Last night I went and helped Jess put up wallpaper border in her nursery and found myself REALLY irritated by the dogs in the car on the way there and back. I thought it was just that they kept licking me, but today I'm super tired again, so maybe the third trimester slump is coming on. I'd better get to my projects soon or they may never get done.

Funny thing is, I haven't been working as many hours this week, yet I'm more tired. It seems like the more I take on, the more energy I have. I think I'll still take it easy this week though just in case.

Besides, with the work in the back yard being done, we have to keep the dogs penned up in a different area of the house and Joey's already pulled the carpet pad out of the bathroom closet, so I need to get home to them as early as I can anyway.

Plus, it's fun to get home in the daylight hours and see the progress the guys are making on the concrete repair/resurface job. Today they started adding color to yesterday's texture and I think it's going to look REALLY nice!!!!

Maybe I'll check the weather archives later and see what the mornings are like in September and have Jessica's shower outside at our place if it's going to be nice that time of year. :) Clean up will be a breeze if it is! Just hose it down and I'll be done! hahaha!

I could visibly see my belly move this weekend -- and I wasn't even looking at it!!! It was so obvious that when I was watching TV, I could see my belly moving out of the corner of my eye!

This is WEIRD!!!

As I sneak up on the 6th month, I'm getting more "in touch" with my bladder. It seems like I have to go every 10 seconds and getting up in the middle of the night is not uncommon -- again. I don't even really feel that much pressure from the weight of this baby yet, so I can imagine it's only going to get WAY worse!!!! Let the games begin...

Until now I was concerned that I wasn't eating enough, but the doctor told me I'm doing just fine. She actually cautioned against eating anything extra on top of what I'm already eating, as extra weight in me or the baby makes delivery difficult. So, my theory that I'm just going to keep doing what I'm doing until the doctor tells me otherwise still stands.

I'm not overly hungry, so I don't have to worry about curbing my appetite. Also, since I don't feel like I'm eating a lot, I still don't have to concentrate on eating any more than I already am.

That's good news and I feel better now.

She also said the little thing I experienced yesterday was nothing to worry about -- probably just my blood pressure dropped and I need to get up slowly and stuff like that. She said some ladies can't take a hot shower in the morning because they get nauseous!!! I'm glad that's not me! I'd die without my relaxing showers!!! I gave up hot baths, but long warm showers? Forget it!!!!

Although, as hot as it's been here, I could almost stand to take a shower outside with the hose and not notice the difference! (See Sunday, June 19 for outdoor bath review)

So I'm wearing the little red top that I was wearing when the random person told me I was a cute pregnant lady. :) Guess what? I got the same comment today again! I'm going to go buy 20 of these little red tops and just make them my pregnancy uniform! hahaha!

On a more serious note, I almost blacked out this morning before work. I made it to the bed to rest a bit only to be hopped on by 2 play-fighting doggies. It wasn't pretty. I had to just take it and luckily they got bored really fast and stopped. Want to hear what it feels like to have a 50 lb dog and a 20 lb dog step on your hair when you're resting??? It feels a little like this: AAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!

So, that's that. I feel great now so I have no idea what that was all about. It was like low blood sugar except I'd eaten breakfast already, so that wouldn't be it.

I'll have to ask the doctor about that...

Well, the closet organizer is finished and looks good. I just need to pick a curtain rod so I can make that curtain to replace the doors I removed.

The frame for the "window" is cut and I put a final coat on it before work today. Once that is dry I can put up the frame and see how big the shutters need to be to finish that up.

Let's see... I got some new hangers for the bird shelves in the tree since those keep falling down anyway. That's a small project on the list, but still needs to get done.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot the little wooden "plus mark" that we'll put over the mirror to make it look more like a window. That needs to be cut and painted, too.

Make & hang curtain, hang window frame, make & hang shutters, rehang bird shelves, make, paint and mount "plus" in the window... I think that's really it and then we're done.

The ongoing saga of the patio... This fine balmy June evening I was out spraying down the patio and washing away large chunks of concrete from the top layer and the dogs decided to join in on the action. Joey was so cute biting the water, but she doesn't have that sideways trick down like Syd does. Joey bites it head on, so basically the hose sprays straight down her throat.

It was so cute in a sick sort of way.

At this point I figured they may as well get their baths outside since they were already soaked. So, bathe, we did.

Except now that it was business and no pleasure, Joey wanted nothing to do with the hose and decided to jump up on me and run around me as I was crouched down trying to wash her.

What does this have to do with the pregnancy, you ask?

Well, besides the fact that the little one inside got a nice blast of my "laughing my butt off" endorphins, I learned that I have no sense of balance now.

So, rather than finding a way to fight off a 20 lb wet puppy, I had to give in and let her climb all over me. Needless to say I got soaked, too, and hence, the laughing my butt off.

A good time was had by all.

More of the same this week. Belly is big. Baby is kicking (although a little harder last night again instead of the mild version she's been doing lately). Working on nursery again this weekend (installing closet organizer).

Absolutely nothing spectacular happened this week.

