Photos: This week...cookies, cupcakes and a rainbow oh my

I know I already shared this.  But I baked a lot of cookies this week.  

Rowen fits into the next size up of the onesies from the Baby Shower.

C is for Cupcake designed by Auntie Ange!

I made wontons.  Well, I made the filling and cheated with store-bought wraps.

Rowen discovers and is fascinated by the pockets on her pink "hot day" romper.

Just standing around, chewing on my fingers, waiting for Daddy to wake up....wearing a drum set onesie designed by Daddy.

Visited Katelyn on the Friday before her Monday due date!  Still no Baby Boy yet as far as I'm aware...but no text responses tonight could also mean Baby Time!

Katelyn also made Rowen an amazing cupcake blanket.  I still have to get some better photos of it as Rowen is trying to eat it in all the blurry photos that I managed.  Go to Katelyn's Blog to see photos of the most amazing cupcake blanket! It's so pretty and I can't get over the fact that she made it!

Found Bean sleeping under Rowen in her crib

Got caught in a crrraaaaazy sunshower/thunderstorm driving with the Baby after Meghan's Bridal Shower on Sunday.  Saw a pretty rainbow afterwards though!

18 to 42 weeks in photos

One of the things I regret not doing was take more photos. I had every intention to take a photo every Sunday to commemorate the start of each new week of gestation... but the weeks started flying by and it got harder and harder to commit to the photo when I started feeling big and gross. If I could do it over though, I would try to make a better effort! Here is what we have!




17 weeks




18 weeks



22 weeks plus 1 day. Plus Thanksgiving food baby.



23 weeks




24 weeks




25 weeks. Baby's first rock show merch.


29 weeks and 6 days



31 or 32 weeks?



33 weeks

My 36 week photo is missing... will add when I find them.



37 weeks




38 weeks


Skipped photos for a few weeks... and then:

Miss Rowen at "42 weeks". Much love. :)

38 weeks 2 days and stilll stretchin'

I've been bad at sitting down and writing "real" posts lately. I have an ever-growing list of topics that I wanted to ramble about... but alas, not enough attention span to spit it all out. So here we are, another filler photo entry.

38 weeks!! When I thought I couldn't get any bigger, I have! The body is seriously amazing. I'm shocked that I've somehow managed not to get any stretch marks yet. HOW IS THE SKIN STRETCHING LIKE THIS?



And this belly seems like a distant, distant memory....

37 weeks: last weekend shift at work

37 weeks! My last Sunday at work (I still work short shifts this coming week though)! The belly is fairly gigantic and attracts a lot of comments. It's funny because when I'm lying down at the Doctor's, the belly technically is "measuring small" but when I stand up, it looks huuuge because the Kittenheart has lodged herself in a "head down, butt sticking straight out, feet against my guts" position. There is a tiny baby butt sticking straight out at all times.

On Sundays, I work from 8am till about 5:30 or 6pm at the Yoga studio. It's a long day at the best of times. Even longer as I get more and more pregnant and now SUPER LONG today when I'm full-term pregnant (yay!) but sick with a terrible cold (not yay!) ...

Things that are amusing and help the day go by:

Shocking people with my giant belly when I come around the counter. I don't think I generally seem that pregnant from the boobs up, so people often can't tell that I'm pregnant at first glance. I don't have much of a waddle until the end of the day when my lower back/sciatic flares up and I go from being normal limber to barely able to move.

Snacks. So many snacks.

Discovering what kind of random lunch/snacks that Lowell packs for me. Example, today I went into bag that he packed for me and discovered a yogurt, a spoon, a whole apple zipped into its own ziplock (? lol) and a ziplock full of Fudgee-Os. I'll probably have to venture downstairs for actual lunch.

.

Belated Christmas Eve Belly

A belated Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Holidays to everyone!



Christmas Eve belly... I'm seriously kinda skeptical that my belly skin will actually be able to expand further as there is still another 4-7 weeks to go. Oh, and this is my new uniform. Black leggings, black stretchy H&M shirt, sweater or scarf optional.

Also, for the record, I'm doing a pointing dance at the belly... totally NOT giving Kitten baby a rude gesture!



Lowell at Baby Care Class, modelling slings with the other Dads.

29 weeks & 6 days belly photos

29 weeks & 6 days belly... and my elbow patch sweater!


Big round belly!



Still round belly... non-squirming Kitten baby...





and then now, lumpy moving baby belly! (I should note that I was initially horrified by the "lumpy belly' photos and kept squealing at Lowell after he took them. It was bizarre to see the pics because I had no idea the belly could look for lumpy and uneven! I kept yelling "I don't look like that do I? The belly isn't THAT big is it???" But Apparently, I totally do and yes, it is THAT big.)

23 weeks 1 day pics

CAN'T... SUCK.... BELLY... IN... ANYMORE! Also regular Yoga pants and t-shirts are starting to be too gapey at the front.



Z n' Bax... 23 weeks, wut wut.



So cuddddley.

Some photos

This is what I look like 21 weeks pregnant, sleepless and sick with a terrible freakin' cold.



Lowell's stealth post-Thanksgiving photo. This is what I look like checking out Triscuits on sale. Looking huge at 22 weeks and 1 day pregnant with Kittenheart and also carrying a turkey, ham, vegetable, pie and ice cream Thanksgiving FoodBaby.
Seriously. I look we're having twins.



