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Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Bad News Bears and Other Miscellaneous Items

I need to start this post off by saying THANK YOU SO MUCH for all of the input you've given me on our nursery dilemma!  I had so many comments, e-mail, Facebook and phone calls with advice, and all of it was so helpful and we are so appreciative.  While both sides had their pros and cons, the general consensus was not to invest in the dresser at this time.  The following points were the main reasons behind this suggestion:
  • Baby clothes are smaller than you think, and don't take up as much room as you are anticipating.
  • Babies grow so quickly and will grow out of things so fast, that between swapping clothes that fit for clothes that don't, etc. we'll have plenty of room.
  • Hanging the clothes up in the closet is a better idea, because you can see everything.  This makes it easier to organize.  Additionally, baby is more likely to wear all of her clothes because it is easier to see them when they are spread out and hanging up than folded on top of one another.
  • While the dresser is not a bad idea, the book shelf may be better, because it can grow with baby - you can always update it to match any room in the house where you may need it.  Additionally, as she grows her needs will change, and it will be a good place to get her started early on storing her books and toys.
So, there you have it!  I think what we've decided is to hold off on the dresser purchase, at least for now.  Once we get all of the furniture set up and in its proper place, we'll evaluate how much space we have.  I don't want the room to look too over-stuffed or over-furnished, so if we think we have room for a bookshelf, then we'll go from there.  You were all even kind enough to suggest where to get organizing baskets for pretty inexpensively!  Dan likes this plan, as it involves spending less money.  We won't tell him that the other general consensus was that she absolutely HAS to have a chandelier, especially since she can't have pink walls.  :-)

On that same note, regretfully I have come to the "bad news bears" portion of this post.  Brace yourselves.  Dan got a call from BBB yesterday telling us that there had been a mix-up.  The white dresser that was delivered was, in fact, our dresser.  It was entered into the system incorrectly.  The worse news is that apparently all of the furniture is made in China (wish that weren't the case, sigh!), and due to some kind of Chinese Holiday which is happening right now, the factories are closed for a month.  Which means that our estimated delivery date for the new dresser would be March 26.  SIGH.  Now, to be fair, that is worst case - when we ordered the furniture originally, they told us 16-18 weeks and it came in 4, but we weren't dealing with any factory closings then.  The woman who called was extremely apologetic, and Dan felt really bad for her - said he really thought she was going to cry.  They are currently calling all U.S. BBB stores to see if there is one in stock anywhere to send to us, but doubt this will be the case as the espresso finish is custom for whatever reason.  Dan has asked her to call back with a report on Friday, so that we can make a decision about what to do.  I am torn for several reasons.  I have absolutely fallen in love with this furniture.  That, coupled with the fact that there is not a chance in h*ll we will be able to agree on furniture twice in the same year, makes me not want to choose anything else and just wait it out.  We could just switch to white furniture, but I don't really want to do that either.  There is a good possibility that this furniture will be used for all future Baum babies, or at least the next one, and I just feel like the dark wood is more versatile.  SO, I guess our only choice is to order it and hope it comes in early.  But what if it doesn't?  What am I going to do with all of her stuff?  Not to mention, what do I do about a changing table, since I'm also planning to use the dresser as a changing table?  Someone at work today suggested that we ask if we can use the white one until ours comes in.  Not a bad suggestion, I don't think.  What a nightmare!  Hopefully we will get something good out of it....like a refund and getting to keep the furniture for free perhaps?  Let's hope someone from BBB follows my blog and obliges.  :-)

In order to not end the post on that sour note, I just wanted to take a minute to discuss a random current obsession: Zulily.  If you are a Mom or a Mom-to-be and have not heard of this site, you have GOT to sign up for it.  They have all sorts of amazing items for Moms and kids, and new deals come out every day.  Much like OKL, which I referred you to in a previous post, there are tons of great sales on this site - the difference is that it's geared towards Moms and kids (not just babies!).  They also often have excellent gift ideas.  Enough obsessing/gushing, but please do yourself a favor if you have not already signed up and do so!  I will leave you with a few of the things I've ordered recently (from Zulily of course) and am in love with.

I purchased the following today and can't wait for them to arrive:
Agoo leg warmers.  See Dan?  I didn't even get pink.  You're welcome.



Sweet little Trumpette sock set
 I did not purchase the following Trumpette socks, but I am pretty sad about it because they're pretty darn cute:
Finally, I will leave you with the cutest purchase of all.  These little guys arrived yesterday and I was so excited that I squealed: 
Ruffle Butts bloomers
Honestly, I don't think it gets any cuter than that.  Also, I can't figure out why that picture won't post correctly...it shows up the right way on my computer but won't upload to the blog that way.  Never had that problem before.

