Pregnant Me

This is my second summer baby. I have two January kids (Skylar and Bart), and I will have two summer kids (Drake and little Lucy). I am normally a miserable pregnant person, but summer just kills me. My hands and feet are swelling and I feel like the baby may fall out at any moment, if I move a little too abruptly. I can't sleep because every part of me from my stomach on down hurts. Basically, I'm a bundle of complaints and grouchiness.

From the front, I look pretty normal, particularly dressed in black. Then - bam! - when I turn sideways, it's like a wide-load tractor trailer. OK, I'm exaggerating slightly. But it's still pretty weird. You can see for yourself in the pictures to the right. These were taken several weeks ago, with me in my favorite outfit at the moment - my swimsuit cover-up. I LOVE my swimsuit. I LOVE my cover-up. I LOVE going to the Y and relaxing in the warm water of the outdoor pool. It's absolute bliss.

So, only 24 more days to go, less if I'm early like I was with Bart and Drake. Two Fridays ago, Mindy came up to help me do household stuff for the day, then she took all three children back to her place. Oh my goodness, I was so excited. I missed the children terribly, but it was so quiet around the house that afternoon, I was able to get a lot of work done on the computer. Then, George and I went to a 9:30 showing of Get Smart. We slept in, and the next morning met Mindy and Kevin in Kinston. Renee and Tom babysat all three of our kids and Mindy and Kevin's two while we went on a day outing. First, we stopped at a furniture warehouse in Kinston where George and I found a low, long dresser for the new baby. It was off-white, but a great price, so we decided to paint it plain white to match the furniture in Skylar's room. We also found a storage bench for our entryway on clearance. So we snapped up those purchases and then carpooled with Mindy and Kevin all the way to Durham.

Southpoint Mall was our destination. We split up and spent the afternoon shopping. Mindy and I bought nearly-matching purses and wallets which were on deep clearance. I bought a pair of the new high-heel Crocs, and helped Mindy look for some clothing items. At 5:30 we met George and Kevin at Maggiano's, which is outside the mall, in the market streets area. Luckily, we had made reservations, because it was packed. The meal was fairly expensive - $25 per person, not including drinks - but well worth it. It was Italian family-style, and as long as we emptied the platters, the waiter would bring out more of a dish, which we were free to wrap up and take home with us if we wanted. We ended up bringing home enough leftovers for dinner the next evening. It was just fantastic food. I think everyone's favorite was the stuffed mushroom appetizer. Like I said, well worth the money, but man were we on the brink of nausea on the ride home! We made a quick stop at the KMart by NC State University, where they have lots of NC State merchandise for sale. By the time we got home that night, we were pretty tired out. I was proud of myself for hanging in there with an entire day spent walking. I'm sure it helped that I put my new Crocs on as soon as I had bought them, and they were super-comfy.

It was great to see the children again the next morning. Unfortunately, Drake threw up all over his bed and proceeded to spend the next few hours with diarrhea - hence his learning of the word. George and I juggled kids and church, and luckily, Renee was able to come back home after sacrament meeting to stay with Drake so I could go to Young Women's and George could go to priesthood and run choir practice. I don't think we'll ever have a weekend that isn't absolutely nutty, but I'm pretty sure if we did, I wouldn't know what to do with myself!