Things to NOT say to a pregnant woman.

Obviously this is my first go-around at being pregnant. I'd like to say that I am handling it pretty well so far. I've read all the baby books; I check babycenter everyday for the latest and greatest on anything baby and pregnancy related; and I research anything and everything about what is going on with my body and with my little one. I feel like I have a pretty good grasp on my pregnancy. However, there is one thing I just can't wrap my head around; the things people say to pregnant women.

What is it about a round belly that gets people to feel like they can say and do whatever they want to a perfect stranger?! Here are some things I have encountered during my pregnancy that leave me scratching my head...

*Disclaimer: None of my friends or family have said this stuff to me...and if they did, I would not be offended at all. It's just weird/offensive when a total stranger feels like just because they see a pregnant person that proper social rules go out the window. 

1) Comments on your appearance. 
In my first trimester I looked bad...REAL bad. I am aware of this. I mean....I spent most of my first trimester puking. (FYI...it is a HUGE myth that morning sickness occurs just in the morning...unfortunately morning sickness lasts alllllll day long.) When I finally announced my pregnancy a girl from my school came up to me and said "I KNEW it! You have looked horrible for the past month!"
What do you say to that? Thanks? Yes...I am aware I looked horrible...but in my defense, I just puked into a ziplock bag on my way into school...how would you look?

2) Comments on what you eat.
These come in the form of "Whoah, are you going to eat all of that?" and "Should you be eating that?" What are you, the public food police?! Yes, I am going to eat this entire jar of cinnamon applesauce and I am happy about it. Are YOU going to eat that Quizno's burrito that probably has more fat and calories than my jar of applesauce?

Another thing about this one: people also always feel the need to say something like "eating for two!" every time I announce that I am hungry or get a snack. Do I comment every time you get up to get a snack? Sometimes I am eating because my heartburn is making me want to die and sometimes I am eating because I am just hungry. Regardless of the reason, I don't comment every time you eat...let's try to tone down the comments when I eat...it gets old.

3) You aren't even showing yet!
This comment isn't the part that confuses me...it's what usually follows up this comment. "You aren't even showing yet! Are you sure there is a baby in there?!"
This is an insanely weird thing to say to a pregnant woman. I was sure there was a baby in there earlier, but now you have me thinking about things like miscarriages and complications. Usually I am feeling so bloated, so regardless of if I am showing or not your comment does not make me think I look thin...it makes me think you are weird. Just say "you look great."

4) Are you sure there aren't twins in there?
This one baffled me because I had just gotten the "you aren't even showing yet..." comment two days before. A woman I had just met was over at our house talking to my parents about a possible kitchen remodel...she noticed I was pregnant and asked how far along I was. Upon hearing my answer she responded with "wow! are you sure there aren't twins in there?"
How am I supposed to take this? Obviously I am sure there aren't twins...I'm 18 weeks along, my doctor uses the latest technology and is pretty smart...I don't think he overlooked an extra fetus...so why would a stranger say this to a pregnant woman? Seriously...what EXACTLY is the point of your comment...because I feel like you are just trying to make me feel bad.

5) Comments about how big you are.
This goes hand-in-hand with the above comment, but it deserves its own mention. These comments come in many forms. Last week I had a woman in my quilting class tell me that I looked like I could have the baby that day. Well lady...you and I are both in for a treat then because I still have 8 weeks to go and baby still has half her body weight to gain. I can't imagine what you will be thinking of me by the time I actually give birth.
I just don't get these ones. I know people mean well when they say "wow, you are so big!" and "geeze, the baby is DEFINITELY growing, you look huge!" Obviously I know they aren't trying to be offensive...but I get it. I am getting big. I am reminded of this every time I pull on my jeans that have an elastic band fitting all the way to my boobs. I am reminded of this every time I knock over a cup or chair with my stomach. I am reminded of this every time I try to put on my shoes, but can't because my stomach is in the way. I am reminded of this every time I need Noah's help to push myself out of bed. Yes...I am getting big.

