A couple of things...

I know, I know... My random bullet point posts are usually reserved for Fridays. What the heck has gotten into me?!

• Two years ago today we were on a plane to San Francisco/Wine Country. (Our Honeymoon)

• One year ago today we were on a plane to Greece.

• This year I am having just a tad bit of regret about the no vacation situation. Instead of jetting off to somewhere fabulous I went to yoga, took a walk, am having lunch with a friend and then cleaning the bathroom. Hmm... Going a little downhill, don't you think? Oh well. There's a baby kicking around in my belly, so that makes this the most exciting year so far.

• I bought a glider for the nursery yesterday. I had a really hard time picking this out. My criteria were... A) As small of a profile as possible since we don't really have that much room in the nursery. B) A high back so that I can rest my head against the cushion. And C) Espresso wood/neutral fabric combo. I actually think gliders in general are ugly. The upholstered ones are so much cuter, but a lot of them are huge! This is the one we ended up with... I don't LOVE it, but it fits all of the criteria. Plus, it was on sale at Treasure Rooms because the manufacturer is discontinuing the model. That brought the total price for the glider and ottoman from $699 to $399. Not to shabby considering I know it is of high quality.

• I also bought a diaper bag yesterday. This too was a hard choice. The criteria were A) Black or something very neutral that T wouldn't be embarrassed to carry. B) Fabric that is "wipeable." C) Lots of pockets for organization. D) Not too big and not too small. And E) No velcro. I hate Velcro. It is loud and sticks to your clothes. I ended up with this one by Ju Ju Bee that I found at Nordstroms. (I think you can find it a lot of places, but I found it there in person.)

• I am 25 weeks into my pregnancy as of today. This is my last full week in the second trimester. I'm hoping that my good mood and feelings last into the third trimester. We'll see.

• I am in denial about the quantity of maternity clothing that I will be needing. I actually think I have purchased plenty of "nice" tops. (Things that I would wear to dinner or church or out to lunch) I have two pairs of jeans but have only found one pair of dress pants that fit properly. I definitely need more pants, but what I really underestimated was my comfy wear around the house/workout clothes. I bought some stuff but now that the weather is getting cooler I am realizing that one sweatshirt and one pair of maternity yoga pants aren't going to cut it. Most of my pre-pregnancy stuff is pretty fitted. I thought that because it stretched, I could wear it all the way through the pregnancy. Umm.. yeah right. My Nike "Perfect Fit" pants feel like a boa constrictor around my abdomen. Looks like I'm going to have to do another large Old Navy order. Naturally I missed the big sale they were having.

• Yogurt. I used to eat the stuff all the time, but like three years ago the taste of it suddenly made me want to gag. I tried it a few times during the last three years with no luck. Suddenly, at the grocery store this week I bought a couple of containers. Turns out I like it again. Taste buds are weird.

Well, I suppose that is all the randomness I can muster for today!

Two Years Ago Today....

We were doing this...

Happy Second Anniversary T!

24 Week Bump Pics

I'm going to stick with tradition and post the whole series. Wednesday will mark 25 weeks, so as usual, I'm running a couple days behind.

8 Weeks:

12 Weeks:

16 Weeks:

20 Weeks:

24 Weeks: Looks like my photographer forgot what he was doing a little bit. This one's a little farther away and quite dark. Sorry!!

As you can see, the white shorts have gotten tossed to the way side. I'm going so claim that I just didn't want to commit the faux-pas of wearing white after Labor Day, but I think we all know the truth here. (And since we are all "friends"... I'll admit it... I could sooner run a marathon then get those things buttoned up.)

We have a doctors appointment this afternoon which I am excited about because I always get excited about hearing the heartbeat. It never gets old. Other than that, it's going to be a pretty routine visit. I think the next time I go I will have to do the dreaded glucose test though. Ugh..

The Doula Decision

I have posted before about the fact that I am using a doula and promised to elaborate on that decision. So here it goes!

