Week 35 Belly Picture

Yes, I really needed to put some make up on, but I decided that getting the picture was more important than looking all "dolled up". Plus, I'm 8 months pregnant and therefore tired. :-)

Happy 35/35 to Us! (Week 35)

I know it's an arbitrary milestone, but it's still fun to celebrate, and being the math geek that I am, I'm always up for celebrating weird number things! So, this week we are 35 weeks into the pregnancy, and only 35 days to go till our estimated due date!

And what a crazy week it's been, but we'll get to that later. This weeks Lily's still the size of honeydew melon measuring in at about 18 inches long and about 5.25 lbs. No wonder my hips and bump are starting to hurt and my legs are feeling sore!

So, what's she up to in there?

"At this point, all your baby's major organs should be nearly complete.  Your baby's kidneys are completely developed and her liver is functional and capable of processing waste products."

Just like her Mama, she's more active on same days than others, and she gets the hick ups fairly often. It's so cute and I know it's the hick ups because I get these light bumps that come at rhythmic intervals. Her movement now feels more like movement instead of kicks. Since she's running out of room, she doesn't really have space to kick anymore. So, it feels more like her repositioning. Although sometimes I get a little foot that sticks out below my ribs. It happens so frequently now that Daddy has taken to calling her "little foot". :-) It's adorable. One sure way to get her moving is to drink something ice cold. Pretty much as soon as I take a drink of ice water, she starts dancing. I filled up my cup and sipped on it on my commute home the other day and she danced almost the whole time which is an odd time for her to be moving.

So, how's Mama doing?

Well, it's been an interesting week with both ups and downs. This past Friday I had an appointment with my Psychiatrist. He pretty much took one look at me and starting digging for his prescription pad. I knew I was having a harder and harder time dealing with the anxiety over the last few weeks. Basically, I don't think I ever really recovered from the drama surrounding the holidays. But since I was still getting up and going to work and basically functioning, I figured I was doing good under the circumstance. This is why I see a professional. He said that he was seeing a pretty serious increase in depression symptoms, and that we really needed tackle them before the baby came. So... he wrote me a prescription for Zoloft. I was crushed.

I cried all the way to the car, all the way to work, and for about 10 minutes in the parking lot before I could go in. I felt like a failure. (Probably an indication of how badly the prescription was needed.) I felt like my body was failing me, like I was unable to take care of my baby, that with just 6 weeks to go I had failed. If I could only relax more, if I only listened to my hypnobabies more, if I were only stronger, then I could make it. In my head I know these were all lies, but the feeling was so strong at the same time. It probably took me until Monday to really deal with everything and become comfortable with the idea of going back on the meds. I did decide to wait a few days to start the meds, that way I could get confirmation from my midwife that she was comfortable with me being on them. She came back with an emphatic... TAKE THE DRUGS! She reassured me that given my situation the benefits outweighed the risks and that she's prescribed Zoloft and cared for many women who have been on it during their pregnancies and she's never seen a problem. She also said that it's much better to get on it now and give my body a few weeks to adjust to it then to wait until after the birth and have to deal with any adjustments on top of having a brand new baby. She also said it's better to take it now before I get myself into a hole that I have to dig out of.

Thankfully, I can still breastfeed on this med. She will actually get less of the drug through the breastmilk than she's getting right now through the placenta. So, we are going to give it a shot. I started on it yesterday and feel pretty good at the moment. The last time I went on them I could feel a difference within a few hours and this wasn't much different. I felt noticeably more tired yesterday but not in the overwhelmed, "I just want to go to bed and sleep for days to get away from everything" sort of way. It was more of a, "wow! Now that I'm not so anxious all the time I'm more exhausted then I thought I was" kind of way.

My psychiatrist also highly, highly, highly recommended that I get in with a psychologist so I have an appointment with the therapist in his office in a couple of weeks. It's going to be nice to talk with someone, and it'll be nice to have another team member watching for problems when Lily gets here.

