Giveaway Winner + Doctor Appointment Update

Thanks to everyone who participated in my first ever blog giveaway honoring my 29th 30th birthday - it was a huge success!  I loved reading all of your comments on my little blog and you gave me some great ideas for some new favorites (Wine, monogrammed items, diet coke, all things paper, sharpies, and socks?!  How could I ever have forgotten these things?!).  I randomly generated a winner today through rafflecopter and verified the winning entry, and the winner is (drumroll please)...

Congratulations, Shannon!  

I'll ship your box of goodies out tomorrow.  I hope you enjoy my current favorite things as much as I do!  I wish I could do giveaways every week.  So fun!  Perhaps someone shall sponsor me and pay for me to give things away someday.  I can dream, yes?

Thanks to all of you who checked in today to see how my appointment went at the doctor.  Other than the fact that I was almost 30 minutes late due to a seemingly nonexistent wreck on 440, things went really smoothly!

Since I was late (not my fault for once) I had to wait a few minutes for the doctor, but he came into the room and said, "You know, I saw you walking in today and I just wanted to tell you that you look beautiful.  The red of your jacket is perfect for your skin tone and you look absolutely radiant."  And then I seriously considered making out with him.  Okay, so I didn't really consider making out with him but I did consider hugging his neck, and it made my whole day.  ESPECIALLY since he didn't even bring up the fact that I have gained 7 lbs since my appointment 2 weeks ago.  That's right folks, 7 lbs in 2 weeks which brings me to a grand total of +28.  Oops.  In my defense, pretty much all I have done for three days straight is eat delicious food in NYC.  I've gained less than 30 lbs total, but not by much.  I think I'm actually okay with it, because I feel great and baby boy is healthy, and that's all that matters.

Everything else is smooth sailing.  My BP was still a perfect 120/72 as of this morning and there's no protein in my urine.  I saw the same doctor today that I saw the appointment before last (so a month ago) and he again mentioned no less than three times how pleased he is with how things are going and how perfect this pregnancy has been.  So blessed!  He said that he does not foresee any hurdles between now and the finish line (YAY!  Except the phrase "finish line" gave me anxiety.  I am so not ready for this baby yet.).  I mentioned my spotted vision to the doc, and he said to definitely keep an eye on it and call immediately if I start getting headaches, but since my blood pressure is perfect, I have no protein in my urine and I have had minimal swelling, he doesn't see anything to be concerned about right now.  Such a relief!

Finally, we discussed the large-ness of this child which is something I like to make a point of doing at every appointment with every doctor.  He said that baby is on the large side but not overly large and he's not concerned.  He asked me to remind him of Lilly's size, which I did, and he said he still was not too concerned.  I told him that Eaker women breed gigantic hybrid whale/elephant children and that my youngest sister weighed 10 lbs 9 oz and I think I actually saw him wince.  He recovered quickly and told me that in a few weeks we'd do an ultrasound to try to get a handle on how big baby boy really is and assured me that they wouldn't let him get anywhere close to 10 lbs.  That's all I have been wanting to hear, thankyouverymuch.

All in all, today's appointment was awesome.  L and I were on our own tonight because Dan had a work event and we had the best evening together.  We didn't do anything special, just played in her playroom until it was time for dinner, bath, books and bed, but she was in a fantastic mood (which lately has been hit or miss - we are for sure into the terrible twos/tantrums phase and I hate it) and we just had the best time.  I like to think it's because she's excited to have Mommy and Daddy back home.  :-)

Today was pajama day at school, and my child insists on wearing a tutu at all times, so this is the result.  She kills me.

She also (for maybe the first time ever since she started feeding herself?) ate an awesome dinner so she was rewarded with one of Mimi's chocolate chip cookies.  As you can see, she was pretty stoked about it.

Cheeeeeeeeeeese!!!

Hope your Wednesday was fantastic!  I feel like I need another vacation to recover from vacation, so I'm putting off Christmas present wrapping yet again so that I can go to bed.  :-)

Sarah

BB2.0: 32 Weeks

Well friends, we made it back to Raleigh safe and sound.  My surprise birthday trip to NYC was an absolute BLAST and I have such fun photos to share, but I know if I don't do Baby Boy's update now I'll never do it.  I'm going to attempt to make it a quick update tonight because I am beat (but let's be honest, when has any post I've ever written been brief?!)!

Size of Baby Boy:  Somewhere in the ballpark of 3.75 lbs and 16.7 inches long, or about the size of a jicama.  What is a jicama, anyway?

Via

Apparently baby boy will gain 1/3 to 1/2 of his birth weight over the next 7 weeks.  I am allegedly gaining around a pound a week (I will be utterly shocked if it isn't +10 this week after all of the eating we did in NYC) and around half of that is going to baby so he can fatten up to get ready for his debut.  Considering his size, I'm wondering if such a thing as pregnancy dieting exists.  HA.  He also now apparently has toenails, fingernails, and real hair/peach fuzz.  Can't wait to meet this little chicken!

