Kicking up a storm

Perrin is particularly active today. That's a good thing, except that it makes me much less productive at work. I seriously have been sitting here for the last half hour or so with my hand on my tummy and a goofy expression on my face as I stare at the wall. I have ten sticky notes lined up across my desk reminding me of things I need to do or people I need to call. But who can concentrate on work when there's a mini-person bouncing around inside you?

I haven't quite gotten over the weirdness of it all. It's very cool but a bit sci-fi sometimes to know that I'm growing a baby. I feel like superwoman--look what my body can do! I took the tiniest of all of Trey's cells, and I'm growing an entire person out of it! Someone once compared it to building a house together, and all the guy has to go is pick out the carpet. And while there are some not-so-great things that accompany pregnancy, the guys also miss out on the really cool parts. Like little baby kicks throughout the day that keep you from getting any work done.

The nesting phenomenon

It seems that the nesting instinct has visited our house. But I'm not talking about me--I'm talking about Trey. A few nights ago, he got the idea to clean out our entire fridge. He threw away expired condiments, leftovers, and lunch meats. Then he took a wet rag and wiped everything down. Then he organized the remaining food (and pointed out to me exactly which shelf we will keep juice on, and which shelf we will keep leftovers on, and where the fruit goes, etc etc.) THEN he did the same thing with our two food cabinets.

I was feeling really tired and achy so I helped a little, but not much. I dragged a chair into the kitchen and mostly just sat watching in amazement at what I was seeing. This was pretty uncharacteristic behavior for Trey. Not that I'm complaining.

It's really cute that my husband is nesting. Now if only he'll go put those nesting instincts to work on his man cave.

The Moosery

A few months ago, before we found out that we're having a boy, Trey spent some free time at work practicing drawing baby moose. One of his coworkers asked him why he was doing that.

"Well, if we have a boy, we're going to decorate the nursery in baby moose," he said.

"Awww, that's so sweet! So how are you going to decorate it if you have a girl?"

Trey thought for a minute and said, "baby moose!"

Thankfully, we're having a boy, so Trey gets to go crazy with baby moose decor. We have a wood cutout of a moose that my sister is going to paint and hang on the nursery wall. We've also bought a couple of really cute moose outfits and a plushy moose toy for Perrin.

Why moose? You'll have to ask Trey that. But if you see any cute moose items for babies in the next few months, let us know!

Our first "child"

I've decided that while taking care of a dog is not quite the same as taking care of a child, it's still good preparation for new parents.

Yesterday, for example, we dropped off little Molly at the vet's office to have her teeth cleaned. I felt guilty having to leave her in an unfamiliar place all day long to go through an uncomfortable procedure. I even prayed for her safety on my way to work (yes, I'm that pathetic).

When I picked her up in the afternoon, she wasn't her usual perky self (still groggy from the anesthesia), and all I wanted to do was give her a big hug and let her rest in the comfort of home all evening. But first, I had to get her home.

It was only a five-minute drive (if that), but by the time I was turning onto our street, Molly had begun making gagging noises. "No, Molly--hold on for just 15 seconds!" I said as I zoomed toward our driveway. But alas--she puked all over the floor of my car.

I could say that this is good parental preparation because of all the messes (including puke) that we'll have to clean up. But it's good preparation in other ways too--like in how it reminds us that those we love don't always deserve our love and sometimes don't make it easy to love, but we choose to love anyway. Our child will sometimes be noisy, expensive, messy, and disobedient. But for some reason, we'll love him no less with each new fiasco. And unlike Molly, someday he'll be able to tell us that he loves us back. That's worth cleaning up a little puke now and then.

Hello, Appetite

What's on my mind today? Food. It doesn't matter that I just had lunch. For some reason, over the last couple of days I seem to have developed an insatiable appetite. I realize that pregnant women aren't really supposed to take the phrase "eating for two" literally. But holy cow... I'm hungry. All. the. time.

Maybe my body is making up for the weeks and weeks of morning sickness in which it was impossible to enjoy food. Or maybe Perrin just really likes to pig out and is sending me cues to eat, eat, eat. Whatever it is, I'm torn between wanting to make healthy choices and not gain 50 pounds verses wanting to give in to temptation and have all the tasty food my tummy desires.

Trey hasn't been the best influence. He's just been waiting for the day when I would give in to my pregnant woman cravings so that he could pig out right along with me. But I'm going to be strong. I'm going to resist. As soon as I've had one more dove chocolate.

It's an ear! It's a foot! It's... wait, what IS it??

Ultrasound technology is pretty darn nifty. Who would have thought some jelly and a remote control thing could give you an inside glimpse of a baby in the making? Even so, I had a really hard time figuring out exactly what I was looking at on the screen today when we went in for our 20-week ultrasound.

At times, I was able to pick out an arm or leg and nod enthusiastically when the nurse pointed it out. At other times, I just had to take her word for it. (That's the mouth, right? Oh, it's the heart? Right, of course I see that. Totally looks like a heart. That was my next guess.)

Luckily, she was able to get the baby into a nice position for us to see that we are in fact having a boy. (I knew it!!) She even drew us a nice little line on the computer screen pointing directly to his... well, anyway, it's obvious that we are definitely having a boy.

And without further ado, the wonder of ultrasound (which is not quite as wondrous as the ability of humans to grow new humans inside them, but still very cool):

Babies for Dummies

You know all those yellow textbook-like manuals labeled "something-or-other for dummies"? Given my lack of parental knowledge, I jokingly told myself I need to get "Babies for Dummies." I shouldn't be surprised, but they actually do have "Baby's First Year for Dummies" available at Amazon.

To illustrate just how inept I am when it comes to babies:

• I have only changed two diapers in my entire life.
• I have never been in the same house as an infant overnight.
• I have no idea how to properly hook up an infant car seat.
• I'm pretty fuzzy on the whole concept of burping. Does the baby need to burp after every meal? If I think the baby needs to burp, at what point to I stop whacking the baby on the back and give up?
• I'm confused about what parents do when they're out and the baby needs to be changed, but there's no changing table to be found. Or no bathroom at all, for that matter.
• I'm unsure just how safe it is for a baby to crawl around on a floor that is home to enough dog hair to build a replica 20-pound Corgi. Is that a major red flag? Or should we assume that a bit of Corgi hair never hurt anyone?

I'm thinking even a book for dummies is not sufficient to prepare us for what we're getting ourselves into. Nothing but good, old-fashioned experience will do the trick. I do feel a bit sorry for our first child... I'm betting we'll make most of our dumb parent mistakes on this one.