Today makes officially 26 weeks along!  The belly is definitely making quite the appearance…and so are the random comments that provoke my face-punching reflex.  Well, nobody has been punched in the face yet, but be warned.  Telling a pregnant lady that’s already measuring big that you hope she doesn’t have to go on bed rest towards the end (because apparently I’m the size of a HOUSE) is not the way to show your concern.  Side note: I realize that I am not as big as a house.  I really don’t feel that big most days…until somebody says something stupid.

Anyways, as of this week, Bing is the size of an English hothouse cucumber…whatever that is.

Here’s what Elijah is up to this week:

He now weighs about a 1.7 pounds and measures 14 inches long.  The nerve pathways in his ears continue to develop and this will allow him to respond to sounds more consistently.  Although his eyes have been sealed shut for the last few months to allow the retinas to develop, they are likely opening and beginning to blink during week 26 of pregnancy.  His eyes are blue in the womb and may change colors later in life.  This is true for all races because the pupils do not have their final color until a few months after birth.

Whoa.  I had no idea that all babies were born with blue eyes.  I have a feeling Elijah’s will stay blue since Dave and I both have blue eyes.

The biggest new thing going on for me is the feeling of my rib cage being stretched out from the inside.  I gotta tell you, it doesn’t feel good.  I can’t tell if it’s the actual stretching of the rib cage (which really happens) or random appendages poking my ribs, but I do know that it’s a super uncomfortable feeling.  I keep trying to shift and move around to make the feeling go away, but it likes to linger.

Ready for the survey?

I’m a total slacker.  I have zero pictures from this weekend, and therefore a very boring weekend update…

On Friday night Dave and I headed to dinner with Houchens.  Brook was out of town for work, so he came over to play some video games and just hang out.  I’m pretty sure I made it until 10pm before falling asleep on the couch (which isn’t bad for me, actually)!

Saturday Dave got up early to head to his dad’s house.  They’re building the infamous arcade machine in his shop and this is Weekend One of the project.  While they were at it, I met up with some family for lunch at The Carolina Brewery.  No beer for me though…sad face.  After lunch, I did  a little bit of shopping (duh) and then Dave and I headed to the Mexican restaurant down the road for dinner.  After that, it was jammie time!

Sunday was more arcade time for Dave, and I spent the day catching up on housework and going to the grocery store.  I’ve decided not to take Dave with me anymore after that trip; every person I met in the aisles gave me big smiles and appeared to be pretty smitten with running into a preggers lady at the grocery store.  I even got offers to help take my groceries to my car!  However, when Dave is with me, I’m just another fat lady blocking their view of the salad dressing selection for too long.  Funny how that works…  Ma called that afternoon, so we headed out for a little while.  I ended up buying a bag that I think will work nicely for a diaper bag.  It’s red, shiny, crocodile print, and therefore AWESOME.  I spent a grand total of 25 bucks on it.

That evening Chris and Kacy came over for some good ole fashioned hobos.  Those things take forever to cook, but they’re soooo worth it!  We also had a super awesome Oreo dessert that I can’t remember the name of, and let’s just say that the freezer is now stocked with leftovers!

And that’s the weekend in a nutshell.  Before I knew it, my alarm woke me up this morning right as I was dreaming that I walking to the bathroom to pee.  You know what that means, right?  About one more minute of sleep, and I would’ve probably peed in the bed.  Dave and I laughed the whole way to work about how much of a nightmare situation that would’ve been…

25 weeks & 3 days

Also, this is proof that I do wear jeans.  I noticed that most of my updates are in dresses.  I assure you that jeans and leggings happen A LOT!

Last night Dave, Mollie, and I headed over to Lou and Dow’s for some din din.  It’s been a little while since we’ve done that, so why not?  On the menu was some good ole fashioned chicken pot pie, mashed potatoes, and brownies.

If dinner had been at my house, they would’ve gotten the frozen version.  But as you can see, Lou is legit.

Since Mollie came along, it was pretty much a four hour puppy hurricane.  Never seen one?  It looks a lot like this:

Haha…I purposely picked the one where Mollie is as BA as possible.  Get him, girl!

The boys stayed like this the entire time (getting up only to eat and then get brownies):

And then we took rounds of ‘Pics w/ the Pregnant Lady’ since everybody loves to have proof that I am, in fact, with child.

I look like a hot air balloon.

We decided that this pic is terrible, and therefore must be redone.

Once it started getting a little late, the puppies were slowing down and Mollie was READY to go home.  She LOVES Auntie Lou Lou’s house, but Bruce drives her bonkers after a few hours of constant play, so when the sitting at the door and the pouting to get on the couch started, we decided it was time to head on home.

Bruce didn’t waste any time getting comfy…

Rotten.

Once we got home, I got to work on an ‘emergency’ from work until 11 pm.  Did you notice the ‘…’ around emergency?  That’s because my company doesn’t cure cancer.  Therefore, I use the term emergency loosely…but that doesn’t keep me from having to stay up to fix crap.

It actually ended up helping me get an awesome night’s sleep, so I guess it was worth it.  I slept like a champ and I’m really starting to appreciate those nights!

