On the Verge...

We've been taking it really easy around here recently. Well, I've been taking it easy. I'm really feeling the effect of this rapidly growing baby in my small body. I feel blessed that I haven't been uncomfortable or had many issues until this point. With Abram, I remember being miserable pretty much the whole time. A lot of that was a mental, unexpected first pregnancy attitude problem I had. My friend reminded me yesterday that I actually didn't want any pictures taken at Abram's baby shower. I don't remember that, but it doesn't surprise me. Selah's shower is this weekend and I don't care how big I feel, I want pictures. So that will be a photo filled update in the next few days. This is not a photo filled update. There aren't any photos, to be frank. I've been either laying on the couch or trying to get through the moments when I'm not laying on the couch. The camera has not been out at all and my iphone is pretty m...

I don't know if Quinn will approve of that simile for our baby girl (as he has a major problem with snakes, aliens, and eels, but not otters), but that's the best way I can describe her right now. It's been really hard for me to be sure of what position she is in at any given moment. I'll think I have it figured out and then there's a random movement on the other side of my stomach that is not where a leg or arm could possibly be based on my understanding of the fetal position. However, based on her movements 80% of the time (including right now), I believe that she has been in a head down, sideways, bottom near my right side ribs, little feet in my left hip position fairly consistently for almost a week now. I wasn't sure about the head down part (the bottom and the head are hard to distinguish from out here!), but as my sciatic nerve has been successfully pinned by something large and unmoving for over a day now, I think I can safely say she is head down. ...

I actually got dressed for real the other day and kinda did my make up and kinda did my hair... after I took the "33 week" picture, however, I realized that I really should be writing a post on what not to wear during pregnancy. So here's my first tip: If you want to make your belly look huge (don't we all?!), stretch a non-maternity, argyle t-shirt over it. Beautiful, right? Here are Abram and I at 33 weeks. I think she looks bigger than he did, but maybe it's the shirt, or the angle, or whatever. She feels bigger and stronger. Quinn's finally had a few patient enough moments to see her doing her tricks in there and his response has been "Oh my gosh!" kind of fearfully. Like he's worried that she's going to bust out. But when I made an allusion to "Alien", he insisted that I only liken our daughter to an otter. Not an alien, not a snake, not anything but an otter. He's very sensitive about these things, you know :) By t...

It baffles me how much Abram is growing and changing and learning every day. He gets smarter (and a bit more defiant) by the minute. Yesterday was a big milestone for this guy. He's been walking for almost two months, but he's recently gotten really fast and has almost completely eliminated crawling from his repertoire. Every day, he goes and stares out the back window at stuff in the yard, trying to get me to let him out there to play. Normally I would indulge him, but it's been on and off rainy these last few days and everything is muddy. Also, Quinn put some kind of fertilizer or something out in the yard last weekend and we haven't wanted Abram playing out there until we were sure the water had made it soak in. So finally I asked him if he wanted to check the mail. He always agrees. It used to be that his agreement took the form of a head nod and uplifted arms for me to pick him up and carry him out there. But now, it looks like a bobbling head as he marche...

Actually, everything here is "homemade", but maybe I feel like it's not really homemade because it's all so easy . As I've previously alluded to: I am not a cook. For real. Like, I can cook, I can follow a recipe, and I can change up a recipe to made it easier/tastier, but I don't enjoy cooking. But, I've been convicted about my use of frozen foods and our family's spending on eating out. Quinn and I are both kind of lazy about dinner... and I'm pregnant... so we end up having this conversation quite often at 6:15 when he gets home from work: Quinn: Hi. Me: Hi. I haven't thought about dinner. Quinn: Do you want me to make something (meaning a skillet meal or noodles)? Me (thinking): I could have done that . Me (saying): No, that's ok. Quinn/Me: Do you want to go somewhere? Me/Quinn: Yes. And we go to Schlotzsky's or Whataburger or Pok-e-Joes (What are we Texans or something?) All of this to say that I've been trying to cook m...

Selah is getting big enough and opinionated enough to make sure I know that carrying her brother for too long is just not acceptable. Abram is getting big enough and opinionated enough to make sure that Quinn and I know that not being able to walk anywhere and everywhere by himself is not acceptable. In a way, this is perfect. I can't really carry Abram too much and Abram doesn't want to be carried too much. In a way, this is not perfect. Abram doesn't want to be carried too much, but sometimes Abram needs to be carried (in stores, in the driveway, in parking lots, etc). He does not understand/obey well enough yet to follow directions while walking anywhere there are cars. But he doesn't understand this and insists on being put down by wiggling and squirming and thrashing about when he is being carried against his will. That means that the 20% of the time I have to carry my 22 pound almost 16 month old is made exponentially harder and less comfortable for the 3...

We are settling into a nice nighttime routine here in the Smith house. I know that this specific routine cannot continue after Selah's arrival (or at least for a little while after), so I'm really trying to soak it in and appreciate how great it really is. It's less about time and more about the happenings. I mean, Quinn gets home around 6:15 every night and Abram goes to bed between 8 and 8:30. If we don't go anywhere, this is what our nights look like: I fix dinner. 75% of the time something frozen or brought from somewhere. 25% of the time something that I'd planned out beforehand and is actually healthy for all of us. On this particular night, it was this Quinoa Primavera experiment from Pinterest. Hers is a lot prettier. You should check out what it's really supposed to look like. BUT, ours tasted pretty good and Abram really seemed to like it and that's what matters. While we are all eating with our forks (with a little help along the way), Da...