6) Judging comments.
These comments really get my blood boiling. Mostly because they are the most offensive (in my opinion). The above comments are generally harmless and sometimes just pop out of people's mouths...but these comments are just plain mean. For example...two weeks ago I went to a fabric store to pick out some fabric for the quilt I will be making in my quilting class. I asked an employee at the fabric store for some assistance picking out fabrics. I literally went up to an employee and said "hi, I was wondering if I could get some help picking out fabric. I am going to make a quilt and I want to kind of imitate this quilt," while I showed her a picture of a quilt in the Pottery Barn Kids catalog. She looked me up and down and said "you know that you can't give a baby that quilt, right?" I was legitimately confused as to what she meant so I smartly said, "huh?" To which she got an exasperated look on her face and said "wow, I can't believe they didn't tell you this yet. Big blankets can cause SIDS...you can't EVER give a baby a thick quilt like this."
Ohhhh....wow, I am SO happy I walked into this Pacific Fabrics store and met you, otherwise I would have wrapped my baby in this gigantic, full-size, thick quilt and possibly have caused her to suffer from SIDS...
I wanted to punch the lady in the face. Obviously I am not about to try and swaddle my infant child in a gigantic quilt. I was actually annoyed with myself that I felt the need to explain to this stranger that I planned to make the quilt to lay on the grass in Chelan so my daughter and I could practice tummy-time while enjoying the nice weather. Ridiculous.

7) Personal invasion comments.
"Was it planned?" "Are you going to breastfeed?" "Have you gotten stretch marks?" "Are you practicing your kegel exercises?" "Are you planning to use drugs during your labor?"

Now, these questions are totally normal and welcome from friends and family...but imagine a TOTAL STRANGER asking these. What in the world makes a person feel like they can ask such invading questions upon meeting someone for 3 seconds? My favorite is someone asking me if I have been practicing my kegel exercises. Do I ask about what you do with your vagina? No. Let's not ask about mine.
I had a teacher of mine ask me if I was planning to use drugs during labor. When I told her I was she actually told me I should re-think my decision. She then proceeded to tell me that I should bring Spanx to the hospital to put on right after delivery and start my ab exercises right away in order to get my uterus back in shape. Ummm....thanks Dr.,.....is my grade going to reflect your disapproval of my personal decisions?

8) Rubbing belly.
Last but not least....the belly rubs. Everyone hears about this one. Perfect strangers feeling like they have the right to come up and touch a woman's stomach. I've had this happen three times so far and it is awkward. I have a pretty small personal bubble...but it feels kind of intimate to have someone touch your stomach that is holding your growing baby and I definitely don't want a stranger to be the one to do that. It's just plain weird...I'm not coming up to you and randomly caressing your stomach...don't touch mine.

Ahhhh, the things people say and do to pregnant women. I'll never understand.

32 Weeks!

How far along? 32 weeks...only 52 more days! 

Size and growth of Baby Hannah? She weighs in at roughly 3.75 pounds and is about 16.7 inches long; much like a large jicama.....(any ideas on what exactly a jicama is?!) Anyways, she is running out of space in my tummy; she is really plumping up and preparing for the outside world. She has finger nails and toe nails, and she is growing lots of hair! Her skin is also becoming very soft and she is looking like a real newborn baby! 

Maternity Clothes? Always. Except I still get away with non-maternity cardigans and such :)  

Weight Gain? I had a huge growth spurt and gained 6 pounds since my last doctors appointment which puts me at a total of 29 pounds. Woah....

Stretch Marks? Nope!

Gender? Little baby girl. 

Movement? Tons! I know I've talked about it before, but her kicks are so funny now! Since she is running out of room in there, I can really feel her stretching out. The other day I had my hand on my stomach and at the same time she stretched her little foot out and dragged it all the way down my stomach. It was the first time I had actually felt one of her little body parts. It was crazy and made me SO excited to be able to actually hold that little foot in person soon :) 

Sleep? Pretty good lately! I get tired pretty easily but usually don't have time to take naps or rest during the day...so I think it helps that by the time I lay down at night, I'm pretty much exhausted!  

Food Cravings/Aversions?  Cereal....and chocolate milk! I can't get enough of the stuff....I seriously have a glass a day and have been hoarding Hershey's chocolate syrup in places around the house (I wish I was kidding) so that the other chocolate milk lovers in the house don't steal all my chocolate syrup! No aversions still....Minus my first trimester, where pretty much ALL foods were aversions, I've been pretty lucky to be able to eat anything I want.

