Belly Touching

At work yesterday, my co-worker Rob informed me that I've reached the stage in my pregnancy where he's tempted to touch my belly.  He also said that he never would... I guess working around all women gives you temptations that you have to resist all the time. :)

This isn't my belly...but it's a cute belly.  So you get to see it.

It got me thinking about belly touching and the various types of people out there.  I'm seeing some distinct categories.

• Non-acknowledgers-- This group, usually comprised men, see I'm preggo but don't mention or acknowledge.  I could probably be giving birth in front of them and they would still try to talk to me about their latest common assessment.  
• Talkers, but no move to touch--This group likes to talk about my belly all the time (they usually call me cute, even if I look like arse), but keep their hands firmly in one place.
• Hover-ers--This group cracks me up, probably because I often fall into it.  Members make a move to touch me, stop short, and wave their hands around.  It's kind of like an aura-massage.  My internal conversation usually went something like this, "It's a belly and it's CUTE.  I want to touch it, but that's probably inappropriate...so this as close as I can get."
• Grabbers--Full on grabbers.  1 hand, 2 hands, they want a chunk of some baby belly.  I don't really mind this, as long as I know the person.  Well.  Like I have their phone number or a something in common with them.  I think the requirement to ask if you can touch decreases significantly based on your level of closeness to me and if you've touched me before.  If we've hugged, you can touch.  No problem.  If I don't know your name, it would freak me out.
• "Others"--This group goes rouge.  They make their own rules.  For instance, a lady I work with (as in she works in one of my buildings.  We don't work "together" but see each other when I'm stealing chocolate from someone else's office) came up to me and said, "Look at the belly!  I wanna touch!"  The then proceeded to stick her index finger out and make the "airplane" motion (like she was feeding a baby) and poke me with one finger.   Weird.  She's weird, so I wasn't surprised.  Lesson here: don't do weird things when touching my belly or I will tell everyone I see.

I think I've been lucky so far.  No strangers have attempted to touch me yet.  I really don't want strangers to touch me, pregnant or not, so I'm grateful.  The only male who has touched my belly is David...maybe this is because the men I work with are few and far between AND have been drilled about sexual harassment.  Or maybe men just don't care.

Gallery Wall... someday

I've decided that I want to put a gallery wall in our living room.

I'm pretty much a sucker for everything Young House Love (LINK) does, but my sister-in-law Cher has one in her house too, and I think it looks neat.

Aside: Young House Love's birth story yesterday (LINK) freaked me out.

NOT COMFORTING.  

I think I might have cried.

Hormones, people.

So, I gathered a bunch of frames we had in corners and drew their shapes onto paper.

I then taped the paper to the wall and moved it around for about 2 hours.

David thought I was crazy.  He also thinks that gallery walls look cluttered, but I let him turn the basement into Mizzou-Threw-Up-Here Land, so he knows to be quiet about my decorating choices :)

Anyway, after all this taping, here's the layout I think I'm going with.

So, yeah, I have no idea what that blob is in the photo...

but it was in all of them.  Ghost?

Also, ignore the debris.  

I can't be bothered to clean before photographing, obviously.

Right now, I think it looks smashing.  

This weekend, my plan is to get all the frames hung and slowly start filling them with items. 

Right now, only 4 frames (and the B) have decor on the inside...and I kind of like that.  It gives me room to add photos/memorabilia of The Cactus.

I'll share photos when I get it done!

Someday.

Hiatus

It looks like it might be time for me to either take a hiatus from running or cut WAAAAY back.

It's starting to hurt.  Ok, it's not starting to hurt--it's just plain hurting.  A lot.

On Easter, I woke up early and, because we were going to late church and it wasn't raining yet, decided to go for a run.  I love running--even now.  My body loosens up and I have time to think.  I was feeling good.

So I ran 4 miles...rather than the 3 I was planning to do.  I got home, showered, and got ready for church.

It was after church that I started to really hurt.  I think it must have been sitting for an hour, but I was moving slow on the way out to the car.  We went out to lunch and I could barely walk out to the car after the meal.

I spent the rest of the way whining and aching.

It's my hips.  They hate me.

Yesterday, I was still really sore.

It's frustrating, but my doctor told me I would know when it was time to stop running...and I guess I know.

Booo.

Happy Easter!

 After the storm scare of the weekend, David and I were excited to learn that the only damage was broken glass on our side storm door.  It's actually a door we've been meaning to replace since we moved in, so we're not upset at all...and, as a bonus, Jess cleaned up a lot of the glass when she came by to let Maggie Roo out, so we didn't even have to do that!  

Thanks, Jess, by the way :)

Our church had Easter service at The Pageant, which was awesome.  

They had some of the best snacks, including candy-coated peeps.

I don't normally go for peeps, but if you dip it in candy, I'm there!

I spent a lot of the afternoon lazing around the house, 

but did manage to get the window treatments completed for the nursery! 

Aren't they neat?  I used this link as a tutorial.  

I think, with fabric, the whole project cost less than $10 for both windows.

Here's the fabric I chose--on sale from Joanne's!  

It's got navy, yellow, and lime green.

Things are coming together for The Cactus!

Because everyone else in the blog world is doing it…and I'm not really very thrilling... enjoy!

A. Age: 29
B. Bed size: Queen.  Someday, I'll get a King-sized bed.
C. Chore you hate: I don't like putting away dishes from the dishwasher.  Not sure why, but it bugs me.
D. Dogs: Maggie Roo-bearski, Attorney at Paw.  I love my Roo-Bear.  LOVE.
E. Essential start to your day:Checking email and facebook.  I feel caught up.
F. Favorite color: Lavender, Sage Green, lots of things.
G. Gold or silver: Silver.  Or White Gold.  Or Platinum :)
H. Height: 5’7
I. Instruments: I used to play the piano and trumpet, but never very well.
J. Job title: Progress Monitoring Coach at my job, but trained as a Social Worker
K. Kids: Cactus, eta July 2011
L. Live: Saint Louis
M. Mom’s name: Nancy
N. Nicknames: I don't really go by nicknames (except just shortening Darcie to Darc), but David likes to call me Booksy.  It's cute and I think it started when Maggie got called Roosky.
O. Overnight hospital stays: None, yet
P. Pet peeve: People flaking and general rudeness
Q. Quote from a movie: My colors are blush and bashful.
R. Right or left handed: Left
S. Siblings: 3 biological, 4 (almost 5) in-law.
T. Time you wake up: 5:30 or 6, depending on which school I'm at that day
U. Underwear: Usually something comfy from VS, but now nothing's comfy.  I did buy some maternity pairs, which do not make me feel pretty.
V. Vegetables you dislike: beets, lima beans.  I pretty much love everything else, though.
W. What makes you run late: Working out and then having to shower.  If I could forfeit showering, I would be 5 minutes early everywhere.
X. X-Rays you’ve had: Teeth, wrist, ankle, head (from when big brother hit me in the head with a bat)
Y. Yummy food you make: I love to cook, but whether it's yummy or not is debatable.  I like making bread and cake.  Go carbs!
Z. Zoo- favorite animal: Anything with a funny name.  The Somali Wild Ass always gets a chuckle.

Birth Poll

Are we close enough to set up a birth pool?

I'm not sure, but here you go....

http://bebepool.com/darciebrady

I'll have to think of rules if people want to bet money...any help/advice on that?

The World's Most Perfect Rug

Link

This would look amazing in the nursery.

But it's out of my price range... so I'm going to stalk Ikea and see what I can do.

Also, I have no idea what size rug is appropriate.  I might have to get out that blue tape and try to figure it out.