Happy Due Date

Somebody doesn't seem to remember that her due date is TODAY...

the last link of the 40-week chain.

 

Well, I guess she still has a few hours to decide if today is the day, but we won't be mad if she takes a little bit more time. Papa bear is still getting over his flu/food poisoning nastiness, after all. We want the whole fam to be in top-notch condition for the big event, right?

These next days of waiting should be nice and relaxing though. After finals + baby preparations + graduation + lots of friends/family/visitors—it's nice to finally just kick back with Jacob and do NOTHING. A day or two to recuperate from the busyness this past month has been should be healthy for the both of us.

Well, I'm running out of material here, so how about more pictures, eh?

Still so obsessed with decorating onesies.

Jacob made the one with the white elephant.

I'm pretty proud of my unicorn—well, it was merely a horse, but then I made it a unicorn. 

Why not, right?

I've totally been rocking the husband shirts. Why are all my clothes shrinking?

yes, the paparazzi caught me again. and yes, i brush my teeth with my eyes closed

if i had had the baby on the mountain, we so could've done the Lion King pose.

Well Baby.

Whether you're born or not,

Happy Due Date.

p.s.

but really. get here soon.

Mighty and Pregnant

Just three days before my due date, I decided it was time—I needed to hike the Y. I wasn't sure if I would make it to the top, but with our slow-n-steady pace (like really slow) and the encouragement of Jacob + other hikers on the trail (I guess I should've known I would attract a lot of attention... still, it was fun to feel like everyone on the trail was rooting for me), me and baby made it to our destination.

Jacob took lots of pictures to document this monumental climb/peak of awesome-ness in my pregnancy.

made it to the top—LIKE A BOSS.

Now, I don't want to boast—but I felt like a pretty mighty pregnant woman. The words, "I FEEL HAPPY OF MYSELF!" kept coming to mind, and I desperately wished this kid were there to give a speech for me.

Jacob and I were sorta hoping this kind of activity might jump-start Baby's entrance into the world, but  STILL nothing seems to be happening just yet. If hiking the Y won't do it, I don't know what will...


I do have the feeling that whenever this labor stuff does kick in, I'm gonna be wishing I was hiking the Y...

wish me luck.

This Guy

This guy is graduating AND becoming a dad this week.*

Can you say CHAMP?

*we'll see if baby girl knows that her due date is next monday...

LIKE A BOSS

Another embarrassing pic taken by Jacob for your viewing pleasure:

Up until a few days ago, I was feeling pretty good about my track record as a pregnant woman at 38 weeks. Pregnancy? It ain't no thang. I was calm, cool, and confident. Some ladies can't hang—but I was handling it all (as Kid President would say) "LIKE A BOSS!"

Two more weeks to go. What's the worst that could happen? I'm basically invincible, right?

And Theeennnn... I threw out my back. Even worse, while CLEANING. Yes, after all my efforts to stay physically active (exercise, stretch, hike, prenatal yoga, etc.), I somehow destroyed my back while picking up around the house. While being a GOOD WIFE for goodness sake! Guess I'm no invincible mama after all.

For a good 48 hours, I could barely walk or even stand up straight. I was hunched over like an old lady and even tempted to use a cane. A walker sounded dreamy. Admittedly, these were some discouraging 48 hours. I felt pretty useless—although I did decorate some more onesies and had a fantastic time watching every episode of Call the Midwife on Netflix (or "Midwife Abbey" as Jacob calls it). But I was mostly pretty useless. I was also praying that Baby Robinson wouldn't be coming any time soon. I didn't want her to arrive while her mama was so weak and disabled.

Then a genius idea occurred to me: I should see a chiropractor. (DUH.) Long-story-short, Mr. Chiropractor fixed me up real good and adjusted my back—LIKE A BOSS. Apparently, my sacroiliac joint was stuck forward, which explains the "old lady" posture. Who knew?!

I'm still not exactly sure why I am blogging about this, but I think the moral of the story is that I'm not an invincible pregnant woman. *Pride being swallowed* All these months, when people tried to do things for me I would tell them, "Oh come on. I'm pregnant, not disabled!" And that was true, but I found out that I'm a little more fragile than I knew. Lesson learned.

Still, I condition this "moral" with the following:

Mortal? 

Yes. 

Fragile? 

Perhaps—

But I'm still a BRICK HOUSE.

p.s.

I had the doc "check" me for the first time today. It doesn't seem like Baby is any hurry, and I'm cool with that. 1 cm though. Whatever that information is worth.

p.p.s

Seriously. Thank heavens for chiropractors. I honestly wanted to hug that man so badly, but I got the feeling he just wanted me to take my ice pack and leave. Dude, can I at least brush that dirt off your shoulder? What a Bad-A.

decorating onesies

i found this awesome tutorial for decorating onesies with freezer paper stencils, and have been going bananas with it ever since. i'm probably having waaaayyy too much fun with this...

a pink T-rex & a blue rose.

i actually dyed these ones before painting them. i was getting sick of white—my baby needs color in her wardrobe!

girls can like dinosaurs, right? i always did. people who know me understand my obsession with Jurassic Park—seeing it tonight in 3-D, yo!

anyway, i'll probably be making more of these... cuz i'm OBSESSED and it's fun to paint and stuff. any ideas for more stencil shapes for me to create? if not, I'll probably just keep making animals + extinct/mythical creatures. i LIKE that stuff, and if Baby Robinson is my daughter, she will too.

