Little things

I have totally dropped the ball on blog post these last couple weeks.  SO sorry.  Surprisingly not a lot has happened, but the little things are fun to talk about too.

After the baby shower, I did Aria’s first load of laundry! I am a little bit odd in the fact that I actually like doing laundry.  I love pulling warm, fluffy and yummy smelling clothes out of the dryer.  My promise to Christian when we got married was he would never have to worry about laundry because it’s the only chore I enjoy.  When I decided to do Aria’s laundry, I was so excited!  And then I realized just how many pieces of clothing can fit in a load… my goodness!! I was folding onesie after onesie forever.  I still loved every minute of it though.  Once I was done with her laundry, I sorted everything into sizes so I can see the big picture and also know where we needed to stock up.  I came to find that she has plenty of 0-3 month items, some 3-6 months and lots of 6-9 months.  After that age, we only have a few.  That is GREAT though!! Means for the next while we are all set.  Of course, I am sure I will find cute things every now and again that I will just HAVE TO get her, but I am so grateful we have one less thing to worry about for right now.

Since we have her dresser and crib set up in her room (no decorations or anything yet), I decided to go ahead and start getting the clothes and blankets into place.  I probably re-did this a few times and I will most likely re-do it again.  When I was getting ready to do this, I laid out a blanket on the floor and set up my stacks and got to folding/rolling up/hanging her clothes.  Christian was there and immediately asked what I was doing.  When I told him, he got all giddy with excitement and jumped right in to help.  A few minutes later, Axel came by and asked what was happening.  He also got excited and jumped in to help!  Does Aria understand how much these 2 love her already?  I mean… it’s just so sweet!  Here are some of the pics.

Once we were done, I got them into her room and got to see things start coming to life!  Here are a couple shots of her drawers and her closet.  Still some organizing to do in the closet but slowly I will figure out how I want this to work.  Unfortunately we picked the room with the smallest closet for her.  Oops.

As far as decorating her room… Well… I am a bit stuck.  I don’t really know what the plan is or what I want to do, but I do know I want to keep it simple and clean.  Nothing flashy or magazine like.  Just a functional, cute little girl room that isn’t ALL pink.  I am definitely adding pink in there but I don’t want it to be over the top.

Alright so after the clothes were situated, it was time to take a good look at what we have and figure out what we need… not want… need.  There was actually quite a few things and when I realized that we needed to budget for what seemed like the cost of another mortgage payment over the next few months, I almost passed out. LOL!  Baby stuff isn’t cheap.  On the positive side, the items that we have chosen are quality items that will last a while. Almost all of it can convert into something that will grow with her and all of it is gender neutral so if/when we have another baby, we will be able to re-use it.  All of those factors helped me breathe a little easier.  First big ticket item we went for… the stroller/car seat combo!  We found the only store that had it in stock and available was about an hour away from us.  We made it an event!  We drove to Webster, TX and got the Chicco Bravo Travel System (with a 20% off coupon I might add!).  All of us got super excited when we got it… until we got to the car.  It wouldn’t fit in the trunk! We had a 20 second freak out moment where we didn’t know how to solve this problem and then decided to try the back seat… Success!  It fit!  Axel was a little cramped but he said “Anything for my little sister.  That’s what big brothers do.”

We ended up being close to NASA space center so we made a day of it and took an unplanned detour to have some family fun.  It was great and I definitely won’t wait so long to go back there.  We even got to go into space… take a look.

I love that we soon will have a new addition to the family to build more memories with!  With that said, Aria update time! 

 

I am 32 weeks along (really close to 33) and my Dr appointments are every 2 weeks.  Soon they will be switching to weekly.  Getting so close!! She is kicking and moving a lot and gets hiccups at least a couple times a day.  My belly is growing and when she kicks it now looks like a little alien is trying to pop out of me.  Her range should be up to 16.75 inches long and up to 3.8 pounds.  We know she was at the 3.8 pounds a couple weeks ago so I am sure she is passed that point now.  Christian and I sing certain songs to her every day.  She will be very quiet in there and as soon as one of us starts singing to her, she starts to wiggle.  It’s way cute!

