The Big Reveal

Even though we are not revealing our baby's gender (and we still don't know it either), we have no problem revealing our name choices.

Names are such a tricky thing! We tend toward more classic names, though I don't like "simple" names as much as longer ones. Also, it was really important that we go with nicknames that I liked for each kiddo possibility too, since that is what I will probably be yelling most often, ha.

Friends and family have asked very cautiously and tentatively what we were thinking for names - probably thinking since we are keeping the biggest surprise under wraps that we would do this too - but we could care less - we will shout them from the rooftops.

Baby G Boy Name:

who will go by

Baby G Girl Name:

who will go by

**pronounced Ev-ee, not Eve-ee**

I have to admit that we have had our "boy" name for a while. It is comprised of family names, and since our family is super important to us, we wanted to honor that. Our girl name is family oriented too (my middle name being passed on down), but we played with a few first names before hitting one we (both) really liked.

Disclaimer: We, of course, reserve the right to change our minds once Baby G makes his or her appearance into the world. In fact we even have a few back up boy names, and one back up girl name.

People get really sensitive about comments and criticisms I guess, but we like them, so we could care less. That being said, if you have known a bratty kid or jacka$$ of a person with either of these names, feel free to (show that you were not raised in a barn and) leave that off the comments. If you L-O-V-E love them, on the other hand, feel free to gush, as always <3

Yay for babies and names and making major life decisions!



23 weeks, 5 days along

...and I had a dream the other night that I had twin boys just like in the movies where they say, "Hold on just a minute, I think we have another baby" even though you have had plenty of ultrasound opportunities to show that there are not two babies in there.

And then I cried to my friends with twins, and they totally understood. Not that I would cry if we had twins.

Much.

Non-baby Baby Items

There is a whole bunch of other stuff that I want to take care of before baby gets here that are not necessarily things for a baby, but seem more important to me now that we are having one. These are being lumped into the "non-baby baby item" category.

First among these is new dressers for our room.
1. I would really like matching dressers
2. One current dresser is perfect for baby dresser/changing table
3. Husband's clothes are all in the nursery right now and since we will need that closet for BABY stuff, he has to move back into the Master Bedroom with me. Rather than get rid of my stuff, let's just make more room. Don't you like our problem solving skills?

In order to not break the bank (since there is a BABY coming to live with us soon, and I am still undecided about working and/or staying at home, we are rolling with larger versions of the same dresser we are moving into baby's room. Hopefully we will be picking them up this weekend. Huzzah!

The Hemnes dressers from Ikea:

We are undecided about the finish...it will be one of these two finishes and BOTH of these dressers though. I love the light finish for the feel of our room, but hubs thinks it is too trendy. Meh.

They are tres reasonably priced, and also solid wood. Check and check. Thanks to Navy moves in the future we try not to spend too much money on "investment pieces" because who knows what will happen to them. That being said, sometimes I still do. Spend the money that is. Gah, this is badly worded. Let's move on.

The other big item on my list is the Dyson Animal:

We have had a craptastic vacuum cleaner for a while now that, thanks the A's ingenuity, is held together with packing tape. It was $40 and was fine for my little apartment in Georgia, but for an almost 1800 sq foot house? Puh-lease.

I mean, we keep things relatively clean, but clean enough for a baby to be crawling around on? No thanks. Hardwood floors and dog hair = nasty visions of me racing toward a baby putting fist of dog hair tumbleweed in mouth. GAG.

Since my daddy works at Sears, he managed to snag this for us at one helluva good price (on sale, plus friends and family night, plus employee discount). I pick it up on Wednesday and I could NOT be more excited to see this baby in action after tons of reviews from friends and family alike.

Moment of realization: I am excited about a vacuum. My life has gone down hill. That is all.


23 weeks, 4 days along

...and I managed to refrain from making any jokes about our vacuum sucking in this whole post. Until now. I couldn't resist.

23 Weeks

We changed the light bulbs in our living room, so excuse the awkward lighting...

I need to learn more about my camera.

Skin 
You know, dry and pale. I am trying really hard to moisturize, moisturize and moisturize. the arrival of SPRING and HUMIDITY would really help. I don't know that I have ever wished for humidity before, but please, come soon and make my skin soft and nice like usual...the hair volume boost could be helpful too.

