Brianne's Fairy Cute Nursery

I am so happy to finally post Brianne's nursery pictures. Both Jeremy and I put a ton of time into it to make it a great place for her to grow in. This room was made from love!

Here is a list of everything that went into making this room perfect!

• Nursery wall art - hand painted by my girlfriend Heather
• Hanging bookshelves - Ikea spice racks painted white
• Brianne Blocks on top shelf - bought on etsy
• Crib and Dresser - gifts from my parents
• Dresser - created with Ikea Expedit bookcase and drawer inserts. Added Pink glass pulls to make it more baby
• Rocker - Purchased at Value Village for $25, Jeremy painted it and I recovered the back and seat to match the room
• Chevrom Curtains - Fabric bought locally and my girlfriend Heather sewed them into panels so we could hang them with curtain clips
• Butterfly Mobile - bought on etsy
• Closet system - Martha Stuart system at home depot, Jeremy and his dad installed it when they came up for the baby shower
• Closet extras - On the right hand side I hung a ribbon on the wall that keeps all her little flower hair clips, its both functional and decorative

Day 13 Pictures

Here are the pictures we had taken when Brianne was only 13 days old. Compliments to J Shelton Photography.

Day 1 Pictures

A Few Pictures that were taken at the hospital. Compliments to Bella Baby Photography

Brianne's Birth Story

May 16th I was 36 weeks and 6 days.  I hadn't packed my hospital bag yet, it was on my to do list, I hadn't finished the rocking chair for her room, that was scheduled for the next weekend, and I never expected to have my baby 3 weeks early.  I thought for sure she'd be late.  My birth plan was to go with whatever, because my expectations were that I'd go into labor, be in labor for 24 hours or so and end up having a c-section.  I hadn't prepared work for an early departure either, because well...that just couldn't be in my cards.  Boy was I wrong.

I woke up at 4 am on May 16th, I went to the bathroom got back in bed and all of a sudden noticed my underwear was soaking wet.  Weird I thought...it was white underwear, clear liquid, drenched, no smell - yes I checked.  I went to the bathroom again (bright yellow - prenatal vitamins do that to you), changed my underwear, got back in bed and again - drenched.  Something was not right.  So I woke up Jeremy "Honey, I think my water just broke"  That got his attention...no worries I thought, we have time, I'm not in labor.  He had me call the doctor and she instructed us to take a shower, pack our bag and go to the hospital, I was early and the baby needed to be checked.  So we did.  we threw together a bag in about 5 minutes, tossed the car seat into the car, and headed to the hospital.

We arrived at the Overlake birthing center and entered their screening room, they monitored the baby and took a swab to check for amniotic fluid.  The test came back negative.  Negative?  How is that possible I asked?  The nurse told me that it is very common for people near birth to lose bladder control and I probably just peed myself.  Um..no, I totally understand the concept of that happening, but I know the difference between pee and well, not pee.  Well, then she said, it could be a change in mucus.  Um?  that much?  This just didn't seem right.  Either way, I had a doctor appointment that afternoon at 4:30 so they would do more tests then, for now go home.  So we did.

I went home, I changed, and I went to work.  Ya, crazy, I went to work - but this particular week was the announcements at T-Mobile regarding the reorganization, and I had a 9am staff meeting to find out if I had a job or not!  I had to be there...so there I went.  And after my staff meeting (hooray I had a job!), I spent the rest of the day writing up instructions on what to do if I went into labor early.  Things not to forget and I trained my boss on the few things no one else knew how to do...just in case. 

At 4:30 I went to my doctors appointment.  My mom was there because she had come to meet the doctor, something we planned weeks ago.  I told the doctor about what had happened that morning and she gave me the same song and dance, it was probably pee, blah blah blah.  It was NOT PEE!  I felt like screaming...but she would give me a pelvic exam and see where I was.  "Huh, your 2 centimeters dilated" she informed me, and as she took her hand out, it was covered with blood.  "OH" she says "well, maybe you are in labor, let me go get the ultrasound machine" and sure enough, I was low on amniotic fluid.  I'll never forget the smile on her face as she looked at me and said "want to have a baby today?"  LOL....like I had a choice anymore.

