Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Good news!

I just had a phone conference with my boss and got some good news! He has me budgeted in to be working 20 hours per week starting July 1st (after I take maternity leave). Last we talked on the phone in February, June 30th was my last day, so I've been slowly and sadly counting down how many paydays I have left. Seth and I both have a habit of stressing big time about money, but we both know deep down we could do without my income, it'd just be an adjustment. Worrying about finances has kept me up late a few nights recently and has woken me up in the middle of the night and kept me up then too. Preparing for a baby is EXPENSIVE WORK. Holy crap. Let's not talk about how much money I spent this weekend. 


Speaking of this weekend, we got a lot accomplished baby wise:
  • Finished painting. Just need to finish the chair railing in the middle, which will hopefully be done this weekend.
  • Bought a bunch of big items for baby: car seat, stroller, pack-n-play, baby bedding and the crib and dresser. We ordered the crib and dresser last weekend and paid half at that time, so we paid for the other half and Seth put them together this weekend! It actually looks like a nursery in there now! Pictures to come soon, as soon as the chair railing stuff is done in the middle :)
  • We also got a few smaller yet still important things such as the changing table mattress, changing table sheet, a hanging toy for the car seat and some clothes. I feel like I'm missing some things, but I can't think of what right now.
Thankful for productive weekends! Oh, I'm 34 weeks today. Holy crap, where does the time go?!?! He's also been having the hiccups quite a bit lately! I've felt the feeling before and wondered what the heck it was. Last week, I finally realized it was the hiccups! I haven't found a food or drink that seems to give him the hiccups yet, but he sure is very very active when I eat guacamole. Which is good, because I love me some guacamole. 

It was also the first Memorial day that Seth and I got to spend together and I'm thankful for that, too. We've been together for 4 years, and this was the first in the 4 years that he's been in America for this holiday. Iraq, Germany, Afghanistan, Germany and now finally Washington. 


Monday, May 21, 2012

Baby stuff

We painted more of the baby's room yesterday and I love how it turned out! No pictures this time because it's not done, but once we get it finished, I'll definitely post them! It's a really light blue on top, with a darker turquoise blue on the bottom. We're going to put a crisp white railing around the room which will tie in very nicely with the white crib. We ordered the crib and dresser last Saturday and I can't wait till it arrives at the store for us to pick up and put together! 

Ironically, Seth loved this crib and dresser set from the first time we went to Babies R Us to look at things but I didn't want white furniture. It seems kinda girly to me and I wanted an espresso colored crib. After a long time researching cribs, we settled on one and went to order it in the store. We had decided then that the "french vanilla" color of the crib would match best with the bedding. However, when we got there, we were told that the dresser no longer was made in the "french vanilla" color. I don't like mismatching furniture - it would drive me crazy to have a dark dresser and a vanilla colored crib in the same room. So back to the drawing board. (Mind you, this was after a long day of volunteering for Armed Forces day - I was exhausted and was excited to finally order the crib, only to be very disappointed that it wasn't possible). We wandered around for a little while and looked at our choices, looked up reviews online and then finally settled on this one. 

This is the bedding we got to go with it. Oh I can't wait to set it up!


In other important baby news, he's been moving around quite a bit. Last night we were watching TV and he was moving around so much you could see my stomach moving all over the place while I was sitting still. It's a pretty bizarre feeling. Last night, I was laying on my right side (I know, I know, you're supposed to lay on your left side...I toss and turn all night long) and I kept getting sharp pains in my uterus. If I rolled over, he would calm down and I wouldn't get the sharp pains. I read in one of my books that he's getting so big and the amniotic fluid is diminishing so I'll start having more painful kicks and punches (because the fluid isn't there to cushion the blow, so to speak). I woke up this morning with really sore hips. My buttocks hurt pretty bad too, like I had done 20390 too many squats. I had this same feeling frequently during the first and second trimesters and it was just him going through growth spurts. I get up to go pee 3-4 times during the night and when I sit up, there is an intense pressure on my bladder and I feel like I'm going to pee the bed right then and there. Luckily, I haven't done that, but it feels like I can. Sometimes right around my belly button (which is going to pop any day now, I think...) it gets reallllly hard and it's a little tiny foot or heel or knee or something right now. I can't make out body parts yet, but hopefully soon we'll be able to! I pushed back on it a few times and then it moved away. 


I'd like to go on record right now saying that I plan on going into this delivery (in 7ish weeks, holy crap) intending to do it natural. I want to give it my best shot without pain meds. We aren't taking birthing classes (they're not covered under TriCare and they don't offer any classes of any sort at the hospital). I bought a few books and DVDs on Amazon and we're going to start watching and reading those in the evenings. My mom said all the women in our family have had really fast births, and haven't even had time for an epidural. Here's to hoping I can keep with that tradition! 


We're going to be cloth diapering (I really need to order those...gah, so much to buy!!!) and I will be breastfeeding. I'm getting more and more excited each day to meet this little guy and I know Seth is too. 