I sort of shy away from the whole "birth plan" concept just because I just don't see how it is possible to "plan" anything as complicated as a birth. Plus, I am a huge planner, and if things don't go according to that plan, I tend to be disappointed. So, I'm just going to all this my birth "wish list."

A good friend recommended her doula, Kate, to me. She has used Kate's services twice now. Prior to delivery, my friend's plan was just going to take it as it came. She had not planned to get or not to get an epidural. As it turned out, her first born came very quickly and was born without pain medication. That baby wanted out so badly that they didn't even have time to do administer an epidural. Her second birth, on the other hand, was almost 24 hours in the making. At a certain point she said enough was enough and got the epidural. (Naturally, that stubborn little baby was born like half an hour later.)

I had a lot of thoughts in my mind regarding my birth "wish list," but didn't really have them organized and didn't know a lot of the facts behind them. That's when I met Kate. Along with all of her experience, she made me feel so calm about the natural process that my body will be going through. I can already tell you that my husband will probably be in hysterics and I will be dealing with the process as best I can, but it will be so nice to have her positive energy talking us through all of this.

So... what I told her was...

-In my opinion I have a pretty decent pain tolerance, but pretty sure that I'm going to want the epidural.

-In "heat of the moment" situations, I become insecure and second guess myself and am usually willing to take any advice, whether it be in my best interest or not.

-I like my doctor and have conveyed my "wish list" to her, but I also know that she does her fair share of inductions. (She also does a lot of all natural births. I guess it depends on the wants of the mother.)

-My "nightmare" birth would be to go into the hospital at the first sight of pain or before labor even begins, spend hours at the hospital and get the induction medication/epidural cocktail only to have it not work and end up in the operating room for a C-Section.

I blabbed all of this to Kate and she began to tackle my issues one at a time. A lot of what she said I had read before, but it was nice to hear it in a more cohesive fashion.

She told me that she has plenty of clients that get epidurals, whether they were planning to or not. As long as labor starts naturally and the client is open to an epidural, her goal is to get to 5 cm dilated before administering any pain medication. Babies benefit a lot from the movement of the mother to begin their descent. If your go in and get an epidural right away, you are limited to the bed. She likes to use a birthing ball and different postures and movements to encourage the baby to get down as far as possible. A lot of this process can take place at home. (She'll come to the house once the contractions have a certain rhythm, or as soon as I want her to.)

So lets assume that I get to my 5 centimeters, (at least) am in the hospital and have just gotten the epidural. Then how to I benefit from her presence? Well, personally I think that she has already shown her worth and if I started labor naturally and got to 5 cm. I am already a ways away from the "nightmare birth."

Kate and I are also on the same page regarding episiotomies. (I don't want one.) As I said before, in heat of the moment situations, I get insecure and take any advice. If the doctor said "I think you need an episiotomy," I would probably take her word for it and say OK. It is going to be great to have Kate around to help reinforce my desires.

In the event of a medically necessary induction, Kate has a lot of knowledge about the different drugs they use. Something I know nothing about. I really hope and pray that I don't need an induction. They sound just horrible.

On top of all of this, Kate is a lactation specialist and comes to your home to check in on you a couple times after the birth. It is very important to me to be a successful breast feeder, so I'll take all the help I can get. A doula is also a great resource for questions all throughout the pregnancy. Obviously with big questions and concerns you should call your doctor, but Kate tells me to call with questions that might be considered frivolous.

Whew... That was a novel. I am just happy with the decision I made. It might not be for anyone, and you certainly have to find a doula whose thoughts are aligned with your own, but if it is possible for you to have that positive energy and guidance in the delivery room, well... lets just say that I will take all the help I can get to make it as wonderful of an experience as possible.

My Baby Is Waking Me Up.

Let me first say... it absolutely never gets old to feel the baby kick and move. In fact, I love this particular time of day because it is when the baby really starts to get going. The little one is usually pretty quiet while I'm at the gym but as soon as I have a little breakfast and sit down in front of the computer it starts jumping around like crazy.