So, that was the drama from Friday. Saturday was our baby shower and it was wonderful! Since I've already written a whole blog about it, I'll only say that it was the bestest baby shower in the history of baby showers and we were so blessed!!

Then Sunday we had our breastfeeding class at the hospital. Jay being the trooper that he is, even went with me! Thankfully, there were lots of men in the class. In fact, I think only one woman was there by herself and that was because this wasn't their first child and Daddy was home with the outside child. Although I knew most of the information, I am glad I went. It was nice to hear about how things should go so that you know if they aren't going well. For instance, she said not to be surprised if the second night neither I nor the baby get any sleep at all. The second night is one of the hardest and it's normal for the baby to not want to be put down at all and for her to want to feed almost constantly. The instructor wasn't the best presenter I've ever seen, but she was funny at the same time. Someone asked about alcohol and breastfeeding. She said that the basic rule is, if you are too inebriated to take care of the baby, you have had too much to breastfeed. Otherwise, just don't spill your red wine on the baby! Hehe.

Our hospital is very, very, very pro-breastfeeding which is super awesome!! They have multiple lactation consultants on staff and we will see one every day that we are in the hospital whether we are having problems or not. They also encourage the "breast crawl" with newborns as a routine practice. If you've never heard of this, it's an amazing phenomena. Basically, if the baby is placed directly on the Mama's tummy or chest immediately after birth she will crawl her way to the breast and latch on without much, if any, help. I've heard about it on my natural childbirth forums, but thought it was considered a pretty crunchy, hippy thing by anyone outside of those circles. I really shouldn't be surprised though, given how forward thinking our hospital is about their infant care practices.

Monday we got the night off, but Tuesday we had a Meet 'n Greet at the pediatricians office. Basically, it's a class of sorts for new expectant parents and allows us to meet some of the staff, hear a bunch of information, and get some questions answered without it taking up their appointment time to do individual consultations with potential parents. We chose this pediatrician's office because it was the office I grew up going too and they have an office that is really convenient to our house. The class was a great way to get our questions answered. They have some great policies about same day sick appointments and there is always someone on call to take phone calls. They said that when in doubt always call them first. They maybe able to help us over the phone, or can tell us where we should go (their office, an urgent care, or the ER).

One of the pediatricians I saw when I was young even led the class, but I didn't get to talk with her afterwards. My mom tells the funniest story about this doctor though. I started seeing her when I stopped wanting to see the male doctor I'd seen since birth. Well one day she was telling us about her kids and how she had a nanny and my mom took advantage of the opportunity to have a teachable moment. When we got out to the car she made a big deal about how this doctor was able to be a doctor and still have children and how she had a nanny who took care of her kids so that she could still take care of her patients, etc, etc, etc. I responded with, "That's really cool! I think that's what I want to do when I get big!" Getting excited my mom said, "Really, honey. What's that?" And I replied with, "I want to be a... nanny!" Hehehehehehehehe! Point totally missed! Oh well. My mom gave it her best shot.

The pediatricians office also has lactation consultants on their staff which is awesome as well. I really think this is going to be a good fit for us, which is good because I know I'm going to need a little hand holding for the first few months/years. One thing I wanted to ask in private but didn't get a chance to was about the history of mental illness that runs on both sides of our families. With the bi-polar coming down my side and the schizophrenia that comes down Jay's I know we need someone who can help us watch out for signs that Lily is suffering. I don't want her to go years and years trying to figure out what is wrong with her. I want to make sure that we have help for her in the event that she needs it. But I'm sure I'll be able to discuss that in one of our first newborn appointments.

That was certainly not the end of the excitement. Wednesday was my midwife appointment which I'll be having on a weekly basis from here on out. And then last night (Thursday) was the Carseat Safety class at the hospital. But since these are technically a part of next week, I'll leave them for next weeks update.

