The Weekend Update

So I used to feel like a dunce when pregnant women would answer the "how far along are you" question with a count in weeks, because then I'd have to stop, dust off my brain, and try to divide the answer by four to figure out months. But now I get it: when you've got NINE MONTHS of pregnancy you know you have to complete, it's really exciting every time you're able to tick off one more week in the countdown til D-Day. You don't want to have to wait for FOUR of them to go by before you can make some sort of check mark.

It's so crazy how many girls are pregnant and all of us due within a few months of each other.

1. Ally--co-worker--actually popped two weeks ago on Sept. 19, but up until then. (Girl)
2. Beth--co-worker--due Oct. 20. (Boy)
3. Brittany--co-worker--due Nov. 25. (Girl) Some of the customers look downright freaked out by all the pregnant chicks in one store, if enough of us walk by while they're there. It's amusing.
4. Moi. (Boy) I missed the memo and left a gap in Dec. (Or maybe my boss should have hired another girl and made "expecting in late December" one of the qualifications.) But all four of us are even due around the same TIME of our months. Jan 20th for me.
5. Shara--friend from home. Due two or three days after me, I think. (Girl)
6. Ashley--friend from home. (Girl)
7. ******--friend from home--not positive I'm allowed to tell yet. (Don't know yet)
8. Elizabeth--cousin. Due a month a half apart. (Girl)
9. Jamie--old roommate--just had her little boy a week ago.
10. Lauren--old roommate. (Boy)
11. Adrienne--old roommate. (Girl)
12. Kim--old roommate. (Don't know yet)
13. Callie--old roommate, more current friend. (Don't know yet)

Am I forgetting anyone? There are probably more I just don't know about. :)

And the ratio seems to hold here, too. Doesn't it seem like there are way more little girls being born than boys? Our ward is a sea of little girls; finding a boy is like spotting Waldo. Not that there's anything wrong with that, I just hope they can all find worthy husbands someday...

By the way, you don't have to be interested in all this. I'm just thinking out loud (as it were).

To conclude, I'd like to say that my cat, Max, is lounging on the computer desk in front of me, and he very nearly fell off just now while letting out a luxurious stretch and yawn.

Bring on the advice!

Any of you who have children or at least experience with children--I don't. At my mom's urging, I'm starting to really think about getting baby furniture soon (although it feels weird, like I'm jumping the gun, being silly), and I get confused about things. Like...

...whether I need a bassinet, crib, or both right away, or just a bassinet first, or just get a crib and skip the bassinet, exactly why a bassinet is a good thing (I just don't know either way), whether I should pick out a changing table with a drawer (seems more convenient, but what if it doesn't matter?), whether I should just get a chest of drawers and use the top of it for a changing table, or maybe a crib with a built-in changing table to save space, whether I should get a cheaper crib that doesn't go from crib to day bed to full-size bed since we already have my old twin from single days and it's in great shape, etc., etc....

...and that's only the furniture worries. Then there's the world of pacifier brands.

See what I mean?

Honestly, I would truly appreciate any advice everyone can give me on these things. The main objectives are:

1) Save money without sacrificing quality.
2) Spend a little extra if necessary to get stuff that will last (not fall apart so we just have to spend more money replacing it later) and that will be useful (i.e., the drawer thing: if it will really make life after baby that much easier, I'll spend some more money on it).

So, let the advice fly! Baby and I thank you!! :)

The Case Against September (a sort of essay-style rant)

By the way, I finished the Twilight series, all of it. And sorry, Stephanie Myer is just not JK Rowling. I still don't think it can hold a candle to Harry Potter. Interesting, intriguing, worth reading, all yes. But not the page-turner I expected it to be. Which is fine, I'm just glad other people enjoyed it so much. I'm glad I didn't buy all the books yet, though. Library waiting list has worked out just fine (and cheap!).

Well, I don't have much else to say, and you know why? The obvious reasons, such as: all I do pretty much is work at my icky job, and: we hardly have any friends (and plus we're not too social with those friends, giving lameness where our lameness is due), but also because it is one of my two least favorite months: September.

There is nothing exciting about September. Fall is coming, but it's not here yet, and the idea of it can be depressing if you live in Rexburg, Idaho and know you have to intentionally enjoy driving on pavement rather than an ice rink while you still can. It's too early to decorate for Halloween or listen to Halloween music, because you'll wear it out and get sick of it. There are no holidays. Look on a calendar; September is the month of school. You'll see pencils, rulers, apples. And even if I could be excited about school starting, well, I can't, because I don't get to go to school anymore. Jason does, but that means more time for homework and less time for me. Wah.

So, yeah. I don't sit stewing about it all day, I just felt like making a case on here. But this and January (it's still icky winter, and there is no Christmas to make it worth it) are for sure my least favorite months out of the year. Green Day put it best: Wake me up when September ends. I'm really glad it's nearly half-over.

One happy thought, though: this coming January, I'll definitely have something to look forward to! :)

Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle.

Actually, I'll be a little baby boy's mommy.

IT'S A BOY!!

And from the view we got and the ultrasound tech's reaction and assurances (she straight up said 100%, and then the doctor said she shouldn't have told us that), there is not much room for doubt.

So it's not "it" anymore, it's "he" or "him." I'm still digesting this...

Pictures soon to come.

Mini Street Fighter

I've been sitting here looking at people's blogs and feeling the baby give me what-for every few minutes (or seconds--there's one), and just thought I would relate (there's another--he or she is practicing karate again) an episode that I thought was funny.

Jason and I are in bed reading, baby is kicking, but darn it, Jason still hasn't been able to feel it! So I'm resting my book on my stomach, feeling the little kicking/punching feelings, and all of a sudden--BAM--the baby kicks my book where it was resting! As in, the book went quickly up and down!

I'm sure this is nothing to seasoned mothers, but it was crazy for me. Jason thinks the location was probably coincidence, but considering the way I hate it when people encroach on my space (like on airplanes or at the movies), I (there's another) wonder if our kid isn't already showing personality. Like, "YO OUT THERE! This is my space and there's not much of it! You're poking me!" (Gurgle-ish that time. ...Little poke. ...Just trying to give you a real-time idea of--and another--what it's like when the baby's partying. And another!) Lol. So fun.

Only two more days. Holy. Cow.