What I Miss? Hmm...I'm pretty content this week and not missing anything! I'm at a point in my pregnancy where strangers are SO nice (except for crazy Target employees....I'm still holding on to that!). Everywhere I go people go out of their way to open doors for me, ask if they can carry something for me, or just ask how I'm feeling. I was in a car dealership the other day and this older man came up and asked how I was feeling and how far along. He was SO excited for me and was telling me all about how he remembered when his wife was at the stage I am at now and how exciting it was. I love it. :) 

Symptoms?  I've been getting quite a few headaches lately...I'm not sure if that is a symptom of pregnancy or not....but they get so bad that it makes my vision a little blurry. Now that I am saying it "out loud" this might be something I will be discussing with my doctor this week. I still get the occasional leg cramp...but as I mentioned, I am VERY good at stopping these when I start to feel the muscles twitch. Unfortunately my morning sickness has returned...it's not as frequent as it was in my first trimester (phew!) but its just as uncomfortable...if not more-so since I now have a giant tummy! But, I can usually prevent the morning sickness by eating something before I get out of bed, so I have started storing snacks next to my bed to help this. (P.s. I am seriously storing food and chocolate syrup in random places around the house...who am I?!)

Best Moment of the Week? Tons and tons! It's been a really great week! 

1) Kelly and I drove over to Spokane last weekend for my friend, Kiley's baby shower. It was SO much fun...I'll give a more detailed update on our trip in another post. 

2) I met up with one of my best friends for lunch and a much needed pedicure! It was so great to catch up with her and fun to be out! 

3) I started my 8 week quilting class! Never in my whole life would I have thought that I would voluntarily sign up for a quilting class...but for some reason I have the craziest urge to learn how to make a quilt. Anyways...minus one crazy obnoxious lady (more on this in another post) it was super fun and I'm excited to show off my amazing quilt making skills by the end of my class! 

4) Noah and I bought a brand new Kia Sorento last night! We have been wanting to get a more "family-friendly" car ever since we found out that our little family of 3 (we are counting Hudson in here...) would be growing to a family of 4. We go on a lot of weekend trips to Chelan and over to Montesano and I am anticipating even more of those trips once the baby gets here. We would not have been able to fit the baby plus all her stuff, mine and Noah's stuff AND Hudson and his stuff in either of our cars. So, we've been looking at SUV's and finally made our big purchase last night! It is soooooooo beautiful. I will take pictures of it and post them later. By the time we finished signing all the paperwork last night we were exhausted and went straight to bed. It's still early in the morning now...but you can bet that the second I woke up I jumped out of bed to go look out the window to make sure our brand new baby was still safely in the driveway. :)

Worst Moment of the Week?  As I get further along and more uncomfortable, I have noticed that my patience and temper runs thin VERY fast. Most of the time I feel like I am battling a strong case of PMS. But needless to say, stranger's attitudes and the thing's they say DO NOT impress me. I'm not going to go into this here, because I have a whole post coming on this...lucky you! 


Other Thoughts?  I might have accidentally viewed an epidural video yesterday upon the suggestion of a friend...I had managed to steer clear of any video's on babycenter depicting anything to do with childbirth and labor...but curiosity got the best of me. It MIGHT have terrified me a little bit. I'm not afraid of needles at all...so the epidural hadn't (and still doesn't) scare me. What scares me is that apparently you lose sensation in your legs from the numbness....which, duh, I knew that...but what I didn't think about is that if you can't feel your legs, you lose the ability to walk.....which means you can't get out of bed to use the restroom at any point after you have the epidural. I had a small inkling of what this might mean...so I immediately texted my friend Amy, who happens to be a pro at child birth, and she informed me that you are given a catheter after you get the epidural......a catheter. Catheters just so happen to be my one biggest fear in life. Seriously. It is the main reason why I didn't want a C-section....not because of the long recovery or the fact that it's major surgery....I didn't want a C-section because I knew that a catheter came along with it. 

Anyways...after some freak-out moments and some tears, I've come to terms with it now. Apparently you don't feel it all....since you are numbed. It still scares me (like to the point that I am now more afraid of the catheter than the actual giving birth part) but I know that the alternative (no epidural) would be much, much worse.....and I just keep thinking that I will have a beautiful baby girl after everything is said and done. :)

On another note...I have been informed that I am not very good at updating my blog and that I had mentioned that this blog would be used to update people on EVERYTHING in our life...not just baby stuff...so I am going to try and be better about doing more posts about wedding updates and other fun stuff. :) 

31 Weeks

How far along? 31 weeks...only 9 more weeks! That's 60 days, yikes! 