Hope that leaves you on a happy note on this hump day!  :-)

Sarah

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Nursery Dilemma

I guess if I am being honest, I have had quite a few nursery dilemmas...but I think this is the only one so far that you, my readers, will be able to help me with.  The others have mainly involved me being really indecisive as well as my husband hating everything I like, everything pink, and really every idea I have ever had in general.  Why he has an opinion is beyond me.  While we're at it, how do I convince him that I need a chandelier?  :-)  I went from being REALLY excited about the nursery, to stressed/not excited at all/kind of disappointed when I was told I couldn't paint it pink, and now back to excited again.  Is it too much to ask to have a pretty space for our little girl?!  I know, I know, I have a tendency to be overly dramatic, but whatever.

Anyway, so the dilemma I am currently having is related to furniture (I know, a dilemma in addition to BBB delivering the wrong dresser yesterday).  So far, the pieces we have purchased are:
  •  The crib (keep in mind all are dark wood, not white as shown):
  • The dresser/changing table combo (minus the hutch - the changing pad will just strap to the top of the dresser):
If anyone wants to buy me aforementioned hutch, I will gladly accept donations.  However, as it is not a necessity, we chose to forgo that option at this time.  I asked them to add it to our registry in case anyone was feeling generous (and because it will be discounted for registry completion), but I don't think they correctly added it because it doesn't show up.  Pretty though, huh?  We also bought a glider and ottoman, but that has nothing to do with this post so I won't post it.  Anyway, back to business.

So, in terms of storage, really the only thing we have is that dresser as well as a pretty big closet(please excuse the mess in the closet, we are waiting to organize until we have furniture!):

 

Over the weekend, we went to BBB to get some measurements to give to our oh-so-fabulous seamstress, Marcy, for our bedding.  Anyway, while we were in there, I was showing my Mom and Aunt Niecey our furniture, and we got to talking and then I started thinking...what if we don't have enough drawer space?   Especially since there is a cabinet in the changing table/dresser combo which limits drawer space even more, and babies have so much stuff to be stored outside of just clothes: diapers, wipes, onesies, blankets, towels, etc. - the list goes on and on!  If we were to purchase an additional dresser, it would be tall and beautiful like so:
So my question to you, dear readers and fellow Mommies (and even those of you who are not Mommies but have input!): do I need this extra dresser?  An alternative to this dresser that we have discussed is getting a tall book shelf, which could be used to house not only books but also organizing baskets for whatever we need.  In addition to the tall book shelf, we could invest in a good closet organization system from somewhere like the Container Store.  I THINK that option would save us some money, but we haven't priced out closet organization so I'm not sure.

So, what do you think?  Which of the following options should we choose?
     (a) Purchase the extra dresser, even though it may be the more expensive option.  It will provide the extra storage we need, and it matches the other furniture, so we'll be able to use it for a longer period of time.
     (b) Use a tall book shelf with organizing baskets and invest in a closet organization system.

One more argument in favor of the closet organization system that I forgot to mention before, is that when I was discussing this over the weekend with some friends, one Mom said that she would choose the bookshelf/closet option because if you hang up baby's clothes, you are more likely to get more wear out of them because you can easily see everything you have hanging all in one place as opposed to everything being folded and on top of each other.  A valid point that I would not have thought of.

So there you have it: my nursery dilemma.  Help me!  :-)

Sarah

Monday, November 28, 2011

29 Week Update

Two posts in one day - unheard of, I know!  As promised, here are my 29-week stats:

Size of Geronimina: A squash!  All of my e-mails this week say that her new developments are that she's growing really quickly and her energy is surging due to white fat depositing beneath her skin.  This means she'll be even more active (is that even possible?!), so I'm to expect more kicks/jabs to the ribs (still don't know how that's possible).  She weighs around 2.5 lbs and is slightly over 15 inches long from head to heel.  Here's her size this week:

Weight Gain So Far: Ugh, I seriously considered deleting this part of my post starting this week.  BUT, for consistency's sake, and because I think/hope that later on I'll loathe appreciate the updates, I decided to leave it.  Per the doctor's scale last week, I have gained...wait for it...238740927498327 19 lbs.  19 lbs!!!  Sighhhh.  I cried in the doctor's office after stepping off of the scale, and it was really embarrassing.  It was the ugly cry.  Like I said, embarrassing.  I know that the weight gain is normal and that it's worth it for baby girl to be healthy, but it's just so hard to wrap my mind around when I've spent such a long time trying to lose weight.  19 lbs is still perfectly normal at this point (both the nurses and the doctor reassured me of this) - most of the websites say that it is normal to have gained up to 25 lbs by now (!!!).  They also say that I will experience rapid weight gain from here on out.  Joy!

Cravings: Still sweets.  I have been trying to ignore that craving due to aforementioned weight gain, but so far it's only halfway working.  Also, I ate the equivalent of a meal that could feed an entire army at Thanksgiving - don't think that counts as a craving, but everything was soooooo good!

Aversions: None!

