Walking it out.

The minute Chris returned from his business trip to Canada we started a walking crusade to induce labor. No luck so far. We have taken to walking through the village, to the the library, along the beach, and have begun a nightly ritual of doing  laps at the mall.

I almost laughed at my mom six months ago when she told me that walking would be plenty of exercise at nince months pregnant. Apparently I thought I was some sort of superwoman. But, it turns out that when you are suspending a massive amount of weight in front of you like a bowling ball, walking at a "brisk" pace (I use that term very loosely) does in fact have the power to entirely wind you. The fact that contractions show up while you are walking and force you to waddle is really just adding insult to injury at this point.

Most of all, I just want to be able to fit in to more than three outfits comfortably and be able to wear shoes again without Chris having to shove my entire swollen ankle into them. Everytime I look down at my feet, I think of Shrek. This must be what his feet look like...ogre-ish.

Sorry for the boredom.

There really hasn't been much of value to report. I am still fat, still swollen, and have added a nasty cold to my daily routine. This is finally clearing up which is wonderful because I was really not excited about the idea of giving birth while my head was pounding from sinus pressure and I was unable to breathe through my nose.

Now it is just a waiting game. I have gone into full-fledged nesting mode and am daily scrubbing down the surfaces of our home to prepare for this bundle of joy. I will let you know if anything interesting happens...

Full Term

37 weeks. Since I am full term, is it safe to say that I won't get any bigger? Please, oh, please.

Don't let my smile fool you. I am both eager to get this 10 pound weight off of my bladder and terrified by the fact that it is really just a matter of time now. Chris will be out of town next week, so please pray that she holds tight in there until at least the 12th.

Would you like a tour...

Of our unfurnished home on the night we arrived? We took these pictures for our parents, but I thought I would share because I think some of you may have heard me talk about this apartment and thought I was exaggerating about the minute size of our kitchen. I was not. Although small, we are really loving this little place. We'll have to see if it feels any more crowded once the little one joins us.

 This is the baby's room.

 This is our room, complete with classy blow up mattress. Don't hate on the body pillow...

This is the kitchen...all of it. It has surprisingly well-placed cupboard space, however.

Here is the living room. We had to sell our couch because it would not fit. That was an emotional breakdown for sure. And, I just wanted to point out how much joy Chris is clearly deriving from posing in these pictures. That's why I love him, folks.

Maybe, if I get brave, I will post "after" pictures when everything is 100% settled and decorated. Although, I don't know if I will ever feel like it is.

Thursdays in the city.

Our first two Thursdays here were spent visiting the Big Apple. We are such socialites, I know. Despite these two visits, I really haven't had time to see all that much because we have been pretty rushed both times. I am excited for visitors (cough, cough) so we can really dedicate the time necessary to enjoy exploring this place.

Our first visit was to meet up with my old boss, who was in the city for work, for lunch. It was so nice to see a face from home right after the move and even nicer that lunch came with a job offer. I am doing some freelance work on the side for him for just a few hours a day from home. Perfect.

On our second Thursday, Chris went to his first Broadway play! (Technically, it was mine too, since everything else I have seen was in London.) And what was this first Broadway show of all the many classics out there? Why, Spiderman, of course. And to tell you the truth, it wasn't half bad. I was impressed by how much I enjoyed it. Plus, no one was critically injured and they only had to pause once for technical difficulties, which is impressive given the track record for this show in the few weeks it has been in previews.

We also had a wonderful dinner at the Stage Deli and spent some time paying homage to our love for chocolate at M&M World and the Hershey Factory.

P.S. Chris tells me that you are supposed to tip strangers in the city if they take a picture of you. I think that is un-American and refuse to do it, so you may never see a picture of us together while in the city. Tevs.

Woe is me.

Look at those bandages. I have had my blood drawn four times in the last five days. I have given 20 vials (I counted) of my blood this week alone. This might seem like no big deal, unless you remember my first trip to the OB where I cried while she was drawing my blood. I am a pansy. Seriously.

