The Hiatus is Over!

Hi friends! I’ve spent a long time away and have received requests to pick up blogging again, so let’s all celebrate my triumphant return! Seriously though, let’s really celebrate that I have finally have developed a schedule for myself and baby A that allows me to get things done. A is 9.5 weeks old today and our days have become filled with more smiles and a whole lot less tears. Warning: the following is a raw account of my personal experience with a newborn, if you just want to see pictures, feel free to scroll past the text.

The first six weeks or so of having Aubrey home was pretty hard. I thought I knew being a Mom was hard work, but I had no idea. I think the most overwhelming part was having the expectation of myself (and therefore thinking others shared this expectation of me) that I would instantly know what to do as a parent and be great at it. WRONG. It took just over six weeks to start getting the hang of things. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I had her diapers on backwards and fed her pizza, it took six weeks to understand what she needed from me and when. I went back and forth as to whether I should write about how things have really been or sugarcoat life with a newborn and just post cute pictures. Then I realized the reason I had the expectation that things would come naturally for me and that the love for your child is so deep that every day is filled with unicorns and rainbows, is because that is the message I had perceived from the edited accounts of motherhood I had read before. Sure, the occasional “being a mom is hard work” was thrown around, but that statement was basically brushed aside by pictures of beaming moms with their beautiful newborns, and the idea that a mother’s love would conquer all. In reality, sometimes your baby is upset and nothing you try will cease the blood curdling screams that cannot possibly be coming from a mere mortal, let alone a 7 pound infant. And guess what? You feel frustrated, really frustrated. Then, you feel guilty for feeling frustration towards the baby that you should only ever feel endless love for. The first couple weeks were basically a battle between frustration, and then guilt. It was really hard not knowing what to do and having a baby who really does have the loudest baby scream of all time.  In those weeks, I wish that I had known it is okay to feel frustration, and other moms feel it too! And that’s why I decided to share my real accounts in parenthood, and not just countless photos of my baby girl.

I really think Michael and I lost at least 40% of our hearing ability in her first month of life. Hearing other babies get mad sounds like a tiny kitten crying. I even googled, “baby is always angry when awake” for the hope that there might be a miraculous cure to end her crying or perhaps an online tutorial outlining what my specific baby wanted. I found no answers. After six weeks and lots of trial and error, we finally started to understand what Aubrey wanted and when, and now that she trusts her needs to always be taken care of, her tiny cries rarely turn to screams. It’s all about getting to know your baby and that takes time and practice! We can run errands together and she’ll happily look around the store from her stroller or baby carrier, and I can shop without the nagging anxious thought that a baby meltdown could happen any second.

Aubrey tagging along on our trip to Costco

These days, we actually have a nap schedule (thanks to the handy chart found here)! Naps mean I can get things done such as: write blog posts, shower, eat meals, etc. A two month old baby is much less difficult and much more fun. Little A’s personality is really starting to come through. She has become very vocal and really likes “talking” to her toys, especially her new Minnie Mouse courtesy of her Grandpa Nacho. After looking back at her newborn photos today it’s amazing how much she has changed already. At 9 weeks she is 10 pounds, 6 ounces and 24 inches long (that’s 6 inches longer than birth!). She smiles A LOT, it really is the best thing to wake up to, especially after a poor nights sleep. I’ll be sure to make more posts now that things have calmed down over here; posts complete with spit-up stories and cute photos, always.
Thanks for reading!
xoxo

Entering the Home Stretch

I can’t figure out if my belly looks like it dropped in this picture or its the stripes of my shirt throwing off the visual.

As of today, the maximum amount of time I have left carrying this little baby is ten weeks, and I hit full-term in just six weeks. I already feel like those are such small windows of time, but I think they will go even more quickly because the holidays will be in full swing as of tomorrow! Pregnancy is still going fairly smoothly. I have trouble sleeping sometimes because my back or hips ache and I have to constantly flip to my other side. But there are other nights where there is no pain at all, either way I still get up about four times to use the bathroom. My back hurts the most when I sit on our couch, I think because it’s too soft and doesn’t provide enough support for me. I often ended up sitting on the floor. That is until I found this super awesome wearable heat pad.  I warm up the included pack in the microwave and it makes my back feel so much better! I had my glucose test last week and no gestational diabetes here! I was a little nervous. The stretch marks have come in full force, I guess there really is no escaping them. I have two patches of multiple marks on either side of my lower belly, they seem to be low enough to be hidden by my pantline.  Either way I keep hydrating with my oils and creams so hopefully they wont become really severe.  With my preparation time dwindling, my to-do list this weekend involves getting my hospital bag together. I made this list of things I think I may want/need:

chapstick

warm robe

slippers

(3) warm socks

(3) undies

My coming home outfit

premie size baby outfit

newborn size baby outfit

baby beanie

Nikon camera & bag

extra batteries + charger

(2) phone chargers

pads

face wash

face lotion

shampoo, conditioner

hairbrush & hair bands

body soap

lotion

toothbrush

toothpaste

makeup remover wipes

makeup bag with essentials

Any input on things I might be missing? 

