It's next to the Taco Time, across from the Taco Bell

Earlier this month Shanerz came to visit (thank you T and S for coordinating such an incredible surprise!!). It was WONDERFUL and we had a blast. We OD'd on sugar multiple times a day. It was the baby's fault. She was hungry.....

Sometimes we dripped ice cream all over our bodies while walking down the streets of Portland doing kegal exercises and talking about zipcars. There may or may not have been several near pants-peeing incidents.

Smoothies, cupcakes, honey lavender ice cream, voodoo donuts, biscuit sandwiches smothered in gravy, lunch boxes full of road trip snacks.....we did more than eat, I swear. We had photo shoots behind strip malls and cuddled with Rocky and Taylor.

The most special moment though was when Shanerz said YES to the DRESS! I can't wait to be part of her wedding and am so excited that I got to be part of her dress shopping experience. It is as if the dress was made for her. B-E-A-UTIFUL bride.

I hope that my daughter grows up and is blessed to have friends as amazing as the ones in my life <3

Kickin' it

This little girl has been ROCKING OUT lately. Frankly, I think she's jealous that she's trapped in there while we're out here livin' it up.

Sometimes it looks like my tum tum is moving in waves (I'm trying to get a video of this, but no luck yet).

Sometimes she likes to leave an elbow or foot (not sure what it is) wedged so far out that I literally have to push it back in. Yep.

Sometimes her movements make me laugh so hard (nervous giggle) because it's such a weird feeling.

Sometimes when I lay on one side she moves to that side and I feel like I'm squishing her. So I flip to the other side and 5 minutes later she follows. Sheesh girllllllll, give me some space.

Sometimes she keeps me up at night with all her partying. When can we enforce a curfew??  Ya'll know this mama's bed time is 800pm.

Sometimes Tim likes to poke her and she likes to poke back. I'm going to have my hands full; they are too much alike.

I'm just waiting for her to kick one of the dogs. Which reminds me...who remembers this? Ashley, I know you do. lol.

Wardrobe Choices

Today I was trying to inflate my ego and decided it was a GREAT idea to wear some pre-pregnancy jeans. Ya know, prove to myself I could dooooo it...nevermind the fact that they wouldn't zip at all.

Things were all good while I was standing and walking around. I was feeling good. Feeling accomplished.... until it was time to sit down, at which point the waistband on my jeans tried to cut my core in half. Have you ever been stabbed by a zipper for 10 hours straight? I don't recommend it. For  my entire workday I sat all crazy-like in an attempt to not perform my own c-section incision with my not-made-for-third-trimester-pregnant-woman jeans.

Lesson learned. You best believe I'll be embracing my maternity pants tomorrow. I mean really they are the same thing; they just have a low cut base with a big ol' comfy band (humor me and let me tell myself what I need to to get through this, haha).

All jokes aside, the fashion industry sort of had a heart when designing maternity clothes. You buy the same size you wore pre-pregnancy but somehow the "maternity" version fits and for that, I thank them. I might have become unstable if I had to jump a few sizes.

In other wardrobe news, I've learned a few lessons about bras. Ladies, stay away from the underwire once your belly pops! That thing folded and cut into me in ways I didn't know were possible. I would literally sit at work and tuck my shirt up under my jugs to try and prevent the underwire from ripping off my skin.

My next plan of attack was the dreaded sports bra. Naturally, that turned my chest into a giant boob-berry pancake. One day I wore a lime green sports bra under a black dress....who am I?

Finally (as in this weekend) I bucked up and bought some more new bras....no underwire and not of the sports variety. So far so good, although my skin is still healing from the damage the underwire rubbing did. I wish I was kidding.

30 Weeks!

69 days until we get to meet the little lady <3

She has We have grown a lot over the last 4 weeks. There's no sucking in this bump!

My uterus has selfishly taken over my entire abdominal cavity. When you look at this picture you may wonder "Hmm I wonder if her organs are all squished together and pushing on her lungs?" The answer to that is yes.

I feel pregnant

As of late, everyone I come into contact with has a comment about the bump. Perceptions go from one extreme to the next. For example, today I was told that I don't look pregnant at all from the front or back. Two hours later I was told that my bump looked like a mountain. It's funny how everyone has their own idea of what 7 months pregnant looks like.

