Weekend Happenings
36 Weeks
Friday night, T.J. promised he’d take me out to eat so we chose Red Robin. I love that place because of their fries (obvs.) and you can substitute a turkey burger for the regular burger AND they have this awesome pretzel bun right now that you can also substitute for a regular bun. Usually when we eat there, we don’t have to wait too long for our food but this weekend was different. It seemed like we were waiting there for ever and our perky little waitress loved stopping by every two minutes to ask if we were doing okay. Enough’s enough, lady. After getting our food, I told T.J. we shouldn’t tip too much because the wait was so bad and that girl really got on my nerves. But then all of a sudden she came over (again), and told us she asked her manager if she could give the pregnant girl a discount for having to wait so long for her food.
Oh, hello… sounds great to me. Turns out it pays to be pregnant. And sorry for almost not giving you a decent tip, dear waitress.
So, our meal was only $10! Score!
Saturday we woke up and headed up to T.J.’s family’s place for mine and Lindsay’s (my sister-in-law) baby shower. Kelly and Lacey made wonderful hostesses and the food was delicious. There was this pumpkin soup that tasted divine. Seriously, I ate so much of it and will hopefully get a recipe to make much much more. All of T.J.’s aunts and cousins came… there were probably twenty of us and boy, did we get showered with gifts. It was amazing. Our baby is going to be the best dressed baby in the area, I swear. I can’t wait to play dress-up with her!
And then on Saturday night, T.J.’s parents treated us to dinner at iHop and we decided it must have been every single employee’s first day working. There were so many awkward encounters, comments from waiters that didn’t make sense, and not to mention, a HUGE wait. Like, I’m talking about everyone in the restaurant looking around waiting to see if anyone was going to eat that night. How long does it take to crack open some eggs, ya know? But in the end, guess what happened… flash back to Friday night… we got a discount! Drinks were covered and 20% was taken off of our bill. Fabs.
Today I woke up around six without being able to swallow and my ears were hurting a lot. I thought I had gracefully gotten over my cold from this week but apparently it took another swing at me today. Please tell me some secret remedies you have to getting over a cold without medicine. I would love to hear it. Pleaseandthankyou.
Baby Shower Back Home
When I was back in Kentucky, my mom and my sister Ashley threw me a baby shower. It was overwhelming to see how many people were there supporting me and crazy to think how each of them affected me in my life. There were many past Sunday School teachers, Young Women leaders, neighbors, and old friends from high school in attendance.
One of the activities at the shower was where everyone wrote the baby a little note of advice. I just read through them this morning and they were so sweet. Some of them even brought tears to my eyes. Here’s what my friend Blair from high school wrote… hers made me laugh and I’m sure she won’t mind me sharing it. (The first bullet point is referring to when my mom gave me mashed bananas instead of apple sauce for my medicine.)
The baby got a lot of great gifts. So many cute clothes (even baby jeggings thanks to my friend Beth from church), a hand crocheted baby blanket from Mrs. Doran (a neighbor that has been like my second mom growing up), and gift cards that bought the changing table.
I wish I would have remembered to take pictures of the whole group, but we only took a couple. Thanks again to my mom and sister for making the shower a success.
Listening to the Rain
Sometimes I’m amazed by how no one prepared me for certain pregnancy symtoms. I mean, I had heard the gist of it, but there are random things I never knew about until I experienced them myself. So, I’m going to prepare you. Here’s the newest symptom: I can’t get a full breath very often. My Mayo Clinic book says it’s nothing to worried about and that I’m still getting more oxygen than I was before I was pregnant. The baby is getting bigger, so there’s just less space for the ol’ lungs. But it’s almost hard to believe because it feels like the baby is using my lungs as squeeze toys. When I finally get a good breath, I am so surprised, I say out loud, “Wow, that was a good one!”
Another thing as you get bigger, when you stand up, your belly and baby follow gravity and there’s some strange pressure going on down there. I can’t describe it, you just will have to wait and see how it feels.
And lastly, forget about baby kicks. Well, they still happen regularly and often, but the newest sensation is how the baby likes to stretch out and really push right up against the wall in there. It’s the most bizarre feeling ever. I try to push her back into a more comfortable place. But if that doesn’t work, I start talking to her telling her she must move because it’s starting to really hurt me and more importantly, freak me out. Then I realize that I have gone crazy because I’m talking to the nameless baby in my womb.
Overall, pregnancy is really weird. I hope you’re not offended by me saying that. I just am definitely not one of those people who will tell you that being pregnant is the best time of my life. And it’s not because I’m sick, I have had a mild couple of months. I just hate how close I am to the baby, yet I’m still so far away from her. I want to hold her, dang it, right here in my arms! I try and try to picture what she will look like and pray to have dreams about her, but in the end, I have to wait. A full 40 weeks. And when you realize how long that is, the pregnancy hormones kick in harder than the baby kicks and you just cry and cry and cry. It’s pathetic.
But in the end, I know it will all be worth it. Less than two months and this baby will be right here with me. I’m down to the last stretch here. We will listen to Justin Bieber’s new Christmas album together and it will be the greatest time of my life.
The Rest
These photos aren’t exactly in order… sorry about that.
I was loving this Orangutan. He wrapped the sheet around himself and would hide underneath.
The one on the right looks like the happiest donkey in the world. Just hanging with his pals.
I couldn’t resist taking this photo.
FDR’s memorial is one of my favorites.