This weekend we are going to be taking Child Birth classes and getting ready for school to start back up.  Both things I am looking forward to.  The class is a little scary though.  I took it before so I sort of know what to expect, but I feel like taking it is going to make me freak out a little about the labor/delivery.  Lucky for me I have a fantastic Dr and am going to be at a hospital that makes me feel safe and surrounded by people who I know will take good care of all of us.  Can’t wait to tell you guys about the class.  Hopefully we get at least one good story out of it. J

Baby Shower and her beautiful face!

I know I promised the next post would come sooner and it would be a Q&A with Axel, but I accidentally deleted the notes I took from that and I will have to bug Axel all over again.  Until then, I have a post that is going to be AWESOME!  This weekend was probably one of the best weekends so far!  Let’s start with Thursday.

Thursday, my family flew in from MA.  I haven’t seen my mom and my brother since December of last year so I was beyond giddy with excitement they were here.  My family and I have always been close so the past 5 years have been hard for all of us now that we live so far away from one another.  It’s great having them around and I am trying to plead my case as to why they should move back, but it’s hard when good old TX summer heat is fighting against me.  This entire ‘105 but feels like 122’ it just not ok. 

Friday was a busy day.  Lots of prep work for the baby shower happening and I think my feet were the size of a Christmas ham by the end of it.  I have a wonderful husband that was sweet enough to rub my legs and feet for a good hour right before bed.  Seriously the luckiest person to have him!  The highlight of that day was… my 4D ultrasound!!  We got to see our little girl and I can’t wait to tell you all about it!  Her heart rate was at 162.  She is currently measuring about a week and a half bigger than she ‘should’ be.  She weighs about 3lbs 14oz.  Calculating the fact that she could be gaining about half a pound a week from here on out, I am looking at a BIG baby. Oh man.  Can we get a baby treadmill installed in me asap please? Haha!  During the ultrasound she was the usual stubborn baby that she always is.  She had her foot and hand covering her face the majority of the time.  She showed us that she likes to suck on both her thumb and her toe.  (Not at the same time)  Oh! And she has a lot of hair!  Yes! We were able to see it on the ultrasound… that’s how much there is!  If you read my last post, you know that isn’t surprising. J  She has such fat little cheeks and long fingers.  She just melted our hearts.  Take a look at this cute little face that we were briefly able to capture.

 

Seeing her makes me more anxious to meet her and hold her and just snuggle her up!  But she still has 10 more weeks of baking to do so I need to be patient.  Plus, there is still lots of prep work before her arrival happens so she needs to stay put.

Saturday was baby shower day! I feel like I’ve been talking about it and planning it for so long and it finally happened!  It was great to mingle with friends and feel the love and support of those who came out to celebrate in one of the happiest times of our lives.  If you know me well, you know that I LOVE bees.  Because of that, it only made sense that the shower them was “Mommy to Bee”.  We rented a clubhouse in our neighborhood and decorated it with yellow, white and black.  Here are some of the cute decorations we had up.

We had a spread of food for a light lunch and lots of delicious sweets.  The best part about the sweets table was the cake!  Oh my goodness!  Cutest. Cake. EVER!  We used the same place that made our wedding cake and they once again did such an amazing job!  I pretty much gave them my theme and showed them different cakes/toppers I liked and told them to work their magic.  They most certainly did.  Here are some pictures of the cake and food items.

After eating, we all played a few games.  Two of the three games were the classic baby shower games.  The first one was to guess the size of my belly and the second was the one where you can’t say the word “baby” or cross your legs.  We should have added the words ‘cute’ and ‘awww’ to the list cause there was a lot of that.  The third game was tons of fun and made lots of people laugh.  Not sure if there is an official name for it but essentially you get two teams of two to go against each other.  Each team has to change a baby doll’s diaper.  The clothing must be removed, baby wiped, powdered and then re-dressed with the new diaper on.  The catch?  Each person may only use ONE hand!  Turns into quite the entertaining game with babies get flopped around everywhere.  The winning team actually mastered this in 35 seconds!  Crazy!  Guess I need to add them to the top of my babysitting list. Haha!  Here are some pics of me and the winners of the 3 games.

 

We ended the shower by opening gifts.  Though I was most interested in spending time with friends and family to celebrate, I felt so loved and grateful for all the thoughtful and useful gifts we got.  I am so lucky to know such wonderful people.

Now that the baby shower is over, we actually can get a list of the items little Aria still needs.   Let the shopping begin! 

