Mancation 2009

This past Memorial Day weekend I went fishing and camping with my friend from Winston Salem, Evan Hawkins. We usually do one backpacking or fishing trip each year and this year we took a bigger trip since things will slow down a bit once Zachary's born. We borrowed his dad's canoe and went up to the New River near Blacksburg, VA. This river is famous for smallmouth bass and is considered the best river in the southeast for that fish.

Each day we floated down the river for several miles, anchoring the boat at good spots. The fishing was very good and the scenery was beautiful. On Saturday we probably caught around 80 fish between the two of us. Most of it was the smaller rock bass (aka "redeye") and brim, but we did catch some good smallmouth bass here and there. I caught the biggest fish of the weekend, a 14 inch smallmouth on a "bloody bugger" fly that I tied (white woolly bugger with red hackle). I also caught a very feisty 13 inch smallmouth that I fought for about 3 or 4 minutes. Evan also got several smallies in the 10-13 inch range. On our last day we both kept some fish to bring home. I managed to catch 6 good sized redeyes but had no luck with smallmouth that day.

This picture was my personal favorite. When removing the hook from this redeye I noticed he recently chowed down on a crawfish.

30 weeks

Here I am at 30 weeks, I can't believe there are only 10 weeks left! I still have a lot to do before Zach arrives, but we're starting to get things done. This weekend I assembled the stroller and snapped the visor on the car seat and I have to admit that I've gone in to his room, sat on the bed, and just stared at it every day since. We have several other pieces of baby equipment, but there is just something about that tiny little car seat that makes the anticipation grow more and more!

From What to Expect: Your baby's height and weight haven't changed much in the past week, but the big news is your baby's brain gain. Until now, the surface of your baby's brain was smooth. Now, your fetus's brain is taking on those characteristic grooves and indentations. The reason for this change in appearance? Those wrinkles allow for an increased amount of brain tissue — a necessary change as your developing baby prepares for life outside your womb, and the street smarts he or she will need.

Another big change at 30 weeks pregnant: Your baby's bone marrow has taken over production of red blood cells (before, tissue groups and then the spleen took care of producing the blood cells). This is an important step for your baby, because it means he or she is better able to thrive on his or her own once born (with a little TLC from you, of course).

Greg vs. the nightmares

Now, I've always been a vivid dreamer which unfortunately has come with sleep walking and talking at inconvenient times . . . there was the time I walked into the living room where Mom and Dad were watching TV and I tried to convince them that we need to save all of the fluffy bunnies. And the time I thought I was running away in the middle of the night to escape certain danger and was rushing to get ready to leave our house . . . I awoke several hours later to find that the hair gel and makeup I had applied in my sleep was, in fact, real.

More recently I have run around the house in the middle of the night flipping on lights, certain of the of the fact that Greg and I had overslept and missed our breakfast plans, only to have Greg wake me up mid flight and inform me that it was still dark outside, I hadn't missed anything. Oh and let's not forget when I insisted that Greg kill the "things" that were growing from our door frame. He was fully awake and tried to reason with me that nothing was growing from our door . . . eventually giving up and just telling me to go back to sleep . . .

But I don't think anything can top yesterday morning (as in 2 am) when I woke Greg from a deep sleep screaming in terror that someone was chopping my leg off.

It was a Charlie horse.

I wish I could encourage Greg and let him know that this will pass with the pregnancy . . . but I have parents and 2 sisters who can unfortunately confirm that this does not appear to be something I will grow out of.

I passed!

Today I went in to the drs office for my Glucose Tolerance test (to test for Gestational Diabetes) and I passed! The hardest part about the test was not eating for 2 hours prior and then for an hour while I waited for them to prick my finger. The drink you have to take (which I'd read some apparently exaggerated stories about) was similar to flat sprite. No biggie.

There hasn't been much of anything new happening here at the Ross house. I had a little burst of energy last week, which was wonderful, but I'm starting to feel all of my energy being sapped up by Zach. That's ok, I guess . . . I just keep assigning him chores for when he gets old enough . . . we'll make this fair =)

Greg and I did get to go and pick up my crib from my parent's house last night. It's sitting in pieces in the nursery right now, but hopefully by the end of this week it will be assembled! Bringing that home last night made everything seem so much more real. Hopefully in less than 3 months (assuming I don't go too far beyond my due date), there will be a baby sleeping in there!