My 1st Baby Shower

Is it weird that the first baby shower I've ever attended was my own?  I guess none of my close friends have had babies yet, so I'm the pioneer.  A few friends organized one for Saturday - it was such a fun day.  There was plenty of food, a few baby shower games (such as guess my belly size - everyone guessed bigger than it was!), and lots of gifts.  It's amazing to see just how loved someone can be even before entering the world.  He is a very lucky boy.  And seriously, every time I read a card saying "you're going to be a great Mom" it made me turn into a puddle of mush.

A few of my favorite gifts...

(I realize the two singing toys will end up being the bane of my existence, but they are cute for now)

And then something from one of his grandmas...

The little monkey feet!

29-ish Week Update

 ~29.5 Weeks

Monday marked 29 weeks and another baby checkup.  Superbaby is doing awesome, as usual.  His mother, however, is a maniac.  Five things that almost made me cry on Tuesday:

1. Knocking my glasses off the nightstand while dusting and stepping on them.
2. Trying to vacuum but the cord kept coming out of the wall.
3. Changing the blanket on my bed and having a huge dog bone fall out of it onto my foot.
4. Gaining 6 lbs. in 18 days (granted I had a full belly, full bladder, winter coat, and shoes on when I was weighed).  I'm still on track to gain 33 lbs., but that doesn't mean I didn't have to hold back tears of shock at the doctor's office.
5. Not being able to find Lanolin at CVS (my stepsister recommended I start using it now).

Since 3 of 5 of these things relate to cleaning, I guess I should just stop cleaning, right? :)  I haven't been a crier this whole time, so it was weird for me.  Third trimester has been very different! 

Anyways, besides that, here are some other random thoughts:

• The back pain has arrived. I mainly feel it when I am sitting on the couch and at my desk.  If I don't have a pillow behind my lower back, it kills.
• My legs and belly are so itchy.  I put lotion on several times a day, which helps, but it always returns. Maybe once the weather warms up my skin won't be so dry.
• Still always tired.  Always.
• The baby has been kicking/elbowing/kneeing me like crazy.  We went to the movies and saw Safe House last night and he was going crazy in my belly for most of the movie - so cute.

By the way, Safe House = crazy intense.  It reminded me of how tense I was when we saw The Grey.  I may be biased because I love Ryan Reynolds and Denzel, but I thought it was a good movie.  A bit long, but good.  While we were waiting on the movie, we saw a preview for "Silent House"...

...um, no.  I will not be seeing that.  I'm all about scary movies, but that one would kill me.  I had to cover my eyes during the preview.  Anyone thinking of seeing it?

Sunshine & Snowflakes

Today, the weather was almost 60 degrees.  

Heat was turned off, windows were open.

Tomorrow, we are expecting 5-8" of snow.

Heat will be blasting, snow boots will be used.

Don't you love Southwest Virginia?  It keeps you guessing.

Wedding Bells on Pause

In 12 days, I'll have been engaged for 3 months.  Have I planned anything?  Nope.  That's sort of how I roll these days.

I realize this I am a rarity considering I've browsed Facebook to find friends who have already taken engagement shots and bought a dress two weeks after getting engaged.  How do they do it?  I guess they have been dreaming of it since the Barbie doll days.  Not that I haven't.  But maybe to a lesser degree.  Rather than the wedding, I was focused on the person.  And I did a good job... a really good job.

With so many other exciting things happening in the next few months, my wedding planning spirit has been consciously put on hold.  I am an OCD perfectionist with certain things, and this would be one of them.  There are only two stages in my case - nonchalant, go-with-the-flow bride or psycho, 24/7 wedding planning bride-demon.  I'd rather be the former at this point.  I'm going to save much of my wedding planning until after the baby is born so that it doesn't distract me from classes/work.

I know a few things that I want - a SMALL wedding.  I'm talking 7 people.  But I know that won't work with the fiance and his family, so we are going to expand it to maybe 50 people.  Which will end up being 100, I'm sure.  I want a strapless dress.  This means I will need some time post-baby to get in shape. Maybe something simple like this?

