May 13, 2008 (25 weeks, 1 day):

This Sunday was Mother's Day--Robert got me the Kill Bill movies on DVD and we watched Part 1 together Sunday night. Ah, the inspriring saga of motherhood! I can't wait until Part 2 (possibly tomorrow night). Robert also got me a really lovely card, handmade by Miriam, which was a nice way to end my first-ever Mother's Day.

I feel the baby move constantly--I mean constantly. It is so strange to think that I ever didn't feel it, because now whenever I wake up in the middle of the night, whenever I'm sitting down, lying down, standing in the kitchen, I can feel him/her just all the time. My mother told me how after I was born, she would wake up and still think she felt me moving inside of her, and Kelley said that one of the nicest things about having her children was getting to feel them moving. Robert hasn't yet managed to feel a kick with his hand on my stomach, but he's hopeful that he will get to feel it soon--it's sort of a watched-pot thing, and whenever the baby is really active and I put his hand to my stomach, he/she goes into stealth mode (Romulan, perhaps?).

Tomorrow night we're going to try out different kinds of strollers at a baby store in Brookline; we think we know which one we want, but it seems like a good idea to have both of us try lots of them, pushing them, folding them up, lifting them, etc. Things are moving right along--it's sort of surprising how quickly time is passing!

At left you see me trying on my Hotsling (with the stuffed cow, again, standing in for a baby). I was trying to make the point to Robert that it is possible for me to carry the baby (in a sling) and my backpack at the same time. He just laughed and took out the camera.

May 20, 2008 (26 weeks, 1 day):

It's the beginning of the summer session here at school, which means it's also the beginning of the last class I'll be teaching until January. That's sort of a scary thought, though I do plan to work with Marnie through July and do a few guest lectures for the TESOL program in the fall. Meanwhile, I've been reading baby books like crazy; I moved on from pregnancy books to baby ones a few weeks ago. It's a whole different world out there--I love the things I'm learning, but unfortunately one of the things I'm learning is how utterly insane so much contemporary parenting advice really is.

Mom and Dad were here this weekend, and we put almost the finishing touches on the small bedroom--it is very peculiar to realize I may start calling it "the baby's room" or even (gasp!) "Grace's room" or "Marcus's room" (I will always be prescriptively correct in my apostrophe usage for my son's name, if we do end up having a boy, by the way).

The stroller thing last week was fun--Robert got to try out all sorts of knobs and levers, and I think we came to a mutual decision about how much stroller is just too much stroller for us. We actually had two exciting nights out in a row last week--one baby-related (the stroller event) and one not-so-much (the grand opening of the Apple store in the Back Bay, right on Boylston opposite the Prudential Mall). We only got there an hour and a half or so early, so we were pretty far down the side street in the little police-enforced barricades, waiting along with lots of other nerds. In the past (we've been to three other Apple store grand openings) they've made the line-waiting much more of an event, with trivia and interactive things, but this was still fun, even though except for an insanely long line of Apple staff high-fiving people, there was no interaction. If there had been any games/trivia things, I was going to ask for a special prize for having arguably the youngest Apple fan on the long line. Above right you see me in the store, finally, with crowds outside.

Meanwhile, I'm researching day care centers for January--for now I'm just mapping out the ones in logical places and calling around for basic rates/availability, but sometime in June or July I think I'll go and tour the top four or five places. On a similar note, I've got meet-and-greet appointments/consultations scheduled with four pediatricians between this week and the beginning of July.

May 26, 2008 (27 weeks):

Kelley came today, bringing both of her apprentices. Everything looks good--good blood pressure, growth, heartrate, etc. She let Robert hear the heart again with the Doppler because he couldn't get the hang of the fetoscope, and he still hasn't managed to feel the baby move through my stomach. We now move onto an every-two-weeks appointment schedule, and I'm about to order my birth kit online to have home the last of the supplies we need for the birth itself.

Below, pictures of the baby's room--since the baby will sleep in our room in a basket for the first few months, we're not planning on getting a crib until November or December, and even then we're going to get a mini-crib that can fit through the door of the bedroom and be wheeled in between the baby's room and our room. So, the room will look pretty much this way, complete with futon (the crib will be perpendicular to the futon and the closet opening, I think--I measured and it should fit there just fine). You can see the origami crane mobile I made and my father helped me hang, the Ikea furniture Robert and I assembled, the Japanese curtain on the closet that Michiyo gave us for our wedding, the flowering Meyer lemon tree in the window, the old blue secretary that's as close to family heirloom furniture as I've got, and the fun dot removeable/reuseable wall stickers on the wall. The final picture looks out of the bedroom into the hall, withe the curved wall and "cloud" in the "sky."

Back: April 2008 | Continue: June 2008

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Created: 2/25/08. Last Modified: 5/29/08.