I called Jeremy immediately and his response was simply a "seriously?".  He knew she was coming, something I hadn't been ready to accept yet.  I kept asking the doctor, really, we're inducing?  I'm having this baby?  I won't be going to work tomorrow?  It was very unreal.  I was sent over to the hospital for monitoring, allowed to eat around 6pm and then wait.  They wanted to see if I would go into labor naturally, if not they'd be inducing me at 11pm.  The idea was that if I had her the next day she'd be 37 weeks and would not have to go into the NICU.  That is of course assuming she was over 5lbs 8oz...as we know, that was not the case. 

For the first hour or two I spent my time on my work computer, canceling meetings, setting up my out of office, emailing my boss everything he needed and of course letting people know I'd be out.  Jeremy and my mom thought I was crazy, but I knew I had to do it then or I'd never do it, and I would worry...this way all was taken care of.  and what else would I be doing just sitting in a hospital bed anyway?  After that the waiting game commenced.  I never thought birth would be quite like this, when we threw together the hospital bag that morning I hadn't packed things like movies or books, something to waste the time away, so we were stuck with TV and the movies that played - Gnomio and Juliet & the Smurfs...ugh, it was miserable!

I tried to sleep, since I'd been up since 4am, but that just didn't happen.  Around 11pm the nurse came in to start me on pitocin.  Luckily by then I was exhausted and managed to sleep through the first part of labor.  around 3:30am they woke me up to check me and I was 4-5 cm dilated and able to get an epidural.  Since I hadn't felt any contractions yet, and the whole idea of an epidural scared me I said I'd think about it.  a few contractions later I looked at the nurse and said "I'll be getting this anyway won't I?"  she nodded and I asked for the epidural now please.  I only had about 30 minutes of contractions, so I was thinking this whole thing wasn't so bad...lol....

The epidural made one leg pretty numb and the other just slightly numb, I hated it but was glad I still had the use of one leg at least, from my understanding that's not normally the case. It started wearing off around 9 am, at that point we knew little Brianne was kittywompus (yes a technical term) in the womb and we were trying to get her strait.  so they gave me another dose of the epidural, this made both legs numb and I was miserable.  So a few hours later when that wore off, I just let it keep wearing off.  At 12:45 I started pushing, at this point I could feel all the contractions, but I think that's a good thing as I knew when to push and could feel what I was doing.  after 2 hours of pushing the doctor finally came in to check on me.  Yes I know...2 hours?!?  that's what I was saying.  The whole time I kept repeating that the doctor hated me.  Keep in mind this was not my doctor.  she had been on call all night so went home around 7am. 

Anyway, he checked me and told me I had 3 options; keep pushing, try the vacuum, but at this point it was only 50/50 it would work cause she was still far up there, or have a c-section.  Since I'd worked so hard the last thing I wanted was to give up and have the c-section, so I kept pushing.  Another hour went by and I was exhausted, I gave up, lets try the vacuum.  Luckily the last hour of pushing had brought her lower down and it seemed my only issue at this point was getting her over my pelvic bone.  So my room filled up with about 10 people, apparently its precaution when they have to assist like that.  they tried the vacuum twice, both times it popped off her head, and then they tried the forceps, if that didn't work, I was going into a c-section.  But, luckily it did and out she came!  I actually didn't know they were going to try the forceps, they just brought them out after the vacuum didn't work and Jeremy yelled to me - DON'T LOOK!  lol...apparently big metal objects were a scary sight...I only saw a flash of silver, I didn't look.

So 3 hours and 15 minutes of pushing, 3 attempts at assistance and my 5lbs 6oz baby was born.  My doctor informs me that if my 2nd child does not come early, we will be scheduling a c-section.  I guess Brianne just thought to herself, its now or never....smart baby she is! 

Due to her size, she had to go to the NICU for 6 hours, they put her on my belly after birth and let her nurse and lay there for 30-45 minutes or so, then they took her away.  I remember when the NICU nurse came she was talking to me and all I could focus on was the fact that she had two noses and 4 eyes and I was seeing double....yes, it was a good thing they took her, 2 nights of very little sleep and labor, I needed rest.  They bottle fed her in the NICU but when she came back to me 6 hours later we started a feeding process that involved formula in a tube to my breast, this insured that she would not lose to much weight while we waited for my milk to come in.  She latched on right away and was a great eater.  This process took 2 people and lasted 5 days every 3 hours, needless to say that first week was exhausting for both Jeremy and myself.  but in the end her lowest weight was only 5lbs and that was excellent! 