This past weekend Michael and I put some more decorative touches on the nursery. It looks done, but I am honest enough with myself to know that no room is ever done being decorated in my house! I have a lot of ideas I’ve been toying with in my head; for now I’ll call it functionally finished and ready for occupancy.

I am thinking about removing the slender door that you can see next to the hippo. Behind that door are some deep built in shelves. I think they would look great exposed with colored baskets for organizing blankies, clothes, books, anything really! I’d also like to get this breathable crib liner.

I also want to put some small book ledges above the glider for easy access to bedtime stories. I love these from Ikea, I have seen them used a lot for books in kid’s rooms although they are made for spices. We just need to make the hour long trip to Ikea to pick some up. Luckily there are some amazing taco trucks that operate right across from Ikea that make the trip totally worthwhile.

We spent all day Saturday making the star baby mobile together. The majority of time was spent painting multiple coats of paint and glitter on each star. After that, the assembly was fairly quick. We used a wooden embroidery hoop (two pieces) and wooden stars from Michaels. Each star is hung with a stretchy jewelry cord instead of fishing line. I was worried we wouldn’t be able to get the kinks out of fishing line since the stars are fairly light and the line wouldn’t really stretch out straight. I plan on tying purple tulle all the way around the embroidery hoop, I got too anxious to hang it up but I think it would look better with full tulle coverage.

Here is a little closeup of the Maddie portrait I talked about months ago. I finished it a long time ago and never posted a picture of it! I love the colors, it’s one of my favorite things in the room.

Here are my stats for this week:

How far along? 31 weeks
How big is baby?  A coconut! 16-18 inches long, weighing in at over 3 pounds
Miss Anything? The ability to zip up sweaters/jackets. Wearing normal clothes.
Sleep: Hit or miss, having to drink water throughout the night or I feel like I’m dying of thirst
Movement: Super strong kicks and punches, she seems to be on a regular sleep/wake schedule
Food cravings: Fresh fruit and yogurt (mixed together)
Anything making you queasy or sick: The smell of garlicky tomato sauce when washing the dishes from dinner.
Gender: Girl!
Labor Signs: Had my first non-exercise induced Braxton Hicks, kinda freaked me out
Symptoms: Severe heartburn
Belly Button in or out? I miss my old belly button. This one is looking really strained, it’s also lopsided.
Wedding rings on or off? On
Mood: Happy! Really giggly still, don’t know if I’ll ever be the same…
Looking forward to:  Still awaiting baby’s best friend to be born! Her due date is tomorrow.
Upcoming appointments/events: 32 week checkup next week

Nursery Sneak Peek

I’ve put so much thought on the design of this nursery. From color schemes and art work to more ambitious projects like ruffled crib skirts and baby mobiles, Pinterest has been faithfully by my side providing endless DIY ideas. Some of these I’ve wisely chosen not to go ahead with, not saying I didn’t think about making a ruffled crib skirt myself while constantly thinking about the $140 option that kept rearing its ugly, over-priced head on every nursery decor site I clicked. $140 for a crib skirt, seriously? This may be my first biological child but I am well aware that kids like to employ a cruel and unusual punishment in the form of a poo filled diaper flung across a room which inevitably leaves a spatter of that poo on everything in its path. I’ve even heard stories from my own friends who as babies smeared their own feces all over themselves, their crib and sheets. Pretty sure I would never pick up my dog’s turd with a wad of $100 bills nor will I let my baby smear their poo on the $140 crib skirt I was stupid enough to buy. Enough about poo for today, back to really cute nursery things! By the way, I haven’t even bought a crib skirt yet.

We are not quite finished with the nursery, but one side of it is at least presentable! Minus the fact that the little dresser still needs a changing pad to reach its full functionality potential, you can get a good idea of the direction this little girl’s nursery is headed.

The glider still has a tag on it being that we had just moved it into the room about ten minutes before I took this picture. But, honestly I still haven’t taken the tag off and it’s been like a week. I chose grey for the paint color because I wanted a nice neutral and I might be obsessed with grey overall. The dresser I found on Craigslist, which I posted about here, it was perfect because it was the exact hue of blue I wanted to include in the nursery regardless of if the baby was a boy or girl. We originally didn’t want a lot of pink in the nursery but I’m happy with the pops of pink the art work and some accessories have brought in. That will be the extent of that color though. Michael and I agree that we don’t want our girl drowning in a sea of pale pink that every “girl” baby item is made of. I’m sure you are wondering why the glider has been strategically placed in front of a door. Luckily that is the entry to our attic which we rarely need to access, and the glider is very easy to slide across the carpet if we need to get to the third floor. The real doorway to the nursery is the one to the right of the dresser. The rest of the nursery will be revealed as soon as we have a crib mattress and sheets! That along with a few more accessories and wall art, the space will be ready for move-in day whenever baby wants.

