31 days to go

    It's only 31 days until I reach my due date - a little over 4 weeks. That still sounds like such a long way to go. We've been working really hard on the nursery. I gave up on keeping my plans secret from Michael because I really love his input and opinions on things. I mainly just like it when he validates or supports my ideas and it's fun to have someone to get excited over fabric swatches with. :-) We got the crib set up last night. The nursery closet is all organized. We really just have a few finishing touches. I'm working on a wall collage to go above the dresser/changing station and a mobile to hang above the crib. I've got to whip up some curtains too.

    We went to Babies R Us last week and purchased a travel system - a car seat, stroller and base. We needed to have a car seat to take with us to our Car Seat Basics class next week. I've had my eye on this particular travel system for a while. I'm glad we were able to get exactly what we wanted. I just didn't want anything with plastic tires. 

    We also purchased a baby monitor. We've been using it to spy on Luna while we're out of the house since we can both check it from our phones. Our puppy is seriously adorable. Gosh. We sound like creepy parents. 

Baby Shower #1

    Baby shower #1 was a complete success. I'm so grateful to my wonderful sister-in-law and future stepmom and stepsister for all of the planning and work they put it to make it such a fun night. I'm also grateful that my girlfriend was able to travel with me even though she was so sick. She showed up at my house Monday morning and she sounded like she had a death rattle but she was so gung-ho about coming and I couldn't talk her out of it. It was actually a perfect arrangement. I'm big and lazy wanted to spend a good deal of time just lounging around the hotel watching HGTV and since she was sick she wanted to do the exact same thing. It was a very relaxing trip. 

    I spent most of yesterday washing all of the baby clothes we have for Emerson and setting up the nursery. I'm not kidding when I say that this little boy has more clothes than his parents combined. He will never have to wear anything twice. I bought 80 nursery hangers and we are using every single one of them. And that's just for onesies and tops. He has an entire drawer full of pants, a drawer full of socks, a drawer full of pajamas and a drawer for just his hats. I bought a few outfits for him when I first found out we were having a little boy. My mother-in-law took me out shopping to pick out a couple of cute things before we moved. I received mostly clothing at the baby shower this past week and Michael's friend gave us two bags full of newborn - 3 month old clothing yesterday. This kid does not need any more clothes!!! Seriously. This picture does not do it justice. This is only half of his closet. And he has almost an entire dresser full as well. 

    How do you politely suggest that people stick to your registry when buying you gifts? Because I never realized the importance of buying off of someone's registry before I got married and especially now that I'm pregnant. We need so many other things besides clothing for our little guy. We need a changing pad, a diaper pail, bottles, an infant bathtub, a diaper bag, etc. Babies just require so much stuff!!! 

    I need to get a couple of things for myself before the big day as well. While we were in the Tri-cities, I was able to pick out my labor outfit. I really don't want to wear a hospital gown. One of our homework assignments in our Childbirth Prep class was to find a comfort item to pack in our hospital bag so I also went to Bath & Body Works and picked out a really good smelling lotion that I can hopefully talk Michael into massaging onto me during labor. It's really getting close now. I'm only 5 weeks away from my due date! 

    Emerson's so big that now I can see him move from the outside. It's like watching a creepy alien movie. I'll just sit and stare at my stomach for 20 minutes at a time just to catch a glimpse of it. Pregnancy really is a remarkable thing. 

    I'm trying to really enjoy this quiet time I have with Luna before the baby comes. I know that she's going to have a pretty hard adjustment period because she is used to a lot of attention. We took her to the groomers yesterday morning. She handled it really well. I'm not sure I like her new haircut. She looks more terrier than ever now. I kind of miss her mangy dog look. It made her look more like a puppy. Now she looks like a big, grown up adult dog. I just love her to death!