To this day, we have a healthy growing baby girl, who we love sooo sooo much!

Making it to 37 Weeks...barely

So I hadn't updated the blog due to just being so darn busy, I planned on doing it at 37 weeks with a new bump picture as well...but we barely made it there before Brianne decided to make her appearance. (Her birth story will come soon)

A quick recap of the 3 weeks that led to her birth....we had my family shower which was wonderful and the Weavers came into town to visit, so we were able to spend time with them. We also had our maternity photo shoot at gas works park that weekend (photo's to come). The next weekend we had our birthing and infant care classes - very glad to get that done early - please take note! And the next weekend was mothers day. We went out whale watching in Anacortes. A great trip...but before we left Jeremy said to me, are you sure this is a good idea, what if the baby comes early? I laughed and said no way would she come this early....can you say eat my words? 3 days later I was in the hospital and on track to receive my first child. Crazy....



How far along?: 37 weeks

Total weight gain: 30 lbs

How big is baby?: About 19 inches, 6.25 pounds - the length of a swiss chard! Since she was born this day, we do know that 19 inches is correct - but she was only 5lbs 6oz, so little.

Maternity clothes?: Yep, big as could be at this point

Stretch marks?: Managed without anymore.

Sleep?: Same as every week prior.

Best moment this week?: The birth of my daughter.

Movement?: I felt everything the closer we got, she moved my entire stomach you could watch her dance.

Food cravings?: Sweets.

Labor signs?: LOL.

Belly button in or out?: Stayed In.

What I miss: Having time, I feel like there is so much to do and trying to get it all done just takes everything out of you. Hopefully we will be done soon....(my comment from 34 weeks - and its just comical now)

What I'm looking forward to this week: Well it wasn't labor! But mother nature had other plans...

Weekly Wisdom: Pack your hospital bag early, and be prepared for anything.

Milestone: At 37 weeks, full term...and just in time.

34 Weeks!

Jeremy got the seed down in the backyard this weekend - so happy that part is done. Now in 2-4 weeks we should actually have grass in the backyard. I'm so looking forward to that. Our front yard and flower beds in general are a weed nightmare! But that is something I'll have to deal with this summer I suspect. I've tried to get some teenagers to come and weed for me, multiple ones said they wanted to - I'm paying after all! But non have actually shown up to do it. I'm not going to hold my breath...

We did not get the closet system installed though. Jeremy and his dad are going to do that this weekend while his parents are in town to visit and go to the family baby shower. Its the last one, after this I have to take inventory and start picking up all the stuff we will still need when our adorable tiny human makes her appearance. Its crazy to think how much stuff is needed to support a whole nother human being...our little human being. Crazy!

But with the backyard pretty much done, waiting on mother nature now, and hopefully the closet system up this weekend. We only have a messy garage to deal with now. And getting ready for the baby. With 6 weeks left...thats a good feeling, if the garage doesn't get cleaned its not the end of the world after all.

This weekend is going to be crazy busy, Jeremy's parents get in town tonight. Saturday we have our maternity photo shoot in Seattle and then we're going to a friends house for a Crawfish boil! Sunday is the baby shower, Monday we already have dinner plans to celebrate Jeremy's AA degree. And then his parents leave on Tuesday. We will be on the move pretty much every day, I hope I survive it! lol

And ya - did I mentioned, Jeremy's officially done with his schooling! He was able to get a substitute class for his internship credit, since he has 4 years experiance directly in games already, and he filled out the paperwork for graduation last week! I am sooo proud of him, and super happy for him too!



How far along?: 34 weeks

Total weight gain: 25 lbs...jumped up 3 lbs in a week! eeks! I need to get back to my workout schedule.

How big is baby?: About 18 inches, 4.75 pounds - the weight of a canteloupe! Crazy. Its weird to think if she was born now, she'd look just like a very small baby! I'm still having a hard time wrapping my head around that.

Maternity clothes?: Oh ya, and even that is starting to ride up. My belly is getting huge! And unfortunately so are my feet - i try to prop them up every night but they're growing...

Stretch marks?: Still no more.

Sleep?: Starting to wake up 3 times a night again, makes it really hard to get up in the morning.