Apparently in NY, all doctors think you are minutes away from suing them for any little thing so they need to check and re-check and then re-check anything that looks like it could be something I might be able to blame them for not checking. So, they made me re-do all of my blood work done in Utah, then do it again because the lab messed up on one test, and then do it again, and hey, let's make it an even four times for good measure.

And, I have have had three ultrasounds since I have been here because my baby is a chunk. Don't worry, there is nothing wrong with her, they just like to tell me again and again that she is healthy and fat. Maybe they think I would have sued them if I pushed out a nine pounder without being warned first.

I can definitely see where she gets it from, however, as I have taken to wearing Chris' old wedding ring since it is all that will fit on my fat, little finger.

December Celebrations

This post is old, so brace yourself if you have put 2010 behind you.

We have many reasons to celebrate in the month of December in the Herman household. It is, afterall, the best month of the year. So, I wanted to docuent some of our celebrations.

First, we celebrated twenty-four years in which I have managed to remain alive and relatively respectable. To celebrate this occasion, we had the obligatory assistant's lunch on the company dime. This is a time for us to get together, go to the most expensive place we can find, and order way more food than we could ever realisitcally eat in one sitting. We always box up some dessert to go home, and I am pretty sure that each and every one of those desserts went to pot in the copy room refrigerator. Oh well, it was a great get-together and one of my last chances to hang out with some of my favorite ladies.

Next, I met Chelsea and Jamie for dinner at CPK. What great friends to hang out with me since Chris is always travelling. Much to my surpirse, however, who should walk in during our meal but Chris himself. He flew home a day early to surprise me on my birthday. What a champ!

Our next celebration comes in the form of Christmas. I won't bore you with every detail, but will just say that we had a wonderful time in Washington (or "God's Country" as Chris calls it). I highly enjoyed the 50 degree weather and being close to the water. We spent a whole week with Chris' family and the highlight was the few nights we spent in a lodge in the mountains snowmobiling, sledding, eating, and playing poker. What a great vacation!

Family Picture = more moaning and groaning than I ever thought possible from all of the males in the family.

 Above: Leavenworth, WA--so charming. Below: Proof that I went snowmobiling. The first ride, I was pretty sure I was minutes away from giving birth.

I just had to include this. Isn't my niece an absolute doll?





Lastly, we celebrated our third wedding anniversary. We are old pros at this marriage thing now. :) Luckily, we were up in the mountains already, making a romantic getaway that much easier. We enjoyed our final anniversary for a while that will be just the two of us, and reflected on our wedding day when we were younger, thinner, and probably much more interesting.

All of my wedding CDS's are packed up, but I did find these engagement shots. We look so young, and so much more attractive. Ha.



Here's to December--the best month of the year.

"That's not a baby--that's a moose!"

Those were the first words my mother heard from her doctor after an emergency C-Section to deliver my  10 lb. sister Jasmin into this world. Comforting, no?

It looks as if this little one inside of me wants to be more like her aunt than her 7 lb-at-birth mother. As of two days ago she was weighing in at 6 lbs, when she should have been closer to like four, maybe five if she was just having "one of those days."

The prospect of pushing out an 8+ lb creature is not appealing, so your prayers that she will not get that big are greatly appreciated, although I am not really seeing any way around it at this point.

So Glamorous

Here is a beautiful picture of me in all my glory at 33 weeks. My sister-in-law took this and I think it is as close to a maternity photo shoot as I will get. I have thought all along that my stomach is very square and I think this picture illustrates the point quite effectively.

I am alive.

I know, you were all really worried. After two crazy weeks of training my replacement at work, packing up our moving truck, going to Washington for Christmas, driving across the country, and trying to now unpack, I somehow lost my will to blog. I suspect there will be some backlogging going on in the next few weeks (mostly for my own benefit).

In case you were curious, below is a picture representation of our drive out East. I would like to take this moment to thank the many Hampton Inns and Arby's establishments we frequented along the way. Without them, I can honestly say I would not have made it. Who knew horseradish sauce could bring a 7 1/2 month pregnant woman so much joy?

Through it all, I managed to only get us lost once. Impressive considering we stayed on the exact same freeway all the way until we reached New York.  I got lost in Illinois, in the middle of the day. Driving never was one of my strong suits.