I am officially 7 months along or 28 weeks. I am really excited to be getting closer to my due date but my excitement was abruptly deflated last night when I discovered three tiny stretch marks. I’m still thankful to my Mama Mio tummy oil because I’m positive without it my stomach would be absolutely covered with jagged, red lines. I’m not sure when these marks popped up, I barely noticed them because they are on the bottom part of my belly which is hard to see; sad but so true. They are fairly small so I’m hoping with my continued oil and cream routine their size and overall number will stay minimal. I’m also kicking myself because I knew I hadn’t been staying as hydrated as I should be these past couple weeks. I’m back on track though and peeing five times a night to prove it.

How far along? 28 weeks
How big is baby? Eggplant; roughly 2.5 pounds, measures about 13.6 to 14.8 inches
Miss Anything? Being able to lay on my stomach or flat on my back
Sleep: Sleeping pretty well, just getting up a bunch of times to pee but easily falling back to sleep.
Movement: All the time
Food cravings: Not much of an appetite lately, the only thing that sounds really good is root beer, as usual.
Anything making you queasy or sick: Nothing so far this week.
Gender: Girl!
Labor Signs: None this week
Symptoms: Really bad acid reflux, lower back pain
Belly Button in or out? Still in but stretched real tight!
Wedding rings on or off? On
Mood: Happy. Still getting the uncontrollable giggles.
Looking forward to:  Baby’s BFF who may be born any day now!
Upcoming appointments/events: Glucose test next week, 9/22: 30 week (Holy cow!!) checkup

Hello Third Trimester

Don’t mind the smudges all over my mirror selfie

Depending on what pregnancy/baby info site you refer to, the third trimester starts between 26-29 weeks. I’m not entirely sure if 27 weeks is  the magic number but let’s just go ahead and say I’m officially done with my second trimester! I just had a small panic attack realizing that “full-term” is only 10 weeks away. The baby room is almost done, we are going to pick up the ultra comfy glider we picked out from Babies-R-Us today! My parents graciously purchased it for us and we are so thankful to get it. That means all the big furniture pieces will be in place by tonight. We just need the add on items now: mattress, crib sheets, changing pad and cover, oh and a TON more clothes, specifically onesies.

The number on the scale is reading 22 pounds higher than normal these days, so I’m pretty sure I’ll end up gaining the max 35 pounds for this pregnancy. I’m not terribly worried about it. I try to focus on the way I look and how I feel rather than the number, while keeping myself in check. I eat pretty much how I normally would with the added bowl of cereal here and there. I always want cereal these days, I think I’ve bought three boxes in the past month and I’m the only person that eats it in our house. (Confession: I just had a bowl five minutes ago.) It was a bit of a struggle to be okay with the number consistently rising on the scale and this chart really helped me purge the thought that I’m solely gaining body fat.

In other news, the nerve pain in my back is gone! I woke up one day and it was magically gone. I can walk, jog, squat, actually move at a normal pace, and SLEEP!  I’m convinced the baby shifted her position and it alleviated pressure from the nerve. I don’t know if medically that’s really how it works, but in my mind, it’s exactly what happened!  I even walked 3 miles yesterday almost 100% pain free if it weren’t from the weird nagging cramp I kept getting in my butt cheek! Don’t ask why, I have no idea. I was still happy as a clam that I could walk normally! Now that it’s taken care of, I love my snoogle. It’s like a big nest and really does keep me comfy all night long now. It also prevents me from lying on my back which is a big no-no after 20 weeks of pregnancy due to the weight of the uterus cutting off blood flow. Do I even need to say that Maddie loves “her” snoogle just as much now as she did on day one?

My next doctor appointment isn’t for a few weeks (the 30 week mark) but after that one I will have a checkup every two weeks. I had a dream last night that I gave birth to a 9lb. 4oz. baby on December 12th, which is full term so that’s great, but that baby weight! I hope that part doesn’t come true. An early baby would be nice though, so that all of our family can meet her when they fly in for Christmas.  She has been kicking up a storm lately, it’s really weird to see my entire stomach move involuntarily. She wakes me up at night and sometimes I lay there for about an hour because she is consistently kicking. I even got kicked in the kidney awhile back and it hurt like hell. I didn’t even know that was possible, but it totally is. Maddie really likes to use my stomach as a pillow and I am waiting patiently for the day she gets kicked in the face. Is that mean? I just want to see her reaction!

How far along? 27 weeks
How big is baby? Rutabaga, possibly my favorite veggie comparison yet.
Miss Anything? I really miss sleeping through the night and not lying awake in pain.
Movement: Strong kicks! I can see my entire belly moving and last night I felt the first distinct jab from the outside. It actually felt like a body part touched my hand through my belly and it really freaked me out.
Food cravings: Root Beer (still!), cereal
Anything making you queasy or sick: If I sit down after I’ve eaten breakfast the lack of room in my abdomen makes me feel like all my food is coming up. It’s terrible.
Gender: Girl!
Labor Signs: Got my first braxton hicks yesterday on my long walk.
Symptoms: Peeing 3 to 4 times a night, swollen abdomen (ha!), acid reflux super bad
Belly Button in or out? Still in
Wedding rings on or off? On
Mood: Currently feeling very sleepy; I rarely have to nap these days but this might just be the day.
Looking forward to:  Picking up the glider tonight! And getting really anxious to meet this baby.

