showered with love

2012.07.07

And this baby was!

When we were back visiting my family in Seattle (Snohomish), my mom and sister so generously offered to host a baby shower for baby T. They both put a TON of work into cooking, baking, crafting, planning, and setting up this shower. They were up late on Friday night cooking and baking, and back up before the sun on Saturday to finish up. They were so dedicated that my sister ran out at the last minute to pick something up, and STILL made it back in time to change and be a wonderful host.

The guests included a lot a family and friends, including my grandmother who came over from Spokane to celebrate her first great-grand daughter, and one of my best girlfriends from college who drove up from Portland. This is NO way discredits others who were there, but shows how far people came to celebrate this little baby who is on her way! Everyone that was there had cleared their calendar for this time to come and celebrate.

My sister and mom had amazing decorations and food, including a super cute wreath made of diapers and amazing pretzels with a hershey’s hug melted into it and a pink m&m on top. (I dream about those little chocolaty and salty morsels of deliciousness!)

 

homemade raspberry lemonade cupcakes (I LOVE me some cupcakes!)

amazeballs chocolatey pretzels and handmade flowers

how cute is this?! A clothes line with wsu cougar gear, an “I love my auntie bib” (and she does!), and a so-cute-you-could-vom baby bathing suit! All attached with pink baby clothes pins!

the awesome wreath made with diapers and decorated with baby toes, travel size toiletries, and pacifiers. my sister loves her arts and crafts!

Just some of the fabulous guests including my great aunt who used to pick me up from school when I was sick (or just pretending to be), 2 of my sister’s closest friends that I adore, my cousin who is already successfully raising 4 sweet babies of her own (her mom somehow managed to not get photographed in my batch!), my mom’s old co-worker who has ALWAYS been in my sister’s and my lives, some of our fun Filipino cousins who I always call when I am in town and an old family friend whose dad was in the same fraternity with my dad; I have known her since she was just a baby herself!

And some MORE of the awesome guests including 2 of my best girlfriends from college, my sister’s back, and some of other Filipino cousins  including the oldest who lives near us and I refer to as my child, even though I would have been 10 when I had her if she was really mine. (Their mom was there too, but she somehow evaded the pictures! We love you B!) And check out the pile of loot for Baby T! She is SO spoiled already!

My sister, myself, and our family friend (we don’t see you enough S!)

2 of my amazing college girlfriends whom I lovingly refer to as my sisters that I got to choose :) They are pretty great, and I consider them as important as my own flesh and blood sister who is A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.

 My cousin (my child), super-fantabulous husband, and myself.

And, just a few of the adorbs things that people so graciously gave to help baby T out of her arrival :)

cougar mania! baby T will be sporting this on cu/wsu game days if I have anything to say about it!

super cute little bathing suit for baby T's first trip to the beach!

  

her life is DEFINITELY sweet already!

bibs! 

clothes!

how amazing are these?! handmade burp clothes from my sisters's close friend! cotton on one side with softness on the other. and a notch to fit around mom or dad's neck! these were definitely made with love!

hand-knit headband and leg-warmers! these were made by my aunt's fiance's daughter. I have never even met her, and these adorbs litlte accessories someone how made their way to baby T. 

books! we wanted to make sure that baby T is being read to as much as possible so these are extremely welcome additions to her little library :)

blankets and towels to keep baby T clean and warm. She is gracing us with her presence just before winter hits and denver becomes reminiscent of the arctic tundra. 

For some SAD SAD reason, I didn’t get ANY photos of my mom. She is truly too good for words, and I regret not getting a photo with her and with my sister. My mom and sister are the best and I am SO grateful for them! The shower was perfect, and more than I could have imagined. Thanks to my mom and sister for hosting and for all of my family and friends for celebrating! And also, thanks to my dad for marrying my mom, and my husband C$ for being you. And thanks also for these amazing photos of what they were doing while the women-folk were at the baby shower :)

considered by some to be the best use of a bob thus far. 

26 weeks

2012.07.02


Last week of the second trimester! Next week, we start the 3rd trimester (and the last few months of freak-out moments.)


In addition to that, we also went back to Seattle to visit my fam and my sister and mom threw a baby shower! But I will do that in a separate post, just because it was THAT amazeballs and adorbs. :)

My regular paparazzi was out of town on a business trip, so these are my professional self-portraits on my way to my day job. 

week 26 happen'ings:

- the baby is about 13 inches long and weighs about 2 lbs. (or the length of a 13inch boot according to the man's description.)

- the nerves in the baby's ears are developing allowing her to respond to what she is hearing. 

- the baby's eyes are starting to open and she may react to loud noises or bright lights near my belly. 

We are heading into the home stretch now and need to get cracking on prepping! C$ is knee-deep in getting the nursery ready so we can get some furniture and finish the guest room so the fam has a place to sleep when they come to visit the baby (because we all know that they are no longer coming to visit me!) Stay tuned!