Today I waited too long to eat breakfast when I woke up and had to run to the bathroom puking. While I was doing my disgusting monster pukes, my nose started running down my face and I farted. I was so grossed out and saddened with myself. I finally told Lowell about this 12 hours later and was able to laugh about it. This was after I had to lie down on the bed and ask him to peel my jeans off of my bloated giant legs for me because they had gotten too tight over the course of the day. I'M SO DISGUSTING RIGHT NOW. I used to look good, oh those were the days:

Vain vain vanity shot, oh my.

Thanksgiving Belly & Ice cream turkey

Last night, after we got home from Thanksgiving dinner at Lowell's Parent's house in the Beaches, we went to Shopper's because my inhaler exploded. We're lucky that there is a 24-hour Shoppers Drug Mart near here that NEVER CLOSES. I was walking around the snacky crackers section and Lowell goes "Honey, turn that way" and snapped some photos of me. I didn't really understand what he was getting at but I complied and made some non-squinty, non-stupid faces for the iPhone.

This morning, I remembered that he did this and asked to see the photos. HOLY CRAP JESUS, they were insane. I said to Lowell "I DON'T LOOK LIKE THAT, DO I? My belly isn't that big, is it?!?!" As it turns out, my belly isn't that big yet... but last night's photos were hilarious and perhaps a good projection for what I should look like in a few more weeks. Apparently eating 2 plates of turkey and ham, potatoes and a bunch of assorted veggies, 3 slices of pie and 3 slices of ice cream turkey makes you look 4 weeks more pregnant than you actually are.

Sidenote: The ice cream turkey from Baskin Robbins is hilarious and has become mine and Lowell's Thanksgiving tradition. This year we waited in a huuuuge line-up due to the freakish heatwave and there was only one ice cream turkey left in the freezer. I was sweaty and nervous listening to all the families ahead of us order their scoops and sundaes. I kept muttering "Oh god, what if they want the turkey? Oh man oh man oh man" every time a new person reached the front of the line. Lowell suggested I wait outside but I couldn't leave him alone with the ice cream turkey anxiety. I swear if anyone ahead of us had gone for our ice cream turkey, I would have fought them for it. What we should have done was call ahead to have it reserved, but it was way more exciting this way.

In related news, I took the above photo of our ice cream turkey with my iPad. I decided to bring the iPad with me so I wouldn't feel left out when we inevitably reached the point in the evening when everyone in Lowell's family starts to play with their Apple toys. Usually I'm all left out with my malfunctioning BlackBerry while everyone shows off their hilarious new apps that make Grandma's talking sound like rapping or boring photos look fabulous. But not this gathering! This time I had my giant clunky iPad that I still really have no idea how to use!

I'm a bit sad that we didn't get to take leftover ice cream turkey home... to make turkey ice cream sandwiches...

Anyway... back to belly talk. Seeing photos of myself continues to surprise me these days. To me, my belly still feels mostly like my belly but it's sneaky and really starting to grow bigger and bigger.

I was going to take a "normal" sans Food Baby photo of the belly today to post along with the Thanksgiving Baby belly. But then I ate half a blueberry pie so that photo will have to wait. I'll post the pics eventually.... This was an anti-climatic build-up to no Thanksgiving Belly photo, sorry.

Week 22: ITCHY BELLY

My belly skin is uncomfortable today. It's a strange feeling to be constantly aware of your belly button all day long... it feels tight and rather itchy, almost achey. Just last week I was telling Alice that my belly wasn't itchy like hers was yet. This week, it SO totally is! But not like, normal "scratch it and it goes away" itchy. Whatever the "itch" equivalent to a dull ache is. A persistent tingley stretchy sensation maybe? Slathering Charity Pot lotion and Mange too bar from Lush all over the belly temporarily soothes the stretchy-tingley (and makes the belly smell like delicious, delicious cocoa butter) but it only kinda helps. And holy fricken jebus this is just the start... there are so many more MONTHS of stretchy-tingley to go! Pregnancy is such a freakin' science experiment.

Bax Love, Lowell Love, Kitten Love (19 weeks and 5 days photos)

Bax is so stinkin' cute we forgot the belly in the first photo.




I've been living in this stripey shirt from H&M Mama lately. It's super comfy but drapes on my body like a giant tent. It makes the ol' belly look far larger than it is! My increasingly awfully curved posture doesn't help the situation because in reality, the belly isn't that big anymore! It's somehow shrinking due to less jiggly bloat and more firm baby.



It blows my mind that one day, sooner than I think, there is a little person who I will love as much as I love Baxter. I explain to Lowell that my Bax-Love is measured on a different scale than Love-love, so it's not a competition.

Example... I love chocolate chip cookies and I also love the colour purple. You can't ask me if I love cookies or purple more because they're measured on a totally different scale. Hence Bax-Love and other-Love. Lowell and Bugdish can be at the top of both their divisions. It just blows my mind that there will be another division soon and another being that will be top ranking. Another little creature that I can tuck under my arm and knows how to conform to my body like a little koala bear! (Bax may be a fatty but we OWN the One-armed Cat Hold! Who needs two hands to hold a cat? Psssshhhhwwwwahh!)

It truly is a life changing experience, having a little human being growing inside you. It's a totally bizarre process that feels long, uncomfortable, painful, disgusting and thoroughly unnatural at times. I'd really like to meet one of those "I loved being pregnant!" type women... because they're f*cked. Please pardon my language. Do no get me wrong though, despite my complaining and despite the fact that I may have never wanted to or planned to experience it - now that it's happening? It's pretty freakin' cool.