At this stage the baby alone is gaining 1/2 a pound a week! I don't really feel the extra weight/strain on my body, but it's definitely visible! It seems like what I wear has a huge effect on how pregnant I look. I've noticed that sometimes those comfy, flowy outfits actually make me look 10 pounds bigger. Mirrors should be outlawed.

In addition to feeling pregnant because of all the growth, I've also been having some little dizzy spells lately (yet I thought it was a good idea to wear 4 inch heels to work today). The dizziness isn't anything huge to worry about, but I do need to work harder on reaching that GALLON OF WATER a day quota. Dude. That's A LOT of fluids. I was also advised to eat small snacks every 2 hours. I've been pretty good about that, but as a result I'm not really hungry when it comes time for a "real meal" at lunch or dinner. So here's what happens as a result of that:

Tim: What did you eat this morning?
Me: I don't know Tim, I had a hard-boiled egg, some apricots. This and that.
Tim: Oh my god. You need to eat REAL FOOD. You are starving the baby. You need to have an actual meal.
Me: I promise I'm not starving the baby...

Imagine this SAME conversation repeated at least 3 times a day everyday :-)

Glider FAIL :(

Back when we posted early pictures of the nursery we mentioned the gray and white glider we were planning to get.

Well that bad boy went on sale, so we snatched it up. It was delivered to the store yesterday and we rushed to pick it up. We were SO excited, and had visions of finishing the nursery this weekend.

Sadly, when we got it home we noticed it wasn't gray at all. It was a dark mocha color. Sigh.

We called the store and provided all the specifications. They looked at the one they have on their showroom floor and confirmed theirs was gray. They have no clue why ours is mocha, and offered to order a new one. However, since they don't know why it came in mocha, and there isn't a "select a color" option when placing the order, we declined. We don't want to wait another 7-14 days to be disappointed again! We also asked if we could just buy the floor sample, because it's EXACTLY what we want....they gave us a big fat no. Some sort of safety cover-their-butt policy. But don't think we won't try and sweet talk them one more time when we make the drive up there again to return the mocha glider.

So, last night we spent a lot of time perusing the internet in search of a gray glider or comfy gray nursery appropriate chair.

Here's what we learned.....they aren't cheap. What to do? What to do?

A chair in the nursery isn't a NECESSITY, but we've envisioned it for so long it's hard to shake the idea!

Registry Time

Our registries have been a work in progress for over a month now. We're learning what we need (or don't need) and what our preferences are. Truth be told registering wasn't all fun and games! All of the choices were overwhelming at times!

How are we supposed to know if the little one prefers this bottle or that one?! We haven't even met the girl yet!

We did learn to register for things that the little girl will need over the course of the next year or more, not just what she'll need in the first few months.

We are registered at Amazon.com and Babies "R"Us . If you're interested and check out the registries you'll notice we didn't register for specific clothing items because let's face it, everything is adorable. 

Go 'head girl, go 'head get down

28 week check up was this past week and it could not have gone better.

I passed my glucose tolerance test (yay no gestational diabetes!)

Blood count was good (no anemia concerns!)

Baby's heart rate was 150 (doctor said she's a happy little girl!)

All measurements were right on track.

And baby is in the head down position. Although there is a chance she could still move around, the doctor said this is great and hopefully she stays that way.

Hanging out upside down for the next 12ish weeks sounds fun, right?

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! We made it to 2013 (what now Mayans??).

Did anyone do something fun for New Year's Eve?

The only party that was going on here was in utero. The baby girl was partying! I don't know what she was doing in there but she was super busy. She was bipping around most of the night, in fact she probably stayed up later than I did....haha. Live it up now little one, once you're out of there you'll learn all about a little thing called "bed time."

Speaking of movement, we're now at the stage where the doctor recommends doing kick counts. It's important to get in tune with the baby's sleep/activity cycle. If I notice an abnormal decrease in movement of lack of movement, the doctor first advises to lay down and really focus. Having a large glass of water or something sugary can also be helpful. As long as baby makes 10 movements in 2 hours we're good.

Lack of movement or a decrease in movement can mean something as simple as the baby is sleeping, or on the flip side it can mean serious problems and it's advised to go to L&D to get monitored.

I'll be honest....I find this to be stressful! When I'm busy at work or running errands I don't always notice the little one's movements...and then I start to freak out trying to remember if I felt her at all that day etc.

Guess I better get used to worrying about the little girl....from what I hear that'll be my responsibility for at least the next 18 years...but more like a lifetime :)