bumps on the road

i left ronnie with our babies at home this weekend

and traveled to st. louis by myself.

one of my gal pal sorority sisters is getting married in may

and her bridesmaids threw her a fabulous shower on saturday night.

i got to hang out with all of my old springfield friends

and catch up on their lives.

i also got to ask a lot of pregnancy/child raising questions

since almost all of them have ventured into motherhood.

this trip gave me a good excuse to go visit marge

in all her pregnant glory.

we painted our nails, watched bad tv and shared one bed.

it was almost like college.

except we added her 18 month old and two pregnant bellies to our duo.

she is two weeks away from her due date with baby boy number two

 and i couldn't be more jealous.

i won't get to see her or her new little one (name still unrevealed)

until my shower at the end of april

so as much as i tried to make her have her baby while i was there,

we're still waiting and she's going to keep him to herself a bit longer.

the road trip there was not good,

lots of back pain.

but the ride home was much better.

and marge's husband is a physical therapist

so i took advantage of his expertise and had him show me

specific exercises he has his pregnant clients do for back pain.

i will be added them to my list of remedies.

cross your fingers.

ps- your comments on my west coast adventure are so helpful.

thank you so much! oregon trail, here we come!

oregon trail

ronnie and i were supposed to be traveling to 

ireland, scotland and england this summer.

but with a new little one on the way,

that trip got cancelled.
wah wah

but we decided that we should at least take some sort of vacation

before our baby comes. just closer to home.

and even if its not europe,

i'm still excited. 

we decided to head to the northwest.

since neither one of us have ever been.

we fly into seattle for a couple of days,

then head south to multnomah falls in oregon

and end on the coast in newport. 

i got the ok from my dr yesterday to travel,

so we are headed out of here in april 

and i can't wait.

here's the thing:

since neither one of us has ever been to this part of the country,

it's hard to plan out our days because i don't know what

is a must see and what i can skip.

has anyone ever been to washington or oregon? any suggestions?

right now, ronnie's only mandatory stop is filson,
(an outdoor clothing store he's obsessed with)

so it's pretty much up to me to come up with fun things to do. 

while we're in seattle i want to see the 

space needle, ride a ferry to bainbridge island and go to pike's place market.

in oregon we're hiking to falls and heading to the beach.

anything else?

let me know if you have suggestions.

thanks!

update: 27 weeks

i'm twenty-seven weeks.

weight? i went for my dr. appointment today and i've gained 15 lbs. which i'm actually really happy with. that puts me on track to gain somewhere between 25-30 lbs. by the time this baby arrives. and that was my goal. i just didn't want to be the girl that gains 80 lbs. and literally rolls into the delivery room.
 



cravings?  sweets and soda.  real healthy.  and while i'm still abstaining from soda for caffeine reasons, the sweets have taken over.  for instance: when i thought i might be snowed in for several days i made a special trip to the grocery store.  not for milk, break or can goods.  no no. for cookies and ice cream.  ronnie couldn't believe what all i came home with. but i made a promise that after next week (which will put me in my 3rd trimester) i will no longer eat sweets either.  it's what i'm referring to as my 3rd trimester diet.  really it's just me focusing on eating fruits and veggies and not sugar. it's going to be hard, but worth it.

side effects? in my 22 week update i talked about my back pain.  five weeks later and i still hate life. but now the pain is not only in my back but my feet, legs and mostly my abdomen. there is no getting comfortable. no great sleep. and no relief.  oh, and brette likes to move around a lot.
a lot.
 so while that's fun to know she's getting bigger, i really don't love the kicks to the stomach.

baby? according to my baby books, brette is now over 2 lbs. the other night i was making dinner and we had packages of hamburger in the freezer and i got out two so ronnie and i could get a better idea of what she weighs. it didn't feel heavy, but considering that's inside me, it definitely looked bulky. which is exactly how i feel. the books also said her hearing is much better and her taste buds are developing so she can taste the difference in what i eat.  but since i hate spicy food, she's really just getting a lot of blandness... and desserts.

preparations? we have started on the nursery!  it's been so much fun.  my love for interior decorating makes me really excited to get to redo the office. (a room i considered done.)  we took the tree decals off the wall, shampooed the carpet, bought a crib, mattress, glider, and rug. brought up the dresser/changing table and hung curtains. i've started ordering some art work for the walls and we're still looking for a light fixture. i picked out everything but the chair.  ronnie really wanted a say in that, so i let him choose.  it worked out, because we both loved the same chair. score. but the fabric wasn't as easy. my preference was more of a bold pattern and he liked a smaller pattern.  i'm trying to pick my battles and let him win some, plus we had been discussing it for an hour and for a non-shopper like me, it was too much.  i threw in the towel and ordered it in fabric he liked. but i did make him get it in my color choice.  hopefully, we put it in the room and i love it so much i completely forget about how much better my fabric would have looked. but i doubt it.                          
 