It seems like every day I am amazed at how much stronger and more frequent the movement is becoming. Last night was a new first though. The baby's acrobatics woke me up from a dead sleep. I mean, I already wake up three times a night having to go to the bathroom, but apparently that wasn't enough. As I have quite a ways to go with this pregnancy, I had better just get used to it. My husband says that it is training me to be up in the middle of the night. (Which I obviously will need to be in just a few months time.)

Also-- A little tid-bit that I don't think I've mentioned. My mom had huge babies. She is built just like me, only a little taller and so far our pregnancies have been very much the same. (Starting to carry the same way, no morning sickness, etc. This heredity thing had better hold out because she never got stretch marks.. something I'm hoping to avoid.) Anyways.. I weighed in at a whopping 9lbs 7 oz. Holy Cow! That's one monster baby. Hmm... should I be worried?

Random Friday Thoughts...

• I got my first shower gift yesterday! The invitations for my first shower went out last week and I received this blanket (in yellow) and an adorable stuffed bunny in the mail yesterday from an out of town family member that won't be able to make it. And no... I won't bore you with all the details of each gift I receive. The first one is fun though!

• In regards to the above, I did manage to finish my registry at Babies R Us this week and Pottery Barn Kids, (where the blanket and bunny came from) so I'm all set to go!

• An update on the vacation post from last week... Well, we decided to be responsible adults and stay here after all. I was so stressed out about making the decision and plans at the last minute that it took a lot of the fun out of it anyways.

• So what are we going to do to celebrate our anniversary instead? Well.. I haven't decided on how to spend the rest of the day, but I do know that we've booked massages at the Four Seasons Spa. They offer a pre-natal massage, so I'm really excited about that!

• A little tip for the other mommies to be out there... Do you guys know about diapers.com? It's just a website where you can buy diapers, nursing supplies and other items. The great thing about it is, you can get really big packages of diapers and any order over $50 has free 2-day shipping! I think that will be a very useful tool in the dead of winter when the last thing I want to do is drag baby out to Target for a diaper run.

• Weekend plans:

-Tonight: having dinner with our friends and our two favorite little girls. (Who happen to be our god-daughters)

-Tomorrow: Attending a bachelorette party. Luckily, the day starts at the wineries in Augusta. (I like going there even if I can't enjoy the wine.) I'm glad about it because even if they end up bar hopping to a bunch of smokey places later in the night, (meaning I'll probably have to head home) I will still be able to spend a lot of the day with the bride.

-Sunday: It's T's bday! It is going to be sort of a weird one because we are both busy on Saturday night. (When we would usually celebrate.) Sunday we are going to do something fun during the day with just the two of us and then go over to his Mom's for dinner. This reminds me... I celebrated a bday a couple of weeks ago and never posted a word about it. I'll have to make a new post after the weekend with some pics of how we celebrated our days.

Happy Friday everyone!

"Congrats!" and a Bump Touch Count

I'm going to start a new series on the blog this week. I'm not sure how often these will appear... it will be based on need, I suppose. It is going to be a tally of sorts.

First off... the "Congrats!" tally. This weekend I had my first total stranger tell me "congratulations" on the baby solely based on my bump. I was checking out at Bare Escentuals and the cashier told me congratulations after I backed away from the counter. Now, I was wearing a pretty form fitting top and I would say that I definitely look pregnant now. She was being very nice and of course I was flattered and said thank you. However... I personally would never just assume anything and would never give a stranger the "congratulations!" or the "when are you due?" comment unless they were literally going into labor right in front of me.

So... That brings my "congrats" / "When are you do?" tally to 1.

**I'm going to note that this applies only to total strangers, not to acquaintances that I knew in the past but that haven't seen me in a while. Obviously, anyone that knew my previous body type would be a little clued in to the baby bump.

Next up.. the belly touches. I know some people have huge aversions to the belly touches. (When a relative stranger comes up and pats your pregnant belly.) I guess I have no sense of personal space because at least at this point, the thought doesn't really bother me. That said... knowing that most pregnant people I know hate it, it still shocks me when I see people do it. Well, I got my first relative stranger belly pat in yoga class this morning. She caught me off guard in the equipment room with a full on belly pat. I almost laughed.