My Baby - My Birth Plan

    I've finally finished writing up my birth plan! I'm keeping this one kind of close to the chest. There have been quite a few well-intentioned friends and family who have shared their opinions on a myriad of different things trying to sway me one way or the other - natural childbirth vs. epidural, circumcision, vaccinations, co-sleeping, pacifiers, breastfeeding vs. formula, prenatal testing, cord blood banking, placenta encapsulation, labor practices and techniques, you name it! I've had people ask me to watch videos, read articles and check out books that are either pro this or anti that. I even had a discussion with a friend that turned rather sour when I told her my views on a certain subject and she told me that I should go pray about it because I obviously wasn't making the right decision. Really?!
    Michael and I have talked a lot about all of these things lately and have come to a decision together on what will be best for our child. I'm so glad that we are on the same page with everything. Even though we hadn't planned on having a baby this early in our marriage I am so grateful that we talked about these kinds of things long before I was ever pregnant. We have always seemed to agree when it comes to what kind of parents that we want to be and how we would like to raise our children. I think that is so important.
    Today I'm packing to go on a little road trip with one of my girlfriends. We're leaving for my hometown tomorrow to attend a baby shower being thrown by my brother's cute wife and my dad's fiance. I'm really looking forward to the quality girl time. We'll be out of town for the next three days. It'll be weird to be away from Michael that long. We do everything together. The longest we've been apart since we've been married is no more than 24 hours. I wonder how he'll get along without me. I'm leaving the puppy at home to keep him company. She'll love all of the one on one attention with him!
     As soon as I get back, I'm meeting up with another great friend of mine and we're going to drive down south towards Seattle and finally pick up the crib that Michael and I bought weeks ago. We're going to spend the day oogling cute baby stuff and catching up. I'm so grateful that Michael and I were able to move back to the northwest and be closer to our friends!!!
    I've been working on a lot of cute nursery projects lately. Michael has given me full creative control and I'm just running with it (for those of you who know Michael, this is such a big deal). I've banned him completely from the nursery until I'm finished. I want him to be surprised. I can't wait to get that crib in there and set up! It's the last piece of furniture we need. The rest is all decorative fluff - isn't that the best part though?!
    Finally, saw this cute picture on Facebook and I just had to share. My sister-in-law has started reading "The Happiness Project" and I'm so excited to have someone to talk about it with!

Child Birth Prep Part I

    I was able to meet my sister-in-law and her friends for dinner last night which was very fun and also very informative. They have all had at least three kids and have been through pregnancy, labor and birth many times before. I got a lot of insight and advice. I love candid conversations about things like  this and they were so respectful. They didn't try and scare me but they were completely honest. It was so great. I felt like I learned more about labor in just an hour of chatting over mexican food than I've learned from any book.
    Michael and I attended the first 4 hour portion of our child birth preparation class this morning. It was interesting. I felt like the instructor spent the first half of the class talking about late pregnancy. I don't really need to be educated on what I'm currently experiencing on a daily basis. There was also a large amount of time spent covering pre-term labor - information that was very vague. A "you could be in pre-labor if . . . but it could also be nothing" type thing. The second half of the class was much better. She got down to the nitty gritty stuff - all the of stages of labor. I like that she broke it all down with an expected timeline and everything. She also brought up a lot of things I had never thought of. I felt very encouraged to work on improving my birth plan and change a couple of things that I had originally thought that I wanted. I've realized that I'm way more openminded than I thought.
   Michael really was a trooper throughout the whole morning. He got up with me and did every exercise, no matter how awkward, that the instructor encouraged us to try. We both felt a little silly when I was on the floor on all fours practicing relaxation techniques while he rubbed my back but he went for it anyway. He sat through 4 hours of class early on a Saturday morning after he had worked until 10pm the night before and then he went straight to work right after class to close again. He has to be to work at 8am tomorrow morning. Husband of the year award to the man who gave up a lot of his precious sleep to be a supportive birth partner!!!

DISHWASHER DAY!!!

    We are so incredibly grateful for our current living situation. We're living in Michael's parents' vacation home while they are still serving their mission in St. George. We've been keeping an eye on things here for them and in exchange we get to live in a gorgeous house on a gorgeous lake and we wake up to beautiful views every morning. We are so blessed!!! Michael took this picture from our dock just last week. 

