Daisypath - Personal pictureDaisypath Happy Birthday tickers
Daisypath - Personal pictureDaisypath Happy Birthday tickers

Thursday, August 31, 2006

Fashion Emergency

As those of you who have been pregnant before know, it is not easy finding things to wear over the course of 9 months. You tell yourself that you are going to try to fit into your regular clothes as long as you can. You put off buying maternity clothes until have no choice. But that day comes when nothing in your closet fits and you resort to adding a few new items to your wardrobe. Being about 7 months pregnant at this point, that moment came awhile back for me. My mom and I went shopping for maternity clothes quite early... just to get an idea of what was out there. I think we all have the idea in our heads that all maternity clothes are frumpy and unattractive. Luckily things have changed. There are actually some very cute things out there. But it is difficult to spend money on clothes that you know you are only going to wear for a few months. So I told myself that I would only buy a few things at first and see how long I could go before I needed to get more. For the most part I have done a pretty good job on not spending too much money on maternity clothes, but that also means that I have been wearing the same 6-8 pieces of clothing for the past 3-4 months. One of my favorite things to wear during this pregnancy has been my gaucho pants. Those are the wide legged pants that almost look like skirt when you put your legs together. Well I have about 5 pairs of those and I really do not know what I would have done without them. They are not maternity pants, but since they are made out of the most stretchy, comfortable material... I find myself wearing them almost everyday. Mix those with about half a dozen maternity tops and I am good to go. Needless to say I am starting to get a bit sick of wearing the same few things over and over again!

I have my first baby shower this Saturday and I am struggling with what to wear. I can wear one of the same outfits that I have worn about 100 times now, or I can try and pull off one of my nicer dresses that fits my huge belly! Well during the week as I struggling with my dilemma I came across these pictures of Britney Spears. As some of you may know, I have commented on Britney in my blog before. She has provided me with some great tips on how to prepare for motherhood. So since she is already a mother, and is expecting her second child in less than two years... I figured why not turn to her for fashion advice also. If only I would have seen these pictures earlier, I could have tried to find similar outfits which would be perfect for the occasion...

What do you think???

I will be going to a fancy wedding at the end of September so maybe if I look hard enough I can find a dress just like Britney's! Nah...I think I will stick to my gaucho pants and hope that they will see me through my final two months of being pregnant! I am pretty sure I would never be caught dead in either of these outfits!

Anyways...like mentioned, I have my first baby shower this weekend. My two aunts have flown in from California and Florida to throw it for me. Not only am I looking forward to seeing both of them, but I am looking forward to sharing the day with some of the people who mean so much to me.

Not much else to report. This is week 30 for me and I just realized that I have less than 10 weeks to go! Holy Cow!

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

Two Down...One To Go!

...trimesters, that is! Yep, as of last week I officially crossed over into the third and final trimester of this amazing journey. I cannot believe how quickly the weeks have passed. I know the toughest part still lies ahead, as I will only get bigger and more uncomfortable, but this whole experience has been truly delightful to this point. In some ways I think I am going to miss being pregnant. I have enjoyed watching my belly grow, and feeling the little one kick. I have been so lucky to not have had any complications, which has allowed me to share this exciting time with Todd and our families without worry.

I went for my 28 week doctor check up, last week. Nothing special really...just some lab work and a visit with the doctor. I had to drink this carbonated soda that was super high in sugar. It wasn't too awful, but they force you to drink it very quickly, which does nothing but cause you to burp excessively. After an hour they drew a ton of blood to test for the presence of diabetes as well as some other things. Luckily I found out today that all tests came back normal. The doctor also checked the heartbeat which is at a solid 155! I am told that is high, which could mean it is a girl. Hmmmmmm...interesting!

I will be going back at 32 weeks for a second ultrasound. The doctor has ordered me to have another one done as she wants to check on a few things...specifically some water they found around the kidneys during the first ultrasound. It is nothing to be concerned about, as it is very typical for there to be the presence of water around the kidneys, but she wants to make sure that it has not increased. So hopefully all will signs will be positive! If anything it gives us another chance to get a good look at Baby Menor...the last look before he/she comes into the world!

Here is a picture (not a very good one!), of me at 28 weeks. I seem to be growing more rapidly these days. I am just looking to enjoy these final weeks, and hope that all goes as planned! It is going to be a busy time as I have a couple of baby showers coming up and Todd and I are planning one final getaway before the baby comes. We thought it would be nice to spend some alone time together before we no longer have that option! We have been so busy up to this point that we thought we both deserved a few days away, to relax and enjoy each others company. It sure is a relief to have that nursery done!

