Vicious, Vicious Cycle... (Week 27)

I'm writing this blog with my head hung in shame. It's been almost a month since I've been on here, and for my thousands of adoring fans, I sincerely apologize. This past month has held lots of work and growth, starting with the nursery. Much of our free time (for which there doesn't seem to be much of) has been used to work on the completion of the nursery. I am very proud to report that we are extremely close to finishing it and we are so excited. Here are a couple of pictures: We are very happy with it. And, if you're coming to the shower at our house this weekend, you'll get to see it first-hand. By the way, if you didn't receive an invitation to this weekend's shower, chances are you'll get one for a later shower. Don't be sad...

Jenn has been going through a lot of changes. Madalyn is growing very quickly and it's taking its toll on Jenn. She's having weird pains that seem to have no reason to be there, but they bother her all the same. She has also been very tired. She tries to come home and take a nap on occasion, but her nesting prevents her from slowing down. I believe that this is the vicious cycle that plagues the pregnant woman--she should (and probably wants to) rest, but her nesting phase has kicked into high gear and the cob-webs under the bookshelf are at this point an issue of national concern. So, she does her duty as an American and cleans the bookshelf, exhausting herself further. Vicious, vicious cycle...

Jennifer has been watching this lame TV show recently, "Secret Life of An American Teenager" or something like that. Anyway, it's this high school girl who gets pregnant and everyone dealing with all that drama. And today, we watched the movie "Baby Momma". It was a good movie, but I'm surrounded by pregnancy. It's like the bellies are closing in around me...

I can't believe we're this far along in this whole thing. It seems like just yesterday that we found out that we were pregnant. Actually, it seems like just yesterday that we started dating. In all actuality, that was more than nine years ago. Our relationship has done a lot of changing recently. I'm not really sure why, but we've been having more fun with each other than ever before. We've always been a couple who have had a great time together, but recently we've stepped it up a notch. There is not a day that goes by that we don't bust out laughing about something. It's really great, and tonight Jennifer said that she hopes our relationship doesn't change after the baby comes. I hope that we can let Madalyn enhance the fun we have together.

One day, Madalyn will read all of this and I want her to know how happy her mother and I are to have her in our lives. Even though she's still in Jennifer's belly, she's become part of our lives. When I talk to Jenn, I ask her how Maddy is doing. We are getting her room ready and we sit on the couch and watch her kick against our hands. She is not just a fetus to us, she's our daughter.

We went to the doctor today and she said that Jennifer is progressing just fine. She's gained between 13 and 15 lbs. We disagree on how much she's gained this past couple weeks. I say she's gained 3, but Jenn thinks she's gained 5. I guess it's her right to be wrong.

There is so much that's happened in the past month as far as Madalyn's growth that I'm not going to list it all. If you're interest, as always, you can check out www.babycenter.com . But, for this week, Week 27, here is what's going on:

"This week, your baby weighs almost 2 pounds and is about 14 1/2 inches long with her legs extended. She's sleeping and waking at regular intervals, opening and closing her eyes, and perhaps even sucking her fingers. With more brain tissue developing, your baby's brain is very active now. While her lungs are still immature, they would be capable of functioning — with a lot of medical help — if she were born now. Chalk up any tiny rhythmic movements you may be feeling to a case of baby hiccups, which may be common from now on. Each episode usually lasts only a few moments, and they don't bother her, so just relax and enjoy the tickle."

Have a good week. I'm going to try and post more, but I'm not going to promise anything...