Thursday 29 November 2012

38 weeks

i'm a day late on this update, but kitten little is 38 weeks!  i saw our midwife yesterday and she said kitten is somewhere around 6 lbs and will gain a half pound a week so she'll hopefully be 7-7.5 by the time she arrives.  all her organs are ready for the world so it's any day now and we are so ready to meet her!  colby is more nervous about labor than i am, but we're both totally pumped about being parents.  i'm still comfortable, sleeping through the night, and haven't seen any stretch marks.  my face is pretty puffy, i've gained 25 lbs, and my hands are stiff from pregnancy-induced carpal tunnel and a little swelling, but all that is minor and i really can't complain.  i was very tired today for no real reason.  i woke up at 7 to spend time with colby before he went to work, and then i started playing christmas music and planning my day, but somehow i lost my motivation before i ever got started.  i ended up taking a nap and accomplishing nothing.  hopefully i'll be less of a sloth tomorrow.  i haven't officially nested yet so that needs to kick in soon!

i'm slightly disappointed that it's almost over and i haven't had any of the classic pregnancy stuff that people talk about.  i was sort of looking forward to weird cravings and baby brain.  i'm extremely thankful that i'm not having any crazy emotions or any of the negative things, so i guess i should just take my uneventful pregnancy and be happy with all of it.

TONS of gifts have been arriving every day and our coworkers also threw us an absolutely amazing shower, so i will try to do a big post tomorrow about everything with a million pictures.

xoxo

Wednesday 21 November 2012

37 weeks

guess who's full term today!  she should weigh over 6 lbs, but that can vary quite a bit at this point.  assuming my due date is accurate, her lungs are most likely ready for the outside world if she decided to make her appearance.  i still feel great and she seems snug in there, so i'm not in any rush to get her out.  she's head down but hasn't dropped and i'm not even feeling any braxton hicks, so it looks like she's in there for the long haul.  i want her to wait until my mom gets here anyway.  i'm comfortable and sleeping well, aside from a good bit of heartburn, but i'm no stranger to heartburn.  i've been taking prilosec regularly for 5-6 years and stopped because of pregnancy so i can't say it's kitten's fault i'm burping up acid.

we had some more trouble with our island car this week, but it ended up only being a corroded wire.  the guy cleaned it up and made sure it was connected fully and the shop didn't charge us because they said they should have checked that when they replaced the starter anyway.  we are so thankful for the rare kind and honest people on this island.  this really is our caribbean mayberry :)

Sunday 18 November 2012

more kitten stuff!

i was expecting a couple packages from angel when i checked the mail yesterday, but instead i got a surprise package from my cousin rachel!  i especially love the little corduroy skirts and we cracked up at the h&r block onesie.  aunt grace knitted kitten a super cute blanket and sebastian has already tried to claim it :)

i also got around to taking some pictures of the cube storage we set up and a couple things we got from cassondra, like this st. patty's day outfit with a 4 leaf clover on the booty and some little plaid skirts i've already started planning outfits around!
all the rest of the pics are in the kitten stuff album.  enlarge the pics and the descriptions are at the bottom.

Wednesday 14 November 2012

36 weeks

super kitten is 36 weeks today.  she weighs over 6 lbs (like a crenshaw melon) and who even knows how long she is at this point!  a woman on my birth board just had a 7 lb 8 oz baby at 36 weeks, which is absolutely terrifying.  i'm all about a natural birth, but if this cat gets over 10 lbs i'll be begging for a c-section, not even going to lie about it. 

i still have no stretch marks, but my belly button has been feeling realllllly stretched out lately and i can see the bottom of my piercing spreading so there's just no way i'm making it to 40 without some permanent structural damage to my navel.  i've had several people tell me today that i look small and they're surprised i'm due so soon.  the lady at connections (that's where our PO box is) told me to chill out because i have plenty of time left.  i told her i'm full term next week and she was shocked.  i love it!

this is a crenshaw melon and i can't say i've ever seen one before.  she'll be a pumpkin soon!
today is my last day of work.  i had to quit for reasons beyond my control and i'm not too happy about it.  colby is more than happy to support us, but i still haven't adjusted to feeling like a freeloader.  i've been looking into extreme money-saving measures because our power bill is regularly over $500.  i might take a babysitting job for the next few weeks that will hopefully turn into something i can do after kitten is here and save us from having to spend any money on childcare.  i'm also getting started on a christmas ornament project to bring in some extra cash.  i collected some really nice corals from drunk bay to make ornaments for myself but then several friends told me they would like to buy some from me, so i'm pretty pumped about that!

