A New Nickname

We have a ginormous lovesac in our living room now (long story of how it got there but we didn’t have to pay for it) and although I was mad about it taking over our living room at first, I now love it. It is so comfy. I sit in it cross legged a lot and so you can’t really see my legs, you just see a round belly atop a bean bag. And to get out of it, I have to do a lot of rolling… it’s a drawn out process. Anyway, this whole thing has now led T.J. to calling me

Humpty Dumpty.

Thank you, sweet husband.

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Advice from a Prego

I just got back from the doctor and will be going every week from now on. But the best news is, I’m done with all the doctor payments… now onto paying for the hospital bills. Anyway, while I was sitting in the waiting room, I decided I would write a post with some advice for all of my pregnant friends out there who are a little behind me.

  1. Wear your regular clothes as long as you can (especially your skinny jeans… oh how I miss my skinny jeans with the zippers!). I know it sounds fun and exciting to get some cute maternity clothes. But hold off because you will get sick of wearing those limited items every day.
  2. Going along with that, buy a pair of maternity jeans early in the pregnancy just to have on store because there will come a day where you realize you’re starting to show, you will have a dramatic breakdown, and those jeans will be the best things that have come your way.
  3. Really ask around about doctors. Find a doctor that is right for you and is on the same page for the birthing plan. I really love my doctor and am so glad I found him BUT I should have thought about going to a practice where there is a team of doctors. My doctor has his own practice and so if he can’t make it to the delivery, it’ll be a sad day.
  4. Going along with that, don’t feel pressured by other people to go natural/to have an epidural… figure out what is right for you after you consider all of your options. I’m kind of a wuss and not really into all that hypnobirthing stuff, so I’m getting an epidural like Amy Poehler in Baby Mama.
  5. If you feel like you are getting a little chubs in the cheeks, pull your hair up to elongate your face instead of wearing it down where it adds extra width. I read this a week ago on my prego app and feel like it has made a huge difference!
  6. If your feet are bothering you but you don’t want to stop wearing your cute flats or oxfords, but some of those Scholl’s gel inserts. They’re like $4 at WalMart and will make your dreams come true.
  7. Check out Kid to Kid in American Fork. They’ve got other locations but the one in AF is by far the best. I have bought so many clothes there that are super cute and were all ridiculous cheap. Don’t forget about TJ Maxx either. One you hit up those two stores, you’ll never want to buy anything from anywhere else because the prices are so good.
  8. Target sells nursing bras for way cheap. I’ll let you know in a couple weeks if it was a good deal or if you should buy from somewhere nicer.
  9. Rub your belly and chest as much as possible with cocoa butter or petroleum jelly. I haven’t had any stretch marks and I’m sure all the moisturizing helped.
  10. Take advantage of shaving your legs and painting your toenails because one day your body just won’t bend those ways and it will feel more like a chore.

And since I showed one Baby Mama clip, I’ve got to show another (this one might be a little TMI for a blog, but oh well). I read about this in one of my birth books the other night… and once again, I’m right there with Amy and Tina on this one.

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Flashback

Freshman Year: Little Girl Playing Dress Up

Sophomore Year: Frodo, 80’s, Dinosaur

Junior Year: Dragon and Dorothy

Senior Year: Bob from What About Bob and a Cheetah

Grad: Skeleton with Skeleton Baby

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Pumpkinpalooza

Friday night was our Halloween party and boy, it was awesome. You know how you always have people you want and need to meet up with but there just simply isn’t enough time to visit everyone? Well, I got caught up with like thirty people in one night because so many people showed up.

I baked pretty much all day and thought we would have way too much food (cake balls, chocolate covered pretzels, caramel apples, and sugar cookies) but everything was eaten by the end of the night. We carved pumpkins, played Catch Phrase, and roasted hot dogs on the fire pit out back.

I put up quite a fight with the costume because I knew that skeletons were really “in” this year. I saw them online, on pinterest, and at a bunch of Halloween shops. And heck, there were three in The Office dressed up as skeletons. I like being original, but I’m glad I was a skeleton, they turned out great and the baby skeleton was a huge hit.

Pretty creepy face painting, don’t you think? Plus, it was hard to read his facial emotions all night.

My old coworkers from the library.

Doc from Back to the Future roasting a mallow.

Baby Evette… cutest baby ever and wearing the Halloween outfit I bought her, by the way.

An iPad Jack-o-Lantern. Awesome.

I carved the “D”, the haunted house in the back and that stripey one (which looked cool when lit).

Our door at the Ward Halloween Party.

Oh, and since I mentioned the Ward Halloween Party… if I wasn’t baby hungry before, I would have been by the end of that party because there were tons of babies and toddlers dressed up in the cutest outfits you’ve ever seen. Seriously, it was ridiculous. They had a little parade where each of them walked across the stage and I got tears in my eyes (I know I say that a lot, but what do you expect out of hormonal prego?). Anyway, that party was also fantastic and it was so fun to have the little kids come around to each door and Trick-or-Treat.

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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.

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Wise Men Followed a Star, the Way I Followed my Heart

How have I not blogged about this yet? Justin Bieber has released TWO songs from his Christmas album and I love them both. Christmas music AND Justin Bieber? How could it get better? I’ll tell you… his whole album is being released in less than a week and it is going to be great.