Last night Elijah and I watched the Grammys (that I had DVRed from Sunday) while Dave worked on our taxes.  (Elijah and I = I actually watched the show while Elijah had a four hour dance party during all the performances.)  There’s no doubt in my mind that the kid likes music.  The show was around four hours and they only presented a hand full of awards, so it was one performance after another and it was one kick after another.

Dave tried to have bonding time once we went to bed, but our usual night owl of a baby wasn’t having it.  I think he had wiped himself out!

Anyhoo, I digress.  So with a full belly while watching the Grammys, I got the weirdest sensation.  I knew Eli was in there kicking up a storm, but when I rubbed my belly to feel his kicks, I could feel him way better than normal.  It was like he was hanging out off to one side and up front.  My belly was harder than normal in that spot.

This is where it gets weird, but I cradled him with my hand.  I know, I know.  That’s weird.  But I swear I could feel his little body over the length of my hand, and so while he was there, I held him.  And maybe it was my hormones making me crazy, but I don’t care.  It was special and I liked it.

Editor’s note: Please excuse the jammies.  I am known for pairing the most mismatched shirts and bottoms in my closet; these are tame by normal standards.

Hey folks.  Today makes 25 weeks along for me.  That means that Elijah is the size of an eggplant this week (or in guy terms he’s the size of a 13 inch boot).

And for the update:

Let your spouse put an ear to your belly — he might be able to pick up baby’s heartbeat (no stethoscope required).  Inside the womb, the formation of tiny capillaries is giving baby a healthy pink glow.  Baby’s also soaking up your antibodies, getting the immune system ready for life outside the womb.  Eyes are forming, and baby will soon perfect the blink — perfect for batting those freshly grown lashes.

The major update I have for this week is that I realized what an accomplishment putting on my socks and shoes has become.  It’s an accomplishment…not a normal daily thing…something I’m proud of if I can do it on my own without losing my breath.  How bad is that!?!?  You know what’s worse though?  The fact that it’s only going to get worse!!!  Meh, that’s what Dave is for!

And now on to this week’s survey:

Hey folks!  It’s Monday, the roads are TERRIBLE, and I’m blogging from work (shhhh).  Why am I at work?  Well, I think it’s party due to Dave and I both being ‘do-gooders’ and a lot to do with cabin fever.  Man it feels good to be out of the house!

Anyhoo, Friday we stocked up on gas and food for Mollie and then it was couch and jammie time for us.  The snow started earlier than the weather folks thought, but we were prepared.  Ahem, note the bowl dedicated for snow collection to be used towards snow cream.  If you grew up anywhere close to Nash County and you didn’t make snow cream, tisk tisk.

When we woke up on Saturday, everything looked like this!

Mollie + snow = running around going bonkers!  Since I’m a big ole fat pregnant lady this time around and couldn’t chase her in my tennis shoes/Ziploc bag and jammies combo (since nothing else fits), she had to stay on the leash.  It didn’t seem to bother her much though.

After hanging out in jammies and not showering the entire day on Saturday, I was READY to get out of the house on Sunday.  So I showered, put on real clothes, and forced Dave to do the same.  I didn’t care where we went, but we were going somewhere!  So off to Babies R Us, Target, and the mall we went!

I found these awesome shoes that I’ve been stalking on sale for 2 bucks at Target!

I also managed to snag myself a brand new pair of dorky Ray Bans while I was at the mall.  I’d say they’re a step up from the 5 dollar ones I was rocking from Target.

See?  I told you they were dorky!  When I put these on, Dave’s face lite up and I knew I had to have them.  That’s only about the second time I’ve bought something strictly based on somebody else’s reaction.  (If you’re curious, the first was due to the good kind of “Gasp!” I got when stepping out of a dressing room in front of a room full of brides-to-be.  And that folks, is how I bought the exact opposite wedding dress I went shopping for…)

Anyways, before we knew it the alarm was going off and we were braving the ice-covered roads this morning.  Somehow we forgot about the Dunkin Donuts detour we were going to make, so nasty office coffee it is!  Hope you guys had a great weekend!!

= happy Lindsey (and Bing)

Last night, Dave and I watched a movie that I remember fondly from my childhood.  I couldn’t remember all the details, but all I knew was that I wanted to watch it again as an adult.  And guess what, it’s on Netflix now!!

Although there was a lot that I didn’t remember, I still liked it.  Dave says that knowing I watched this as a kid and loved it explains a lot about me.  I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing, but whatever, it’s totally a cute movie.

So apparently Dave and Elijah have been having bonding time while I’m asleep in bed.  Eli is active at night for sure, so Dave will put his hand on my belly and feel all the kicks, nudges, and movements of Elijah.  Since I’m asleep (and obviously being still), he’s able to feel a lot more of actual movements (think feeling somebody wave to you from the inside).  Dave is pretty amazed by the whole thing and I love hearing about their ‘bonding time’ the next morning.

Last night they had some bonding time while I was actually awake.  Eli did all kinds of crazy shifting around (which might’ve been due to the large Maggie Moo’s ice cream I had…haha).  Mollie was pretty interested in the whole thing since the bonding time included lots of crazy voices and some zuberts.  Actually, now that I think about it, maybe she was just ready to reclaim her side of the couch….