Ok, I think we made our final preparation trip to Home Depot today. Marti's had a few priceless looks on his face throughout this pregnancy, but when today's total came up, the look was not priceless. Actually, it had a specific dollar amount tied to it, and that number did not make Mr. Daddy happy today.

Ok, ok, I'll stop shopping already! :)

Braxton Hicks, meet my uterus.

http://www.juniormagazine.co.uk/module-pagesetter-viewpub-tid-5-pid-29.html

If you didn't already know, Dr. John Braxton Hicks was the guy that had these little practice contractions named after him. And boy, are we practicing a LOT these days!

I think I feel that more than I do the baby kicking.

My theory on that is the baby has less room to move around now that she's getting bigger, so she has less room to "wind up" for the swings, so the kicks are less dramatic now.

I still feel her kicking, but it's not the kind that makes me think she's going to grow up to be a kick boxer some day. Now it's more like she's stomping grapes. Come to think of it, it probably wouldn't be such a bad thing to have a grape stomper in the family. Marti would have a permanent "in" with the wine makers and he'd be a happy boy.

Anyway, I'm quite certain this feeling is Braxton Hicks because early on I remember telling Mom that I can almost feel when the baby is getting ready to kick. I imagine it is my uterus tightening up, then the baby reacts by kicking.

Or I could be imagining the whole thing. That happens when you read too many books.

ITCHY BELLY!!!!!!!

It has gotten so bad today that I pulled my tank top up, pulled my waistband down (what there is of it) and just scratched my belly like a dog scratches her ears!

All this was in my office at my desk. I didn't care!

Oils and lotions help, but MAN, some days it's just CRAZY!!!

OK, this is just getting comical! I think I'm getting my (good) cosmic payback for having had the 2 bad pregnancies because this one is going so well. I'll explain why it's funny today in just a second...

So, I was over visiting an old coworker in their new building and taking a little tour of the place at lunch today. It made me think for just a second that I wish I'd stayed with the team because the new offices are soooooo posh!!! There's landscaping with boulders and waterfalls - and the waterfalls even have mist coming out of them!!!!

Also, there are abstract canvas ramadas (pet named the poppies) outside with little eating areas tucked away here and there in a kind of snail shell pattern of walls with different seating levels joined by flagstone paths.

Why, there was even a guy sitting there on his break playing a guitar for his friends! It couldn't have been more perfect! Wish I was there!

So, anyway, as I'm awestruck and walking through this place, some random person stops us at the elevator, points at my belly and says how cute she thinks I am as a pregnant woman!

Tell me THAT doesn't feel good as I'm getting rounder and rounder!!!! :) It's been a great day so far -- and a great pregnancy all around.

And I do mean ROUND! hahaha!

Our little girl learned a new trick and is quite a show off now! She's kicking hard enough to see my belly move every time now. I thought it would be kind of here and there that we got to see it move, but it's been consistent.

We went to see Cinderella Man today and came home to a nap. If it wasn't for those 3 dogs, I would have slept until tomorrow morning! Alas, it finally got to me that I didn't know what they were up to, so I got up to make sure they wouldn't get into trouble.

OH! I forgot to mention that Marti signed up for Daddy Boot Camp at the hospital. I guess a guy he knows recommended it and said he liked the class when he was a new dad, too.

I'm off to sign up for a couple more classes myself. Who knows if all that breathing crap works, but I figure it can't hurt! I'm getting an epidural unless something stops me, so I anticipate feeling no pain until that wears off. However, if I get stuck in an elevator or something, I want something to believe in. hahaha!

Our plans for the morning were shot so we decided to register for baby stuff instead.

WOW.

I never thought it would be so involved! Marti thought it would take about a half hour, but we ended up spending about 3 hours in that store looking at all the stuff!

He was so good about it and I think he was actually having some fun! He said it helped that he got to work the scanner gun, so I'm glad he got a hold of that before me.

You should have seen him go for the "I love my daddy" bib! hahaha! He was so cute!!! Everything else we decided on, we discussed first, so when I saw him making a bee line for the bibs I had to laugh.

Back by the high chairs we ran into someone we both know from the restaurant and were greeted with her 6 month old and husband. I didn't even know she got married, let alone had a baby. I guess it's been a while since we've seen her...

We're also dog sitting this week so now we have 3 dogs. We were just getting a taste of the peaceful morning and now it's going to be mayhem all over again. But it will be fun. We love dog sitting Lobo because he gets along so well with Sydney and he wears our dogs out. He's a good doggie, too!

Today was fun! Marti and I woke up to 2 peaceful dogs in bed instead of yelping puppy downstairs. She's getting to the point where we can trust her not to make a mess while we sleep in. That's a nice change.

But, the more fun part was when we got to feel the baby kick again. Marti could barely feel it, so she really put on a show to make up for it!

As he was on the computer, I noticed what I felt like a kick that made the blanket move on my belly! I moved the covers and sat and watched.

YUP! My belly is officially moving today! Marti got up in time to see the biggest one as he walked over to check it out.

THAT was weird!!!! (But fun, too!)