Familial feeling

Last night I supped with my cousin Angela, my aunt and my Mom. It was a good ol’ girl/gab/giggling fest.

When we first met up, we all smiled broadly at each other, we hugged, talked quickly and excitedly to catch up. My aunt and my cousin wished me congratulations and gave my tummy a little pat.

And amidst the laughing, appetizers and wine, as I glanced around the table at their faces, I realized something.

I am a very lucky person.

Despite not having seen my aunt in a long time and my cousin even longer, last night I was enveloped in genuine, 100% authentic love.

There’s something so pure about the love of a family. My aunt has always made me feel undeniably special and unquestionably loved by her. My cousin is one of the best people I know. So happy, such a beautiful outlook on life. And my Mom – well, for all of you that know me, or read this blog, I really don’t have to say much more about my incredible Mother.

It made me happy and hopeful for the little Lemon. He/she will have a big family who loves them so much – who loves him/her so much already before having met.

There will always be someone to make Lemon feel special. To make them feel cared for. To hug them when they need to be hugged most. To laugh with them over silly inside jokes. To be excited for Lemon when they reach an important stage in life. To cheer Lemon on, just for being.

Baby Lemon, you’ve got one heck of a start.

And I have one heck of a family.

Picture time!

In lieu of actually writing lengthy updates about how Baby Lemon (new fruit reference) and I are doing, it's time for some pics, folks! (PS: All pics are clickable, for a closer look!)

Here I am at 14 weeks. Mind you, this is right after a hearty breakfast, so my belly is slightly larger than normal. Or, that's what I'm telling myself anyway. Let me live in my dreamworld, dammit!!

Andrew and I thought it would be all super-cute and "first-time-parents" of us to take belly shots every Saturday morning to keep track of our growing baby. Of course, what you don't see behind this picture is the 10-minute bicker-fest we had about where and how I should stand, what kind of lighting we needed, how close he should zoom in and so on. Ah, such love.

And here is my first-ever baby gift! Yay! Baby Lemon received these 3 absolutely adorable onesies from Grandma and Grandpa a few weeks ago. Too cute for words. Grandma has also offered to purchase a glider/rocking chair for the nursery. So generous, me Ma is.

These cute little tiny baby outfits were given to me by my friend Kim. Her boys wore these days-of-the-week onesies, but are now too big for them. She tried not to sob too much as she passed them on to me.

A closer look...


CUTE! That's all I have to say about them.

I can't imagine having a teensy, tiny little baby that fits into these mini outfits.

But I will. And he or she will be well-dressed from Monday to Sunday.

Here's a pic of my handsome hubby. Just cause.

In summation, I'm getting more and more excited for Baby Lemon. Can't wait to have a little squishy baby to hold and dress up and love and hug and all that yummy stuff.

My love affair with Snoogle

Sleep is a wonderful thing, no?

I’ve always loved it. Actually – that’s not entirely true. When I was a little kid, I didn’t recognize sleep for all its many qualities and benefits. But ever since I hit university (a period of time that I look back on and remember great exhaustion), sleep became a dear, dear friend of mine.

So, when I started having trouble with it recently due to lower back pain, I became a little concerned. Was sleep abandoning me? Did sleep think I was too needy? Should I give sleep some room?

Anyway. I decided that sleep had no choice when it came to our relationship. I wanted it. I needed it. And I would have it.

Enter the Snoogle.

I had heard about Snoogle (a body pillow made for pregnant women to stabilize their hips and back and help them sleep) from a few people. So I thought I’d go check it out.

Andrew and I happened to be out for dinner and not too far from a Babies R Us, so we dropped in on our way back home.

I asked the lady working there for the “Snoogie” I had heard so much about. She tried to hide her smile, and directed me to the Snoogles at the front of the store.

And thus began a beautiful friendship.

Snoogle and I have been cohabitating in my bed for the past few nights. And as such, I’ve felt comforted, supported, protected and rested.

I’m happy to report that Snoogle has successfully brought sleep and I back together again. We’ve reestablished our relationship and things are moving along fantastically.

All’s well that ends well.

In awe

It was only a ten-minute appointment.

I went in. Sat and waited. Got weighed. Had my blood pressure checked. And all the other prenatal stuff you do in the 10 minutes allotted to you at the doctor’s office.

But then.

Then the nurse asked me questions. Questions that made me feel like I wasn’t just another patient. Questions that made me believe she was happy for me. She didn’t just look at me. She saw me. Saw my eyes shining with excitement as I looked up at her and described my first ultrasound experience from last week.

And then.

Then the doctor measured my stomach. Told me I was right on schedule. Said that my baby is posterior, resting at the back of my stomach. But all I heard him say was my baby. My baby.