I hope everyone has a great weekend! I'm hoping to get lots of rest and get lots done around the house. I'm really anxious to get all the wonderful things we got at the baby shower washed and put away in Lily's nursery. I can't believe how close we are getting! Happy Friday everyone!

 

The Bestest Baby Shower Ever

This weekend, some friends of mine threw me the best baby shower in the history of baby showers! I'm so lucky to have so many strong women in my life to shower me with love and encouragement and of course cute wittle baby things. :-)

The night before, my girlfriend Shannon who was in charge of the decorations came over to the house and set everything up. That was sooo nice because it made Saturday run very smoothly and gave me lots of time to rest in the morning.

The colors were purple and green and she chose to use Calla Lilys in different shades all over my house! Calla's are one of my favorite flowers... just so elegant, and how could you not have Lilys for our little Lily!

This picture of the gifts table was the "before" picture. This was taken after the hostesses got there but before the guests started arriving. You should have seen it after everyone arrived! There was no room to put anything! It was so wonderful! Our friends and family were so generous!

After something came up last minute with my brother (who was supposed to be our photographer for the afternoon), Jay graciously offered to stick around so that the event could be captured on film. I'm sooo glad he did! He was a real trooper this past weekend, what with having to stay though the estrogen-fest that was the baby shower and then our breastfeeding class at the hospital on Sunday. He really deserved to be taken out to dinner, which I did. :-)

My friend, Beth, took care of the food and let me tell you it was yum, yum, yummy! Chicken salad and rolls, potato salad, fruit salad, artichoke dip, cheese and crackers! It was quite the spread!

My friend, Teresa, who spearheaded the whole thing also took care of the cake and it was perfect with the little owls just like in Lily's room!

And let me tell you... it was yummy too!

After we all ate and chatted, and introductions had been made, it was time to open presents.

Everyone was so generous and we were blessed with so many useful things! From a bottle brush and binkies, to diapers and wipes, to a super soft blanket personalized with Lily's name on it, to a new purse for me, we were just overwhelmed by the kindness of our friends and family. It is really overwhelming when you look at all the things (big and small) that are needed when you bring home your first little one. Now I just have to wash everything and get it put away in her room. Thankfully, we have very little on the agenda for this weekend, so I think we'll be doing a lot of organizing and putting away.

After the present opening, we had some time to share in the collective wisdom of the women who were there. I had run across some alternative shower ideas on my natural childbirth online forum and had passed on the information to the hostesses as possible ideas. Since Teresa was in charge of the "games" portion of the shower, she ran with the ideas and it turned out to be so amazing!

The first activity we did was to make a Labor Bracelet for me. We passed around a bowl of beads and each person shared a blessing/hope/wish for my labor and strung on a bead. The wisdom that emerged was priceless! I now have something I can take into labor and delivery with me to focus on. And when the task gets challenging I can remind myself of all the women who are behind me cheering me onto the finish line!

Then we went around again. Each woman was given a candle to light. As she did this she introduced herself and her ancestry (i.e. My name is Bonnie. I am the daughter of Kathy. Granddaughter of Fanny Louise and Patsy. Mother-to-be of Lily). It was amazing how each woman was a mother... whether of biological human children, or animals, or hundreds of school chidren of the course of a career as a school teacher. (I believe that mothering is something that everyone woman does regardless of whether she has every given birth or raised a human.) Each women then offered a blessing/wish/hope/advice in my new role as a mother. These wise women spoke about everything from patience in the midst of chaos to understanding that raising an strong, independent minded girl will be a challenge because she will first practice that independence at home. And then my childhood BFF gave the final blow and I was in tears! She wished for Lily a childhood friend who would be there for Lily throughout her life like I have been there for her. Give a pregnant women a break, will ya!! Hehe! It was so touching! I cried, she cried, everyone cried! I don't think I'll ever forget it!

