Pregnancy: Week 22-27 in Review

Holy shiz. I just finished rounding out (pun intended) the second trimester and am moving on to trimester three! I'm super excited, but a little overwhelmed all at once. I just can't believe how fast this pregnancy is going.  But let's get to the recap...

Feeling? Overall, still can't complain too much. I've started having slight back pain (especially after a long day), but laying on a heating pad has really, really helped.

Weight Gain? As of the end of Week 27, I've gained 15 pounds. I'm a little freaked when I get on the scale as I've never weighed as much as I do now, but I know it's normal!

Baby Size? We've graduated from  the length of a carrot to a head of cauliflower. According to my all-knowing BabyCenter app, he weighs nearly 2 pounds and is about 14 1/2 inches long. He's getting to be such a big boy! (Now where those other measly 13 pounds are hiding, well, I don't know... ;-)

Maternity Clothes? Yes, I finally broke down and bought maternity dress pants as the belly band was getting a little umcomfy. There are still some non-maternity clothes I can wear, but I've really started wearing a lot of basics (black and white maternity t's) with cute scarves/necklaces so I can cut down on the number of new things I need to buy.

Cravings? Still love chips, but my newest craving (and yes, I realize how cliche this is...) is sweet pickles. I've gone through two large jars in the past 3 weeks. And I can't get enough pineapple and apples!

What I Miss? Nothing at the moment; I'm doing pretty well!

What I'm Looking Forward To? January will bring childbirth classes, maternity pictures and a baby shower! Lots to be excited about! Also, the hubby and I will be working on the nursery quite a bit over our holiday break.

Best Moment? My belly has definitely "popped" over the past 6 weeks, so it's nice that people look at you and realize your pregnant. They don't give you that weird "So, have you been eating extra cheeseburgers or are you growing a baby?" look. Also, it turns out people love pregnant. Maybe it's just me, but I feel like people are so much friendlier to me. And of course I'm still loving all the kicks and movement; trying to soak it all in!

Belly Button Status? Yes, this is a new category because I realized I'm kind of obsessing about it. In week 22, it was in a comfortable shallow position. Now, I'm mere weeks away from an "outie" crisis. I'm pretty sure this is what I've picked to obsess about to take my mind off, ya know, birthing a human being.

In the newly painted (thanks to the hubby!) nursery

Just got our Christmas tree up. And I look ginormous in this photo.

Our crib (compliments of my Dad!) was delivered. Yay!

Bring it on 3rd trimester! I wore heels just to prove I still could. :-)

On to trimester three...

Christmas-ing

I can't believe the holidays are almost here. It took us a little while to get into the holiday spirit, but we're finally there.. I mean, it's official. No, the lighting of the Rockefeller Christmas Tree doesn't make it official, nor does the holiday shopping.

In our house, we know it's Christmastime when Folgers brings back their holiday commercial. For those of you not familiar with this gem:

 Can we talk for a second about how creepy this commercial is? Is it just us or is there a weird brother/sister dynamic in play here?

Well, either way... Our house is all decked out (kind of) for Christmas.

Can't believe we'll have 3 stockings next year!!

Wrapping gifts is my favorite!

And our friends sure have been on top of it this year getting their holiday cards out. Sadly enough, we opted to not send Christmas cards this year with everything going on and because we'll be doing birth announcements this spring.

You'll notice I haven't gone on my usual rant against holiday yard inflatables this year. This video should explain why:

For reference, our house is the first one with the porch lights on. We are one of the only houses on our street that did not put up any outdoor Christmas lights, so who am I to start knocking on those who at least did SOMETHING outdoors (inflatables or not)? The hubby promised me that we could do lights next year. I'm documenting this right now.

Anyways, we'll be spending a few days in Houston visiting family for the holidays and then will be in nursery overdrive until we head back to work in January.

Hope everyone has a lovely Christmas surrounded by those you love most!! xoxo

Baby List-ing

Wow, no blogging for three weeks and then three posts all in one week. Can you tell my hubby is out of town?

Plus, whenever I come across something I think is cool/useful/fun, I can't help but share!