Belly Pirates

2012.06.28

I keep getting asked by various family and friends if random people have started walking up to me without invitation, and decided that it was totally and completely acceptable to rub MY belly. Well, up until today, I would answered “NO!” with a horrified look on my face. But following my run in at work, I can now say yes, although not without a big of laughter in my voice.

People that I work with on a daily basis know that  YES, I AM pregnant, and NO, I have NOT been indulging in too many evenings of copious amounts of the rocky mountain water otherwise known as Coors Light, and pizza from Beau Jos. I frequently get questions of:

-          “how are you feeling?”

-          “how is the pregnancy going?”

-          “how far along are you?”

The usual for the anomaly of a pregnant girl in an office world of young people that either aren’t 1. married or 2. looking to have kiddos anytime in the near future.

Today, I was standing in the kitchen at work having “water cooler talk” if you will, with a friend. Another person walked in the room, and immediately walked up to me, put her hands on my belly and said “I was wondering if I saw a belly bump beginning to form under there!” It took everything in my power not to bust out laughing. This person has a habit of calling other people out for less than professional behavior and now she was putting her hands on MY belly. Talk about ironic. But needless, to say, I kept my cool and answered with “Yep. She is growing away in there.”

So yes, I can now say I have been accosted by the Belly Bandits. Almost like those pirates… Maybe I will start calling then Belly Pirates.

the dreaded "shopping" trip

2012.06.23


24 weeks. I can no longer hide the bump. It is "loud and proud". Being "loud and proud", it also demands a new wardrobe, much to my dismay. (Sounds a bit like an oxymoron doesn't it? ME saying that I am dismayed by a new wardrobe???? Shocks me each time too.) So, my supportive husband accompanied me down to Destination Maternity to find a few things that will get me through the next few months while not breaking the bank and allowing me to still feel a "*little bit* like my normal self. (Although, I am about to through that feeling out the window too.)


But to back track, this was not my first shopping trip. I have attempted to go a few times, but have been unsuccessful for a variety of reasons.
     - I like to shop on my own. I know what I like and I know what looks good on me. So when the sales woman keeps bringing things to my room after I have already told her that I am fine and don't need any assistance, I had to talk myself off the ledge. Either I pull myself together, or I let myself have a full on tear-filled meltdown and immediately drive myself home for a time-out.
     - I don't like the way that many things look. Frankly, I am not such a fan of the super-tight-directly-under-my-growing-chest-and-billow-out-from-under-it look. Unfortunately, that tends to be one of the few looks that actually fits preggers women like myself.
     - I really struggle spending a fortune on clothes that I have a limited time to wear.
     - The selection sucks. Let's be honest. I am used to having an unlimited number of stores and websites to choose from and being pregnant, the selection goes from TTTHHHIIISSS to this.


Mostly, I just don't like the way that I look and feel in maternity clothes. I am used to looking and feeling a certain way, and when I look in the mirror at the cute on the hanger maternity dress, I just don't like what I see. Don't worry, I know how ridiculous that I am being, but still, it is hard. We live in a society where women are held to a certain standard, and I have tried hard to be happy with myself and remain healthy. So having to put this little girl before myself, to ensure that she is healthy, has been a bit of a struggle. But rest assured, she IS healthy and I am moving on with my life. I have the rest of my life to look how I want to look. These are 10 months that I am going to sacrifice for this little girl.


Anyway, the shopping trip was a success and in addition to not spending a fortune, I was able to pick up a few things that can be mixed and matched, as well as worn to work, on the weekends, and other events as they come up over the next few months. And I fell good in the clothes that I got. I don't feel great, but we are working on baby steps. At least I am presentable in public and at work. And my bump is out "on display, on display, on display. Each and everyday, everyday, everyday." :)

24 weeks

2012.06.18

Baby bump went to the pool today! Bikini and all, since I refuse to purchase a maternity swimsuit. Clearly, I am pregnant. A skirted bottom or tank top are not going to hide this obvious fact.

Also, we visited with Dr Long and started talking about glucose tests. Next time we go in, I have to drink what I am imagining to be a small water bottle of syrup-y looking orange disgustingness that I will ingest exactly 1 hour before I meet with the Dr. Sounds REAL appealing. Then they will take my blood for the umpteenth time and find out how it is all going. So for now, we just hope for good things. 

24 weeks and "was a hoppin'en hawt stuff":

- baby's little ears can hear very loud sounds, from a yapping dog to a jackhammer. 

- baby's beautiful little face is almost fully developed, complete with eyelashes and eyebrows. 

- and on the home front? baby continues to tap dance her way through my day (and night.)

23 weeks and planning....

2012.06.13

This week we had another "holy cow... this is REAL" moment. We toured the hospital!

For most people, they probably think that we are crazy and a little TOO type A personality, BUT, believe it or not, we had a good reason. One of the things that is really important to me, is that a Chaplin be on duty in the hospital during labor and delivery. So this is a critical factor when making the decision.