38 weeks

Recent photos Jacob has taken of me...

"oh no! the paparazzi..."

"king louis the xiv legs"

"downward dog"—really flattering position for a 9-month pregnant girl

waiting for the doc

Me (in each of these situations): Why do you insist on taking the most awkward, unflattering pics of me all the time???

J: What do you mean? You look CUTE!

These aren't even the worst of it.

Birthday Boy

Dear Jacob,

I really love this photo of you...

I've been looking at it a lot lately and hoping that our baby girl inherits that
same gap-tooth-nautical-stay-puft-marshmallow-munchkin-baby look from you.

By the way, she still has 12 hours to decide if she wants to share a birthday with you!

However, if she also inherits your humble nature and indifference to the spotlight,
she probably won't want to steal your thunder.

Well, I could say a lot of things to you on your birthday,

but it would probably get really mushy really fast,
and so I'll spare publishing it on the internet for all to read.

Just accept my two birthday wishes for you:

to have a wonderful day

and know that you are loved times ∞

love,

holli 

p.s.

BONUS WISH: to get all your homework done—but if you don't, know that it will be okay. You're GRADUATING!!! and we're going to TUCANOS TONIGHT!! GONZAAAAGA!! *kid president dance*

37 weeks: FULL TERM

I hiked the Y with these goofy ladies on Saturday. Okay okay... so I didn't get too far, but it was still decent exercise for someone in my current state of gestation, right? It felt sooo nice to get out and hike in the fresh mountain air. I honestly didn't want to turn back, but Jacob (not pictured) had to go to Priesthood session of Conference and I knew I couldn't keep up with the rest of the non-pregnant crew. Still, I'd like to go back and see if I can hike a little further. 

You guys. Today I am FULL TERM. I honestly feel like I still have some time ahead of me, but I'm wrapping my head around the idea that anything from this point on is free game. Baby Robinson can come any time she feels ready to do so.

Two big things I still need to do before she gets here — 1) write my birth plan.  2) pack a hospital bag. I think once I get these two tasks out of the way, I'll feel more at ease and ready to face whatever comes. These are my goals for this week.

Any tips from wise, experienced mothers on both of these tasks? What are some "must-haves" that I should pack for the hospital? Is there a proper way to write a birth plan? I mean, I can write a good resume, cover letter, and pretty decent essays, etc. But a BIRTH PLAN? Why didn't they teach me this in college?

pregnant portrait

my good friend, amy, crashed at our place for awhile while moving/finding an apartment here in Utah.

she drew this portrait of me on our whiteboard.

this is one of the many reasons that i love her.

also, she brought me some slab pizza and shared her giant bag of *cadbury eggs.

oh yeah, and she left some amaaazing hagen dazs caramel cone ice cream in the freezer (for the baby, obviously).

amy sure knows how to be a friend to a pregnant woman.

amy, you have set a high bar for future house guests.

you may return and sleep on our air mattress whenever you desire—just don't forget to bring the goods!

*MOST ADDICTING CANDY EVER. but i've decided that there's a negative correlation between the number of eggs one eats and one's self-esteem. meaning, i'm suffering bad right now/perhaps having an existential crisis... WHO AM I?? WHAT AM I?!? *reaching for more sugar-coated chocolate eggs and stuffing them in face*

Magic Song: LITTLE GIRL BLUE

 I'm not blue.

It's just great rainy day music.

"Little Girl Blue," Janis Joplin live (1969)

Pretty amazing that she was already considered "legendary" by the age of 27.

I've got 2 years and not much hope of achieving legend status by then. Or ever.

But maybe I'll take a long, fruitful life over being a legend.

As long as I can still enjoy the music.

Here's the studio version:

p.s. I'm pretty good at imitating her raspy "oooh" that she does throughout the song (quintessentially at 2:50 in the above video). Jacob really enjoys this. I mostly do it to get a reaction out of him—otherwise, I think it's just destroying my vocal chords.

36 weeks

Dude. 

Only one more week and I'm considered FULL TERM.

I always thought 9 months of pregnancy sounded like an eternity, but it has flown by so so fast.

A few updates:

We are planning to move to Austin, TX at the end of May. Jacob scored a summer job with a cool engineering company there, and we will be returning to Provo in the Fall so he can start his Master's at BYU.

As excited as I am about this, I'll admit I'm dealing with some anxiety about moving with a newborn. Feel free to assure me (*cough cough* LIE TO ME *cough*) that this will be easy and not stressful at all. Also, I'd appreciate any moving tips. Would it be easier to fly or drive to Texas with a one-month-old?

Trying to find apartments that offer 3-month leases is annoyyyiiinnnnggg. Hopefully we'll pin one down this week.

There's still so much I need to do before this little one gets here! At the same time, I'm hoping she'll arrive sooner than later. I think she might appreciate a little bit of time to get used to life outside the womb before we take her on a long journey to the "lone star" state.

This clip pretty much sums up my feelings about getting dressed to go anywhere lately. BUT WHAT WOULD I WEAR!? Stupid... ugly... out-of-date! That's it. I'm not going.

My biggest pregnancy woe these past few days is that my belly has been so itchy it's stoopid. Coconut oil has been a soothing remedy for this, and the tropical smell makes me feel like I'm at the beach. It's also handy to have a husband who is willing to be your personal itchy-belly masseuse.

Baby, could you please just tell me when you're getting here? Even just a clue? Pleeeeaasssse?