October Tenth

Today is an anniversary of sorts.

Exactly one year ago: Sunday, October 10th, 2008, there was wailing and gnashing of teeth. There was profuse eating of mass quantities and varieties of chocolate. There were boxes upon boxes upon boxes of tissues being used. There were lighthearted movies about childbirth being watched.

Exactly one year ago today there were seven (onetwothreefourfivesixSEVEN) pregnancy tests lined up on my bathroom counter. And one year ago today I was scouring the internet to find if there had ever been a case of seven false positives.

There had not.

It boggles my mind how much life can change in a year.

Here I am, governer of Alaska, hoping against all hope that no-one noticed the five pounds I had already gained.

Three 1/2 months along over Christmas break. We didn't know it at the time but Evie's cousin, Sophi, was already on her way, too.

About seven days late: a very pregnant, very anxious Ashley. I wish I would have listened to the dozens of people who told me to enjoy those last few weeks as a family of two (sorry, Bear: a family of three).

And here is the best surprise I have ever gotten; just hours old.

And now, FOUR months after her birth, we are remembering the day we found out we would be having a baby. Life has never been so full.

Full Moon...Full Weekend

This weekend has been great. Despite the fact that I have been a little bit cranky lately (read: pretty much a holy terror to be around) my sweet family has gone out of their way to take my mind off of the inescapable fact that I...am...still...pregnant.

Yesterday we spent the afternoon in Mystic (which is a small town, down by the coast, that has lots of cute shops) and then ate at S&P Oyster Company. It was soooo delicious. If you are ever in Connecticut give it a try.

Here we are doing a little bit of shopping...Graham has been so wonderful and patient with me this week. I can barely stand to be around myself lately, so I would not blame him if he hopped the next flight to Tahiti...but he is here...letting me cry/complain/turn up the air conditioning as high as it will possibly go...and loving me nonetheless.

Today Graham had his first soccer match for a recreational team that he just started playing on. There are few things more attractive to me than a guy in some sort of athletic uniform...so stick my husband in one and...well...I was pretty much drooling on the sidelines for a solid 90 minutes. I really encouraged him to join the team pretty much for that very reason. Don't tell him. He might feel objectified.

After the soccer game we went to the Coventry Farmer's Market. This is seriously my favorite place in all of New England...and I look forward to it every week. I lovingly refer to it as The Most Magical Place on Earth (please do not sue me, Disney...I am but a lowly blogger) and it is...it really is.

Here is Bear getting some time with his Pop...can you tell that they really don't like each other at all? Can someone please tell this dog that he is not a person...what kind of animal with any self respect sits like that!?

On another note...there is a full moon tonight so I am still holding out hope that tonight could be the night (yes, I know that it is already 10:00pm...but I am a desperate woman, people...I will take hope wherever I can, no matter how irrational)

Come ON crazy gravitational pull...work your MAGIC!

Operation Eggplant

This morning, as I was reflecting on all of the advice that I got from my last post (thanks everyone!), something inside of me snapped. I became a woman on a mission. My mission: get this child OUT OF ME. I know that I am only one day late...and that many women (especially first time moms) go way longer than I have...but I am so type A and this is killing me. Just the fact that anything associated with me has the word "late" attached to it makes me want to pull my hair out one angry strand at a time.

So this morning I woke up and promptly kicked my husband out of bed so that I could clean the house...starting with the bed he was occupying, of course. Two floors of scrubbed tiles and hardwoods later I began to think that this Old Wives Tale is probably not an Old Wives Tale, at all...it is probably an Old Husband's Tale. Some evil man out there, in an effort to give his over-pregnant wife something to do...and because I am sure he thought it was hilarious (he is evil, remember) made this one up.

When the floor scrubbing did not work, I decided that I was going to hunt down some Eggplant Parmesan to eat for lunch. We live in a very small town, so this was no minuscule task. Then I found it...approximately 30 minutes away, in Manchester, a labor-inducing-dish was waiting for me, ready to cure me of my achy back and pelvis. So we drive (Graham goes with me because, frankly, at this point I am sure he fears for his life, or at least for his most prized appendage, should he say no).

We get to Bertucci's and sit down. In all honesty I am not really looking forward to this meal from an eating standpoint because I am not a big fan of eggplant. In fact, I have only ever had it in breaded, fried and cheese-covered form (and what wouldn't be good prepared that way?). I order the Eggplant Parma...and here is where my troubles began. "Oh" she says "That isn't breaded. Just thought I would let you know. That changes some people's minds." Not? Breaded? Gross. But I forge ahead. There is no other comparable dish on the menu, and this is still the closest to the real thing.

Then our meal comes. Apparently the waitress misunderstood. She must have thought I had ordered "Poop-plant Parmesan". Not only is it not breaded, but it is not fried, and it is not smothered in cheese. It is barely dusted with cheese.

