10:17 a.m. - 03 January 2004
Christmas catch-up
I'm now in an awkward stage: my regular clothes are just a little too small,
but my maternity clothes are just a little too big. Of course, that might
also have something to do with the fact that I can't remember the last time
I had a pair of pants that fit correctly everywhere; I'm so short-waisted that either the crotch or the waistband can be in the right position, but never both at the same time. Maternity pants, with all of the extra give in the front, have been the worst: even with the waistband up to the bottom of my bra, the crotch is still several inches below where it should be.
I'm starting to actually feel pregnant now, not just bloated and sleepy. Theoretically I could start to feel the baby move in just a couple weeks, but I suspect it may take me a few days to realize what's going on. One of the ultrasound techs is keeping a running count of when we should be able to determine gender and has plans to try to find out - by about another week and a half, if baby cooperates, it should be obvious what it is.
Hopefully, Lee and I will start to use the baby's name at that point. We tried calling it Cletus for a while, but Lee got cold feet about that, so it's mostly just been "Baby." Mom's convinced it's a boy, but I've already had one of the nurses here tell me that it's a girl just from the way I look. So long as it's healthy, that's my only concern.
Christmas was nice: we both worked until 4:30 on Christmas Eve and then drove to SC. We arrived in time to go to midnight Mass, but left straight from the church to go to bed. Apparently everyone else was up until nearly 3 a.m. assembling some of my niece's gifts; we were long off to slumberland by then. It was probably around 9:30 or so when we got back to Mom and Dad's; Elizabeth's father was just leaving from dropping her off when we got there, although she was fast asleep. All of the adults opened their gifts while she slept, although it wasn't nearly as organized as things have been done in the past.
My sisters gave me a shopping spree for maternity clothes; we drove up to North Myrtle Beach on Friday to do that. I got some really cute stuff, but I think I'm going to need a few more things eventually. Two pairs of work-appropriate slacks just won't be enough, I'm afraid, especially since I need to have more of a belly before I can wear one of them.
And while I'm thinking about it - the cute little pregnancy pad that they have in the dressing rooms would be appropriate for my sister, who is tall and slim. On me it looked like a cancerous growth on my stomach. It was more than a little ridiculous; they have a selection of plus-size clothes, but they only have one size of pregnancy pad?
Lee helped my dad lay some laminate flooring while we were shopping, which made him happy: he much prefers to be doing something rather than just sitting around visiting, which is what tends to happen when we go down there. He's actually plotting where he'd like to put laminate in our house, but that will have to wait until after baby; I'm pretty sure I won't be any help if I can't bend over without losing my balance.
Other than that it was a pretty quiet visit; we all went to see Return of the King (sans two-year-old) and then out to dinner afterwards. Everyone enjoyed as much as we did when we saw it opening night. Originally there were thoughts of watching all three movies back to back, but we just couldn't get the logistics to work out. We did watch the first one - some of us more fully than others - but we didn't have time to watch Two Towers. Lee and I are waiting until they release the huge collector's set of all three movies that we know is coming before we buy it on DVD; at that point, I suspect there will be a marathon viewing event planned.
We also drove the truck down, which turned out to be a good idea, since the bed was completely full of baby stuff on the way home. Mom and Dad gave us the crib, high chair, one of the car seats, crib sheets and bumpers, infant bathtub, and two bags full of stuffed animals and infant toys. Not many clothes, though, since most of what they have is very girly and Mom wanted to find out gender definitively first. Lee and I spent yesterday moving furniture around to get everything where we'd like it to be. His brother has offered a changing table, which should be the last large piece we need to get. I've still got to clean out some of the stuff that's in the baby's room, but that will require a shopping trip to get something to put it all in.
Of course, we don't have anything assembled yet, either, but I'm quite sure that will be an adventure in and of itself.