It was truly one of the most amazing things I've ever experienced in my life! After we blew out our candles I asked everyone to take the candles home and keep them close. We passed around a sign up sheet of shorts and anyone who wanted to participate put down their name, email address, and/or phone number. When I know I'm in true labor and that we will be having a baby very soon, I'll text my mom. She will then in turn email and text everyone on the list and let them know to light their candle and say a prayer/make a wish/send out thoughts for a safe, effective, calm, and hopefully easy labor! It will be so wonderful knowing that all those women are sending me their thoughts and prayers.

I truly could not have asked for a more wonderful, meaningful baby shower! Teresa, Beth, and Shannon did an unfathomably great job and the generosity in both word and deed of our friends and family was amazing! For a little girl who grew up with so few female friends, I am truly blessed to be surrounded by so many amazing women (and even more who weren't able to make it)! I am so glad that Lily will have such a wonderful group of women to grow up a part of! Thank you all for everything!!

34 Week Belly Pic and a Comparison Just for Fun

Here's this week's belly pic! And here just 6 weeks from our estimated due date, I think we've finally found the best place around the house/time of day to take these weekly pics. Oh well!

And for a little Tuesday morning fun, here is the 24 week picture where I just happen to be wearing the same shirt. Look at that difference!

Welcome to Week 34

That's right folks... it's Week 34 meaning that we only have 6 to go till our estimated due date! It's been a crazy week and it's only going to get crazier in the next few. This week Lily is approximately 4.75 lbs (or almost the weight of a 5lb bag of sugar) and about 18 inches long.

What else is she up to in there?

"The waxy protective coating, vernix, is becoming much thicker this week as the lanugo continues to shed and may be almost completely gone by now.  Inside your baby, the lungs are continuing to mature in preparation for breathing in the outside world."

Just like every week, I can tell she is getting bigger in there. I was even able to feel what I suspect was a leg yesterday. Sometimes she tries to stretch out and sticks a foot right out. I have to massage it to get her to move it back in so that it can stop poking me. It's adorable and a pain at the same time. The weirdest feeling though is when she moves her whole body and it feels like your insides have shifted. I mean imagine how weird it would feel if your liver or stomach just up and shifted 3 inches to the right. It would freak you out! This all makes sense though after reading on one of my other weekly updates that she is now resting against the uterus and no longer floating in there.

She obviously doesn't like Jay's ringtone on his phone. Monday when the weather was getting so bad his phone rang a couple of times early in the morning to let him know that he would/wouldn't need to go in to work. Well, a few second after it would ring all loud and obnoxious, she would shake or do a whole body roll. It was so cute!

So, how's Mama doing?

I've had my ups and downs this week, but I'm feeling better. I really have to focus on getting enough rest, not just sleep but rest. It's really hard for me to do especially now that the nesting seems to have set in. I don't know if it's really nesting or just that my baby shower is being hosted at my house this Saturday but I find myself tinkering around the house straightening up things, re-organizing things, and basically just trying to keep the house looking fairly presentable.

But on a bigger front, I got the nursery started this weekend!! I have no idea how or why it happens but it seems that on any given work day when my alarm goes off at 6:00 am I feel like death warmed over and wish I could sleep for another 24 hours or so, but on the weekends my body will wake me up at 6:30-ish and I won't be able to get back to sleep. So both Saturday and Sunday I was up around 7am working on the nursery decor. Saturday I was able to get the bedskirt done for the crib. I'm actually pretty excited about the way it came out.

I was originally planning to make the skirt two-tiered so that it would go all the way to the floor in the highest position (like it is right now) but when we lowered it when she's older it wouldn't have to be rehemmed. But when I put the first tier on, I realized that it hit right at the lower bar and that I actually really liked it like that and no bottom tier was necessary. So, the crib skirt is done and no additional work will need to be done when we lower it to the bottom setting when she gets big enough to pull herself up.