Best moment this week?: Dinner out with my mom and Wendy prior to Cats. Cats itself (the musical) wasn't all that great, but it was good to spend time with the girls.

Movement?: oh yes, more and more. she basically moved during the entire Cats performance, I don't know if it was the music or the loud noise but it was definitely keeping her active. She is also just more active in general, it used to be just after I ate for a short while and then in the evenings, now its all the time.

Food cravings?: Nothing this week.

Labor signs?: No.

Belly button in or out?: Still In.

What I miss: Having time, I feel like there is so much to do and trying to get it all done just takes everything out of you. Hopefully we will be done soon.

What I'm looking forward to this week: Our super crazy weekend, and everything about it!

Weekly Wisdom: Relax and put your feet up, everything will get done in due time.

Milestone: At 34 weeks if she was born now, she would have no health issues! Yay!

33 Weeks!

I know I keep saying this, but boy have we been busy! My girlfriend at work had her baby last week! A great thing for her, but it created some serious work issues for us. Due to forecast timing I was pulling some serious hours; 9-10 hour days which is very unusual for me. Add that to plans 3 times after work last week and I was seriously exhausted. And...swollen! by the end of day 2 last week my feet were exploding out of my shoes. I slept with my feet propped up and of course got cramping during the night as well. But, I am happy to say its mostly gone away by now.

One of those plans last week included a painting class with Wendy. Oh what fun it was! Look what I made for our office:



And then this past Sunday we had my friend baby shower! Wendy and my mom put it together and they did a wonderful job! It was so much fun and my friends and old coworkers really went all out with beautiful gifts for Brianne. I can't wait to finish putting the room together and put everything away. I'll post pic's of the shower soon. I have one more shower on the 29th that is family and family friends, it will be nice to see some that I haven't seen in a long time.



How far along?: 33 weeks

Total weight gain: 22 lbs

How big is baby?: About 17 inches, 4 pounds - the weight of a pineapple!

Maternity clothes?: Yep, also wearing some flowy dresses in this nice weather and I am happy it is spring so I can wear my flats, although my feet seem a bit bigger than normal due to swelling so I can only fit in the ones that were kind of loose before.

Stretch marks?: Still no more. It pays to lotion up!

Sleep?: Last week my legs were cramping so I didn't get the best sleep, but this week has been better.

Best moment this week?: My baby shower! It was so good to spend time with friends. Before the shower I went and had coffee with my girlfriend Kathryn and a pedicure with my girlfriend Wesa. Both were wonderful and it was great to get out of the house and not work for once!

Movement?: hiccup! hiccup! hiccup!

Food cravings?: Nothing new.

Labor signs?: Nope.

Belly button in or out?: Still In.

What I miss: Energy, and being able to deal with long days without physical repercussions.

What I'm looking forward to this week: Putting the closet system together in the babies room so I can start putting everything away! Oh - and going to CATS on Saturday!

Weekly Wisdom: Take some time to relax, and don't plan to much after work just in case.

Milestone: Started my 2 week appointments - still gaining perfectly. 1mm per week, with only 7 weeks left I don't think my belly is going to get much bigger...but we will see!

31 Weeks!

So as you saw on Sunday's post, we finished the laundry room. Yay! One thing done, a million more to do.

In addition to that, our friend Heather started painting the nursery! She's a fantastic artist and offered to paint a mural on the wall, so we're doing a simple one...it looks AWESOME! She's only half way done and I'm soooo excited, I can't wait to see it completed. Sorry, no pic's till its done! ;)

Her and Jeremy are coming over tonight for dinner and to continue working on it. Should be a good night. Jeremy has been friends with my husband since they were tiny tots...they're pretty much family. I picture my little girl running around and talking about Uncle Jeremy and Aunt Heather :) Yep...I'm getting sappy in my last trimester.

The closet system for the baby's room came on Monday, so Jeremy (mine!) and me emptied the closet of the stuff that was there and painted in the blank spots. I'm hoping by this weekend we can get the system up so I can start putting things away. It is also suppose to be nice out again...so we're hoping we might be able to get a good chunk of the landscaping in the backyard done too. Its going to be another busy weekend, and I don't even want to think about the fact that I still need to finish our taxes....ugh!