I start making gagging noises, and Graham looks at me, disappointed. I know that I am being a baby...an embarrassing-to-be-seen-with-23-year-old-child, but I truly think that I am going to be sick if I attempt to eat this dish...I have not had any food aversions so far in this pregnancy (in fact, I have been less picky than usual)...but even the smell grossed me out.

"You said you would do anything" my nemesis taunts. I take a fork-full.

It is literally the slimiest, most horrible thing that I have ever put in my mouth. I have not felt so disgusted by food since the time, when I was 11, I threw up at the dinner table after my Dad made me eat scrambled eggs. Apparently I have food texture issues.

I get about five bites down...three of them accompanied by a large chunk of bread (to help with the texture). Every fork-full makes my body convulse. I am done. Operation Eggplant was the most gigantic of failures.

Oh, and I am taking the baby ticker off of my site because it is mocking me. "You're baby is 1 day old". Stupid ticker, I hate you.

Happy Birth Month!

Well, it is officially June. I cannot believe it (wasn't May 1st like...two days ago!?). Anyways...even though we do not have her here yet, little Evelyn will be born this month...one way or another...whether she likes it or not.

So...Happy Birth Month, Lazy Bones!!

For those of you who care/know what any of this means (I barely do) my appointment today revealed that I am 70% effaced and less than 1cm dilated (but not ZERO...a win!). As far as a time line, this means absolutely nothing...but it gave you an extra paragraph to read, didn't it?

I have been trying all of the different Old Wive's Tales...to absolutely no avail...but all of those long walks are at least providing me with a little bit of exercise (which I have had NONE of for the past couple of months). Does anyone out there have any...umm...techniques that you would recommend to expedite this little bundle of joy? While you all comment, I am going to go upstairs and scrub my floors on my hands and knees.

40 Weeks(ish)

With our due date just around the corner, I thought now would be a good time to post one of the last pictures that will be taken while I am pregnant with Evie (I hope!). I am totally sporting the tell-tell swollen-pregnancy-face now-a-days (whoa over hyphenated sentence!). I am so ready not to be overweight anymore...I have a completely new appreciation for all of the things my body was able to do before this, like...say...reach the loofah all the way around its back...or tie its own shoelaces...or run more than three steps without getting winded.

It looks like, right out of the gate, Evie has something in common with her dad: they are both dilly dalliers. Doesn't she know that her due date is in my planner...and that means it has to happen on that VERY day, lest my head explode?! If she were any child of mine she would be PUNCTUAL, darnit!

I guess I can kiss my days of being on time "goodbye". It is hard enough getting one feet-dragger out the door. Ugh! I can feel the veins in my head bulging already!

In the Beginning...

I am convinced that there is an entire chapter missing from the Bible. It is about how God created pregnancy...and someone needs to get out their archeological tools to find it asap because it would be one interesting read.

Genesis* 51:1-7 -
On the eighth day, after God rested (because, let's face it, He totally deserved to) He created pregnancy. God created the first trimester so that women who were not planning on getting pregnant right out of undergrad could stay in denial just a little bit longer.
He then created the second trimester so that those same denial-loving-ladies would suddenly wish for nothing else but to be pregnant for the rest of their lives. Little flutters of movement and ultrasounds** made them feel like they could have at least seventeen more children...and that they would start right after this one was out.
Then He created month nine. It was filled with so much discomfort and swelling that the idea of squeezing a watermelon out of a lemon no longer terrified women...but it was something that they actually wished would come sooner...So that their feet would not remind innocent civilians of mini-hippopotamuses. So that they could run (or even walk normally, for that matter) without the enormous weight of their uterus/baby-to-be/unspeakable amounts of fluids jarring around inside of them.
On the tenth day He rested again...because even thinking about pregnancy is really, really exhausting for even the most awesome of men...which is why He decided to afford this task to women. I'm just guessing....

* I realize that God did not originally intend childbirth to be painful and therefore this chapter would probably not be in Genesis...but that is where I am putting it, so deal.

** I also realize that they did not have ultrasounds in Biblical times...this is not my passive-aggressive way of asking for your history of medical technology.

Due Date Pool

Hey everyone! Here is something that I am super excited about...

I have been thinking about a way to get people commenting on here for a while.
I want to know who reads, yo!
So...in an effort to get you all talking I am having a contest.
I am taking bets on when Evie's arrival date will be. I am going with June 1st at 3:00pm...but the person who guesses the right date and time (or the closest to it) will get a beautiful print from Michele Maule (an artist on Etsy). Here is some of her work:Just leave a comment with your vote...and I will let you all know who the winner is when the time comes. I really hope it is me, though, because I have been dying to put a few of these prints in our guest room...they are so beautiful!! Happy guessing!

