Flu Shots

I just got my flu shot, and while it did hurt, and I'm now feeling a little icky, it's done.

So that's a big relief! And Justin is getting his at work. They sent an e-mail out offering $20 shots for faculty and staff sometime soon, so he promised he'd get one.

Of course, everyone keeps saying, "you got a flu shot????" in this really worried voice, and I have to explain over and over again that my doctor told me to get one and that pregnant women are high risk for the flu. Sigh.

Tonight we are going to see a movie! It's been a while, but I'm excited. We're going to see the new Wes Anderson movie, Darjeeling Limited. It's playing at Tara Cinema, and the show that we're going to features a Q&A session with WES ANDERSON (directed Royal Tenenbaums and Rushmore, among other great films) and JASON SCHWARTZMAN! There's only the one showing that features the Q&A, and we're really excited. Of course, the event sold out like 2 days ago, so we're going to try and get there early and make sure we don't get stuck sitting in the front row. Justin might try and leave work a little early for it. It's going to be great!

Geez

So my doctor's office called to tell me that all my tests came back negative. Which is good news, but goes no further to explain this weird sharp pain in my side. I'm sure it's just muscle-related, or maybe how the baby is positioned, but it hurts! It seems to get worse after sitting at my desk for too long, which is great when you have a desk job... :) It also seems to get worse after I eat.

In any case, the nurse asked me if the pain was better, and when I told her it wasn't, she said she'd talk to the doctor and try to figure out what to do next. I somehow felt a little guilty and/or embarrassed saying that the pain wasn't better even though all my bloodwork was normal, like I should just admit that I was faking it this whole time, but I figured that would not necessarily be productive.

Either way, Hosey has been very active, so I'm not nearly as worried about it, just tired of it hurting. It makes it harder to sleep.

Tomorrow I am going to get my flu shot at work. Our firm has offered to pay for them, so I figure I'm saving myself a good $30 or so. I was thinking I could try and sneak Justin in, too. Pretend that he's one of my co-workers.

I'm also waiting to hear back from a fun program at work where I might be able to get an "expectant mother" parking space in my building. So I'd park, get out of the car, get on an elevator and be at work. Now I cross Peachtree Road every morning and evening to get to my parking lot, which has been fine, but I'm sure will be a little less fun the more and more pregnant I get. Basically, I apply now, and get a pass whenever one comes available. There are 8 spots. And you can only have it in your final trimester. My sources (ie co-workers who park in the building) tell me that all 8 of them are always empty, but we'll see. The wheels always move a little slowly around here...

Again, we hope everyone is doing wonderfully!

Another lovely weekend

I can't believe it's already Sunday afternoon. Weekends go by way too quickly.

Here's my 30 week photo, taken today. I still think my rear is keeping up with my belly, but whatever.

After a nice dinner with friends on Friday, we worked on the apartment yesterday, after my mom came down and helped us shop for some missing things. We had a nice lunch at Fox Brothers Barbeque (brisket...yum) and then went to IKEA and the new Super Target at Atlantic Station. We got curtains for the bedroom, and fun curtain rods at Target. I also bought replacement blinds for Hosey's room, as one of the sets was really manky and old.

We were slated to go to a going away pot luck dinner after stopping at the Little Five Points Halloween Parade, but after shopping all day, and then hanging curtains (I sort of supervised...) we really didn't feel great. So instead we sat around and watched The Office on www.nbc.com (a handy resource for people who don't have TV). My feet were painfully swollen, which in and of itself made me feel a little less than excited about going to a party, and my toes looked like hot dogs. It's lovely. My friend who is moving has a 7 month old, so hopefully she will understand what these days are like. :)

Today we went to Lenox to look for a rug at the Urban Outfitters (I found it online, and wanted to go buy it) for the upstairs hall. The rug was only $8, and it is perfectly sized to fit over this bizarre grate in the floor that we previously thought was for the AC. I lifted up the grate yesterday to measure what we thought was an air filter, only to find it's a huge piece of metal hammered into an old hole. I guess it used to serve a purpose... Anyways, I was very excited to see that I could cover that thing up, as it hurts my feet when I walk across it. And the new rug is the PERFECT size. I took pictures for my mom to see, as she was witness to the hopeless search yesterday for the perfect rug.

While at Lenox, Justin got a few new shirts, which is always fun at the season change. I got a Pumpkin Spice Latte at Starbucks, which I love even more than new clothes... :) I decided a while ago that I don't want to buy any more maternity clothes, as my mom and sister have given me a healthy supply, and I've only got two more months. As much as that scares me, it's true. Justin was trying to pick me out a birthday present, and I found the perfect sweater at the Gap, that is like a cape but with some buttons at the neck. It seemed perfect for me, since with no arm holes, it would be perfect for a pregnant belly. And for after the baby is born and it's still cold out... Then came two realizations: 1. The sweater was RIDICULOUSLY expensive, at $76, I'm sure I could find one at Old Navy for a much more reasonable price and 2. The Gap had the sweater stocked only in size XS/S. For the second reason, I decided that I was blacklisting the Gap and promptly left.

