Half of February, all of March and one day in April

It has been brought to my attention that I am TERRIBLE at remembering to update this and for that I do apologize! :) Now, that being said, I will try to bring you up to speed in our life together out here.

First I shall start with da babby. We got a package from Thomas' parents on Thursday and I ran back up to the house with it and was all excited! Thomas just sighed and said, "I swear, if that is ALL for the baby..." LOL (And, of course, it wasn't ALL for the baby.)
I have met all 3 doctors that work at the OB office where I attend religiously (almost more so than church, it seems) and am very pleased with all of them. So I know when I go into labor I won't be unpleasantly surprised with a doctor I don't like...
She's still moving all the time (except when someone's trying to feel her move...then it's like 'if I don't move, they won't know I'm here'). Most of the time I don't even pay attention unless she's trying to thump her way out. She does this thing once in a while, it feels like she's rhythmically banging her head against my pelvis as if to say, "This is getting BORING." I'm not sure if she's old enough to get the hiccups yet but sometimes I think she has them- it's a very weird feeling. And no stretch marks! (yet, knock on wood) Last time I checked I was about 147 lbs. Seventeen pounds gained total. Such an accomplishment- my body loooves fat and hates to let it go. Eight pounds to go and about 7 weeks left. Not bad. Although I haven't weighed myself since yesterday- probably put on at least 5 pounds...gluttons, all of us.

33 weeks

When people ask me what things are hard to do with a belly, I tell them my pilates story. If you've heard it already, forgive me. I still walk a lot (and I was even jogging once or twice a week until they yelled at me...) so I find it beneficial to stretch and as long as I'm down there, I usually do some kind of yoga or pilates. I try to remember all the things I want to do that involve the floor so I only have to get down there when I have to...Anyway. So one day I got adventurous and decided to see if I could still do rolling-like-a-ball. You hold your ankles and rock back and forth- feels wonderful on your spine and is great for your abs. Well, I rolled back. On the way up, I reached about a 45 degree angle before gravity and lack of abs pulled me back down to the floor. I'm pretty sure I looked like a lady bug- on my back with my legs and arms waving around in the air. So apparently it is no longer an option to go from on my back to a sitting position!
We finally signed up for the childbirth class at the hospital! I thought for sure we would never find a weekend that Thomas wasn't working that corresponded with a day they offered it. So, next Sunday should be a long, 8-hour, eye-opening experience. His only complaint was that it was 8 hours. Other than that, he hasn't voiced any of his other oppositions to going- big point for Thomas! :) Bless his heart...
I have a nurse that comes out to the house about once a week. Basically, it boils down to being educational but it's very convenient. I don't have to go anywhere- she comes to me! In case we couldn't find a day that Thomas could come with me to the class, we scheduled the labor and delivery day when he could be here. She'll bring all of her fun charts and scary pictures and we'll have ourselves a mini session! She's not quite a doula, but it's along those lines. It's a lot of 'this is what's going on', and 'call your doctor immediately if this happens' and 'it's time to make a birth plan'. And she'll keep coming for a while after the baby's born. Very helpful for a first-timer who has no idear what's going on.

I ran away to Greenville for a weekend! And, of course, I didn't take any pictures. Do I ever take pictures?! I think I'm tagged in one on facebook from my cousin's fiance's shower...that should count. :) It was very busy, but an awesome weekend. We ran around a lot, Marcia grilled out (with super yummy potato chip-pey thingies), went to a few bridal showers, did a little shopping and I definitely came back with a bag much fuller than it was when I arrived. I stole back some of my clothes I had left with Audrey and then went a little farther and just stole some of HER clothes (well, she never wore them!). I felt like I had a weekend at a resort- I had girl time (badly needed I'm afraid), a haircut (also badly needed- Marcia asked me if I was gonna take a shower when she picked me up from the airport, was it that bad?), we used a tree trimmer to create the illusion of two separate eyebrows once again and there was ice cream all around!
I did feel bad leaving Thomas to take care of Jimmy. Hard to do when you're not home for 14 hours...But he coerced one of his friends to pop by and let him out at lunchtime. Jimmy is such a love bug so I wondered how he would do with no human interaction for that long during the day. He only acted out a few times, but one night Thomas texted me and said he left the door open and left to go somewhere. I didn't think he was serious but you never know! So I called him just to make sure we hadn't lost the doggie and to remind him that he probably didn't want the tv stolen and he assured me that he was indeed kidding and he would never just kick the dog out.Well, thank goodness...

brushing his toofers!

Jimmy is very good about brushing his teeth. You know, all around he's a very clean dog. He loves baths, too. That only gets annoying when you realize he's staring at you from the edge of the curtain asking to join you...

he's bobbing for ice

He has many tricks it seems. My favorite is watching him bob for ice. He'll grab one and take it somewhere to eat it then come back and dunk his nose for another piece! He usually remembers not to breathe in with his nose underwater... Just recently we discovered that if we put a treat inside his kong it takes him a while to get it out. When he does it's usually just good luck- he'll pick it up and shake it and the treat will fall out. But the first 15 minutes of him trying to lick it out while growling in frustration are humorous.
Another trick is finding pills and eating them. We left his fish oil pills on the counter and he decided he wanted to eat a ton of them. (He still has dandruff issues so instead of getting a clue and getting the blue, he gets pills to make his coat shiny.) Bless his poor heart, I think his tummy hurt him all night last night. He's tried to eat the Tums before, but he must have lost interest because he never quite got the top chewed off...or maybe he didn't want help with his heartburn, who knows? He still does the bee-eating thing. The other day he broke his own record. 7 bees in 5 minutes. I don't know where they kept coming from, but he was delighted to have them!

he forgot to make a wish!!

21st birthday!

Yesterday was Thomas' birthday! We fared much too sumptuously, I'm afraid. I think we ate out every meal. He only got sung to at IHOP, but that was his fault. He was the one that told them it was his birthday- I never said a word.  We ate out on the patio at Buffalo Wild Wings for lunch. By his own admission, Thomas does not like picnics and it was very obvious. There was one little fly and one little bee at first. But then they smelled the wings and went and told ALL of their friends. So the last half of his lunch was spent threatening the insects with rolled silverware. Jimmy would have been useful right about then!
We didn't even think we would have room for cake when we got back from dinner. We just thought we would blow out the candles, take a picture and open presents, but it turns out we could be even more gluttonous cuz we made room for some! It must have been a good day because we were too tired to even go to the pool. (It was in the 90's yesterday!) And he has to work this weekend, so staying up late only to get up around 4 didn't appeal to him all that much. Poor feller.

I think those were the most exciting highlights- I won't wait another 2 months to update!

The Klopfensteins :)