MIA...but pictures are in order!

It seems to be a current trend in the blogosphere; I guess it's just that time of year. People are spending more time outdoors, away from home, away from the computer. I have been no exception - but I am here! I am 27 & 1/2 weeks pregnant, and grateful for every moment.

For expedition's sake, here are some highlights of my life over the past few weeks:

*My parents and niece came to visit me while my sister was spending two weeks in Jamaica (jealousssssssss....). Hannah loves the 4th of July parade which is shockingly large despite the town's small stature.

(A gaggle of hot pants....)

(My attempts to keep track of Hannie were thwarted my a stranger's disturbingly close butt.)

We also took in some local sights and a great party at my BIL's. Good times. Dad, Mom, Hannah, Drew

Kinzua Dam

* My 24ish week appointment went well, with the exception of me bringing up my weight... and my anorexic-looking (yet lovable) midwife told me to slow 'er down. I took it way too personally - after all, I was up 17 pounds. WTF?!?! Now I am up probably 20, heh. Can't wait to see what the ob says in two weeks if that continues.

*I went to York with my parents to help out with Han until my older sister got back to the States. We had an awesome relaxing time.

Hannie in the pool.

What a nine-year-old does when she has too much time on her hands:
[Poor Dave.]

Making cupcakes.

My younger sister and her husband came up from NC (with two of her dogs - her 100 lb. Great Dane puppy - yes, puppy! - and three-legged Pit Bull. She's a vet tech and has a bit of a bleeding heart for animals.) and Drew came down for the last weekend.

Me & Rory


The Mister... ooh baby!

Mom, Little Sis (+baby-to-be! - and Penelope), Big Sis

They also had a nice little baby shower for me with my female relatives! We got some good, cute stuff. It was great to have everyone under the same roof for the first time since Christmas, too.

After awhile, the smile muscles got frozen there...
...and I had a bit of a cupcake sugar high.

(The frame Hannah made for me - highlighting the bump!)

*When I returned home, we got our passport cards in the mail; woo hoo! Now we can go to Niagara Falls legally(in two days!!). The guy taking the pic wouldn't let me smile, so I look like some street gang ho's mugshot. Seriously. I kind of love it. I would post the pic but I'm not sure if that constitutes some sort of illegality to the U.S. Govt., so you'll have to use your imagination. Trust me; it's awesome. Awesomely baaaaad.

*Also in the mail upon my return: a letter from my school district announcing my tenure! Woo hoo for it being incredibly difficult to fire me! hahaha

*Speaking of school, I am about to head in there and have what will probably be a frustrating conversation with my head principal in a few moments regarding my schedule.... more complaining on that one to follow.

*One more thing: I took my glucose tolerance test for gestational diabetes this morning. It really wasn't terrible; the lemon-lime Glucola sort of just tasted like drinking a giant melted popsicle. I did feel pretty lightheaded toward the end of the hour, though. Fingers crossed I pass that!!!

*CRAP, how can I forget that I PASSED OUT in the ER last week while we were there for a cut my husband got on his eye?! Hilarious and drama-filled story will follow soon...

24 weeks

Not a lot of time this week, as my family has invaded our normally slightly anti-social abode (as in, we don't have many visitors up here in the forest, haha) and tomorrow I am headed to York to hang out with my niece for a week or two...

I'll just stick with the update, and try and stick in a pic of my expanding midsection another time...

How far along? 24 weeks 3 days

Total weight gain/loss: the holiday weekend/mom visiting combo has caused 2 more pounds to attach in the last four days.... nice trend.... bleh.
Maternity clothes? Yeah - still a mixture of the two types
Stretch marks? Nope, but my stomach skin is feeling awfully tight lately, so I'm thinking it's just a matter of time...
Sleep: Back to bad this week, as a lot of sitting outdoors has caused intense back pain to surface

Best moment this week: Drew feeling the kid's hiccups in utero... his face was so cute.
Movement: Constant - and starting to move up above my belly button now, so either she's a giantess or just roaming around all over the place now, instead of sticking to my pelvis (which my bending over ability appreciates!)
Food cravings: None for now, except maybe fruit again
Gender: girl
Labor Signs: Do Baxton Hicks count? I've been gettnig those once or twice a day

Belly Button in or out? Still in... stretching out pretty intensely
What I miss: Again, not getting judgement for drinking 4oz. of Mt. Dew... this time from my mother. Sigh.

