27 Weeks

27 weeks today. Let the third trimester begin!

According to my books, the baby's eyes are no longer fused shut and his brain is very active. Weighing in at about 2 pounds and 14.5 inches from head to heel, he's still got a bit of room in there to explore. Last night as I was trying to go to sleep, I felt the patter of little feet under my ribs. I rolled over and turned on the light to find my belly heaving from left to right. I'm guessing he was launching with his legs from the right side of my ribcage and letting his head bounce off somewhere just above my left hip. I'm so fortunate to have a round the clock personal game of internal organ pinball.

Now I'm off to work to kick off a very busy week!

Little Things

It's been a busy week! That seems to be the story of my life lately, but I'm not complaining. Work has been hectic gearing up for our final lecture of the season and this school term is barreling to an end. I've also submitted another fee proposal for some consulting work, so juggling three work/school schedules in addition to my personal life has been interesting.

Yesterday, I had another prenatal appointment and everything is going well. Baby G decided to play nice this time with the doppler and only rolled around a few times while trying to find his heartbeat, instead of kicking the wand incessantly. His rolls and kicks are getting noticeably stronger and more frequent these days. Just before J left for his epic business trip this week, we were just hanging out in the morning when all of the sudden my belly leaned to the left and went hard in one spot. The misshapen stomach was coupled with a shooting pain in my bladder. We couldn't tell if it was his head or his rump, but he was definitely stretching out and telling me to get out of bed already so I could make some more room for his antics.

I've been sorting through a few baby things that we've gotten from family and friends, since we now have a great new piece of furniture where they can be stored. J's aunt sent over a couple of things, including a pair of mini cowboy boots and some moccasins. I have to admit, I crack up every time I see them. Baby G will be much more stylish than either of his parents.

It's hard to believe that in just three months we will finally get to meet this little person who will no doubt rule our household for quite a while. I'm extremely excited to see what he looks like an figure out his personality, but oh man, there's so much do do before he arrives!

So Sore

A friend of mine passed along an email earlier this week that a local fitness studio was having a Mother's Day special of free prenatal classes in the Pearl District. I emailed to reserve a spot and was surprised to find that they still had room (in D.C. if you signed up for anything free you had to do it within 5 seconds of a public posting or you were out of luck).

It was a beautiful day yesterday, so I took a nice stroll to 10th & Marshall, not knowing exactly what to expect. I've taken yoga classes before, which never really seemed to do it for me, however I realize that I've not done any strength training at all during my pregnancy and am feeling pretty soft these days. Barre3 intrigued me because it boasts that it's "where ballet barre meets yoga and pilates," and that's exactly what I got from the class. It totally kicked my butt (in a good way). We stretched and strengthened nearly every muscle in my body with exercises modified specifically for pregnancy. I left feeling totally spent, but not exhausted.

This morning I woke up very aware of every muscle in my body, but I can't wait to sign up again for next weekend!

(photo from Barre 3)

Furniture Update

J and I stopped in at the hardware store this morning and picked up a bottle of Old English furniture oil as a first step in making our chest of drawers look like new. I'm glad we did. I thought I might have to take more drastic measures, such as waxing and retouching with a tinted paste. However, $6.50 went a long way with this project! As you can see, the right side looks refreshed and good as new. Next step: shelf paper in the drawers and we'll be set with a pretty great looking changing table.

Completed Project (Almost)

Ta da! Our new (old) dining chairs are finally finished and made their official breakfast room debut last weekend. The fabric that Jesse's parents purchased a few years ago is a perfect fit for our apartment -- fancy enough to stand up to the chairs, but with a hint of modern geometry that works perfectly with some of our mid-century furniture.

Here's a shot of the underside with the new jute webbing. The only glitch is that the webbing is stretching a lot more than I thought. I learned a valuable lesson, I guess -- using a stretcher tool is a must. Jesse's mom has a canvas stretcher that she thinks will do the trick and is planning on bringing it up in June when they visit on their way out to Virginia. I've also been looking into some more high-tech options for the webbing and found upholstery grade elastic (the kind used for automobile seats) and think that is the way I'm going to go this second time around. I'm a little bummed that I'm going to have to take the seats apart again, but after a week of sitting it's become quite apparent that the sag is only going to get worse.

On the bright side though, Jesse's parents brought up two really great pieces of furniture that are doing an excellent job of filling up some empty space in our apartment. This one will double as a changing table and chest for baby stuff. I gave it a good vacuuming today and cleaned it up a bit with wood cleaner, but the finish still looks like it could use a little more luster. I'll do a little more research on that before delving in, but as you can see there's already a pile of blankets and clothing just begging to be put away!

And here's the second piece of new (old) furniture that is doing an excellent job of storing our baking pans and a few other odds and ends. It also serves as an excellent sideboard for hot dishes and dessert. My favorite part about this piece are the Belgian tiles. Don't they look fetching with our newly recovered chairs?

This month has been exciting because I feel like our apartment is really starting to come together and feel like home. Who knew just a couple of new pieces could really warm up the place and make it feel so cozy?