I can't rock as hard as I used to - 13, 14, & 15 Weeks

It's been a good few weeks.  On September 27th, Jamie and I traveled to Asheville to a small venue called the Orange Peel with a couple of friends to see The Hold Steady, a band that we both love love love.  I thought I was ballin' to go out to a concert, a couple of hours' drive away, on a weeknight, while pregnant.  Well, I'm not as tough as I think I am.  The concert was fun and I am definitely glad I went, but I yawned through the entire thing (which is pretty much unheard of for me at a concert I like), and a couple of times had to sit down because my blood pressure was getting really low from standing on my feet for so long.  Up until writing this I had been touting it as Lil Fil's first concert; however, I realized that on July 28th, the day before I took my positive (three) pregnancy test(s), we went to see Paul McCartney in Charlotte.  So, technically it's the second.  Either way, so far I feel really good about the music to which my baby has thus far been exposed.

At The Hold Steady concert.  Thumbs up, Lil Fil!

Last weekend, we headed to Chapel Hill for the East Carolina game with my parents (both of whom went to ECU).  It was a little sad getting Jamie his first blue cup at He's Not Here (which is a big plastic cup of about two-and-a-half beers in it...it's a lot more exciting than I'm making it sound...) and not being able to order one myself.  My hormones are absolutely out of control, because I literally began fighting back tears when we got into the stadium and the alma mater came on.  Embarrassing!  I'm turning into my mother already.  Lucky for me, at that point two trashy ECU girls a couple rows up began to piss me off with their drunken redneck stupidity (I mean each of those adjectives with increasing emphasis), and the sentimentality passed.  But I do still miss it, and can't wait to go back for my five year homecoming at the end of the month.

Lil Fil's first trip to the Hill!  And a big win over ECU.

We've also recently taken on the project of completely clearing out our third bedroom, which held a bunch of mismatched furniture, thousands of dollars of useless old law school books, and Jamie's huge old-school desktop computer, among other things. Most importantly, though, a separate room off of this third bedroom had been the house for all of my off-season clothes.  I'm truly learning the meaning of sacrifice as we've decided that my big walk-in closet will become a play room.  We've primed the room white, so what we've unhappily referred to as "the green room" (I've always hated the color, we just never had a reason to paint it) is officially no longer the "green" room, but the baby's room.  Now it's just sitting and waiting for paint; we're just waiting to find out which color scheme to go with!

Today was a big day.  This morning, went and toured our first choice of daycare and put our names on the waiting list (which apparently you need to do this early; I'm glad I have friends that told me that or we'd be screwed).  It was perfect - it is three blocks from work, has a great staff that I felt comfortable with, was clean and cute, and came highly recommended from several people - but it was just a little unsettling, because I can already feel the massive amount of separation anxiety I'm going to experience at eightish weeks after (s)he's born. 

This afternoon, I went back to the doctor.  I'm into my 16th week now, and Lil Fil's heartbeat is down to around 143 (from 167 about a month ago).  I also got to make my appointment for my second (and likely last) ultrasound; sooo, November 4th is G-day!  In less than a month we'll know if it's Lil Mister or Lil Miss Fil!  

Recap of Weeks 13 - 15:

• Lil Fil is the size of:  a navel orange; the size of a closed (female's) fist
• I have gained:  about 4 pounds
• I love:  soup, Capri Sun
• I hate:  anything that requires a lot of patience (mostly traffic lights)
• I physically feel:  much better.  After a couple of bouts of pretty bad dizziness, I feel good.   Nausea has almost disappeared, but even better, I physically feel more like myself than I have in weeks.  Just a little clumsier and more forgetful.  The worst part is the in-between sizing of not being able to wear maternity clothes but my tummy having outgrown most of my pants (I'm using a rubber band for some of them, which Jamie thinks is hilarious).
• I emotionally feel:  much better.  It's amazing how much starting to show does for your confidence of the baby being healthy.
• Comment(s) of the week: 
• Congratulations, you two!   - A man coming out of the port-a-potty at a Panthers tailgate to Jamie and my brother's girlfriend, after overhearing (while using the port-a-potty?!) them talk about a baby.  Awk.
• No man, that's my sister-in-law.  - Jamie's response to the man.  My bro and Steph are not married, so she is not a sister-in-law.  Double awk.

Finally, a couple of the weekly(ish) side-shot pics.  I just realized when I loaded them onto my computer that they're not that great since I'm in work clothes and trying to hide the bump, but I have a feeling I'm not going to be able to hide it very much longer  :)

13 weeks

14 weeks