25 Weeks

Snoogle Maternity Pillow being enjoyed by Maddie

Since my last post I invested in a Snoogle pillow which is basically an oversized body pillow with weird curves on it that are supposed to make you sleep easier in a pregnant body. I thought my side sleeping with a heavy belly is what has been causing my back and hip pain. Apparently, I was wrong. I’ve been informed that my nagging “hip” pain, that is really in my love handle area on my back is actually due to my sciatic nerve. And boy does it suck. Not only has my walk evolved into something similar to that of Lieutenant Dan, my jog is non-existent. Because the dull pain is always there, sometimes I forget about it and attempt a jog, usually going after Maddie, and immediately get a shooting pain that stops me in my tracks and forces me to grasp my lower back with such drama that I should probably be cast in an AARP commercial. Luckily, my good friend Bekah is the one who alerted me that my pain is not from sleeping in a weird position and is because of this big nerve that runs down your back to your toes. The only way to ease the pain is to do physical therapy, which in my case will be provided by Youtube videos of stretches specific to sciatica. I’m hoping I find a bit of relief soon because this is seriously disrupting my sleep and general ability to get around comfortably and not at a snail’s pace. Also, it makes my butt numb.

On the positive side of happenings, my Mom was nice enough to get me an early birthday present in the form of fall maternity clothes, yay! I was most excited to order the coveted Gap Maternity Jean. I had heard great things about them but couldn’t pull the trigger with the $70 price tag, I’m more of a $40 and below kinda girl when it comes to jean purchasing. I have tried on countless pairs of maternity jeans and 9 out of 10 leave you with a crotch that either looks ten times it’s normal size with a convenient “v” wrinkle showcasing its hugeness or an equally flattering camel toe. Couple this with your new mile long and double wide ass cheeks. Up until now I had been rocking my Old Navy skinnies which were comfortable and provided me with a normal looking tush. The only complaint I had was the full tummy panel was too tight and the demi-panel (that I have) cuts my belly in a weird spot that makes me look like I’m carrying a cone head baby. Fast forward to me receiving my Gap jeans in the mail (eek!), I ordered my pre-pregnancy size and they fit perfectly! Normal butt + normal crotch + non-pointy belly = success!

Gap Jeans + Old Navy Maternity Top

I had an ultrasound this morning (officially my last with the specialist!) and our baby has continued on with her beastly growth pattern. According to a few baby websites a fetus at 25 weeks should weigh about 1.5 pounds. Our girl weighs over 2 pounds which is the supposed normal weight (according to babycenter.com) of a fetus between 27-28 weeks. Our friends like to theorize that it’s because I eat so many eggs. Basically our baby is protein loading and pumping iron in there. Seriously though, Michael decided to stop the excessive trips to the grocery store and bought me two 18-packs of eggs recently, I only have three left.
That’s all the ultra exciting news over here! I had better get to my school work and I’ll leave you with some updated stats. I switched up the questionnaire a bit just because I liked the wording better, but its basically the same. Enjoy!

How far along? 25 weeks, 3 days
How big is baby? Just over 2 pounds, about 14 inches long. According to the fruit/veggie comparison she’s a cauliflower.
Miss Anything? I really miss sleeping through the night and not lying awake in pain.
Movement: She is moving all the time, her kicks are strong enough to startle me and get uncomfortable sometimes. Especially the rib shots.
Food cravings: Root Beer, mint chocolate chip ice cream
Anything making you queasy or sick: Nothing
Gender: Girl!
Labor Signs: No
Symptoms: Sciatic nerve pain, inability to hold down burps and trouble breathing because she is starting to crowd my abdomen.
Belly Button in or out? Still in
Wedding rings on or off? On, but a little tighter than normal.
Mood: Happy! Sometimes too happy; uncontrollable giggling and laughing so hard I cry.
Looking forward to:  Our baby girl’s friend (she just doesn’t know it yet) being born in the next month to six weeks!

I like to KICK!

22.5 week belly + I need a new phone cover

For those of you that don’t know, today’s post title is meant to be read in the voice of SNL character Sally O’Malley (Molly Shannon). If you have no idea what I’m talking about, click this, even if you do know what I’m talking about still watch the video because you know you want to. My belly is slowly looking more pregnant and less like I just scarfed down a burrito and a few tall cans. This reminds me that Oktoberfest is out and let me tell you that I am really, really sad about missing out on fall beers! I made Michael promise to stockpile some of my favorites so I can have them come January, no shame. Back to the belly! I have been faithfully slathering it with a combination of Mama Mio tummy oil and Palmer’s Stretch Mark Cream. So far, so good! I am almost certain that I don’t have stretch marks yet because of keeping my belly constantly hydrated, I know this because areas that haven’t got the royal stretch mark treatment have started getting the dreaded purplish-red indentations (mainly the boobs), I really didn’t think they would grow so much!

