Baby Boy

Our baby Calvin Paul made it to us on Friday, August 24th, 2012.  He was 8 lbs 10 oz and 21.5 inches long.  It was 8:43 in the morning. 

 

He is the sweetest thing and Paul and I love him immensely! We are so grateful to have him in our lives and feel so lucky that he made it to us safe and sound.  All I want to do now is kiss his cheeks over and over again.

Almost There!

39.5 weeks along and I feel like a lucky lady.  I haven't had any back pain and I'm moving around relatively comfortably considering my size.  The worst symptoms in my 3rd trimester hardly compare to the misery that was morning sickness.  Maybe this is my body trying to trick me into thinking my pregnancy was easy . . . 

My biggest complaint right now is the all-over itching, which has been going on about 2 weeks.  The second worst thing is the swelling of hands, ankles, feet, and face (which is why you only get to see my belly in this picture), but honestly those things are very manageable.  I would add heartburn in there as well except that I discovered the miracle of Zantac and have been heartburn free for about 6 weeks.  yay! 

So, I'm feeling pretty good and feeling ready for baby to come!  2 days until my due date!

21, 25, 28, 31, 35, 36 weeks

 

And I think I'm still getting bigger!
Click on the picture to see it bigger!

On the 4th of July

We celebrated our nation's independence by taking a hike at Harbison State Forest in North Columbia.  I made Paul walk ahead of me so I didn't have to walk through the spider webs.  It makes sense though . . . I mean the webs hit me in the face but they hit him in the shoulders.  That seems like it would be much easier to handle.  No one wants a spider in their face.  After the hike we did a little baby shopping then came home for some hamburgers on the grill.  Later we went to the park to watch a spectacular fireworks show with practically the whole city.  Once again it was incredibly hot and muggy.  Story of my life.

Paul left today for yet another TDY.  I swear we've only been home for 3 of the 7 months that have gone by this year.  I'm sad I can't go with him this time (ya know because I'm pregnant and all that jazz) but Annie's coming to keep me company and that basically equals party time.

Lake Wateree

Hi, I'm Abby.  I'm 34 weeks pregnant and I went kayaking on a lake with my husband in 100 degree weather.  This was our kayak.  It weighed about a million pounds.

This is me showing off my life vest that was too loose on the top and too tight on the bottom.  Also, sidenote, I bought a lot of pink maternity clothes . . . you might suppose I'm having a girl, but no.

Here's Paul the man waiting to return our life vests.  He was the champion paddler/steerer because he has all the muscles and stuff.  Also, he's an Eagle Scout.

We kayaked out to that little island in the middle of the lake, had a picnic, and swam in the water.  And we got majorly burned by our friend the sun.  Did I mention it was 100 degrees?

But it was a fantastic day.  And I'm glad my husband is so nice.  And also strong enough to help me and my baby out of a kayak.

And just for fun, here's a picture of the cockroach that I found in my shower the other day.  I killed it, don't worry.

San Angelo in Numbers

During our 7 weeks in San Angelo we . . .

upped our bird count to 41 birds
used up 1.9 punch cards at our favorite frozen yogurt place
ate at our favorite tex mex restaurant Armenta's 4 times
consumed 12 blizzards
went to 2 San Angelo Colts baseball games (and got 1 free ticket!)
stayed in 5 hotels
bought 10 skeins of yarn and learned to crochet
sat through 1 hail storm
went to the pool 3 times
watched 3 seasons of The Big Bang Theory
celebrated 27 years of Paul's life
read 7 books
watched over 5 inches of rain fall (that's a ton compared to last year!)
saw 1 lunar eclipse
spent 10 dollars on a trip to the Abilene zoo
checked out 9 DVDs from the library and never watched them

Also . . .
our car thermometer registered a temperature of 122 degrees
I went from my 23rd to my 30th week of pregnancy

It wasn't a bad 7 weeks but we are definitely glad to be home!  When we got home our lawn was overgrown, but all of our stuff was here and there was only 1 cockroach in our house . . .

well, only 1 living cockroach . . . yuck!

Morvies

The Avengers.  Paul and I both liked this one!  The plot was a little simplistic and it almost seemed like the heroes fought with each other more than they fought against the enemy, but lots of stuff blew up so . . . I think we can overlook the lack-of-substance part.  Also, I was surprised with how funny it was.  Mostly Iron Man.

The Muppets.  Since Paul and I really like The Big Bang Theory I think the best part of this movie was Jim Parsons' cameo where he sang "Am I a Man or am I a Muppet".  That song and a few others were kind of catchy, and of course I think Amy Adams is adorable, but mostly the movie was a dud.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.  Meh.  This was mostly weird.  Not bad necessarily, but it wasn't my favorite.

We Bought a Zoo.  Matt Damon.  I thought it was sad and cute.

Larry Crowne.  Yeah, it was okay.  Kind of weird, but with a nice message.  I was crocheting while it was on so I don't know if I can really give an accurate assessment.

And Star Wars (all the episodes) was on TV recently and Paul and I watched a few.  I know I've seen Episode I, II, and IV, but I can't be sure about any of the other ones.  At least, I wouldn't remember them if I saw them.  Paul was making fun of me because I kept asking who was who during Episode I.  He also pointed out that I really don't understand a lot of pop culture references to Star Wars since I barely know the characters.  Oh well, there are worse things.

Next week Paul is going to California with his class for 4 days so I'll be all alone.  I was thinking about borrowing Gilmore Girls from the library, but I can't decide which season, 1 or 2?  Any good chick flicks I should watch?

SA State Park Birds

So Paul and I might have a new favorite hobby.  Ever since we bought a bird book in the Smoky Mountains we've been trying to spot and identify birds.  During the day we'll sit out and watch for them.  Just outside our hotel and around the base we've seen a blue jay (we named him Jay; clever, no?), white-winged doves, mockingbirds, western kingbirds, house sparrows, and grackles.  A few weeks ago the Kindle daily deal was The Audobon Bird Guide app for freeee so that helps us identify them.  We also got a Birds of Texas book from the library last week and that helps too.  AND Paul bought binoculars with some of his birthday money so now we're basically pros.  Turns out bird watching can be really fun.

On Saturday we went to San Angelo State Park to birdwatch.  It was about 100 degrees out.  We brought all of our gear, but forgot the camera.  Here are some of the cooler-looking birds we saw.

Pyrrhuloxia

 

Greater Roadrunner

Bullock's Oriole

Summer Tanager

Scissor-Tailed Flycatcher

Curve-billed Thrasher

We also saw Turkey Vultures, a Red-winged Blackbird, Brown-headed Cowbirds, and a few others that we failed to identify.  AND we saw a jack rabbit, a huge wild pig, bison, a Texas long-horn herd, and prairie dogs, which were all awesome too.

Our life list now has 27 birds on it, only counting the ones we've seen since our hobby began.   Next weekend we plan on birding at the lake and we'll probably go every other weekend too.  It's nice to spend some time outside but since you don't have to do much to watch birds we're able to stay cool in this desert weather.