Thirty-nine Weeks

Thirty-nine weeks and three days to be exact. And zero progress from last week. 

I just got back from my weekly doctors appointment and while everything is still going A-O-K, there hasn't been any progress from last week (or the week before, for that matter). Which is fine, technically it's still early - but boy are we anxious for her to get here! I think most first time moms are convinced that their little one is going to arrive early (inexperience? wishful thinking?) and then many of them don't. I've been trying to remind myself that the due date is really just an estimate, not a concrete date, and that if she arrives anytime between now and next weekend and is healthy we should consider ourselves extremely blessed.

(and actually my original due date was May 15th, but shhhhh - don't tell the baby that) 

I have been going on walks every day to try and encourage her to move down, whether this is in vain or not I'll never really know. Either way, it makes me feel better and I get to explore our neighborhood - both of which are awesome. I've taken the last week really easy and am starting to get antsy, so I think I'll be starting up some small projects around the house. If nothing else it will focus my attention on something other than her arrival and cross a few more items off our to-do list.

While we are so excited for Baby C to arrive, I can't help flip-flop between supercrazyexcited and supercrazyscaredashell. Sometimes I think to myself - "I can't wait to meet this little person, start to get my body back to normal, be able to stand/sit/lay down for longer than 20 minutes at a time". And almost as soon as that thought completes itself in my brain another thought jumps right in - "Oh god - but when she's here it's going to be so crazy, I'm going to be even more exhausted than I am now, my body is going to go through some weird ass changes that I don't even want to think about right now much less go through".

But mostly I am excited :)

A Room for Baby - the reveal!

We have finally finished the babies room! And we pushed it to the limit if you ask me (considering I am due in 8 days). Annndd I still have a few more bits and pieces that I still want to add (I have a few more things to hang on the walls) but for the most part, we are done!

First I want to apologize for the bad picture quality. I took these yesterday afternoon when the sun was already behind the house, so the room looks pretty shadowy and cool. The walls are a very pale blue though so at least it shows up in the photos! (How to house photographers take such amazing pictures?? I need a wider angle lens I think...)

If you remember, here was my original revised inspiration board:

And here is the finished room:

I stuck to a main color palette of white, chocolate and baby blue. Weird for a girls room, I know. But I made sure to fill the room with lots of pastel accents, mostly which is seen in the massive decal on the wall. The ruffle curtains and pink details help to make the room more feminine, without being overly girlie.

Not that an infant is going to care if the room is overly girlie or not, but we like it.

Crib and changing table, with birds and owls keeping watch

Baby C already has a growing book collection - which I love!

Dr Seuss artwork that I made myself. I dont think it turned out half bad!

More inspirational homemade artwork - and HI! you can see me in the reflection!

From L-R: Brian bought the teddy bear from Harrods before we left London to move to Texas, I love that he bought this for her. The Guardian statue was a gift from my Aunt and Cousin. Every baby needs a Sleep Sheep! Pony fund money jar was a gift from a dear friend in London - she even put a one pound coin in there to start her off right. I wonder how much that will be worth in 18 years??

There are those silly pom-poms that I tweeted about the other day...I'm still not in love with them but I wanted to add some more texture to the room. I'm leaving them up for now but might end up taking them down. They are supposed to be some clouds and a sun. I'm looking into some other cloud mobile options that might work a little bit better...

Hello Mr Owl

Here is a closer shot of the bedding that was the original inspiration for the room. I love the playful colors and design of the birds and owls. I think we matched the color scheme pretty well!

lots of toys for Baby C!

Baby C is lucky enough to have TWO closets in her room! I'm using one for storage (gifts and items that we don't need to use just yet, extra blankets and swaddles, diapers, etc) and one for clothes! Most of her clothes at this point are little onsies that are folded and stored in the changing table, but she received a bunch of beautiful dresses and outfits and deserved to be hung!

PS - I can't wait until she is big enough to wear that raspberry colored Burberry quilted jacket (all the way to the right) that I bought for her before I stopped working there - how cute is that?? I got it in a size 24 mo though so she has some time :)

I was really hoping to get some of those colorful hooks (from the inspiration board) but they are all on back order until the summer time. Guess I will try again later!

Overall I am really pleased with how the room came together. I can't wait to start using it :)

If you're interested in some of these items, here's were I got them!