Then on Sunday, I worked on the window valence. I had an idea in my head of how I wanted it to look, but like the cribskirt, wasn't going by any specific pattern other than just measuring the window and another valence I have to see what the dimensions were. It came out pretty well, but of course I have to nitpick everything. Unfortunately when you don't cut exactly straight but then try to match edges and then don't sew excessively straight then the thing hangs a little caddywampus. Oh well. Jay says I'm just being weird. At least it's up and everything coordinates.

I have purchased a pattern for an adorable owl shaped pillow for the chair we are putting in there, but when I started looking at it, it looked like I needed a little more coordinating fabric so I held off on that until I could figure that out. I'm also looking to make a mobile for the crib. My plan right now is to purchase an inexpensive mobile from a consignment store or Walmart and then replace the dangly things with some owls I'll make out of coordinating fabric. That way it still has the arm and the wind up mechanism that will make it spin on its own, but will coordinate perfectly with the decor.

On Sunday, Jay also helped me arrange the room in the way that I think I want it. When you walk into the room, you see the changing table caddy-cornered in the far right corner. This is a changing table that was left at our house by the previous owner. I've been using in my crafting room for storage and as a "drink cart" for parties, but is now being used for its original purpose. Jay graciously put a new coat of white paint on it and it's don't look half bad. :-)

To the left of that in the middle of that wall is a side table that has been floating around our house. Jay will probably paint it white in the next few weeks, but once I get the chair up there, I might decide I want to keep it the dark color. The chair we are using is an Ikea bouncy chair and ottoman and the base is black. The dark table may help make it blend in with the white changing table and crib. The table will give me somewhere to put a drink or my cell phone on while I'm nursing or rocking Lily. On this table I put my old alarm clock which has a built in iPod dock. I thought it would be prefect to be able to pop in my iPod while I'm nursing or when we put her down for a nap. The face on it is also really bright which is why we switched it out for a new one in our bedroom, but will work as a night light in the nursery and be perfect!

Over the table and centered on that far wall is the beautiful owl painting our friend Shannon did for us.

To the left of the table will be the Ikea chair that I'll bring up stairs in the next little bit. I figured we will need all the seating we can get for the baby shower on Saturday but after that it's fair game to bring it up. Right now the swing is in that corner but that will be brought down and exchanged for the chair. That will give us a chair in her room and a place for her to nap downstairs.

So that's the current tour of her nursery in very badly lit pictures. I want to hang a string of bunting flags using all the coordinating fabrics I've chosen on the wall behind the crib. I'm even thinking of appliqueing her name or a phrase (maybe: Grow wise little owl) onto the flags. I'm also thinking of hanging some paper lanterns from the ceiling over the changing table and chair. I saw a picture on a craft site where they had taken the round paper lanterns and glued big googly eyes and wings onto them to make them look like owls. It was sooo adorable! But now I'm thinking that I'll have to see how they do with the ceiling fan. Don't want dangling lanterns blowing in the wind from the fan.

Oh! And I just about forgot! We bought our co-sleeper bassinet and car seat on Saturday too! Whew! No wonder I was tired! We had a very busy weekend!

Since way before we ever got pregnant, I've known that I wanted to get a co-sleeper crib. I admit, I'm an Attachment Parenting kind of mom, and believe in the positive effects of co-sleeping. (Although, I'm also flexible and know that what works in books and what works for others, may or may not work for our family and our baby.) I do however worry about rolling over on her (although that is very, very rare! and usually happens in cases where alcohol or drugs, including sleeping pills, are involved). I'm also a huge advocate for breastfeeding and am very committed to breastfeeding her as long as possible. So this co-sleeper bassinet works perfectly! It's basically a three sided bassinet that attaches to our mattress and keeps it right up next to us. That way when I feed her in the middle of the night all I have to do is bring her in bed with me and then place her back without even getting out of bed. Assuming that is that she doesn't need to be changed at that moment.  Here's an example of one of these contraptions in use, since ours isn't set up yet to take any pictures.