What I am looking forward to: Not looking like a liar when I say to Drew/my mother/my best friend/etc. "Put your hand here! She's moving like crazy!" only to have her sit quietly until after they take their hand away.
Weekly Wisdom: Overdoing it at Chinese buffets = tight skin and difficulty breathing. Self control was not in my vocabulary last night. Sigh.

Milestones: My mom looking at my stomach and helping me begin to distinguish body parts... or at least that something was sticking out tightly by my belly button... a head? a butt? a very large foot? hahaha


Off to the Lucy-Desi Museum, then to get my hair cut (=desperately needed!)! Woo!

Summer's the Time for Vacation, or a Love Letter to NC

I love reading others' blogs (invited or not, heh) about their travel plans. Growing up, vacation only meant one thing for me: Nags Head, NC. It fascinates me to see all of the choices people have made to go on vacation. What?! There are places that don't have beaches attached that you can go in the summer?! The coastlines aren't the only tourist attractions in May through September?!?!


I have a truly spoiled, reason for this way of thinking: my grandmother owned a cottage directly across from the beach in the Outer Banks of NC, and that was the obligatory destination for our yearly family outings. We'd pack the full-sized Bronco to bursting, full of me, my sisters, towering stacks of puzzle books and storybooks (which later graduated to chapter books, then to full-fledged novels), more pillows and blankets than fifty grown men would require, and fruit snacks and Bugles (remember those?!). The seven-hour drive seemed to stretch for days in the back of that hot, sun-filled car. The first thing we would do, before unpacking the car, before running to the bathroom, before saying hello to whichever relatives might be there at the time, was to run across the road and straight onto the sand, take a deep breath, and relish in the fact that for another week, we were THERE. Where we belonged.



Since then, much has changed: they tore down the old, tiny, drafty cottage with no actual bathroom inside (you had to go outside to an attached bathroom - but you were at the be ac! Who cared?!) and replaced it with a much more glamorous version with quadruple the space and nice tall stilts to ward off flooding in hurricane season.
My grandfather has since passed away and my grandmother has signed over the deed to the cottage to my father and his two sisters, but ownership never mattered. Anyone was - and is - welcome, regardless of space. I've been there many a time when it was just my family of five enjoying the sights and apparent spaciousness of an oversized three-bedroom space, and just as many nights sleeping on a recliner in the living room or in a tent underneath the cottage, while there were approximately twenty other relatives slumbering in equally awkward corners of the home.
My grandfather preferred to sleep on the hammock under the cottage, regardless of how many people were sleeping above him. I am a grown, married woman now, with an extended family of my own to bring down to NC; it was a strange but wonderful experience to see my little sister hanging out with my brother-in-law in this most sacred of childhood haunts for me.

Being pregnant now has prevented us from planning the yearly pilgrimage down there this year; will I feel just as reluctant to take the journey with an infant next year? Or a fussy toddler?
We live five hours farther away now, which means less visits on my part. My grandmother is so old now she doesn't spend Memorial Day through Labor Day in the cottage, and I hate the thought that my children might not know the joy of spending an entire summer living on the coast as I did. Sigh.

This year we've opted for a much shorter two-hour trek to Niagara Falls, which I am definitely looking forward to (I've never been there! Any suggestions for things to do?), as our "last hurrah" vaca before our twosome increases by 50%. While I am definitely excited, I have caught myself more than once wistfully looking over the beach pictures I've collected over the years (some of which I've included in this post). Nags Head, I shall return!