notes on pregnancy: 28 weeks!

{28 week bump}

ok, so technically i'm like 3 days short of 28 weeks, but i've pretty much gotten in the habit that as soon as i've hit another number, i consider myself at the next:)

this week i think i had a pop 2.0.  the belly growth has certainly not been steady, rather it's more like things stay the same for a couple weeks, and then overnight i've doubled!  nothing is more surprising than not recognizing your body from one day to the next.  then figuring out how to dress that body... well forgetaboutit!  i've been resisting buying clothes, but m came home with the top above today as a very sweet surprise... and suggestion that i wear things that fit occasionally!  i kind of forget that my body is much bigger than normal until i pass a window.  is that me?

i'm still enjoying this pregnancy thing, but i'm definitely more uncomfortable than i was a week ago!  i'm constantly overheated, sweating in all settings.  and if i'm exercising, what a mess i am!  that and i'm having a hard time not getting exhausted by any incline i face.  seriously, any uphill has me beat.  i can run and do, but the temptation to walk is winning me over more and more these days;)  poor teddy girl has had to modify her pace!

i've entered the third trimester.  i remember the early weeks when i couldn't even fathom being so far along and here i am!  i'm realizing i have a lot to do in the coming months.  the nursery is, uh, not where i want it!  and i haven't really bought much for the baby at this point, which is sorta wigging me out... i'll feel so much more prepared when i have my ducks in a row... or my bottles and onesies and such:)

for now i will feel thankful that i can still see my toes and assume things will all come together in time!

thank*full

for the past couple weeks, i've worried considerably about my family's health.

surprisingly, i suppose, my pregnancy has been so great that it hasn't factor a whole lot (knock on wood!) into this worrying.

when you find out scary news, or you jump to the worst conclusions, it feels like the world is totally different, like it's completely scary and uncontrollable, not to mention unfair.  it becomes hard to imagine how you ever thought about other things, like facebook, clothes and what to eat, before your world changed.  you worry that your perspective is forever changed.

but then, you find out incredibly relieving news and after the storm, you feel liberated and the world is suddenly better than it's ever been.  color, taste, weather.  you feel completely fortunate to have the opportunity to waste time, without fear or worry, and euphoric that you have what you have.  suddenly, you feel thankful for the world you're in and the things and people that comprise it; you wonder how you ever lost sight of how much good and fortune there is out there, how much of it has been given to you.

today i'm incredibly thankful.  i'm content in the right now and very excited for what's to come.  who really knows how truly amazing "normal" is until it's tested?

this poem was read at our wedding.

just one mary oliver treasure:

the sun 

have you ever seen
anything
in your life
more wonderful

than the way the sun,
every evening,
relaxed and easy,
floats toward the horizon

and into the clouds or the hills,
or the rumpled sea,
and is gone--
and how it slides again

out of the blackness,
every morning,
on the other side of the world,
like a red flower

streaming upward on its heavenly oils,
say, on a morning in early summer,
at its perfect imperial distance--
and have you ever felt for anything
such wild love--
do you think there is anywhere, in any language,
a word billowing enough
for the pleasure

that fills you,
as the sun
reaches out,
as it warms you

as you stand there,
empty-handed--
or have you too
turned from this world--

or have you too
gone crazy
for power,
for things?

thoughts on pregnancy: *almost* 26 weeks

{almost 26 weeks photo}

hi!  i'm closing in on 26 weeks and dare i say, looking it?

i'm feeling really great, i only have two more weeks of the second trimester, but am feeling pretty mobile and relatively normal.  well, if normal now includes feeling kicks from inside my body and this might be an overshare, but having a belly button that is halfway stuck out.  kinda thought that wouldn't happen to me, but what do you know!?

i've been enjoying all that pregnancy has to offer... eating for two (this picture was taken right after good earth...yum), running (ahem, shuffling) around the lake, getting a little sympathy here and there for my many curious ailments (nausea, overheating, heartburn, leg cramps, constantly spilling things on my shirt because my belly is in the way of the floor...).  i continue to find pregnancy a little liberating (your stomach is actually supposed to be big!) and meaningful.  cheesy!

new bathroom ideas

it's time to take a stroll with me, to step into some other people's bathrooms and gawk.

we're finishing our basement and with that is coming a new bathroom.

aren't these ones pretty?

white and airy.  i also love the tiles in the last example.

here's hoping the one we design turns out... like any of these!
(or that it turns out. period.)