Mission: Nesting

I have been putting off my urges to work on Evelyn's room with the knowledge that I just had a few weeks left of class and teaching to get through before I could focus completely on getting ready for her. This has resulted in a very, very clean home (whenever I wanted to work on her room I ended up scrubbing floors instead). Well, this weekend the urges got the best of me. Phase one of nesting is complete! Her clothes are washed, her closet is organized, the walls are painted and her rug is down (thank you Lolly!).All of her newborn and 0-3 months outfits are hanging...the rest are organized in bins

I know this shouldn't come as a surprise to me...but this little girls is going to have way too many clothes!

We set up her bouncer and let Bear give it a test-drive...he was not thrilled

Here is her new rug...which will get turned the other direction once her furniture gets here (which should be THURSDAY!)

And a quick shot of her pink walls...we are so happy with how the color came out

It felt so so good to work on her nursery...I was in a wonderful mood all weekend. It probably did not hurt that it has been gorgeous here. Saturday and Sunday saw temperatures in the mid 80's...so we spent a lot of time on the yard. Sunday was my church shower. It was so humbling receiving gifts for our little girl from people whom we had not even met. We have been so so blessed here!

This was the delicious and gorgeous cupcake-cake

And little "E" sugar cookies

I will put more pictures up once we get her furniture set up and in the room...I would be willing to bet that the nursery will be baby-ready by the beginning of next week. Yay!

Monsoon

Today a Jumanji-style monsoon came to Coventry. I seriously do not know that I have ever seen it rain so hard in my entire life...it was ridiculous. It also made the long walk from the Communication building back to my car utterly treacherous.

The good part? I find it bizarrely comforting when the weather matches my mood...it is as if someone up there is saying "yeah, that really does suck" or "here, have some sunshine to go with that pep in your step". That monsoon was a complete mirror of how it feels to be inside my head right now: totally overwhelmed and not quite knowing which was is up.

The bad part? The walk back to my car today consisted of my brain telling my swollen-sausage-feet "one in front of the other fellas, one in front of the other" while my uterus screamed at my brain to "PLEASE DEAR GOD STOP!"

Hippity Hoppity...

Evie's first Easter has been quite eventful. After a day FULL of shopping she now has curtains, a diaper pail, and about 17 different types of pacifiers to choose from (I did not even know that many kinds even existed...but they do. I also did not know that babies were picky about which ones they would suck...but they are).

Her Lolly and Pop-pop left this morning bright and early after two solid weeks of work. The basement is so close to being done and we are extremely thankful for all of the hours that David and Debbie spent down there sheet-rocking, mudding, painting, trimming, and ceiling...ing.

And, to top it all off...she is 33 weeks old now!!

Here is what little Evelyn Grey looks like now-a-days:Bear looks at me, increasingly more often, with his big brown eyes and I swear that I can almost hear him say "My life is about to be verrrrrry different...and I am noooooot pleased."

I hope that everyone has a blessed Sunday and that Mr. Bunny is very good to you all!! Happy Easter. It is so amazing to celebrate the day that death was overcome.

The bunny cake pictured above was made by Debbie Scobey. She takes orders. Not really.
We ate the bow-tie for breakfast this morning and are going to share the rest of it with our friends Carl and Brittney after an Easter dinner tonight.

Prego Pictures

Last Friday Graham and I had the EXTREME honor of doing a maternity shoot with Carla Ten Eyck. It was the most fun day...and I felt like a princess....and now we have all of these amazing pictures to show Evie when she is older.


Check out Carla's blog for some more shots...and while you are there check out Graham's post (he was a guest blogger on her website last weekend). I cannot believe that we are only EIGHT weeks away from having this little girl. Did I mention that her nursery is painted?? Well, HER NURSERY IS PAINTED!!! We are almost ready. I have never been more excited about anything.

April Showers...

bring May babies? I guess we will have to wait and see. This shower actually took place in March...but I have been procrastinating and have not put up pictures from it yet. On our way back from the beach Graham and I had a stay-over in Atlanta, where our home church threw us a beautiful baby shower.Gifts galore!

Little girls can never have too many adorable outfits!!

A diaper cake made by Rachel (whose creativity never ceases to amaze me!)

My best friend Faith with all of the presents...old habits die hard because Faith (who was my Maid of Honor 3 years ago) ended up with list making duties...she is awesome

There were also some particularly meaningful gifts. This was Graham's sister's dress when she was a baby...so Evie will get to wear it just like her aunt did (they are expecting, too...so if they find out they are having a girl we will have to be sure to pass it back to them).
This is from Graham's mom and it is what Evelyn will be wearing home from the hospital. You cannot see it very well, but it is covered with birds and nests. It is one of my favorite things that she has.

