Your Pregnancy Week by Week

I kind of liked this book up to this point. It's informative without being alarmist, unlike What to Expect When You're Expecting, which has earned a spot buried in the pile of crap that will be Baby Charlie's room. It's to-the-point, factual, and generally speaking has a lot of useful information. Of course it also has its downsides, like the corny "Dad's Corner" in each week reminding the dads-to-be that they should help with the housework and dinner preparation every so often because their wives are probably a little tired. ("Every so often" my foot. This is the updated version and they still talk like we're stuck in the 1950s)

Anyway, to the original point. So I was reading the section for this week and I came to the "How You Are Feeling" or whatever part, where they tell you how big you should be and how you should be feeling. I start reading and all is fine until it says that I should still be able to comfortably bend over to tie my shoes.

Hold the phone. I haven't been able to comfortably bend over to tie my shoes for the last 3 weeks or so. I know I'm not alone here, either. It has become such an ordeal to get my shoes on and tied every morning it's not even funny. I have to sit on the stairs and step into my shoes, then force my leg up in the general direction of my lap and hope I can grab my laces. God help me if something important falls on the floor, I have to squat all the way down to pick it up. There's no bending over in my world anymore.

Just thought I'd share. So we've been working hard to get the disaster that is our house into some kind of manageable shape. We started with 5 rooms to paint and we've gotten through two so far. The new floor is being installed in the office next Monday, almost exactly 18 months since the leaky bathroom was discovered. I can't wait to actually have an office again instead of having to rely on the Windows 2000 laptop on the coffee table. Just in time for my comp exams this fall/winter and the writing of the big D.

Here's what Baby Charlie's room looks like right now with all of the stuff that has been temporarily displaced:





We have a looooooooooooooooong way to go.