Fashionably Late

Well, I guess my baby has decided to be an October baby. She must like Halloween as much as I do. For those of you wondering:

• No, the baby isn't here yet.
• No, that doesn't mean we're going to tell you her name early.
• No, I haven't had any contractions.
• Wednesday. My next doctor's appointment is Wednesday.
• Yes, we'll be discussing other "options" if I make it to my appointment.
• (for the Mesanites) No, at this point, it doesn't look like we'll be making it into town next weekend.
• Yes, the Halloween party is STILL ON. (her costume is already in the works)
  

Fancy Feet

Since I decided not to have a baby on Tuesday, I went and got a pedicure instead (actually a delayed b-day gift from my mom).

Now I'll have fancy toes for the big event...whenever that is.

Due Date

Today is September 26th 2006. I've been thinking about this date every day for the past nine months. Well, longer than that since this was a planned pregnancy, so I knew even before I got pregnant that, if I did get pregnant, this date would be my due date.

Yet so far today, my body does not seem "due". My baby seems quite large, but comfortable. Jake and I were just noticing yesterday how big she seems. When she kicks or moves, it's not just in one place anymore, it's all over.

So I guess we'll wait for another day.

Technology Troubles

Remember the joke that our parents couldn't program a VCR? Well, it's amazing how quickly all of our VCR programming skills have gone forgotten.

Jake & I had a baby class last night at the hospital, so we were unable to watch The Office premier. We decided that it was ok though, cause we could just record it. However, we now live in the days of DVR/TiVo, and unfortunately, Jake & I cannot afford DVR. So, while we know how to use it, we do not have it.
We spent the morning trying to figure out how to record a tv show on, yes, a VHS tape. We ran a test run in the afternoon, only to come up empty handed.










We tried programming, we tried just plain recording, we tried everything, but nothing seemed to work. We had to leave for our class frustrated and knowing that we would be missing The Office all together.I couldn't help but get on the internet when we got home to read about what happened, but Stephanie/Cathy - please keep the show on your DVR until we can come watch it. Thanks!

Beached

Last night I had my husband roll me over in bed.

9 Months

According to the 40-week pregnancy calendar, I am officially 9 months pregnant. I had a doctor's appointment this morning, and from her medically official "squeeze-the-belly-in-a-couple-different-spots" judgment, she does not think that my baby is 8 pounds yet. She guessed that the baby would be 7-7 1/2 pounds.

So who should I believe? The ultrasound machine - which I had previously heard wasn't great at predicting weight? or my doctor, who uses her hands to weigh a baby?

I guess only time will tell how big she really is. It's not like it's a big deal anyway. I'm just anxious to meet my baby. She's due on Tuesday, but I think she'll be later than that. Jake's guess is that she'll come next weekend sometime (the 29th-1st), and his official guess is October 2nd.

Who knows? Maybe she'll come tomorrow.

The Pregnant Girl's First Aid Kit

I decided today that I didn't want to take my regular purse to church, so I took a small black bag instead. This was for 2 reasons: 1. I'm trying to enjoy carrying around a small bag for as long as possible before my days with a diaper bag come upon me, and 2. I was wearing a black dress, and my brown purse didn't look as good as I knew my little black bag would.

So I packed it with just the essentials and we headed off to church. During our meeting, Jake looked in my bag and started laughing. He said I had created the perfect "Pregnant Girl's First Aid Kit". Here's what I had with me:

A bottle of water, a tissue pack, a pen, tums, chapstick, and a Tide-To-Go pen.

I'm thinking of marketing it. It IS the perfect bag. It has all of my essential tools for everyday life.

A Public Thank You

I would like to publicly thank my husband Jake's family at this time for producing big babies. My ultrasound went really well this morning, except that the ultrasound lady said that my baby already weighs 8 POUNDS. If that is accurate, and I deliver on my due date, we're looking at a 9+ pound baby here. She has a nice, round tummy, and "thunder thighs" as the ultrasound lady put it (that's a medical term).

On the other hand, look at these cheeks.

These cheeks are unmistakably from my side of the family.

A foot

Her hand. She's pointing to the left, can you see it?

Her blood flow in her cord looked good, and yes, she's still a girl. She may even have some hair.




In other news.......

Look what the Tax Return Man delivered to us this morning! Isn't it adorable?

10 Simple Things

Here's my list of ordinarily simple things that are difficult now that I'm in my 9th month of pregnancy.

