Random Thoughts

A week or more ago I had a bad dream. It even caused Dave to wake me up and ask if I was OK. So what was so bad about it was that I had this big pencil cup that had compartments for paper clips, rubber bands, push pins, etc AND then someone labeled the compartments with sharpie. This is awful for 2 reasons. Labeling anything with sharpie is awful but then they were also labeled incorrectly with how I usually organized mine.  How many other people would consider a dream like this a bad one?

Wednesday night I had a dream I was trying to clean the house for a party (needs to happen in real life) but in the dream it was a different house. Well instead of cleaning, Dave decided to paint the bedroom and the bathroom. So not only did that make a huge mess and annoy me but he refused to put on a second coat and it was so obvious. Oh man what an annoying dream.  Based on how the walls looked he always went vertical with the roller but half the roller had more paint on it than the other half so the wall just looked bad. It needed another coat to make the thin parts thick and he wouldn't do it. I almost wanted to yell at him when I woke up.

OK the above were both more like 2 weeks ago and 1 week ago.

I've had some weird dreams lately.

I watched a lot of TV Monday night when Dave was out of town and now it's Thursday and I'm still constantly thinking about the show The Fosters. It's quite good. Also I cried so much while watching it. I blame it on pregnancy hormones. Sometimes I swear it wasn't even the least bit sad.

Just so you know I also keep thinking about how awful that pencil/paper clip holder was not only labeled but mislabeled. It still bothers me.

Outfits (September 16-30)

Sept 16 (Jen's shirt, Motherhood Maternity Jeans)

Sept 17 (Target top, Motherhood Maternity Jeans)

Sept 18 (Target top, Asos jeans)

Sept 19 (Jen's shirt, Motherhood Maternity Jeans)

Sept 20 (Jen's top, Motherhood Maternity jeans)

Sept 21 (Target top, Motherhood Maternity jeans)

Sept 22 (Old Navy top, Motherhood Maternity Jeans)

Sept 23 (Target Tank, Natalie's shorts (7th grade))

Sept 24 (Target top, Target non-maternity leggings)

Sept 25 (Jen's top, Motherhood Maternity jeans)

Sept 26 (Old Navy top and jeans)

Sept 27 (Motherhood Maternity dress, Express pre-maternity cardigan)

Sept 27 (Old Navy top and jeans and purse!)

Sept 28 (Target top, Old Navy jeans)

Sept 29 (Old Navy top and jeans)

Sept 30 (Yahoo t-shirt, Old Navy jeans)

More outfit photos. Man some days my facial expressions are rough. Look at that last one there in the Hacker shirt!  What is your favorite outfit or shirt?

31 Weeks (10.26)

I had quite a busy week. I flew bright and early Sunday morning. I also had 3 days of a conference. 

Since I had my shower in PA, I could go through the gifts at home. There were more than I expected based on the cards people gave. A few more gifts even showed up throughout the week. I can't believe how generous everyone is.  

When going through the gifts, there were 2 that I couldn't figure out who they were from. But then later when texting with a friend, I learned. I felt so much better once I knew who sent everything.  I 

On Tuesday, the crib was delivered.  We still need a mattress. We also still need to find a rocking chair we like.

On Thursday and Friday I got some exercise. I got a lot actually.  I want to do even more.  I wish I had a picture of me biking to show how I can still do it even though my belly is so big. As I pedal, I can tell my belly has to move a little. At least I don't have a bike where you have to lean way forward to use the handle bars. I do wish mine could be raised an inch now that I'm pretty pregnant.

Today I spent all day cleaning and getting ready for a shower here tomorrow that I almost forgot to make this post. I actually stayed up way later than I would have because I had to crop the pictures and make the entire post. If I remembered sooner, I would have included a ton of other pictures. 

Here are a few other angles of what I look like. I can tell I'm getting bigger in my thighs and back but you can't seem to tell so much in these pictures.

Size of baby: Bunch of Asparagus, 16.2 inches long from head to heel. My app on my phone says the baby weighs about 3.3 pounds.

