Week 27

 

Wow, look at that belly! It's quite a bit bigger than the last picture I posted, which I think was way back in week 18! We've been a bit negligent in taking belly pics.

Pooh mural

 

 

Our one splurge in the babies' nursery is going to be a wall mural of the picture above (it's shown here in two pics cause it's scanned from two pages of a book).

This is from a classic Pooh book that belonged to me as a child (can't believe I still have it!). It's going to be painted just above the tops of the cribs along two walls of the nursery. The characters will be about 14 inches high, each. The trees will be in the corner between the two walls.

We found an artist through our multiples birth and parenting class. Turns out the mom of one of the other multiple moms does a lot of this kind of work. The artist -- Cheryl - came over a couple weeks ago and showed me pictures of some of her previous work and gave me an estimate. She starts work on it this coming Wednesday!

This is really the only splurge we're going to have in the nursery. The cribs and changing table are used and we're getting my mom's old wooden rocking chair (yes, she rocked me and my brother in it!).

Shower season

My round of baby showers has begun!

The first was last weekend at my aunt Ann's house in Stillwater. Along with my other aunt, Ann, and my friend, Dani, she threw a very classy brunch shower!

I got so many really fabulous gifts and it was such fun. The guests were a diverse collection of friends and family from all aspects of my life. I love those kinds of parties where the attendees don't know everyone else already.

My next shower is Saturday -- one for my colleagues at work. Then the following weekend my neighbors are throwing a small shower (probably just 5 people or so). And finally my sorority sisters join in the fun next month.

Last night Jamey and I attended a breastfeeding class. One of the other couples had been in our multiples class last month. They are 33 weeks along and the doctors think she's going to give birth in the next two or three weeks! She was huge and obviously uncomfortable!

I'm at 26 weeks, so it was a bit heartstopping to hear her say it was coming so soon for her. But in reality, I'm looking at only about 10-12 more weeks, MAXIMUM. That's not a whole lot of time considering how fast the days and weeks go by.

Bootcamp

 

Tomorrow will be the last day of a week-long computer-assisted reporting bootcamp that I'm teaching for Investigative Reporters and Editors. This is a picture of our students, plus me and the other teacher (the woman standing next to me).

It's been a great week -- really enthusiastic, smart and ambitious students. We've covered a lot more material than most bootcamps normally do since they seem to be so far ahead of the curve.

It's been a really nice change of pace for me, although a lot more exhausting than my usual work. It's a good thing this isn't being held later in my pregnancy!

Professional blogger

I am now officially a professional blogger! I've been asked to be one of 6 "experts" on computer-assisted reporting to blog each month for Investigative Reporters and Editors (that organization I worked for when I was down in Missouri).

The new web site and blogs launched today and mine is one of the first to appear. There's a free two-week trial of the site (otherwise it's subscription), so you can see it for a short time here.