    Today is dishwasher day! The new dishwasher was delivered and installed this morning! I could hardly sleep last night I was so excited! No more hand washing! No more streaks or spots! As soon as the plumbers left I was dancing around the house with joy. Here it is. Feast your eyes on this beauty!!!  

    Now neither of us will gripe about having to do the dishes! I mean, I'll even fight him to let me do them all! :-) I've been trying to dirty up enough dishes this morning to run the first load. 

Praise and Appreciation

    I got a call from my OB's office this morning. My appointment for tomorrow had to be cancelled. Apparently my doctor had a family emergency and will be out of town for an undetermined amount of time. This is kind of freaking me out. We're getting down to the wire. I'm nearly 34 weeks. The nurse who called set me up to meet with a different doctor at a completely different location. I'm okay with this if it is just the one time but pretty soon I'll be needing to go in to be seen weekly and it sounded like they're going to bounce me around to whoever is available until my OB is back. This means I could potentially see up to 3 or 4 different doctors between now and then - if she comes back at all. Should I try and find a new doctor this late in the game? Not so happy about all of this. . .
    Since I'm trying really hard this month to be happier in my marriage I've had to work really hard on not dumping on Michael. I'm letting a lot of late pregnancy jitters get to me. The pregnancy website I've joined has really been a god-send. It's nice to know that a lot of other pregnant women are feeling the same things I'm feeling.
    The rest of my happiness project is going very well. We did have kind of a rocky start to the month when the dishwasher broke. If you've been reading my blog recently you know that dishes are my biggest pet peeve and hardest thing for me not to nag Michael to help me with. Neither of us like hand washing dishes and the dishwasher did quite a number on most of them - leaving soap scum baked onto every surface. I had to soak each dish in a concoction of hot water, vinegar, lemon juice and lemmeshine and it still didn't get them as sparkling clean as I would have liked. I've really let the housework slide lately because I hate having to face a sink full of dishes that I can't just pop into the dishwasher and walk away from. We're getting a new dishwasher installed on Friday and I've been counting down to it like it's Christmas. What's really been great about this whole situation though is Michael has really stepped it up. Maybe it's because we've been discussing my happiness project and my feelings about the dishes and how hard I've been trying not to nag but he's really been a great help. I woke up this morning to him hand washing the dishes all by himself!!!
    Another more subtle benefit of working on my resolutions this month has been the open communication between us that just seems to be improving everyday. For example, one of my resolutions is to not expect praise or appreciation but to be pleasantly surprised when it happens naturally. In doing this, I've noticed that I have been taking more time to praise and appreciate all of the things Michael does which has effectively helped shape his behavior and communication with me. Let me explain. Yesterday, while we were driving through Seattle I made the comment to him that I really appreciated that he always keeps his cool when driving through heavy traffic. As I was growing up my dad always seemed to get very angry whenever we would run into any kind of traffic or construction and his bad mood would greatly sour the mood of the rest of us for the remainder of the car trip. Michael mentioned that he appreciated that I made that comment to him as it helped him to remain cool and collected because he knew it was something that really mattered to me. I didn't realize that a comment so small could affect him like that. He took pride in the fact that I trusted him to navigate us through downtown Seattle without incident or outburst. He appreciated me for appreciating him. Awesome!
    I'm really liking this month! I feel like I'm learning a lot about who I am and who Michael is and how to better communicate and work as a team. Didn't someone write a book about love languages? I should look into that because I think I'm coming close to really understanding what my love languages are - how I like to show love and receive love - and Michael is making more and more sense to me every day. We've been together as a couple for 2 1/2 years and I'm still learning so much about him.

Seattle Family Day Trip

    Michael and I decided to spend his day off in Seattle today. We wanted to do several things that were fairly inexpensive and close in proximity to each other because I'm not much for walking long distances these days. We headed out this morning and took our adorable little puppy with us.
    We started at Pike's Place Market and visited the gum wall. There's a lot of strange smells in that place. Not really conducive to the pregnancy super sniffer. It wasn't too crowded though and we had a lot of fun looking around all of the little shops.