Total Weight Gain/Loss:  27.1 lb gain overall. I gained 1.6 in the past week. Those numbers shouldn't really be believed. I had to use a different scale. I'm back to my normal scale so the 27.1 is accurate but the gain since last week is using 2 different scales.

Maternity Clothes:  Same as last week: Mostly. Some t-shirts and hoodies aren't maternity. I also sleep in my yoga pants that aren't maternity. I still wear some non maternity cami's because some maternity shirts are too see through and you can see that seams don't alone. I'm probably really stretching out those cami's

Gender: Girl!

Movement: The amount of movement is crazy. My entire belly will move too. But she only  moves for a few seconds so by the time I tell people to watch my belly move, there is nothing for them to see.  Sometimes she is moving like crazy so I tell Dave to feel and as soon as he sticks his hand on my belly she stops.

Sleep: I woke up once with a baby calf cramp. I've woken up a few times because Poly is sleeping on my chest and I want to turn over so I have to boot her off. Also my shoulder will be in an awkward position because she is cuddled with me so that might wake me up. (This happened before I was pregnant but now she likes to sleep with me even more so it happens more.)  I included a picture from this week but please ignore how messed up my tank top is. (OK I included 2 pictures. One from 10/21 and one from 10/24)

What I miss: Exercising and running. Being able to easily bend over. Eating lunch meat or feta cheese. I didn't realize how much lunch meat was served at conferences or gatherings until I can't eat it.

Cravings: Nothing yet.

Aversions: Nothing really.

Symptoms: My ankles got swollen the one day at the conference along with my fingers. I actually couldn't even get my rings off. Later at night I could, so I took them off. But then I kept forgetting to put them back on so I went an entire day without wearing them!

Best moment this week: Opening the presents that have been hidden in the baby's room. It was a fun time to see so many things. Some surprised me. Some things weren't on the registry.

Looking forward to:  Baby Shower tomorrow. (But I'm also scared about it too)

Exercise:  I walked about a mile on Wednesday going to and from my car. On Thursday I biked  to the train station, walked over a mile to the conference, then did both in reverse.  Friday I did what I did on Thursday + walked .8 mile to DBC and then that .8 mile back to the conference. So essentially I had 6 workouts on Friday.  On Saturday (today), I spent 6+ hours cleaning.  According to my BodyMedia fit I had over 12,000 steps on Friday. I haven't even broken 10,000 steps since September 13. Go me.

Outfits (September 1-15)

I know this is late.

September 1 (Jen's tank, my pre-maternity skirt)

September 2 (Jen's shirt, Asos jeans)

September 3 (Jen's shirt, Motherhood Maternity Jeans (I think))

September 4 (Amazon tank, Express pre-pregnancy cardigan, Motherhood Maternity Jeans)

September 5 (Target top, Motherhood Maternity Jeans)

All bootcut jeans are from Motherhood Maternity. I will quit mentioning that. I did get some Old Navy jeans on September 27 that I ordered on September 20.

September 6 (Target top)

September 7 (Target top)

September 9 (Express pre-pregnancy cardigan, Jen's Tank, Asos Jeans)

September 10 (Dev Bootcamp non-maternity top, Asos jeans)

I slept at the hacker house and only had a top packed. Normally wearing the same jeans and shoes 2 days in a row wouldn't be so obvious.  It was dark by the time I got home so I took my pic inside. Poly was jealous.

September 11 (Old Navy Top)

September 12 (Jen's top) - I forgot to take a pic of me in clothes!

September 13 (Old Navy Top, F21 pre-pregnancy skirt)

September 14 (Target top)

September 15 (Target tank, Express non-maternity cardigan)

I know this is late but I figured I made the collages so I should post them.  If you just look at the day to day evolution, it's hard to tell how much more pregnant I slowly got.

What outfit is your favorite?  All outfits with the red tank top are my favorite. My second favorite is the black tank + sapphire cardigan.  I also enjoy all outfits with skirts but probably because those are more rare.