During the past few weeks, kicks from the baby have been getting stronger and stronger. I started feeling light flutters around 16 weeks and now the feelings are undeniable. Earlier this week I was lying down and actually saw my belly button bounce up and down from the baby’s movement; I quickly told Michael to put his hand on my belly and he was finally able to feel his first kick! He was ecstatic.

On Tuesday I had an appointment with my OB and I was really excited because they measured my belly for the first time. I’ve been waiting for them to do that, I think it’s cool because I always see them do it on TV shows combined with the fact that I’m just a nerd. Today I had another ultrasound with the baby specialist as I call him.  At my last ultrasound we did an anatomy scan and baby was fairly uncooperative. I was told during my next echocardiogram appointment they would try again to get the profile view of the face that was still needed. Well, guess who hid their face again? Everything else went well and looked “normal”, so I thought this would be my last ultrasound. But, my doctor wants to schedule just one more to track growth and heart development given my out of the ordinary medical history. At the ultrasound 4 weeks ago our girl was in the 70th percentile and this time she is in the 80th. She is estimated to weigh about 1 pound 4 ounces as of today. After each ultrasound the tech puts up a graph showing the baby’s growth progress so far, and the estimated continuation of growth. The tech left that screen up while she went to get the doctor so I was able to google a grams to pounds conversion and estimate what the baby will be if she is delivered at 40 weeks; 7 pounds, 11 ounces. Not too bad! I was a little worried because she is a bit bigger than normal, but I still feel safe in the 7 pound zone, the thought of a baby 8 pounds or over starts to make me nervous. I myself was 8 pounds, 6 ounces but I was also nearly two weeks late. Let’s hope our little girl comes a bit early!

I start my fall semester next Thursday so this weekend equals getting all my school supplies organized, it’s seriously a lot. When I was a kid my favorite new supply to buy was crayons so imagine how excited I am to buy new sets of colored pencils, sketch books, and paints for my color theory class? I’ll give you a hint, SUPER EXCITED! I had better cut it off here since Maddie is laying on my lap, subtly (not really) groaning and sighing because it’s her dinner time!
xoxo
Baby Bump Stats – I added an extra question, confession of the week because it’s just totally necessary. 

How far along? 22.5 weeks
How big is baby? 1lb, 4oz. About 11.5 inches long–a PAPAYA!
Total weight gain/loss: +12 pounds
Maternity clothes? A few pieces, my favorite is my pair of leggings. I also bought a bunch of long tees (non-maternity) from Target that I looove.
Sleep: Tossing and turning all night to find a comfortable position. I dread laying down at night because it makes my back hurt so much.
Best moment this week: Michael feeling his first kick
Movement: So much movement! It’s the best feeling.
Food cravings: Pumpkin beers, FAIL.
Food Aversions: I was going to heat up some leftover spanish rice but one whiff of it made me feel sick.
Gender: GIRL
Labor Signs: None
Pregnancy Symptoms: Serious backaches at night, making it really difficult to sleep. There is no comfortable position for me.
Belly Button in or out: In, not even close to being out (thank you lord!)
What I miss: Fall beers: pumpkin beers, specifically Pumpking and oatmeal stouts 😦
What I am looking forward to: My friend’s baby shower next week! We’re both having girls about 8 weeks apart.
Upcoming appointments/events: 9/4 with my cardiologist
Confession of the week: I got out of bed last night at 4am to eat Raisin Bran, and then watched QVC christmas sales until 5:30am.

We’re Back! With a Polka Dot Closet

We arrived home from California on Tuesday, the 13th, and after a brief battle with a cold and flu for the both of us we’re finally feeling back on track. During our vacation we were able to see the majority of both sides of extended family which is so rare for us with limited trips home, tight schedules, and relatives dotted throughout the golden state. Thanks to my sister’s wedding I was able to see many aunts, uncles, cousins, and family friends; some of whom I hadn’t seen in years! We also were lucky enough to spend time with Michael’s immediate and extended family and see our nieces who are growing up so quickly. On the last day of our trip we were able to squeeze in a day with some old friends, too. It was probably the most successful trip home we’ve had in terms of faces seen. Thanks to Michael’s brother lending us his pickup truck we were able to travel between Sebastapol (wine country), Monterey (central coast), Gilroy and Walnut Creek (SF Bay Area) throughout the course of a week.

My Family (minus one): Me, Dad, sister Nicole, Mom, brother Mario

Friends who made the trip all the way to Monterey! LeeAnn, Me, Michael (husband), Ashley, Michael C.

As I mentioned earlier, after our California trip I wanted to get into full-fledge baby mode. We buttoned up our registry before the trip and now that we are back it’s nursery time! The purchase of our first house gave me the opportunity to discover my personal decorating style which involved a lot of returns to Home Goods and gawking on Pinterest. Now that I am better at making a cohesive looking space, coming up with a nursery design has been much less of a guessing game and way more exciting! In no way does this mean that I have abandoned Pinterest. I am still majorly addicted to pinning DIY projects and ingenious thrift store hacks.

