New Baby 101

Ok, so maybe the title of this post isn't the best. After all, I'm no expert on the subject of babies. But I'm learning so much everyday, which has been such a cool experience. And with an influx of expecting friends, I thought I'd pass on some of what I've learned over the last month.

But before that, here are some pictures! I mean it's not a good post without some pics, right?

Ahh! She's so cute. I die. 

Anyway...back on topic. Here's what I've learned about childbirth/newborns:

• Milk the hospital for the all freebie supplies you can. This includes the sitz bath, super hot disposable underwear, squirt bottles, witch hazel wipes, various creams and sprays, et cetera et cetera. If you want the pretty details of what all these things are used for, I'd be happy to fill you in.
• Take advantage of the nursery at the hospital! You're not a bad parent if you don't sleep with your new baby in the room. You need sleep and the nurses will let you get it while you can. So do it!
• If you're like me, you might have a little anxiety about the level of...hm...exposedness (yes, I made that word up exactly for this purpose) you will experience in the hospital. Let me tell you. Don't even worry about it. Do you know how many things these nurses and doctors see every day? You are not the worst by a long shot. So don't give it a second thought to let them help you out in delicate situations. They are angels. 
• You will recover. It may feel like a land mine down there for a little bit, but you'll probably be surprised how quickly things start to get back to normal. I had it in my head that it would be so utterly horrendous that I literally didn't get out of the hospital bed for a whole day. That was stupid. Be careful, take it easy, but don't convince yourself that it's worse than it is or that it's ruined. It's not. But! I will say, do not, under any circumstances, look at it for like a week. There's no need and you may be horrified. Just don't. 
• Let people help you, but know that it's ok to say no too. Sometimes you just need a nap or some time alone when the baby's sleeping. So guard your time. 
• Don't get worked up about schedules or routines or how many poops the internet says your baby's supposed to have. If your baby gets a clean bill of health at the hospital and is putting on weight, they're fine! There was a day I panicked that Eva wasn't eating enough so I just kept feeding her and feeding her, which was stressing both of us out. Then she through up all over me. Babies are little people. And like regular size people, they're gonna eat when they're hungry and poop when they have to. Do you let a schedule you found on the internet dictate when you poop? Probably not. So don't worry about your baby. It's not good for either one of you. You'll learn what's normal for them.
• Don't stress about finishing the nursery before the baby's born. You may not really even use it that much for the first month at least. And your baby won't know the difference anyway! So sure it's nice to have done, but if you can't settle on curtains, or still need to add a few things, don't worry about it. There are far more important things to think about. 
• Sleep whenever you can! That's that. 
• Don't read things online that stress you out. Instead, read this pregnancy/baby blog. You'll feel better. 

So there's that. 

Things are going really well around here. Eva's been a really good little baby and we're learning what makes her fussy, so in general we can figure out what's wrong when she gets upset. 

There's no doubt that she looks like her Dad, but I can see some of my personality coming through. For instance, she doesn't seem to be a morning person, she gets hangry, and when she's sleeping, she cannot be bothered to wake up under any circumstances. 

She's off the charts as far as growth goes, so that makes me feel good (not stressing about if she's eating enough), and it's just so crazy to see how much she's grown and changed even in this first month of her little life. 

I so wanted to take pictures of each week for the first month to see how she's changing, but that kinda fell to wayside with feedings and naps and trying to keep the house from turning into one of "those" houses. You know the ones I mean. We'll probably get there someday, but today is not that day. 

As much as I can't wait to give updates on things like "she ate her first solid food!" or "she said her first word!" or "she's walking!" I know that these moments are precious right where we are and there will be a time when I wish we could go back. So I'm just doing my best to soak it all in and enjoy it while it lasts! 

She's Here!

I've been waiting so long to finally announce this! Our sweet baby is here!

Evangeline Joy Mendenhall was born at 4:02 p.m. on Friday, July 13.