As I walked out of the office, I remembered the 3 little onesies my Mom and Dad had given me weeks ago as a gift. Little elephants and lions and flowers adorning their soft, cotton exterior.

I remembered all this. I felt all this. I glowed with excitement at the future and what it holds for Andrew and I.

And it was only a ten-minute appointment.

Baby update

People keep asking me how I'm feeling (which is very nice), but I'm a little surprised by it. I'm in my second trimester now, when most pregnant women feel their best.

And since those two weeks early on in my pregnancy, I haven't really complained about being tired or sick or feeling plagued by any of the other symptoms that women go through. Because I haven't been. I've been lucky, I guess. (Yes, you may feel free to hate me now. Go ahead. I understand.)

Anyway - so I thought it was time for a little update on my stats. Just to let you know how I'm doing.

How far along: 13 weeks

Next appointment: Tomorrow! Wednesday, August 19th. It'll be my last appointment with my doctor, and then I'm transferring over to midwife care. So excited about that.

Symptoms: Felt a little bit of pain in my abdomen when I coughed last night. Also, I'm a bit sleepy (but that may be due to the whole getting-up-for-work-at-5:30 or 6am-thing). Other than that, I'm pretty good.

Weight gain: Not quite sure yet. I've been avoiding the scale. But I'll find out tomorrow. As I've mentioned, my pants aren't fitting anymore. So, I'm sure it'll be a significant jump in the weight-gainage. (Ack!)

Progress on preparation for baby: None. We haven't thought about the nursery much. I haven't bought any furniture (I haven't even bought myself any maternity clothes yet!) I haven't thought about what I need, or what I'll register for. And even though this is very unlike me, I'm strangely calm about it all. I think I was just waiting for the first trimester to be over and done with.

Size of baby: I found another fruit reference. Baby is now the size of a peach. How cute is that?? Baby Peach says hello!

Exercise: I've been doing a variety of pregnancy DVDs given to me by friends who have had babies, along with some walking. The walking is great. I love walking. Although, I think once the heat wave subsides a bit, I'm going to try jogging again. The DVDs... are good. But make me feel a little silly.

First of all, the "Fit Mama" DVD I'm doing is instructed by a perky blonde lady with a very strong southern accent. And the first 30 minutes of it is devoted to salsa dancing. (I use the term loosely). So... yeah. I feel kind of silly as I "scootch" my hips forward in time to some baaaaad salsa music. But, it's all in the name of staying active and fit, I guess.

The prenatal yoga DVD I've got is pretty good. But the names of the women in the DVD are Shiva, Britta and Poppy. Sort of hard to take seriously. And Shiva, the instructor, says exhale funny. She keeps saying "ex-zale". Over. And over. And over again. I can't really get past that for some reason.

Anyway, that's about it for the update on me. All is going well. Baby Peach and I are now going to try and focus on work.

Thank goodness for the tummy sleeve

Spent another weekend away in Ottawa. This time with the fam. Had a great time. Ate way too much.

Now I can't button my only pair of "dress" pants that I have to wear for a client presentation today.

Too much eating? Or growing baby?

I like to think it's the latter.

I think it'll be nice when my belly finally pops.

Demi Moore, I ain't.

It's almost time to start taking the weekly belly/bump photos, I think.

My belly? It's gettin' bigger, yo.

I've been holding off on this for a little while because, really, the thought of taking a picture of my stomach makes me shudder.

And while all the tanned, cute, tiny pregnant ladies out there take the 6-week/7-week/8-week shots of their perfectly flat little tummy (and then say things like "OMG! I'm so bloated!" or "Baby is growing... I won't be a size 2 much longer!"), I had ZERO desire to take a picture of my fish-belly white, sticky-out pooch of a stomach for all to see.

I've never, ever had a flat tummy. Which is why I'm not quite sure if I'm looking pregnant yet, or if I've just eaten too many cookies. However - it's starting to become clearer that the stomach is growing, and (thankfully!) my other chub areas are not. (The thighs are still looking pretty good. PHEW!)

Hence, the need to document my growing belly for my little Baby Lime to look back on one day and see his or herself growing. (Or, Baby Lime will roll his or her eyes at me and utter "Mooooooom!!" in an exasperated tone as I try wrestling him or her into my lap to cuddle whilst I go on and on about what they were doing inside Mommy's tummy for 9 months.) I can already tell I'm going to annoy the pants off Baby Lime with my mush. (MWA HA HA HA HA!)

Anyway. Perhaps I'll start documenting next week. And I'll post here for all to see. Of course, I'm not doing any of those bare-belly shots either. Clothing will be on. There's some weirdos on the Internet, people.

You know who you are.

No, no... not you. That other person. The weird one. Yeah... that one. You? You're normal and lovely. You can see my belly.