Crib - Delta 'Springtime' Babies R Us

Glider - Dutailier Overstock.com

Changing Table - Nursery Smart Buybuy Baby

Bookcase - Cameron Pottery Barn Kids

Curtains and Rug - Xhilaration Target (could only find the link for the cream version)

Wall Decal - Couture Decals Etsy

Thirty-eight Weeks

Today, is May 1st.

You know what that means?

There are 11 more days until my due date.

There are 12 more days until my 30th birthday.

There are also 12 more days until Mothers day.

There are 25 more days until my parents come to visit us in Houston.

May is going to be a busy month.

We had our 38 week checkup today and you know what they say - no news is good news. Nothing has really changed over the last couple of weeks which means they don't think the baby will be showing up early (thank goodness). If she can at least wait until next Monday then we will be happy campers. She can show up a few days early if she wants :)

What we do know is that the Dr won't really go past a week over the due date. So the longest we will have to wait to meet this little one is 18 more days!!

Oh - and we FINALLY finished the nursery!! Check back later this week for photos!

Thirty-seven Weeks

It's official - the baby is now full term! She can make her debut any day now and the doctor would be happy to deliver her. We would be happy to see her too, but I'm hoping she bakes for a little while longer.

We had our weekly checkup today and the doctor said there hasn't been any change from last week, other than I am measuring slightly smaller and lost a pound. The smaller measurement is due to the baby dropping and the weight loss is probably due to the fact that I have cut back on the number of cupcakes/cookies/ice cream I have everyday (unlike last week, oops). I could tell the baby dropped over the weekend as I can feel her movements much lower in my pelvis. She has been as active as ever - no rest for this little one! Because of her lower position her movements are downright painful sometimes. It doesn't really look like it from the outside but I swear she is lower!

Today is the day that I pack my hospital bag (I swear!) and tomorrow we are getting the car seat installed. And by that I mean I am going to attempt to buckle it in myself and then in going to have the fire department double check it for me. Never can be too sure :)

The last of the baby stuff arrived this week so now we are all ready for her arrival! It's comforting to know that she will definitely be here within the next month - whether she likes it or not! I wonder what day she will come...any guesses??

Make sure you sign up to receive the blog via email for updates when she is born (you can do this on the right hand toolbar) and you can also follow me on twitter!

The Luckiest Little Girl

I - or better yet, Baby C - is incredibly lucky to have such loving and caring family and friends. We were blessed with not one but three baby showers!  She is already surrounded with people who love her and can't wait to meet her - she's a lucky little girl. And I am a lucky woman. I want to give a big THANK YOU to everyone who organized, came and shared in all of my baby showers over the last couple of months. Each one was special to me and I will always remember it!

The first shower was thrown by my awesome friends in London. It was a small get together at a friends house and was such a perfect afternoon. We had a chance to talk and catch up, eat some amazing food and open lots of presents for Baby C. As happy as I am to be back in the USA I sure do miss my London friends. Luckily one of the gifts we received was a London double decker bus rattle - something to always remember them by! THANK YOU girls for such a special afternoon!

The second shower was thrown by my mother-in-law last month. She had some help from some wonderful friends setting up and it was a great party. I got to see a lot of people that I hadn't seen since our wedding (almost two years ago - eek!) as well as some of my close girlfriends. We played games, had a tea party and consumed way too many cupcakes (or was that just me). I also got to see myself made out of fondant - not too bad if you ask me! It was a super busy day and man was I exhausted by the end of it, but it was so much fun - I wish it lasted longer so I had more time to visit with everyone!  THANK YOU to Brian's mom for throwing me such a wonderful shower!

It was back to back shower weekends while I was in NY last month and the final shower was thrown by my mom and sister.  They invited over all of my family and our family friends and I had such a great time seeing everyone. By this point Baby C was so spoiled in how much attention she was getting! Usually she just has to deal with me talking to her all day long, but by the end of the trip she got to meet so many wonderful people.  I had a great time catching up with everyone and my mom and sister did an awesome just putting together a Spring themed shower with a delicious spread - I'm allowed to have Beer Bread during pregnancy, right?? And there were more mouthwatering cupcakes...I'm starting to notice a pattern! Wonder how they figured out I like cupcakes.... ;)

A big THANK YOU goes out to my mom and sis for putting my shower together - it was perfect!

