1. TJ's birthday on Friday was fantastic.  His favorite part is after everyone sings "Happy Birthday," he gets to stick his finger in the cake . . . so he made us sing six or seven times!  Then the sugar hit and he was like a whirling dervish.  Terribly amusing ... well, to me, because 1 - I got to leave and 2 - I didn't have to change that diaper later.

My brother bought him a kid's acoustic guitar.  When TJ opened it he said, "A guitar! I needed this!"  I know this melted my brother's heart (and the hubby's, who I had to text this to since he was working).  With two uncles who love to play guitar (the hubby and my brother), this kid's got all the lessons he could ever want.

2. A couple of weeks ago I posted that I had an issue with low amniotic fluid; I was at a 7 when the minimum is 10.  I went back four days later and it was up to a 9 (after trying to rest as much as possible and chugging gallons and gallons of water).  One week later (last week) I went back and I was up to 10.9!  Yay, over 10!!  I go back again tomorrow so they can make sure it didn't decrease again.

3. At the sonogram last week, The Force had his hands and feet in his face.  Again.  This is the THIRD time we've had this issue with him.  (The first time was at 17 weeks when we could have found out the gender if he hadn't been in that position.)  I wonder if he's going to spend a lot of time playing with his feet after he's born (in the sonograms, he's actually holding onto his feet).

4. We did get a little peek at his face, though, with the 4D sonogram... and it definitely looks like he has my nose.  I know we won't know that for sure for two months but it's fun to look at that sonogram and see a nose that looks just like your own (seriously, so much like mine).

5. To update on the person who went to rehab and then had to leave a week later: they are doing really, really well.  They go to meetings nearly every day (possibly every day, I'm not sure) and are also attending an out-patient program that meets two or three times a week.  I can't get specific as to what I believe triggered some of this person's addiction, but I will say that I believe there are certain, specific contributing causes - one of which is fairly unique in theory, but turns out to be common once one does some research.  And in their out-patient program?  There are THREE OTHER people with the same past experience.  This made me want to say, "Ha!  I knew it!  I told you so!" because I was listing that as an issue a year ago.  But I didn't say "I told you so," of course (although I told the hubby that I wanted to).

But anyway, they're doing well.  It's odd; I had forgotten what they used to be like.  It's almost like meeting a new person sometimes and it also feels too good to be true, I have to admit.  I don't trust the recovery yet.  It's all so happy and wonderful and everyone is grateful... and that makes me nervous.  So I'm happy, but cautious . . . but mainly relieved to have this person "back."

6. Buster is definitely getting more manageable.  The puppy classes are definitely helping the hubby and I be better dog parents AND Buster's getting older (of course) and growing up little by little.  He's still a bit crazy, but I find myself yelling at him less than I was just a few weeks ago.  For some reason he goes crazier when the hubby gets home, not sure why.  And I feel like what people say about kids is true about dogs - getting a second dog is exponentially harder than doubling what you did for your first dog.  It would be much easier to manage Buster if we didn't constantly have to mediate bark-fests between him and Oreo.  Oreo would be easier to take care of (like she was before) if we didn't have to work her schedule around Buster's.

No, don't remind me that we're adding an infant to this routine in two months.

7.  Speaking of... 32 weeks tomorrow!  That's 8 months!  Holy crap!  To answer my most commonly received questions: I feel great and, no, the nursery is not set up yet.  That about covers it.

And now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Welcome to yet another Tuesday, longest day of the week.  Last semester I had school on Mondays, though, and swore to myself I would never again take Monday night classes because having Monday be your longest day of the week is just beyond stupid.  So Tuesday it is.

1. It's been months since I had a nightmare.  (Before I got pregnant, I couldn't even tell you how long it had been - years, probably.)  But last night I dreamt that my parents thought Buster was more than we could handle and so one day, when we asked them to dog-sit him, they decided to drop him off at a local shelter instead.

:(

I woke up really heartbroken at 4am, trying not to cry.  Finally I just let myself cry, figuring that might get it out of my system, and I think it did because I must have dozed off not long after that.

Buster is a handful, for sure.  But he's just a puppy.  He'll get older and better... and he's just so darn cute.  He's not going anywhere.

Sleeping on the ottoman at my parents' house.

2. Tomorrow is 30 weeks.  THIRTY WEEKS.  I feel a bit like I did when I turned 30 - sort of ready for it, sort of ready to be done with the 20s, but also a bit anxious and unsure.

3. Operation Sit and Sip continues today.  I think I've been doing pretty well drinking lots of fluids and trying to stay relaxed.  I haven't over-exerted myself, although I haven't done less than I normally do, either.  I told the hubby that I feel like my belly has grown noticeably in just the past two days.  He pointed out that hydrating might have something to do with that.  Oh yeah, duh.  So maybe it's working.  We'll see tomorrow (sonogram at 7pm tomorrow night).

4. Today at school we get to talk to the author of one of the books we're reading for class.  This means, of course, that we need to have the book finished for today which, of course, I don't.  When do I ever?  But today, really.  You can't go in to class like, "Hi, great book - well, what I read of it." Sigh.  I'm just not a good student this semester - really having a hard time juggling work, the puppy, and all the pregnancy related doctors visits.  I'll have the summer to relax (well, from school anyway) but hopefully I can work out a better schedule for the fall.  I'm thinking I might actually have to "book" schoolwork time - block time off that's just for that.  Give The Force to someone else to watch for a few hours or something.  Of course, I'd be tempted to use that time to do laundry, grocery shop, clean the house, or anything else... but I have to keep up my schoolwork so I need to figure this out.

5. I now own two pairs of maternity pants - one pair of jeans and one pair of black corduroys.  I think I might live in these for the next ten weeks.  They are far more comfortable than I imagined - and they don't look as ridiculous as I expected them to.  Go figure - pregnancy continues to be a surprise.

6. Buster has a play date today!  The hubby's mom is going to watch him today since Tuesday is our mutually longest day.  Buster has free reign of the kitchen when we're not home (there's a baby gate blocking him from the rest of the house) and the kitchen is the biggest room in the house, but it's not enough exercise for him on a daily basis.  So today he's going to the in-law's and gets to run around with their dog, Skylar, a Cairn terrier (Buster is half Cairn).  They have a great time running around and it's really good exercise for Buster.  He's a much happier and better behaved dog when he's exercised so we're trying to figure out ways to make that happen.

7. I think I've entered the phase of pregnancy where everything is a bit less great - a bit less happy glow-y than the second trimester.  Maybe it's just the worry about the low amniotic fluid from Saturday, but I just worry because now if something happens, we get a preemie.  He'll live and chances are he'll thrive, but it won't be easy and there'll always be a lot of concerns.  Plus my belly is getting bigger and every now and then I don't breathe as easily as I was.  My left outer thigh goes numb sometimes.  One of my arms always falls asleep overnight.  These concerns are minimal, but they indicate to me that they're just going to keep popping up.  My back hasn't ached for no reason for a long time, but I'm sure that'll come back.

In the end, all I really care about is that The Force is okay.  As long as he's healthy, I really don't want to complain all too much about what I have to endure to get to the end of this pregnancy.  And I know I've been lucky.  I keep getting emails about how to deal with the heartburn and hemorrhoids - but I don't have any of that.  Didn't have morning sickness, don't have people grabbing my belly or making comments all the time.  All in all, it's been pretty easy.  So if my left leg decides it wants to fall asleep once in a while, so be it.  Maybe it's just bored.