(Image: Source)

I want an open bar and big dance floor.  It needs to look and feel like one big party.  My bridal party - consisting of my 2 sisters and best friend - will probably be wearing J. Crew or Ann Taylor.  I love the casual, flowy look (but not the wild colors, so much).

 

(Image: Source)

(Image: Source)

Colors will probably be yellow and white or silver, but I haven't given that a lot of thought.  She doesn't quite know it yet, but my sister will be making my cupcake tower "cake" because she's amazing at all things baking.

So maybe I have given it some thought, but we certainly haven't acted on anything.  Except these...

10 Random Things About Me

1. For 22 years, almost 23, years I cut my pizza with scissors.
2. I have a gimp cat who goes by "Creepy".
3. I was a child model for a brief period and I still like to brag about it.

 Attractive.

4.  I look ghastly without black mascara.  Blonde eyelashes = scary.

 5. My whole life, I've had to eat every few hours or else I will feel nauseous, irritable, and almost pass out.  My hungry alter-ego has a name... Elizabeth.

6.  I love vacuuming. Love it.  I'll vacuum your living room for you.

7.  I've been skydiving twice.

8.  It drives me crazy when my toenail polish isn't perfect. 

9.  I'm terrified of space, insane asylums, and the ocean. 

10.  I lived in Korea for a year when I was very young, but don't like traveling overseas because I'm afraid I will get kidnapped and won't be able to get back to the US.  Irrational? Maybe.

The Perils of Maternity Leave

I never understood how controversial maternity leave can be until I was faced with asking for it.  I've been at the same employer in the financial industry for 5 years and can probably count on my two hands the number of sick days I have taken.  I consider that pretty good given that some of my coworkers call in "sick" when they see a snow flurry.  Even when I had weeks of paid sick days saved up, I've always been one of those people who would feel guilty for getting sick and came into the office anyways.  

The time came recently for me to ask my boss for maternity leave.  Given that I am moving a few hours away to be with my fiance, I highly doubt I will return to this particular job.  At least not for a while.  My benefits allow for 6 weeks of maternity leave during "pregnancy and childbirth".  Since I'm still a full-time graduate student and my due date is literally in the middle of finals week, I figured I would ask for the entire 6 weeks, so that I could get the end of the semester off to focus on school, just to be safe.  My contract ends at that point, so since I won't be able to use the leave after the baby is born, I figured I'd use it beforehand.

My boss was not pleased.

In fact, she was very displeased.

As I expected, she proceeded to explain to me that she worked up until a day or two before her due date ("I worked on Friday and had the baby Monday.  And that's in addition to driving two hours a day to work.").  Well I'm sorry, superlady, but I've decided that I'm entitled to this leave and I'm going to use it.  Of course, I kept that part inside and calmly explained that I was still a full-time student and needed to focus on graduation given that only two of three teachers were willing to work with me if I needed to postpone assignments, finals, etc. due to my pregnancy.  Working 20 hours a week in addition to school, baby classes, and appointments would be a lot to continue juggling.

Long story short, after much awkwardness and guilttripping, she said that she would "support" me in what I wanted to do.  Yet I still feel bad.  What is it about using your maternity leave that makes others look at you like a failure?  Oh well, I'm taking it and I'm going to enjoy having a bit of downtime before the baby comes, because Lord knows I have a ton of nesting to do... and I need to finish this...

The "pretty corner" of our nursery that is currently 102 miles away at my fiance's place

Anyone else had similar experiences with maternity leave arrangements?  

27 Week Update - Hey 3rd Trimester!

Side note: I realized today that my updates are very sporadic.  I need to get into a weekly or bi-weekly routine or something!

Today marks 27 weeks and everything is still going great.  I can't believe that I'm in the THIRD trimester.  It has flown by.  We've been decided on a first name for the baby (it starts with a C) for a few months now, but not 100% decided on the middle name.  We've decided to keep the name secret until birth, just for fun.  The family members are furiously trying to figure it out, but I'm not giving in!  So we can just refer to the baby as C-Man on here. 

