As much as I love like Vox, my husband finally convinced me to use my chatterbox skillz in a new arena ... my own blog. I don't know why I feel the need to have my very own blog, and I don't know why my husband thinks that I run my mouth a lot. But what the hey. I'll still be in THE VOX to visit my neighborhood pals, and I may post here from time to time. But the new blog will be elsewhere.
It will be up and running as soon as I can get my poor coughing and congested husband to help me.
Feel free to bookmark me! Or not. Whatever.
That reminds me of the answering machine message from Along Came Polly ...
Hey, it's Polly... Prince.
Leave me a message, or call back, or not.
You know, whatever.
Okay, bye.
So, yeah. Visit the new blog. Or not. Whatever. Bye.
I was reserving a special post for the gifts that I received in my baby shower that meant the most to me. Unfortunately, it took me a while to get around to taking pictures of them, because I didn't want to take them out early and get dog hair all over them or accidentally put them in the wash with the regular stuff or have Macey get into them and tear them up. I also planned to get some shelves to put up in Emma's room that will be specifically reserved for those special items, but again, I just haven't been very timely in getting that done.
The BEAUTIFUL blanket that my grandmother made:
I can't wait to wrap Emma up in this:
Two Polly Flinders dresses that my grandmother found.
These are the dresses I used to wear when I was a little girl!
My old sippy cup and bottle. Unfortunately, the nipple was very fragile, and I'm a klutz - so I broke it. But these are going to be put on a shelf in Emma's room. Boy how times have changed since 1978.
Some of my old clothes that Mom has kept all these years:
The first dress Mom ever made for me:
Mom's diaper bag for me (but I can't remember who made it, now):
Some of my old shoes, booties, and my baby ring (attached to the pink ribbon):
The baby blanket that I didn't like (I still have a small piece of the one that I did like):
Pooh!
I am just so touched by those gifts. I come from such an amazing line of women, and if Emma gets just a tiny part of them and a tiny part of the women in Ken's family, she'll be an amazing woman.
Having said that, I'm taking a blogging break. I am going to spend the next 7 weeks focused on this baby girl growing inside of me and making sure that she stays in there until it's time to come out.
Had my 33 week checkup this morning, and everything is moving along just fine.
weight - 138 (+3 from last appt, +18 overall)
bp - 130/70
baby's heartbeat - 125
belly measurement - 32w (down from 35w a couple of weeks ago!), so baby e scooted down a bit, but she's still transverse breech
My next appointment will be April 18 for my Group B Strep test. I'll be 36 weeks, so if baby is still breech, then I'll have to start doing exercises to see if we can get her to move into position.
I also went to our baby shower 2 weeks ago, and boy did Emma rack up in the clothing department:
Anyway, here's what our little fashionista is doing to me ...
The more I look at these pictures, the more I am amazed that:
a. 17 inches and almost 5 lbs of baby can fit inside there, and
b. my skin can stretch that much!
And there's still 7 more weeks of growing to be done. Wow.
So the pregnancy mood swings are definitely here. Poor Ken doesn't know what to do with me. I think it's the hormones plus the reality that she's going to be here in 8 weeks. Like, we have to come home from the hospital with a person that we are solely responsible for for the next 18 years. Yeah, that's just a wee bit scary.
Our prenatal classes start next week ... I say "our" but they're mostly for me since I'm clueless when it comes to babies. I've changed maybe 2 diapers in my lifetime, and I probably did it wrong. I know, everyone says that my mothering instinct will kick in and I'll learn it all on my own, but then I remember coming this close to taking Macey back to the animal shelter several times when she was still a chewing, pooping, barking, whining puppy. I can't exactly take Emma back, so I might need a little help in that mothering department. (I'm only kidding, guys -- there's no need to call DFACS on me!)
I think Baby E moved into head down because my belly looks smaller but longer, and I feel a lot of movement in my lower belly. I also feel a lot of pressure when we're walking at night, which I didn't feel before now. But it's really hard to tell.
I ordered my diaper bag this morning, and I ended up paying way more than I thought I would, but it's really the coolest diaper bag I've ever seen. It's gotten tons of really good reviews, the moms who use them love them, and I put more research into this than anything else for Emma. Go figure. Plus, I can't live w/o my planner, and it's the only diaper bag that looks big enough to fit all of her stuff plus my planner. I'm not a fan of backpacks, but it can be worn messenger-style, so I'm all about that.
Other than that, we got our glider and ottoman last night, but Ken had tennis, so we'll have to wait until this weekend to put it together. Once we get that done, the nursery will be pretty much finished. Just the crown molding, a couple of wall shelves and a rug, but those can all wait until after she gets here if we don't get a chance to get it done. It's not like she'll be in there full-time right after she comes home. And it's not like she cares if her room has crown molding or not. :)
My replacement turned in her 2 weeks notice at her current job, so she's going to be starting full-time on April 9. We'll work together for 3 weeks, and then I think my last day at work is going to be May 4, which is the day after I hit 38 weeks. I'm sure I could work up until I deliver, but I've been working overtime to save up some hours to use, and I think it'll be nice to have a little break before she gets here.
Speaking of, I should probably get back to work ... I can't afford to get fired, yet.
Wouldn't you know it ... when I'm almost finished making the crib bumper, I find something I like better. Mom and I went to USA Baby on Friday afternoon after my doctor's appointment, and there it was. So ... being the wonderful mom that she is, she asked me if I liked it better than what I was making, and when I said that I did, she bought it!
It's the Turtle Bay Collection by CoCaLo, and I love it!