And last but not least a big THANK YOU to everyone who attended each one of the baby showers. I know we are all super busy these days and it really meant a lot to me (and to Baby C) that you could all come and help us celebrate. Having your first child only happens once and it means the world to me that you were all able to share in the special occasion with me. I can't wait to tell her about each and every one of you and how special you all are to us! She is the luckiest little girl to be surrounded by so much love (and so are we).

Thirty-six Weeks

Thirty-six weeks and three days. That's what they told me at the doctors office today. I did a quick calculation in my head (I'm a math whizz in case you didn't know) and that leaves us with 25 days until our baby girls due date. I'm not sure which is less scary to say - three and a half weeks or 25 days.

I've started seeing my doctor once a week now and today's check-up went very well. The baby is in the right position - which explains the recent kicks to the ribs I've been getting - and pretty much ready to go. Over the last week my hips have been starting to hurt a lot as well as my back (the joys of pregnancy). I have been stretching, doing light yoga and even walking to try and relieve the pain but nothing has seemed to help. When I asked my doctor about the pain she said that it's probably due to the fact that my pelvis has started expanding to get ready for the baby.

WHAT?! Already?? Oh right, twenty-five days...

This week my main priority is to get the babies room as finished as possible. We have all of the furniture built and today I washed approximately 8374935792819848 onesies/blankets/sheets. I'm just waiting for a few more items to arrive and then we should be ready to go!

We started taking our Lamaze Class (turns out there's more to it than he-he-ho) over the weekend. While the classes are a bit long, there has been a lot of really good information and even a few of those lovely birthing videos. We have one more class this Saturday and then we are ready to go! Or...something like that. We also had a hospital tour which was amazing. We are having our baby at the Texas Children's Hospital Pavilion for Women. The Pavilion is brand new - only been delivering babies for about a month now. The entire facility is brand new and absolutely gorgeous. I never thought I would say that about a hospital but it's true! All of the rooms are private and there is a one-to-one nurse to patient ratio during labor and delivery. Since its attached to the Children's Hospital if there are any emergencies or problems during delivery (or after) there is a full neonatal and pediatric team ready to go. We couldn't ask for a better place to have our first baby (and we are SO glad it's in network for our insurance) ;)

Thirty-five Weeks

We decided to take a semi-last minute mini vacation over the long Easter weekend. A "baby-moon" if you will - our last vacation before this family of two becomes a family of three.

Man was that a good idea.

On Saturday I turned Thirty-five Weeks and I felt every single day of it. I am getting to the point now where I am starting to feel pretty uncomfortable most of the time. It is hard to sit/stand/walk/sleep for long (heck, even short) periods of time. That being said, I am still incredibly grateful to have only gained a minimal amount of weight and to not have to carry this baby through the heat of a Houston summer.

We headed west to Lake Austin Spa for our weekend trip - only a few hours away by car so I felt comfortable leaving the area. The spa was amazing (more on that this week over on The Traveling Cupcake) and while we were there I indulged in their Mama-to-be massage. It did wonders for my lower back and shoulder pain - I think I need one of these every day! As the only (heavily) pregnant woman at the resort we were quite a popular couple. Everyone was super nice and we received many well wishes. I can't get over how nice people are when you are pregnant! If people were this nice to each other ALL the time this world would be a different place, I'm telling you. Although I can't help wonder how nice the same people would be in a few months when I'm carrying around a screaming baby...hmmm....

Along with feeling like a balloon ready to pop I have been having quite a few Braxton Hicks contractions. I usually have a few a day and didn't even realize what they were until a week or so ago. They aren't really that painful yet, mostly just uncomfortable. I had my 35 week check up today and baby girl is doing great! The Dr. said that I am measuring perfectly and have so far put on around 22 lbs. With only about four and a half weeks to go that puts me right on target for a very healthy and normal total weight gain (does that mean I can start indulging in a pint of ice cream every night??) I had been measuring the circumference of my belly once a week but during the chaos of the move I have lost my measuring tape. I'm interested to see how many inches I have put on since the last time I measured it over a month ago!

Starting next week I am going to see the Dr weekly - which is a sure sign that this thing is coming to an end soon! We start our Birthing classes this weekend and have a tour of the hospital as well. I'm excited for both - the hospital is brand new (my Dr delivered the first newborn to be born there a couple weeks ago) and I can't wait to see the facilities. On the agenda this week - Project Babies Room! We really need to get moving on setting up her room (just in case she decides to get here early) and now that we have most of the furniture here in the house we are ready to start assembling! Hopefully in the next week or two I will have some photos of her room to show you :)