With my Doctor, she is associated with one, and only one, hospital, North Suburban in Thornton. However, with my strong desire for a Chaplin, I started to explore some of the other options. I noticed that out Doctor is also associated with a second office that has direct ties to Good Samaritan in Lafayette. Good Samaritan you a say? Why, doesn't THAT sound like a nice, religious hospital??

When we asked our Doctor about it, she told us that she only delivers at North Suburban, and if we wanted to deliver at Good Samaritan, that we would need to switch offices by 32 weeks so that we could begin appointments and get to know our new Doctor. C and I both REALLY like Dr. Long and wanted to see if moving to Good Samaritan was the right move. So with that, we found ourselves touring North Suburban to determine if we needed to keep looking.

We were both a little skeptical at first. The outside of the building is a little older, and looks like it might be more run down. But inside, we were pleasantly surprised. The entire labor and delivery floor had recently been renovated and was extremely clean and calm. There were multiple birthing rooms that were spacious and looked out west, over the Mountains. The recovery rooms were just as nice, looking east, but with plenty of space. They were able to answer all of our questions and all of the other questions posed by the other people on the tour with us. And because we are nerds, we were also really impressed with the hospital also having recently been accredited by The Joint Commission. (Like I said, we are aware that we are nerds.)

Anyway, long story short, you will find us at North Suburban in October welcoming this little lady into the world!

Now, only to what you all really logged on to see: my ever growing belly.

It was a nice day on this day, that surprisingly didn't have us hiding in the air conditioned house. (I don't know how I survived without a/c... Apparently growing up in Seattle made me tough! But then living in Phoenix made me weak. Or the fact that Seattle rarely got warm enough to NEED a/c.... whatevs. I digress) So yea, enjoy the background. Of the shed.

Baby says "YO!"

And what is going on you may wonder?

- They say that the baby is about the length that it will be for a while. But, it is beginning to "chub" up. 

- Baby is beginning to get a little more active, kicking, wiggling, and dancing a little more. (More on that later.)

- me? Just waiting for the baby to get here! While we can't wait, we are also terrified of what will happen when she arrives!

babies need and "need" stuff

So, we tackled registering with no injured soldiers. And now... it is on to more fun and better stuff!

We have been told that the BOB is THE stroller to have. "Worth every penny" is how my friends and people who we don't even know have described this stroller. So clearly, we need to have it for our bundle of baby girl joy. And it helps that even the men that we have talked to also talk this stroller up. And it helps even MORE that REI was having a sweet sale with all BOB strollers on sale. I was definitely on the "well, let's wait and see until it gets closer to the baby being here" while C was on the "let's get it now while it is on sale" train. (I don't know why I was hesitant.... I freak out on a regular basis that we are NOT going to be ready for this baby. Really. Ask C$. Poor guys has dealt with more than his fair share of wife melt downs because she is freaking out about things that we either have total control over, or is completely out of our hands.) In this case, C won this battle, and it was a good battle to win. 

The BOB is now comfortably resting in the basement waiting for it's newest inhabitant to take over. Having been first road tested (and more importantly, off-road tested) by C$ first. 

Isn't he handsome with the sweet new BOB?? :)

Also, we have to plan for this baby's future. She needs goals to aim for, and clearly, as type A overachievers that we are, we are already setting her goals for her. (Duh. Must.have.all.control.) So, when she isn't on the tennis court winning the US Open, or dancing back-up on the Britney Spears come-back tour (times 3), she will be practicing her golf swing with her dad. Thank GOD C$ was able to find a set of clubs that looks like it will eventually fit her p.e.r.f.e.c.t.l.y.

Like I said, babies need and "need" stuff. 

babies r us. or babies r cray-cray...

Just kidding :) kind of.... Babies R Us can be cray-cray...

But really, we did actually go to Babies R Us and register. And surprisingly, it wasn't too painful. I had done some EXTENSIVE research that involved quizzing all of my recently-made-mommy friends and at their suggestion, also read up from this great book called "Baby Bargains". Basically, it give you a run down of the essentials and how the market and average mom rates items based on price, quality, selection, etc. Pretty interesting stuff if you ask me. ;)

Isn't this how EVERYONE spends their free time over a period of 3 weeks? Reading a book about baby stuff and making a super detailed and organized list??

One Sunday morning, I packed up C$ and trekked on over to Babies R Us. I am pretty sure that he was expecting an overwhelming and disastrous expedition, ala wedding registering, but due to my outstanding sleuthing skills, I was able to keep this an organized and efficient trip. One trip around the outside with my list of "must haves" narrowed down to specific item, brand, and model, and we were out in under 1.5 hours! And that included a stop by the baby Nikes to oh and ah over how adorbs they are! Even C had his moment.

Anyway, we realized just how much stuff that babies need and how we are totally and utter terrified of taking care of this child. Hopefully, we can get it together. I did receive a little reassurance from my Montana girlfriend recently when she emailed me telling me that she was poking around the registry and "nice work." At least we know that we are doing SOMETHING right.