1. Getting up off the couch
2. Rolling over at night
3. Taking a walk around the block without feeling like I need to use the bathroom (and then when I get home, realizing that I don't need to go)
4. Covering up the bottom 1/2 of my belly
5. Seeing my toes
6. Seeing my belly button (a new thing I noticed today)
7. Sleeping without 3 pillows
8. Going places without strangers touching my belly or giving advice, or kids pointing and whispering to their parents
9. Wearing my wedding ring
10. Standing in one place for longer than 10 minutes

I had heard that these things become harder to do, but I was kind of skeptical.

Front View

8 months, 3 weeks, 3 days (38 weeks, 1 day)

Note: for a quick growth comparison, click on "8 Months" in the 'Previous Posts' column to the right. It has a nearly identical picture of me 4 weeks ago. Pretty impressive growth.

The Belly

My favorite part of this picture is how you can clearly see my ribs ending and my belly beginning on the left side of the photo. It looks like I swallowed a beach ball.

Practice, Practice, Practice

My fake contractions are really improving themselves these days. They've started spacing themselves out. Last night and this morning, I had a bunch in a row that were all 10 minutes apart. They weren't real contractions - I couldn't feel them at all. I just noticed that about every 10 minutes my belly would turn into a hard basketball. I guess practice makes perfect.

In other news, my baby had a mini-ultrasound this morning to make sure she is growing at the right rate. Apparently, her head and maybe femur were in the 10th percentile at my last ultrasound (4 months ago) and no one thought it was a concern until today. PREGNANCY ADVICE: See a different doctor for at least one of your appointments, so that a new set of eyes can look at your chart. They just might see something your regular doctor fails to notice.

My doctor is on vacation this week, so I saw a different doctor for my appointment, and she noticed the ultrasound results and asked if they were ever discussed with me. Anyway, my ultrasound this morning was only a head measurement, and my baby's head measured at 37 weeks, 4 days: 2 days shy of what it should read. She's exactly on target.

I'm scheduled for a real ultrasound at the main hospital this Thursday, just to double-check, but everything seems normal.

Full Term

Today I am 37 weeks along. I am now officially "Full Term". This means that if I go into labor, the doctors & nurses at my hospital won't be too worried, and my baby probably won't have to spend any extra time in the hospital.

Here is my belly from my point of view.
I no longer have toes.

I am now also 8 1/2 months along. Isn't that crazy? I think so. My baby seems to be moving all the time now, and when she's not, my belly is practicing its contractions. It's been practicing all day today. It must know something's coming.

Other than an active belly, everything else has seemed pretty normal. I've been feeling great. Oh, but apparently I'm more emotional than normal. But who wouldn't be completely distraught when silly little minor things go kind of wrong? I feel completely justified in being ridiculously upset when something doesn't work out quite the way I planned. Or for no reason whatsoever. That's normal, right?

Which reminds me: I love my husband. He's quite an understanding guy.

It

My search for the perfect baby blessing dress was leaving me feeling pretty hopeless. I wanted something white-based, but I didn't want a super-frilly dress. The only white dresses I could find were Christening dresses, which look like miniature wedding dresses. Okay, they're fancier than my wedding dress was. I had a simple wedding dress because my style is very simple. All I wanted was a simple white baby dress, is that too much to ask?

Apparently, yes.

Then I turned to another source and found exactly what I was looking for. I am the proud new owner of a 1940's-1950's hand-made white dress.
It's so simple and I love it a lot. And it was about 1/3 of the price of those huge dresses at the store.

I found it on e-bay.

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Have you been to Michael's lately? If not, you need to go in the next week or two before it's all gone. Fall is here, but Christmas décor is encroaching, so fall is shorter than ever. It's quite a shame, because I LOVE fall decorations and fall colors and fall holidays. If I had any money, I would decorate my whole house for fall.

Speaking of fall holidays, my favorite holiday of the year is sooner than you think. Have you been thinking of your costumes? We have. We have our idea all put together. We just haven't done any physical work on them yet. This brings me to my question: When should the 3rd Annual Halloween Party be? (Yes, it'll be in Mesa). Here are your 2 options:

1. Saturday, October 28th
2. Tuesday, October 31st

Should we keep with the tradition of having a weekend party, or should we just go for the Tuesday party since no one really trick or treats anymore (it's all about the Trunk or Treat)? Are wards having their parties on the weekend or on Tuesday? Anyone?

All opinions from those planning on attending will be taken into consideration. Everyone is invited.

Some Perspective

Jake spent the afternoon yesterday taking apart our tree - limb by limb. These pictures give a little better perspective of just how big of a project this was.

This was taken about 1/2 way through the limb-cutting portion of the project. Notice how the tree is more than twice Jake's height.

Some of the branches were a little hard to get to, and took some creative climbing.