Baby Shower (10-12-13)

Over a week ago, my mom threw a baby shower for me back in PA. I was there for a week after the shower so I didn't make time to write about it. A few people helped my mom too. (I had thank you cards for them that I left at home and still haven't mailed since I figured I'll just mail them at the same time as I mail all the thank you cards for the shower.)  I'm pretty sure my mom bought so many prizes because she had so much fun going shopping with her friend, Kris, for them all.

I was pretty nervous. I didn't have a bridal shower. At our wedding when we were cutting the cake, we both bolted right after we fed each other a bite because we couldn't handle so many people looking at us. I don't think I handle being the center of attention well. I was stressing out about people staring at me as I opened gifts and stressing out about greeting everyone. I'm fine in a small group but just talking while so many looked was stressing me out. There were 25 people there and I've spoken in front of groups bigger than that many times but this time it wasn't that I was teaching or explaining something but had to say something.

The shower was at Rodney's. We originally wanted it somewhere else, but they were booked. Since we didn't have 40 people, we were in a partitioned part of their main dining room versus the back room.

My mom had purple place-mats. Numerous people asked if we were decorating the baby room in purple. Our bedroom walls are pink and we do have pastels so purple is involved, but really purple is my favorite color so I bet my mom picked purple for that reason. Judy made the favors for everyone. Aren't those little chocolate bottle lollipops cute? Judy ended up getting sick and was unable to make it to the shower.  Judy also made white and pink heart candies for on the tables.

My mom made place cards for people that helped the servers. They were color coded based on which food choice everyone ordered. It helps the servers out but also some people might like all the choices so then they forget what they order. This way they don't have to remember.  There were 2 long tables set up but also some booths. There were more settings than we'd have people. I think my mom requested that so as I walked around to talk to people, I would have a seat to sit in. I did talk and socializing standing but got to sit a good amount. I'm glad I did or I would have gotten so light headed.

My parents ordered the cake and didn't know what the decorations would be. Who knew I'd match the cake so well. The cake was pumpkin with a cream cheese icing. It was good. I ate 2 pieces. My mom kindly gave me her piece. My initial piece was a corner so I ended up leaving a ton of icing on the plate. I don't know how people can eat so much icing.  In the background of the pictures are gift bags my mom had with the prizes people would get.

Some attendees

We didn't play games. Instead people wrote parenting advice on an index  card and every couple presents/cards, my mom would pull and index card out and that person would win a prize. She has a lot of prizes and if someone didn't get a prize, then at the end they got to take a center piece candle. I'm not used to everyone getting something at a shower. Granted I've only been to a few in my life, but I have worked a ton over the years at Chesterfields.

Opening presents was a little odd at this shower since people shipped gifts to our house. Not everyone brought a card. We got a decent amount of gift cards.  We got some books along with gift cards. They can easily fit in a suitcase.  My aunt was disappointed she didn't get to buy a gift  when she saw a few gifts there so then a few days later when I saw her she gave me a bag with some cute clothes in it. I'm getting excited for the girl clothes, bows, and headbands. I'm not used to seeing girl stuff.

My mom crocheted and knitted a few things. It must have taken her forever. The little hats are just so cute. The dress or is it a jacket dress is the same pattern as one I had as a baby. I need to have her dig up a picture of me in it. I hope she took one. At least I was the 2nd kid and not the 3rd or I would know there's no picture of me in it.

Kris made a diaper cake. I was shocked how much is in those. I never saw one up close before.  I took a picture of everything as I disassembled it but it ended up blurry so I took a new one at home. I did not include all the diapers but look at everything that was hidden in the cake.

The shower was over in record time since there weren't many real presents to open. It started at 1 and actually there were lots of delays with the food being delivered and the cake being delivered and yet we were done by 2:45. I forced some people to take pictures before we left.  Dave showed up at 3. I think my mom thought that we would still be opening gifts but instead we were done so he didn't know what to do. I told him to sit down and talk to people he knew. Then he got disappointed that they left shortly thereafter. He just got there so barely got to socialize.