Most recently I found a tutorial for DIY polka dot curtains via Remodelaholic that I absolutely loved. But after having nightmarish visions of a curious baby/toddler pulling down the curtains and thus being smacked in the head with a curtain rod I decided against adding long, beautiful curtains to the baby room design. Before we left for CA I cleaned out the nursery closet which was quite literally filled to the brim with Michael’s military uniforms, no seriously the french-style closet doors would bust open on their own because that thing was so packed. After hauling out SDB’s, khakis, mess dress and luggage, I was faced with the interior of a very tired looking closet covered in black scuff marks. I thought about getting taking a magic eraser to it, then thought to give it a fresh coat of white paint; but THEN I thought, if I’m going to take the time to make the closet look clean why not really make it pop? With POLKA DOTS! This brings us back to the tutorial at Remodelaholic. The genius behind that blog post, Cassity, used a cup as a stencil for her dots and created a “confetti” look by placing the bottom dots densely and gradually spacing them out as the eye moves up.

The main color of our baby girl’s room is purple and luckily we had two shades of purple leftover from painting our main bathroom and shower room. I used the lighter shade of purple for the background and the dark purple for each dot. Again referencing the polka dot curtain tutorial I used a cup as a stencil for each dot, but I chose to use the top rim of the cup (drinking part) versus the bottom of the cup as seen on Remodelaholic. You can see the stencil the cup rim creates below.

I felt the top part of the cup created a more clean looking stencil than using the bottom of the cup. After lightly dipping the cup in paint (I did it straight into the paint can but you can also pour a bit into a paper plate), gently and evenly press it onto the wall. Make sure you don’t get too much paint onto the cup to prevent globs or drips and an uneven stencil. I could get about three dots with one dip of paint before ending up with a partial circle due to lack of paint. After stenciling I simply filled in the circle with a small paintbrush.

Below you can see the small amount of paint covering the cup’s rim and a filled in stenciled circle.

I started out doing an evenly spaced out polka dot design, but Michael liked the idea of having the dots more dense on the bottom and spaced out towards the top, so that’s what we went with! You can see my progress below.

And the finished product!

Maddie was feeling really generous today and helped out by taking a nap in the closet while the first coat of light purple paint was drying. She left her personal signature on the room in the form of tiny black hairs stuck on the wall.

There is so much more going on with the baby room and I’ll follow up soon with detailed posts! As for my pregnancy things are still going smoothly. Here’s a quick rundown on my stats for the week.

How far along? 21 weeks
How big is baby? 10.5 inches long from head to toe, about the size of a big carrot.
Total weight gain/loss: +11 pounds, yikes!
Maternity clothes? I bought my first pair of maternity jeans and HATE them, I’ll continue with the rubberband + belly band trick. Did get a maternity shirt & leggings that are awesome though!
Sleep: Still waking up at 5:30am every morning, sleeping better unless my back starts aching.
Best moment this week: Feeling baby’s kicks get stronger and more frequent.
Movement: Sometimes it feels like there is a baby ninja in my belly.
Food cravings: Cherry Crisp or Strawberry Tart, so I guess craving tart & sweet things!
Food Aversions: None this week!
Gender: GIRL
Labor Signs: None
Pregnancy Symptoms: Been sleepy again this week, but I am attributing it to my body fighting a cold in addition to building a human.
Belly Button in or out: In
What I miss: Sad that I couldn’t go ride roller coasters with Michael at Six Flags.
What I am looking forward to: Completing the baby’s room!
Upcoming appointments/events: 8/27: 22 week checkup, 8/29: echocardiogram

It’s A Girl!

We had our ultrasound on Thursday and as we suspected, our baby is a girl! Sadly I don’t have the pretty much indecipherable sonogram with “ITS A GIRL” printed on it because Michael set them down on a chair while he helped me wipe blue, ultrasound goop off my belly and then we both forgot them, oops! The ultrasound tech actually suspected we had a baby girl at just 12.5 weeks. We had the same tech this time and she was right! The appointment ended up being a full anatomy scan instead of the echocardiogram I thought it was. Baby was completely uncooperative the entire time and both the doctor and ultrasound tech really had to work hard to get each picture they needed. They need pictures of finger bones, organs, skull, brain, leg bones, arm bones, spine, etc. it really is in depth! They were not able to get the profile view of her face because she refused to turn into the right position. We kept seeing her face straight on which actually looked really creepy since the ultrasound was showing the skeleton which resulted in looking her like a tarsier monkey (seen below). I’m sure she’s pretty in real life though….

The entire sonogram baby was laying with legs completely stretched out and switched between having one arm behind her head or both fists under her chin. She really was lounging in there. She is really active which the doctors were happy about, even though it made their job more difficult. Everything looks beautiful and “normal” so far even though they were unable to get the profile view of the head, my doctor (and we) were comfortable enough waiting a few weeks to get that picture during my echocardiogram. Baby is also a little bigger than average, in the 77th percentile so my due date went from 12/31 to 12/26. She already weighs half a pound!