Size and growth of Baby Hannah? She is about 16 inches long and 3.3 pounds...this week she is being compared to FOUR navel oranges! She can turn her head from side to side and her arms and legs are beginning to plump up. Apparently she is headed right into a growth spurt for the next few weeks or so...

Maternity Clothes? Yes...and unfortunately I am starting to outgrow my maternity jeans so I'm going to have to suck it up and go up a size. Ugh! 

Weight Gain? Total of 23 pounds.

Stretch Marks? Still no....but I'm starting to feel some pain due to my stretching stomach so I have an awful suspicion that they are right around the corner. :(

Gender? Still a little princess.

Movement? Lots and lots. It's definitely a different type of movement from earlier on though. Before I would feel lots of flutters and some kicks....now all I feel are full on kicks and punches. She might just be a natural born soccer player (noah's dream). 

Sleep? Sooo much better! So weird though since now I'm bigger and more uncomfortable in general; you would think that sleeping would be a problem now as opposed to earlier in the pregnancy. I'm actually getting a lot of good sleep. I do wake up a few times a night for bathroom breaks, but I fall back asleep instantly! It's so nice. :) 

Food Cravings/Aversions?  I'm really thirsty all the time so I find myself drinking lots of water and eating strange "water" foods....for example: today I had a craving to eat a raw cucumber....it sounded like the juiciest most delicious thing in the whole world....so I ate a whole one. Never in my life have I eaten a whole, raw cucumber before....in fact I can probably count on one hand the amount of times I have eaten cucumber, EVER. So crazy.

What I Miss? I'm going to be selfish and admit that I miss my old body....not that it was anything special before...but I am starting to get some serious anxiety about being able to lose the baby weight....at all, but especially before the wedding. For the most part I have only been gaining weight in my stomach...but recently I have started gaining it in my legs and arms, making it a depressing time when even my former maternity clothes aren't fitting like they use to. I know I am growing a baby and I am supposed to gain weight and my weight gain means she is healthy....but some day's its just hard to grapple with the fact that I am possibly going to be about 35 pounds heavier by the time I actually give birth...I mean, I still have about 8 weeks to go! 

Symptoms?  I've still been getting some leg cramps, but I've learned some tips and tricks to prevent these so they don't really bother me anymore. I'm still getting heartburn, but having Tums on hand at all times helps with that as well. My most recent symptom is that I get over-heated, A LOT. For those of you that know me well, know that I am usually always cold and hate it! I am always blasting the heat in my car and have been known to purchase space heaters at my office jobs that were in use all year round...even in the summer months! For me to get over-heated is kind of crazy...but its happening....and it's only March AND still snowing! I think I would be the worst summer-pregnant person in the whole world. I've already told Noah that we are planning our next babies (well, planning in general would be good ;) around the weather so that I am never pregnant in the summer. 

Best Moment of the Week? We are making lots of progress on wedding stuff! We have a cake vendor and have officially ordered our Save the Dates. We also have been working on our registry, which has actually been really fun! It sounded really overwhelming in the beginning, but we've had a lot of fun picking out our future china patterns :) 

Worst Moment of the Week?  I had a bit of a run-in with a Target employee....the situation MIGHT have gotten a bit out of hand and managers were alerted....Anyways, basically I waddled into a Target dressing room to try on THREE items of clothing. The dressing room was deserted...just me and the attendant. Kristen came in a few minutes later and called out to see which room I was in, I told her to come in because I needed some help so I opened the door....she put her basket down by the attendant and came over to my room. Then the attendant decided that at this point she would like to point out that there is a Target policy that does not allow more than one person in a dressing room at a time. I told her that I was eight months pregnant and needed assistance and pointed out that my sister not only did not have any items to try on herself...but that she also had left her basket by the entrance to the dressing rooms. The Target employee was a real stickler for the rules apparently, because she wouldn't budge....soooooo being eight months pregnant and uncomfortable and sweaty and frustrated, I MIGHT have gone a little over the top and for the first time in my WHOLE life actually yelled at a stranger. I yelled that the rules were absolutely ridiculous and that I felt like she was accusing me of trying to steal my THREE items of clothing and then I demanded to speak to a manager. The manager was even less helpful and pointed out that in the future I could use the "family dressing room" across the store, or simply let the attendant know that I needed help....This clearly didn't sit well with me since a) I am not going to march my pregnant butt back and forth across the store to continue to try on maternity clothes, when the "normal" dressing room is right next to the maternity section, and b) not only had I already mentioned that I needed assistance from my sister...but if she was implying that a Target employee would come help me, she has another thing coming. Seriously...all that over THREE items in an empty dressing room! I've seen people walk into Target dressing rooms with piles of clothes over their arms!

