3/4's of the way done!! 30 week update

30 weeks today! Can you believe I'm 3/4 of the way done? Approximately 10 more weeks and we'll be meeting our precious baby girl. :) We are getting so anxious!

I figured I'd fill out another pregnancy survey like I did at 20 weeks..

How far along? Exactly 30 weeks today!
Total weight gain/loss: At my 28 weeks appointment I was +21 lbs. I have my 30 week appt. on Tuesday so I'll know then. I've been gaining about 1.5 lbs a week so my guess is I'm up 23 or 24 lbs at this point.
Maternity clothes? Not too many maternity shirts as I'm still able to wear a lot of my bigger non-maternity clothes. Maternity pants - about 80% of the time. I can still squeeze into a few non-pregnancy pants with the help of my belly band.
Stretch marks? None so far! ::knock on wood::
Sleep: Been sleeping ok for the most part! Lucy seems to have her days & nights confused so she's been moving quite a bit when I'm trying to sleep. Other than that, I'm getting pretty good sleep.
Best moment this week: Feeling my baby girl's hiccups again. I just love feeling that!
Movement: Quite a bit! She doesn't kick too much but moreso just does flips and rolls in there quite frequently. Maybe she'll be a gymnast? She's also always sticking out her limbs all over the place and getting in the most awkward positions!
Food cravings: Sweets and fruit! Fruit smoothies are my total weakness...
Belly Button in or out? I'm definitely sporting an outtie these days!
Wedding rings on or off? Still on but getting tighter...
What I miss: Sushi, wine, sleeping on my stomach, & working out!
What I am looking forward to: Our next sonogram coming up in 3 weeks. We are dying to get another face shot!
Milestones: This time next week I'll officially be in the single digets (re: how many weeks are left)!

My cousin did out maternity photo shoot on Saturday morning and I'm dying to see the pics! I think they're going to turn out so good and I can't wait to share them with you all. On another note, my Gram's birthday party was a success and turned out so nice. It was so nice to see all of my family that I only get to occasionally see. Here is a picture of the whole clan (well almost, a few were missing).

Well hope everyone had a good weekend! Off to make my hubby some homemade stuffed green peppers for dinner. :) Cya next week!

It's Gram's BIRTHDAY!

Happy 89th birthday to one of the most important people in my life... MY GRAM!

Words can't express how much I love this woman! She has helped raise my brothers, sister, and I and have been there for us through it all. My aunt & uncle are having a big party for her tomorrow with the entire fam (including everyone from VA). I am really looking forward to it because I know how much she will love having her entire family there. I know she'll have a permanent smile on her face. :) I love you, Gram!!!

29 Weeks!

Phew.. what a busy day I've had! It was my friend Jessica's bridal shower today so I started off there. Her shower theme was "Pretty In Pink" and the decorations were adorable. Her sister did an amazing job! Jess is getting married to Luke next month (9/10/11) and I'm so looking forward to their wedding. I know she'll make such a beautiful bride and their wedding will be gorgeous!

Here is the pretty bride-to-be (in the middle).

So as soon as we left the bridal shower, Lainie, Brittany, and I met up with everyone at Zoey's 1st birthday party. Zoey is the daughter of our friends Daniel and Stacey. She is just the cutest! She turns 1 on August 17th so her birthday party was today. Here's the pretty birthday girl playing with her bubble maker.

Isn't she just adorable? I missed her first birthday outfit but I know I would have loved it since I was told she had the birthday tu-tu. I'm definitely a sucker for little tu-tu's! So after we left Zoey's party I went to Heather's to hang out for a little bit before for dinner. We took our good friend, Vicky, out for her 30th birthday that was on July 30th. Unfortunately since I was in CA at the time and then she left for vacation as soon as I got home, this was the first time we were able to get a chance to go to dinner to celebrate. Heather made her a delicious home-made carrot cake and we went to Sakura's for dinner. It was such a nice night. I love these girls to death!