    After walking through the market we made it down to the waterfront. Michael was really excited to take a ride on the Seattle Great Wheel. It turned out to be my favorite part of our day. I was afraid they wouldn't let me on because I look like my water could break at any second but we were able to get on without a problem and we even got a gondola all to ourselves. The views were amazing! 

    We decided to go grab our car and catch a ferry to Bainbridge island. Neither of us had ridden the ferry in years. We were a little unsure of how the process works and felt pretty brave for just going for it. It was a lot of fun. There were a lot of friendly people on the ferry. We had one guy ask us about our car. He even asked to see the inside. It just confirmed what we already know - our Nissan Versa is pretty awesome. We had another guy ask us a lot of questions about Luna. He pulled out his phone and showed us a couple of pictures of his new puppy who is also name Luna! What a coincidence! 

   After walking Luna around a waterfront park on the island, we grabbed dinner at a cute little Thai place that was right on the marina. We made it just in time to catch the ferry back to Seattle and then headed home. 

    Fantastic day. 

NIght Terrors

    For the most part, my pregnancy has been pretty smooth sailing. I do seem to get every common symtom in the books right on time but none of them have been too terrible. I lived through morning sickness, swollen feet, coma-like fatigue, stretch marks, acne, constantly having to use the bathroom, crazy emotional roller coasters, shortness of breath  - you name it. But the worst, the absolute worst, pregnancy related discomfort for me has been the heartburn.
    I had never had heartburn before I got pregnant. Ever. Which is so strange because I lived for spicy food. Whenever we would go to a restaurant I would ask for my food to be made as spicy as possible. Bring it on. The condiment collection in our fridge door was 90% hot sauce and I would put it on EVERYTHING.
    Let me just say this, heartburn is miserable. It feels like your whole chest is on fire. It is really bad when I am trying to sleep. I keep TUMS on my nightstand and use them frequently throughout the night. My OB had me taking Zantac twice a day to control the amount of stomach acid my body produces in the hopes that it would help. It wasn't as effective as she hoped so she switched me over to Prilosec which is suppose to be stronger. I frequently have to try to sleep sitting up because I can't lay flat without being jolted awake when stomach acid makes it's way up my esophagus and into my mouth. It's terrifying waking up thinking that you're vomiting.
    Two nights ago, I inadvertently inhaled stomach acid into my lungs while I was sleeping. I woke up choking. My throat literally felt on fire. I coughed and coughed and coughed and couldn't catch my breath. I coughed so hard that I threw up. I felt like I had been kicked in the chest. I woke Michael up and he gave me a priesthood blessing. I started to cry but then realized that crying took too much air and I wasn't getting enough as it was. I was wheezing for every breath. I literally sounded like a squeaky dog toy every time I would inhale and exhale. I was so scared. I coughed and threw up some more. I tried bending over to clean it up and it just made me throw up again. Poor Michael. That man has had to do some unspeakable things to take care of me throughout this pregnancy. He was on his hands and knees cleaning up after me. What a great husband!
   We considered going to the emergency room. I decided to try and stick it out for half an hour to see if it would improve on it's own. I eventually stopped throwing up and instead started hacking up large amounts of yellow phlegm from my lungs. After a while I was able to get in some deep breaths but I still sounded wheezy with every exhale. I sat up in the living room watching Netflix for another 3 or 4 hours until I eventually felt like I could try going back to sleep. I took some OB approved cough medicine and a sleeping pill and slept for most of Sunday morning and afternoon.
    It's been almost two days and I still have pretty wet sounding coughs. I've been scared to go to sleep. I did some research and most of what I read said that taking a long walk helps your digestive track get things moving and can reduce heartburn. I've also read that it's a good idea not to eat anything 3 or 4 hours before bed. Tried it last night and it seemed to help. Hoping that that's the last time something like that happens!!!

    In lighter news, Luna lost a baby tooth. Now, we realize that she's just a dog and it shouldn't be as exciting as it is but we feel like our little baby is growing up. I took her out and got her a new little toy today. I felt like a doggy tooth fairy. We just love her so much. It's slightly embarrassing. 