Anyways...that turned into a bit of a rant...but needless to say, the Redmond Target, and their dressing room attendant and manager are on my list...and I will NOT be shopping there again. 


Other Thoughts?  Sheesh, I'm all riled up again from remembering that lovely incident! On a happier note, I am headed to Spokane on Saturday morning! I get to see two lovely ladies, one of which is getting married in July and the other is expecting her very first baby in August! If you remember from my previous post, I will be attending my friends baby shower on Sunday and it is doubling as a gender reveal party! She just found out on Tuesday if the baby is a boy or a girl...but all the guests will show up wearing either blue or pink, depending on what they think the baby will be. My gut feeling is BOY....so I will be wearing blue. I am so excited to find out! 


Have a great weekend everyone! 

30 Weeks!

How far along? 30 weeks...only 67 more days to go! 

Size and growth of Baby Hannah?  Hannah is just over 15.7 inches long and weighs about 3 pounds. This week she is being compared to a head of lettuce. Her eyesight is continuing to develop...however she will only have 20/400 vision when she is born, so she will only be able to see objects or people that are close to her. Interesting fact!

Maternity Clothes? Yup! Though I am happy to report that I am fitting into my regular size summer dresses. I'm hoping this stays the same throughout the rest of my pregnancy, since I'm sure my dresses will come in handy when the weather starts getting nicer!

Weight Gain? According to my doctors appointment this week I am at a total weight gain of 23 pounds. So I gained about 1 pound since my last doctors appointment. I'm hoping I continue with that and gain about 1 pound for the next 10 weeks, for a total of 33 pounds.

Stretch Marks? No, thank goodness! Knocking on wood every day though! 

Gender? Still a little princess.

Movement? Oh yes! She is one active little lady! The other day I was sitting in my doctors appointment and she kept kicking her little foot out. I would poke it slightly and she would yank back her foot...then gingerly kick it back out again. So cute. :) 

Sleep? Still off and on...I've just come to accept that sleep is just not my thing during pregnancy. However, I seem to have gotten myself on some sort of pattern. I usually wake up around 1am, 3am, and 5am for bathroom breaks. At 1 and 3, I am able to go back to sleep right away....but I am usually up for a couple hours at the 5 o'clock waking. Once Noah leaves around 6:30-7am, I fall back asleep for a couple hours. I was telling my boss about this and she said the same thing happened to her with her first pregnancy and then when she had her son, those were the hours that he woke up in the night! She said she thinks her sleeping pattern during pregnancy was her body's way of preparing her for the baby's schedule. So interesting! It will be fun to see if this holds true for Hannah....I have to say, I wouldn't mind it...I am already so use to it! 

Food Cravings/Aversions?  Cinnamon applesauce still. Love that stuff! Also cereal...any kinds. 

What I Miss? Definitely not getting so tired so fast. It seriously exhausts me to do the simplest tasks. I'm not joking when I say that I have to sit down while I am getting ready in the morning. Who knew brushing your teeth and washing your face could be so exhausting?! I have definitely forgotten what it feels like to feel completely "normal".....I am excited to get my old body and energy back! Though I am not complaining, because I am really enjoying being pregnant during this trimester so far. :)

Symptoms?  Slight heartburn every now and then, constant bathroom breaks (this little lady happens to be laying right on my bladder which kind of gives me the feeling of having to use the restroom every 3 minutes), and back pain (more on this below). 

Best Moment of the Week? So many good things this week! I got a lot done with school....my last official day of class is this Saturday! I will still have PLENTY of work to do (research papers and thesis and stuff for my student teaching in the Fall), but I will be SO happy to be done with actually attending classes and all the homework. 