I also looked at Gymboree for some potential baby clothes, and while some were very very cute, they had a woefully small section of gender neutral clothes. This always puts a bad taste in my mouth. Even once we find out what gender Hosey is, I'm not planning on buying too much in the way of super-gendered clothes. By super-gendered clothes, I mean the boys clothes with sports and trucks stuff on them, and girls clothes that have millions of princess references and lots of ponies and hearts. While I love these clothes for other people's babies, I don't think it's for me. I love the baby clothes that are orange and brown and yellow and green, and they have dinosaurs or animals. I just think that it's a little weird to go totally overboard on the sports stuff for little boys, if only because there is no reason to think that a six week old boy is going to end up any more of a "Little Slugger" than a six week old girl. Anyways, that's my rant.

After Lenox, we headed over to Young Blood Gallery in East Atlanta, as I was sure I could find the perfect birthday present there, and it would be handmade and one of a kind. Sure enough, I picked out a domino necklace made by a really cool artist from another state. I really love it, and it reminds me of Hosey. It's a little bear (see the picture above) and it's great because it won't make my skin break out. Lately, even silver makes me break out. And I wanted a special piece of jewelry to commemorate being pregnant. Justin and I think this one is perfect. And for the record, Justin didn't want to pick anything out on his own, so don't think I told him what to get me without being asked!

We hope everyone had safe and fun weekends!

Catching UP!

The crib is finished! Yay! We can't wait to put in the mattress (a generous gift from Justin's Mom and stepdad) and actually make the crib with all of our lovely sheets and blankets. I know it will just be sitting empty for a long time, but that's OK. It will look cute.

I am starting to get caught up on my thank-you notes, which feels wonderful. I always feel guilty about getting a gift until I have sent off the thank-you note. I'm about 3/4 done I think. What a wonderful problem to have!

The apartment is continuing to come together, and last night I finished up the bathroom (still complete with giant holes in the wall...) and we really just need to finish up the nursery and our bedroom. We have noticed that there are a lot of spiders around. Not like billions, but quite a few. And some of them are really big and gross. We're trying to figure out how to get rid of spiders. Do they make a spider spray? We agree that we've never seen one, but it seems likely that one must exist somewhere... In the meantime, we want to get some kind of caulk or something to seal up some of the gaps around windows and floorboards. That's where the spiders like to hang out. I think this is the time of year where they try to come inside. And that does seem to be a draw back to living in a wooded area.

Hosey is defying me and continuing to kick and punch pretty frequently. I thought it would be slowing down more now, but not really! I'm enjoying it while it lasts...

Signs of what's to come?

I'm starting to feel a little blah these days. Just tired and cranky most of the work day. I'm sure it doesn't help that things at work have been very very stressful, and I'm not very good at leaving it here when I go home, but I think it's also due to getting more and more pregnant. I know I've got more to go, and it I'll just keep getting bigger, but these weird pains and things stretching and hurting... ick. Just ick. Not to complain all the time, but I find myself feeling sorry for myself a lot lately. How attractive.

In other news, Justin and I are going to try and finish the crib tonight. Then we will take lots of pictures of it, and post them on Flickr. I would love to just finish the nursery (or come close) and have it nice and ready in the next few weeks. I just need to prioritize. First the big stuff, then the small stuff. I can wash the baby clothes after we get the furniture done. And luckily, my sister washed all the baby clothes she gave us before giving them to us. That is a big help! But I do also agree with my mom. It's fun to have some new stuff with the tags still on. All in all, we are really getting close to being set for baby. We have most of what we need (or at least what we think we need...). Except a name. That's kind of a big one. I'm sure it will come to us. I've been reading a lot of books lately, as they help me fall asleep, and they are always full of name suggestions. I'm reading some short stories by Evelyn Waugh, who is an early 20th century British writer. He has lovely names. I had Justin going for a little while the other night that I wanted to name the baby Imogen (a main character in one of his stories). Which is not to say that I don't think it's a neat name, but I don't think I could do that to a child...

It is 6:48 and I'm still at work...

Bummer. But my doctor's office just called to say that my bloodwork is "in normal ranges," which I take as a good sign. This week has been a bad one at work; the kind where your work seems to be multiplying in your inbox.

Oh well. At least I have a job! That's the most positive thing I can say about it for now. If I could just go two or three days without a nasty e-mail or phone call... but that would require the government to speed up their processes and stop losing people's applications in big black holes of time. And that is not likely.

I hope everyone else is doing well! I haven't heard from anyone in a while. It's that busy time of year...almost to the big holidays. Almost time for Hosey, too. I'm 30 weeks today. That really is kind of scarey. Exciting, but scarey. I can't wait to find out Hosey's gender. It's really driving me nuts. And we are stalled out on picking names. It's sort of an exhausting process.

Roger Dodger

Everything seems to be fine. The doctor drew some blood to make sure there aren't any kidney problems or a few other things, and said if it keeps bothering me, I can come back and they will do an ultrasound to check the gall bladder. Is that the right spelling? But she said it's probably a pulled muscle or something. Blood tests should be in by the end of the week.

So I am paranoid. But I'd rather that than ignore things and end up with a bad result...

And Hosey's heart rate came in low this time, somewhere in the 140's. Maybe I was right about Hosey being sleepy this week...