Monday, September 24, 2012

36 Weeks and Bunco Finale

This picture was taken at 36.5 weeks. This is one of my favorite maternity dresses from Motherhood Maternity. I wish I would have purchased it sooner and plan to be able to wear it well into Fall even after Miss C arrives.


How Far Along: 36 weeks
Size of baby: baby is the size of a bowling ball and weighs about 6 pounds
Gender: It's a GIRL! Caroline Reese Fite
Maternity Clothes: yes
Weight gain: 35 pounds
Movement: Yes but decreased. She's running out of room. Movement feels like more of a sliding motion
Sleep: For the most part I'm still sleeping well. I am definitely zonked by the end of the day and I think with all of the running around I have been doing it helps me sleep.
Symptoms: I'm tired, but not exhausted. I have some at times severe hip flexor pain and pain in my mid back. I think it has to do with the weight of my belly pulling me forward. I'm trying to have good posture, but its getting tough! I'm hoping the hip pain means little miss is moving into the right position!  I do not believe that I have had any Braxton Hicks contractions.
Cravings: None really. I just feel like I eat ALL the time.
Best moment this week: Husband surprised me with a beautiful Pandora bracelet. He picked it and 3 charms out all by himself. A turtle (DZ mascot), a cross, and a "C."
This week at the Dr: I'm adding this part since I started weekly Dr visits this week. When "checked" I had not dilated or effaced at all. I wasn't all that surprised since I don't feel like my body is ready to have a baby. I know a lot of people are miserable at this point, but fortunately I'm still feeling great and honestly feel like I'm finally used to being pregnant, ha! I haven't had any contractions like some of my other pregnant friends so I wasn't surprised when Dr. H didn't send me to labor and delivery. :)  Hilariously enough, I was actually asking for her permission for a little "unplanned travel" that I did. It was only to Springfield but I had planned to quit traveling more than 30 minutes from home the week previous. The trip was sort of work related... but something else too that I'll share later. I never want to forget that I made this "trip" at 36 weeks preg.

A fun belly pic of husband.  He's put on a few pregnancy pounds too thanks to our increase in eating out, high fat dinners, and lack thereof of the gym. I'm looking forward to getting our walking schedule back to normal this week since I'm no longer traveling and getting back to the gym asap.

In May, I decided I was going to stop "talking" about hosting a Bunco group, and get serious about doing it. I have 5 close college girlfriends that have relocated to NWA in the last year, plus ladies from small group/church that were all interested in playing Bunco. I was nervous to organize since I was the only common denominator between 12 ladies and I had never played before, but decided to commit to hosting a summer Bunco group. I'm so glad I did because we had 4 months of TOO much fun. I had actually only planned to host 3 months, but we decided to continue in September. Obviously, I could not commit to hosting in Oct with the arrival of a new family member, but another girl picked it up for at least another month. It was a blast introducing "old" friends to "new" ones and the way that everyone just meshed together.
Gus, of course, was a part of every Bunco night. 
Jill, Jessica, Heather, and Katie
In September, the weather was finally cool enough that we were able to play outside on our gorgeous new patio/deck that I have GOT to do a blog post on! It's our most recent DIY and its fantastic.

Jessica was HOT with 2 BIG Buncos. FYI Bunco is the easiest game ever. Dont stress if you get invited to play and have not ever done so. 

Nicole, Kait, Britney, and Jessica

Becca handing out the winnings. We played for cash each time which was way fun.
Jessica celebrating her big win of the night... 3 big buncos!

Our group pic for Sept Bunco. We usually played with 12 but played with 8 this last time. We had a blast over the last 4 months and I so enjoyed hosting.  I can't believe I didn't take pictures of all of the delicious food that we had each time!

I can't believe the time is near for Caroline to arrive. I remember thinking that the "weekly appointments" meant the time was very near. It's also weird that  2/4 couples in our birthing class have had their babies already (both due after us) and my friends Ally and Molly who were due just 1 and 2 weeks ahead of me are scheduled to have their babies this week too! I'm still not quite "physically" ready for Caroline to come, but plan to get some things finished up this weekend... i.e. nursery, packing, cleaning up my work stuff out of the car, install car seat and a few other things. I am looking forward to working strictly from home starting Oct 1 until she comes and taking it "easy" for the first time in a long time. I've been doing a lot of travel and a lot of working because work is crazy busy (which is good for business!) but I'm glad for the suggestions from my managers to slow.it.down.  I think I will happily take their advice.



Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Conway Shower

On September 9th, my sweet pledge sisters (Delta Zeta Spring 06) hosted a shower for Caroline and I in Conway. The theme was "Pickles and Ice Cream" and once again my baby girl was showered with love from some of my dearest friends.  Here are a few pics from the shower:
Becca, Jessica, Tyler, me, and Julianna

me and the hostess with the mostest- Lizzy Beth

 Lizzy's mom and one of my favorite people in the world- Mrs. Michelle. She was gracious to host our shower at her gorgeous home in Conway
mom and I. I look like I could eat her for lunch. :)

Stationary that Adam created for all of our hostess gifts. He created in photo shop and we customized for each hostess.

Diaper cake made my one of my best college friends, Brittany (b-lew)

Thank you cards- also created by Adam.