the best thing? my belly popped so you can officially tell i'm pregnant and not fat. my baby bump is a lot like my boobs.  when i was in high school i can remember trying on my friends' B cup bra and wishing it would fit.  it felt like a week later i was shopping for a D cup.  same with my stomach. I sprouted over night. one week my pants still kind of fit.  now, even ronnie's t-shirts that i sleep in are getting tight.

the worst thing?  how much i hate life most of the day.  (just keeping it real) and i'm in awe of the people that choose to have more than one kid on purpose.  i can't imagine wanting to do this all over again.  i just really want her to be here and for this part to be over.  counting down 13 more weeks.
 

 

so there it is.

me at 27 weeks.

 

 

(17 weeks)

(22 weeks)

(27 weeks)

 

a look back:

week nine

week eighteen

week twenty-two

 

 

 

 

the size of a basketball

do you remember being a little girl

 and stuffing a basketball up your shirt to pretend to be pregnant?

this week, the books say that my uterus is literally the size of a basketball now.

sweet jesus.  this is no longer pretend.

 

and just to prove it,

ronnie and i made our way out of the house

to try something other than renting a movie

and went bowling with some friends.

basketball or bowling ball?
you be the judge.

 

 

 

treatment

 

i've been working out to try to work out some of my pain.

no one told me that pregnancy so physically painful.

sure, i've heard the horror stories about LABOR,

or about how uncomfortable you get in the 3rd trimester.

but my experience has been rather painful from early on.

back.

legs.

feet.

abdomen.

pelvis.

it all hurts.

 

i feel like i might be being a baby,

instead of having a baby.

but i don't care.

this shit hurts.

 

the newest thing i'm trying is yoga.

my sister-n-law gave me two dvds to try.

one is prenatal, the other is for beginners.

i've only done them twice,

but hopefully it helps.

its a lot of stretching and that's what my doctor suggested.

 

i seriously don't know what else i can do.

i'm dreading this spring.

 

pray for me.

 

snow days

 

the massive amounts of snow we've gotten in the last week

has given ronnie and i lots of hours to kill at home.

i decided it was time to turn the office into a nursery.

i don't have before and after pictures yet,

but we did manage to move out all the office furniture

and set it up in the basement.

ronnie and i put together the crib,

move up the dresser/changing table from the basement,

hang curtains.

and overstock.com was having a president's day sale

so i ordered a rug too.

 

(this is a zoom in on the pattern. 
 i loved that it was so colorful and had coral in it.)

 

the only thing we have left to buy besides accessories,

is our rocking chair and ottoman.

we found several online that i like,

here, here and here

but ronnie wants to sit in them before we buy one,

so i'm waiting to hit up some furniture stores.

 

and since i decided against a theme

 i had ronnie removed my favorite tree decals from the walls.

i was sad to see them go,

but i think it saves me from having to commit to trees and birds.

while, i loved that look,

i loved some ideas on pinterest more.

 

 

 

but don't get me wrong,

my two snow days i spent at home was not all work.

we watched movies, read books, ate lots of cookies

and snuggled these babies.

 

i freaking love snow days.

 

 

 

the giving tree

it's kind of amazing to be one of the later girls to have a baby.

one - because i can call a number of girls for any kind of question i might have.

two - because a lot of my friends and family have baby items they are willing to pass down.

 

and that's why i want to give a shout out to all those giving mammas out there helping us out:

 

my aunt mickie is donating her amazing diaper bag that is still in great condition and meets ronnie's stipulations of not looking girly. it's all black, which is totally my style.

 

my sister-n-law and brother are letting us have their bassinet
(which is also my aunt mickie's).
 eden is outgrowing it and its adorable. bonus.

 

my sorority sister, abbey, that was blessed with three little ladies
never used her changing table pad so she offered it up to me.
 and it matches my color palette for the nursery. why, thank you!

 

my long-time roommate, shannon, is giving us her bumbo chair.

my mother-n-law and gma-n-law gave us extra curtains that are nursery perfection.

my lifelong friend, jana, gave me a whole wardrobe of maternity clothes.

 

and

my other college roommate, margie, texts me with coupon sites
and bargain books to keep us from over spending.

 

 

i think ronnie and i are in good hands.

thank you. thank you. thank you.