Weight Gain So Far:  I didn't weigh in today, because I wasn't at home this morning and I refuse to do so after a full day of eating...and it's my birthday and I don't feel like being depressed.  So there.  But seriously, I'll be shocked if it's anything less than +25 (I was at +21 last week).  If it's more than +25 I will seriously consider removing this category.  :-)

Cravings:  Nothing new to add here, still sweets!

Aversions:  Still no specific overall aversions, but there are definitely things I don't want to eat on certain days.  For example, Dan really wanted to eat at a French restaurant in NYC and I was not feeling it, but wasn't really feeling anything else, either.  I know I am probably so annoying to be around right now when it comes to food.

Symptoms:  Still feeling good and not much change here!  I have had some instances over the past week where I've seen double or seen spots, so that makes me a little anxious about my doctor appointment tomorrow since 32 weeks was the magic number for the preeclampsia diagnosis during my last pregnancy.  I am trying to remain positive because seeing spots definitely does not mean that I have preeclampsia again (especially since there aren't any other symptoms that I'm aware of) - it could just be that baby boy is sitting on a nerve or it could even be that I'm standing up or sitting down too quickly.  My blood pressure has been great so far, in fact much lower on a whole than during my last pregnancy, and I really feel great.  I've experienced little to no swelling - actually, I think that today is the first time I've noticed any swelling at all and I'd be willing to bet $100 that it was due to dehydration coupled with a lot of walking and all of the travel.  Anyway, the weird vision is worth mentioning to the doc tomorrow for sure but I'm hopeful that it's nothing to be concerned about!  

Movement:  I felt like baby has been a little quieter than normal the past few days, but I think it might just be that I've been too busy to notice as much.  He normally moves some during the day and quite a bit before bed at night, but I've been so tired the past couple of nights that I've been asleep basically as soon as my head hit the pillow so I think it's just that I haven't noticed the movement as much.  As I type this he is kicking the laptop, so I know he's fine!

What I Miss:  Sleeping on my stomach!  I have been missing this for quite a few weeks now but keep forgetting to mention it.  

Signs of a Bump:  Absolutely.  

Here's what Lilly looked like at 32 weeks:

I can't really tell from those pics which one is bigger, perhaps because they are both enormous elephant children?

What I'm Thankful For:  A sweet, sweet husband who made sure I had the best birthday yet.  I am not sure we'll ever be able to top this trip - it was incredible!  And my sweet parents (and Syd!) and sweet Carney for making sure that my baby girls (yes, Layla too!) were taken care of while we were gone.

What I'm Looking Forward To:  A weekend at home and the upcoming Holiday.  I am hoping to bake some Christmas cookies for Santa with L at some point and we also have said that we'd like to try to make a gingerbread house with her.  We'll see how it goes.  Also hopefully, at some point in the very near future, doing at least something (anything!) to try to get ready for the birth of this child?!

Next Doctor Appointment:  Tomorrow!  I'll report back on how it went.

Thank you all for your sweet birthday wishes!  So far, 30 has not been too shabby at all.  I've had quite a few girlfriends tell me that their 30s were hands down better than their 20s, so I'm trying not to dwell on the fact that I'm officially old.  :-)  

You only have a few more hours to enter my birthday giveaway, so go do it!  I'll choose a winner (at random of course) at some point tomorrow, and hopefully you'll have your goodies by the end of the week.  Stay tuned, I will blog about our trip at some point this week as well as our visit to Pullen with the besties for the Holiday Express/to see Santa!

Sarah

I'm in a New York state of mind.

Literally. I got a birthday surprise from my sweet hubby:

Hurray!!!!!  I was so excited and surprised that I cried. We left this morning and are here until Tuesday, my birthday. Best surprise ever?  I think so. 

I'll be back on Wednesday with fun updates about our trip and how much Lills hated Santa this year. And the giveaway!  Don't forget to enter, you only have until Tuesday at midnight!

Happy birthday week to me!  I'm thinking year 30 will be the best yet. 

Sarah

Lilly Says

Full disclosure:  I stole this idea from my bestie because as usual, it's a good one.  

Lills says the most hilarious things (without meaning to most of the time, I'd say), so I love the idea of documenting it. 

Case in point: Auntie Syd came into town last night and I needed to run an errand, so we decided to go out to dinner.  We were heading to Ruckus for pizza, and I stopped (admittedly a little short, but not that short) at a stoplight.  All of a sudden, I heard a little voice from the back seat say, "WOAH.  Mommy drivin' crazy."  

I'm sure she's heard me say this about Dan's driving plenty of times, but damned if she didn't turn it right back around on me!  Dan and Sydney of course found it to be the funniest thing that has ever been said and were in hysterics, which of course meant that Lilly repeated it (over. and over. and over.) for the remainder of the night any time we were in the car.  The little ham!

First gymnastics class tonight, and I'm so excited!

Sarah