A Squishy Squash

So February has become a whirlwind that I'm incapable of slowing down! Mostly work or school-related things, but some baby stuff as well!

This weekend we will be heading back to Massachusetts/Rhode Island for a delightful baby shower my mom/sister/church ladies are throwing me up north. It will be SO GOOD to see so many people we haven't had a chance to catch up with in awhile, not to mention spend time with family, and of course, open presents! Very much looking forward to that. I believe Tim is looking forward to a baby-free afternoon with my brother as well :)

This weekend we had a maternity photo shoot. But first, a funny conversation recently with my dad:
D: A what?
H: A maternity photo shoot. Like, photos of me and my belly and me and Tim.
D: Aaaand....are you paying for this??!
H: Yes! But, in my normal style, I found a ridiculous deal with a photographer whose work I absolutely adored and she's bulking up her maternity portfolio, so she gave me two sessions for the price of one session fee, and her session fee is pretty affordable, especially in comparison with some of the big names around here. And her quality of photography is top-notch, so I'm not losing any quality in the price! (takes a breath.)
D: Oh. okay. so....will you eventually get pictures of, you know, your baby?
H: YES. yes. We have a six-month photo session to schedule with her as well.
D: Oh. okay.

Anyway, our photographer, Julie Davis (http://juliedavisphotography.com/) has beautiful techniques with lighting, and she was very open to me suggesting several poses and ideas for the photo shoot. I particularly love fun, textured backgrounds (brick, stone, rustic wood, and snow!) and we did about half of the session outdoors to accommodate that. We also had just a lot of fun with her - she was flexible, but still directed us to move or sit a certain way. We felt like she knew what she was doing but was allowing our personalities to shine through. My favorite part? The kissing photos :) For our engagement photos, our photographer kept saying from yards and yards away, "okay, kiss NOW" and I kept not really hearing him and it was awkward, etc. Julie had a handy little count down option, of 3, 2, 1, and Tim kept making hilarious faces at me so I only kissed him about half the time, and the other half I busted out laughing. Anyway, I've asked if there's ways I can link to or post some samples of our photo shoot online to share, and she was all for that. I should be receiving a preview soon, and options for prints in 2 to 3 weeks.

While we were taking photos, I realized that the vertical line on my belly has started to materialize. Only - this is a bit weird - it's not straight! From my ribcage to my belly button, it curves in an arc to the left, and then straight down from there. Very. weird.

We also finished painting the nursery this weekend...and then realized that although we are old pros at painting, we are NOT pros at joint compounding. So. We decided to layer on another couple of coats of joint compound (making five total) to smooth everything out, which we are in the process of completing now, and then re-painting the one new wall next week. You know, along with scraping down old trim, priming and painting the new ceiling, painting all the trim and chair rail, installing the ceiling light, finishing building a couple of items of furniture, installing a dimmer switch, etc. There are two pieces of good news about this: 1) the hardwood floor has already been refinished, which we did a couple of years ago, and it still looks beautiful, so technically the hardest part of the room was already complete before we started. 2) I LOVE love love love the color of paint. Love. it. It's a pastel orange, bright enough to be a very fun color, pale enough to not be terribly shocking, and with no traces of pink in it (which is what happened when we first moved in and tried for a very similar color, which came out bubble gum pink b/c it was so pastel that the reds came out more than the yellows). I promise I'll post photos, but I think I might wait until the paint is all slapped on, the chair rail is up and the striping is done on the lower half of the wall (something I'm also terribly excited about).

So pregnancy symptoms: still going very well. I've had a couple of extreme instances of heartburn recently, which I literally had to call my mom and ask about because I wasn't sure what exactly was going on. I've got some tums now and I'll be asking my doctor about other possible recommendations as well. The baby's been moving around enough to sometimes wake me up which I'm dozing, though not in the middle of the night (yet). Nothing else much to report, other than feeling sliiiiightly more tired than in the second trimester, but it could just be because my life has become insanely BUSY these past few weeks.

Oh, I also completed all of the paperwork needed for my FMLA leave, my Short Term Disability insurance, and I cleared our healthcare/new baby understanding of insurance with my insurance, Tim's insurance, my doctor's office AND the insurance dept. at the hospital. The only one of those four "expert" places that actually could explain to me the timeline and how insurance for newborns work? The hospital. Though it will still cost us thousands of dollars in deductibles, it shouldn't be a shock or anything more than we thought before, thank goodness. I actually went down to our HR department to explain how the insurance works b/c I'm one of three ladies who are expecting in the next few months, and it seems no one,  not even the insurance companies themselves, understand the rules and steps of the process...of course.

I think that's all that's happened in the world of Baby Dwight this week! My weekly updates say he is the size of a squash. I think someone should tell them that squash comes in a lot of varieties. Are we talking a tiny acorn squash or are we talking a monster-sized yellow squash?