Christmas really is my favorite time of year when I take the time to slow down and appreciate everything. This year that really didn't happen until the day was over. I came home from spending time at my aunt's beach house and unpacked the car and all the sweet gifts that we received and that is when it really hit me. I sat down with a cup of hot tea by myself in the living room, turned on the Christmas tree lights and reflected on the past few days. All the amazing food that was prepared. The thoughtful gifts that were given to Logan and me, not to mention the number of treats for BGB. Most importantly, all the laughter and love that was shared. I took some time to put all of BGB's new outfits away and thought about how the time would be here before we know it when instead of hanging in a closet, she will be wearing these sweet clothes. The little shoes get to me every time. They are so tiny. I know though that just as quickly these past 7 months have flown by, so will how fast she will be growing out of these cute, tiny newborn outfits and leaving us for her first day of school. So my biggest take away this week is to spend the time alone, over a nice cup of coffee or tea and think about the small moments that make our lives so special, not just during the holidays.
Sunday, December 29, 2013
Tuesday, December 24, 2013
28 Weeks - New Low
Let's play a game called find my feet. |
I know I have said it before, but who are these people who
LOVE being pregnant? I Love that I have
a healthy baby girl growing inside me. I
Love the idea of my family growing. I
Love that Logan and I are going to be parents soon. But I just Don’t Love being pregnant. Every week there is something new to overcome
thanks to the fat suit I am wearing.
This week’s challenge: tying my
shoes. Yep, that happened. I can no longer sit in a chair, bend over and
tie my shoe by myself. The thing that I
never get used to is the fact that this belly of mine is solid. It is a good thing, I know. There is a baby in there not just a bunch of
cheeseburgers. But that means I can’t
suck it in when I’m trying to get through a crowd and I can’t squish it down
when I try to bend over to put on some running shoes. (Let’s be serious though, they might be
called running shoes, but there is no running happening.)
The other thing I can’t get used to is how many breaks I
need to take. Cooking is a love of mine
and I do a lot of it during the holiday season.
It took me 3 times as long as it would normally to do my normal
preparations, which really threw me off.
I get so tired so quickly and my back starts to hurt with very little
effort. It seemed like every 15 minutes
I was heading to the couch with a big bottle of water to take a breather. Not to mention that it is only 68 degrees in
my house and I’m dripping in sweat from the little activity I just did. It makes me realize how much I use to take
for granted. Thank goodness for my sweet
husband who normally does everything possible to avoid the kitchen for stepping
in and helping out. Otherwise I would
have been in the kitchen until 2 a.m. hating life. Something that I always enjoyed is now a
hassle. It is moments like that which
make me wish I could fast forward to 3 months from now.
A lot of good happened this week though so I can’t complain
too much. I had the best Dr. Appointment
yet. I think this is the first time that
they have not told me that I am gaining too much weight. Actually, I measured exactly where I should
be. I am 28 centimeters and 28 weeks
which was perfect. BGB’s heartbeat
sounded awesome and she has been kicking up a storm. I also put together a nice long check list of
things that need to happen before her arrival and have a lot of things crossed
off it already. This might be the first
time in months that I’m not feeling overwhelmed. Great timing too since this will be a hectic
week of running around and visiting with family over Christmas. So no, I don't love what being pregnant is doing to me physically, but I do love what being pregnant means for my family. I love the connection that is developing between me and this little girl and I am really counting down the days until I get to meet her.
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
Week 27: Tis the season… to freak out
This happens every year.
In the blink of an eye lazy summer days are over and you are sitting
down with your family for Thanksgiving then running around like a crazy person
getting things together for Christmas.
Each year that passes feels shorter and shorter and it feels like there
is only a week between Thanksgiving and Christmas rather than a month. So you can only imagine how I feel to have
the normal holiday pressure with the added physical weight and lack of mobility
of this baby sitting on my bladder causing me to run to the restroom every half
hour and creating endless back pain. Oh
yea, and I am now in my third trimester which means that I only have about 80
days left before baby girl makes her appearance into this world.
