Isn't That Just Pregcious?

Ok it is way cute to know what people think of the idea of us having a kid. My brother has taken to calling me every couple days or so just to "check in." This is what my dad already does, so it's looking like the mini-Stevenson has brought out the mini-Tim in B. Jenna said he im-ed her the other day and wanted to set up a time they could go to Babies-R-Us at lunch together. "Just the aunt and uncle." (cuteoverload.com!)

So I must share with you some of the things we've already received for and about baby S. I mean how cool is it that this little bit is already so celebrated and cherished and it's not even done forming yet?! I have to say, I've been a little hesitant to purchase/receive/accept any baby stuff just because everything seems so unsure at this point, but it is totally exciting anyway. 

Observe, my current fav article of clothing, courtesy of granny mac:   

And the most amazing book from aunt heidi:    

(An excerpt):  

             

And naturally, natural items from my mom (mimi):      

Mimi is like me and doesn't want to "jinx" anything by getting into the baby-celebrating biz too early. If you're wondering what the olive oil is for, apparently its moisturizing (specifically chest- and belly-moisturizing) properties are exceptional. Just ignore the rash... jk.  ;)

Coincidentally, I'm still freaked out about the fact that I'm not sick, not showing and can't feel anything yet. I know every preggo woman with morning sickness and a belly at 5 weeks would curse me, but I can't help it - it makes me nervous. I feel like I'm not "tuned-in" yet. Don't get me wrong, I am so thankful and blessed to feel normal. I just need to know this little peep is growing and everything is progressing along as it should. And wondering when it'll actually feel like I'm gonna have a baby (aside from the massive pain and pushing part)?

Those Baby Blues

Have been realizing lately certain things that I may miss out on when the little one comes. And more obviously, things I am already missing out on.

*Please don't take this as "Ugh stupid babies ruin everything!" It's just all of a sudden become painfully clear that with baby comes change. Even scarier to know that I am incapable of grasping how drastically different my life will become when the baby actually makes its appearance.

In the meantime, please allow me to vent just a smidge..

Trivial Quibble A: The Victoria's Secret catalog. 

I often flip through the 25 I get a week, see something I like, and mark it. Sometimes it arrives on my doorstep a week later. And apparently, though it is the middle of February, it's bathing suit season. I might cry. Not because aw I'm gonna be big and bloated and miserable in the dead of summer (even though ok let's face it I will), but because just that possibility of ordering what I want is no longer there. And Alessandra Ambrosio, who just had a child like 3 months ago, is smiling at me with her trim and toned body in this season's smallest suit. I will definitely not be wearing that suit. Nor will I fit into the supercute white jeans I bought from there last summer. I know you're thinking 'oh boo hoo poor you not being able to order some teeny bikini.' But you must realize that after years of not really thinking about it, I have become painfully aware of my body image. And the fact that that body will never be the same. I am ok with this, as the reward is infinitely greater than the costs, but I guess I'm just trying to explain that this is a whole new world for me. I especially realized that when one of Jon's old coworkers was like "Oh we can't wait to see what you look like with a belly and some meat on your bones!" I know exactly what she's thinking. haHA skinny woman! Just have a baby and we'll see how skinny you are! I have a feeling she'll be pleased.

Ridiculous Rant B: The Bachelorette Party. 

Just think about the general meaning of a bachelorette party: going out, drinking, dancing and ... well, partying. Though I've never been a huge drinker anyway, at these events I've participated. And you can't tell me the sight of a gyrating preggo belly wouldn't scare the crap out of you on a dance floor up in the club. Plus, it's a little harder to play fun party games while knocked up, most bars are too smoky for a fetus, and sorry girls - I think I'm out for a pole-dancing class (I mean, er, not that we'd plan something like that for a bachelorette party... ;)

Grouchy Gripe C: The Weddings. 

My sister-in-law is getting married in May, and I'm the matron of honor (yeah! shout-out to Jenna Mac / soon-to-be-Sorrells!). This means that I will somehow have to foresee the approximate protuberance of my bump and estimate an appropriate dress size. But anyone who's ever been in a wedding party knows that even under normal circumstances, guessing that size is like playing the lottery. Who knows what will fit. In addition, my attendance is frowned upon for events occurring in the last - oh - 3 to 4 weeks of pregnancy that are more than an hour away. Since some close friends are planning a wedding in the mountains at the beginning of August, it has come to my attention that I would probably be discouraged from going. Whatevs. Don't tell my doctor, but if this munchkin pops out 4 weeks early, it's gonna be a mountain baby...  ;)   **Obviously, I normally follow all advice given to me by a medical professional (like exercising daily, right?), but these may be extenuating circumstances. Desperate times, and all that. I mean it's only a couple days. ... Ok I just really want to go ...

