Big day for the Barley!

So yesterday was a big day for the Barley!
Firstly, she is now enjoying a new corner office with a view of my pelvic floor. Yesterday she by all signs "engaged" or "lightened" as they say in the books, or as I would say "dropped like a ton of bricks."
Which is super exciting considering this means she is doing her thing to get ready to go-go-go, and I have more room to breathe, eat, and otherwise enjoy a little more of life's upper abdominal comforts. However it does come at the price of lost lower ones. Her little head is nicely nestled on what sometimes feels like knives, an anvil, and my bladder in between.
Goooo Barley!
Also yesterday I had a monster headache and nausea which was my cue to visit the hospital which was the hospitals cue to check my blood pressure, whose impressive new highs cued the Dr to label my pregnancy "hypertension", which was the cue to steal my blood and pee, and give me drugs I don't want to take.
So, now I am officially an old man and am on blood pressure medicine and monitor my bp 4 times a day with my new handy and so dandy at home cuff. (batteries not included).
The new medicine makes me feel all floopy and light-headed, and I distrust it. (I think any mom would distrust a medicine that clearly states not to take it if you are pregnant or going to be pregnant...and boy if I'm not anything but pregnant.)
However they say it is better for the Barley than the alternative. Lets just hope the poor Barley does not feel as silly as I do. So far I haven't heard any drunken songs echoing from my uterus...but I feel one coming on so I had better sign off.
....They caaaall her the irish roooooover!

33 week checkup!

So we had our last ultrasound yesterday! The next time we get to look at The Barley she will be a little more 3D...with surround sound! It is getting more and more difficult to see what's what in the ultrasound as she gets bigger, so unfortunately there will be no picture for this post. The one we got was barely recognizable seeing as the poor girl is stuffed so tight, like a ham in a pickle jar.
However we did see what amounted to blinking and mouth moving. Also, she was sucking on her foot, which I think shows remarkable skill.
The reason for an ultrasound this late in the game was to check up on her kidneys which were growing at 2 different rates last visit. This time they noticed that they were the same size, just one was holding more fluid than the other. Thankfully, this is not a dangerous or worrisome complication, as her fluid levels and everything else look normal. So praise God for that!
Greta is right on track to be a Christmas Eve baby, they bumped her due date back to the 24th!
She currently weighs 4lbs and 7 oz and that puts her smack dab in the 64th percentile for weight. The midwife predicts she will be around 7lbs when D-Day arrives. A nice little bundle if I do say so myself.

Happy Halloween!

I hope everyone had a happy Halloween last night?
We had a fantastic time hanging out with friends and shoving our faces with sweets and pizza rolls.
Kent and I had a tough time this year trying to figure out what we should be. I have rigorous guidelines when it comes to costumes. They should be semi-homemade, I don't want to be a man, or an inanimate object, and would like the costume to be somewhat uncommon. (ex: no witches/or pumpkins). This year had the added challenge of incorporating the Barley. But I think we pulled it off.
We we were a 50's housewife and the milkman. (tee-hee)
I thought Kent looked particularly fine in his little white shorts and bow tie. (meow)

'Here we go a pumpkining'...

...'Among the leaves so orange!'
So, this weekend we gathered our fall spirit up and went a-pumpkining! What could be better than a fun afternoon in the park gutting and carving large vegetables, drinking cider, and of eating Halloween candy?
I submit that there is nothing.


The boys had a HOOGE pumpkin so they teamed up on one together. They were very proud of their handy work. Even now Kent's is propped up by our front door with a rock under it to give it a better showing. It is a scene of wolves howling at the moon.
When I discovered his initial design plans, I had imaginings of us all left howling at the moon as Kent meticulously carved his pumpkin with a knife the size of a hair pin. He is known in our parts for his astounding attention detail, and consequently for being the slowest ever.
However, it was I who was the last to finish carving.
Mostly because I spent my time eating candy, but also I was deliberating over all the design possibilities. Would I try and make a political statement? Or something that would make all the little trick or treaters stop and consider the preciousness and brevity of life? Or maybe I would just settle for something so funny they must puke up their Whoppers.
In the end I decided on a harmless little heart with leaves, giving an overall impression of a tramp stamp. As typical Skirst, I decided it was too much work to think through and eating would be more fun.
The day ended with us all lined up like proud parents holding our orange young.

And then fake smashing them.

Happy October everyone!

Party...with a y.

