Lovely Lady Lumps: Volume Larger

That's me at 33, almost 34 weeks. Here is another one from our session at Milestone Photography:


The past few weeks have flown by, but they have brought extremely good times with friends and family showering us with gifts and love in preparation for Baby Wiss. We feel truly blessed. Last night we were taking stock and realized that because of the generosity of those who love us, we are just about ready for this baby, which is an awesome feeling. The only hitch was that she still had no place to sleep, which may have been a problem. So upon the arrival of her crib (and THREE attempts at getting this huge thing home) , Nick "The Handyman" put it together all by himself. Here he is being the best dad ever:




Finished product pics are to come. Thank you, again, to all of our friends and family. We're lucky to bring Laine into such a loving group of people.

Lady Lump: Volume Large

Here I am at 29 weeks. Hard to believe I've still got 11 to go, huh?


Luckily, as looking down at my feet becomes a figment of my imagination, Nick's latest deployment is winding down. The other day I decided I'd had it when I attempted to fill up Steve's food bowl and bent down to his crate, catching my necklace on it and breaking it. I then had to sit on the floor to clean up the pieces and get the job done. Pregnancy - 1, Me - 0. Here are some cool shots of Nick at work in Colombia taken by Sgt. 1st Class Craig Collins.


Here he is hopping into the Colombian waters, like a pro.

We did get to Skype a few times after Colombia while he was staying in a hotel, and more important than what we had to say to each other was what Mr. Stinky had to say to his daddy.

More photos to come as Steve, Boo, Stink, and I welcome Nick home. We've missed you!

I've debunked a pregnancy myth.

This week I experienced the dreaded glucose test for gestational diabetes--the one that all previously pregnant women warn is excruciating, forcing you to choke down thick orange goo on a timer then sit and deal with it for an hour. However, the drink left me thinking, "Mmmm...delicious!"


I'm sure it's my inner fat kid surfacing, but with the first sip I was taken back to a 3rd grade birthday party, sipping a sugary "jug" drink with the aluminum foil lid. Yums. Future pregnant women: don't believe the hype. The glucose test rocks.

For posterity, here's another bump shot. 25 weeks.

Lovely Lady Lump - 23 weeks edition

My lady lumps are over the hump of 20 weeks, and will be growing even bigger, faster (which is unbelievable to me). Here I am at just a few days past the 23-week mark.

The past few weeks have been a blur, but Baby Wiss has been growing steadily and moving increasingly. Nick returned from Haiti and was welcomed by kicks he could feel from the outside, which was very cool. In the midst of this excitement, the Saints won the Super Bowl, Neely came to New Orleans for her bachelorette party, and and the Big Easy survived another extremely rowdy Mardi Gras season. I feel like I just came down from an adrenaline high just in time to usher in my third trimester, which, according to literature and really nice friends who "just want to warn me," is more exhausting than the first. Great! I did find comfort in the Times-Picayune's "Rate Your Exhaustion" poll this week. I'm not alone!

Baby Wiss will have serious street cred for being at the Saints' victory parade. An estimated 800,000 fans descended upon New Orleans to be a part of the celebration. Here's Erin (visiting from VA), Nick and me on Bourbon St. right after the Super Bowl win.


Less than a week later, Neely and Co. invaded Nola to celebrate her last few months as a single lady over Mardi Gras weekend. I'm pleased to say they experienced more of the city than most do in multiple visits. They did Bourbon St., Uptown for the Bacchus parade, Frenchmen St. for some original jazz, tarot cards in Jackson Square, hurricanes at Pat O'Brien's and had adventures that can't be mentioned in between. Nicely done, ladies. We miss you already!


Needless to say, I'm catching up on rest and we have an awesome weekend of couch sitting ahead of us. The only interruption will be my first pre-natal yoga class, which will be a welcome change and will, as my doctor promises, provide some relief for this sciatic nerve issue that has entered my life in the past month. Has anyone else had experience with this? Any and all stretches or magic tonics for relief are welcome.

Namaste.

"Ohhhh...we're halfway there!!!"

I'm always looking for an excuse to quote the great Jon Bon Jovi. So I'm safely at 21 weeks and going strong. Here's what we know so far: Baby Wiss is a little girl who really loves strawberries and gets the wiggles when I play music on my belly. Whether this is because I'm blasting her out a little too much is TBA. Speaking of the belly, it seems to have doubled in size overnight, which I don't mind entirely because it's now very obvious I'm pregnant. I've actually found some self-esteem relief in growing forward now instead of sideways.

The other day was the first time a stranger (a male employee at Lowe's, interestingly enough) walked up and asked me when I am due. I told him I wasn't pregnant, which felt SO good because I was having a terrible day up to that point.

As for the rest of my life, Nick is still in Haiti helping with earthquake relief, but we're holding out hope he'll be home in time for all Super Bowl-related festivities about to go down in New Orleans. WHO DAT! This week Nick did make the Navy News and was on the homepage of navy.mil, which is a big deal in our book. Here's Nick "in action," surveying water depth to make way for an incoming ship:



I'm the proudest wife ever! Stay tuned for new belly pics Friday.

My Lovely Lady Lumps

This is volume one of my 'bump' photos, since there's been nothing really to see until the past few weeks. Here are a couple:

WEEK 14

I was still just looking a little fat here.

WEEK 19

Here you can see that I've started to really 'pop.'

Baby Wiss is growing steadily and she seems to really, really enjoy fruit. This was made evident to my crazy-woman drive to Whole Foods last night at 8:45, where I bought two huge bags of oranges and two containers of pre-cut fruit. Saturday nights don't get any crazier than this, but I digress. About ten days ago I started feeling her roll around on a regular basis, which makes eating even more fun! Last night as I settled into my fruit coma, she danced around from her sugar rush. I gave her the soundtrack by switching on Stevie Wonder. This girl already knows a good beat.

Guess who it is...

Baby Wiss is a GIRL! Here are a few photos of what she's been up to in utero.

Here she is raising the roof to get a little more room:


Mission accomplished a few minutes later, she's laid back, chilling with her feet up. Atta girl.


I hope you're as excited as we are about bringing what will inevitably be another brilliant, high-maintenance lady into the world. I'll post a belly pic very soon. I've just started to "pop" as, apparently, those in the pregnant world say. However, more pressing is the huge New Year's Eve dinner at Ruth's Chris that awaits, so additional photos will come later. Happy New Year, everyone. 2010 is going to be a good one!