Am I just complaining and being negative when I should really be doing a constant happy dance? Jon may be right. Ah, I'm gonna blame it on the hormones. And besides, I think I'm allowed to feel a little frustration about the trivial things. Perhaps that makes me shallow, but it doesn't mean I don't care more about the baby. 

--


I promise to love you no matter what I have to give up or endure to have you, wee one (I'll try not to hold it or use it against you for the rest of your life .. haha just kidding). And here's a little secret in case I forget or try to complain: I wanted you more than I ever cared about that stuff, and I did it all willingly. Because I knew you'd be worth it. I know you won't ever let me forget that.  :)

Stream of Unconsciousness

Current food aversions:

• Raw or partially-cooked red meat. Ugh. Normally smells really good to me, but with my go-go-gadget-supernose, it is like tasting rotting flesh. I can't deal.
• Garlic. And ginger. Again, I think it's simply too strong.
• Maple pecan syrup. Just... ugh. Come to think of it, though, I don't particularly care for any type of flavored syrup even when I'm not pregnant. So maybe we just chalk that one up to being syrup-ist.

Current cravings:

• Chick-Fil-A waffle fries with Polynesian sauce (like a fiend).
• Randomly, olives. 1 & 1/2 jars currently in the refrigerator and I only bought them last week.
• Grapefruit: 1/day (that's two halves, peeps). At least I'm getting my vitamin C.
• And orange soda - but I think this is a reaction to my cutting back on soda and then feeling the need to binge. Hm I really should check into the likelihood of od'ing on sugar. Or salt.

Still have no ideas, feelings, dreams, thoughts, compulsions or hallucinations as to what sex mini Stevenson will be. Though everyone around me seems to be strongly convinced it's a girl. I'll let you know in a month and a half or so (which, btw, seems like forever!) whether you should go on Oprah with that 6th baby sense.  ;)  


Am HATING the fact that you cannot take certain medicines while knocked up. Who came up with this? Probably the same people who decided you couldn't drink. My trusty Excedrine Migraine was ceremoniously expelled from its semi-permanent residence in my purse when I realized it was baby-poison (you know, because it's baby-poison. But mostly cause I was PO'ed and trying to stick it to the man (reference aforementioned rage and cussing entry for details)).


Bought my first preg-related item aside from the 12 books we've purchased or received on the subject (those don't count because they're educational). It's a "bella-band." This strange but useful contraption is basically a stretchy tube that goes over the top of your pants, and can thus hide the fact that you felt the need to unbutton them because that top button is just a little too snug for comfort. Works pretty well, except when I have to pee. Which is a lot these days due to the excessive amount of water I am drinking like it's my job. Since I've been forced to become a waterholic, I am also constantly bloated (any kind of bloated = not good). These bella-bands may stick around post-pregnancy.


And speaking of jeans, I've recently come to the conclusion that none of my pants are remotely loose or suitable for pregwear. Even jury-rigged with the elastic and/or bella-band. Ok yes I knew this before, but I have now come to regard them as torture devices and am facing the fact that there is no way I'll be wearing any of them when I pop. Sweatpants and skirts, bless ye for your flexible nature. It's really too bad sweatpants are not appropriate work attire.


Took the leap the other day and posted a sorta-announcement on Facebook (i.e. changed my status to "Mckenzie is happy my baby-daddy is home"). This is a big step cause everyone knows that once it's out on Facebook, it's real. Responses were funny. And varied. And I still don't think everybody got it. But I am totally stealing the reference to our baby as "the little ninja."

It's all fun & games, 'till someone pees their pants.

The best part, by far (and so far, since it's radio silence from within at this point) has been telling people who have no idea and watching their reactions. Totally awesome. And we must be good with the surprises because as far as I know, we caught everyone off-guard.

My goal was to make someone pee their pants (just kidding I would never want that). But it did kind of feel like covert ops coming up with some stealthy way to slip it into a conversation or a "mock-fight" that would end with the big reveal. Of course, Jon was busting at the seams to tell someone, so we didn't quite make it to the end of the first trimester with the parents (or Heidi. or Nick).

Heidi literally fell to the floor; Nick actually did a happy dance; Loryn got sick and left (just kidding Loryn I know that was not due to the announcement); my dad broke down in the middle of a restaurant (I felt really bad about that one actually, but it was sweet to see how touched and excited he was); my mom just repeated "oh my gosh!" - sounding strangely reminiscent of me after Jon's proposal; Jon's mom hugged me and forgot to hug him; and my brother shook my hand. Those are just the highlights. They may not be overjoyed with me for doing so, but I'm going to post the ones we recorded below. I am so glad we have these!

How we broke it down. 

My dad: Finally shocked with a little help from the help at Tex & Shirley's. 