Belly pat tally: 1

**This one is going to apply to everyone but good friends and family.

I'm sort of interested to see where this little experiment goes. Is it going to become so frequent that I can't keep track? Are there really that many out of control belly touchers out there? Only time will tell. :)

Capricorn

Assuming that I have this baby some time between December 22nd and January 20th he/she will be a Capricorn. The due date is Jan 13th, so I suppose that there is a decent chance it could be late and be an Aquarius, but lets just say for now that it's going to be a Capricorn.

Now, I'm not sure that I really "believe" in the astrology stuff, but if you looked up the description of a Virgo you might as well be looking at a sketch of me. It's almost creepy. Because of this, I was interested enough to learn more about Capricorns. Here are some of the basics that I found out...

Traditional Capricorn traits: (from astrology-online.com)

• practical and prudent

• ambitious and disciplined

• patient and careful

• humorous and reserved

On the dark side:

• pessimistic and fatalistic

• miserly and grudging

At first I wasn't sure what I thought. Almost everything that I have read talks about what great career people they are. Hmm.... I have NEVER considered myself a "career" type. (A typical virgo trait.) Guess baby and I won't have that in common. I also read that they can be a little on the bossy side. (I can't boss around anything... except maybe my husband on occasion. - Another Virgo trait)

At first glance I thought that my baby and I weren't going to relate on anything! Then I started thinking about Capricorns that I know. Well... guess what? My three best girlfriends are all Capricorns. :) I should also note that I see Capricorn characteristics in all three of them. Perhaps Virgos and Capricorns mesh well after all!

**A little note-- that post is really just for fun. Isn't that what pregnant moms do?--Imagine what their babies are going to grow up to be like?

More Baby-Related "Checks!"

I'm all about getting things accomplished these last two weeks...and yet I feel like I still have tons more to do. Isn't that always the way? So what have I accomplished so far?....

• The nursery furniture! We went and ordered it yesterday from Treasure Rooms in Town and Country. It took 4 visits to the store, but we decided on Munire's "Madison" in espresso. We got the crib and a six drawer dresser that will also serve as the changing table. I just love the feet on this set. The only thing we still need to find is a glider/rocker. They had cute ones at Treasure Rooms, but I'm hoping to find the smallest one possible that is still comfortable. (We are a little tight on space in the nursery and the dresser/crib is pretty substantial.) Unfortunately, this brand takes anywhere from 2-3 months to come in. That means that it might not arrive until mid December. That's cutting it pretty close. I mean, the baby will be in my room for a while after it is born, but I like to have things ready and organized in advance. Here's the set... (But this pic shows a different size dresser)

And here's a pic of it taken apart and set up as a bed. (I bought the conversion set, so I'm hoping that after we have more kids it will look decent enough to use.)

• I've "pre-registered" for the hospital and registered for all of our classes. We are taking the child birthing class (lamaze) as well as an infant care class.

• This really isn't a "check" on my part, but I got the invite in the mail for our first shower. I just think it is the cutest thing ever... Can you read it? It says, "While the little muffin bakes, let's celebrate."

• I think I've chosen a doula. We've talked on the phone and are going to meet in person next week. I've actually met her before because she has worked with some friends of ours, but this will be our first "official" meeting. It was sort of a hard decision as a person who isn't really planning on an all-natural childbirth. (Which a lot of doulas prefer.) I'll make a separate post about why I chose to use a doula sometime in the future.

• Scheduled the new carpet installation. Not that it was hard to schedule or anything, but we can't really do anything else until the carpeting and painting is done. I'm going to keep you updated on the carpeting thing, because I think it's going to be a disaster. I guess I underestimated what I'm going to have to do to get ready. They have to completely disassemble our bedroom furniture an move it into the hallway to do the master bedroom. The furniture is 130 years old and most of it is oversized. That means all nicknacks, bedding and small furnishings are going to have to go...not to mention getting everything off the floor of the closets and moving the office furniture to the basement. Hmm... I see chaos in our future.