Weight/Clothes
Feeling ok. I actually felt really little today, until I started drinking my gallons of water that I am dutifully drinking though-I-resent-it-so-much.

Seriously - drinking water is supposed to make you feel great? isn't it? why does it make me feel like crappola?

I guess that is an exaggeration, but I feel way huge-r when I have been drinking the prescribed amount of water...sloshy and big. And I like feeling cute and little. Bah. Of course I will keep drinking the water.

Oh, and trust that this is NOT an issue of me not peeing enough. TRUST.


Also, sick of winter clothes. They are big and bulky and I hate them. That is all.

Cravings/Aversions 
You know, good. I'm not picky. Some days I am ravenous, others I have to remind myself to eat. Meh.


Cramps/Pain
Actually, this week has been relatively pain free...minus some leg cramps. But shhhh, don't say that too loud. The pain might hear you and come back.


Sleeping
Doing ok, waking up a lot to shift around...it goes like this: 

Wake up.

Wiggle around. 

Nudge dog/husband out of the way. 

Find that...spot...rigggggggggghhhhht there! 

That position and pillow placement feels like heaven! 

"Body - don't move." 

Sleep blissfully for an hour.

Repeat.

Mental State
According to What to Expect I am at 6 months preggo this week. WTH. How did that happen? 

Besides that I am pretty good. Feeling excited about everything that is coming, starting to relax about baby now that movements, etc are all pronounced and regular. We have been listening to music together and I have also been antagonizing with a flashlight. Ha. I am going to be an awesome mom.

Heartburn

So.much.better on meds...when I remember to take them. 

Nasal Issues

Ready to breathe and REALLY hoping that i will be in that third of preggies whose allergies mysteriously disappear while ku'd. That would be awesome.

The Girls

They seem to be tender again. On and off. But seriously? They are getting bigger? Bah.

I am really excited to take a Breastfeeding class here soon though. I feel like I need the info to mentally prepare.

Fetal Movement

All.the.time. EXCEPT when daddy is around. He gets so excited to feel things and then...nothing. Baby goes to sleep, or just slightly shuffles so much deeper than anyone could feel from the outside. I think daddy's feelings are starting to get hurt.

*NEW CATEGORY* Swelling

Yup. I had my first incident.

 Granted, I don't think anyone would have noticed except me, and it was after standing for approx 2 hours at my aunt's art show opening. But still. Ankles were slightly puffy when I took off my boots. LAME.

Weird Stuff
Got my first from-a-car-window pregnancy shout out.

"Look at the little baby, you are so cute girl"

Smiled and kept walking. People are weird.

Behind the scenes...

Bings is our shoot supervisor every week.

23 weeks, 1 day along

...and I am feeling like I want spring, summer and my baby to be here. I would like to snuggle.

On Baby Parties

Yesterday was all about the registry, so today is all about the EVENTS for baby!

Baby showers are cool, even in all of their awkwardness of opening gifts and paper plate bow hats and all of that jazz, because you know that the peeps there are coming at this from a place of love and excitement for you and your little gestational darling.

For me, we will be having two showers (that I have been invited to anyway). The first is going to be an intimate lunch with some of my super close sorority sisters from college. Having a baby is a great excuse to get people to come in from out of town who you haven't seen in a while. Yay!

I was tortured over the guest list on this one, because there were SO many sorority girls women that I would LOVE to see, but inviting them to a shower when we haven't talked in a while just seems inappropriate (even though BABY is a great way to get people who you have made those "oh we should totally have dinner some time" plans with in the past actually committed to some face time...you know you are guilty, I am too).

I know, I know, you don't HAVE to bring gifts to a shower, but I just feel like it would be so awkward to be all, "Hey I know we haven't talked or hung out in a while, but would you like to come to this event where you totally don't have to bring a gift, but oh by the way here is my registry info." Creepy. Let's just say asking for gifts is awkward for me. Don't get me wrong, I totally want them, but the whole registry conundrum, gah, it is too much for me.