Apparently, "Grandpa T" had been waiting for this news for about 2 years. He'd actually gotten a card and kept it in his car for the day we might hit him with it because, in his mind, anytime we invited him over for dinner or to hang out, we were about to make "the big announcement." But when Hannahbelle arrived in November, he figured there was no way we'd want to expand the family further after just adopting our furry new baby. So we invited he and my grandmother out to breakfast and when it came time to go, Jon took the waitress aside and asked her to play along. She dropped off the check in front of my dad and said "I was told to give this to the new grandfather, since these kids are gonna need to save their money." And my dad picks up the tab totally nonchalantly and is like ok sure I got it. Of course Jon and I are staring at him like 'dad - come on - that wasn't obvious?' So the waitress, trying to be helpful, repeats her "line" again and my dad responds "Oh they don't have kids yet."  At that point, I had to step in. So I said "Seriously dad - we're trying to tell you something here." He was so stunned, I think there was a bit of an emotional overload and the tears started flowing. My poor dad. Probably not the smartest place for us to have done that. I think we could've used a little privacy. But they were tears of joy, so the mission was a success. After 2 years, however, he did have a little trouble locating that card. 

My mom: Opening "the Christmas present we forgot to give her on Christmas" 

[actually a record book from grandma to baby]

Jon's parents: We used the "forgotten present" trick on them, too.
 

Jenna: Slipped it into the conversation (twice) until she noticed. 

We wanted to tell the siblings asap after the parents, but logistics didn't quite work out. So when we ended up at Ham's for a family dinner, Jon nudged me and said "Let's tell Jenna now!" Our first casual mention went unnoticed, so we tried again when Jon pushed his broccoli in my direction and firmly stated "You need this. Eat it." Recognizing the setup, I went with "Just because I'm pregnant doesn't mean I have to eat everything green in the neighboring vicinity." But Jenna completely blew it off and was like whatever you're not pregnant. And since Jon had recently tried to deflect on numerous occasions by asserting that Jenna was just as likely to be with child as the two of us (evil brother), we had to lay it out there in more blatant terms before she actually believed it. Of course, when it registered that we were for real, she squealed just as we'd hoped.

Bronson: Totally unphased, even after the pictures. 

I had borrowed a CD from B some time ago, and I think it was Jon's idea to put the first ultrasound pics inside and give it back to him one morning at breakfast. We tried to act normal and wait out a good part of the meal because someone we knew was at a neighboring table and we weren't quite ready to take the news public, but after we ate, I slid the CD case back to Brons; sure that he would open it and inspect the contents. True to form, he cracked the cover as soon as it was in hand and we paused for a response. Before I could even say "Do you know what those pictures are?" he goes "You're pregnant?" - and honestly I think it was more of a statement than a question. He said it so calmly! Then he reached across the table to shake my hand in congratulations. Classic.

Heidi: Blindsided by a "random" discussion/argument wherein Jon tried to assert that he was the better gift giver (ever-loyal Heidi unfailingly backed me up). 

We went back and forth with the "I got you this; I got you that" until Jon cut to the chase with "Oh yeah well what did I get you this year?" which was my prompt to respond "Pregnant." It took her a second (there may or may not have been alcohol inolved), but then she screamed "WHAT???" and had to grip the countertop to keep from falling to the floor too hard (so great was the shock). No suspicions whatsoever. It was magnificent. Though in hindsight it may have been better (at least for Heidi's health) to let the toastiness wear off before dropping that little bomb.

Nick: Caught off-guard in a Guitar Hero battle. 

Unfortunately Jon's newfound skills were no match for the seasoned veteran, and Nick was in the midst of a beatdown when Jon tried to even the playing field by throwing out "Hey, dude... Mckenzie's pregnant." Sadly, this did not stop the battle, but Nick kept glancing back and forth trying to determine if that was just a distraction tactic or if we were actually trying to tell him something. I refused to confirm until after the slaughter. But we definitely should have broken out the camera for that one because Nick's happy-dance-with-tiny-videogame-guitar was priceless.

The friends: Surprise by spaghetti. 

Just before the 3-month milestone, we managed to get a large group of friends to our house under the guise of dinner and hangage (I mean we actually did have dinner and hang, but there were ulterior motives). Though nothing like that can ever go perfectly and we were missing a few key peeps, we figured it was the most we could get together at one time. Jenna and Nick came early to help set up while I nervously waited for the big moment and gagged at the hideous stench of the meat/garlic mixture on the stove. When we were finally ready to eat, we gathered together in the living room for a quick prayer. Jon led us with the usual "Thank you for bringing us together and for the food we are about to eat. Bless those less fortunate" and then added "And please watch over the tiny baby in Mckenzie's belly for the next 6 months and beyond..." I believe he continued for another 15 seconds, so I can only imagine the peeks coming our direction before he was done. And when the prayer was finished, I felt about 12 sets of eyes staring expectantly, so I affirmed the news with "Yes, I'm pregnant!" I really wish I'd had a picture of that moment and been able to see everyone's reactions at once, but the two faces I noticed were Jennifer and Loryn. The mixture of shock and excitement was awesomeriffic.