The "spread" there were several different kinds of pickles (including my fav- FRIED!) spinach dip, chicken salad sandwiches, fruit, ice cream cake and Mexico Chiquito punch (my fav!!)
Sweet Mason and I.
All of the hostesses and me. 
Lauren, Britney, Jessica, Becca, Liz, Tyler, Julianna, and Courtney

I was so honored that these ladies did this for me! We had a great time and received many wonderful things for our sweet girl (and future Delta Zeta.)



Tuesday, September 4, 2012

33 Weeks

 
I'm 33 weeks pregnant!
 
How Far Along: 36 weeks
Size of baby: baby is the size of a pinapple, 17 inches long and about 4.25 pounds
Gender: It's a GIRL! Caroline Reese Fite
Maternity Clothes: yes
Weight gain: 30 pounds
Movement: All the time! Movement feels different now... less fluttering and more jabs. I can physically feel her head and see her move in my belly which is totally cool and weird at the same time.
Sleep: For the most time I'm still sleeping well. I am pretty tired at the end of the day but am guilty of nesting/internet surfing a little too close to bedtime which keeps me awake sometimes.
Symptoms: I'm tired, but not exhausted. I am starting to get a little bit uncomfortable, but not anything unbearable. I have the CRAZIEST dreams almost every night.
Cravings: None really. I just feel like I eat ALL the time.
Best moment this week: Really working on the nursery. We got the walls painted and all of the furniture in place. It's starting to feel real that she will be here in 6 weeks or less!

Monday, September 3, 2012

Mrs. Indecisive

Husband says I'm indecisive. Throw pregnancy in the mix and I can be quite the crazy. I can't tell you how many things I've purchased and returned because I didn't like them once I got them home.  I personally don't see anything wrong with it... but it drives Adam nuts!

Husband came home on Friday from work to find me drooling over the gorgeous curtains I found at JCP. I had to drive to 2 stores, but found 4/6 of the last panels in existence evidently! AND, they were on clearance for $15 per panel! Also, during my late night blog/internet surfing session I found the most lovely bedroom set thanks to Craig and his list! I mean... we werent really in the market for furniture for our spare bedroom or anything... because you know... were having a BABY that needs a nursery... but I just had to inquire about the set and it was still available. It was only a matter of convincing husband that we should move on the furniture purchase. That is the good news...

The bad/inconvienent news was that the grey wall color did not look good with my new curtain loves.  I knew we would need to change the color scheme of the room to make them work. We painted the room grey over a year ago so it wasn't like I was wanting to repaint what we had already done. Also, I had done some measuring and was pretty sure the new bedroom furniture was going to fit better in our nursery... which meant we would need to switch the rooms. I knew Adam would be thrilled to learn of all of these findings... and he was! (insert sarcastic voice)

Here was the color scheme we were going with before "the changes."

I loved the idea of having a "sophisticated nursery," but it just wasn't coming together like I wanted. The pink rosette fabric of the pillow was no where to be found and I wanted to make a bedskirt out of it. The blue lattice fabric is actually a curtain from Target.The pink/cream minky blanket was a gift from my MIL and I adore it. It actually ended up providing a lot of inspiration for the "new nursery." Once I found the curtains at JCP, I decided to go for more of a classic, traditional nursery. I still love the white, Jenny Lind crib, and our Babies R Us dresser (which FINALLY came in!!) So basically, we hadn't really done much except purchase furniture and a few fabric samples which were all returnable.

So... after a little convincing, my sweet husband agreed to spend our three day weekend redoing not one, but TWO rooms in our home. We picked up the Craiglist bedroom furniture on Sunday, with the help of brother, Lee. Then moved everything from one room to the other. Then, we taped off the nursery and picked up the paint for the nursery first thing Monday morning (Labor Day.) The room is small so it didnt take long to paint. This is the color we went with...

It's Sherwin Williams Romance. It's the perfect amount of pink and khaki- which is exactly what I wanted.

I'll share more nursery pics once we have a few more things done. I'm still deciding on bedding and have a lot of accessorizing to do! The glider did come today and the shelving should be in this week.
I've had several people make comments and act surprised when I say my nursery isn't done and I'm 34 weeks pregnant. I'm not too stressed about it and I'm enjoying taking my time with it. If baby girl decides to make an early appearance, it may not be quite done, but she has a place to sleep, plenty of diapers, and and mommy and daddy that already adore her... so she will be fine. I just know that what I dont finish before she gets here may never get finished so I really am trying to kick it in gear.

As for the spare bedroom, here's a pic of it...
This is the four poster, but we also got the dresser and a side table. The furniture is Bombay Company and the set is still available... the bed alone is $1,500 new! We payed $300 for the set and I think it was worth every penny. Its beautiful and very well made.  We are not making any other updates to this room right now but after the first of the year I might change out paint and bedding.
 
 
In addition to our decorating projects, we attended the first Hog game of the season against Jacksonville State. Adam's dad snagged 4 indoor club seats which was awesome for this big ole pregnant girl. It was really hot and humid and I don't think I could have sat on the bleacher seating at the TOP of the stadium where we were going to sit. We had a great time and the Hogs pulled off the first WIN of the season. I enjoyed it even more sitting in a comfy seat in the air conditioning! We decided not to buy season tickets this year and party at home when we cant find tickets. And again... we have a BABY coming so I think we will be glad later to just hang out on home on the weekends and watch the games together.

 
To end the weekend we had the Green's and the Huddleston's and Lee over for a hotdog cookout. It was a busy weekend, but it was a fun time to spend together and ended perfectly with a night with friends. I'm thankful for a 3 day weekend and for a husband that puts up with my ever changing mind!