Cute and Tiny

This post will probably seem highly superficial, but for whatever reason this is really important to me: tiny baby stuffs. I've definitely passed some sort of milestone regarding bitty cotton things to clothe my son.

Things were starting to pile up. Gifts, mostly. I had no place for them. So there was a bag on my desk, some stuff on my dresser, a couple things in my underwear drawer, more in an otherwise empty suitcase in the hallway. I was starting to feel overwhelmed.

But I also wasn't yet feeling ready to deal with all the stuff. I don't think I had quite yet come to terms with the fact that in a few short months I'm going to have to be dressing a real live infant. Holy crap. Every time I would look at little sleepers and onsies at the store I would think to myself, "I don't need that." Yeah, pretty sure the exact opposite is true. And yes, I myself have purchased a few things, but impractical stuffs like twee motorcycle sweaters, more for myself than for actually clothing a tiny human.

Things clicked recently. I made the decision a while ago to avoid buying clothes in general because I know we'll be receiving a boat load of gifts, but I let myself go a little crazy, because it was the first time I was really ready to. A five pack of bodysuits helps me come to terms with motherhood, and yes that's silly, but it is what it is, and when I made these recent purchases I felt so much better about things.

However, in adding more stuff to my collection I think I reached my breaking point. Operation Organize had to go into effect. Step one was putting away all of my pre-pregnancy clothes. Talk about depressing. I have one half-filled drawer and a tiny fraction of my closet worth of clothing left. But it is what it is. Newly emptied dresser now has plenty of room for all this nonsense, so it is no longer cluttering up every room of my house or in danger of getting eaten/barfed on by a cat.

And I had a lot of silly hormonal fun going through all my tiny things!

Bunny slippers with rattles in the toes!

French dishes from my sister!

Itty bitty socks!

And now that everything is in one place I can pull things out and sigh to my little heart's desire. So basically, all the time. 

My drawer is surprisingly full already, though. I've got my first of at least four (four!) baby showers coming up in less than a month, and my mom's neighbor has a bunch of hand-me-downs for me to pick up. My mother specifically told me that said hand-me-down batch include two overalls. Because she knows how much I love tiny overalls. Overalls!  But yeah, we're going to have to find a better storage solution very soon.

Week 21

Picture is not so fabulous today, because I'm still not feeling 100%, but whatever. The belly is... significant. It's been coming out of nowhere I feel like. I don't know why this is so surprising, but whenever I look in the mirror I'm like WHAT? Where did that come from! Maybe I will get used to it eventually.

I mentioned briefly in my last post that my navel is already doing freaky things. I feel like it's a little early for that sort of thing, but maybe since I have an outie already I get a head start? It hasn't completed it's outward journey yet, but it's starting to make a little progress, and my skin there feels very soft and... I don't know how to really describe it, except that it isn't how it normally is.

I really can't wait for Kyle to be able to feel the baby kicking. He laughs at me, because every time I feel a kick I will say something like "hello there!" I can't help it, but he thinks it's ridiculous, probably because it's so often and it's been going on for long enough that you would think it wouldn't be so novel anymore, but! Baby kicks! Amazing! Hello!

Today I bought tiny socks and yoga pants that actually fit, so even though I'm still sick I feel like it's been a success.

And so it begins...

Hello blogfriends.


Things are awesome. I am definitely in the good part of pregnancy. I mostly feel great, except for a little backache or leg cramp here and there. My energy is back up, and barfing seems to think of the past (knock on wood). I get heartburn at night when I lay down, but it's not severe, and mostly just ends up serving as a reminder that hey! there's a baby in there.


Speaking of, tonight baby kicks just got real.  I mean, they were there before and everything, but in that sort of demented goldfish bumping into walls and kind of vague movementy feelings kind of way. Now I'm feeling real, discrete kicks.


Last night Kyle came home bearing a bag of baby presents. The mother of one of the kids he coaches sent it home with him. Tons and tons of stuff, omigosh! Elephant print onesies! Sleepers with turtles! TINY PLAID OVERALLS! So many things. I think that was the most fun I've ever had opening presents ever. Oh, the generosity of strangers. Unbelievable. I've never even met this woman!


Having actual baby stuff meant for my very own baby makes this feel another level of real. I spent a little time last night imagining my son (OMG! My son!) in tiny plaid overalls and it was lovely. Now that he's a he and he has clothes and he has a name and he kicks me in the stomach I'm just filled with JOY, however cliché that might be. It's definitely the best descriptor for the feeling.


My project for this week, then, is to actually find a home for all this baby gear that is assembling in my home. It's everywhere! In bags in my bedroom, on my desk, in my dresser. In a suitcase in the hallway. Crazy. I probably should have been expecting stuff to start showing up, but wow. I feel like there's tons of it already.

Sick Again

I had only just recovered from Parisian stomach flu, and now I have a nasty cold. I have been in bed all day today, so I feel much less terrible, but I had thought I would be okay at work yesterday, too, but all the standing up, and like, thinking was too much for my poor little body, and I ended up leaving several hours early.

Speaking of work, it's so hard lately. Not physically or mentally, but omigosh, I cannot stand being around all the baby clothes. I mean, I can stand it and they are adorable and I love them, but the cuteness combined with my hormones makes me all teary and useless. But now that we've announced the pregnancy I'm actually able to buy baby things without making my coworkers suspicious, so I went baby shopping. We make so few unisex items, which is probably good because I don't need to spend tons of money on impractical baby apparel, but shopping! It's what I do best! And I can't buy anything for me right now because I don't need maternity yet, really, but I don't want to buy anything that fits me now, but will only be wearable for a month. Anyway, this is what I got. It is adorable and I love it and actually making a baby purchase for the first time feels like a super big deal to me.

(Now you know where I work. I wasn't planning on sharing that information in my blog, but it's pretty much inevitable to come out because FASHION!!!! I don't think it's going to matter so much since all of two people actually read my blog, and I generally have pretty good things to say about my company in general, but blah blah disclaimer I don't speak for Gap, etc.)

I'm really relieved that my pregnancy is out in the open now. I definitely wasn't ready to tell until we did, but as soon as we had out ultrasound I wanted everyone to know.  It definitely feels awkward for me to tell people in person, but fortunately I didn't have to for most people. Just some coworkers that I'm not friends with one Facebook, and my Grandpa, and surely I can suck it up for him. Kyle called his grandparents, and we emailed our extended families, gave them a day to make sure they read it all, and then told everyone else over Facebook. I was all sweaty and clammy and anxious in the hour after my email and Facebook posting waiting for comments, but now it's all done, and people are excited and I feel great, and I hope I don't turn into that obnoxious person who can't talk about anything else because so few of my peers are in the same life stage as me (so I guess they aren't really my peers so much anymore?), but I probably will be and oh well.

Otherwise, things are pretty good. We had another midwife appointment last week as well, and got back the numbers from our bloodwork. Normal, of course. Awesome. However, what's not awesome is the results that came back from my last prenatal. I'm borderline low on iron, and like, pathetically dismal for vitamin D. They sent me off to find obscure liquid supplements, which I've been taking dutifully, so hopefully thing will start looking up in those departments.