I talked to everyone a little but wish I had more time to talk to everyone. I'm so glad that so many were able to make it out. I'm sad that a few got sick. I think there were 3 out sick. Well I'm sad they got sick but glad they had the courtesy to not show up and get me sick.  Seeing everyone just made me realize how much I miss everyone.

I didn't post all the pictures. You can view them on my picasa.

Photo Credits: Lori Sherbondy (all the pictures that are square), I took some of the room, and different friends shared other photos.

10.2 - Poly loves me

Poly loves me so much today. So much purring. So much cuddling. So much rubbing her face on mine but that one is killing my allergies.

These are not even half the pictures of her loving me throughout the day. She does this most days anymore. She never used to do it so much. I thinks he really just likes the baby in my belly versus liking me.

30 Weeks (Oct 19)

Since I'm not home again, I don't have all my original files to make new collages that look right. You just have to scroll a lot now.

I got the pictures from my baby shower.

My cobalt jeans got a lot tighter this week. My Old Navy Jeans aren't the least bit too tight though.

Sometimes my belly will be exposed below a shirt and above pants while I'm lounging around and I don't even notice!  My belly does make a better shelf now for plates.

Dave keeps waking me up in the night because I breathe heavy or something. He says I breathe like Tony Soprano. Over the last few days he has woken up more times based on it. He wakes me up out of my nice sleep each time. I tell him I'm fine.

I was telling my brother things I'm discovering that are hard or just different to do with a belly and he said I tell him like that's news. He said he knew all that.  Bending over to get something that fell to the floor is difficult. It's worse while wearing 4 inch heels. I kind of miss seeing the tops of my pants. I can't sit and cross my legs and slouch to move my head over my plate when eating. I can't think of other things but I do know we mentioned more.  Oh I did complain I had to half lift up my belly to get my leg up to put on the emergency break in my dad's car.

Update: I forgot to mention that above my belly button is popping out so then it almost looks like a big belly button. I added a picture that shows this.

Size of baby: Large Cabbage, 15.7 inches long from head to heel. My app on my phone says the baby weighs about 3 pounds.

Total Weight Gain/Loss:  25.5 lb gain overall. I gained 4.6 in the past week. Those numbers shouldn't really be believed. I had to use a different scale. Last week I weighed myself after my shower.  I do think I gained 6 lbs so far since I've been at my parents. We eat so much. We also exercise so little.

Maternity Clothes:  Same as last week: Mostly. Some t-shirts and hoodies aren't maternity. I also sleep in my yoga pants that aren't maternity. I still wear some non maternity cami's because some maternity shirts are too see through and you can see that seams don't alone. I'm probably really stretching out those cami's

Gender: Girl!

Movement: Same as the last few weeks. I can feel movement. I can hear a heartbeat.

Sleep: This past week was different. The first few days were a little odd without Poly but then I got used to it. I have more room and turning over seems to be easier. Or maybe the mattress is better. Also Dave was in a different bed so I wasn't cramped for room. A few of the days, I had trouble sleeping in the middle of the night because it was so hot. Then finally it cooled off and I was better.  Then Dave started waking me up because of my breathing. The breathing weird or heavy doesn't wake me up but I dislike being disrupted by him talking to me. I've taken a few naps while I've been at my parents.  I finally started having dreams where I have a baby. Or well last night in my dreams, we had 2 babies.

What I miss: Exercising and running. Being able to easily bend over. 

Cravings: Nothing yet.

Aversions: Nothing really.

Symptoms: I can't really think of any this week besides swollen hands and maybe ankles. I forget if my ankles got swollen this week.

Best moment this week: Socializing with everyone I hadn't seen in awhile.

Looking forward to:  Getting home to see Poly. I miss Poly. She was cheating on me the other day and fell right to sleep on Hilary's lap.

Exercise:  I walked 1.1 miles with Dave in 21 minutes on the hills! I don't think I did anything else.