How far along?: 31 weeks

Total weight gain: Holding steady at 19 lbs

How big is baby?: About 16 inches, 3.3 pounds - the weight of 4 navel oranges

Maternity clothes?: Of course.

Stretch marks?: No more than before. I'm thinking my lotion regiment is working! Hope it continues that way.

Sleep?: Having a hard time getting up this week - my hair has basically been in a bun every day due to the fact that I can't get up in time to have the time to do it!

Best moment this week?: Finishing the laundry room. And potato skins on Sunday night with my honey. Thanks Black Angus!

Movement?: Less kicks more wiggles lately. And she's been getting the hiccups again, THAT is a weird feeling.

Food cravings?: Sweets Sweets Sweets! This morning I HAD to have a donut. And I've had 2 red velvet cupcakes this week. I swear she's going to come out tinged with red...

Labor signs?: Nope.

Belly button in or out?: Still In.

What I miss: Being able to do yard work. We went to flower world this weekend to pick up a tree, a rhododendron and a hydrangea for the backyard. While we were there I picked up 3 heathers for the front yard - I was able to get them planted when we got home...but man was I exhausted afterwards!

What I'm looking forward to this week: Finishing the backyard maybe? or putting up the closet system. Or seeing a more complete painting in the baby's room! I'm just looking forward to getting more house stuff done in general. I'll feel a whole lot better when we don't have so much on our plate.

Weekly Wisdom: Get your stuff done early, cause the 3rd trimester is more tiring than the 1st! And that's saying a bunch!

Milestone: Doctor says I'm gaining perfectly! No lecture for me! :) Not really a milestone...but a good thing for development purposes!

Laundry room storage

We finally did it! After weeks of planning, preparing, cutting, painting, and just plain procrastinating - we installed the self made cabinet system this weekend!

Here is what our laundry room looked like when we moved in:



Please take note of that back wall - I have no idea what they were thinking when they built the downstairs, but that line at the top and right is a 2 inch pop out. This made installing a system not exactly simple since the wall was not the same depth for the entire width.

A few months after moving in our dryer went out...so we replaced both of them with front loaders, something we had in the condo and loved! Since I knew eventually this would be the room the cat box would go we decided to stack them to leave room. For the past 8 months or so the laundry room has looked like this:



With the baby on the way, and the cat box currently in our hallway upstairs we knew it was time to do something.

1st step - install cat door. Okay, you can see that in the above...so I didn't exactly take a picture of the room as it looked for the past 8 months, shoot me...but you get the idea ;).

2nd step plan - what do we need? We needed a cabinet that we could put a cat box on the bottom of. it needed to cover the vent and gas line, 38" tall. It also couldn't be to deep to leave room for those items and allow access. Well, this meant a normal cabinet wouldn't work. And a system wouldn't work cause not only is the wall funky but the vent is in the way too. So I took a page from the YHL playbook, my favorite blog! Their home made system looked like this:



link here

Now, I'm going to be honest, they make it look soooooo easy...and it was NOT! My god was it not! Although, we had a few stumbling blocks and weird things about our space...but cutting, priming, painting, putting together. NOT EASY. 3 weeks later, lots of sweat and tears, okay, no tears....but lots of cursing! And we finally finished it.

After planning, we bought the materials and took it over to Mom & Howards and the boys spent 4 hours+ in the garage cutting the pieces and putting things together.

Great teamwork!







Then we primed & painted:



Then installed! Check out our final product:



I still need to make it look a little "prettier" but its super functional and I love it!

Did you notice the cat box on the bottom? *extra bonus points*

Growing Baby Bump

I can't believe how far we've come....

20 weeks:


25 weeks:


30 weeks:

We have a Name!

So at 30 weeks, and 3/4 of the way there - we have finally settled on a name. Our little Bee, as I've been calling her will have the name of:

Brianne Madison Weaver.

We absolutely love the name. We actually settled on this name years ago, we were discussing names at one time and he liked the name Madison Brianne. I didn't really want to have Madison as a first name though cause it feels like there are a million Madison's, but I loved the combination, flipped it around and we both adored it. We tossed around a few other names for the past few months, but when it comes down to it, this one just feels right. The other day my girlfriend used the name in a sentence, I giggled and at that moment just knew that was the name to go with. So we decided it was okay to let the world know now :). One of the best things about her name is all of the nicknames she could have. Her initials are BMW (not planned - just happened) so nicknames can range from Bri, to Beemer, to of course my little bee, which is why I've been calling her that. Bee or bebe, lol. Jeremy however has been calling her kickin chicken...I hope it doesn't stick.



