You seem to be getting pregnanter these days.

With the onset of the big, bad THIRD trimester that I am now enjoying...here's a little pregnancy info on yours truly.

How far along? 28 weeks (I'm rounding up)
Weight gain/loss: What? I can't hear you.
Maternity clothes? Yes. Currently looking for more long dresses to wear on the cheap.
Stretch marks? No, but there are hints of them coming.
Sleep? Actually having alot more energy and also sleep is getting more difficult.
Best moment this week? Having Nick talk to my belly all the time. Can't get enough.
Food cravings: Ice. Everyone in earshot hates me.
Gender: Boy!
Belly button in or out? Still in.
Movement? When I lay down at night, he goes nuts. I love it.
What I miss? Beer.
What I'm looking forward to: Getting the nursery done. Or started.
Weekly wisdom: Let's only worry about what we can actually change. That really limits the list doesn't it?
Milestones: My son's testes are migrating into his scrotum. All that's going on inside my uterus. Weird eh?

six years ago today...

he



asked me



to the movies to see Shrek 2.

It was our 3rd or so date. I wore a khaki miniskirt and brown tank top. I have no idea what he wore.

I picked him up and drove him back home. I started getting that wonderful/nerve-wracking feeling that I was about to get my first kiss (from him, anyway).

And what a kiss it was. Actually it was several, but who's counting? It's one of my most precious memories.

We've shared thousands of kisses since then.




But none are as memorable as that first one.

madison? isn't that a little...gay?

I've been spending alot of time thinking about names. I have decided to give Calvin my maiden name (Owens) as a middle name. I would say WE decided on it, but I'm not sure if Nick is 100% sold on the idea. I never considered the pressure of choosing a name for a child until we started trying to get pregnant. And when we found out it's a boy, the pressure increased because this will be his name FOREVER. I've had girlfriends who were relieved to get maried because they wanted to get rid of their maiden names. I was the opposite. I went through a mini-mourning session when I finally, officially, changed my name from Owens to Fossey. I'm ridiculously close to my family and the idea of separating myself from them made me have a little identity crisis. And the whole idea made me a little indignant. I was just supposed to change the perfectly good name I've had for 26 years just because I was getting married? Not fair. I know I didn't have to change my name, but the women I've known who kept their maiden name get referred to as Mrs. HusbandsLastName anyway, and they're stuck correcting people constantly.

But I digress.

In case my in-laws are reading this, I want to assure them (and anyone else) that in the last SIX years since I have started dating and married and been knocked up by Nick, that I am just as much a Fossey as I am an Owens. I'm not sure when it happened, but it has. Maybe I realized it last weekend when I spent pretty much the whole weekend with my in-laws and without my husband, who was working. Or maybe when I prompted my father-in-law to tell a Fossey family legend and then realized I wasn't even in the family then, but I felt like I was.

I have no idea where all of this is coming from, but I know it is coming from a place of gratitude. Family dynamics are fragile. When my brother married Sandy, I realized how thankful I was that he married someone we all loved and not someone who would take him away from us, so to speak. It's the same way with my mom and Jonathan and Katherine and Todd. I hope that when Calvin gets older, I can find the balance of encouraging him to consider the family before choosing a wife, and keeping my nose out of his business. I'm not too worried about it though, considering he is half Fossey and half Owens. He'll grow up the same as me and Nick - at times taking his family for granted, but eventually realizing how lucky he is to be part of our tribe.

April Favs!

Only 4 days into the month this time. Progress! Now, onto a few of my favorite things. (Try to read that last sentence without singing. You can't, can you?)


We came back from New York last week to find these gorgeous things blooming in our front yard. Thanks previous owners! The best kinds of flowers are the ones someone else plants, in my opinion. There's also a peony bush with lots of buds on it. I hope they sprout in the next few days!


Hello, Handsome. At first I gave this show the side eye. I thought it was going to be this guy in a cowboy hat working as a cop in LA or something. But it's actually a really good show, that takes place in Kentucky. It's also the closest we'll get to EVER watching a crime show. Although if Timothy Olyphant was to star on Law and Order, I may have to eat my words.


Sorry for two TV shows as favorites, but I have been watching Sports Night reruns on my computer for a month. I watch them first thing in the morning and before I go to bed. I can't stop. I know all the lines by heart. It's not a spectacular show by any means and it can be a bit preachy, but I find it comforting.


I finally caved and downloaded the Scrabble app on my phone even though it was THREE dollars, which is madness. But I'm hooked, just like every other annoying person in your life who ignores you to look at their phones. I think I've been playing too much though, because it's getting harder to make words. I think it's making me dumber. Still fun though.



Podcasts! This picture is from the Pregtastic Podcast (duh). I'm addicted to the birth stories they post. I love listening to and reading to other people's birth stories, even the scary ones. Makes me feel reassured that women literally do it every day. I also started listning to the I Love Movies podcast by Doug Benson. He is hilarious, and I'm pretty sure he's stoned MOST of the time while recording his show, which only makes it funnier. Old favorites include the Adam Corolla podcast and also This American Life, although both of those are hit and miss lately. Please send me podcast recommendations if you have any!

This is also the month where my belly has POPPED. Do I have a picture to show you?

No.

Nick and I got back from New York on Monday night and I went through my camera to look at pictures from our trip and shamefully discovered I only took 14. And 4 of those were of Nick on the airplane, trying to bug him. I am the world's worst photographer! Here's my promise to you, blog readers. I'll have Nick take a picture of my huge, pregnant gut in all its glory and post it on the blog soon. No stretch marks yet...knock on wood!