29 Weeks

First of all, it has been a really long time since I've posted pictures. My apologies, but see I've been busy. First I sorted my entire household into "stuff we will need during the summer" and "stuff that can sit in storage" and "stuff to sell/leave behind." Then I packed/mailed/sold/left it. Then I spent a week and a half on the road, including 12 hours on ferries and 16 in the car and 5 on a jet. Then I spent two months in another state, 3000 miles from home (oh, wait, without a home...) where the weather was rediculously hot. I put dozens of hours of work in at my house (you know, the one I own, which isn't the one I live in). I found new renters for that house, and chased down an apartment for us to move into when we got back up here. Then we spent another 5 hours flying back up here, and 4 hours driving to our new city. Since then I've spent two weeks unpacking and organizing my new home, along with about 12 hours worth of traveling to other cities to do things like get the rest of our stuff from storage or *ahem* buy a couch. All the while I've been chasing a toddler, trying to get him to sleep through the night, helping two kids get settled into a new place, helping one kid get ready to start at a new school (including riding the bus which he's never done before)...
All of this is why I feel tired I think...more tired than at this stage of the last pregnancy anyway. I don't think being 3 years older is enough to make me feel this much more tired...but then again, who knows.
In any case, here are some photos:

28 wks with Bear ~~~~~~~and~~~~~~~28 wks with Eagle

And one showing the belly (cuz I know you all thought I'd been stuffing a pillow in there all this time)...complete with stripes. I haven't gotten any new ones this time...not yet anyhow. Fingers crossed that Bear gave me enough stripes that I won't need any more! (I look kinda tired or something...hmm...wonder why that is...)


And now for a few minutes on the progress of the little guy...
He is 15-16 inches long, and about 2.5lbs. He can open and close his eyes, hear us when we talk to him (or even when we don't), and he has started being interactive!
His wiggles are no longer "little flutters" like when he weighed mere ounces. Instead he is able to push things right off my belly, and his movement is easily visible from the outside! He's big enough that if I lay on my side for a while I can feel his spine...if I prod around a bit I can push on his bum (which of course moves his whole body, and tends to press his head into my bladder, so I find it just as annoying as he probably does!). I've also been able to locate hands or feet a couple of times (I can't tell which, but they are small, bony, and he always punches me when I grab them!)
Names are still under debate...we think we've found a first name, so that's something, but for some reason we are really struggling with a middle name this time around. Oh well, at least we have something to call him besides "little brother" and "the baby"...but I will feel better when we have his whole name figured out.
In the meantime, I am meeting with a couple of local care providers, so within a week or two I'll finally know who is going to be attending me for this birth. It's a weird thing to not get that figured out until the last 10 weeks, but I guess this pregnancy has been weird in a lot of ways. ☺