How far along?: 30 weeks

Total weight gain: 19 lbs

How big is baby?: About 15 3/4 inches, 3 pounds - The size of a head of cabbage

Maternity clothes?: Of course.

Stretch marks?: No more than before. Crazy how my belly is stretching though. Every now and again i get this dark circle around my belly button, its funny!

Sleep?: Doing okay, no more no less.

Best moment this week?: Getting so much done in the backyard! The boys did such a good job, they basically cleared out everything! the place is pretty much flat, we even brought in a load of dirt. We would have done more, but the dirt place closed - so the next sunny day we just need to bring in 1 or 2 more loads and then we'll be ready to plant grass! I'm so excited! the backyard looks fantastic - and HUGE!

Movement?: Yep all the time. She likes to snuggle up on my right hand side right under my ribs.

Food cravings?: I realized the other day that I am constantly wanting red velvet cupcakes! I never really even liked them before and now I can't get enough!

Labor signs?: So this weekend after busting my booty I started feeling rhythmic contraction like feelings, didn't hurt, was very soft - but from what people say those are braxton hicks. Haven't felt them since, I think it was my body saying - slow down!

Belly button in or out?: In.

What I miss: Being able to weed! LOL...bending over is such a challenge now, weeding was basically impossible. Oh well - so my front yard won't look so great this spring, I'll get to it ;).

What I'm looking forward to this week: Getting those stupid laundry room shelves up - what are we on? week 4? ugh!

Weekly Wisdom: Rest, drink lots of water, and become the errand girl!

Milestone: 75% of the way there! 30 of 40 weeks! I can't believe it!!!

29 Weeks!

I'm going to start off this post with the admission that we got NOTHING finished this weekend. BOO!

Oil based primer is the DEVIL. Yep, I found him. He's this liquid substance that looks so deceiving and then you try to put him on wood and he's so sticky it takes all your effort to get an even coat. EVIL I tell you, PURE EVIL!

To add to that - my diy feelings have been dashed and I no longer trust what I read. I mean jeez....Young House Love (here) makes everything look so dang EASY! and let me tell you - its not always cake and roses. I initially got the idea for the laundry room from them and modified it to work with our space. It should have been a quick project - oooohhh nnoooo....not in our house anyway. But, painting is finally done so hopefully this weekend will have better results.

And speaking of this weekend, its going to be a busy one. In addition to wanting to finish the laundry project Jeremy has plans for a landscaping extravaganza with his guy friends - so they're going to be out back clearing, leveling and getting the backyard ready for grass. YIPPEE!!!! I put him 100% in charge of this project, since I'm of absolute no use to heavy work anymore and I have enough on my plate. And that of course is my own fault, I keep going back for seconds when I haven't even finished the first thing I had. On our current list:

• Finish laundry room shelves


• Move cat box downstairs


• Get backyard to grass state


• Clean out and organize office


• Do taxes


• Add closet system to baby's room


• Wash/organize the baby stuff that has been passed down to us


• Refinish and recover rocker for baby's room


• Pickup bookshelves from Ikea and paint

Plus who knows what else we'll need for the baby's room as well....but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. The sad thing is, past this weekend we pretty much have something going on EVERY weekend from the 31st to the 1st weekend of May. We are busy!!! Here's to hoping we get it all done!




How far along?: 29 weeks

Total weight gain: 17 lbs, no gain from last week, although I feel her getting bigger. She's definitely getting to the point of not having very much room...

How big is baby?: About 15 inches, 2 1/2 pounds - The size of a butternut squash!

Maternity clothes?: All I'm wearing. I've now even broken into the stuff that was at one time to big...and my favorite shirts, are started to get too small, I hope they make it a couple more months!

Stretch marks?: No more than before. Still lotioning up 2x or more per day!

Sleep?: Waking up again 2-3 times per night. She's moving around at night a bit more than she was before and I think she hits my bladder to wake me up. Everyone keeps saying "oh this is preparing you for when the baby comes" and I have been laughing at that - with the sarcastic comments of "nothing can prepare you, its sink or swim at that point" and I went to lunch with my old boss (a guy) and he confirmed my feelings are correct...so there :P stop saying that to me people and let me sleep!