Spring Break 2K9

I have decided that dolling out random compliments is about the nicest thing a person can do for a pregnant woman. Last night Graham and I ate at The Red Bar (cue salivation). On the way out a woman stopped me by the arm and said "You look great". It made my life.

Let me lay it out for you. I am 7 1/2 months pregnant, 25 pounds heavier than I was this time last year and at the beach where (as if the aforementioned things did not already make me feel large enough to physically eat Panama City) every tanorexic college student within a 9 state radius has decided to spend the week.

They lounge there on their towels, all tan and size-zero, sunbathing RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME. I hate them all. I am no longer dwelling over being able to eat Panama City...I am going to eat them.

I have also begun to waddle. Matters of size aside, though, it has been an amazing trip. I do not want to go back to Connecticut (where, coincidentally, it has been snowing all week).

Beach Bum(p)

Our Child, the Vegetable

This month little girl Scobey is the size of a squash.

Side note here: when you think of a squash, is this the picture that comes to mind? No! You think of a yellow summer squash, am I right? I do not even think that I have ever encountered a squash such as this one in real life...I don't even know that I believe it is one.

Regardless...Evie is roughly the size of this squash-impostor. More specifically, over the next 3 weeks she will grow from 15.5 inches to 17 inches in length, and from 2.5 pounds to 4 pounds. You grow, girl! (ohmigod I am my mother)

Nap Time

I have always enjoyed naps (just ask any of my college roommates). Being 7 months pregnant, however, has taken naps from being an enjoyable indulgence to an absolute necessity for my sanity and the health of those around me (read: my husband).

My institution-worthy-crazy-pregnant-lady mood swings only seem to occur when this one condition is met: I am tired. Being expectant-mom-tired is not a normal kind of exhaustion. In fact, this symptom is probably my biggest complaint of pregnancy thus-far (cankles are really edging this one out of first place at the moment, though). It is a bone-achingly, body-ceasing-to-function kind of tired that I cannot really describe. This is why "rest" becomes so important when one is making a baby. So I nap. I nap for humanity, really. I do it so that all of you can have a more peaceful existence (read, again: my husband).

Luckily, I have the most phenomenal and loyal nap buddy. He completely understands the importance of mid-day sleeping.


Also, happy March everyone. I thought that it was getting warmer here...which meant that, surely, Spring was not far away. Nope. We are currently getting pummeled with snow. Today the weatherperson is calling for 4-8 inches, with another 8-12 to fall tomorrow. It is laughable, really. Except I AM NOT LAUGHING. Neither is my nap buddy, because all of his easy-to-pee-on green grass is covered up...again. Poor guy.

The Ganging Up Begins...

A couple of days ago my "What to Expect" newsletter informed me that, at this point in pregnancy, some people are able to hear their little one's heartbeat. Now, clearly I cannot reach my ear to my belly...so Graham decided to give it a listen this morning.

He put his ear on top of my bellybutton...which seemed to be the most natural portal of communication through which to hear little Evie's heart...and then...

Daddy's little girl KICKED HIM IN THE FACE. I couldn't help but laugh. She is going to be my kind of gal. I just know it.

An Ode to My Navel

Dear Bellybutton -

Why, hello! I have not seen you so up close since, well, ever.

This sudden and progressive shallowing has me wondering a few things: Will you pop out entirely (like the timer on a thanksgiving turkey)? Also, when and if you do, will you make a noise? If so, please do not pop out during class. This would be terribly distracting to my students.

Now that I am thinking about it, please do not pop out at night, either. It might scare my dog...and I would hate for him to pee on my new body pillow.

Very Sincerely -

The Warm Body You're Attached To

Karate Kid (Wax On...Wax Off)

For the past several mornings Evie has woken me up right at 7:30 AM by knocking on my womb...with her foot. She has got to be one of the most active little boogers in the world. It makes me so happy. Every little thrust and roundhouse remind me that she is doin' just fine in her little world. I am excited for her to be doing fine in my world, though. I cannot wait to meet her!

I have been looking at baby announcements and, WHOA, is there a lot to choose from.

I want this one...

and this one...

and this one...

and this one...

And don't worry everyone (ok, ok...Graham and Mom...) posting will continue as usual. I cannot stay away. I am addicted to blogging. I am a blogoholic. There is no cure.

My Wii Fit Thinks I'm Fat

I know that pregnant women are supposed to gain weight...but someone really should tell my little-white-crap-face of a gaming system that.

Every time it calls me "overweight" or "unbalanced" I want to burst into tears. I plead with it: "I'm six and a half months pregnant!" I say...it does not understand. I don't even think it cares about my feelings at all. It hurts. It hurts almost as much as my husband constantly comparing me to Tina Fey's character on 30 rock. I get it. I like food. OK!

Ashley Scobey = Liz Lemon?



Blerg.