are you ready for your close up?

the nugget sure wasn't ready! 

our little guy, after days of being super busy and rarely sleeping (or so it seemed), refused to cooperate today. he was tired. he stayed hunkered down with his hands and occasionally his feet covering his sweet face. also in the way? the umbilical cord, which seemed to be swimming across his forehead and then his chin and was also blocking the view of this kid's handsomeness. 

at the long awaited and much anticipated 3D sonogram, after an hour and ten minutes, these were the best shots we got. i'm still so glad we did it and am certain i'll do it again if we are blessed with other little ones in the future, but i was really hoping for more of a show! 

snow days.

in case you missed it, we've been struck with the great blizzard of 2011. for the first time i can remember in the 6 and a half years of working at my job, we closed down due to the weather. i'm grateful to our ED who sent us home early monday during the sleet and kept us safe by closing the agency both tuesday and wednesday. i'm pretty sure it is back to reality tomorrow. oh well. it was a welcome break.

life in the mcclernon house is good. i seem to be out of the crazy crying pregnant lady phase - maybe partly due to the stress relief that came when we found out about steve's job offer and the fact that the countdown is on to the end of his bar days. i really hope we still like each other once we start seeing so much more of each other. i'm used to him being gone 2 nights during the week and all weekend!

he'll be taking about 2 weeks off between jobs to work on projects around the house. we still have a ways to go to make room for baby. a few of the things i'm most excited about? new carpet throughout the house (the nugget will not crawl around on this nasty floor) and a new kitchen sink. i think these touches alone will do wonders for the look and feel of our home. stay tuned for photos as projects get completed!

also, stay tuned for photos of our little nugget. we go for a 3D/4D sonogram on friday. i can't wait to see what he looks like. as of today we have 9.5 weeks until he is due to arrive!

celebrate!

steve got a job! my stress level is going way down as that is sinking in. in a few short weeks my husband will start working a normal schedule with normal business hours. with benefits. and weekends. and paid vacation. it is going to be so weird but i'm confident it will be so, so good.

3.

when i rolled out of bed today i was officially in my 3rd trimester! i can't believe it. 28 weeks!

the past few weeks i've finally gotten some relief from the swollen disc in my back and i'm no longer seeing the chiropractor 2-3 times a week.  in fact, tomorrow will be my first visit in about 12 days. i am looking forward to the adjustment as my hips have been sliding around again. my activity has still been restricted but i'm hoping maybe i'll get a different answer about that when i go tomorrow. 

i find myself having pee more often again... almost like bladder spasms. i envision the little nugget inside my belly using my bladder as a trampoline. i'm not sure if/when  this will go away but i hope it is soon! i feel exhaustion creeping back in, also. around 9 or 9:30pm  i can barely keep my eyes open. 

my stress levels have been a little out of control lately and i'm trying hard to manage those. between the stress of steve's job hunt and the changes at the bar where he currently works which is under new ownership, to the stress of my own job and trying to sort through what maternity leave will look like, etc, to the stress of worrying constantly about everything we have yet to get done in preparation for nugget's arrival... well, i'm about maxed about right there. but in addition to everything going on in my own life, i'm watching my best friend's life turn upside down as she has to give up her 2 and a 1/2 year old daughter to a birth father who doesn't know her and is still a child himself. it kills me to standby while her family of 4 goes to 3. 

all of that rambling just to say... here i am. trimester 3. there is a lot going on!

adventures in registering.

when stephen and i were engaged i was really looking forward to the registering process. we were grown ups and we had a lot of stuff already but much of it was from when we were living apart and even more of it was handed down from our siblings or friends. we were mismatched and it was time for a fresh start and i couldn't wait to pick stuff out! my husband did not see things the same way. the first time we went to register i was in tears within about 8 minutes of our arrival to the store. he wanted to give me space to allow me to pick things i wanted since he didn't really think we needed any of it. i took this as disinterest. i quickly learned that registering would be something i would do on my own!

i was convinced now that we are expecting our first little one, steve would feel differently about the process. we are not prepared for a baby and need everything! when we went to babies r' us, he tried. i know he did. but it was useless. i wanted his opinion on bedding and he would say things like "i just figured he could use blankets we already have at home" and he referred to high chairs as "feeding tables." i gave up and returned to the store with my sister a few days later.

i've been slowly adding to the registry online but i really am clueless. i've been grateful for input from friends and family as we try to figure out what we need.

now things are finally coming together! i settled on adorable bedding that is accented with chocolate brown and shades of green and today my parents came over to help prepare the nursery. my mom and i picked a green paint called "key lime." it is a little overwhelming on the walls in an empty room but i'm confident once we add in furniture and the rest it will look great. i'll post pictures when i can but we have a loooong way to to go.

blogs and babies.

i did it! it is january 1, 2011. i made it one full year of blogging somewhat consistently. this blog is a bore compared to blogs of my past but in a few short months it will be full of pictures and tales of life as a mommy. the nugget is doing great - we hit 26 weeks tomorrow. in the meantime, babies are being born all around me. i'm thrilled about the arrivals of finnegan thomas hulsey and luella marie crabb and am hopeful that they'll befriend our little guy once he gets here. i hope everyone (i mean the whole handful of you that check this blog) had fun celebrating the end of 2010 and ringing in the new year last night. may 2011 bring new life, hope, joy and peace for all of us.

24 weeks.

today i roll over to 24 weeks. i cannot believe how fast all of this is going. i know, i know... the third trimester will probably drag on. in the mean time, we're just having trouble wrapping our heads around the fact that we're going to be parents really soon! we have so much to do it is ridiculous and between my back problems and not being allowed to do anything and steve's intense job search and craziness at the peanut and the holidays we are getting no where fast.

we hit a fun milestone yesterday that i wanted to share before i head to the grocery store. are you ready? steve officially felt the nugget kicking! i've been feeling him for weeks but steve finally got to experience his moves yesterday. he is now more convinced then ever that we have a little NFL punter in training.