Symptoms: Same old.  REALLY tired - I know it is early in the third trimester but so far I think I am more tired now than I was in the first trimester, if that is possible.  It could just be the past week and all of the activity, we'll see.  Still heartburn, feels like I get it from just drinking water (literally I got it after eating pancakes the other day), nose bleeds, up all night using the restroom, swelling when I've overdone it (which seems to be often, I need to try to slow down but it's impossible with so much to do!).  I also have a new one, restless leg syndrome.  I got this a handful of times pre-pregnancy, so I didn't even know it was related, but I've gotten it a few times recently and then I read that it was a symptom in an update e-mail.  Who knew?

Movement:  She has not slowed down one bit.  Remember how I told you that the doctor asked me to start counting movements?  Let's just say she's met the minimum in less than 5 minutes every time I've counted.  I don't think we'll have any problems there!

What I Miss: Can't think of anything this week except maybe energy!  For example, last night I had every intention of starting to clean the house when we got home from out of town so that I could start putting up Christmas decorations this week, but the car ride drained me so much that I couldn't bring myself to do anything - and I only drove for the first half of it because I was so tired I was fighting falling asleep at the wheel and needed a nap!  Crazy.

Things I am Thankful For: Three f's this week: family, friends and my faith.  I've been feeling overwhelmed with how blessed we are.

What I’m looking Forward To:  Lots of things!  The month of December, because it contains a lot of fun activities such as Christmas parties, my birthday, decorating for Christmas, Christmas itself (Not to mention the awesome Hallmark, Lifetime and ABC Christmas movies that come along with it - so what if I've already been watching them?), visiting family, etc.  Also upcoming showers, which are still a ways away but I'm excited nonetheless after putting together all of my lists last week.  AND, I'm more excited now than ever before about getting started on the nursery.  The furniture came in today - well most of it anyway.  I noticed when they were unpacking the dresser that it was the wrong color, and I was seriously annoyed.  Turns out that was someone else's dresser and was just mis-tagged in the warehouse - ours hasn't come in yet.  False alarm.  Sigh!  Either way, I'm happy that the crib and glider/ottoman are here.  AND I think we've finally made some decisions (with the help of my BFF Sheila, who is an absolute genius - check her out!) and can start the painting/decorating process!  I have been debating posting about the progress as we do things vs. just posting pictures when it's complete.  Thoughts?

Signs of a Bump: I feel like it is growing bigger by the second/day:
Hot outfit, yes?  Please excuse the inside out shirt, also.  Not sure how I didn't notice that before.  Whoops!  They are getting to the point where they are not quite long enough - may have to go up another size soon.  Don't know if I can handle that in my fragile state!  :-)

Next Doctor Appointment: Next Wednesday, December 7th.  I know I've said it before, but I still can't believe I am already to the point where I have to go every two weeks!  I haven't heard anything from the doctor yet, so hopefully that's good news and it means I passed my glucose test.  Although, they were closed Thursday and Friday...so I guess if I still haven't heard anything by this Thursday, I'll be in the clear?!

I guess that's all for this week's update!  It is always so much longer than I expected.  Thank the Lord I am keeping up with it on the blog, because I sure haven't kept up with it in my pregnancy journal since approximately week 13.  Sorry, baby.  Slacker Mom, here.  Be back tomorrow!

Sarah


Is it really Sunday already?

I was so excited about a four-day weekend and I cannot believe it is already over! I also can't believe that we are almost into December. My birthday is in three weeks and Christmas is in four...oy! Geronimina will be here before we know it. Good thing our furniture is being delivered today (!!!) so she'll have something to sleep in. :-)


I wrote this post last night and was too lazy to turn on my computer and therefore was blogging from my iPhone, so this post was intended to be a short one. Just mainly wanted to show you two things I did over the weekend, but then I couldn't figure out how to make sure my iPhone was uploading pictures where I wanted them, so I decided I'd just hit the "publish" button this morning (pre Cyber-Monday shopping, woot!) when I could see it on my computer.  Anyway, here is the first thing I wanted to show you:

All of the great stuff I scored on Black Friday (consolidated into fewer bags so my husband wouldn't be annoyed, ha!)!  Those of you who are Facebook friends may remember this from my update, but I accidentally bought a lot for baby and myself and not a lot of gifts for other people.  Whoops!  That's what Cyber Monday is for, yes?  Thank the Lord for Amazon Prime is all I have to say on the matter.

The other thing I wanted to show you was how I got crafty over the weekend:


Long story on this, but the gist of it is that Dan and I went to a charity function a few weeks ago and there was a silent auction.  I saw a very similar wreath to this that I bid on, and was very disappointed when I didn't win.  I took one of the woman's cards and contacted her for pricing.  She wanted $50, which I thought was very reasonable, but Dan did not (go figure).  SO, I decided to make them.  Excluding the supplies I had to buy that we didn't have at Mom's (glue gun, extra glue sticks, paint and brushes), I ended up spending I think around $35 on materials - the wreath and ornaments were all 50% off at Hobby Lobby (LOVE that store).  Also, this wreath is MUCH bigger than the original one I bid on and got pricing for, so all in all I think it was a win - I definitely spent less making it than I would had I purchased it.  The wreath pictured above is the one I did for my Mom - the "E" is for Eaker.  Mine is not quite finished yet, but I will post photos along with a tutorial for anyone who is interested when I finish it, hopefully sometime this week.  Or if you are nice to me, perhaps I shall make you one since I now have all of the supplies.  :-)

Anyway that's all for now, tune back in tonight/tomorrow morning for our regularly scheduled programming: the 29 week update.  Lord, 29 weeks. 