I am so excited to shop! I actually dragged Michael to Target after work on Thursday and said “wouldn’t if be funny if we came for baby stuff and just left with food.” We may or may not have left with only bagel bites, mint chip ice cream and mascara. We were really on the ball that day. But really, our Target has a pitiful baby department. I really wanted to get a baby blanket to somehow solidify more that we are having a girl, but like I said, no cute baby stuff! Did see some cute lamps in the home section though.

Yesterday, I had a girl’s day with a few girlfriends, two of whom are also pregnant; it’s seriously like a hungry, hot (the sweaty kind), hormonal pack of women walking around and it can get really dangerous for bystanders. We ended up going to Babies ‘R Us after our pedicure date and man that store has EVERYTHING! I ended up buying a little hippo blankie/snuggle toy thing but I’m going to return it because guess who changed their mind on colors yet again? I might be the most indecisive person in the world. It’s more the shade of hippo purple that is wrong, because I am really particular about colors, seriously. Today Michael and I are going back to Babies ‘R Us today to nail down our registry items, especially our carseat and stroller combination. On Thursday, Michael decided to test drive some strollers at Target by literally driving them like the baby aisle had just turned into a life or death situation. He deemed them to be cheap and not sturdy enough, so we’ve got our work cut out for us today.

I have a ton of baby projects in mind for the upcoming weeks including: polka dot painted closet, DIY mobile, hand-painted cardboard letters and more wall art. The best part is all of these projects are going to be super cheap which I’m always a fan of.

As usual, I’ll leave you with my weekly update!

How far along? 19 weeks
How big is baby? A mango! Approximately 6 inches long.
Total weight gain/loss: Gained about 7 pounds.
Maternity clothes? Belly band and pant buttons held together with a hair band.
Sleep: Sleep is hit or miss. I wake up at 5:30am every day and usually force myself to go back to sleep. Not today though!
Best moment this week: Finding out baby is a girl!
Movement: A lot more movement these days! I’m pretty sure I felt her do a complete rollover yesterday.
Food cravings: Fruit! Oranges, nectarines, strawberries, and grapes.
Food Aversions: None this week!
Gender: GIRL 🙂
Labor Signs: None
Pregnancy Symptoms: Backaches that come out of nowhere and are horrendous.
Belly Button in or out: In
What I miss: Sushi, really, really miss sushi.
What I am looking forward to: Going home to CA!
Upcoming appointments/events: 8/27: 22 week checkup, 8/29: echocardiogram (for real this time)

Almost 15 Week Update

It’s been a busy past two weeks. Michael’s dad and brother arrived on June 22nd for a Warrior Dash build in Massachusetts. That night we went to Foxwoods casino for a high roller bowling session which was awesome despite the fact that my score fell in the 60’s (I’m better on the Wii). The boys left for MA the next day, and I had my last day of work on Monday. On Wednesday (26th) morning, I picked up my mom-in-law and niece from the airport and on Thursday we headed to NYC for a girl’s trip! We were lucky enough to see a real broadway show while we were there, Annie, and it was awesome. The actors, and especially such young actors were so talented I really was blown away. Plus, Jane Lynch plays the character Miss Hannigan and she is always hilarious. We spent most of our time walking the city, popping in and out of toy stores and even enjoyed a tour of Central Park via bicycle! We arrived back in CT on Friday for some relaxation and on Saturday I headed to Pennsylvania with some girlfriends to attend a wedding. Arriving back on Sunday I was greeted with all the boys who had finished up the build and subsequent tear down of the Warrior Dash race which was held on the 29th (Saturday). After a few more days of catching up with family, we once again had an empty house as of Wednesday (July 3rd). But don’t worry we filled it up again the next day with a 4th of July BBQ! All of us girls stayed inside out of the heat while the boys braved the sun while playing beer pong and corn hole in the yard. On Friday I dragged Michael and a few hungover boys to the beach where we escaped the heat with dips in the icy cold Atlantic. Which brings us to today, phew! I was going to stay inside and get some laundry and other chores done around the house, but I couldn’t resist the invitation to join some friends at a local Lobster Fest. We braved the 90+ temperatures for some fresh seafood, luckily there was a Dairy Queen in walking distance as we left the festival and you better believe we made the trek.

This week will be a bit more routine, until Friday when we make the trip to Annapolis, Maryland for the second wedding of the season plus a long anticipated reunion with some old friends. We’re even bringing Maddie along with us!

As for the pregnancy, everything is going really smoothly. I feel quite normal and I am really happy that I haven’t gained too much weight yet and my doctor is equally as pleased. This past week’s appointment was standard: pee in a cup, get weighed, listen to heartbeat, say your goodbyes! Easy. In a few weeks on August 1st we have a fetal echocardiogram/ultrasound. I’m hoping they reveal the gender at that appointment since the nurse said it will be a very in depth ultrasound. Even though the first look at the baby’s heart looked normal my doctor wants to take a second look at the more developed baby just to be sure. My belly picture this week had to be headless because the humidity had really taken a toll on my hair, you should really thank me for sparing you.