So now I'm at home and finally unwinding. Well actually I should be asleep since I know I have a long day ahead of me tomorrow but I'm blogging instead, lol. On another note.. I'm 29 weeks pregnant today! Still feeling pretty good. Nothing too new to report other than I feel like I'm getting bigger and bigger by the second. I'm not too uncomfortable yet which I guess is a good sign. Lucy's still moving around like crazy and doing her nightly jumping jacks.

That's all to really report here! Hopefully I'll have some more Lucy news next week to report. Until then... hope everyone has a great week! :) I'll leave you all with my 29 week belly shot from today...



I'm baack! 28 week update...

So sorry for being M.I.A. the past 2 weeks. I know traveling can take awhile to get readjusted when you get home but boy, this time I needed a couple of days just to get my life back in order! We got home late Tuesday night and Wednesday and Thursday seem to be a blur since work was absolutely crazy and not to mention, closing up this semester of school I had tons of assignments to catch up on. Mark and I spent this entire weekend getting the house back in order.. re-stocking with groceries (we seriously needed, like, everything), cleaning my house top to bottom, catching up on loads of laundry, working on school assignments, etc. It was so nice to get away for a few days though!

So Kyle's first big event at the Roxy was a success! I was definitely a proud big sister. I know he's worked so hard these past 10 months to get his website up and running. I mean how cool is it that he was given the opportunity to book his first venue at the imfamous ROXY! It was SO cool! Here's (part of) the outside sign I took before it got dark..

Here's my cute little bro giving his opening speech before the concert..

Not only were the artists he booked absolutely awesome but the Roxy has since called him to let him know how happy they were with the outcome of his concert and wants him to host another event there! I'm so proud of him. :) Other than the concert, we did a lot of shopping (they seriously have the best stores in Cali!), eating (ugh.. scared to step on the scale this week at my doc appt!), and sight-seeing. We drove down to Newport Beach to go to Fashion Island since they have the coolest pet store there where you can pet all the dogs and we rode along the Pacific Coast Highway. Here's a cool picture of Newport below. There were houses all along this road that had this view in their backyard. How could you NOT love waking up to a view like this every single morning?

My only complaint I ever have about California (or at least the L.A. area) is the unbelievable amount of traffic. I really don't know how the people there sit in that every single day! We did a detour on our way to Santa Monica's 3rd Street Prominade because I never go to California without taking a ride up Mollhalland Drive to see all of the houses and the breath-taking views. We stopped and took a picture on our way up..

Now Lucy can say her first vacation was to California! (In utero, haha) Speaking of my Lu-lu girl.. I'm officially 28 weeks today. Yep, 12 more weeks to go! As much as I hope these next several weeks fly by, I'm telling myself to enjoy every single minute of it. After all, this will be the last time it will ever just be Mark and I (besides our four-legged son, of course). It's such a bitter sweet time for me because I am sooo anxious to meet her, hold her, kiss her little feet, bring her home from the hospital.. you get the point.. but I'm also terrified at the same time because whether we like it or not, we're having a BABY! As my grandma and mom always say - "raising your kids are the best days of your life" so I really, really look forward to it.

My belly is growing like crazy as you can see from the pic above. Here's a picture I took this morning...

She has been moving like crazy lately. I know she has to be getting so squished in there now. All day long she's constantly poking out her limbs.. whether it's a foot, elbow, head, butt.. you name it. It's always so uncomforable so I am always rubbing her and she'll eventually move. But then she'll stick it right out again in no time, it never fails. I can't lie though.. I absolutely love feeling her. I can honestly say the past 2 weeks or so since I can feel her so much, I've really started to bond with her even more. It's crazy the overwhelming amount of love I feel for her already!