Best moment this week?: Is it weird that Monday was so productive, Jeremy did painting, I got Costco shopping done, we cleaned, cooked and then relaxed on the sofa. And that's my favorite day? With all the stuff on our list, it felt good to accomplish something....

Movement?: Even more now that she's running out of room. I can basically eat a small snack and guarantee movement within 30 minutes. She's stopped with the big kicks though, I'm hoping she'll start up again so some of my friends can feel her :).

Food cravings?: Nope.

Labor signs?: I'm not sure what braxston hicks contractions are - but I think I had ONE. Is that possible? it was a sharp pain that started in my lower belly and went backwards, lasted a couple seconds and then went away...and nothing since.

Belly button in or out?: In. Jeremy keeps joking its going to be an outy soon...but its not even that shallow yet.

What I miss: Being able to do stuff without getting absolutely exhausted. And that includes the simplest tasks, like putting on my shoes without loosing my breath because she's wedged against my lungs or the harder ones like painting....cause I know it took me 5x as long just because I had to stop and rest.

What I'm looking forward to this week: Hunger games! Tonight with the girls! Good times!

Weekly Wisdom: Get the big stuff done in your 2nd trimester, cause you'll be back to exhausted by the 3rd.

Milestone: Time to start counting kicks! Books say you should feel 10 movements in an hour...I feel so much more now!

28 Weeks!

So I'm definitely in nesting mode. This past weekend I decided it was time to do our laundry room. Since we remodeled the babies room and started putting stuff in there, we moved the cat box out of the room. With the paint and cleaning and so forth I'm sure it has caused a change in the smell to the room, so I wanted a nice clean break for the cats. I'm kind of worried about jealousy issues with them, I figured as of now they know it doesn't smell like their room anymore, so I figured we'd keep it that way. unfortunately that didn't leave a lot of area's to move it to. Originally we put it in the bathtub in the guest bath...but it just didn't work very well, especially with us still using that bathroom to house a lot of our remodeling supplies. So now its sitting in the little nook right outside the babies room (the door to the room is officially closed at all times), which means its in the hall and not exactly "nice" looking.

So all of that meant we needed to find a better solution. And our long term solution was to move it to the laundry room - that's why we stacked the washer dryer. Oh wait...you haven't been updated. okay, surprise, we got a new washer and dryer! LOL. A couple months ago our dryer died on us so we had to replace them. We got new high efficiency front loaders, and stacked them in the laundry room - that gave us room where the dryer once stood to be able to put in a counter and place the litter box under it. I'll post a whole blog about it soon when everything is complete. But the end result is for the past couple months its just an empty space...and with our new needs to move the cat box somewhere else, it was time to fix that.

I had a plan in my head, but was having some difficulties making it work. So on Saturday my Dad, Howard, came over and helped me finalize my plan. Then on Sunday Jeremy and I went to Home Depot and picked up all the supplies we needed, brought them over to Mom & Howard's house and Jeremy and Howard spent 4 hours in the garage cutting all the pieces and getting everything ready for installation. Unfortunately that was till 7pm...so this weekend I get to paint all the unfinished wood parts so that on Sunday we can hopefully install. Wish us luck!

Aside from crazy home renovations...I've been spending time with friends this week. Monday I went with my coworker Courtney to get a mani and a pedi! ooohhh la la! She's due April 6th but had her last baby was 2 weeks early, so we suspect she could have this 2nd one any time! so exciting. And then last night spent some time with Cari & her daughter Laurel. She's a single mom and handling it great, but it definitely made me come home, kiss my husband and remind him how much I appreciate him. Oh the little things...



How far along?: 28 weeks

Total weight gain: 17 lbs - And I got a lecture last week from my doctor because I'm gaining more than a pound a week :(....so apparently I need to slow it down. And here I thought I was doing so well! Bummer...

How big is baby?: about 14 3/4 inches, 2 1/4 pounds - about the weight of a chinese cabbage

Maternity clothes?: Definitely

Stretch marks?: No more than before. Still lotioning up 2x or more per day!

Sleep?: This week has been great, I've only gotten up once a night each night and am feeling much better. Jeremy on the other hand is tired...I'm thinking this up at 8 think is a shock to his system!