We also got our first registry gifts from my cousin Don and his long-time GF, Rie (pronounced Leah)! So exciting! They got Hannah a bouncer, towels, and cap and mitten sets. Everyone wanted us to set the bouncer up right away and it made me SO excited for when I get to actually put my little munchkin in it! 

Also, I know of 2 people who had babies this past week! (p.s., by "I know" two people...I mean that I know one of them and I follow the other one's blog....so I KINDA feel like I know her.) Anyways...I am not going to lie, it gave me SLIGHT anxiety because I have been keeping updated throughout their pregnancies and I feel like I remember when they just announced it! Now they have their babies! It's insane how fast pregnancy flies by. I think I have two more pregnant sorority sisters ahead of me....and then it's my turn! Ahhhh! 

Worst Moment of the Week?  Hmmm...I wouldn't say this was a "worst" moment classification, but I have officially decided that I will not be attending my Grad school graduation. I am kind of bummed since I have been working so hard and gone through so much to get where I am, but I think its the right decision. My graduation is on June 16th....my doctor won't let me go two weeks past my due date...so I will probably have a date to be induced around June 11th (Noah's bday!)....if Hannah holds out that long, I will technically be expected to walk in my graduation 5 days later...and who knows how long I will be in the hospital for! Even if she comes on time (or early) I decided that a 5 hour long graduation is just not something I will probably be wanting to sit through at that point....and I seriously doubt by 2-3 week old daughter would enjoy it that much either. I would never even consider leaving her with a baby-sitter that young...so my only choice would be to bring her and I just don't think that will work out. It's definitely for the best, though I am slightly bummed that I will not be able to celebrate graduation with the rest of my classmates. 

Other Thoughts? We had a check-up this week. Everything looked great...baby is measuring on track, heart beat sounds perfect, and my vitals are all perfect...which was great news. I did however have some symptoms that I wanted to chat with my doctor about...TMI...but I have been getting a bloody nose almost every morning...it's insane. I have never had one before this so it kind of scared me that all of the sudden I would be getting them so often. However, it sounds like its relatively normal...since I have so much extra blood running through my veins, they are sensitive and the capillaries are pushed to the surface of the skin....which can cause them to bleed. Yuck! Though, he says I have to watch it because if I lose too much blood I will have to get my nose cauterized. That does NOT sound fun to me. So in the mean time I have situated myself to sleep right next to the humidifier we got Hannah. I'm hoping the humid air will help a little bit! 
The other symptom I have been having is intense, electrifying back pain in just my lower left side. It's not an achy type of back pain (the back pain feeling I have been having through my whole pregnancy)....its more of a "take your breath away" jolt of pain. Its only on my lower left side and it happens anytime I pick something up, bend down, or stand on only that leg (aka, putting on pants). My doctor said it is definitely bone-on-bone scraping (that doesn't sound fun!), and that I need to tone down my lifting and activities immediately. Apparently my body isn't "large" enough for the baby (this is news to me) so my bones have started to separate in my back to try and make more room...I happen to carry my purse and giant Lands End school bag on my left shoulder, so I have made it even worse. So now I am on strict instructions to not lift anything, bend down, workout, or carry heavy objects throughout the rest of my pregnancy. It's something he wants to keep an eye on now, because it could cause major back problems that would require surgery after the baby....lovely! Definitely no more heavy lifting for me!


So that's about it! I'll leave you with a picture...excuse the weirdo smile...I get awkward when I take pictures of myself.

P.S. Thanks to Lis for my pretty birthday scarf :)

Random Updates

Life has been moving pretty quickly around here! My weekly update is coming tomorrow and I don't have anything super important to say today, so I thought I would do a random photo update.

Enjoy!

Hudsy hanging out on the couch with us. Look at those big ol' paws!

I started our "Baby-Due"list! I keep thinking of more and more things to add to the list and I'm starting to get slightly overwhelmed that I won't be able to get it all done in the next 10 weeks! 

We got our monthly onsie stickers in! I was so excited to get them in the mail...and I love the cupcakes. It took me forever to make a final decision, but I think these are adorable! I can't wait to start taking her monthly pictures! (actually I can because I want her to stay little forever!)

We celebrated Hudson's 1st (or 11 month) Birthday! His actual age is slightly debatable...it's a long story, but basically we have reason to believe that the breeder lied to us about Hudson's age and gave  him to us one month too early. Soooo...we either have an 11 month old puppy, or a big 1 year old puppy! Either way, he looked pretty darn cute in his birthday hat. He even got a special birthday treat!