Oh, and biiig news.. we are all done with the nursery! :) Well, it's not 100% complete but Mark finished all of the painting this weekend and we have the furniture all set up. He hung the curtains today and my mom and I set up the bedding. Mom came over with her letters that she painted and dresser knobs. We still have to hang up the letters on the wall (in the pics below you'll see them just sitting on the crib for the time being) and screw on the dresser knobs. We are going to put a glider in there caddy-cornered and we still have to add things to the wall. Other than that, it's coming along! It's so nice to be able to walk in there now and envision our little princess sleeping. :) Here are some pictures I took. Mark deserves all the credit since he slaved away so much to get this all done..

The pink and white afghan draped over the crib is the afghan my Gram made for me when I was a little girl. I think it fits well in Lucy's room! I plan to drape it over the glider once we get it. The pillow sham is on top that will also sit on the glider. You can't see the letters too well in this picture but they are outlined in dotted green paint which looks so good against the yellow walls and my mom hand-painted the daisies. I think she did an awesome job!

Right now this is just storing all of our things for now but you can see the picture frame I made for her. I can't wait to fill it with a newborn picture of her! We are going to put the matching lamp on top of the dresser as well.

Here's a view from the hallway looking in. The room is shaped so funny that it's hard to get pictures of the room in it's entirety. You can see the matching area rug and the valance and curtains.

Well that's all the updates I have this week! I have a doctors appointment on Tuesday (every 2 weeks now!) but that should just be routine and in and out. We don't get to have another ultrasound until about 33 weeks. I am SO anxious for that! I can't wait to get a better idea of what she's going to look like. :) Hope everyone has a wonderful week! I'm off to finish an exam now for school. :-/

26 weeks..

26 weeks pregnant today! (Approximately 14 weeks/98 days to go.) Can you believe exactly one week from today and I'll be in my 3rd trimester? And I thought it would never come. :)

So we've (ok, daddy) has officially started on the nursery. One coat down, one more to go. I can't wait until he's done so we can finally set up the furniture and get the bedding/curtains/area rug, etc. in there. I can't wait to see it all come together! Here's daddy Mark spending his weekend slaving on the nursery. (All out of love of course!)

We went and met my mom today at Michael's so we could get all of the supplies for the dresser knobs that she is going to paint for us to match the bedding. We also got the letters to hang above the crib that she is going to paint for us. I was able to get a start on her baby book I'm designing for her. It's starts with the very beginning of the pregnancy which includes fun facts about when we found out we were expecting, when we found out the sex, how she got her name, pictures of mommy's growing belly, sonogram pictures.. and eventually her baby shower, maternity photo shoot, and hospital shots of the day she was born! I can't wait to see how it turns out. Lots and lots of baby Lucy things to do lately! She's already taken over our life if you can't tell. :)

Well we're off to California bright & early on Friday morning to visit my little brother so I'll make a post as soon as we get back and recovered from the jet lag! I'll leave you with a belly shot from today...

25 weeks!

25 weeks today! So approximately 15 more weeks or 105 more days to go. But who's counting?! Here's the ole' bump from this morning (excuse the pj's & the unshowered self!)...

Here's what Lucy's up to these days...

Get ready for pat-a-cake! Baby's hands are now fully developed and she spends most of her awake time groping around in the darkness of your uterus. Brain and nerve endings are developed enough now so that your baby can feel the sensation of touch. That doesn't mean she can feel it when her father pokes your stomach, however, so tell him to knock it off. Other highlights include:

Your baby's arms and legs have grown to almost the proportions they will be at birth, which is still sort of short. So don't be alarmed when your newborn's arms barely clear her waist. Baby's nostrils, which have been plugged up until now, clear out (like she's taken a super-dose of Sudafed) and she can practice breathing through the nose. The structures of your baby's spine are now made up of 150 joints, 33 rings and some 1,000 ligaments. Can you believe you're growing something that complicated inside of you?