The nursery is a work in progress.  The dresser situation is resolved… finally!!  Now we can get that moved to her room and start figuring out what goes where.  I am sure I will organize and re-organize that a few times.  Then the decorating can begin.  Woo hoo!  I am not the best at decorating, but with the help of the internet I may be able to pull off some ideas.  Or maybe a room of pinterest fails. Lol.  As I start getting things done in there I will be sure to post pics so you all feel a part of the nursery set up with us.

Upcoming things to look forward to read about in addition to the nursery set up are our adventures with a child birthing class and getting all the last items in order.

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.

"What's in a name..."

Last week of the 2^nd trimester now.  Wow!  Home stretch time.  Aria is continuing to grow, kick and get all fattened up.  My cravings still consist of those darn egg rolls and anything sweet that I can get my hands on.  I will admit that I have been guilty of not eating so well these past couple weeks.  I indulge in cookies, candy and all things containing chocolate.  I will pretend my growing bump is ALL baby though. Lol.  Here it is at 27 weeks.

 

So we got dresser #2 yesterday and guess what?!  It was damaged too… *sigh*.  At least this one wasn’t as bad so they are sending replacement parts and hopefully we will be done dealing with this mess.  The parts are being delivered by the same service though so who knows if they can manage to get those here in one piece.  I’m trying to be patient but it’s hard.  3^rd times the charm though right? Fingers crossed.  Should get them by the end of the month.

Alright, so it’s time to give some good news AND also get a little sentimental.  We have officially chosen her middle name!  We have been bouncing back and forth between 2 different names and ultimately decided on this because of the “meaning” behind it.  Since I already told you how we came up with her first name in an earlier post, allow me to give you some insight into how we got this one.

About 4 years ago, I was lucky enough to travel to Utah to meet a few of Christian’s family members.  Among those were two very special women. 

 

One of them was Kay, Christian’s Grandmother (On the left in picture above).  So let’s start off by saying that she didn’t look like a grandmother.  She looked young, fashionable, and fun!  In the short time that I was there with her, she was full of kind acts of service and I come to find out, that’s how she always was.  She was the type of person that would go out of her way to fill a need.  Christian often tells me that some of his fondest memories were the annual birthday dates… which is probably true for most of her grandchildren.  She was optimistic and would see the inner beauty within people.  Truly, she was someone I instantly fell in love with when I met her.  Sadly, her life was cut short a few months later leaving a void in the lives of those who knew her.  One of those people being Christian’s mom, Carolee (On the right in the picture above).

Carolee was…. SO many things!  Beautiful, funny, loving, outspoken, spunky, service oriented, accepting, loyal and insightful.  Not to mention extremely unfiltered.  Sometimes to the point of irreverence.  There was never a dull moment with her.  Her laughs were soooo contagious!!  I remember her starting to tell us a story one day and she kept laughing so hard she couldn’t get it out.  Christian and I started laughing because of her laughing without even knowing the story yet.  5 minutes later, we were STILL laughing and still in the dark.  Apparently this was very common because Christian remembers many times his mom being on the phone laughing with someone and he would join in not even knowing what was being laughed at.  It was truly an infectious laugh.  I am blessed to have had the opportunity to spend more time with her when she moved to Houston and really get to meet the women that raised such an amazing man despite the trials that being a single mom brought on.  I would hear the most entertaining stories from her all the time.  But always she mentioned how proud she was that she was able to teach all the small children how to drink from straws.  She also was proud that she made her niece vacuum perfect lines in the carpet… “as it should be done.” (And FYI – Christian vacuums this way still.)  As we got to know each other, we realized we were pretty similar.  We enjoyed a lot of the same things and could talk about almost anything and share the same opinions.  We had funny times, serious times and sad times while she lived with us.  The saddest time being 3 years ago when she suddenly and unexpectedly passed away.  It was devastating to say the least.  The joy and laughter she brought with her was going to be missed and hard to replace.  We miss her every day but am so grateful that we will be with her again.

So now you know a little about these 2 women that we love so much, but unfortunately aren’t here to celebrate in the joy of our new family addition.  I know for sure Carolee would be just beside herself at this news.  She would have bought everything in sight for our little girl and be completely wrapped around her little finger.  She would also be purchasing straw cups getting ready for that big day! Haha! Anyway, we knew we wanted them to be a part of this new life event for us, so we thought of the perfect way.  A name!  Though it’s not much, it’s something that Aria will have with her for her entire life and can always know about the 2 women that played such an essential role of making her dad who he is.  The women that though she will never meet here on earth, will get to know through memories we have and will share with her. 