source

I've heard great things from mothers who have used them for their children and am really looking forward to getting it set up in our room. So, even though I've spent all this time worrying about and working on her nursery, she probably won't even use it for the first few months of her life. Oops. Oh well! When she does start sleeping in her crib, it'll be ready for her. Basically she'll stay in the co-sleeper until she starts being mobile (i.e. pulling herself up, rolling over, etc.) Since these aren't used for very long, it's a great piece of gear to get used (in my opinion). A lot of people sell theirs after their babies get too big for them and they are usually in great shape. We were able to find one on Criagslist for about 1/3 of the price of new and the sellers threw in the leg extensions (which cost an additional $20) and three sheets (which run about $15 each) so I considered it a great deal!

After that purchase was made, we headed to Buy Buy Baby to pick up our car seat. We'd been the week before and looked at the different options and pretty much decided which model we wanted. We even had the opportunity to have a sells associate take it out to our car and I'm glad we did that last weekend seeing that they were down about three employees this weekend and wouldn't have had the manpower. We ended up buying the Britax Boulevard 70cs convertible car seat and are really happy with the purchase. Yes, we know most people go with an infant seat first. Yes, we know people think we are crazy for skipping it and going straight to the convertible seat. Yes, we know Britax makes some of the most expensive car seats on the market. But TRUST ME... both Jay and I have been researching this purchase for months and months and months! We really think this will be the best decision for our family and if we change our minds, Walmart and Target have simple infant car seats for $50-$80 and we can easily run out and get one. I could list all the reasons why we decided to skip the infant seat, but you can never defend the reasons why you made a decision without implying judgement on the decisions of others so since car seats are such a high priority safety issue, I would never want people to think I was judging their choices.

When I told my mom, though that we were going with this seat and that it had a weight limit of up to 70 lbs, she laughed and said that given the genes in my family, Lily might be in that seat until she's driving herself. Hehe. It is true. My mom didn't hit 100 lbs until she was pregnant with me and she was 28.

Oh, and Sunday I finally found something to wear to my baby shower! Yay! After being unable to find something in my closet regardless of how creative I got, I went to Destination Maternity and found this awesome sweater/tunic that I can pair with some leggings and ballet flats. The best part is though that I'll be able to wear the sweater to work after the shower so the $25 I spent was well worth it.

It doesn't look like much but in the picture but it looks cute on me. And it doesn't make me look like a BARN! So many of the clothes poof out over the belly and then stay out making you look, not so much like you're pregnant and more like you ate your entire family! So, I'm glad to find something that shows off the bump but still makes me feel attractive.

So, how's Daddy doing?

Well, other than almost throwing up over dropping almost $300 on a car seat, he's doing pretty good. Hehe! He's getting more and more excited for her to be here so he can hold her and he's loving being able to feel her move around in my belly. I really can't wait to see him become the father he's always been destined to be.

Well, I think that's about it. This week coming up is going to be a crazy one. We have our baby shower on Saturday, a breastfeeding class at the hospital on Sunday, a Meet 'n Greet at the pediatricians office on Tuesday evening, my midwife appointment on Wednesday afternoon, and our car seat safety class on Thursday evening. Whew! I'm exhausted just thinking about it!! We'll just have to take it one day at a time and make sure I get as much rest as possible. And if nothing else, I'll completely crash and sleep all of next weekend! Can't wait to share pictures of the shower with everyone one next week! Have a great weekend!

Week 33 Belly Pic (finally!)

Well, it's not the best picture of me ever taken, but I was determined to get a picture this weekend. We got lots of stuff done this weekend, so there will be lots to show and tell in this week's post. Stay tuned! Until then, I give you Lily at 33 weeks!