I feel like the checklist of things to do before D-Day is constantly growing without me crossing anything off the list. Plus everything was put on hold to do just
the normal day to day stuff that happens this time of year. Christmas shopping, work, decorating, holiday
parties, etc. I’m not trying to complain
– these are all fun activities and I don’t want to skip out on them, but each
obligation in my day means one more day to push off the other responsibilities that
I have. Setting up the nursery, taking
the classes at the hospital, setting up an appointment with the pediatrician,
etc. What I would love is for time to
stop for about a week. In that time I
can sit in a cozy chair, snuggled up with a cup of hot chocolate enjoying this
amazing week Florida gets once a year where it is cold enough to wear a sweater
and reflect on what the Christmas season is all about. I get so caught up in the consumerism side of
the holiday that I forget to reflect on the amazing gift that gives me a reason
to celebrate this joyous day each year.
But alas, I don’t have the super power to stop time so I will just have
to make an effort to make the time to have a little quite moment to be still in
reflection.
Logan and I did get a short moment to spend in reflection of
all the accomplishments we’ve had over the past year and what we have to look
forward to in the year to come on Saturday night. He just finished a big project for work that
his boss rewarded him for with a date night out with his wife. So for the first time since being pregnant, I
got all dolled up for a night on the town.
It didn’t hurt that we did a maternity shoot earlier that day so I
already had my nails and make up looking good.
I found a dress that didn’t make me feel like a manatee, threw some
curls in my hair and let my man wine and dine me. The whole time I couldn’t help but think
about how much our life is about to change.
These date nights are going to be few and far between. Some people might see it as depressing that
my night is ending at 9 on a Saturday and I’m looking forward to getting a good
night’s sleep vs. the days where I didn’t start getting ready to go out until
9. Or that I’d rather spend a Friday night
after a long week of work in my PJs sitting on my patio with a glass of wine
then listening to a local band at a bar.
But these are changes that we are ready for and are excited about. Besides, if a fancy date night or a night out
to the bars becomes a rare occasion rather than a weekly norm, we might actually
appreciate and remember those experiences vs. just being a part of the blur of
the past year that always overcomes me right around Christmas.
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
26 weeks – Babies for Dummies
This was a big week for taking next steps in the pregnancy
to get ready for Little Miss BGB. Logan
and I attending our first ‘pregnancy class’ where we learned all about how to
take care of newborns. I believe the official
name of the class was just Newborn Care but it could have been called Newborn
Care for dummies. I loved it. They did not over complicate things and they
went over everything you could imagine from changing a diaper to bathing and
included great handouts that broke everything down step by step. It was painfully long (3.5 hours) but went by
surprisingly quick. The thing that I enjoyed
the most about the class was it was a visual reminder of all the stuff I have
already been reading in my mommy-to-be books.
I left feeling more confident that I know what to do when BGB makes her
grand entrance.
Another great moment was that Logan was finally able to
start his nesting process. He has been
very productive with getting the nursery ready.
We have a crib assembled and a hutch that has been painted. Now we just need to find a dresser and put
together the glider and all the basics will be complete. Between that and feeling her movements have started to make a big connection between us and
our new family. We are much more aware
of her and are beginning to think about how any decision we make will be
impacted by her. Things like going away
for the night on Saturday to the Don CeSar can’t happen on a whim anymore. Everything from working late to wanting to
grab some dinner will need to have BGB in consideration. People say that having a dog helps prepare
you for that, but maybe we just have the world’s easiest dog because that has
never been an issue for us.
Bad Photos - But Progress Being Made! |
Taken at Don CeSar |
I’ve also made huge strides in completing my registry. I realized that I am overthinking things
because this registry has taken me over a month to do. I couldn’t add something to the registry
until I did research to see which one is the best and has the strongest reviews. What kind of parent would I be if my little
princess didn’t have the top rated set of plastic keys? It was getting a little crazy. So after I did a few more reviews of ‘review-worthy’
items like car seats and baby monitors, I went the girl-rational route. If it was the cuter option, I picked it. This is supposed to be the fun part
right? Picking out all the sweet little
outfits should be a fun process not stressful.
So in my last week of the second trimester, that is what we did. We had fun playing house while we wait for
the big day.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)