Well... on the list for today is buying 2 wedding gifts, a bachelorette gift and two baby shower gifts. Holy crap. That's a lot of gifts. Have a good weekend everyone!

Registering...Check!

Ok....maybe it's a little premature to put a "check" after that. I did make a huge dent in it though! We will be registering at Babies R Us and Pottery Barn Kids and I got quite a bit done at Babies R Us today.

I went with my friend who has an almost 2 year old and a newborn. She was a life saver!! The only times I have been in a Babies R Us is to purchase shower gifts and really, the place terrified me. All of those choices of things that you didn't even know you needed! Plus, my friend is really anal about looking into reviews, safety ratings and consumer reports. (As I'm sure most new moms tend to be.) All I know is that she saved me lots of time! I certainly did some research on my own, but reading isn't the same as her first person experience. I mean-- in the breast pump department alone! Who knew!?

Some highlights...

• I really like the infant car seat/carrier/stroller that I registered for. (Chicco "Cubes") It's black and has a subtle pattern, which I like.

• The diaper Genie II. I'm only including this because as my friend was explaining why it was the best one, like three other moms and a dad at the store all chimed in about how great it is. Phrases like... "It's the only one that traps the odor," "It has a foot peddle so you don't have to get poo on the lid," were flying all around. I just thought it was funny. Apparently the Diaper Genie II is the one to get. (And as they all told me-- don't forget to register for the refills!")

• The McClaren Volo stroller. This is just an umbrella stroller for quick shopping trips and when you don't want to lug the big one around. It's pricey for an umbrella stroller, but my friend pointed out that it's the only one where the handles are the proper height so you aren't pushing it around looking like a hunchback.

• The Bundle Me. I just love these little baby cocoons and think they are essential if you are having a Fall or Winter baby.

Some low points...

• There are just some items that didn't come in a gender neutral option. Like a swing, for instance. None of the electric ones were gender neutral. (I don't want to be changing batteries all the time.)

• I seriously registered for this...

There were cuter ones, but everything I have read says to get the really bright gaudy ones because babies need that kind of contrast. I guess I have a few more months to get used to the idea of this eye sore sitting around my house.

• Rectal Thermometer. Did you know that you need to take a new baby's temp....through the back door? My friend didn't until her newborn had a high fever and poor Dad had to rush out to get one. Wonder if anyone is going to opt for the rectal thermometer purchase off the registry. :)

And two suggestions... I would have totally passed up these two items...

• The cloth cover for your crib rail. This is for when the baby is much bigger and you would rather not have tooth marks in your wood. There are more stylish looking rubber ones that just grip onto the rail, but my friend says they all leave a sticky residue and slide off easily.

• JJ Cole strap covers for the car seat. They are softer than the straps of the car seat, so there is less abrasion. Plus, they go at the points right near the baby's face. (AKA the area that gets drooled on and spit up on all the time.) You can just undo them and throw them in the wash.

Well, 175 items later, I have a registry! Today was mostly about essentials. No bedding, blankets, books, or anything like that yet. I guess I still have some work to do!

One Hot Mess of a Maid of Honor

Yep... that's going to be me.

First off... I realize that I am technically a "Matron" of Honor, but that just sounds old. The bride is listing me as a "matron" on the program. I was originally going to protest this, but then I thought that if I am going to be 6 1/2 months pregnant at this wedding, I had better be a matron rather than a knocked up "maid."

So why am I going to be a hot mess?

Well... lets start with the dress... It's really quite cute.. here's a pic, but you'll have to imagine it in a cranberry red color.

The problem is, it came from I Do I Do Bridal. We ordered the dresses ages ago, so when I found out I was pregnant I went back in and ordered some extra fabric to do alterations. (AKA...make some room for the belly.) I won't digress, but I Do I Do no longer exists and the new owner has no idea about my order. (If it was ever placed, etc.) This means that I'm just going to have it altered using A) The fabric from the dress itself (like bring up the hem to give the tailor a couple of inches to work with) or B) Try and find a similar fabric from a fabric store. (Like that's going to happen) Either way, I have this feeling I'm going to look like a cast off from Project Runway.