Happy Monday!

Sarah

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Thankful

I am more thankful than I can put into words for all of the blessings in my life.  Today at lunch, my grandfather said something really profound that I thought was worth repeating.  He said that we shouldn't just be thankful today, but that we should be thankful every day, and while enjoying ourselves on Thanksgiving, we should also focus on Thanksliving.  Smart man, my Papa.

I am beyond thankful for more things than I have room to type, but this year I am especially thankful for the little animal (turkey maybe?  ha!) camping out (cooking? get it?)in my belly (Hopefully for a while longer...keep cooking baby girl!).  I am thankful for the greatest support system of family and friends anyone could ever ask for.  And I am thankful for these two:


Photo courtesy of Mark Potter Photography.  Isn't he fantastic?
Hope you've all had a wonderful day celebrating (and hopefully stuffing your faces off) with your families. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Sarah

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Dear Glucola...

...we are not friends.  And while we're at it, I'm no longer on speaking terms with the scale at the doctor's office, either.  In fact, I think maybe I'll start taking the "weight gain" section off of my weekly update.  Oy.

The glucola itself was not as bad as I anticipated.  I didn't get a choice on flavor - they just gave me the red fruit punch flavored one.  I kept it in the refrigerator for two weeks, and this morning about 25 minutes before I was going to drink it, I put it in the freezer for good measure.  Turns out that was a good idea - it was so cold that between the temperature and holding my nose the taste wasn't as bad as I anticipated.  You're supposed to drink all 50 grams within a five minute period, which I was worried about, but as it turns out I didn't need to be...I chugged the entire thing in less than 2 minutes.  Probably my cheerleader husband was partially responsible.  The whole time I was drinking, he was beating on the counter and yelling, "Chug! Chug! Chug!"  I felt like I was a 7-months pregnant whale at a frat party.  And then he was full of high fives when I finished.  Thanks, Danny!

Anyway, I digress (Did I use that in the correct context?).  So the glucola itself was not as bad as anticipated.  Did anyone ever take Dimetapp for anything when you were little?  It was always my favorite because it was the most delicious.  Anyway, glucola sort of tasted like a liquid form of Dimetapp on sugar crack.  Getting it down was easy - after the fact, when all of the sugar was just sitting on my stomach and churning, that was the hard part.  It took a LOT to keep that ish down.  The only thing that stopped me from yarfing was that they told me if I threw it up, I'd just have to drink it all over again.  No thanks.  So, I kept it down, arrived at my appointment early for the first time ever, and they drew my blood...a LOT of blood.  I'm already getting  a sweet bruise on my arm.  Hopefully that's the only time I'll have to do that.  :-)  If I fail, they'll let me know in 2-3 days.  If I pass, they'll tell me at my next appointment.  So, here's to hoping I don't hear from them until my next appointment in two weeks!  Side Note: I can't believe I've reached the point where I have to go to the doctor every two weeks.  NUTS.

I met with the doctor, and all is well with baby.  She's measuring perfectly, and her heartbeat was strong and steady at 139.  They also told me to start monitoring and counting her movements.  The doctor said that if she starts moving a lot, I'm to count her movements - she should be moving 10 times in a given hour.  It doesn't have to be every hour, because she has sleep cycles too, I just have to make sure that's happening once per day.  If she's moving more, it's not a problem, but if it's less, I'm supposed to try drinking a sugary drink and laying on my left side.  If that doesn't work, I'm to call the doctor.  Today I counted 12 movements in less than 5 minutes, so I don't anticipate us having any problems.  :-)

Hope everyone is traveling safely to be with your friends and family on this lovely day before Thanksgiving!  I'm doing some of my cooking tonight so that I can sleep in a little tomorrow, and then we have dinner plans with some friends.  We're hitting the road tomorrow and I couldn't be more excited!

Yay turkey!  And dressing.  And creamed corn, mashed potatoes, mac & cheese, sweet potato casserole, broccoli casserole, fruit salad, many more items and delicious desserts.  Ha!

Sarah

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

To flip, or not to flip?

