Pregnancy: Week 32-33 in Review

Well, on to month 8, and may I just say that time is FUH-LYING? I thought I'd be finishing the nursery around week 34, but, ummmm not the case. Either way, I still feel like we have plenty of time, but maybe time to get going on that. My BabyCenter app also tells me it's also time to SLOW DOWN and get lots of rest. You know what? Not. A. Problem. That's actually my goal for the next 6 weeks. So, on to the recap...

Feeling? I had a couple of rough days where the baby was putting pressure on my pelvis, but other than that, I've actually been feeling alright. (Turns out pre-term labor is not the same things as just feeling uncomfortable... who knew?!) I get tired a bit easier (hello heavy breathing while climbing stairs... definitely can't hang like I used to!), but other than that can't complain.

Sleeping? (Yes, this is a new category.) Honestly, compared to other horror stories I've heard, I'm still sleeping pretty well. I get up a couple of times a night to run to the restroom and I do flip sides every few hours, but overall, I'm feeling so much more tired, so I'm still sleeping OK. The baby does like to wake up early on Saturday and Sunday mornings, therefore, so do I...

Weight Gain? I've gained about 22 pounds total. I've also stopped obsessing about my weight. There are way too many other things to obsess about...

Baby Size? He now weighs approx 4 1/2 lbs and is approximately 17 1/2 inches long. Now, he should be spending the next few weeks fattening up. Something like this... although I have no idea which direction he is.

Maternity Clothes? I feel like the size of my belly is getting a little out of control. In the coming weeks, I'm a bit afraid that I'm going to outgrow some of my maternity clothes. So don't judge if I wear the same 4 outfits over and over... I refuse to buy anymore maternity clothes.

Cravings? Same as before... Sweet pickles, chips, pineapples, apples. I eat all of these things every week as much as possible! But I'm on a bit of a sweets/pastry kick. We bought a King Cake (to commemorate Mardi Gras!) and I swear, I've single-handedly ate about 80% of that thing. My lowest point was when I was eating it right out of the box with a fork and knife. (Judge if you must.)

What I Miss? I do miss my energy and feeling in-shape. I also miss my mind. I've been having some mild pregnancy brain lately. Basically, if I'm at work and I don't write something down that I need to do, well, it's not going to happen. So I've got some crazy lists going on right now. Also, the fact that my husband and VP have the same name is not helping the situation. I came DANGEROUSLY close to sending my VP a calendar invite to a breastfeeding class. Um, dodged an awkward bullet there.

What I'm Looking Forward To? I had my first baby shower last weekend and it was absolutely wonderful (blog post to come on this later!). Over the next few weeks, I'm looking forward to our second shower and visiting friends in Oklahoma. Also, I'm really focusing on the nursery so hope to make a lot of progress in the near future! Finally, spending every minute I can with my hubby (despite his crazy "busy season" work schedule) since this is the last time it'll be just the two of us.

Best Moment? I'm really trying to soak every minute in. While we absolutely cannot wait to meet our little one, I feel like I'm going to be really sentimental about the pregnancy ending because, overall, it's gone so smoothly. Mentally blocking out the constant nausea of Weeks 5-11 and a handful of body freakout moments, I've adored every moment. :-)

Belly Button Status? OK, this is one area that I've - as my yoga instructor says - released control of. We've nearly entered the full "outie" status. And when I laugh or cough, it sort of pops in and out a bit. It's kind of hilarious. Maybe slightly terrifying, but still funny.

Picture by the baby's assembled crib!

Whoa - look at that belly. It makes this maternity top look like a baby tee!

Living Room Refreshed

So, I think when I decided I wanted to do some slight tweaking to our living room, I didn't realize how much time and energy the nursery and... you know, GROWING A HUMAN BEING would take. So, while I've only made some small changes, I'm still very pleased. And now that this is done, all energy will be put into finishing the nursery (updates to come!) and taking it easy.

So, in my original post, I outlined 4 steps. The first being:
1. Get New Area Rug to Help Pull the Room Together -- Done
2. Replace Ugly Art Canvas
3. New Couch Throw Pillows -- Done
4. Accessorize

I was able to knock out #2 and sort of #4. I think I told you previously that I bought the wall art on a random shopping trip; I only kind of liked it, Greg hated it, but we had a space on the wall to fill. Now I'm happy to tell you it's been replaced; never to return again! 

