A White Christmas!

We haven’t had a white Christmas in Seattle since 1990, but we definitely have one today! We woke up this morning to several more inches of snow. While beautiful, it’s going to prevent us from getting up to my Grandma’s house today to see family. They have even more snow up there, plus potential for ice this evening. We’re waiting to do presents until our niece is here this weekend, so we’ll have a relaxing Christmas day at home…currently there is fudge being made, and I think Jeff and I will venture out for a walk in the snow soon. Thankfully my in-laws were finally able to get here on Tuesday night, two days later than scheduled but with the mess that was Sea-Tac, we are just thrilled that they made it here! We also have my brother-in-law, his girlfriend, and her daughter here from eastern Washington, so we are enjoying a houseful of family and friends. It is great to have people here to celebrate the holiday with us.

I’m now 28 weeks pregnant and officially in the third trimester! I survived the blood draw for the glucose test. They also took vials to test for anemia and for Rh antibodies since I am a negative blood type and Jeff is positive, so I may have Rh incompatibility with the baby. If I’m not making any antibodies, I’ll go in for a shot to keep me from making them. The baby is moving lots and last night after dinner he showed off his moves for the company. He now weighs about 2 1/4 pounds, or about the size of a Chinese cabbage.

Here’s a Christmas day belly shot, it’s kind of blurry but you’ll get the idea:

A very Merry Christmas to all of you! We are thinking of and missing family and friends who are far away.

Winter Wonderland

Snow, snow and more snow! That’s the story here in Seattle. We have had snow on the ground for a week now, and we got hit hard on Wednesday. Jeff and I ended up working from home Wednesday and Thursday. I ventured to work on Friday; the snow had stopped but the side roads were (and are!) pretty icy. This morning it was 0 degrees when we woke up. Now, I know all this doesn’t sound like a big deal to my Midwestern readers, but for around here this is a major storm. They’re not big believers in salt here and plows are in short supply, so we get a lot of icy roads with sand on top. Add to that the fact that a lot of locals don’t know how to drive in the snow, and I’d just rather stay at home. The next round hits us tonight with 4-8 inches of snow, 50-60mph winds (gusts up to 80!) and then a possible transition to freezing rain..this all adds up to a good chance of losing power. It could be a very interesting Christmas! We are hoping that Jeff’s parents are able to fly in as planned tomorrow and then that we are able to get them from the airport!

In pregnancy news, I’m now at 27 weeks and our son weighs about 2 pounds, about the size of a head of cauliflower. I’ll have the one hour glucose test on Monday. If you haven’t had this delightful experience, I gather it involves chugging a disgustingly sweet solution, then one hour later they draw your blood to screen for gestational diabetes. If you fail the one hour, you get to do the three hour, where they repeatedly draw blood. Many of you know that I don’t do well with even the thought of needles, so I’m really hoping to pass this one hour test!

Some pictures from this week:

The view from our front porch:

And from our yard:

On the front porch:

All this time at home has a bonus: I’m getting some knitting in! Pixel kept me company yesterday:

Adios, bellybutton

We’re into the double digits for days left! Granted, those double digits are still pretty close to 100, but it definitely feels like a landmark. At 26 weeks, our little guy is about the length of an English cucumber. The other night we were reading in bed and he was moving around. We were actually able to see his movements from the outside! We sat there for a good 10 minutes watching the show. My bellybutton is now in this weird stage between an innie and an outie….it’s pretty much flat. But I can now do a neat trick where I can actually make it pop out if I stretch the skin around it a bit. Who knew pregnancy would have such great entertainment value?

26 weeks:

25 Weeks

Our little guy now weighs as much as the average rutabega (sp?), or about a pound and a half. I am weighing more as well…the other day I was at the gym and a woman said to me in the locker room, “I just realized you’re pregnant!” Now, this is a comment I avoid making at all costs until the woman herself mentions being pregnant, but since I am, it doesn’t bother me at all. I am looking forward to Christmas, it’s time to get out the decorations, not to mention buy a tree. My in-laws will come to visit us from Michigan for Christmas, which is always a lot of fun (and also a lot of good food). The only downside will be not having much time off work, because I’m hoarding vacation time for March. But I’ll get a nice long weekend for Christmas, as I am taking the 26th off (thank goodness for floating holidays). I’m hoping to get some good knitting time over the holiday, as I need to finish the baby blanket before the baby arrives. I hold no delusions that I’ll be doing much knitting for a while after he is here!

Here’s the offical 25 week picture. After uploading it, I notice that my pants are doing something funky in the rear there. I promise they don’t look this way normally, I think it’s from adjusting them for the picture.