There has been a lot of talk about Christmas lists lately, and while I know that this may come as a shock to all many of you, I have had an extraordinarily hard time coming up with gift ideas for myself this year.  Also, my birthday is the week before Christmas, which means double the ideas to come up with.  Normally I can come up with tons of things, but this year I am having a hard time.  It is probably partially because a lot of times I ask for clothes or gift cards to my favorite clothing stores, and seeing as how my regular haunts do not make clothes for whales, I will not be requesting those this year.  It is probably also partially because I have baby on the brain 24/7, and all I can think about are things I want for her.  Very Mom-like, eh?  ;-)

Dan and I are not exchanging gifts this year - just doing stockings (and I have been sworn to a $50 limit) since our gift to each other was the iMac, iPad and Apple TV even though he monopolizes all of the above and I never get to actually use them, but whatever.  Anyway, last week he was asking what I wanted for my birthday, and I said "to paint the nursery pink."  Of course he said no because he hates me and then asked what else, so I said, "for you not to question any more of my decisions on the nursery and just go with it."  Seriously, I cannot express to you how that would be the best gift ever. In the WHOLE world.  Period. And then I told him that also a pair of Tory Burch glitters wouldn't hurt.  :-)
I mean honestly, how does anyone resist those?  I also told him if he doesn't like the glitters, he can just buy me the whole store.  A girl can dream, yes?

Anyway, we still have to make Christmas lists for family, sigh.  I really would just like money since I can't decide - I could use it for nursery splurges, things around the house I've been wanting, etc.  A lot of people don't like to give money, however, so back to square one.  Two "big" things that Dan and I have been discussing are a nice camera as well as a video camera for when baby girl arrives, so I've been telling people Amazon gift cards will do the trick as well.  Which brings me to my dilemma:

By "video camera," I mean I just want one that is small, easy to carry, user-friendly, and is easy to transfer the video onto computers (would this fall under the "user friendly" category?).  That's not too much to ask, right?  I wasn't sure which to get, so I put Dan in charge of research since he likes crap like that.  Through his research (which mainly consisted of consumer reports, Amazon.com user reviews, Wired and various other techie websites that I know nothing about), he determined that the best one on the market currently (based mainly on consumer reviews, price and functionality) is the flip:
Cute little guys, aren't they?  Especially the one on the left.  How fun is that?  Anyway, our dilemma is this: the flip is going to cost around $200.  Not bad for a video camera, I don't think, and it's gotten rave reviews everywhere.  However, after discussion with a few of my Mom friends, the general consensus is that video cameras are not a necessity and are not used as much as anticipated.  Additionally, we both have iPhones (Dan has the 4 and I have the 4s), which apparently take super awesome video as well.

SO, with all of that said, my questions to you are as follows:
  1. For anyone who is a techie and knows these things, is it better to just stick with our iPhones or should we invest in a flip?  The one good thing about the iPhone is that we know they'll always be there when we need them, since we don't go anywhere without them.  The downside is, they are both used for work and we don't want to take up a lot of memory space and therefore cause them to run slowly, etc.
  2. If you are a Mom, did you get a video camera for when baby arrived?  If so, do you use it as much as you thought you would?  Is it worth it for us to get one of these?
PPPLLLEEEAAASSSEEEE, pretty please with sugar on top leave me some comment love and tell me what to do here!

Why is it that these posts always turn out to be way longer than anticipated?  Dan is on a man date tonight with some friends, so Layla and I are having a girls night filled with lots of cuddling and chick flicks. Unfortunately, said cuddling and chick flicks are not accompanied by our normal diet of oreos and chocolate fudge brownie ice cream due to aforementioned glucose torture test tomorrow.  SIGH. 

I hope everyone's (hopefully short) work week is going well and flying by.  The closer we get to Thursday, family, and lots of food, the better!  I know I personally cannot wait for tomorrow afternoon.  Bring on the Holiday long weekend!

Toodles!

Sarah

Monday, November 21, 2011

28 Week Update

Today marks the first day of my third trimester, and I absolutely cannot believe it.  Time has just absolutely flown during this pregnancy! I am excited, terrified, anxious, and excited all over again.  On one hand, I cannot WAIT to meet this little girl…on the other, I hope she stays put for a while yet because I need more time (crossing legs as we speak)!  This week’s stats:

Size of Geronimina: Seriously for the past three weeks in a row at least one of my update e-mails has said eggplant.  I am not sure whether they are running out of veggies, or what, but I wish they’d pick something and all stick to it!  Since I have already used eggplant, I’ll go with a different veggie: a Chinese cabbage.  What’s the difference between a Chinese cabbage and a regular one, I wonder?  Looks to me like the Chinese is maybe a little longer than the regular? See for yourself:

Regular Cabbage
Chinese Cabbage
Baby girl weighs approximately two and a quarter pounds and should be measuring around 14.8 inches from the top of her head to her heels. She can open and close her eyes, which now have lashes (I hope they’re long and pretty like Dan’s and not short and stumpy like mine!  Doesn't it seem like the boys always get the great lashes?)!

Weight Gain So Far: I am scared to get on the scale these days (I’m sure it will be even worse next week since I plan to eat the equivalent of an entire country for Thanksgiving), so I’m sticking with +13.  I’ll get an official number at the doctor on Wednesday, eek!

