Bla bla bla yakkity-yakkity

You know, the ticker on the right over here seemed like a cute idea at first, and it's nice to be able to come here and remind myself of exactly how far along I am and whatnot, but now it's starting to creep me out. That, and one time I stopped by and there was no baby in the circle, making me panic slightly before realizing how ridiculous it would be to panic over something that. Anyway, I may or may not remove it, but I do apologize for it being annoying/irritating/creepy/weird.

Back-to-school preparations for Jacelyn are progressing smoothly. There were some bumps in the road that have now smoothed out and we both anxiously await her return to class. I am not signing up for any volunteer work through the school this year - room mom or anything similar. Either you don't get called, or you get called for everything, and then you get volunteered for most activities anyway, so it doesn't matter if you don't sign up. And I'm not signing up for substitute lunch duty again, because I only got called late Sunday or even early Monday morning, and couldn't do it that day. I figure between girl scouts and having another child I'm going to be busy enough. I'll help where I can, but I would rather people have low expectations and be pleasantly surprised when I can do something, rather than always expect me to help and be disappointed when I can't. Low expectations are the key to happiness, people. I'm telling you. In some cases, I should say.

I'm a wreck right now. I have the normal pregnancy stuff going on, and then there's this whole Brian-may-not-be-able-to-come-back-before-the-baby-is-born thing happening that may OR may not cause Jacelyn and I to have to move there at the end of the year. New school, new doctor, new area, new stress, new everything. Not to mention new baby! Ack! I get palpitations just thinking about it. We're going to sort that out REAL soon, I'll tell you that. Moving a household of crap at eight months is NOT my idea of a fun time. I can't talk about it anymore, it's killing me.

I'm starting to feel the scribble-scrabble of fetal movement. Mostly in the car, but yesterday I had some pants on that had a waistline that dear little Bun apparently found uncomfortable and felt the need to jab at every time I sat down. That's really the coolest part of pregnancy, feeling the little boogar move around. Until they (and correspondingly, you) get all huge and then it can be uncomfortable. Or make you pee on yourself. Or talk out loud to your unborn child out of desperation: "OK, OK, I'll stand, I'll sit, I'll lie down, whatever, just please stop hitting me!". And despite the fact that in the third trimester it can feel more like abuse than activity, you still miss that sensation once the little one triumphantly emerges. This one seems to be a jabber, though. Jacelyn was more of a flutterer, but this one seems to prefer a good right hook or spinning kick to the gymnastics that Jacelyn seemed to enjoy while in utero.

My sonogram is coming up in mid-September - and I'm excited. I don't have an appointment yet, so I don't have an exact date - I'll set that up at my next appointment, which is sometime at the end of this month. I want to know. Everyone else wants to know. The Bernardos are DYING to know. Jacelyn doesn't really seem to care but says it would be nice to know so she could buy stuff (which means she will pick out items for Maw-Maw to buy). Of course, sonograms are no guarantee, I know that. With Jacelyn, I had a regular appointment four days before my sonogram and my doctor did an ultrasound then and announced her gender: "Oh, my, that's certainly a girl". Then, four days later at the big, official sonogram, Jacelyn was sleeping and not cooperative in the slightest, and they wouldn't say for certain what sex they thought she might be. If I hadn't had the earlier sonogram we wouldn't have known. So I know that there are no guarantees, but I'm hoping that we will be able to find out. For a while there I was having girl feelings, very strong girl feelings, but now I am not as sure. I'm not having boy feelings, either, so I can't call this one. The heartbeat has been fast every time it's been recorded, but that's more of an old wives tale than any kind of scientific fact - supposedly, faster heartbeat=boy, slower heartbeat=girl. And I can't remember Jacelyn's heartbeat - I think it was just average, but I can't recall for certain, so I really have no basis for comparison.

That's about it for me - that's it and that is enough.