3rd Trimester!!

Excited to announce… I am officially in the 3^rd trimester!! Hooray!  How does that make me feel?  I am soooo excited and yet nervous at the same time.  Mainly nervous because… uhh… have you seen the world we live in?  There are a bunch of crazies in it! Long gone are the days we can let our kids play around the neighborhood for hours at a time without worrying about a creeper trying to kidnap them or stalk them. Granted, we live in a good area, but these days call for us having to have our guard up at all times.  Also, working with the youth in our church, I get to hear stories of the things they see and experience at schools. It’s shocking to me.  There is so much pressure on parents to make sure their children are raised to be strong enough to stand against things and not join in simply because it’s the ‘thing to do’.  Luckily, I also get to see the youth do just that and so that gives me hope that even though it will be tough, it can be done.  Christian and I will work hard to make sure Aria is taught the necessary things to help her get through the trials she will face.  And I also just have to come to terms with the fact that we will fail at times and she will fail at times and it’s… ok. J 

Ok… sorry.  Didn’t mean to get so serious there.  Let’s go back to 3^rd trimester talk!  So with only 12 weeks to go, there are lots of fun ‘to do’ items.  We will be meeting with Aria’s pediatrician, taking a child birth class, getting hospital bags ready, creating any birthing plans we may have, finishing up the nursery (more on this in a minute), getting things set up for maternity leave, mastering a waddle and a few other things.  Home stretch people!  I continue to keep super busy with things so time is just flying by. My bump isn’t really a ‘bump’ anymore.  It’s just a big belly.  Lots of people are commenting on how big it’s getting too.  I promise that doesn’t hurt my feelings.  It’s a part of the process and I proudly own the belly growth.  It just means my little one is growing and getting ready for her debut.   

Aria should be close to 2.5 pounds by now and about 14.5 inches.  Said to be about the size of an eggplant.  She LOVES to push on my bladder.  I try to tell her it’s not a trampoline but she isn’t convinced.  She moves around a lot too. Some days more than others. Probably starting to get cramped in there for her.  The cutest thing to date is feeling her hiccups!  Oh I love it.  It is possible she may have a lot of hair because I am getting lots of heartburn.  According to those wives tales, the more heartburn, the more hair they have.  Who knows if that’s really a contributing factor or not.  The chances of her having a lot of hair are probably high anyway.  I would almost be shocked if she didn’t.  I mean my brother, Axel and I came out looking like monkeys we had so much hair! Ha!

Her room is at a complete stand still right now.  Which is now more than frustrating.  Allow me to go on a rant about this process with the dresser.  I was trying to be really patient, but now I am just over it.  Alright… here we go.  From the beginning.  I ordered the crib and dresser from 2 different sites.  The crib site (Baby Supermall) didn’t have the dresser we wanted and the dresser site (Wayfair) didn’t have the crib available until end of August.  The crib came in just fine and we absolutely love the choice we made.  The dresser came in completely damaged.  (The bottom of the dresser was cracked, there was a small crack in the wood at the top and the side of it had come off of it.)  That’s ok though.  Things happen.  Wayfair was great with customer service and sent out a replacement dresser that same week and 2 weeks later we got the new one.  That one was damaged too! The damage on this one was much less (2 drawers broken and the back panel cracked) and totally fixable. The problem is… do I want to take the time to fix something that I paid $500 for? Not really.  If I paid that much for it, I want it in great condition.  I think that’s fair.  So I called Wayfair immediately and told them about the new damage.  They gave me an option of sending us parts and having a furniture medic come out to repair it.  I agreed to both and was told I would receive the parts by this week.  Great! Things are looking up… right?! Nope.  On Monday, I received an email stating that my order is on hold until I provide the part numbers.  I have a few problems with this: 1. Why did you wait until the week I was supposed to receive the parts to tell me you need more information? 2. Why didn’t you try to gather this information on the first call?  3. How am I supposed to give you a part number when I didn’t even get instructions because it came assembled?  I spent Monday and Tuesday going back and forth with someone letting them know I don’t have part numbers.  Eventually, after the 2 days, she realized what I was saying and said she would have to call their warehouse to see if they could find the instruction manual and get the part numbers for me.  This morning I received an email from the same lady saying they found the part numbers and I should get the parts in a week.  Finally!  Ok, so what about the furniture medic to come make the repair?  “Oh. We don’t know if we have one available in your area so you may have to make the repairs on your own.”  Umm… what?  I want it done the right way which is why I wanted someone to come and do it.  Also, if for any reason something else breaks in the process or turns out not to be fixable, I don’t want that coming back being our fault.  I work in the corporate world… C.Y.A. always.  She understood my concern and offered me a $100 credit on their site in lieu of the furniture medic.  Pass.  At this point I have no interest in purchasing things from them.  I understand it’s more the delivery services fault but this entire process has been a mess and I have been dealing with it for 2 months.  I’m just disappointed.  I can’t really figure out the rest of the room until I have the furniture pieces in there.  Luckily, I do still have time to get all this sorted out, but I am just not pleased with the process I have had to go through with this.

Alright, rant over.  On to happier things! Last Saturday, we had some family pictures done!!  Though it’s still too soon to get all our pics back, the Facebook sneak peeks were posted and I am so excited.  Here is a cute picture that sums us up pretty nicely.

Right now I am getting ready for family coming to visit next week, our 4D ultrasound next Friday and the baby shower which is just 8 days away.  Before all of that excitement, I will have a special upcoming post for you.  I am doing a Q&A with Axel!  He will tell us all about how he feels about becoming a big brother (which is sometimes good and sometimes not so good), what is he most looking forward to and what is he most likely going to be annoyed with.  It’s fun to hear other’s perspective and with a 9 year old… well… you just never know what he will say.  Love you all and thanks for letting me vent out my frustrations with you.