Cravings: Nothing really, still just want all sweets all the time.  I have been trying to do away with those this week just to be safe since I have the dreaded glucose test on Wednesday, but so far I’ve failed as I ate a mini Reese’s as well as a mini Snickers before lunch.  Oh and some Oreos after dinner.  Whoops!

Aversions:   Still nothing!

Symptoms: Same old, same old.  Exhausted, swollen feet when I over-do it, minor nose bleeds, terrible heart burn.  Over the weekend for the first time my hands were swollen to the point where I could barely put on my wedding rings, and when I did manage to squeeze them on (only by putting my hand under ice cold water), they felt like they were cutting off my circulation.  I sincerely hope this was a one-time occurrence, because I made the mistake of going out without my rings one time and could feel the old ladies judging me.  I wanted to wear a sign that said, “Actually I am married, it’s just that my child has given me huge sausage fingers.”

Movement:  Still tons. I mentioned yesterday that we had family photos taken for our Christmas cards, and at one point I was standing beside Daddy and she was going crazy and he looked at me and said, “Could you please control your daughter?  She’s beating me up.”  I am so used to it that it didn’t even phase me, I was so surprised he could feel it!  Tonight I was resting on the couch and propped the remote on my stomach, and she moved around so much that she kicked the remote right off!  I have read that when she starts to run out of room, the movements will be fewer and farther between, but so far she’s still a miniature dancing queen in there.

What I Miss: Being able to bend over comfortably.  Dan’s new favorite game is watching me try to put on/take off socks/shoes.  The definition of entertainment.  Slap.

Things I am Thankful For: Awesome co-workers.  We had our 2nd annual Thanksgiving feast at work this past Friday, and I was thinking about how nice it is to be surrounded by people you like (most of the time anyway).  :-)  Ha!  Also, wonderful friends and family.  The planning has started for my showers in January, so I’ve been getting together address lists, etc. and I am just so grateful to everyone for all of their love, support and excitement for this baby!  Last but not least, the short work week.  It is much needed!

What I’m looking Forward To:  Eating my face off in T-minus 3 days and counting, and actually having a real baby to blame instead of a food baby.  Tee hee!  Also Black Friday shopping with Mom and Niecey.  I will probably be doing most of my shopping online, but I love the tradition of going out early with the two of them and I am really looking forward to it, even though I know I’ll be tired.  Spending some time with my family this weekend.  Finding the perfect Christmas tree and decorating when we get home from Thanksgiving celebrations!  And the radio stations that have already started playing Christmas music.  And the nursery still – even more so now that the furniture came in so early!  OH and seeing our pictures from yesterday.

Signs of a Bump: Ohhhhhhhh yes.  It is getting hard to dress this monstrosity.  Lately, I have been worrying (among other things) about how much bigger it is going to get since it is already huge and I still have 12 weeks (eek!) to go!


Next Doctor Appointment: Wednesday the 23rd! The dreaded glucose test.  Not looking forward to it.  Although, I was thinking this morning that I’m glad I scheduled it  before Thanksgiving…that way I can reward myself for chugging the nasty stuff by stuffing my face with deliciousness on Thursday.  My mouth is watering just thinking about it!

I hope everyone’s (hopefully short) weeks got off to a great start!

Sarah

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Weekend Update

How is it possible that it is already Sunday evening, and that I haven't blogged since Thursday?  Sorry, friends.  We have been busy bees!  The weekend was a good, but very busy (as usual) one.  We keep saying that at some point we are going to slow down and stop making our weekends jam packed with activities, but so far that hasn't happened.  Some day! 

On Friday night, we had double date night with our friends Josie & Charlie and it involved two of my favorite things:  pizza and Twilight.  I had been looking forward to this date and was not disappointed.  I will not spoil it for those of you who haven't seen it (let's face it, I know you all want to), but it did not disappoint.  I can't wait for the next (and final - sad face) movie to come out (which isn't until next November?!?!?!).  In the mean time, I will try to contain my excitement for the first movie installment of the Hunger Games in March.  Dorky?  Maybe.  Whatevs.

Saturday was jam packed with fun.  We started the day off by taking Layla downtown for the Christmas parade.  We haven't been in town to attend the parade in a few years, and I looked forward to it all week.  Layla did SO good and was SO well-behaved.  She also got lots of attention (and practice!) with young children - everyone wanted to pet her.  Here she is, being a good girl:
She seriously sat like that the whole time, I was so proud.  She did not love it when the drum lines of the high school marching bands came by, but other than that she did great.  We stayed at the parade for around an hour and then decided to head out and beat the traffic.  I hated that I missed seeing Scotty Mcreery, mainly because I wanted to see how the crowd reacted to him - there were these cute little girls sitting beside us with "I love you Scotty" signs.  Reminded me of my boy band phase.  Don't act like you didn't go through that phase, too.  Anyway, beating the traffic seemed like a better idea.