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Froggies and Duckies and Turtles...Oh My!

We have been in full baby preparation mode lately! As of this past weekend, the nursery is now completed...and it is AMAZING! It was a day long project that was made possible thanks to two of my wonderful and talented "sisters" Kim and Korrie. Korrie lended her artistic abilities and created beautiful scenery on the walls, while Kim offered up her handyman skills and put together some shelves and hung curtain rods. While they slaved away, my duties included fetching anything that they needed and lending an extra hand whenever necessary. Other than that, I can take absolutely no credit for the fantasy land you see below...



Man, is our kid lucky or what? We could all be so lucky to have such a beautiful place to rest our heads! We could not be more pleased with the way everything turned out. I think Todd and I walk into the nursery at least 10 times a day just to look at it. We truly are blessed to have such talented and generous people in our lives! And on top of that Todd and I can rest easy now, knowing that the nursery is done. No rushing at the last minute to get things in place. I was determine to have things ready early, with the chance that Baby Menor decides to make a premature arrival! You just never know! There are a few finishing touches we want to make and of course there are many things we still need in order to take care of Baby Menor, but we still have about 2 1/2 months to get things in order...hopefully! I have been a little nervous lately, having heard stories about people who have had their babies 5 weeks early! 5 weeks??? I have too many things to do before November 6th...I can't have a baby 5 weeks early! Well unfortunately I do not have control over that. All I can do is keep my fingers crossed and hope that baby keeps cookin'.

Well I hope you all like the nursery as much as we do. Kim and Korrie put a great deal of thought and hard work into their efforts...and the finished product is more than we could have ever asked for!

P.S. Thank you to everyone who helped us get our nursery ready...
Mom - for your help with painting the walls...lots of help!
VJ & Chris - for your help getting the crib to the house
Heather - for offering an extra set of hands on "Nursery Day"
Kim - for taking time out of your busy schedule to build shelves
Korrie - for your wonderfully, creative murals
We love you all!

Wednesday, August 02, 2006

Making Room for Baby

With just about three months to go before Baby Menor joins us there is still so much to do! Lately our entire focus has been on getting the nursery in order. This has involved transforming the space from a spare room with a queen size bed, into a kid friendly room with all of the necessities. We quickly learned that this is not an easy task. First step...paint. We chose a gender neutral color that matched the bedding that we bought for our little one. It is a pale yellow and very pretty. For some odd reason the paint did not want to cover the walls very well, so it required three coats! Next...paint the woodwork and trim white. This required a coat of primer and two coats of white enamel. All together this took us about three weekends to complete. Here is what we have accomplished thus far...


That box that you see in the middle of the room is the crib. There is a reason it is still in the box and not put together. I refer to that reason as the "Crib Catastrophe". To make a long story short...the crib was not the color we thought it was when we picked it out in the store. I blame it on store lighting. But since it does not match the other furniture that we already have for the nursery it just won't work. So...we picked out a completely different crib and we are waiting for it to arrive. Once it does the task of trying to return this crib and pick up the new crib will have to be figured out. Getting the first crib to the house was a difficult task so we are not looking forward to having to go through the entire process once again!

In the meantime my living room is the holding area for all things baby. Until the nursery is completed I have had to store the other pieces of furniture, as well as the baby things we have accumulated so far in my very nice, hardly ever used living room. But since we never use this room anyway I guess it is serving a purpose for the time being. I refer to it as the temporary disaster area...

There are a few final steps to complete before Baby Menor will have his or her own peaceful, private oasis. We are going to build some shelves in the closet to make space for the many, many things our baby will need. Luckily I have a few friends who have offered their time and talents to help us with this. Needless to say carpentry does not come natural to me. And finally, my very talented friend Korrie is offering up her artistic skills and is going to paint a mural on some of the walls. I have no doubt that it will look amazing!

Once those things have been completed we will be very close to having our nursery finished! That is when the fun part starts...putting all of the cute little things in their places.
I am going to hold off on showing any more pictures of the nursery until we have a finished product. But to give you an idea of the theme we have decided to go with, here is a picture of the quilt from the bedding we picked out. It is too precious for words!

If only our little one was aware of the sweat, time and hard work that has gone into the preparations for his or her arrival!

And finally for a few quick updates...the baby is continuing to be very active. I occasionally get a few good kicks in the bladder, which is quite interesting. I am also finding it increasing more difficult to do the daily tasks I am used to. Just getting up out of bed seems to be harder than ever before. But I guess I should hold off on the complaining as I know this is only going to get worse! I am in my 26th week and about to finish my second trimester. Man...time is flying by!