That Time I Threw Up On Public Transportation: A summary of the past 9 months.

Before we get into the nitty gritty, let's start with some pretty maternity pictures. Taken by the ever so lovely and talented Freya.

She's good, amiright? I loooove them. My favorite is the black and white of just me in the street. And the one of use holding the ultrasound picture. And our hands making hearts on my belly one.  Oh, I love them all. Thank you Freya!

So, now that you've seen the pretty, lets move on to some hardcore pregnancy details.

Since I didn't really keep track of things on a regular basis during this pregnancy, hows 'bout I just do a little summary of things looking back from 38.5 weeks. A highlights reel, if you will. If you're into that sort of thing, read on my friend. But be warned, things just might get real.

Morning sickness: This has definitely been the defining symptom of my pregnancy. But, the bright side is its not deabilitating. I mean, yes I throw up all over the place and without warning, but I don't actually feel nauseas and disgusting all the time, which is definitely preferable. Although, because I don't feel gross all the time, I tend to carry on with life as if nothing is different. So, I'm usually out and about when the sickness strikes. It's made for some truly hilarious/disgusting/awkward situations.

When I really start to think of the litany of places I've been sick, it starts to sound like a really messed up version of Green Eggs and Ham. Here, there and everywhere. In a car, on a bus, in the street, on my feet, a dark alley behind Red Lobster, in the trashcan at the doctor, in too many parking lots to count, and...I'll stop there.

I literally threw up on a bus this week. Luckily I had a bag, so no harm was really done. And I didn't even wet my pants, so I'd definitely call that one a win. The poor people in the bread aisle at Publix were not so lucky. I still can't look those cashiers in the eye. It was truly a massacre.

Oh little baby, I'm going to have some embarrassing stories that I looove to tell about you. You brought this on yourself, you know.

Anyway...I apologize if that seriously grosses you out; I no longer have a filter when it comes to awkward and disgusting bodily functions. Let's move on, shall we?

Swelling: Not so much really. Its been nice. My fingers are just a little too big for my wedding rings right now, but honestly, this one has passed me by so far. Lucky, I know.

Back/nerve pain: My lower back will hurt occasionally, but it hasn't been too bad over all. My feet will suddenly fall asleep sometimes, and I think it happens when she's sitting on a nerve or something. It's really sudden and super weird.

Weight gain: I think the whole getting sick thing has really kept this under control. I've gained maybe 5 pounds over my pre-pregnancy weight. I also think this baby has Cory's superfast metabolism, so she's sucking up any extra calories I consume pretty well. Thanks baby.

Cravings:  Bagels with cream cheese and sometimes fancy toppings (basil, cucumber, tomato and balsamic is my absolute FAVORITE fancy bagel topping combination). Clementines and citrus. Strawberry lemonade. Fruit smoothies. Cranberry juice.  Seafood in general. And, weirdly enough, pancakes at midnight. And only at midnight. With wayyyy too much syrup. Nothing like whipping up a batch of pancakes in the middle of the night to make you feel like a totally normal, fully functioning adult.

Aversions: Cookies and milk. Or cereal and milk. I will get sick every. single. time. I don't know why I keep testing it. Oreos will never be the same! Dawn dish soup and bounty dryer sheets are the worst to me. So weird. The color orange still grosses me out. Note to self: don't spray paint things when you're 9 weeks pregnant (for many reasons, those chemicals probably aren't so good...).

Nesting: If wanting to throw everything in the house out because "I feel super claustrophobic and I hate all the things" is nesting, then yes. I've had nesting. My lack of interest in decorating/crafting was one thing that really surprised me. Non-pregnant Lindy lives for that kind of thing. Pregnant Lindy lives to sit on the couch and watch back to back episodes of Breakout Kings  (a subconcious effort to inspire this baby to make her own escape?). To each their own. The crib is set up, and her clothes and diapers are organized. What else does she want from us?

A name: I really thought we'd settle on a name early, but nothing has felt just right. Our current favorites are Annie and Amelia, so we'll see what feels right when she's born. Or rock paper scissors for it if nothing jumps out at us, I suppose.

And there you have it--I think I covered most of the high points. Little baby girl, we really are ready for you. I am so lucky to be your mom. We're excited to meet you any day now. Come when you're ready--I'm quite at my leisure, you know. Although, your Dad has his last final on Thursday, so he'd probably appreciate it if you held off until then. See what you can do, kay? See you soon! xoxox

A boy and his robot

So, Cory built a robot.

As seniors in his program you get to choose a big final project to work on for your last two semesters. One of the options is to build a robot that can maneuver though an obstacle course and preform certain tasks.

This year the robot teams needed to build a robot that could take a small blue block to the small blue block place, and a large green block to the large green block place, and so on with different sizes/colors of blocks. And for extra points, it could take a block up a ramp with no rails to keep it from safe from plummeting to destruction. It's all very scientific.

 There were 5 other robot building teams at FSU, and if you won the school's internal competition then you'd get to take your robot to the Southeast Conference Competition. Fifty other universities in the southeast region build their own robots, and the best robots from each school face off at the end of the year to see who's robot is the champion of robots.

And with that ill fated assignment, my husband was gone. Cory has been eating, dreaming, and breathing robot for the past 8 months. He's been building this robot for as long as I've been growing our child within my womb. And while his little project has involved significantly less vomiting, he's had his own burdens to bear. On a few occasions he was be up at the school until 4:00 or 5:00 AM  perfecting his code, or rewiring the hardware, or doing whatever one does to color sensors to make them better.

Sometimes I would bring dinner up to the school. We'd eat in a lab surrounded by wires while the little robot I affectionately named Sparky kept us company and I asked about the fail safe precautions he's taken in case Sparky started to turn on us during the rise of the machines.  (I couldn't help myself.)

This is Cory's eating and reading code face:

This is Cory's thinking and reading code face (not posed, I swear):

And this is Cory's (and the rest of his team member's) we won 1st place in the internal competition and 3rd place in the Southeastern Conference Competition against 50 other teams face(s):

It's a major award!! Congratulations babe. You definitely earned it. Now just 3 more weeks of school left for you, and we're home free until this baby shows up. Then the real work begins :)

Would you like to see Cory's robot in action? 

This is Sparky going up the ramp to deliver a block. No rails!

And here is a much longer video of the main course and a bunch of block drop offs, if you're into that sort of thing:

I'm so proud of you babe! Now if only you could teach it change diapers. :)