The Honeydew List is Getting Longer and Longer... (Week 33)

Hello everyone, and welcome to this weeks installment of OH.MY.GOSH.I'M.FREAKING.OUT!! How can we possibly be only 7 weeks from our estimated due date?!?! How did this happen?? I swear, just yesterday I was complaining to my BFF that August was going by so slowly and I thought I'd be in the first trimester forEVER! Now... it's the first week of January and we will possibly be having a baby NEXT MONTH (or the very beginning of the next at the latest). Deep, slow, calming breaths! And that reminds me that I need to call my psychologist and try to get in for an appointment this month. :-)

So, this week Lily is continuing to put on lots of weight. She's approximately 17 inches in length or the size of a pineapple and weighs about 4.25 lbs. We have about 48 days till our estimated due date and are only a couple of weeks away from our next "milestone" of 35/35 where we will be 35 weeks into the pregnancy with only 35 days to go.

What else is she up to in there?

"Over the next four weeks your baby will put on another half pound per week.  This rapid weight gain will slow by next month.  The skeleton is also hardening although the bones in her skull will not fuse together completely, but will overlap allowing for continued growth all the way up until early adulthood."

Her movements continue to get stronger and stronger and I can tell she is rapidly running out of room in there. I'm pretty sure she's head down, which is great, because I feel most of the movement near the lower part of my right ribcage. Sometimes I have to remind her that those are made of bone and aren't going anywhere no matter how hard she pushes on them. I'm slowly getting use to feeling her move. I was really caught off guard by how freaky-weird it felt at first. It was actually a little unsettling and at some points made me feel sea sick (and still does every once in a while). But now I seem to be adjusting and enjoying it more.

How's mama doing?

The last few weeks have been challenging honestly. Too much holiday, family drama, too much fun and excitement being had by all, not enough sleep... all accumulating in some massive breakdowns over the past couple of days. But I got a really good nights rest last night and I think I'm back in the game this morning.

This week has been full of checking stuff off the list. I went Friday of last week to Mary Jo's fabric store in Gastonia to get the fabric that has inspired the whole nursery design. Well... they were out of it and didn't know when/if they would be getting any more in. :-( One major lesson I've learned throughout this whole holiday season is that procrastination really is as bad as I've always feared! I had a couple of issues getting the holiday presents I wanted for people because stores were sold out of stuff by the time I would go looking a couple of weekends before Christmas. Now I remember why I try to have my shopping done by Thanksgiving or very soon there after. Oh well! And then to find that there was no more of the fabric I wanted was frustrating. Thankfully, while searching for ideas online I had determined that I could order it online from a couple of places if disaster struck and Mary Jo's was out of it. Thank goodness I did that! Otherwise I'd have been devastated! I looked at a couple of the fabrics that had been runners up the day I went shopping (months ago), but decided to just stick with my first choice even if it meant having to put off the project.

Monday morning, I got online and found an Etsy seller who had 4 yards of the owl fabric. I only "needed" 2 1/4 yards but since getting more would entail a lot more than a quick run to the fabric store, I decided to order a couple extra yards for future projects. Tiffany at luckykaerufabric was even able to get it in the mail that same day. So Wednesday after work it was sitting in our mail box just begging to be opened. It looked just as good as it had the last time I'd seen it in person months ago. I put it through the wash so that I could get started on projects this weekend!

That wasn't the only package we got this week though. After months of getting emails from those discount websites like Groupon and Zulily and wondering who actually orders this stuff... the "who" became me. One day one of the sites had a 50% off gift card for Bekaboo Baby which sells beautiful Moby style wrap carriers. I couldn't resist... so I ordered one and it was delivered on Monday. Granted I didn't save a whole lot of money over the Moby I had on our baby registry, but... it's from a mama-owned-small-business and the fabric choices were much more beautiful. I got a gorgeous dark green one with cream embroidered flowers and I can't wait to use it. I have already pretty much gotten the hang of the basic hold and my/Lily's new stuffed owl (who's name is Hoot), seems to find it very comfortable. Hehe. I'd have put Sammy in it but I knew he would freak and and most likely bite my face off. Not really high on my list of things I'd like to happen with 7 weeks left in this pregnancy.