We merged both of their names together and came up with:

 

Aria Kaylee Eagleston

 “Kay” and “Lee” are two common names throughout both mine and Christian’s family so there is a lot of additional meaning behind them; however, the main influence behind “Kaylee” is Grandma Kay and Carolee.

I promise it wasn’t my intention to make anyone cry or get teary eyed with this post… including myself (as I sit here crying like a baby) but we chose names that have a meaning behind them and felt this one in particular was important to give detail on.

Still many things coming up.  Family pictures, 4D ultrasound and have I mentioned the baby shower? Haha!! But seriously… I want you there… so be there! J  Love you all and I am excited to know that you enjoy reading these as much as I like sharing.

Nursery Prep

Hello everyone!  Let me start off by saying this has been one of the best weeks ever and I am so thrilled to tell you all about it!  Frist things first though, Miss Aria’s update.  Over the next few weeks she will range anywhere from 13.6-14.8 inches long and weighs anywhere from 1.5-2.5 pounds.  She now knows which way is up and which is down, is starting to take breaths (of amniotic fluid not air) for practice and her eyes will soon start to open.  She is also staying super active.  Her kicks are definitely growing harder and you can even see my belly do a little jump when she kicks.  How is it possible to love someone so much before you even meet them?

Some of the more annoying pregnancy symptoms are rearing their ugly head, but I am honestly loving every minute of it!  Like I mentioned before, I absolutely love being pregnant.  I feel like even when it’s unpleasant, the reasoning behind it all is SO worth it.  I sometimes think about how sad we were during the years we weren’t able to conceive and I feel like it would be almost hypocritical to now complain about it all.  AND our bodies go through so much to grow another person, we are lucky we only have a handful of symptoms to deal with anyway.

Alright, let’s get to my exciting week.  Why was it exciting you ask?  Well for starters, we have officially started working on the nursery!!  Last weekend, I worked my butt off (with my Christian’s help of course) to finally get Aria’s room cleared out.  I don’t know why I decided last weekend I just HAD to get it done but I am so glad that I did.   Remember when I said we ordered the furniture and it was on backorder for a while?  Well apparently it wasn’t!  We received the crib last Monday and the dresser on Tuesday.  I was pleasantly surprised and grateful I had cleared out the space for it all over the weekend.  Unfortunately, the dresser was damaged pretty badly so we had to have a replacement sent to us which will take some time.  We know it’s coming soon though, so I am totally ok with it.  Last Monday, I also received another surprise… my dad came to visit for a few days!  I just love that man.  I am a daddy’s girl at heart and have a severe soft spot for him, so getting to enjoy his company is always so amazing.  

On Monday when my dad arrived, we headed home where we received delivery #1.  My dad was eager to open up the crib package and put it together, but I really wanted to paint the room before the furniture was set up.  My parents are all about serving others so I shouldn’t have been surprised when my dad said “well, do you have the paint?  I am going to be here a few days so if you have the paint or can get it this week, I can get it done for you.”  What a great idea!  Christian and I got the paint that night so my dad could start the next day.  Within a few days, we had 3 gray walls, an accent yellow wall and subtle stripes added to the accent wall.  This man!! AMAZING!  We are so grateful for my dad coming and doing us that huge favor while he was here.  I paid him in love, kisses and lots of goodies to eat.  Aria paid him in big kicks which he loved.

 

Once the paint was dry and dad had made his way back to Massachusetts, (that was a sad day), the crib was just begging to be put together. J  The two men of the house got right on it!  Axel was beyond excited to help build it so we had him hand Christian the proper screws and tools needed.  He also helped hold up pieces to make it ‘easier’ for Christian. Haha.

Slowly things are coming together.  We are giddy with excitement and nervous at the same time.  Seeing the crib set up makes this all even more real.  Now each night when we walk to our bedroom, we catch a glimpse of it and know the next 14 weeks are just right around the corner.  Before we know it, Aria will be in there all snuggled up. 

