Eary Morning Sun

We began working on the nursery this week. I assembled a crew of “expert” painters to come and help hubby. We wanted the best, so we sought help from my parents, Tom’s parents, his aunt, brother, sister and her fiancé.

 I’ve found a nursery picture on Pinterest that has been the basis of my inspiration. I’m working with different paint colors to try and match it to the bedding set we chose. We ended up finding the perfect color, a shade of yellow called “Early Morning Sun” by Glidden. The rest of the room will be decorated with pink and green accents.

I also fell in love with the light fixture in the link, and I’m so excited because I found where to buy it. In keeping with my growing belly, things finally seem like they are coming together and we are growing even more excited for the arrival of our baby girl.  

http://pinterest.com/pin/51721095693367414/ - Bedroom Inspiration via Pinterest

When we first found out we were pregnant, we decided to move Evan into the guest room, and make his old room the nursery. We wanted to make the move to the new room a big deal for Evan. Therefore, we decided to paint his room “Star War’s blue” to go with the new theme of his big boy room. He had a blast on painting day, running between the rooms and helping the painters. One of my biggest worries is how the new baby’s arrival will impact Evan, I’m so happy to see him enjoying the process of becoming a big brother.

Fun little fact about baby girl this week, she loves music and she really seems to love it when I sing. I’ve noticed that when I’m singing at church or to music in my car it feels like she’s dancing! J

Marks of Motherhood

Why do they insist on calling them stretch marks? The name just sounds awful. OK. they are awful. But honorable, right? After all, most of us end up with at least a couple after having our precious children. I was lucky that I only ended up with a few after having Evan.

I’m hoping to go through this pregnancy without getting many more. Research says that getting stretch marks is genetic; if your mom has them, you will most likely end up with them as well. Unfortunately, there are few things we can do to prevent stretch marks. The recommendation I’ve been given by my doctor is to gain weight in moderation. In my quest to ward off any unnecessary “Marks of Motherhood,” along with staying active, I’ve bought what I’ve heard is a miracle in a tube. It’s called “Stretch Marks Double Action” by Mustela and I ordered it from Sephora. It has received rave reviews from other moms and I’ve had several people recommend it. I’ll check back in with you after baby girl is born to let you know if it does the trick!

Swaddle Blankets?

Baby girl weighs one pound now! Overall, I have been feeling pretty good, but find that I can get overwhelmed very easily. Just thinking about everything I have to do this month makes me want to crawl back into bed, pull the covers over my head and hide until May. I keep remindong myself that things will slow down once my two big work events are done and I finish my classes for the semester. May cannot get here soon enough. 

I know that pregnancy can cause anxious feelings to surface more than normal, and I have noticed that I am worrying about a hundred little details relating to the baby. I feel pressure to make sure everything is ready for baby girl, even though I am barely halfway through my pregnancy. Evan was born so early that I didn’t even have his crib set, up. While I know that this pregnancy is different, it still weighs on me. I’ve also been worrying about labor. Because Evan’s birth was classified as an emergency, I didn’t have many options. My hope this time is to have a natural birth. The possibility that this might not happen stresses me on top of any normal anxiety about this new experience. The list of worries continues to nag at me, but I will leave it at that for now.

This weekend we went and did some nursery shopping. Baby girl now has a crib to sleep in and we’ve register for baby gifts. We enjoyed looking at all of the different cribs and noticing nursery themes. I can’t wait to get started on setting up the nursery! Hubby was pretty cute during our shopping trip. Word of advice to those who have never gone registry shopping with a guy: always let the guy use the scanner; it makes them feel important and it keeps them busy so you can shop longer. You may end up with a few random items on your list, but you can log into your registry and delete them later. (Not that I have or would ever do this, Honey!)

While we were browsing the selection of blankets, hubby picked up a pack of blankets, looked at me and asked, “Swaddle blankets? What are these for? And, what is a swaddle?” Oh boy, does he have a lot to learn!

The men in my life sure do have a way with words.  Evan made me smile the other day when I picked him up from school. As soon as we got into the car, he looked at me very seriously and said, “Mom, I don’t mean this to be rude, I mean this as a compliment, your stomach looks bigger!” What a sweet big brother he is going to be -- it was exactly what I wanted to hear.

Blueberry Cream Cheese Croissants

We had another great check up this week with our obstetrician Dr. Wesley Hodgson. Baby girl is looking good and all of her measurements are right on track. Whenever I hear him say everything is as it should be, it’s a tangible relief. It’s almost as if I can feel myself letting out a breath I’ve been holding since the last visit.  Evan was born early due to low amniotic fluid and was an emergency C-Section. I’ve been assured that the likelihood of this happening again is very small, but I still can’t help but ask Dr. Hodgson about it at every appointment. Obviously, Dr. Hodgson has done this a time or two before. He seems to understand my anxiety and has done a wonderful job addressing my concerns and questions. We did get to have another look at baby girl this week; she was moving around so much that we had to do an ultrasound to check her heart rate! Hubby and I didn’t mind one bit getting the opportunity to see her again.

The search for a name has started, but for now, we will continue to call her baby girl. It’s been quite amusing looking through the baby name books, and it has sparked several interesting conversations with the hubby. He really likes the more traditional names that have a nickname. On the other hand, I have picked a few that are more unusual, and I like the idea of using the full name. I love that he has been so involved in the whole process (though some of his suggestions have resulted in serious eye rolling on my part)!

Baby girl is on the move! There is nothing quite like it. I can now feel her little pokes and kicks all day long. Saturday morning she actually woke me up because she was so active. Needless to say, I was exhausted the rest of the day but I guess maybe that was her way of preparing me for the future. I still cannot believe that I am over halfway through my pregnancy and I couldn’t be more excited for the next few months.

Fun little fact I learned this week, she can now taste what I eat. She will now probably grow up to love lemonade, blueberry cream cheese croissants and peanut butter cups just like her mommy J.