Belly

This was taken June 17, when I was about 25 weeks along. This will give you a good idea of what I look like if you haven't seen me in a while. I don't think I've gotten substantially bigger since then. What's weird, actually, is how no strangers have commented on my pregnant belly (maybe I'm still in the "is she pregnant or just fat?" stage, although I sure look pregnant to myself), and certainly no one has made the dreaded "Wow, you must be about to pop any day now!" remark.

The Latin lover

Who ever thought the Roman Catholic Church would catch so much flak for allowing something?

I'm still here

Of course the next question is, where is "here"?

We moved ourselves, the cats, and way too much stuff that didn't quite make it to New Haven up to Ithaca on May 18, in a caravan consisting of a Jeep packed with book boxes, two cranky cats, and me, and a brand-new Corolla (my mom car! twice the gas mileage of the Jeep! yay!) packed with Justin and more stuff. We're subletting an apartment in downtown Ithaca, the only part of town that isn't hilly. Our intent was, in part, to get me out of the sweltering South during the increasingly gravid part of my pregnancy. Of course now it's like 95 degrees here...

In early June I went to Seattle to see my grandmother, whose health declined rather precipitously but then improved right before I went. She'd been on anti-seizure meds and not really eating, but by the time I'd gotten there she was off the meds and eating ice cream if nothing else. My dad, aunt, uncle, and sister are on rotation to visit during meals and cheer her on while her caregiver feeds here pureed Brussels sprouts and other things I wouldn't eat either. Anyway, I was glad to see her again at least one more time, and I spent my 32nd birthday with my family. Justin planned to come but then got violently ill in the twelve hours before we were supposed to board our flight. Which was delayed. Like, overnight, assuming we wanted to spend the night in Syracuse rather than NYC. And there was a mishap on the way back involving toilets that stopped working (just what a pregnant woman wants!) and a diversion to scenic Buffalo, but I got back okay.

For the first week of July, in what seems to be now an annual observance of our anniversary (#3 this year; thanks for the card, Deanna!) and Independence Day, we went to Justin's grandparents' lake house. Justin's family threw a baby shower for us, which was fun, and we got about a zillion clothes since everyone is so excited to be able to buy for a girl for once. I've been to women's showers and co-ed showers; this is the first intergenerational shower I've ever attended, which was a little chaotic, but one gets used to that and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Now we're back in town. We can only access the Internet from Justin's parents' house, which is why I haven't been blogging regularly.

The baby has been moving like crazy considering how unathletic her parents are, and everything with the pregnancy is proceeding well. I am starting to feel the discomforts of getting larger, but so far they're tolerable, and definitely worth it.