We got our first registry gifts in! It was SO much fun and made me even more excited for Hannah to get here. She is going to love her new snug-a-bunny bouncer and towels and mittens! Thanks to Uncle Don and Aunt Rie!

This was from a few weeks ago...Hannah was moving and kicking a lot, so I tried to capture it on my camera phone. I thought family and friends who don't get to see us very often might appreciate being able to see her kick! She kicks a lot harder now, so I will try to take a better video and upload it soon!

Okay that is all for now! I hope everyone is enjoying their week!

29 weeks!

Whoah, last time I did this update was at 26 weeks! I didn't realize I didn't post week 27...whoops! 


How far along? 29 weeks, which means only 77 more days until we meet our Pumpkin! 

Size and growth of Baby Hannah?  Hannah is just over 15 inches long and weighs about 2.5 pounds....kind of like a butternut squash. Her lungs and muscles are continuing to mature and her head is growing very fast to make room for her developing brain.

Maternity Clothes? Unfortunately...I went shopping tonight with my sister in hopes to get some cute spring dresses that I could wear both in the next 10 weeks AND after the baby comes...however, it looks like I am going to be stuck in the maternity wear for the remainder of the pregnancy...no matter how flow-y or forgiving of a dress. 

Weight Gain? According to my doctors appointment last week I am at a healthy weight gain of 22 pounds. I should be gaining about a pound a week from here on out...so that should put me around 32 pounds...2 pounds under my goal! 

Stretch Marks? Nothing yet...knock on wood! I thought I found one last week...and oh boy was it dramatic...tears were rolling down my face, hiccups and blotchiness ensued...I was not a pretty sight. However, when I went to show Noah this awful mark that had taken residence on my stomach....it had disappeared! Apparently this particular "stretch mark" was not a stretch mark after all....(and apparently I need to learn to not be so shallow and throw a tantrum over a scratch...)

Gender? Still a little princess.

Movement? Oh my goodness, does she kick and move. She has officially moved up into my ribs and enjoys spending her free time kicking my ribs and running her little hands up and down the inside of my stomach. Everyone said to enjoy the little flutters and movements when you first start to feel them because soon they will get stronger and not be so fun....I think we are now at that stage. On one hand I LOVE being able to feel her move around all the time...but on the other...it's INCREDIBLY hard to sleep when you have a small human inside you that enjoys karate chopping her way around your rib cage. 

Sleep? Finally sleep has not been such a big problem! I still wake up for frequent restroom breaks throughout the night, and Hannah's jabs and kicks wake me up....but I am no longer not being able to not fall asleep because of back pain. It's wonderful! 

Food Cravings/Aversions?  Hmm...ice cream sundaes, cinnamon applesauce, water, candy....sandwiches (always). No new aversions. 

What I Miss? Walking like a normal human. The baby went through another growth spurt...which means I went through another growth spurt. I had already been showing, but over the past 3 weeks my stomach has REALLY popped out. It's been so fast and not at all gradual so it's been taking me a little while to get use to walking and squeezing through things...for example, this morning I closed the bathroom door on my own stomach because I misjudged the amount of room I had to be able to shut the door. That sounds weird...but its really hard to remember you have 22 new pounds hanging out in front of you that wasn't there a few weeks ago. 

Symptoms?  Heartburn, leg cramps, baby kicks and jabs, and now that we are in the third trimester (whoot, whoot!) I get to welcome back the wonderful nausea and EXTREME tiredness.  I'm also lightheaded a lot of the time and get super out of breath and tired from simple tasks. This last part has a lot to do with iron deficiency (I'll explain more below) and the fact that I now have about 60% more blood circulating through my body than a non-pregnant person. This means that my little heart has to work twice as hard...which makes me one tired pregnant person! That's why its super important that whenever I get the chance to rest, I lay on my left side...this allows the baby's weight to not lay directly on any major organs or veins and lets my heart take a little break. 

