor told me I would be in labor for several weeks so that everyone needs to go home, including me, so that I could pack more clothes for my long hospital stay.) (Another night earlier this week, I had a dream our baby came out perfect and never cried. Minutes after he was born, we put him in a full three-piece suit and my family passed him all around.)

I'm still loving this experience--I know I'll miss it when it's all over.

current cravings:
bean and cheese burritos
steak
peaches