Now, I must go tend to a pathetic dog (Woody) who got neutered today and is still pretty high on drugs. Poor Patrick, he so badly wants to play with his big brother, but he can't. Patrick has been in his cage for a few hours now and has been crying the whole time. I let him out and held him to Woody's face so they could  kiss each other (like they always do) but I know if I let Patrick run free, he'll be on Woody's back, biting his neck, wanting to wrestle. And poor Woody is in no mood (or shape) for that yet. 


I wonder if we have another boy if they'll be like the dogs and just wrestle all day. 




Thursday, May 17, 2012

The Best...

This is usually my daily lunch. It's my new favorite thing of all time. It tastes best on toasted sourdough bread with some mayo. Add fresh avocado and tomato and voila...a heavenly lunch just like that! 

Saturday, May 12, 2012

31.5 weeks, Updates and Pictures


It’s been a crazy busy few weeks.

Let's see...

I went home to Michigan for a few days and saw friends and family for the surprise baby shower Seth had planned!  Two families that I used to babysit for when I was a teenager were invited, but unfortunately, they weren’t able to make it to the shower. I still saw one family though and we hung out till almost 1 AM! It was awesome. We all cried when we said bye. I hate seeing their little broken hearts when I leave. It kills me. Each of the girls (13 and 8) picked out a gift for our new baby that would remind us of them whenever we used it. The older girl has had a little blue elephant since the day she was born that has a blanket attached to it (it looks more like a cape with an elephant head. That might sound weird and creepy, but it’s actually a really cute toy). Anyway, she has taken that thing with her everywhere since she was born and still sleeps with it now, even as a teenager. After not being able to find a replica for our baby, she settled on a little blue elephant teether toy! If our baby doesn’t automatically like it, I’m going to force it upon him until he loves it! I’m kidding. Sort of.  The younger girl LOVES soccer and picked out an orange soccer outfit. Seth also loves soccer so this was a perfect gift. Also, I learned while I was in MI that when Seth was younger, he would only wear orange colored clothes, so it was even more appropriate :) We got a lot of gift cards and I only had to mail back a few boxes of stuff. I went shopping and got the baby a lot of Detroit Tigers baseball clothes per Seth’s request. He’ll be decked out for the end of the season and hopefully the Tigers make it to the play offs this year!!!

I think the baby liked the plane rides; he was very active on the flights! He’s only 7 months old (in my uterus) and he’s already been on a plane to Michigan twice! He’s a little traveler already! Seth splurged on the seats with extended leg room, and they just so happened to be right in front of the bathroom, which was an added bonus. They were really good flights (minus the first flight where I was seated next to an off duty flight attendant who was on stand by. He was a jerk…I was texting Seth as we started pushing back from the terminal that we were getting ready to take off and the guy asked me if I knew I was committing a federal crime by continuing to text after they said phones needed to be turned off. I told him yes, and he shook his head no at me, and then continued to read my text over my shoulder. Then I silently cried because I was mad at him. Ironically the on duty flight attendant who was seated directly across from me didn’t seem to care at all and didn’t ask me to turn off my phone).

We started painting the nursery last weekend. We’re going with two colors – a dark bluish/turquoise color on the bottom and a light blue almost gray color on the top. The colors match the bedding and it’s going to be sooo cute once we get it done. We’re going to put chair railing in the middle to separate the colors (that's why it's all uneven right now). Hopefully we can finish up the painting this weekend. We just settled on which crib we’re getting, so we’ll be getting that this week or next weekend. I’m excited to get furniture in there and start washing his little clothes and making it look like a REAL nursery!

Since I have yet to post a picture of myself, here you go. This picture is from last week when I was 31 weeks and 2 days. I can’t believe in about 9ish weeks, he’ll be here. It’s CRAZY to think about.  



These two are crazy together. Patrick stands underneath Woody and pretends he's one of those little Russian stacking dolls, and Woody tries to move every which way to get him. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. We're working on training Woody right now; he's developed some not so great habits that need to stop immediately. They love each other though.


Seth planted gardens in our backyard the other weekend and they're doing really well! The dogs were getting into them and digging stuff up so we had to get the little fences to keep them out. We have a bunch of stuff: lettuce (a few varieties), spinach, carrots, red onions, celery, garlic, brussel sprouts, lots of different tomatoes, bell peppers, a few types of squash, carrots and jalapeno peppers (I think that's all of them!) We also have two blueberry plants and one thornless blackberry bush. They're in planters behind the gardens. We also have tons of blackberry bushes coming up along the bottom of our fence. Hopefully they produce lots of fruit this year and we'll be able to can some.
     
(ever since he was a puppy, he's loved "working" in the garden. and by "working," I mean "digging")

And because I'm obsessed with Mt. Rainier and take pictures of it ALL the time, here's a pretty picture from today. Ahhh, I love it so much. The last several weekends we've had great weather. I LOVE it. It makes me look forward to the summer, big time. I can't wait- it's definitely going to be the best summer yet  :)