The Beach

Last weekend Jason and I returned to Neskowin to spend the weekend with Matt and Carrie.  We met on Saturday morning for breakfast at the Otis Cafe then stopped at a really cool used bookstore in Lincoln City.  I can't recall the name  of the store right now but i got a business card so we can go back.  The owner had several 1st edition copies of The Old Man and The Sea by Ernest Hemingway that were in pretty good shape.  Unfortunately, he was selling them for around $800.  I did try to figure out wen could afford one but Jason didn't like the idea if not eating for two months or the idea of furnishing the nursery with cardboard boxes and milk crates so I walked away.  We did buy a very nice hardcover edition of Catcher in the Rye that is most likely a first or second edition, although not a first printing.  

We then made our way to Taft Beach where we did some beach combing for agates and sea glass.
 By then the two pregnant ladies (me and Carrie, she's 4 months pregnant now!!!) were tired and hungry so we headed up to the house.
We had BLTs and relaxed for the afternoon.  In the evening we had an early dinner and then Matt and Carrie went to Chinook Winds Casino for Joel McHale's comedy show while Jason and I had a relaxing evening reading in front of the fire.

Sunday we walked the beach at Neskowin to see what we could see.
We enjoyed lunch then cleaned up and headed home.  It only rained in the evening or during the night so we actually enjoyed decent Oregon weather for the coast so twice now we've gotten lucky on the weather!  I don't know when we'll get back but it probably won't be until after we have the baby.  I'm already looking forward to taking baby Rosenberger to the beach!

For about a week before my 20 week doctors appt. I thought I was feeling the baby move. Every time, I would ask Jason if he felt anything and every time he'd say "No, it's probably just gas." The night before the 20 week appt. I was laying in bed, waiting for Jason to finish his nightly routine, and I was certain I could feel baby kicks. When Jason came to bed a few minutes later I guess i was just laying in bed staring at the ceiling. He asked if i was ok and I said "yes, I'm concentrating. I think i feel the baby." He said "oh, it's probably just gas" and got in to bed. I told him to put his hands on my stomach and as soon as he did I felt a big kick. We both looked at each other and i said "did you feel that?" just as he said "I felt it!"

For about 6 or 7 weeks after that it felt like I had a very aggressive octopus in my belly. There were kicks and jabs all over the place all the time. Since about week 27/28 the movements have changed. Now I feel less frequent kicks and jabs but lots of rolling, sliding and undulating of my belly. It seems like the baby gets really active whenever I'm in a meeting, at which point i have trouble focusing on work because I just stare at my stomach as the skin slides and ripples. But the baby's kicks, while less frequent, ate more forceful than ever. I was dozing off in a meeting yesterday and the baby delivered a forceful wallop that brought me right back to attention. Feeling the baby move is so special. It really helps me feel connected to this little guy.

7 months pregnant and almost done painting the nursery.  It's Olympic Premium No VOC paint color matched to Benjamin Moore's Manchester Tan.  None of my work shirts fit any more, hence the "belly" shirt.

I know it's been a while

Things have been pretty busy the last few weeks.  Let's see, what have we been up to?  Well, about a month ago I went up to Portland to pick out laminate flooring for our house.  A week later my stepdad brought it all down to await installation.  Here's a picture of the 91 boxes that will cover 1100 sq ft of our house.

This arrived about three weeks ago.  Since then we've been preparing for the install.  About two weeks ago we began packing up almost everything in the house and moving it to the back bedrooms.  We then spent last weekend, three evenings last week after work and all of this weekend ripping up carpet and particle board under the linoleum in the kitchen/dining area.  My brother will be down on Friday of this week to spend three days (along with help from my stepdad on Sat/Sun) installing all of the flooring.  So now, until next week, we're shuffling around on plywood and it's dusty!  

Jason snapped this picture (with my phone) of me ripping up tack strips in what will be the nursery.  I've got more pictures of the rest of the house one and Jason hard at work on the camera but the cable to transfer pics to the computer is packed up so those will have to wait.  Jason's dad and brother were down yesterday and his mom, brother and dad were down again today to finish ripping it all up.  I also painted the nursery and once the flooring is in we'll pick up the furniture and start assembling the nursery. 

We did take a break three weekends ago to go to Neskowin with our friends Matt and Carrie for a relaxing weekend.  It happened to be Easter weekend so the beach was quiet but Saturday was nice and sunny.  We spent the morning at Cape Kiwanda on the dune.  I had a heck of a time getting up to the top and Jason actually had to drag me up the last 10 feet or so.  Being 6.5 months pregnant sure makes getting around more difficult.  Coming down the dune I had to employ a weird waddle step in order to keep my balance.  Everyone was making fun of me, saying I looked like Godzilla.  Lucky for me Carrie got some of it on video.  Take a look.

 

On the baby front, we've been making some strides to prepare.  Jason went to a new dad bootcamp class and spent a few hours with some dads and little babies, getting advice and wisdom from "veteran" fathers.  He actually found the class very informative, saying it was less about imparting knowledge and more about sharing experiences.  We also had our first week of childbirthing class.  We got an  introduction to our teacher and classmates, followed by information on pregnancy and labor and finally we watched a very sweet birth video from the 70's.  The mother had Farrah Fawcett wings and both the mother and father had sweet Jersey accents.  It actually wasn't too scary.

The baby has been bouncing around in my belly more and more and I'm starting to be able to feel where he's at once in a while.  I'm at 28 weeks now and all is going well.  Except for some lower back pain, which isn't surprising considering I hurt my back a few years ago and have had issues with it before, I'm feeling really good.  That's all for now.  Next Sunday I'll be able to post about our new floors!  I can't wait.