What did we replace with? Well, when we got the dresser that we turned into the baby's changing table, it actually came with this gorgeous mirror. When we went to pick up the dresser, the antique store owner was like, "Oh do you want the accompanying mirror?" I knew we wouldn't use it for the nursery, but it was free so we took it!

The hubby and I decided to spray paint the mirror a really pretty oil-rubbed bronze color and luckily it fit perfectly.

Step #4 was tweaked a bit when I got to thinking that I would have a baby crawling around in less than a year's time, so I picked up a couple of new items to accessorize, but decided to otherwise leave things more bare.

Here's the final product!

I'm happy to say that I was able to knock these few updates out for less than $300, which includes a new area rug, 5 new throw pillows, a mirror (free!) and a few accessories like the gold tray on the coffee table. 

I'm not going to say I'm done with house updates as I feel like a home is never finished, but my priorities are shifting and I've been putting so much effort into our little home simply so I could sit back and enjoy the baby once he arrives.

Pregnancy: Week 28-31 in Review

So, I'm all up in my third trimester. Despite the bouts of nausea throughout my first trimester, everything is going shockingly well. I felt awesome all throughout the second trimester - had lots of energy, didn't feel stressed... it was awesome. Then, Trimester 3 was all like "bahahhaha, hope you enjoyed it. It's over." I'm pretty sure I cried three times in the first week of the third trimester. I think the hubby was a little bit like, "ummm, what just happened to my wife?" I think I got just a bit overwhelmed, but I've since decided the chill the eff out and I'm back in control. So, on to the recap...

Feeling? Overall, I feel pretty good. I'm still sleeping decently well, which I'm super-grateful for. I definitely get tired more quickly and am feeling a little more on the lazy side. But again, nothing to complain about too much. :-)

Weight Gain? Well, I'm getting a little freaked out over here. As of the end of Week 31, I've gained about 20ish pounds. Oh well, according to my prenatal workout DVD hosted by Summer Sanders, (yes, the host of Nickelodeon's Figure It Out) it's all about "Growing Bellies. Healthy Mommies. Healthy Babies." Whatever you say, Summer.

Baby Size? You guys, he's getting so BIG! He now weighs more than 3 lbs and is approximately 16 inches long. According to BabyCenter, he's something like this:

Maternity Clothes? Oh yes. My pants situation is getting a little tough as my belly is getting bigger, but most of my maternity tops still fit OK... I'm tired of buying new maternity clothes, so hopefully no one notices that I wear the same 2-3 pairs of pants every week to work.

Cravings? Sweet pickles, chips, pineapples, apples. I eat all of these things every week as much as possible!

What I Miss? Being able to lean over without my belly getting in the way. And energy. I miss energy.

What I'm Looking Forward To? Baby showers (getting to see my family and friends!) and of course continuing work on the nursery.

Best Moment? Well the past few weeks have been full of lots of NOT fun stuff (glucose test, more bloodwork, a shot), but there have still been a few awesome moments. I feel like I'm starting to figure out his schedule; that he likes to move around/play in the evening (and at night) and early mornings, but I think he sleeps a lot during the day.

Belly Button Status? Ugh, I sort of can't even talk about this. It's, like, half-way to outie status. Last time I was at the doctor for a tummy check, I laid back on the table (so the doctor could listen to his heartbeat) and my belly button popped out! At first, I thought it was just me... until I saw Greg's face and I knew it was the beginning of the end for my "innie." In fact, if you check out this one maternity shot, you can actually see it poking out a bit...

Belly Pics:

Christmas Morning!

On to Month 8 - and 8 weeks and counting!

Maternity Pictures

Is it just me or are some maternity pics cuh-reepy?! I think baby bellies are the sweetest thing, but there's something kind of weird about doing bare-belly (or worse!) maternity photos. (Trust me, the baby bump is way cuter covered up... ;-)

Case in point...

So, when we decided we wanted to do maternity pictures, I knew we wanted just a few fun, non-creepy, non-belly-baring photos. Just something to capture the excitement we feel waiting for our little one to get here.  :-)

You may or may not have already seen the sneak peek of them on Facebook, but wanted to share a little more from our maternity photo session that we did this past weekend at White Rock Lake in Dallas.