When we left the parade, we decided to go check out the grand re-opening of Pullen ParkRegardless of whether or not you have children,  you HAVE to check this place out.  I remember it from before the renovations, and I'm telling you it's like a different park.  They did a beautiful job of restoring everything, and somehow managed to still keep prices for rides the same.  There are playgrounds, paddle boats, a kiddie boat ride, a carousel, and even a mini train that goes around the whole park (And is so fun!  and I just saw that they are turning it into a Christmas train in December.  We will be going back for that.).  Additionally, the food is delicious.  Pullen Place Cafe is co-owned by the owner and chef of Zely & Ritz and uses, fresh, seasonal and local ingredients in their menu while still keeping the food healthy and affordable.  For example, one of the snacks they offer are veggies & hummus (kids will love and Mom will be happy as well!).  There are even gluten-free options - and they cater, too!  I could rave about the re-opening for the rest of the blog post, but you should check it out for yourself - it looked like the entire city of Raleigh was doing so today when we drove past.

Saturday afternoon we came back home for a short bit so that I could grab a quick nap and then we hit the road again to go check out a fabric store to see if there was anything we liked for baby's bed.  There were a few things that we liked okay, but nothing that we fell in love with - and so the search continues!  Last night we went to a surprise party for a friend at Solas but didn't stay long because I was tired, so we came home and watched a movie in bed (Crazy Stupid Love - I would highly recommend it - we both enjoyed!  Not to mention Ryan Gosling is totally dreamy.).  Perfect day if you ask me!

Today, we slept in and went to the 11:00 church service.  We then headed to Greensboro and had the pleasure of working with Mark and Allison Potter of Mark Potter Photography for our Christmas photos!  My family met us there, because Mom wanted some photos of all of us together for her Christmas cards as well.  Dan and I haven't had pictures taken since our engagement session three years ago, and since Mom mentioned she wouldn't mind having photos of the family done, we just combined the sessions.  We had an absolute blast - Mark and Allison are so laid-back and fun, and I am looking so forward to seeing what we came up with.  Oh, and would you PLEASE drool over the cuteness of the shoes that  Allison gave us for Baby Geronimina:
These little bunnies will be perfect at Easter!  They are adorable, and so soft - thank you Allison, we can't wait to wear them!

To cap off the perfection, on the way home, we got some excellent news: our furniture is in!  We were not expecting it until right before the baby is born, but it is being delivered next Monday and I am so beyond stoked - I can't wait for this room to come together.  We decided not to put all of the furniture together (well I'm assuming glider and ottoman are assembled already, but I guess we'll see next week) until we've made some decisions and painted, etc. in the nursery, but it is a huge weight off of our shoulders to actually have it in our house and ready for assembly.

Just wanted to update you all on what's kept us so busy for the past few days!  It's early bed time tonight for me because I'm exhausted,  but I am so looking forward to the short work week, Thanksgiving, Black Friday shopping and lots of family time.

Hope your weekend was as wonderful as mine was!

Sarah

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

"You're like a turtle."

That's what my husband said to me this morning, and it sent me into a fit of giggles.  I was telling him about how my sister, Katy, read the blog the other day - the part where I said that I have to roll onto my side any time I'm trying to get up from a supine position (Dan taught me that word today.  Sooo smart.  It means laying down.  Fancy, yes?) - and was calling me a roly poly.  That put a hilarious mental image into my head.  When's the last time you saw a roly poly?
The above pictures would have been a lot funnier if I could have actually figured out how to super-impose my head into one of those little guys...better luck next time.

Anyway, so I tell Dan this story, about how Katy calls me a roly poly.  And do you know what he says?  "Actually, you're like a turtle." 
Me:  Come Again?  Dan:  Yeah, a turtle.  You know, like when they get flipped over onto their back and they can't turn back over, and they just keep rolling back and forth for a while until they can right themselves. 
Yup, that's me.  Really, come to think of it, it's a hilariously accurate description.  Sigh.

In other news, the week is halfway over.  Wahoo!  See ya tomorrow.

Love,
The Turtle

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Operation Baby Shower: Success!

I am going to preface this post by telling you that I did not take nearly as many pictures as I should have, and the ones that I did take were not very good.  So sorry!  I was a busy bee and time just got away from me. 

This past Saturday night, Dan and I hosted a couples baby shower for my bestie.  She has done so much for me over the years and we are so excited for she and Jon (and Ralph!) and the arrival of baby Hadley that we wanted to do something special for them.  I had grand ideas for this shower - some I executed well, others I didn't - but overall it turned out wonderfully.  We had a great turnout, everyone seemed to have a good time (including the boys, but that's probably because there was beer and football), and of course the parents-to-be got some great gifts that I can't wait for Baby Hadley to use!

Here are a few photos of how everything turned out.  I'm hoping that Steph got some better ones because mine are terrible!  I also hope that she doesn't have many with me in them, especially if I looked anything in real life like I did in the pictures taken with my camera.  Ew.