Plus, our little Justin is growing up and his voice is changing! He doesn’t sound so much like a 14 year old anymore (although I was fine with that).

Now, watch the Mistletoe music video over and over again until you love it as much as me.

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And the baby’s name is…

Noname

Pronunciation: No-nah-mee

As in, we still haven’t come up with a baby name that we are sold on/agree on. I’ve read the books. I’ve checked the apps. I’ve visited the websites. I even have a ginormous chalk board with about 20 favorite names. But we still can’t decide.

On the topic of baby, I had a dream about her.

“Noname” came out in a body of a 16-month old. A toddler. I was trying to breastfeed her, holding her in that football style I read about, and she wrapped around my whole body. Her mouth was so big that… well… it was awful. I was embarrassed to take her out to the mother’s group because she was so much bigger than the other babies and the other mothers judged me.

Oh, Noname, please don’t come out that big. I know my mom had an 11 pounder, but please… PLEASE, stop growing…

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Beautiful Heartbreak

A little more than a year ago, my Dad dropped me off at the Cincinnati airport for the last time as a single woman. I could barely look at him in the eye because it was like I was saying goodbye to my daddy for the last time as a little girl–thinking everything was about to change. He jokingly, but holding back tears, said to me, “You can stay here, you know?” We grinned, I gave him another hug, and said goodbye.

It was weird leaving my home that day knowing that the next time I’d be married. I was worried about how things would be in the future. I was content where I was. But things worked out and getting married was the best decision I’ve ever made.

So, here I was on Tuesday afternoon. I took a walk down the beautiful street I grew up in, standing between my parents. The thought came to my mind how next time I’d walk down that road I’d be a mother. Next time I visit Kentucky, I’ll have a baby. Everything will change.

Sometimes changes seem so scary to me. It’s not that I don’t want those changes to occur, I just get nervous thinking how they’ll affect the rest of my life.

But change is good. Looking back, change is good.

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You probably have seen this video, as it’s making its way through Facebook and the blogosphere right now. It’s not my usual music style, but the video is so touching and the lyrics are very motivational. Enjoy.

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I’ve got another one for ya

Strangers amaze me. Listen to this.

My mom and I were in a boutique this afternoon. She shops their often because the man who owns it gives her decorating advice. So, we were chatting with him and then he asked me when I was due.

“Six weeks.”

“Wow, that soon?! And you’re already that big?!”

“Oh, I know… pretty crazy…” I replied, trying to laugh it off and not take it personally this time.

“Yeah, yesterday there was a woman in here who was also pregnant. She told me she was past her due date but compared to you, she was barely even showing,” he said.

I try to laugh but look at my mom with a face like YOU’VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!

“You probably shouldn’t say that to a pregnant woman,” my mom told him in a joking tone, hoping it would make him stop.

“Oh, really? Well, maybe it’s just the way the coat is laying on her belly… or something…” He tried to recover.

“You have a really nice store, thanks.” I end the conversation, walk out of the store with my mom and as soon as I shut the door, I burst into tears.

I realize now, I shouldn’t have cried or let it get to me… but seriously?!? I can see why the man said the first comment. People don’t always know what to say to pregnant women and so they say the first thing that comes to mind. But for him to go on and say that second comment? I am amazed. Even if I am that big, you DON’T need to say it to my face!

I told my mom she’s not allowed to shop there anymore.

 

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“You see that girl…”

Yesterday, I slept in until 11… but when my dad tried to give me a hard time about it, I reminded him not only that I am pregnant, I also am still on Mountain time and so it was really only 9 am back home. We got ready for the day and then I ran a couple of errands with my dad while my mom was teaching. For lunch, we ate at this fabulous German restaurant in Newport called the Hofbrauhaus. Cincinnati is known for its German heritage and so this place sits next to the river decked out in German decor with German music playing in the background. I got a schnitzel sandwich and my dad got a wurst with saurkraut. Delish.

A little bit later in the day, I met up with my mom and we went downtown to shop. For Christmas each year, we go to see the decorations downtown, but since I’m not coming home this year, we decided we’d see what was up at Macy’s at least. I couldn’t believe how dead the mall was down there, even Annie Anne’s had closed. So, other than Macy’s and TJ Maxx, the place was a ghost town.

Oh, when we were at TJ Maxx checking out, a very eccentric man (maybe he was homeless or had some mental problems… not sure) was talking to the girls at the counter. He looked over to me and said very loud for everyone to hear,

“You see that girl, she has two girls and a boy in her belly right there!”

He continued saying something like, “You know how I can tell? They’re moving and punching like this.” Then he started moving like Elaine from Seinfeld when she dances.

We all laughed, but then he kept going and I knew I needed to get out of there before the laughter turned to tears. Anyway, funny strangers. They always know what to say to pregnant women.

For dinner, we had Skyline of course. That’s always first on my list when I come into town. And to finish up the night, my parents and I headed to Newport on the Levee to see a movie called The Big Year. It is with Owen Wilson, Steve Martin, and Jack Black. It is seriously one of the best movies I have seen in a really good time. It’s a PG, so it’s very clean, very funny, and has such a sweet ending. Go see it!!!

And that is the end of Day 1.

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