Soooo, cats out of the bag. Happy Shower to me!
This last weekend the incomparable Meg threw me a surprise baby shower. It was gorgeous, and personal, and sans the games we have all grown to loathe.
So thank you SO much for those of you who came, it made the Barley and I smile.
Now I have been busying myself with finding places for all the lovely gifts and loans everyone has been so generous with.
Today's highlighted gift: The nubby blanket Meg made with her own paws. I think my favorite part is the sweet little G that is sewn into the corner.
The nubby part of the fabric has a real name, but I'm new to the 'mom club' and just call it the nubby part.
Also...what's with all the y's ladies and gentlemen of the marketing sector? We've got the Boppy, the Onesy, footies, Robeez...o.k. that's not a y but it sounds like one. Yipes! Confusing!
Granted, y sounds are catchy, and take years off of your tongue when you say them. (I myself find the word "Lambie" particularly charming and use it to refer to one of our dining room rugs. You might even find that it makes up for all the adult words that are so popular right now that are aging you fast and giving you gas, words like: fiscal, bailout, and earmark. Not a y in the bunch) But really, the more I am exploring "baby land" (mostly I'm lost) I am finding that all the product names basically boil down to one simple equation. Cute non-real word+element of product function but mostly confusion+y or ie=expensive baby product crucial for your child's comfort, safety, or development.
Well, I am starting to get to the bottom of things at least. I hope all is going well with all of you!
Stay tuned for nursery details! The mural starts this week!

28 Week Check-up

Greetings from my big comfy chair!
This morning we had our monthly check-up and things are looking well for our little Greta. She was measured at 26 weeks (normal) and her heart rate is 150 (normal).
I on the other hand I have high blood pressure (un-normal) for me at least. The last 2 months I have been in the 140's over mid 70's. A far cry from the so low I could be dead rates I'm used to.
This on top of the fact that I weighed in 9lbs heavier than last month for the second month in a row have us all raising eyebrows and making me feel like a fatty-fatty-2x4-can't fit through the kitchen door.
Now, let me pause here for those out there who might misunderstand this and take it as an unhealthy mind set. I'm not saying I am fat, I know there is a difference from being pregnant and being obese. I'm just saying there are days in every pregos 9 months where regardless of anything else you just feel like Large Marge Big as a Barge...and today as I breathlessly shuffled myself from the hospital freshly banned by my midwife from drinking cran-blueberry juice (too many calories)...was one of those days.
At any rate, Ive been ordered to go in next week for another check up instead of my monthly, so as to keep tabs on my all too impressive blood pressure.
Also I am cutting out my most dearly loved sweets, and per Drs orders choosing "low fat" dairy (blech). Well, no one ever said pregnancy was going to be easy:) but I am happy to do anything to keep this bun a cookin nice and healthy like!

P.s. I had my glucose test today for gestational diabetes. Naaaaasty it's like drinking a jug of unfrozen orange otter pops. You know something is going to be disgusting if they make you sign a waver first.

Moving in...

It smells like curry and cardboard down here.
I am sitting amongst a pile of my possessions, writing instead of sleeping because yesterday we moved into our new place (Our Barley's first place!) and my mind is too full of the things needed to be done.
For example...this unwelcome smell. The tenants before us seemed to have had an affection for curry and it haunts my very sleep. Of course I am the only one that can smell it because I am prego and my smeller is particularly keen now. So I burn candles like a devout Catholic, (only my candles smell fantastic) and do laundry in hopes to bring about the familiar scent we have left behind at our old home or as Kent affectionately called it "The Shoe box" or "Tooth"....for it was the size of one.
Our new home is much older and loaded with character. We are thrilled at the added square footage, but there is a lot to get used to and I have not quite accepted it as my friend yet. It is a little wonky. I am still suspiciously opening drawers and drawing up an eyebrow at the dishwasher's suspicious ways.
I am still mulling over the possibility of whether or not our house is trying to poison us either with black mold hidden in it's bowels or if it is planning to lull us into a false state of relaxation at which time it will crumble in on us like a house of cards to the ruin of everything, leaving us with only a cloud of dust to pay rent on.
I have just a few things like this to sort out. Also where to put all our stuff.
Our friends have been so awesome helping us get everything off of the truck and into it's proper place. And of course Kent has been an absolute hero making sure I don't lift anything heavy and take my breaks and naps. He takes good care of his girls.
All in all we have been incredibly blessed. We have our work cut out for us for a little while but fiddle-dee-dee I love these kinds of challenges, and soon our little Barley is going to come home here and the real fun will begin!......but first something must be done about this smell.