I am not feeling so hot today. You know that scratchy feeling you get in your throat when you start to get sick? It’s upon me. I am renouncing it, but pray for me if you can. Sickness = badness. Especially when you can’t take a single one of the lovely pharmaceuticals modern medicine has to offer.

Other than feeling sick, it’s been a good day.

I woke up, and didn’t feel great but thought that maybe it was just a pregnancy morning thing. So I had some breakfast (a scrambled egg, a glass of milk and a bowl of fruit salad) and did my Thursday morning chores. Cleaned the kitchen and vacuumed, and thought about doing laundry but realized I left the quarters in the car. Didn’t feel like getting dressed to walk down and get them.

It was at that point I realized I wasn’t feeling better, I was feeling worse. So I went back to bed with a glass of orange juice, read for an hour and then got up for lunch (egg salad sandwich and tomato soup) I then went back to bed and fell asleep for three solid hours. Had to bail on hanging out with Sydney because the idea of going down the stairs exhausted me. I’ve pretty much been in bed all day long. Luckily Aaron brought me some snacks.

I realize this level of lazing around won’t cut it when the Small One is born. However, at this point he’s fairly portable, so I am taking advantage of it while I still can. He has celebrated my day of non activity by kicking, rolling, and unless I am mistaken, having his first case of hiccups. It was kind o’ cute.

I am very thankful to the Lord for a healthy body, and I am praying that this is just a day long thing, and tomorrow I can get to the prayer room. Mostly because my prayer room team is going to bond at Starbucks, and I’ve been looking forward to it all week. Also, I want Caden to have a healthy home in there, and being sick is no fun. Be healthy body!

I’m going to go back to my ice water and my reading. Just thought I’d let you know.

It is incredibly incredibly hot here right now. My husband, who NEVER complains, was practically crying he was so overheated today. I just checked the weather channel, which informed me it’s 97, but it feels like 102. Whatever, it’s amazingly hot. So hot that when you walk outside it’s like hitting a wall. So hot you burn your hands on the car door and steering wheel. So hot that even in my friend Sydney’s air conditioned car, the A/C running at full blast wasn’t enough to actually cool the car down any. The AC just kept it from heating up more. Being pregnant in the heat hasn’t been too bad until today. I walked out of the shower and immediately started sweating…

When I drove to the doctors at 9:30a, it was all ready 85 degrees outside. The heat even started affecting my appetite. And I don’t have to tell you, for a pregnant girl to not want to eat, it has to be pretty amazingly hot. HOT HOT HOT.

Here are my heat prevention techniques so far today:
- blowing down my shirt collar (hot breath = not that helpful)
- standing under our a/c vents (warm air= not that helpful)
- drinking tons of ice water (as if I didn’t have to pee enough times all ready)
- sitting in front of Sydney’s A/C vent at work (vent on the ground = only ankles are cool)
- complaining about the heat (does nothing but make me feel a little better)
- staring at blue painted toe nails, trying to convince myself I am actually not hot, but rather hypothermic
- filling our bathtub with cold water and sitting in it (so far, this has helped the most)
- praying that the Lord would send us an early fall this year

What do you suggest for beating the heat?

Now alot of people may not know this about me, but I very much enjoy being artistic. I like to paint, or draw; I even write little poems or stories sometimes. Unlike my sister’s amazing artwork I often need a picture to go off of if I really want to get something accurate. Call it lack of skill or whatever. It’s just I can’t often call pictures directly out of my brain onto paper. Here is where the picture above fits in. The picture above is a wall mural that costs around 700 dollars.

I love the idea of fancy artwork for Caden’s nursery, but can afford only about 7.00 worth of supplies. Hence, where the artistic skill comes in. Only there is only one slight problem.  I’ve been unable to draw a tree on my own that was the style I wanted, yet didn’t end up looking like a creepy hand. All my trees look like Dawn of the Dead creatures, don’t ask me why. So, I googled “modern nursery themes” and lo and behold, the 700 dollar tree is found! And it’s just what I wanted!