{Registry conundrum = I want people to know my preferences in case they want to buy a gift, because let's face it, we don't all have the same taste, but the act of registering puts an expectation out there for a gift and that makes me uncomfortable. However, if you are even thinking of inviting me to something, I better have your registry info. I like to give a heartfelt mix of things both on and off the registry complete with gift receipts in case my heartfelt idea is something you hate with all your soul. It's cool, I totally understand.}

In any case, we are having a small, intimate sorority shower luncheon, and I could not be more thrilled to just spend time with ladies! Yay!

The second shower, my dear friend has offered to host for me from the second I peed on the stick and got two lines. She knew before my husband, and her husband knew before my husband, back in the good old days when A was all mad that I wasn't having a drink while we watched zombies race around Norfolk. {Side note, it's her anniversary today, Happy Anniversary!!!}

That one will be much bigger with a big invite list, and it is happening on Mother's Day and will be a celebration of motherhood in general so even though it is a big group I can feel welcomed to "the club" rather than showered and awkward and princess-y. Plus, my mom and at least one of my grandmas will be in town - bonus! (My mom didn't get to come to any of my bridal showers, since the one she was going to throw got reassigned as our wedding date when the Navy decided to throw its weight around)

As excited as I am for the showers, the other big event will be a Sip & See! I have been in love with the idea of this event since I heard about it.

A Sip & See is an open house to meet the baby, check out the nursery and hang out with the parents, since you know they aren't leaving the house for a while. I love this idea. Besides, it involves all the boys too, and I love the coed stuff. Plus, we never got to have a housewarming because A was on deployment and then when we tried to have one he got appendicitis and was in the hospital. (I had to call from the hospital to cancel a keg reservation - tres depressing) So, this would be a great opportunity for people to come over, check out Baby G, who will by then have a name, see the cuteness that (hopefully) is Baby and the nursery and sip some champagne.

Some think it would be hellacious to have all of those people over with an unclean house and when you generally feel miserable, but there is nothing to motivate me like other people's judgment, so I am excited for the reason to get out of pjs. Besides, my mama and mom in law will be on hand to help with cleaning, and they are good.at.it.

I also think the celebration in the hospital is an awesome thing for some people, but know that I will want that as private time...if that's your style though it can be totally cute. If you haven't read the birth story of Nella Cordelia over at Enjoying the Small Things, you totally should. It is a tearjerker, but also a really cute plan for celebrating a birth of a blessed baby.

Another trend we are eschewing is the Baby Gender Reveal Party. These are awesome, but we aren't telling. So there.

Am I missing any kinds of baby events? I am pretty excited about our plan.


23 weeks along today

...and this girl loves a party so you can best believe that her baby will too.

Registering for Baby

Well folks, it took some time, and some serious coordination of effort between the husband and I, but we have at least one baby registry up and running!

Whew.

Registering is just something I find awkward anyway, and we were dragging our feet about it. We used a handy dandy compilation of lists from friends and people we trust...and baby blogs that I stalk, er follow religiously to come up with our list. We still didn't register for a stroller, as that debate has yet to be decided (why is this decision so hard for us?), but we plopped almost everything else on there.

The lists we used included:
Oh! Apostrophe
This Casita
Lucie's List

So, we went with the "standard" Babies R Us registry, though I want to vom every time I go in that store, because really, it's easy and all in one place. The lady was super ridiculous about going over all these rules and crap with us, and I wanted to look at her and say, "We are competent, we did research before coming in, and frankly I could care less about how many diapers you think we should register for Diane. Give us the scanner gun and let us get to work." But, I am nice, so I didn't. I just smiled and nodded.

Other than that we are doing a PB registry, for my glider mostly (10% off? yes please.) and we are doing a Wishpot registry. The Wishpot registry is for all the cute things I see on Etsy or Amazon that I love and can't fine elsewhere (and our crib as I refuse to register at walmart.com thankyouverymuch) - or when we can find better prices/colors than what BRU offers...oh and cloth diapers! Yay for cloth diapering.

I also figure that if I register for clothes, at all (and I know that most people recommend against it, I know, I get it) I should direct people to other options than the yellow with giraffe prints that are available everywhere lately. How did giraffes become the unisex symbol for babies? Weird.