Best moment this week?: Sunday with my parents. Lots of bonding time and just good family time.

Movement?: All the time. She has decided that she loves to stick her feet (or something) right under the bottom of my ribs on the right side. Yesterday afternoon at a meeting she was doing it so much I just started pushing on that spot to keep her out, it hurts! Apparently she just wasn't going to have that cause she started kicking my hand! lol...it was the funniest thing, I think I received about 10 kicks before she just decided to give up.

Food cravings?: None this week, but I've started getting heartburn really bad, which means I'm having to cut out spicy things, tomato sauce type stuff, vinegary things and other things that aggravate it. It really limits my food intake.

Labor signs?: Still nothing, thank god!

Belly button in or out?: In.

What I miss: Being able to eat what I want without fear of a burning sensation.

What I'm looking forward to this week: LOL - well, last week I was looking forward to getting the office cleaned and in some sort of order....I guess that still needs to be done. But I'm definitely looking forward to finishing the laundry room. I guess getting the house in order is a long term look forward to all around.

Weekly Wisdom: Enjoy your 2nd trimester...I already see where this trimester is leading, ugh.

Milestone: Interaction with the baby inside of me. She kicked me back!

27 Weeks!

So we're past the 6 month mark and we're officially in our 3rd Trimester! I can't believe I'm already 2/3rds of the way done. Its gone by so fast.

These past two weeks we've just been trying to get the house organized. Jeremy started his job this past Tuesday, so that is super exciting!

I went to a friends baby shower on Sunday. Lots of girlie stuff. I'll have to say the funnest part of it was the hour drive there and back with my friend Heather. I really enjoyed out talks and just hanging out. And our adventure getting lost in Auburn...that was funny! I think the funniest part was her laughing at how high stress I was that we didn't know where we were going. ya, ya I'm super type A personality!

Oh, and Saturday I did a little shopping - and I finally had the first stranger mention my belly to me. I think she kind of had the advantage since I was buying baby stuff but it was pretty cool to get some sort of reaction. I also went and got my eyebrows waxed yesterday and the lady there mentioned it as well. So FINALLY I'm starting to get questions rather than that awkward look of "Is she pregnant or fat" lol...



How far along?: 27 weeks

Total weight gain: 15 lbs

How big is baby?: Around 14.5 inches & 2 pounds. The size of a head of cauliflower!

Maternity clothes?: Definitely

Stretch marks?: No more than before. Still lotioning up 2x or more per day!

Sleep?: I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think I'm getting used to not sleeping lol. Still wake up 3-4 times to pee, and lately I'm even finding I'm waking up a few times due to CRAZY dreams. But I'm functioning okay and don't feel any more tired than usual. I have to say its helped that Jeremy went back to work this week, he's now going to bed earlier and with me which makes my need to stay up later go away, its great!

Best moment this week?: Tuesday! Overall it was a great day. Jeremy started his job, my work day was wonderful, very productive and great meetings. Had my review that day as well and that went really well and then we finished off the day by celebrating at the Outback! It could not have been more perfect.

Movement?: All the time.

Food cravings?: None this week.

Labor signs?: Still nothing, thank god!

Belly button in or out?: In.

What I miss: Sushi. It is seriously going to be one of my first meals....

What I'm looking forward to this week: Getting the office cleaned and in some sort of order.

Weekly Wisdom: Stay away from high heels. I randomly decided to wear my 4" boots yesterday, boy was that a bad idea - I felt like a bobble head on top of stilts.

Milestone: 3rd Trimester!!!

2D - 3D - We all love 4D!!!

Our baby girl...in the womb!

Calm so unlike her:



Slowly waking up:



And a little more movement:

Back to the Basic's

So for the past 2 weeks Jeremy and I have been working on the baby's room...and oh what we have accomplished!

First we started by picking a new paint color. (Its the one on the right!)



Then Jeremy took a couple days and got down and dirty....



But when he was done the room had nice smooth ceilings



We then pooled our resources and painted the whole room together! Including the closet! And afterwards we started building things!



But when we were done...we had all the furniture put together and placed in their final homes. Well...almost all done, we still have the rocker to work on, as you can see you can't exactly sit in it right now...







An itty bitty room for an itty bitty tenant!