Then on Tuesday we received a shopping cart/high chair cover that was featured on another one of those discount sites. Again, I didn't end up saving a lot of money over the one we had picked out on our registry, but we ended up with a much nicer one in a prettier print. I need to take pictures of both and I promise I'll do that very soon. Hopefully this weekend, and while I'm at it, hopefully I'll actually get a bump pic this weekend too. Like I said earlier, the holidays just about did me in physically and emotionally.

So, tonight I'm going down to Mary Jo's fabric store again to pick up some coordinating fabric to match our googly eyed owls. Then this weekend, I'm going to tackle the crib skirt and valence I have designed in my head. Hopefully, I can have both done by next Saturday, the 15th, which is the day of my baby shower. I'm so excited about that! Just have to figure out what I'm wearing. :-( I've gotten too big for pretty much everything I have, even the maternity clothes. So, it's either buy something new (that I'll wear for less than 7 weeks) or get creative with what I have. I'm going to start with the creative part and see where we end up. Hopefully, there is something in the back of my closet that is extra long or empire waisted or stretchy enough to fit over this enormous little girl floating around in side my belly. If not... then we might be making an emergency trip to Destination Maternity.

Additionally, tomorrow we are going to look at a co-sleeper bassinet that is being sold on Craigslist. This is one of the baby gear items I knew I wanted/needed since well before getting pregnant. Thankfully, since they are only used for the first few months, a lot of people sell theirs on Criagslist for a good savings. I've been eyeing them for months but hadn't pulled the trigger until yesterday. I found one that although priced a little higher than I wanted to spend, includes a couple of accessories that we would certainly have had to buy, making it a great price over all. So, if everything works out, we will soon be the proud owners of a co-sleeper bassinet for Lily to sleep in when she comes home.

Last weekend, we decided... (well, I cried and Jay gave in) to go to Buy Buy Baby and look at carseats. This has been the thorn-in-my-side baby gear item from the beginning. When you're dealing with such a safety item it's hard to see straight, especially with so many options, price ranges, and decisions. We have finally decided to go with one of the more expensive ones on the market. I know you surprised, but since we have bargain shopped and bought so many other things used, we figured that we could splurge here. And unlike the bassinet, the wrap or many of the other gear items, this carseat will hopefully be the only car seat she will ever need. We haven't made the final purchase yet because I wanted to do a little price shopping first but it looks like we can get it in town with one of Buy Buy Baby's coupons for the same price we can get it online at Amazon. So, hopefully we'll be pulling the trigger on that huge purchase soon. I know we still have 7 weeks, but then again we only have SEVEN WEEKS! And since she's considered full term at 37 weeks, she could technically be here in as little as 4 weeks! So, it's time to stop researching and time to start buying!!!

How's daddy doing?

Well, with each purchase that was delivered to our house (sometimes without him knowing they were coming) he's been seeing nothing but dollar signs lately. But that's ok. We are now on the other side of the holidays and really ready to sit down, tighten our belts and get ready for this baby to come. So, other than some minor financial freakouts he's doing very well. He's really been good about doing stuff around the house since I consider myself doing good to waddle my butt from the car to the couch in the evenings. He's so excited for Lily to get here so that he can hold her too and not just me, although he loves to cuddle with both of us and she's been showing off her dance moves quite a bit lately. It's always fun to put your hands on the belly and try and figure out what that is that's poking you... leg, foot, arm, elbow??

So, I think that's about it for this week folks. Sorry there haven't been many pictures for a while. I promise I'm going to get better at that very soon. I hope everyone has a safe and relaxing weekend! After all the holiday craziness I'm sure I'm not the only one who needs it! See you next week!