Papaya, Monopoly and P90X...Maternity-style

If I could sum up Morgan life right now it would all revolve around change. But the fun kind!

David and I have some house projects we would like to get done before Thanksgiving. I travel the week we get back and then Mom and Amy are going to be here. So our extra bedroom and office are being transformed into a guest room and a nursery and David has a little painting to do. This weekend I cleared out the closet in the guest room, shopped for linens in the basement, laundered them and got busy decorating. David started hauling our masses of "stuff" from the office to the basement, including a number of baby donations from kind friends and some large-item gifts. To put it mildly, the house is in turnover mode. It's not an organized mess. Just a mess. And it's not quite done. This Type A personality will absolutely be excited when we are finished this weekend.

My personal productivity stepped up a notch as recently I've started waking up at 4:00 a.m. due to some back pain. Not sure it was ready for the extra weight, ya know? So I stretch, work on Bible study, read the news, bake, iron, talk to the baby when he kicks and check email until my body feels ready for a cat nap. These extra few awake hours each day will be miraculous in all nesting efforts. Though I have been a smidge grouchy as a result, bless my heart. I don't spring up with the alarm quite like I used to do. But that doesn't usually last much past 7:45 or so. Not bad!

Meanwhile sweet baby Morgan is officially the size of a papaya this week! That means he is just more than one pound in weight and approximately eight inches long. You know...like a papaya. I never eat papaya, so I thought a photo might be helpful.

And I have a 23 week bump pic with Rachel, my co-worker, below. She's 7 weeks behind me. Considering we work on the same team, that means our maternity leaves will likely overlap by 5 weeks. We're in this together...morning sickness, round ligament pain, sweet little heartbeats. I get to work with Rachel and with Nicole - aren't they beauties? They are as sweet as they are gorgeous. I am blessed. I'll be sure to follow up at week 27 with another bump pic. THAT should be interesting as baby Morgan is supposed to double in size.

Oh, I have a new morning workout partner. My husband! He decided to sign up for a rock climbing competition at his gym in February. So now he joins me on the couch around 5:30 or so and drinks his coffee and eats breakfast. Then when 6:30 hits we put in P90X videos and get to it. My version is pretty hilarious as I maneuver the belly and tread extra-carefully while David cranks away at full blast. I love it! And I'd also hurt myself laughing if anyone videotaped this spectacle.

We've also started cutting back a bit on tube time. Last night after dinner David cleared the table and dealt two hands of our new favorite card game - Monopoly Deal. Our pal and game expert Jonathan Casey introduced it to us a few weeks ago. We are hooked. It's like playing real Monopoly in 30 minutes. David beat me the first time, and we had a few laughs at my pitiful draws. But I came back and snagged the second game win. I highly recommend it! So fun. We'll bring it to Arkansas next week.

I need to tend to my black bean lunch concoction and side of grapefruit. My lunch break is coming to a close. I'll try to include some photos of the house next time. Maybe even some before and after pics.

We love you all!
Missy Morgan

Our Quiet, Blissful Night

I cannot think of a time when I have felt so blissfully content. Our one-pot-chicken-dinner is in the oven. I just had a small bowl of butter lettuce as a snack. There might be a few Tropical Skittles in my future. We have nowhere to be. My sweatshirt choice still fits my swelling belly. And in ten minutes I'll be eating dinner with my handsome hubby. Now, that's a Wednesday evening! Oh, and here's a bump photo update! I did have someone at work tell me she thinks I look like I'm having twins. That one stung. Oh, well.

I can assure you that there is only one baby in there! We got to see sweet little Baby Morgan last week during our ultrasound. And in my eye he's pretty adorable! Check it out! The doc says all looks well and he's measuring to be about 15 oz. right now. So slightly more than a can of Coke. And apparently about the length of a large banana. We both got to watch him move tonight. That's just plain awesome.

So without any further delay, here are some awesome pics of our little man! Now, I confess that the second one might look a little creepy with the eye socket situation. The poor thing can't help that the sound waves go right through his precious little eyelids, ya know? But isn't he a handsome baby?

I wish you could've seen the two of us. I was straining my neck, oohing and awing at this precious dude and David was laser-focused on every detail of all the things I couldn't identify without the tech's guidance just to make sure all was checking out well. We are a good match. :)

For the rest of the evening we plan to make our house-to-do-list and review 2016 insurance together. We're pretty crazy around here! And this is what crazy looks like.

I'll provide some fun house update pics next time. David just finished painting a nightstand this week and even distressed it for me. I totally love it. Oh, and I might include a fun story about our latest mouse escapade. Prepare yourselves. It's a little hideous.

Please know how much we love all of you and that we pray for you. And we miss you!

Big hugs,
Missy

It's Been Awhile...But I'm Back!

So this weekend David and his two buddies, Adam and Joseph, took a "man trip" to NYC. Despite buckets of rain and chilly temperatures, they are having a blast. And the hubby has done a nice job of keeping me updated with lots of photos. Like these...

They've hit some major NYC highlights, eaten great food and I believe Adam and Joseph humored David and went rock climbing over in Queens with him today. Last night they had dinner in Chinatown - some pork dish where the first layer was literally a big layer of pork fat. Adam ate it! Joseph tried a few bites and was pretty grossed out. David, thankfully, pushed it aside and enjoyed the rest of his dish. His poor stomach really doesn't tolerate a lot of fat. Family, think about the pizza story when he ran bleachers. His Honda Accord apparently never smelled the same again. Oy.

I've been holding down the fort here in STL and it's been lovely. The temperature didn't get out of the 50s today. I've gone for walks, made spaghetti, drank a liter of my favorite lime flavored Perrier and went to Estelle Karsten's 2nd birthday today. It was pretty precious! She learns people's names pretty quickly and even pronounced correctly the name of some South American city I've never heard of. She's definitely got some Doriani in her. It melts my heart when she says, "Hi, Missy!" 

We had a great checkup with Dr. Philpott on Tuesday. He assures me that my weight gain is normal, which is calming. Some gals at my stage have only gained 5 pounds or so. Hmph. He's also the one who told me to lock up my salt shaker while I'm pregnant. We were off to such a good start until that business. I relented! Oh, if you're curious about Dr. Philpott, here's a photo. He's really nice and came highly recommended from another doctor and the Karstens. He also spent an hour with me during my first appointment to answer questions and walk me through everything. So I forgave him. Kinda.

Meanwhile, I've never eaten so often throughout the day in my life. Nor have I craved orange juice or had a sense of smell like a bloodhound before. Oh, our baby boy has a strong heartbeat at 142! I noticed there were little interruptions after a few beats here and there and Dr. Philpott said, "Do you hear that? That's him kicking!" It was the sweetest thing I'd ever heard. I do get a little nervous in between checkups and wonder if everything is going okay. David reminds me every time I have a gagging fit that it's a reassurance all is well. And oddly, I welcome that. If you're interested, we will be 17 weeks along starting tomorrow. And at the end of October we'll have our big ultrasound where you can really get a good picture of the baby. Stay tuned.

We pretty much woke up on Wednesday and out of nowhere my bump had really made an appearance. Check it out! 

That's all I've got. I'm going to watch a little more of this episode of Friends and get to sleep. I've got an early morning prayer meeting (which is sweet - I'm the youngest by several decades in there and I love the people that attend) followed by Sunday school and the worship service. And I've got to get groceries and pick up that handsome hubby of mine from the airport. I miss him when he's gone. (:

Hugs and lots of love,

Missy Morgan