     Random Things:

• C-Man has a major 'tude.  I've noticed that if I lay my arm on my belly the wrong way he will kick it HARD.  He also kicked the doppler when my midwive tried to check his heartbeat and then - as she put it - "ran away" at the last appointment. 
• I had a dream that he had a full head of shaggy bleach blonde hair and was a surfer baby.  Pregnancy dreams = full force.
• My belly button is still creepy and flat.  Any guesses on when it will pop out?
• My shoes/rings still fit
• TMI - My boobs are still 2 cup sizes up from pre-pregnancy, but the same band size.  They haven't had another growth spurt after the first few months.
• My cheeks have days where they will stay flushed/rosy/bright red all day long
• Sleep is still going okay - one of the things I changed when I got pregnant was kicking my dogs off the bed.  They'd been sleeping with me since they were puppies (three years!) and I'd been letting them hog my little full-size bed for far too long.  They got the boot!  They're only allowed on when I'm not sleeping.
• I'm now a cookie monster.  I hate you, Girl Scouts! (just kidding, sort of).
• It's getting much harder to shave my legs and paint my toenails with my belly in the way.  I take my toes very seriously, so this is going to be a problem...
• I can't wait until the weather gets nice enough to start wearing dresses again!  Those seem to be the pregnant lady's uniform and I'm tired of pants!
• I really need some preggo friends.  Am I the only pregnant lady in this town!?
• I currently have 4 baby showers scheduled and can't believe how many people want to help us out
• The next 13 weeks need to hurry up!

I really didn't think my belly had made any change this week until I saw these pictures -- it's gotten huuuuge! And rather pointy in my opinion.

27 Weeks 

(sorry about the bad lighting, the fiance is still out of town, so it's self-timer all the way)

and just for fun....

Take that, Diabetes!

I had another checkup today (26 weeks, 4 days along, woohoo!) and the midwife let me know that not only did I pass my gestational diabetes screen, but I ACED it!  She said my numbers were so awesome that she thought they might not have given me the sugar drink.  Take that, diabetes!  I may not ace any other tests this semester, but at least I can brag about this one.

My weight gain is right on track (16 lbs.) which I was happy about.  I thought I might've been gaining too much since I gained hardly any in the first trimester/beginning of the second trimester.  She thinks I will end up with a total of 30 lbs. gained, but keeps hinting that she'd be happy with more also.  I want my son to be as chubby and healthy as possible when he gets out, even if it means some extra mama fat here and there.

Also, my checkups are now going to be every 2 weeks!  I love going and hearing the heartbeat and am obsessed with my midwife, so I don't mind at all.  It's crazy how close we're getting to meeting our son!

In other news, how cute is this robe!? My son NEEDS it.

(Image: Source)

Why Moms are Awesome

When we get together, my Mom and I love to shop.  It's what we do.  The first thing she did when she found out I was pregnant was start shopping for maternity clothes.  So far, I have gotten three packages in the mail, and each time I go home to visit, I get a handful of other items (she always, always lays them out on my bed at home for me, it's tradition).

I got a package yesterday full of 3/4 length t-shirts. All the same exact shirts just in different colors - it's what she does.  I am wearing one today and I think I will never take it off.  I think these should be addition to my Mashion post, in fact.  It's not that it's more flattering or fancy than other shirts, it's just so comfortable.  And it fits right. I was so excited that I took a MySpace-style iPhone picture to post here.  And to remind myself that I REALLY need to clean my bathroom mirror (ignore that detail, I was in a hurry to get to work). And that my fiance really needs to come back so that I don't have to take my pictures this way.

 Motherhood Maternity 3/4 Sleeve Scoop Neck Side Ruched Maternity T Shirt (Shown in Dusty Teal, XS) 

How have your Moms helped you get through your pregnancy?  My Mom has been the most helpful with shopping for maternity clothes and answering my never-ending questions (i.e. did you get an outie belly button? did you use an epidural? how close were you to your due dates? was labor really that bad? ).

Stolen Snoogle

You're cute and all, but seriously... give me back my Snoogle.