The capillaries, the teeniest blood vessels, are now forming in your baby's body, giving her formerly translucent skin a pink glow. The blood vessels in the lungs also develop this week. You'll see how well that worked out when your baby gives those lungs a workout while you're on line at the bank in a few months.

Your baby weighs about a pound and a half and is about 13½ inches long—roughly the length of one of those recorders you played in elementary school music class. Who's up for a round of "Hot Cross Buns?"

(Side note - why do I always look so much bigger than these diagrams?!)

I love the last line because I think the only thing I can play (or even learned to play) on a recorder was "Hot Cross Buns". Sure brings me back to my elementary music class days! Anyway, I had a check-up this past Tuesday and everything is going great. My doctor even told me how impressed she has been with how great the pregnancy has been going. I'm measuring exactly how I should and she's even glad about the total weight gain (16 lbs, yikes!). From here on out I am seen every 2 weeks. Boy is time starting to fly by!

I've been feeling pretty good the past couple of weeks. No more heartburn at all (keeping my fingers crossed) but still getting the dreadful rib pain and now the back pain. Unfortunately there's not much I can do for either but suck it up. My doc just said "welcome to the joys of motherhood!"

So we finally spent last weekend getting her room all cleared out and ready to start painting! We went out and bought her ceiling fan and Mark cut the hole in the ceiling and today our friend is coming over to wire it for us. Mark went out to get paint samples so we can lock down a paint color. I am so anxious to get the room painted and see it all come together.

I'm pretty impressed with everything we've done so far seeing that I'm still only 25 weeks along. We've gotten all the basics for the nursery (furniture, all the bedding, area rug, valance, blinds, etc.), a good stock on diapers thanks to our new BJ's card, we bought a full-size baby swing, a good start on baby clothes (and headbands and bows!), our entire baby registry set up, and even signed up for two baby classes - Breastfeeding 101 and Childbirth Basics. The planning for the baby shower is well underway too thanks to Jen and my wonderful family!

As mentioned above... I've been seeing the full-size "My Little Lamb" baby swing at Babies  R Us and have wanted to get it for awhile now. The thing is, it is $160 at Babies R Us and everyone has told me although they are wonderful, it isn't worth the money for something that they only use for such a short time. So Mark was able to find one on Craigslist practically brand new for $50.00. Can't beat that! So we went and picked it up on Friday night. We have it set up in our living room (envisioning our beautiful daughter swinging peacefully, we hope) and Silas isn't too sure what to think of it. He's really starting to act funny lately and trying to figure out what's going on. He's sat and stared at that swing for a day and a half now. Poor guy!

Anyway, that's all I got for an update this week! Hopefully I'll be back next week with an update on the nursery. :) Have a great week!

My little wiggle worm! 23 weeks.

Ever since Lucy started kicking a couple of weeks ago, she hasn't stopped! She's constantly moving in there which feels more like wiggling than kicking (hence the new nickname 'wiggle worm'). Mark and I went to Ocean City this past weekend with a bunch of friends and while on the beach, she definitely made it known that she did NOT like it! You could literally watch my stomach and see her kick. I'm hoping it was just too bright for her because I'm hoping she'll love the beach as much as I do!

Here is a new belly pic from today at 23 weeks & 2 days.

While on the topic of the beach, I wanted to share a picture of our good friend's 1-year old son, Brody. Is he seriously not the cutest? I could just eat him up. He is just too much fun too!

I can't wait to take pictures of Lucy next year on the beach! Our same friends (Brody's parents) are expecting another baby, a little girl, 2 weeks after Lucy is due. How cool is that? It's going to be so much fun to see them grow up together!

So back to the pregnancy - everything is still going good. I'm starting to get more and more uncomfortable. The heartburn has thankfully started to subside but now it's constant rib pain! I can't tell if it's her head under my ribs all the time or what but it's making my nights awfully miserable. I know my poor husband is already tired of the whining! Everytime I complain I always try to remind myself that it could be worse and so far she's a healthy girl - that's all that matters!