Close-up of all the different patterns and colors:
The crib bumpers are so soft and cushy (but not too cushy!)
Oh, the sheet hasn't been washed, so that's why I haven't put it on the bed, yet. Plus, we still need a mattress pad.
Luckily, the bedding matches the paint we had already picked. Ken said, "We need something on the walls," so that will be our next project. Our glider and ottoman should get here any day now, so once we get it together, the furniture part will be complete and we can worry about wall decorations and rugs.
I know we can't leave the quilt on the crib, so I was thinking we could hang that behind her crib, but I also think that we'll use it a lot for her to play on while she's on the floor. Hmmm ... decisions, decisions.
Ooooh, while I have my flickr account open - here are my ultrasound pictures from Friday (31w)
Emma's profile
And cute head-on shot (I labeled for clarity)
Everything is still looking good - she's currently breech (I was dead wrong about how she was laying!) but we're not concerned about that right now. They'll check her position again at 36 weeks, and if she's still breech, then we'll work on doing some exercises to get her to move into position naturally. No worries.
She is measuring right on schedule, and my weight gain is also right on target. Really, it couldn't be more perfect and boring, which we're very thankful for!
She moves almost constantly and she's pretty much always in the head down position. I can tell because I feel tickly hands in my lower belly and kicks against my right side. Last night, she was transverse (across my belly), but that only happens rarely these days.
It seems like just yesterday, we were getting married ...
and now we only have 9 weeks left until we meet our baby girl!
Here's what we've done in the past couple of weeks:
+ I started working on the crib bedding, and I have all of the crib bumper pieces sewed together. I should be able to finish that up this weekend, and then I'll start on the crib skirt.
+ We shopped for and bought our dresser/changing table combo, and then I put it together. I really love it - it's not too small but not too big, either. We'd like to eventually have an armoire, but that can obviously wait until she's older.
+ Rob and Katie gave us a super nice jogging stroller and an adorable little wagon for E, so we are excited about being able to use those! Ken is, of course, looking forward to using the jogging stroller a lot.
+ We've done a lot of car shopping, and he still hasn't decided. I can't blame him ... buying a "family" car is tough for someone who has always either driven a truck or a sports car. I have a feeling I'll come home from Georgia on Saturday to find something new sitting in the driveway.
I've got tons of vacation pictures, but I'm still trying to figure out the easiest way to share them, so I'll probably do that this weekend.
Man, I remember thinking I was big at 9 weeks ...
HA! Little did I know!!
Things have been very busy at work this week, and after pulling a 12-hour day yesterday, I am so ready for our vacation. My replacement started part-time this week, and she'll be working 4 full days next week while I'm out of the office, so I'm eager to see how she does. Training has been a little slower than I expected, but we have plenty of time to cover everything, so I'm not worried. There were definitely times where I felt like saying, "Speed it up!!" I just have to remember that not everyone is as smart as me. [that was sarcasm]
Today, I am 28 weeks along ... which means I am in the 3rd trimester. I cannot believe time has flown by so fast! Emma has turned into a very active baby, and she moves and kicks almost constantly. In the last couple of weeks, her movements have gone from, "Aw, she's kicking. That's so cute." to "Holy crap, Emma. That hurts!!" From what I can tell, she likes laying on her side across my belly while kicking the fire out of my right side. Sometimes, I feel like she's trying to get out. After reading about the world's most premature baby to survive, I don't want her coming out anytime soon!
Ken is my vitamin monitor, and he makes sure that I take my Flinstones chewables and fish oil every day. We also give the fish oil tablets to the dogs for healthy skin. It's supposed to help with shedding, but we haven't really noticed a huge difference. Honestly, with three dogs who all shed a lot, I don't know if we'll ever have a time where we don't have to vacuum on a daily basis.
Thank goodness for our Swiffer Sweep and Vac - I am a walking commercial for this thing. It is most definitely the best invention ever for hardwood and/or linoleum floors.
Anyway, we have one upstairs and one downstairs, and it is 10,000,000 times better than just a regular Swiffer Sweeper. It rocks my world.The Swiffer SweeperVac is the best of both worlds. It has the Swiffer dry cloth to pick up fine debris like dirt, dust, and pet hair, paired with a vacuum to pick up larger particles. In one powerful step, Swiffer SweeperVac gets it all—big and small. It is lightweight, compact and allows you to clean around furniture and appliances with ease.
Unlike traditional methods of cleaning, Swiffer SweeperVac doesn't require any vacuum bags. The canister can be removed with the push of a button to easily dispose of dirt, dust and larger particles.
So we're leaving for Orlando on Saturday morning, and I am so excited. I used to be most excited to be going somewhere warm, but since it's in the low 70's here today, I can't complain about our weather anymore. We still have a lot to do before we leave, but I'm really glad we have this opportunity for one last trip ... just the two of us.
Since we won't be hitting up many of the parks, I'm looking forward to getting out and exploring the things we've never seen before. For instance, we might get a chance to go to Blue Springs State Park to see the manatees. I adopted a manatee in 2006, but I'm not sure where he lives. It would be neat to be able to see him! And I've also never been to the Kennedy Space Center, so that is on my must-do list while we're down there.
Anyway, I'll post my 28w belly shots tonight, but then I probably won't be back online until we get back. Ken will have his work laptop, so we'll be able to check email, but I don't plan on spending lots of time surfing the net since we can do that while we're at home.
We're planning on coming back Thursday, so we'll "see" you then ... with loads of pictures, I'm sure.
