Since Bridget has been too "busy" to keep up with her blog, I thought I would help out. You all have missed quite a bit, so I'll try to bring you up to speed.
Weight gained as of the 20 week appointment: 11 lbs.
Here are some of the more recent baby bump pictures.
As you can read, this is 21 weeks! (Round ligament pain begins to strike...)
And this is 23 weeks! (Dad, in case you were wondering, this is the time where fat jokes cease to be funny.)
This last weekend was pretty packed with nesting activity. We cleaned the entire house, moved the office to the basement, picked up the baby furniture, set up the room, registered at Babies R Us and Buy Buy Baby, and then re-cleaned the entire house. I'm used to the cleaning, but the other events were quite tiring. I blame Riley since Bridget had a hard time bending over, walking, carrying things, or staying calm.
Saturday morning I went to a Bible study with some of the guys at church, which then evolved into a disc golf outing. We played one and a half rounds of a 9 hole course before I said I had to get home to help out. About that same time, Briget called me up and quite clearly demanded that I return home to help out. Since my decision to return home only predated her demands of the same by 30 seconds, I received zero credit for limiting my "play time," as she likes to call it.
Once I got home we cleaned the whole house and started moving things to the basement. Books flew off the shelves, diplomas came off the walls, computers were unplugged, and Briget came unglued. She had a moderate-severe breakdown about how I don't want to help with the baby, and how I'm only thinking about myself, and how I love to play, but never work. I'm not sure if this was precipitated by my plans to go mountain biking on Sunday (which I just revealed) or a flurry of pregnancy hormones. Since I'm writing the story, it was most definitely a pregnancy blip. After several minutes of hugging and reassurance we got back to work. The entire office was finally moved to the basement, complete with reloaded book shelf, functioning computer, and a wall of displaced basement crap.
With the room cleared and time waning, we needed to get the furniture from Babies R Us. The only thing holding us back was the fact that I couldn't find my wallet. Bridget accused me of "always losing my wallet" and I quietly retorted that I "hardly EVER lose my wallet." Eventually it was found in the door slot of the Honda, which is probably the first time I've ever put it there. We finally got to Home Depot where we rented the LAST available truck and then crossed Lindbergh to Babies R Us. Bridget signed off on the pick-up and paid the balance as warehouse-boy and I loaded all 300 lbs of furniture onto the back of the truck. Then it was a quick drive home, a quick drive to the church to pick up manual labor (Josh), and a quick drive back home. Luckily, unloading the furniture was rather uneventful and Josh's herniated disc stayed in its place.
We drove the truck back to Home Depot and arrived just in time to beat another hour of charges. Unfortunately, the man asked for our fuel receipt. "What fuel receipt," I asked. "The one I need on file to end the transaction," quipped the man. "It needs one gallon of gas for every 10 miles you drove, so that puts it to... 1.5 gallons." Awesome. So Josh and I drove to the nearest gas station while Bridget waited in our car at Home Depot. We finally found a QT and I hopped out to start the process, when I realized I did NOT have my wallet. Again. I frantically searched the truck and racked my brain, but didn't find it. I called Bridget to have her search the parking lot thinking it fell out of my pocket in our hurried approach, but it was nowhere to be found. Bridget actually asked me if I had my wallet as we left the house, so you can imagine the onslaught of questions and frustrated jabs I bore. Luckily, I had Josh. He paid for the gas, we returned the truck, the man miscalculated the time we were out (in my favor) and refused to be corrected. After returning home I found my wallet again, only this time it was in the abyss between seat and center console of the Honda. We finished the evening with dinner and a movie (Extremely Loud, Incredibly Close). Whew.
Sunday (Mother's Day) took us to church, then to McAlister's for lunch, and then to Babies R Us for the dreaded registering. We began at the car seats and took a complete HOUR deciding on the perfect fit and function. It got easier from there as we proceeded to breast pumps, bottles, boppies, and tommee tippees. Eventually we circled the entire store and managed to scan one out of every 3 available items. We went home and I got ready for mountain biking. Yes, mountain biking. Surprisingly, Briget had no objections after having a talk with one of her friends who revealed she registered completely by herself. Interesting. So, Jon and I went riding while Bridget finished registering at Buy Buy Baby. It worked out beautifully and EVERYONE was happy, including Riley. That night I was talking to her through the abdominal wall, when she kicked me hard in the face! I could actually see Bridget's skin move. I talked again, and again she responded with a kick! Then I started making these ridiculous clicking noises as if to communicate with a whale, and she just kept kicking! That was really cool. I can't wait to see her...
Monday was a regular day at work, but upon arrival home, I was faced with the challenge of actually moving the furniture from the entry way to the bed room. I unboxed the dresser and created a track of cardboard, which we used to scoot it to the doorway. Unfortunately, it was too long and Bridget had to help me stand it on end before wiggling it through the door. Eventually it was in place, and the only remaining obstacle was the crib. In the interest of time, I thought I would just include a silent time lapse video of us assembling her bed.
Once we had that finished, I only had to find homes for all our cardboard and styrofoam waste. I filled up two dumpsters and two recycling dumpsters. Sorry neighbors. At least we're finished for now... Stay tuned for final bedroom pictures.