In any case, I am super relieved that we are on our way to being done with this, though I have so.many.baby.items swirling in my head. Thank goodness you can manipulate these things online. Not that that's what I do at work...that's clearly time for writing these blog posts.


22 weeks, 6 days along

...and it is so weird that we are really purchasing things for a BABY. To come LIVE with us. FOREVER.

22 Weeks

Skin 
Pale and tight...still. the belly button is rising to the surface. I showed it to two of my coworkers today, though that was probably weird, because it is just.so.weird.

Weight/Clothes
Feeling pretty good, some days I feel bigger than others, and at different points of the day I feel different than others. 


I feel like my face still looks the same when I look in the mirror, but then looks fat in photos...reverse anorexia body image? Or maybe I just don't care as much about sorority posing my face as I used to? Either way, the fat face photos have got.to.stop.


I think I am finally at the point where I am gonna have to break down and get some maternity dress pants. Oy.  Also, the belly seems to be shifting...lower? But I thought it was supposed to get higher? I am confused. 

Cravings/Aversions 
Pretty good. I still like healthy foods, and the smell sensitivity is almost completely gone... though for realz a student almost knocked me out with his cologne the other day. Wowza.


Still loving Mexican food, and really wishing for a margarita lately. 


Cramps/Pain
Weirs, random and doesn't linger. Something will hurt and then just be gone. Weird yo. When do Braxton-Hicks start? That will be hella weird.

Sleeping
Either really great, or really bad. Mostly I wake up because of acid reflux burning my throat. AWESOME. 


Or, I wakeup because I am SO HOT RIGHT NOW OMG GET THESE COVERS OFF ME.


But a few nights ago I slept like a rock for 8 straight hours, woke up, had pushed the pregnancy pillow out of bed, no covers and my hair was a straight wreck. It looked like I had just won a fight. Go figure.


Mental State
Great! I am feeling really good about where we are, the fact that the weeks keep seeming to fly by is weird-o though. When I was newly pregnant it seemed to crawl, and now it is all like "Whoops, there goes February," and "oh? I am at week 22? I didn't even read my weekly baby update for 21 yet!" Yikes.


In other body image news, other than my face feeling fat, I think I look damn good preggo. I caught myself admiring my body for the first time in a while the other night in front of the mirror. Pregnant body, you are all curvy and awesome and wondrous and I love you...until the stretch marks appear, then we are OVER. Seriously though, how amazing are human bodies. Craziness.

Heartburn

So.much.better on meds...when I remember to take them. 

Nasal Issues

SO over it. I am almost to the point where I want to argue picking your nose in public while pregnant is totally socially ok. I JUST WANT TO BREATHE PEOPLE. Don't worry, I'm pregnant, it's ok.

The Girls

Measured my bust the other day with a girlfriend at work, like you do for dress sizes, over the bra and boobs. My measurement? 40 inches. Are you KIDDING me? between the expanding ribcage, which was already big to begin with, and the girls...this is getting a little ooc.

Fetal Movement

Moving and grooving all the time. This morning I got to "see" my first baby movements, and since then my belly has looked a little slanty, so there may just be a butt jutting out or something. 

Sidenote, baby kicking or elbowing or heading the bladder? not.cool. Move up baby! That belly made all that room for you!

Weird Stuff

That my abs can still totally move my belly. weird. Also, being out of breath, all the time. When I was presenting in my interview today I kept getting out of breath and all the women were like, "oh yes, the diaphragm not being able to expand...I remember that well"

At least it's a sisterhood.

Bonus picture! This is what a pregnant lady looks like when she interviews and none of her suits fit:

Hello overexposure! My office was really bright! But you get the drift...

I am actually a little perturbed by this because my makeup looked smokin' and you can't see any of it. 

Oh well. The outfit is hot though, right?

22 weeks, 1 day along

...and I can't wait to get out of my office and enjoy this weather. Please stay 70* until at least 7 pm Hampton Roads!

Cute Stuff, Part 3

I was so excited the other day when I saw this board - this is the original color palette I had in mind for our nursery with a few twists. But there is plenty that I can integrate from here!

via http://laybabylay.com/

(which if you are not already stalking, you should be)