Childbirth Education

    Michael and I just registered for childbirth education classes offered at the hospital where we plan on having our son. We were able to get into all of the classes that we wanted. I was worried that we had waited too long and that it was too late to get it all done before my due date but luckily we know the lady who coordinates all of the classes and she was able to get us in to all of our first choices. We're going to have a busy couple of weeks. It'll be interesting to see how we can make this work with only one car. There are classes that we are going to go to together but Michael's work schedule makes it hard for him to make it to all of them so I will be attending a few on my own. He should be able to make it to all of the vital ones.
     Here's our crazy baby prep education schedule:

     February
     16th - Childbirth Preparation Part
     23rd - Childbirth Preparation Part II

     March
     4th - Infant Safety & CPR
     6th - Feeding Your Baby
     7th - Carseat Basics
     12th - Newborn Care
     14th - Tour of Birthing Center
     19th - Practical Skills for Labor

     We decided to splurge and go for the Special Delivery Club Membership because we're overzealous first time parents and want to be totally prepared. This actually gave us access to be able to take any of the classes we wanted without having to pay an individual fee for each. It ended up saving us $35. Good deal. It also includes a special delivery gift for the baby (?) and a 1 month membership to the Living with Baby Group (a group that meets weekly for moms and babies based on age) which is something I would love to participate in anyway. It'll be a great way for me to meet new people and make friends who are at a similar stage in their lives. Really looking forward to that. Lastly, it includes a 1 hour tour of the birthing center whereas if you aren't a member you only get a 30 minute tour. We also get refreshments apparently. How fancy!
     I'm really excited to take all of these classes (even if some are a little silly - Carseat Basics?!) because it is all starting to feel very real. This is really going to happen. We are really going to be parents!

Spending Quality Time

    Michael and I have really been trying to make time to spend quality time together lately. (Happiness Project anyone?) Sometimes this just means getting out of the house without the puppy. Or going out together as an entire family.
    For the past two days we've been going out together to a local trail where Luna and I will walk while Michael does some running. It's not exactly spending time together since Michael is running laps around us while we kind of do our own thing but it's really been a lot of fun. Luna loves to get out and explore and I can certainly use some exercise of my own. Even though we're all going for separate reasons and going at different paces it's a fun activity we can do as a family and it gets us out of the house. It also is an activity that doesn't cost us any money. Big bonus.

    Luna is absolutely adorable. She has a serious panic attack when Michael starts running away from us when we're out on our walks. The first time we went out she took off running after him and kept pace with him halfway around the lake before Michael turned around and ran her back to me. We usually don't put her on a leash and she completely ignored my calls for her to come back. Lesson learned. A leash is a good idea at least until Michael is out of sight.
   Luna seriously LOVES her daddy. She just kinda likes me. She always comes when Michael calls. She basically flies at him when he gets home from work and covers him in kisses. While Michael is gone she will prop her front paws up on the ledge of the window next to the front door and look for him or she'll lay by the front door and wait for him. If she has to choose between cuddling with me or cuddling with him she always chooses him. I hate to admit, but sometimes I get a little jealous of her. She totally has her daddy's heart.

The Nesting Bug

    I am really eating my words. I know I originally wanted to make all of Emerson's bedding because I couldn't find anything I liked that was prefabricated BUT as I was finishing my baby registry yesterday I came across the CUTEST nursery bedding that I've ever seen. Let me start out by saying that Michael and I are owl people. We love owls. We have owl decor in our guest bathroom. We have owl ornaments for our Christmas tree. I made Luna a couple blankets that have owls on them. We are decorating Emerson's nursery with owls. My close friend and my sister-in-law are throwing me a baby shower that is owl themed. As I was registering I found a ton of cute owl things. Owl toys, owl plates, owl bookends, an owl clock, an owl throw pillow, an owl humidifier - I mean, come on!
   I've decided that I just have to have this bedding. I have to have it. I mean, look at it! Couldn't you just die?!