My longtime pal, who has a photography business on the side, did the shoot for us and we couldn't be happier with them! If you live in the DFW area and are looking for a really great photographer for maternity, family, kids, engagement, etc., Lori Wilson Photography (www.loriwilsonphotography.com // www.facebook.com/loriwilsonphotography) is amazing and I'd highly recommend her.

Here are a few of our favorites that she sent me a few nights ago (we'll receive the finals in the coming weeks, but just couldn't wait to share!)

65 days and counting...

Baby Nursery: Slowly, but Surely

So, I told you - ummm..... - about two months ago that we painted our nursery, but then went AWOL on the nursery progress. Well, after we celebrated a wonderful Christmas in Houston with family, we headed back to Funkytown (or "Frisco" as the locals call it) and got busy on the nursery.

The crib was a bit of an adventure in itself. We had this huge-ass box holding our crib in the baby's room for a good 5-6 weeks, but never opened it. So, of course the day we decided to put it together (with the help of my brother- and sister-in-law, who were in town), we opened the box to find a chunk of wood missing from the front piece of the crib. After a conversation with Babies 'R' Us customer service, they told us we'd likely need to send it back, then they'd send us a new one. It was at this point in time that I started to drift slowly into a depression with thoughts of my poor little baby coming home from the hospital with no crib.

I was all like...

But then my sister-in-law was all like...

So, I called a couple of local stores and somehow (I still don't know how) one store had one crib in our style and color in-stock and they were willing to swap us out front pieces. So off we went and here's the final product:

Baby Benson's crib (Note: the walls look blue, but they are actually gray)

Greg got the crib put together in less than an hour with help from Uncle Rob & Aunt Taylor!

Second, we ordered a glider for the nursery (thanks to Greg's parents)! The bad news? It takes 8-12 weeks to deliver, so they gave us a delivery timeframe of Feb 15-March 15, which just happens to be one day before my due date. Fingers are crossed it's on the shorter side of that estimate... But here she is (except we ordered it in navy and minus the pillow and blanket):

And then my hubby has been working VERY hard on the changing table. I wanted something painted a bright green color with a high gloss that will really stand out in the nursery. As a reminder, this is what it looked like before:

Before

And here's a little sneak peek (more to come on the dresser later!):

(Excuse the terrible lighting. It's currently living in our garage.)

So, we've at least got all the big pieces together and now it's just wall art, decorating, getting a rug and a new light. Can't wait to share how it looks once we get a little further along!

Blogiversary & New Year

Wow, time sure does fly. It's my two-year blog-iversary (well, yesterday) and crazily enough, it's already 2013. My first thought when I saw the date today was to panic just a bit. Probably because everything that seemed so far away, suddenly seem to be right around the corner. I mean, we start childbirth classes THIS WEEKEND. What?! How did this happen? How am I 30 weeks along?

But the truth is that I couldn't be happier that 2013 is here. I was a little bittersweet about 2012 ending, only because I feel like it was a really, really wonderful year for us. I mean, we gained a new sister-in-law, were blessed with the sweetest little nephew and of course we have a baby on the way. What else? Well, I finished re-doing our master bedroom, threw an awesome baby shower for my sis, went on a really fun vacay and lots more... but for the past 6 months, it's really been all about baby.

But, let's get to it - the top posts of 2012:
5. Pregnancy: Week 14-17 in Review
4. Announcing Baby Benson
3. Baby B Gender & Name Reveal
2. Baby Shower Inspiration
1. Master Bedroom Re-Do: the For Now Finale

I haven't committed to many major New Years Resolutions, just two:
1. Enjoy the last couple of months of being a family of two. That means sleep in (when the baby isn't practicing high kicks as he sometimes likes to do at 7:45 a.m. on weekends), enjoy long, quiet dinners with my hubby and anything else that may not be so easy once baby arrives.
2. Chill the eff out. Let's face it - having a baby is a little stressful. Is the baby doing OK? Am I gaining weight too quickly? How will I get the nursery finished in time? And this doesn't even scratch the surface of the stress that will come once he arrives. So, I think just chilling out a bit will do a lot of good for me, baby and everyone else.

Hope your New Year brings you everything you wish for. Happy 2013!

P.S. Oh,  if you'd like to you can follow the blog a few different ways - if you have a Google account, click on the "Join this Site with Google Friend Connect" button on the right side of the blog. Or you can scroll down in the same area of the blog where you'll find a "Follow Blog By Email" option; type in your email and be notified when there's a new post.  :-)