Baby Bump 36 weeks

I can’t believe there’s only one month to go before we get to meet Baby Doc! The time has been going so fast…


(Don’t mind the dust bunnies in the photo. I can’t bend down to pick them up anymore. Someday I’ll vacuum again…)

Baby Bump 31 weeks

As of today, I’m officially 32 weeks pregnant (the pictures are from a few days ago). That means there’s only 4 weeks to go! Holy moly… how did that happen? This is pretty unbelievable…

(Update. Apparently I can't do math. Or read a calendar. I'm not 4 weeks out... There are eight whole more weeks to go! I guess that means we have plenty of time...?)

Big huge thanks to everyone who commented and sent me emails on my last baby bump post about the things I should (and shouldn’t) worry about. I did take a mom-friend shopping to help finish out my registry. I’m sure we’ll be adding a few things here and there, but I think we’ve got the important stuff taken care of.

The bump is definitely getting more pronounced. The kid is definitely getting bigger.


I had another ultrasound last week to check in on Baby Doc. He’s weighing in at an estimated 4.25 pounds. Average for this age is 3.3 pounds. Yep, he’s above average. Still. I thought his head looked like it was getting pretty big. The ultrasound tech wouldn’t tell me what the circumference is… In retrospect, that’s probably a good thing…


We got our first 3D ultrasound pictures. I think these photos make the baby look sort of lumpy, and kind of creepy. The ultrasound tech told me that I was wrong, and he looks very cute. He’ll probably be cute when he’s born.


Last week, my fingers apparently got swollen. I’ve been keeping an eye on my wedding rings, to make sure they didn’t get too tight to get off my fingers. I had a moment of panic on the way back from the doctor’s office when I almost couldn’t get them off. But a little elevation and holding my hand directly in the path of the air conditioner in the truck, and I was able to get them off.


Now they’re on my necklace instead of on my fingers. (Don’t mind the cat hair on the shirt. It’s an occupational hazard.)


Next up? Turning this messy room into a nursery…

I’ve got some great plans for it… but it’s going to take some serious work…

Baby Bump 27 weeks

Oh my. Time is flying, and I can’t catch it!

Baby Doc is growing just as well as all the weeds in my garden. At our ultrasound last week, he weighed in at approximately 2 pounds, 12 ounces. Average for this age is closer to 2 pounds, so he’s in the 81st percentile. Still plenty big!

Baby Bump 23 weeks

I made it to that 6-month mark. (Today is 24 weeks. These photos are from last week.) I’m still feeling good, and haven’t hit the freak out stage yet. (Well, unless you count the day I found out I was pregnant. There was a little bit of freaking out then!)

I have graduated out of regular clothes and into maternity clothes. There’s no going back now!


We had another ultrasound this month to check on a few anatomy measurements that they couldn’t see well the last time. He wasn’t tremendously cooperative this time, but they did get to see what they needed.

19 Weeks Pregnant

This week marks 19 weeks pregnant for me. To celebrate this milestone (can I call it a milestone? I’m almost half-way there!) I had an ultrasound to check out all of Baby Doc’s anatomy (fingers and toes, leg and arm bones, spine, all that good stuff) and find out the gender.

Before I tell you… any guesses?

My Year 2 Change just got bigger!

I started off this year with a big Year 2 Change challenge from my friend Cris. She challenged everyone to think about what we really needed to change in our lives. For me, it was pretty simple to figure that out. My challenge was to become a morning person!


I started off pretty well, and was proud of myself at the one-month mark. I had gone down to one snooze hit in the mornings, and had made 10 days in a row and was feeling pretty good.

Then I realized I was absolutely exhausted in the afternoons! I mean seriously beat-down tired. I would head to the recliner, cozy up with a big blanket, and nap. For hours.

Seriously? What was the deal?

One month in

I’ve been working on my Year 2 Change for a little over a month now. (Okay, 36 days, to be exact.)

My progress

My goal has been to get up at 6:00am, only hitting the snooze button twice. Out of those 36 days, I hit my goal on 19 of them. I had another 6 days where I hit snooze three times before I got up. Frankly, I count those days as successes, too! So I’m 25/36.

For me, that’s pretty darn good! Most of the time I’m getting up to times like this…

Year 2 Change

I am setting a BHAG this year.

That’s right, a Big Hairy Audacious Goal.

And it all has to do with this…


My favorite thing. Or not. (As you can probably tell by the title of this blog!)

I have never been a morning person. But I’ve been thinking a lot (especially lately) that this would be a good change for me to make. On the rare occasions when I do get up and get moving early, I tend to be more productive and have more energy for the entire day.

Let me say… sleeping in has been hard-wired in me for a very long time. My mother and my grandmother are both night owls, and I think I have a genetic predisposition. I also had some big-time positive reinforcement for sleeping in when I was growing up.


If I slept too late and missed the bus, my dad would drive me to school. No questions, no trouble. Who wants to be on the bus for 30 minutes when you live 5 minutes from school? Not me!

This became my habit.


Snuggled under the covers, often with a warm, purring cat. What better way to spend the morning?!

And the snooze button… oh, you are my favorite disaster… we have such a love-hate relationship…

But you know what? When I hit snooze for an hour, I’m not really getting an extra hour of sleep. And I’m actually more tired when I do finally get up.

I’ve had three recent motivations and inspirations.

First, I read a blog post and listened to a podcast by Michael Hyatt about being a morning person, and the timing was just right for me.

Second, my friend Cris is making some amazing lifestyle changes with her family. And she is helping to share her motivation with her Year 2 Change challenge.


Third, I just found out that I’m going to be giving 2 talks at a national veterinary conference in June. The first talk is at 6:00. In the morning. This is not just be up by 6:00, and it’s not just be there by 6:00. This is serious – be up, be awake, be professional, and be ready to teach by 6:00. In the morning.

I need to get a head start on this if I’m going to be ready for this conference in June. (The plus side is that it’s in Seattle. So 6:00am is really 8:00am my time. But that’s still stinking early to be teaching. At least for me.)

So here I go.

I’m on a mission to get up at 6:00am without using my snooze button. I’m easing into it with baby steps – 30 days of only 2 snooze hits, followed by 30 days of only one snooze hit, and then 30 days of no snoozes. Then I’ll start making my get-up time a bit earlier.

I’m using my NeuYear calendar to help me Punch 2013 in the Throat and make this my Year 2 Change. In addition to tracking all our travel, meetings, and my deadlines, I’m using my calendar to keep track of my goal.


I started this adventure on January 7. A star is for a day I hit my goal (6:00am, 2 snoozes). A “3” means I hit snooze 3 times. A blank day means I missed – either I didn’t hit my goal (2 days, usually because I stayed up too late, or because I drank too much wine), or I intentionally didn’t set my alarm. (2 days – a girl needs a little break every now and then!)

I’m two weeks in, and I’m doing pretty well. Especially considering where I started.

Do you want to make 2013 your Year 2 Change? Join the challenge, and let’s do it together!

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