How far along? 15 weeks on Monday
How big is baby? Almost the size of an apple, about 4 inches long
Total weight gain/loss: Gained 1.5 pounds
Maternity clothes? None yet, but only a select few pairs of pants fit me.
Sleep: I’m sleeping about the same as the first trimester; peeing a few times a night, and sometimes just lying awake for an hour or two. But, I’ve adjusted to it so I’m not as tired the next day.
Best moment this week: Hearing the heartbeat with grandma-to-be, Linda, on the doppler during my 14 week appointment
Movement: None yet!
Food cravings: Nothing specific; I can’t skip breakfast in the morning or else I feel absolutely starving like I haven’t eaten in days
Food Aversions: Nope
Gender: Hope to find out in the next few weeks!
Labor Signs: None
Pregnancy Symptoms: More thirsty than I normally would be, and I get tired earlier in the evening. Other than that, nothing major!
Belly Button in or out: In!
What I miss: beer, tuna rolls 😦
What I am looking forward to: The first time Michael sees the baby on August 1 at our ultrasound appointment.
Upcoming appointments/events: 7/30- 18 week appointment, 8/1- Echocardiogram and Ultrasound

3 Month Update + Our First Baby Room Buy

Little Blue Dresser’s Craigslist Ad

This weekend Michael and I made an hour trip to get a dresser that I fell in love with on Craigslist. Most people that witnessed me decorate our first home know that I am a Craigslist junkie. I try my hardest to always buy things cheap, but of good quality. I saw these dressers originally posted at $295, then $245 and finally at $195 I contacted them. I asked if they were willing to sell the dressers separately since we just wanted the short one to double as a changing table. The nice woman offered it to me for only $75, score!

The dresser was located a bit out of the way, about 55 miles. I was originally looking for a dresser to refinish but this one was the color I would have used anyway, so it was worth the trip to me. Unfortunately, our one hour drive to the destination turned into almost two hours one way because I accidentally punched the wrong city into the GPS, at least I got the street address right! Once we finally arrived the little blue dresser was waiting for us outside and it is the exact swatch of blue I had pulled at Home Depot a few weeks ago. It is newly refinished and heavy duty wood, no laminate or particle board here!

3 Month Update

This week also marks the last week of my first trimester! Which means I am out of the woods and am finally comfortable announcing the pregnancy to the world. So far I have only gotten sick in the morning one time, let’s hope it stays that way. I have felt pretty normal for the most part, after reading about so many pregnancy symptoms online I imagined myself crying hysterically while doing laundry or vomiting violently everyday. The worst I have had is taking naps and eating a lot, and I find both of those quite enjoyable.

Today I had an ultrasound done with a specialist in fetal medicine. My OB wanted to make sure that our baby’s heart was developing normally due to my medical history. This is done by looking at a little sac of fluid sitting on the back of baby’s neck; if more fluid than normal is present it may mean that the baby is developing with a heart defect or other abnormality such as Down Syndrome. Luckily, everything looks perfectly normal and our baby was squirming around happily the entire time. The ultrasound was pleasantly long so my friend Stephanie and I were able to watch the baby move for about 15 or 20 minutes total. Michael was on duty at work today so he was unable to come to my appointment. Luckily I’ve got a great support network of friends who are more than happy to accompany me. Here are some pics from today:

Baby Profile View

Baby Waving to the Camera

How far along? 12 weeks

How big is baby? Baby is the size of a plum

Total weight gain/loss: No loss here! +1 pound

Maternity clothes? No official maternity clothes, but I am sticking to empire waist and flowing tops to hide my stomach which looks more like a beer gut right now than a baby bump.

Sleep: Wake up at least three times a night, including a trip to the bathroom.

Best moment this week: Buying a bigger bra that is actually comfortable!

Movement: No feeling of movement, but I did see the little one swimming around in the ultrasound 🙂

Food cravings: Oranges

Food Aversions: No specific aversions, more of a general “nothing sounds good” attitude.

Gender: Had two dreams so far that it’s a boy.

Labor Signs: None

Pregnancy Symptoms: When I’m tired it hits me like a ton of bricks and I must nap. I’m also STARVING every two to three hours. I threw up for the first time on 6/8 and thankfully haven’t had that experience since. I have to pee a lot more than normal including every night which I’ve never done before.

Belly Button in or out: In!

What I miss: sushi and beer, two of my favorite things.

What I am looking forward to: Finding out the sex and decorating the nursery!

Upcoming appointments/events: 7/2, 14 week checkup

Weekly Wisdom: ALWAYS go pee before you leave the house, and bring snacks in your purse.

Milestones: First ultrasound at 10.5 weeks and everything looks great! Officially the owner of a “C” cup bra, woo!