                           

    I'm obviously nesting. Big time. I'll go sit in the nursery when Michael isn't home and just imagine the way I want it to be. It feels so surreal that soon there will be a little person occupying that space. A little person that is half me and half Michael. And our full responsibility. I've taken the time to read a lot of books about pregnancy and labor & delivery and childhood development & care and I still feel like I know absolutely nothing. 

    It's times like these that I get a little sad that I can't talk to my mom. She always knew the right thing to say to me to make me feel better and she was always so confident in me. I do have an incredible mother in law though. Really, she's perfect. And she's been a great source of information and comfort throughout my entire pregnancy. I really miss living near her. She's going to be able to fly up here when Emerson is born which will be such a blessing. 

    Hmmm. I feel like the nursery is calling me now. I think I'll go curl up in my big comfy chair and read another chapter in "Your Baby's First Year." Perfect Sunday evening. 

Baby Business

    Luna's allergy symtoms haven't seemed to get any better even with the twice daily dose of Benadryl. She's kept me up all night with her scratching. It shakes the whole bed. And she's demanded to be taken out twice in the middle of the night. Michael is, of course, oblivious to all of her late night shenanigans as he could sleep soundly through the apocalypse. So here I sit at 6am trying to not resent him for sleeping so peacefully while I feel wide awake even though I've hardly slept all night.
    I've spent most of my early morning contemplation reflecting on the last couple of days. Some of it has been pretty rough. Came to some pretty stark realizations and learned some pretty hard lessons. Not all bad. For example, I've realized that I would do absolutely anything for my unborn son. No. Matter. What. I've also been reminded to be grateful for everything and everyone that I have in my life. And that it is okay to ask for and accept help when you need it. Lastly, I've learned that DTAP shots really really hurt. For like days and days after you get them. Ouch!
    I had an OB appointment on Thursday. Pretty routine. My doctor said that I passed the glucose test I took last time I was in her office. No gestational diabetes for me! I'm measuring right where I should be. Emerson's heartbeat sounds great. He's got a little bit of an attitude. He kicked the doctor's hand away when she was taking measurements. He's very active. Pretty much all day and all night. He's still performing a lot of acrobatics in the there - somersaults and cartwheels and back-hand springs. I don't mind. I love feeling him move. It's my favorite part of being pregnant.
    Michael and I really like our OB. We had a great doctor in St. George but he wasn't as sympathetic to my pleas for symtom relief. Our new doctor is an older lady who is absolutely fantastic about fixing problems. "You have horrible heartburn?! Let's remedy that ASAP!" She's been around the block and she gets it.
    We're going to sign up for a birthing class this month. I'm excited to get Michael into a room where he has to listen to all things labor and delivery because he hasn't read a single pregnancy book I've tried pushing on him. I'll throw facts at him every once in a while but he seems pretty content to let me get excited and nervous enough for the both of us. Sometimes it really bothers me. But then there are the times when he reaches over and rubs my belly or leans in to talk to our son that really make me incredibly happy.
    I've been working on a quilt for Emerson. It's the first one I've ever made so it's definitely not perfect but I'm pretty proud of how it's turned out so far. I still have to add batting and backing and free motion stitch them together before I add binding. I didn't use any kind of pattern. Just kind of made up what I thought would look good. Michael and I had a fun time picking out the fabric to use. I don't like most of the crib bedding that I've seen in stores or online so I thought it would be nice to make all of his bedding myself. I've got all of this time on my hands and working on the nursery has been a great reliever of boredom.
    It's hard to believe that I still have 2 months left before he's born. I feel like I can't possibly get any bigger or stretch any more. I've gone back and looked at pictures of me before I was married and I was so tiny! It's almost impossible to imagine that I'll ever look that way again. Yesterday Michael and I went shopping for a skirt I can wear to church and as I was in the fitting room trying on a couple of options I'd picked out I looked in the mirror and realized that I have fat girl calves. That's right. I said it. Determined to work hard to get my skinny chicken legs back once Emerson is born. I can see a month dedicated to improving my happiness with my health and body image in my near future. A lot of ideas brewing for that portion of my happiness project that's for sure.