Finally with this picture, Success! I started painting my own version tonight (on canvas, not the wall), and hopefully it will be done in a couple of days. I am going to do a kind of triptych set up (that’s fancy artist code for I am going to hang three corresponding canvases next to each other to form a larger painting, in three parts) of the tree in the middle, with some other as yet undecided foliage on the other panels.I just thought you should know, I found a non creepy tree, and I think canvas and all it’s going to cost me about 11 dollars…

Part of me wishes I just could afford to have a handy pro come out and paint my sons room with awesome murals. But who can afford that? Plus, maybe Caden will think it’s cool to have paintings his mom did for him. He’ll probably think his mom is nerdy. He won’t be telling me anything I don’t already know.

The day was simple today. We woke up, we went to Babies R Us to scout for the painting I originally wanted, and of course, they no longer have it. (I was going to take a picture of it with my phone, then copy it.) We then went to the mecca for cheap clothes, Old Navy. Aaron scored some spectacular shorts, and I bought kickin’ sandals for less that 4 dollars. Sweet, sweet 50% off clearance sale.

Aaron went on an airport run and came home very over heated from spending so long in the car/shuttle, so we went swimming.

At the pool, a random woman over heard us talking about Caden, and gave us this piece of advice. ” When people give you advice, you just tell them to shut up.” ( I went ahead and deleted the expletives.)

She then proceeded to give us about 10 minutes of advice from her pool floaty chair. Since we were pinned into the corner of the pool, and were raised not to be rude, we listened, nodded and smiled. We were unsure if she was testing us, or just didn’t get how ironic she was being. I am thinking the latter.

Coming up this week:

- I have my gestational diabetes test (a simple gross looking orange drink which is even now sitting in my fridge, taunting me, followed by a blood test) tomorrow morning, and after my colonoscopy two years ago, am very unexcited about drinking things given to me by doctors. Please pray that I have no problem drinking the stuff, and that I pass with flying colors (i.e.: do NOT have diabetes. )

- Tuesday marks the beginning of my 7th month and third trimester of pregnancy.

- Sydney and I plan to go get Tropical Snow (she tells me it’s better than snow cones.)

All in all, from making my own artwork for a fraction of the cost, to eating something better than snowcones, it promises to be a very exciting week. Oh, and I will post a picture of the painting when I finish it!

I am about to embark on a paragraph that, when I tell people, always leads them to say the same thing. “Oh it will be good practice for when he’s born!”

My doctor tells me it’s because I’m slender, with wide hips, but I started feeling Caden kick at about 16 weeks. When you can start to feel a baby kicking depends alot on how they are positioned, your body type etc. Anyway, when he started kicking, I couldn’t always feel them that strongly, because obviously at 16 weeks they are still pretty small…

Well, now I am 26 weeks and 5 days. Next week marks the beginning of my third trimester. Which, when I figured that out yesterday, kind of shocked me. Like my friend Susan says over at her blog Caden is all done growing organ wise, now it’s a matter of just putting on weight and height.

If the last couple of days have been any indication, he’s doing both, in spades! Yesterday my prayer room team sat and WATCHED my belly roll as Caden demonstrated his in utero acrobatics. It was weird looking, but really funny. Normally, the point at which others try and feel or see him kick is the point that he lies still. He’s tricksy like that.

What the doctor neglected to mention was that the baby is never terribly concerned if you are sleeping or not. Caden happily kicks pretty much all night long. Last night it was feet in my left hip at 1am, then some head butting of my other hip at 2:30 and 3:45a. Combine that with the two bathroom trips I made, and I am thinking of just putting a sleeping bag in the hallway.

I told Aaron, I can’t think of a better reason to be woken up, but still, I spent at least 15 minutes each time rubbing my belly and saying “Caden, mommy is having some snoozes, can we drop kick my other organs later, maybe when I am awake?” He deigned to reply.

At one point, I could actually distinguish his little feet kicking out against my hand. What a crazy thing, to be able to feel his tiny feet.

Anyway, I thought the kickfest was funny enough to share.