We got to visit the new MLKJ memorial! It was absolutely beautiful.
Claire sleeping beside all of her babies.
Found this treasure in Claire’s closet. It’s like the author was writing it just for me.
A Taste of Motherhood
I’m back from my trip to DC where I visited my sister and her family. It was absolutely wonderful. Because of the age difference between Mary Beth and I, we haven’t had much of a chance to hang out and so this trip was so fun to finally feel like good friends.
We did a lot in the city such as going to the zoo, one of the Smithsonian museums, picnicked, visited a couple memorials, and had some family time. I fell even more in love with my nieces, Claire and Amelia. They are adorable and so funny. The funniest thing Claire said on the trip was to my sister, “Mom, when you have a baby brother in your belly, can you name him the Cat in the Hat?” Hilair. Amelia is just learning to talk, in fact she said her first real words, which happened to be, “Thank you.” Seriously. I told you she’s a doll.
Enjoy the pictures…
Here’s Mark and Amelia about to go on a bike ride.
Sweetest little girl I know.
Guess who’s kitchen this is….
Claire is growing up! She’s like a real kid these days!
The Pococks!
Pony rides at the neighborhood picnic.
Oldtown Alexandria… by far my favorite place in the area.
This is where I bought a vintage cape… you heard me right. I can’t wait for it to cool down so I can wear this awesome thing.
Mexican Baby
Here are the last of the photos from my trip to McKinney a couple weeks ago.
Hannah and Me in front of the Dallas Temple. We’re twinners.
My cousin, Bob, with his new bike. He looks like Robert Downy, Jr. kinda.
My cousin, Bob, and my first cousin once removed, Bobby. When you have such a small family, you know how all that family tree lingo works. You can tell they’re Swainharts.
24 Hours of Driving Later…
… and we’re finally back home!
Hannah and I made it safely back last night. There were some crazy drivers, roads, and towns (or should I call them villages?), but I am in Provo and loving the beautiful mountains surrounding me!
I got a call from T.J. on our way back saying that he had a surprise for me. I finally got what the surprise was out of him: he made dinner for me! He has never done this. Well, there might have been an occasional grilled cheese or french toast when I was in my first trimester and couldn’t stand the smell of anything cooking. But besides that, this was the first real meal he has made me since we got married. It was chicken breasts with a tasty coating (he mentioned he put paprika in it… I was impressed that he even knew what paprika was!) and a side of vegetables. Of course the way he put it all together was adorable and artistic: the veggies were in this perfect circle (maybe he used the ice-cream scooper?) and there was a streak of mustard sauce going down the center like in a fancy restaurant. And the real surprise was the clean kitchen when I arrived home.
I have the best husband!
……
So, I am going to be in Provo for about 3 days and then I leave for my other trip to Washington DC to visit my sister Mary Beth and her family (this one also cost me nothing because I’m flying Standby)! I can’t wait to see my darling nieces Claire and Amelia! I can wait for the flight from Long Beach to DC though. That’s going to be a long one!
Optimus
To wrap up the weekend, we went to a family birthday dinner for Josh, my brother-in-law. He loves LOVES Transformers, so the theme was, of course… Transformers.
Merrily at 23
Well, here I am. Tomorrow marks week 23, which means in the next month my baby will be doubling in weight and my belly will really start poking out.
I don’t always feel like I look pregnant. I have some outfits that hide the bump pretty well and make people think, oh maybe she just put on a couple of pounds. (Which reminds me, I’m too scared to get on the scale now…). But today when I was getting dressed, I looked at my belly in the mirror and my jaw dropped. It had that “pregnant” look. Not just the size, but the shape and the color. It just shouted “PREGNANT BELLY!” Kinda exciting, and the best part was it had the look without the stretch-marks! You better believe I lotionize (with vaseline) that baby bump day and night!
We’ll just make this a full blown prego post. Last night we had waffles. We had a buy one, get one free iHop coupon so we jumped on that. Anyway (mom, stop reading this paragraph, I am ashamed)… usually I can barely eat half of a waffle. Oh, don’t worry. I ate the entire waffle, all of my hash-browns, and both pieces of my bacon (which, in my defense, were really small). The best/worst part was that after I finished, I didn’t even feel full. I could have eaten more. The pregnant body is ridiculous. Dwight was right when he said, “It’s amazing. A three-ounce fetus is calling the shots. That’s so bad a**.” And my baby is over a pound now…
I think the only other pregnancy story I have is another one about my emotions. I was listening to songs from Glee while in the shower, my iPod was on shuffle, and so a Christmas song came up. Since I was in the shower, I couldn’t just go and turn it off. So, I enjoyed it while I shampooed my hair. Then the song started making me think about the Christmas season and reminding me of all the festivities. That’s when it hit me. Next time I listen to my Glee Christmas Album, we’ll have our baby! I starting crying in the shower like a crazy woman. (Don’t you kind of feel pathetic when you cry in the shower? Maybe that’s just me.) But it got me so excited! Christmas is going to be amazing. It will be weird that I won’t be in Kentucky, but I am so excited to start our own family traditions as a family of three!
Well, that’s it folks. Oh, one more thing. I do want to say THANKYOUTHANKYOU to my sister Mary Beth. Last week she sent me a HUGE package of maternity clothes to borrow and baby clothes/gear to keep. It was the best surprise and the maternity clothes were a blessing. I have such a wonderful family!
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