Monday 12 November 2012

35 week pics

colby and i had the day off together yesterday so we went out to leinster bay and then all the way down to salt pond and drunk bay.  we did a little bit of hiking and now my feet are sooooore.  still no swelling, though!  we spelled some stuff in the coral rubble and took pictures for a future potential art project.  we also collected some pieces of coral to make christmas ornaments for our beach theme decor.  mom sent me a glue gun so now i just need glitter and i'm on my way to awesome!

 can you believe that kitten's due date is exactly 30 days from today? :)


Wednesday 7 November 2012

35 weeks

our little kitkat is 35 weeks!  there's at least 5 1/4 lbs of baby in me right now, probably more!  i can't believe it's almost over.  as of this week, we are officially ready.  thanks to our amazing moms, we now have a car seat, bath tub, pack n' play, and a pretty solid collection of diapers and wipes.  we could have her tomorrow and be ready.  hopefully she cooks for a few more weeks, but it's nice to feel prepared.  we still need some little things like diaper rash cream, nail clippers and a carrier since we're not doing a stroller, but we can survive without having those things right away as long as we can get her home and have somewhere for her to sleep. 

i've been holding off on washing her clothes, but i think it might be time to go ahead and start on the 0-3 month stuff so i can at least see how much we have.  i'm having a really hard time finding storage baskets to go in our cube storage unit.  i've found some on walmart and some on amazon and neither will ship here, so i'll have to get some help on a workaround i guess.  it seems silly considering they are $4 apiece, but this is the island life!

and speaking of island life, things are looking up since my last whiny post.  when i took the car in the other day, i ended up waiting nearly 4 hours and talking to the sweet owner the entire time.  she has been so good to us with all the work we've had done so far, and this week was no exception.  when it was all said and done, we paid $24 for just the parts and they didn't charge us for labor.  they fixed the coolant problem ($14 hose with a massive hole in it) as well as a screw that was loose and causing the car to idle hard and stall.  i went ahead and got us a new gas cap too, so we're 100% ready to list this thing for sale FINALLY, and then we can upgrade to something a little more reliable and safe for kitten pants.

Monday 5 November 2012

island car

when people ask if i love living here i always say without hesitation, "YES, i love it!"  it's amazing and totally worth it, but it's certainly not easy or everyone would live here.  lately, i have to admit, it's starting to wear on me.  things are starting to lean toward more trouble than it's worth territory and i hate that feeling. 

a few months ago, the starter began having problems in our car.  we learned that you can bang on it with a tire iron and it starts right up, so we did that for awhile instead of spending the money on the car when we have a kitten on the way.  finally, it got to the point where we couldn't count on it starting at any time and colby developed a fear that i'd go into labor and the car wouldn't start, so we bought a starter on st. thomas and had it put in at a shop here.  during that process, we went ahead and bought new spark plugs, a PCV valve, and valve cover gaskets to prevent a small oil leak problem we were having, and we paid a local guy to do that work since it all seemed pretty routine.  this guy has a reputation for being an excellent mechanic as well as a drunk, but our neighbor uses him exclusively and says his work is great so we took a chance.  huge mistake.  he replaced the plugs but left 2 disconnected, unplugged some random tube, and then claimed the PCV was the wrong part -- it wasn't.  fortunately, i only paid him $40 and a can of coke.  colby had to drive the car, shaking violently (the car, not colby), to the shop to fix all that crap and we went ahead and had a new battery installed.  when we picked it up, feeling good and planning to sell it, it developed a random stalling problem which we've simply been dealing with for now.  last night, it started steaming because all the coolant is spraying out under the hood and the engine is overheating.  all of this is in addition to the body work we had done from colby's accident.

i'm taking it to the shop today for another round of work, but it's like... what's next?!  if there's any positive to come out of this, it's that colby and i are learning a lot about cars, but COME ON UNIVERSE, give us a break.  our little kitten is due in just over a month and we need at least a semi-reliable car and a way to afford her diapers without spending hundreds of dollars every week on our stupid suzuki sidekick.  i won't be working for a couple months and although colby will be making more during peak season, there's no room for unexpected large expenses.  can we just please catch a break!

Sunday 4 November 2012

34 week pictures!

i got so much bigger since last week!  my face has reached the point where there isn't a single photo i like out of the 100 we took, but there isn't much i can do about that :(


6 new pictures! (with a little colby, too)