After all of the smaller limbs were cut off, the bigger branches had to be sawed off with a tree saw and/or chainsaw.

During the storm, I posted pictures of the tree on craigslist, and at 7:00 yesterday evening, someone came by with a trailer and hauled off all of the big limbs. They're planning on coming back today for the main trunk and roots. Now all we have is a large pile of the smaller branches. It's a much more managable load to take to the dump.

Yesterday Afternoon

Yesterday

5:15pm

5:30pm

5:45pm

The lovely green tree you see in the first picture is now lying down in our front yard. About 8 power poles went down on top of cars at the nearest intersection to our house, along with most of the other mesquite trees on our major streets.

The Nursery is Near Completion

I have really tried to use my homemaking time this week before I change jobs from "Homemaker to "Stay-at-Home-Mom". Obviously I have a lot more time on my hands now than I will in 5 weeks (4 weeks if I follow my cousin Macey's lead, 3 weeks if I follow Jake's friend's wife Shar, and 2 weeks if I follow Stephanie's sister Leslie). I'm still thinking it'll be 5 weeks away though.

The nursery is what has occupied most of my time since I moved back here. Here are the things I have completed so far:

I reupholstered my glider & ottoman.

I made an interior bag and border for the laundry basket.

I made a crib skirt & bumper for the crib, using 2 of the same fabrics from the quilt that I made. I also finished the quilt border.

I have a couple more sewing projects in my head, but nothing as time consuming as these were. As for the nursery, it is just missing its changing table, a few things for the walls, and a window valance. We're almost ready for our baby!

Motherly Advice

Jake and I have been looking at strollers for months now. We settled on this one:But now we're having second thoughts. We recently realized that you can get a "lightweight" stroller that fits a carseat, and those seem very appealing to me.The lightweights still have a basket underneath (smaller though), a cupholder for mom, & the seat reclines. One of the ones we looked at only had a handle for baby, no cup/snack tray. Also it looks like the wheels are smaller. A lot of the lightweights fold up like an umbrella stroller and weigh about 10-12 lbs. They cost about the same.

So here's where I need that motherly advice from all you moms out there. Will I miss the big stroller if I go with the lightweight? Or will I be glad I have it?

8 Months

Here I am at 8 months, 1 day
(or 34 weeks, 6 days - whichever is easier for you)

Another Project Completed

Welcome to Designer's Challenge meets Design on a Dime.

Steve & Susan live in a 2-story condo with their daughter Cathy and several cats. They moved in 4 years ago, but have not had time to renovate their guest room. Designers Jake and Abbie, of L&L Design presented a plan and a budget to update the room. Starting with white walls and 2 twin beds, Jake and Abbie had to work from scratch, so they spent some time with Steve & Susan to see what their interests were.

Steve & Susan enjoy scuba diving, and spend the majority, if not all, of their vacations at the beach. Jake and Abbie thought this would be a great theme for their guest room, so they presented a room with an island getaway feel.

Color Pallet: Green & Orange, with Almond trim & accents.

Lucky for Steve & Susan, Jake and Abbie live on a very, um, modest income, so a budget of $200 seemed like more than enough to completely furnish and remodel an entire room. (note: as the renovation began, Susan decided to upgrade to a queen-sized bed, so an additional $50 was added to the budget for a mattress, box spring, & frame)

Let's see the finished product.

View from the door.

Some of the furniture and accessories, including the nightstand, the turtle stained glass, and the palm tree photo album, were collected from various other rooms in the house. Here, they finally have a place where they fit in with the surrounding decor.

The headboard is made out of a straw beachmat with an orange striped border.

The previous closet doors, with their almond color and wooden slats gave the perfect cabana feel that Jake and Abbie were going for. Bench seating at the end of the bed were purchased new.

Jake and Abbie came in about $3 under budget, with a total of $246.53. Approximate costs:

Furniture: $80

Paint & Supplies: $65

Bedding: $60

Lighting & Accessories: $35

A Late Birthday Present

Cathy got me an eyebrow wax for my birthday, and she and I finally got to go on Saturday. Here's how my conversation with the little pregnant Vietnamese girl that did my brows went:

Girl: Oh, you're pregnant too?
Me: Yeah, when are you due?
Girl: September 20th. What about you?
Me: September 26th. Very close to you.
Girl: You're a lot bigger than me.
Me: Oh, thanks.

Here's the thing. Unless I have some sort of rose-colored glasses and think I'm smaller than I am, I'm pretty sure we were the exact same size. I even thought beforehand, as she was doing Cathy's brows, "I bet we're due at the exact same time".