This weekend promises to be filled with interesting-ness. We already had a game night last night with our great friends from work. This afternoon Sydney, Aaron and I are going to see a movie. Then I plan on swimming, napping, and grocery-ing, because I ran out of milk and other essentials like fruit, peanut butter, and honey nut cheerios. When you drink a gallon every 4-5 days, it’s an ongoing problem to keep stocked.

Also, a big thanks to Aaron who listened to the fact that I have been dreaming (literally) about donuts for the past week night, and got up this morning to suprise me with my favorite kind from my favorite place. You are a thoughtful wonderful man.

I feel so brave, I started a Twitter account. It’s this cool thing where you update your status in 160 words or less. Also, you can follow other people’s status, see what they are doing etc. I am not just making up stories to be popular, it really exists! Aaron could do a better job of explaining it. BUT, if you have twitter. Come find me. Just look for Jennerith.

Word.

I know I mentioned that Aaron and I bought moleskines yesterday. I intend to journal and perhaps write humorous stories for myself in mine. I consider journaling to be a tad different than blogging. Journaling in the form I intend to do it isn’t for mass consumption, and I generally ramble even more than I do here.

Here is the thought I am having about journaling:

In a bit, when this journal is full of random thoughts, praying, dreams I’ve had etc, will I be glad I wrote it all down? Or will I die with embarassment at how verbose I get when writing something that I don’t intend other people to see? I mean, I do wax philosophic with the best of them. I have even been known to ..wince….write poetry.

Will I be glad I journaled, or will I think I am ridiculously silly? Ponder that for me, while I go eat ice cream and shave my legs.

Today it’s been a slow day. I normally do all my housework chores on Wednesday morning. This includes such fun activities as: laundry, cleaning the kitchen, vacuuming and dusting. This morning I only got as far as dusting and cleaning the kitchen. I did pile all of Aaron’s small piles into one large pile that hopefully will inspire him to clean up said pile, and not just walk around it or hike it’s heights and climb over.

You get the idea.

I’ve had alot of people calling me on the phone lately. I feel really bad, because it always seems like people call right when I am doing something where I can’t multi-task and talk on the phone. I always feel especially bad when family calls and I am out and can’t talk, or about to start working or something. I love you family and friends! I swear I am not just brushing you off! I want to talk to you! Sigh. I’ve just been sensitive about having to go. Don’t know why in particular.

Last night Aaron and I went to Barnes and Nobles and bought Moleskine journals. I am very excited about mine, as I will no longer have to depend on my unlined sketch book to capture thoughts in. Also, now I will have lines to write on, and not feel like I am wasting paper if I JUST wanted to jot down a few sentences. Now I just need to find a good pen where the ink doesn’t get all blurry.

Caden is doing just excellently in there (I think.) He rolls around alot in the morning and then all night long. It’s very funny, because I am starting to be able to tell knees from elbows. He’s a little gymnast. Or ninja.

I feel like I had so much more to write about, but like I said, it’s a slow day.

Things I am contemplating: making falafel for dinner, just eating leftovers and letting Aaron fend for himself, going to the library, making a slurpee run, potentially floating in the pool later, or just laying down somewhere and getting some snoozes.

zzzzzzzzz…..

Well, last night was our first lesson in the Bradley method. For those of you unfamiliar with the Bradley Method it’s pretty much like my father-in-law described. I yell at Jennifer in creasing the stress and there for decreasing the time she spends in labor. Plus we pump her full of the latest drugs modern science has to offer. All in order to get us out of the hospital as quick as we can to grab a pizza and get home in time to watch a rerun of numbers.

I’m just kidding of course!

We would definitely get Chinese take-out.

No seriously, it was a great class. The Bradley Method is about understanding how the birthing process works and working with your body instead of against it. (and as a man I’m kind of ashamed I just wrote that last sentence) Our teacher is a big advocate of more natural birth but at the end of the day, no matter what we end up doing, I know we’ll both benefit from knowing what will be going on. I could tell that some of the other dads (and some of the wives too) were a little squeamish at the thought of birth. It was amusing to watch the discontented looks spread around the room as the teacher touched on more. . .colorful topics. I, however, am pretty confident of my ability to handle that sot of a situation. (Don’t worry Grandpas, neither of you will be required to be there)

Our instructor is a very nice lady and very approachable and I’m looking forward to our future lessons.