This month will be packed full of great things.  We have Christian’s birthday, family pictures, a 4D ultrasound and baby shower finalizing.  Speaking of the baby shower, most of you should have received an invite by now.  If you haven’t, please let me know and I make sure you get one asap.  Again, it will take place on August 1^st from 12:30-2:30 at the Cypresswood Clubhouse.  PLEASE come and join us.  We will have a light lunch and a couple fun games.  Men are more than welcome to join in the fun as well. 

I believe my work is either currently in denial that I will be going out on leave soon or they are trying to make up for when I do because they have me buried in A LOT of things to do this week! Yuck!  This means I most likely won’t post anything for a little while.  Know that I will update you all as soon as I can.

Father's Day!

Today was my 24 week appointment and here is what I learned:  I have gained a total of 9 pounds from the beginning.  Dr says that is a good amount and at a steady pace.  Phew!  Now if I can just put this chocolate bar down, I might keep that pace up.  I also have a bladder infection that I didn’t notice at all.  But guess what?! I found out why I am so extra tired all the time!  Yep! Low red blood cell count.  Now I just need to pump myself full of iron and I should be A-ok.  Baby looks great!  My Dr did decide to play with his ultrasound machine after all so I got to see her tiny little heart beating.

Speaking of my Dr, I just have to say: He is AWESOME!  I know a lot of women don’t choose a male Ob-gyn because they feel weird, uncomfortable or think they just won’t understand certain things, but this one is just the greatest.  I am a little biased though because it’s not like I have gone to different ones.  He is the Dr that delivered my brother, Axel and hopefully all my future kids (all 10 of them! HA! Totally kidding!).  His office moved and is now 45 mins away from me which can be a little hectic when I get down to the weekly appointments, but it’s worth it.  Him and his staff are laid back, fun, informative, organized and just know their stuff. I love them!

Ok.. ok… enough about the Dr.  I sound like an advertisement.  Let’s talk about this past week and all the fun things that happened!!!

**crickets**

Oh yeah… nothing big really happened. Ha!  The only thing I can really think of is Father’s Day.  Though this is Christian’s first child, it’s not his first Father’s Day celebration.  He has been the best step-dad and role model to Axel that I could have ever asked for.  Though it took a little work at the beginning, they now have a special bond with one another.  I wanted to get something for Christian this year that would scream “I’m a new dad!!”  This one should be a little more special I think.  I decided to get him scrubs! Not just any scrubs, but ones that will make him look like the coolest dad at the hospital when I deliver.

 

Aren’t they awesome!?  He loved them and can’t wait to wear them.  Back when my brother was born, I remember the hospital giving my dad scrubs that said “Coach” on them.  They don’t do that anymore though.  Haven’t in a while.  Guess they had to cut them out of the budget.  I think they should bring them back.

Some good news this week about Aria is that she is currently at the stage where if she were born today, with modern day technology, she could be ok.  That’s always reassuring when you get to that point.  One less thing to worry about.  Of course we, both Aria and myself, have no intention of letting that happen.  I have had that talk with her and she kicked me hard letting me know she was onboard with being fully baked.  Glad we are on the same page. J  She is also getting some color to her skin.  No longer see-through.  Her room is also almost ready for paint! My goal was to have that done by the time I got to my 3^rd trimester, which happens to only be a month away.

Upcoming things:  The baby shower of course! So excited about that. If you are out of state, you most likely have received your invite or will be receiving it soon.  If you are local, you should be getting it within the next couple weeks.  If you don’t get one, please let me know.  These are being assigned to others to give out so they may not know you or know how to find you.  Regardless, know that I probably want you there if you care enough to read my blog.  It’s August 1^st.  Mark your calendar now.

My next appointment is towards the end of July and I am beyond giddy about that one.  Why?  Because we get to do our 4D ultrasound!  I get to see her little face if she cooperates and that makes me happy.  Don’t worry, I will post lots of pictures of those so you can all see her.

Upcoming decisions: We need to decide on a middle name.  I said this before, but we are in between 2 and both have sentimental meaning behind them which makes it harder to choose.  Luckily, we still have time. I also have been putting thought into who I want to visit at the hospital and even better… in the delivery room.  As of right now, 2 people are on my list for delivery.  I mean it’s a private, intimate, special and very errr… revealing moment.  Don’t really want to have an entourage present.  Hospital visits are a little different but I am always focused on making sure others are ok and comfortable and entertained… I can’t help it.  Even if I just gave birth, I would be worried about if the people visiting needed something and I am not sure that’s a good idea.  I may have to play it by ear.  As of right now, that list is mainly immediate family but subject to change.  Again, still have time to make these decisions but I am a super planner so these are things that are on my mind already.