Now for the shoes... The wedding is taking place outside... in the country.... on a hill. It will be a gorgeous setting for a Fall wedding. The bride is just asking us to wear gold shoes but she is recommending flats so we don't sink in the mud with every step. This is just great if you are like the bride who happens to be 6'. Asking a 5'5 pregnant person to wear a tea length dress and flats? You might as well ask a tree stump to pose for pictures. So... In order to gain some height and give my legs a fighting chance of showing I purchased gold wedge heels. If the phrase "gold wedge heels" isn't a hot mess, then I don't know what is. Oh-- and I already have several pairs of gold heels, so I wasn't in the mood to spend a lot of money on them.

Check out these beauties that are on their way as we speak... all $28 of them.

I can't decide if I should be wearing them to a wedding or a Golden Girls reunion. These have Blanche written all over them.

And finally.. I haven't given a speech since freshman year of college. Obviously as the maid of honor I am going to have to. I just can't believe that I have to do this stone cold sober. I wouldn't have gotten wasted, but a couple of beers to help loosen me up to the idea of speaking in public would have helped. I don't think the baby would appreciate it, so I'm going to do my best without any booze.

I'll report back after the wedding and include some photos of me as a hot pregnant mess. :)

Babymoon?... Or Not?

I am having some serious internal struggles regarding the possibility of a vacation/babymoon. (Which I've discussed previously.) Basically I have really dragged my feet so if we are going somewhere at the end of September as we have planned, I need to book it NOW.

Originally I had discussed London, Boston/Cape Cod and Phoenix/Sedona. I would have only done London if we had found some seriously great airfare deals. Those never materialized, so London is out. I spent a lot of time on Trip Advisor researching Boston/ Cape Cod, but I just wasn't willing to risk the weather during hurricane season. So Phoenix/Sedona it is! (maybe)

Now that I've gotten to the point of picking out specific flights, hotels, etc, I am starting to get cold feet. We just went on a large ($$$) vaca in April and we have quite a few big purchases coming in the next two months. (House is scheduled to be repainted in mid October, new carpet going in at the end of Sept, not to mention the whole baby nursery thing) If I'm going to bother going all the way to Arizona, I am going to do it up right and go for spa treatments, fine dining ,etc. Oh-- and now that I've screwed around for so long, there are no good airfare deals to come by.

My husband is no help and is leaving it up to me. He suggested that if we don't do this trip, we could spend a weekend at a really nice hotel in Chicago or some place not quite so far. That sounds nice, but I figure that sort of mini-vacation is what we are going to want AFTER we have the baby and are able to leave it with grandparents for a couple days.

So what do I do? Be responsible and add the money we would have spent to the future house down payment fund? Will I regret that after we have kids and aren't really able to go on this kind of vacation for a while? I'm really not dying to get out of town since I've already taken two vacations so far this year, but who doesn't love to get away?

Grr.... I am so not a procrastinator and now I see why!

Sunglasses

I really over-estimated myself this time.

Over the years I've always purchased cheapy sunglasses from Target. If I was feeling really spendy I would opt for $30 ones from Macy's or something. I always seemed to lose them, sit on them, break them, etc, so I never considered getting a really nice pair.

Well, when we were getting ready to go to Mexico in April I realized that I have had my most current pair of cheapies for like three years! I figured that if I could hold on to them for so long I must be ready to graduate to nice sunglasses with scratch resistant frames, etc. So, I splurged on a great pair of tortoise shell Marc Jacobs. These aren't them, by the way. I just thought the post needed a pic...

Well... like I said, I over-estimated myself. The glasses have now been missing for approximately three weeks. When they first disappeared I thought they would eventually turn up, but after three weeks I'm ready to admit the loss. #@$@%!! I have no idea what could have happened to them. I'm thinking they must have fallen out of my purse at some point.

So what have I been using in the meantime? The god-awful, scratched up three year old cheapies that I held on to in case of emergency. This pair just won't die!! I loved the new pair so much I'm thinking of re-buying them if I can find them. That's totally absurd, isn't it?