We had an awesome time hanging out with the Loux kids Friday night and Saturday. We played Wii games, we all sketched in our sketchbooks for about an hour and a half, we went to Wendy’s for burgers because no one wanted burgers for dinner. (Don’t ask me to explain, I was happy to be able to just toss all those wrappers, instead of trying to conquer their dishwasher.)

The Loux’s are awesome, and that’s all there is to it. Nick and Taylor AND Isabelle are all very good artists, and more to the point, they all have very cool styles that differ from one another. I also much pay homage to their nintendo skills. For people who just started playing Mario Kart when we got there, they can trash talk with the best of them (Isabelle…).

Elia was charming and slept through the whole night from about 9-7a. She also learned that I laugh when she sticks out her tongue, and that banging blocks on the window is fun. Don’t worry, we made sure it wasn’t hard enough to break that glass….I think.

After we got home from the Loux’s, we showered, napped, and ate some food. Then we spent the next few hours laying around on various flat surfaces with the doors open, because believe it or not it was actually cold outside last night.

We went for a very nice walk to observe the sunset and appreciate the cool weather, and I was almost wishing I had a sweatshirt! Which means it was probably hovering around 70. I can’t walk as fast as I used to be able to, and now Aaron laughs when I have to ask HIM to slow down. Normally he saunters and I have to stop every 30 feet so he can catch up. Now I am using him as a human tow rope. It’s pretty funny.

Right now the marvelous man of mine is off getting my favorite breakfast sandwiches (his suggestion, not mine) and I am drinking orange juice, awaiting his return. Today will hopefully entail more coolish weather, and my friend Sydney and I plan to shop somewhere.

Oh and! Most excititing! We start Bradley Method Childbirth classes on Monday night! Even though they are expensive, we decided to go for it after the teacher did some things to help make paying for it easier. Aaron was praying about it and decided taking this class was important for us, so we are believing that God will provide the funds. I am so excited to take this class!

I had a good day today. I woke up really hungry, and instead of slathering some peanut butter on toast I had hashbrowns, an egg, ketchup (it’s necessary to make the egg stick to the potatoes) and a bowl of strawberries. Washed down with of course, milk.

At work I actually got things done that made me feel like I was a productive team member. That was good. I stretched this morning. That’s good for me too.

Aaron even helped by cleaning up after the dinner mess I made (I don’t know WHY I bought pans you can’t stick in the dishwasher) and then he folded socks. What an amazing man I married.

I went to the pool with Aaron, and we talked about his new topic for study, which he is absolutely fascinated by, and I’ll let him tell you all about that. I mostly floated around and swam back and forth, back and forth.

Ok you know that rope thing they put in pools to separate the deep end from the shallow? Aaron told me to grab onto his shoulders, and he used that separator thingee as a tow rope, and hauled me across the pool at top speed. I squealed. It was that fun. Nevermind that I got infected pool water in my sinuses.. it was just that fun. It’s moments like that that we really have to go “oh wow, we’re having a baby…we should grow up and stop squealing in the pool and finding farts so funny…”

Not that I find farts funny. That’s Aaron. ahem.

We need to borrow the digital camera and get new belly pictures for you guys. Caden has now reached the point in his growth that when he kicks, you can really see it. It’s very odd. Now that he moves so much I don’t feel so weird about talking to my stomach.

Weird thing about pregnancy today: They tell you you will have strange dreams. But it’s not just WHAT you dream about that’s weird, it’s how the dreams actually feel. They feel different, and for lack of a better word, it’s weird.

Great thing about life today: I am so glad I am married to Aaron. He has been so encouraging and sweet today, and it makes me glad I got to marry him.

Fun things to look forward to for us this weekend: Hanging out with the Loux kids, going to EGS on Saturday night (if it’s not being webstreamed), getting tropical ice with my friend Sydney (because she found a tropical ice place on her way home from work) and not having to do any chores, because I did them all yesterday.

Also, a big congrats to mom and dad for building facebook pages. What trendy grandparents you will be!

Such a good day!