Alright, I am leaving you with bump pictures that were taken over the last few days.  For some reason the pics make the bump look smaller than it is.  I assure you, it’s getting big.  I feel it.  Another post should be up in the next couple weeks.

 

 

23 weeks!

23 weeks! 17 more to go!  So even though October seems far away, I look at my calendars and realize it’s going to fly by.  Especially since my next two months seem to be booked solid already.  

Aria is continuing to grow.  Her face is fully formed now – she just needs a little extra fat to fill it out.  She will stay within the same range of expected growth for the next couple of weeks.  Anywhere from 10.5-11.8 inches long and 12.7-20.8 ounces in weight.  According to the website I use, she is about the size of a grapefruit.  Except I don’t know of any grapefruits that are 10.5 inches so that doesn’t seem right.  I can definitely tell she is growing in there because the bump is getting bigger.

This week, we nailed down the nursery furniture and have decided on this set:

 

Christian gets all the credit for finding this one.  What an exciting big step!  Furniture is picked out… except… it’s on back-order until August. Boo!! I am not very patient so having to wait is not going to be so much fun.  The good things is we do have time so it’s ok.  Meanwhile I am clearing out her room in our house to get ready for paint. 

Clearing out a room doesn’t sound fun at all does it?  Well, it’s not. Lol.  The room we are going to use for Aria is currently a baking supply storage room, craft room, guest room, and the ‘throw your junk in here because you can’t find another place for it’ room.  This means I actually have to organize and rearrange other parts of my house to accommodate for these items.  I am SO excited for the day I can say I completed that project.  Hmm… maybe I should reward myself with extra food that day!  Food is a good motivator right now.

I am trying really hard to not go overboard eating or eating too unhealthy.  No, I am not being one of those nuts about weight gain and I do allow myself to indulge, but I am trying to avoid going crazy with eating.  The past couple weeks, I am guilty of not doing such a good job.  I feel like I want chocolate all day, every day and I have given in probably more than I should.  Egg rolls also seem to be the new love for me.  I have always liked them, but it’s just a little enhanced right now.  I may or may not have dreams about them.

Speaking of dreams… let’s talk sleep.  I love it, if I could list it on my resume as a skill, I would.  Lately, I have been going to bed pretty early.  I sleep like a baby… literally! I wake up every few hours, stay awake for just a bit and then fall back asleep.  I really can’t complain though because I fall back into a coma like sleep.  So can someone tell me why I am so gosh darn tired all day long anyway?  I get it, there is a human growing in me, but I thought 2^nd trimester meant energy, energy and more energy.  Maybe I had expectations of not feeling like a zombie throughout the day and shouldn’t have.  Usually, I try to hide it since I don’t want to be the whiney pregnant lady, but people are catching on. “How are you?  You look tired!”  “Everything ok?  You look a little exhausted” or my favorite “You look tired!” (I appreciate when people are blunt).  But then it’s awkward… what do I say to that?  “Thanks!  I sleep great at night but I wish I were a bear so I can get even more.”?  Even my makeup can’t help me… I just have the tired eyes.  Perhaps I should get those awesome glasses with the eyes on the front of them so that I can secretly take naps throughout the day to cure me of this. Hmm… that’s actually a great idea.  Let me add that to the registry. lol

 

OH! So…. Christian’s cousin Kristy gets an award this week!  She sent me the coolest gift.  It’s a shirt that say “I can grow a human, what’s your super power?”  It’s so cute and awesome!  Not only that, I got the MOST compliments on that shirt ever!  Even the teenage checker guy at the grocery store loved it!  By the end of the day, I was feeling pretty dang good about myself. I mean who doesn’t like a compliment?  J It’s my new favorite and I might wear it everywhere.  (It’s actually the white shirt in the top picture but I forgot to take a pic of the front… I will get it next time). 

Alright last thing, Christian is officially not the only one that has felt the baby kick!  My co-worker, Jazmine, got to feel a little bump and was so excited she had to rub it in a bit to some of the others. Haha!  They will get their chance though because she is an active little one.

So next week is my 24 week appointment and I will give you an update on what he tells me.  I am secretly hoping he wants to play with his ultrasound machine… but I am not counting on it.