Best Moment of the Week? One of my bestest friends finally let the cat out of the bag that she is expecting her first baby also! She is only about 2.5 months behind me (which is funny because she is 2.5 months younger than me) so it's been fun to go through everything together. She lives all the way over in New Mexico, but we try and have weekly (or as often as we can) phone chats. She has her anatomy scan in about a week and a half and I am dying to know if our babies will be future best friends or future boyfriend and girlfriend ;) 
P.S. for the record, I think it is a boy....she's having a baby shower/gender reveal party in the beginning of April, so I will find out then and report back. :) 


Worst Moment of the Week?  Hmm, there hasn't really been a particularly bad moment. There are some not-so-fun side effects of pregnancy that I have been dealing with for the past two weeks...but I will spare you all the details....just know that it is not fun and if I had to choose, these side effects would take the cake for "worst moment of the week." 

Other Thoughts? 1) We are officially in our third trimester as of last week! Yay! So excited to move into this huge milestone. This means that we also get to start having appointments every two weeks which is fun because we get to hear Hannah's heartbeat twice as often and it makes the time go faster. 2) At our appointment last week we learned that my fundal height is still measuring 1cm big (remember, this is the measurement between the pubic bone and the top of the uterus). Measuring 1cm big is nothing to worry about...she just might be a SLIGHTLY bigger baby...but again, nothing too serious or too big. 3) We also learned that she is head down and in the perfect position for delivery! Let's hope she stays that way. 4) I got my results back from the dreaded glucose test and I passed with flying colors! He said my sugar levels were perfect and right where he wanted them to be. However, my iron levels came back extremely low, so I am now on iron supplements to try and get those levels back up. This could explain my extreme tiredness and lightheadedness (I think I just made up that word). Anyways, I'm hoping these supplements help give me back some energy. 5) I haven't posted anything in a while about wedding planning because nothing is really happening...school is currently kicking my butt and I have about 0% energy left by the time I get done with everything for the day. I only have two Saturday's left though (!!!!!) so hopefully I can get a move on wedding stuff after that....especially since I know I will be kicking myself if I push it all off until the baby is here. 6) I have a PEPS (program for early parent support) orientation tomorrow at noon. I'll explain more about that tomorrow when I get back! I'm pretty excited though! 


I think that's about all the updates I have for now! My goal for next week is to actually get a belly picture for you all to see! I think you'll be shocked at how big I have gotten since the last update. It still shocks me!

Third Trimester!

Today is the first day of the 3rd and FINAL trimester! I am so beyond excited to be in the home stretch. I can't wait to meet this little lady!

To celebrate our third trimester, I worked on a little project for Hannah's nursery. I found this monogrammed button project on one of my favorite sites www.houzz.com (just as addicting as Pinterest!).

I was looking up nursery decor on Houzz and found this guy for $38 on Etsy...however, I figured I could probably make it myself for much cheaper.

All you need for this project is: a cut out letter pattern to follow (or you can draw your letter), buttons, craft glue, and a shadow box picture frame.

Luckily my mom is the "craft master" of the Pacific Northwest and already had a ton of buttons.

Hannah's room is going to be decorated in creams, pinks and browns...so I sorted through the thousands of buttons to pick out my favorites in those colors. My mom's collection did not have enough cream colored buttons, so I did have to go out and buy a pack for about $4.99.

I decided to make my cut-out letter in a purplish-pink color...just in case I had some of the paper showing through from under the buttons. I figured having a base that was similar in color to the buttons would camouflage any missed spots.

I started with one section of the letter and laid out a pattern of buttons, flat on the paper (without glue yet), just so I could get a feel for spacing.

I shifted a few buttons around, but once I settled on a pattern, I started to glue it all down.

I moved on to the other section of the letter...still laying down a pattern before I glued it.
Finally I had a pretty good base layer of buttons covering the letter.

Next, I went back and filled in any open spaces with smaller sized buttons. I wanted the letter to have more of a 3-D look, so I kind of piled the buttons on top of one another, instead of trying to match buttons super closely to lay flat. 

Lastly, I glued the finished button letter to a piece of white card stock and arranged it in my shadow box picture frame (that I got on sale for $4)!

And it's done! 

Here is a close up picture of the letter.

I think it turned out pretty well. I have a slightly more critical eye, so I see some things that I would like to change, but overall I was surprised at how easy and fun it was. I can't wait to see it set up in Hannah's room!
I spent a total of $9 on this project...which is much better than paying $38 plus tax and shipping...however I was lucky to already have a majority of my buttons on hand.

I picked up lots of other projects to do for H's room, so there will be lots of craft posts coming!

Happy "third trimester" to us!