So, I just told you about our baby registering, which went relatively smooth, but I was also doing some researching online to see if Etsy had a baby registry (they don't)... but can we talk for a second about the fact the Etsy DOES have a wedding registry?!

Ummm, friends who are getting married: can someone please take advantage of this?! No more registering for ugly wall art at Bed, Bath & Beyond (or was just that us that did that...?). I love the idea that you can pick out super-cute, hand-made home items that guests can buy that you will actually WANT to display in your home. Hopefully, someone takes advantage of this soon!

On another note, I did come across a service called BabyLi.st. (And yes BabyLi.st is the actual URL.)

Basically, it allows you to register for anything that you can buy online and it aggregates it into a registry list. It adds an "Add to BabyList" button to your browser (just like the Pinterest "Pin it" button) so you can easily add things to the list. It's great because it allows me to keep track of things I'd like for the baby and then you can share it with friends and family in case they'd like to buy something from that list. I, by no means, EXPECT people to buy from the list as it's a little less "essentials" and more "things that I'll probably end up buying any way" but I always love giving a personal, cute gift that I know someone actually wants. For me, it's definitely acting as a "bookmark" for things I'd like for the baby or his nursery (such as a cute diaper bag tote, a baby book, crib sheets, a crib mobile, etc.).

So, for any Mommies-to-be out there, you should totally check it out! Has anyone used it before?

Adventures in Baby Registering

Several weeks back, the hubby and I took off on a random Friday to spend the day together and knock out our baby registry. A few people scoffed at the idea that we could knock it all out in one day, but let me tell you, we were quite prepared. In the weeks prior, I had done my research (online, consumer reports, asking friends for recommendations) on baby products, so equipped with my list (a pretty detailed spreadsheet, which my accounting hubby enthusiastically approved of), we set off for Target and later, Buy Buy Baby.

Why did we register at Target? Um, well for one thing, it's maybe one of my favorite stores. And two, it's an easy, non-intimidating store for friends without babies to shop in. One of my non-Mommy friends swears she had a panic attack inside the baby humidifier section at Buy Buy Baby... and no one wants that, right?! I didn't understand her until I turned to go in that section and got hit with a weird-smelling steam. (Needless to say, Baby Benson is going sans a humidifier...) But Buy Buy Baby was where we really got down to business with the larger items and other items that Target didn't carry in-stores.

The list helped us be adequately prepared, but Greg still got to make important decisions like hooded bath towels - monkey or frog? Monkey, great. Swaddlers - blue print or animals? Blue print, check. He did, however, politely bow out when it came to things like breastfeeding accessories, understandably.

We still have a few outstanding questions such as "to jogging stroller or not to jogging stroller" and if the answer is the former, do you go high-end or low-end since it's a back-up stroller? We're still figuring that out, but overall, the list served us well.

Best part of the shopping experience? Um, duh. VIP parking...

Living Room Refresh: Part Deux

Yes, I'm still working on updating the living room. I got a little side-tracked, but have finished another step in my living room refresh project. I'm still working on what I want to do with the artwork above the couch. The hubby never liked it and I've recently come around to his way of thinking. I ordered a cute fabric to wrap the canvas in as a temporary fix, but after the fabric came in, I decided I didn't like that anymore... We have a new game plan, so hope to get around to that project in the next few weekends. So, I'm skipping step #2 for now and moving to step #3. Pillows.

I spent about 3 hours one Saturday morning in an Etsy vortex and when I came out on the other side, had ordered about 5-6 new throw pillow covers. Our current throw pillows were ones that came with our furniture. They were fine and did their job for more than 4 years, but it was time for a change.

I ordered my throw pillows from this shop, where I've ordered before and this shop, which was a little pricier than I usually like, but they had some great pattern and are very high quality. I got the pillow forms from Joann's Fabric for 40% off (their down alternative pillows are a little more expensive, but they really are the best).

Uh-oh, we're totally busted. Yes, that's a puzzle on our coffee table we're working on... Nerd Alert!

Now, all I need to do is replace the above the couch artwork and do a bit of zhushing/adding small decor items. Easier said than done as we're also starting to work on the baby's nursery, organizing guest room closets and replacing all the carpet in our home. We'll get around to it, though! :-)