Below are a few pictures of the spread:



The banner says "steph's cravings."  It didn't hang quite the way I envisioned - long story, but there was a snafu with our clubhouse and the setup so not only did we not get to set up on time but I ran out of time to measure for the banner and had to just guess on length.  Either way, it still turned out pretty cute, I think.  Any of you who have been following Steph's blog know that she has been craving Mexican, fruit and pizza.  I tried to incorporate that into the food.  Our menu was as follows:  Nacho bar (beef and chicken) with various toppings, pepperoni pizza dip, fruit tray, veggie tray, and pulled pork BBQ sliders (I know, BBQ was not one of her cravings, but my Dad's so good at it and I wanted to make sure we had substantial food for drinking boys, so we went with it).  Mom and Dad came in on Thursday night to help me get ready, and we spent all of Friday and most of Saturday shopping and cooking.  It paid off, because several guests thought I'd gotten the food catered.  It really was delicious - thanks again Mom and Dad for all of your help!

Steph's sister Bekah made a diaper cake:
Impressive, right?  I've always wanted to make one of those.  Hers turned out perfectly!  She also helped bring one of my favor ideas to life:
I LOVE the way these turned out!  I was trying to think of a favor that people would actually keep and use, and everyone loves koozies.  Thus, the shower koozie idea was born.  Pretty cute, right?  Bek, you are awesome!  As you can see, the colors were pink and red: red because it's Steph's favorite, and pink because it's Hadley and I's favorite.  :-)

The following photos show how I decorated the space.  Unfortunately, I didn't get any full room shots, but there were four cocktail tables.  I tied them with red and pink patterned ribbon.  For the centerpieces, I filled mason jars with baby's breath (get it?  BABY's breath?) and tied with a ribbon (thanks for the idea, Leah!) and then used empty baby food jars as candle holders for tea lights.  They turned out pretty cute if I do say so myself:

I got the baby's breath from Fallon's Flowers here in Raleigh. Who knew they sold wholesale?  Flowers were very reasonably priced and Fallons was very helpful in determining how much I'd need, etc.

My original plan was to get cupcakes from my fav, the Cupcake Shoppe (pretty in pink and red velvet, obviously, because they are the most delicious and also to keep with the pink and red theme).  At some point the week of the shower I nixed that idea and decided to make them myself because I wanted to make cute little wrappers for them:

I made the toppers myself, and bought nice paper and cute flowers from Michaels and made the wrappers using this template (more thanks to Mom for helping me cut!).  The cupcakes were chocolate and vanilla with funfetti icing, and they were a huge hit!

I had a few surprises in store for Steph.  The first was these wish cards:
I borrowed the idea from something I saw on Pinterest and re-created it.  These cards were so cute - Steph said she and Jon read them all and were both laughing and crying.  My intention was to get a really nice scrapbook for her to put them in, but it honestly slipped my mind.  Maybe next time!

The next surprise is one that some of you may have seen at weddings.  A lot of people have started coming up with creative ideas for their guest books.  Enter below thumb print tree:
I wanted her to have something for Hadley's room so that Hadley would know how much she is already loved, and so that Steph and Jon would have a little piece of the shower to take with them.  I found several designs I liked and roped my friend Moneque into painting the canvas for me.  She did a fantastic job - I was beyond pleased with the way this turned out, and I know Steph absolutely loves it.  If y'all get a chance, check her Gifts and Mo page out on Facebook...you won't regret it!  She is so talented and has never NOT been able to do something I've asked about.  Thanks Mo!  I bought various shades of green ink (and baby wipes for clean up!) and some nice pens for guests to make leaves and write their names.  My favorite signature was "Fun Uncle Jeff."

Finally, one more favor and the gift table:


The popcorn idea evolved from about 10 other ideas that didn't work out, but I'm pleased with the way it turned out.  I got the popcorn from Carolina Popcorn Shoppe over on Western, and I am here to tell you it is delicious - people are still raving about it (If you ever drop by, I highly recommend their caramel popcorn.  To DIE for.).  I bought the bags and ribbon at Michael's and made the labels myself.  The very last picture is of the gift table - just wanted you to see my cute banner (and the bird cage that Diana let me borrow for my wedding which housed the wish cards).

Apologies that I didn't get more pictures, but the shower was a huge success.  Steph and Jon, we love you both and can't wait to meet Miss Hadley!  Special thanks, once again, to the following:
  • Mom and Dad, I couldn't have pulled it off without you!
  • Bekah, for the diaper cake and koozies, and all of your help with set up.  And for eating.
  • Heather, for your help with set up.
  • Mo, for the fantastic canvas which I cannot stop talking about because it is amazing.
Hopefully I didn't leave anyone out!  Almost hump day, and I am pretty stoked about it, because it's one day closer to the release of Breaking Dawn on Thursday.  No judgment zone, you know you're all wishing you could stay awake to make the midnight showing, too (clarification: I'm not saying I'm going to the midnight showing, I'm saying I wish I could keep my eyes open long enough to make it, because I totally would).  :-)

Sarah

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