This picture is from Saturday when I went to watch my niece Alexis play soccer. They won 3-1 in their final game of the season. I think about when my sister and I were playing and it doesn't seem possible that I have not played competitively since my early 20s. I was playing in my high school alumni game in my early 30s, but that was once a year. I miss the days of being so in shape from playing soccer!
Alexis is my oldest niece (9 years old) and many mistake her for my daughter when we are together since she is blonde like me. But she reminds me so much of my sister when we were younger. I was really worried about how she would react to her Aunt Suzie having a baby, as one time she told me that I didn't need to have any "human" babies because i have 2 perfect kitty cat babies. (That was about 5 years ago, so she knew she was my #1 girl!) I wondered if she would be jealous or upset when she heard about the baby on the way...but she has been so excited and always asks if we have names picked out. She has suggested several names for the baby herself, all very good ones too! I remember being her age when my Aunt Denise (my godmother, just like I am to Alexis) brough home my cousin Evin. I was so excited and remember wanting them to name him Michael, which they used for Evin's middle name. While Evin is 9 years younger than me, he and I always had a special relationship, even though he grew up in Wisconsin and Arizona, where he now lives. But when we talk or get together, I never think about the age difference and am always amazedat the great relationship we have with each other. I hope that Alexis and her little cousin are fortunate enough to have that same kind of relationship. Alexis is so good with her cousins Emily (4 1/2) and Findlay (2 1/2), my brother's 2 kids, so I know she will be great with our little guy. Though she says she is not willing to change diapers, I am evaluating bribery methods to see if I can change that! I am sure she is a little disappointed that "her" room at our house is becoming the baby's room, but I remind her that she can sleep in the BIG bed in the other bedroom whenever she comes over.
I had my 24 week checkup on Monday and all is well. I go back to the doctor on 6/29. He gave me the go-ahead to fly out to Illinois July 9-12 so we can visit with John's family! We will fly into Chicago and drive down to Charleston, about 3 hours south. You can submit your bets on how many stops we'll have to make for the bathroom on that drive :)! I have gained about 14 lbs. by my estimation of where I was when I found out I was pregnant. I am supposed to gain between 25-30 lbs according to the charts. My appetite is much better than it was those first few months, but I don't feel like I am overdoing it or eating any more than I was before I was pregnant. The difference, however, is that I am not working out like I used to do, 3-4x a week. I am trying to do what I can, but some weeks are better than others. I've done nothing this week or last week, but the 2 weeks prior, during work I went out at least 3 days each week at lunch to walk for 30 minutes, and over Memorial Day weekend I did my pregnancy DVD workouts 2 of the days. I actually feel like my leg muscles are atrophying. My workouts used to consist of kickboxing, spinning, pilates and willpower and grace - that one actually is so crazy that the first time I took it, I could hardly walk for 3 days afterwards. But you have to keep doing it every week or else the same thing will happen if you wait to go back a few weeks. I had to work a basketball game the day after the first time I took the class, and at halftime was unable to squat/bend over to pick up the pieces of the promotional contest on the court. had a co-worker not been there with me, I would have ended up as the halftime show I think!
My sister and I went to Buy Buy Baby on Saturday to continue the baby registry. The parent company of the store is Bed Bath and Beyond, and it is so cool! There are only 3 stores in NJ - Cherry Hill, Paramus and Totowa. I heard they were opening one nearby us in Brick, but can't find anything that confirms that. I picked out the baby's bedding, which ended up being very different than what I was initially going for, but when I saw it in the store I really found it to be quite adorable and the colors very different than what I was thinking, but I just kept going back to it. It's called Jungle Tales from NoJo, and if you go to BuyBuyBaby.com it's on their home page. I tried to put a picture up here but no luck. You can also go to the store website and search for our baby registry to see it. We also put the travel system which is the stroller and car seat on at BBB....amongst many other things!
John checked out one of the day care centers we are considering the other day too. He said it seems like a nice place and their hours are very good for our schedule - til 6:30pm which for me is great since I have an hour commute most days without traffic, and since we live at the Jersey shore, there is almost always traffic somewhere. Though in NJ, there is always traffic. One night recently it took me 2 hours and 20 minutes to get home...that is rare, but it was one of those situations where whatever happened on one road led to every other road in the area being affected, so it didnt' really matter which way I tried to go, and I basically ended up on every road I could possibly try to take to get home! Fortunately I know enough to use the restroom before leaving the office every night!
Last week I had a few "blips" and got sick, but we think it was either me switching my pre-natal vitamin to the AM or else the yogurt that seemed to be sitting well all of a sudden not sitting so well. Maybe a combo of both. So the yogurt is out and the vitamin is now at night...which I need to remember to take tonight when I finish this post. No issues this week, but I feel like I am as big as i can be, and when I say that, people laugh and tell me "just wait...this is nothing." I don't even know how to describe what it feels like. Some days I am really itchy because my skin is stretching. I have very sensitive skin as it is and my family can tell you I was always scratching and itching as a kid (I should own stock in Aveeno and every other lotion product out there, as I've tried them all over the years). I find Curel Motherhood works very nicely on the tummy, though my doctor did give me a prescription as well to use as needed. He said i could take a Benadryl at night since that's when it gets bad, as it will also help me sleep, but so far I have not had to go that route. I also have some cocoa butter, which everyone says will help with stretch marks. I have not spotted any stretch marks yet, but I don't find the cocoa butter really eases the itchiness much.
My nails are like claws right now thanks to the vitamins...they look so healthy but tomorrow they need to be cut when I go for a manicure/pedicure (hopefully if I leave work on time!). Fortunately I have always been lucky to have very strong, long nails, though I hear that may change after the baby is born. I should have had John cut them the other night when we trimmed the needles on Tails' paws. His were so sharp they actually jolt both John and I awake sometimes when he does his morning parade back and forth on both of us to get one of us out of bed to feed him and Tuxedo. Tux is usually not too bad, but he must bite his nails or something as he hates getting his needles trimmed. Tails seems to love it because he knows he'll get a treat or 2. Tux, while he likes treats, hates the nail trimming more so I guess he will forgo the treats.
So that's the update on our adventures this week. John and I are celebrating our 8th wedding anniversary next Tuesday, June 9th, and I realize I have never posted his picture on the blog so we'll try to get a good one next week since it's a tradtion every year for us to take a photo together on our anniversary.
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