I'd begun to accept the idea that at almost 41 weeks, I'd have to be induced. I'd only had off-and-on mild contractions at night, would fall asleep, and wake up the next morning...still pregnant. I'm not going to lie, I was getting impatient and a bit discouraged because while scheduling an induction would have still done the trick and we'd be thrilled for her to get here, I was beginning to really get excited about the whole surprise of water breaking, having close contractions, making the highly anticipated trip to the hospital...probably the only time in life that you'd actually be excited for these kind of painful/pretty gross things to happen.

Ironically, that Friday was supposed to be my appointment to discuss induction, but as Brendan's boss predicted, we skipped the appointment to go for the real thing. My water broke at around 4:30 a.m., which came an invited surprise. We got to the hospital an hour later and after I while, I still had no significant contractions so they stared me on pitocin, which did the trick.

After the contractions got pretty painful, I opted for the epidural which worked wonders and soon after fell asleep for a little bit. When I woke up, I felt a lot of pressure and started to understand why sometimes women who get their epidurals really early on think they don't work because the pressure is still pretty significant.

But then it became more than significant pressure. About ten minutes after waking up, I felt actual pain. I'd completely missed the part about pressing the little IV button to increase the epidural. Oops. And by that point it was kinda too late for it took kick in more because things were happening already. I knew something was going on and Brendan grabbed the nurse to check me again. Sure enough, I was 10 centimeters and she could see the head.

Oooh boy.

I'm not sure how long I pushed for. It wasn't too long, but felt like forever (that is no joke, especially with only 50 percent of what your epidural should be). Thank God the last push was the last because I remember thinking it was the last one I had in me.

And taaadaaa! There she was! The first thing I thought when they threw her on me was that she definitely has her daddy's nose.

She was completely beautiful.

Since being home, she's been so good. She got to hang out her Mimi Jeannie and has already met tons of new friends. She's not too fussy, eats a ton, and is making progress at night sleeping in her pack-n-play.

Here are a few pics from the hospital and coming home...

We are so, so appreciative for all of the prayers and well wishes. We can definitely feel the love :)
We're so thankful to have this sweet little girl in our lives and can't wait to see her little life unfold.

Maybe Today...?

"Maybe today!" That seems to be the running theme around here. No baby yet. I've had contractions the last couple nights, but then I fall asleep and they stop. Bummer.

But she's gotta be ready soon! If there's no action by Friday, we'll be inducing at the beginning of next week. I don't know how I feel about that, but at this point, I'm really ready to see her squishy little face, so que sera sera.

Here I am on my due date, last Sunday...

Look how low she is! I mean, I feel like she's just gonna fall out, but then when I think of the logistics, I know it's not very likely to happen like that. 

We're all ready to go; mom's here, laundry is being done in an OCD fashion, meals are planned and prepared...now if only this little one would decide to join the party, we'd be all set!

Lately

I'm playing a bit of catch-up here since Father's Day and our four-year anniversary have passed since my last post...two big days!

First was Father's Day. Brendan insisted that I not make a big deal out of it yet. I think his thoughts are that besides the work put into the nursery and that kind of thing, he hasn't really had to do anything fatherly yet, but I beg to differ. I'm already so proud of the father he will be to our little girl and how super helpful and supportive he's been to his baby's mama. I can't for him to get to hold her (and see how heavy this little booger is that I've been carrying ;).

Not only am I so lucky to have an amazing dad for my little girl, I'm pretty darn lucky to have a great dad myself. Though we live a few states away, I hope he knows how often he is thought of, prayed for, and loved.

Love you, Dad!!

Just a few days after celebrating Father's Day, we celebrated four years of amazing marriage! I know that sounds cheesy, but this is my blog, and I'm preggo, so I'll take license to sappy from time to time. And I feel like now's a good time for it!

It was a completely beautiful night downtown. We hung out at the waterfront for a while and upon my friend Abbie's advice, drove around several cobblestone streets and ate deliciously spicy Thai food at Basil, in hopes that maybe it would help convince Eva that coming into the world would be a super fun thing to do on our anniversary.

Welp, no such luck. My due date's a week and a half away, and I wish I could speed up the clock (the doc said she's in position and could come any day now), but I have to remind myself to just enjoy the calm and quiet now...before everything changes! :)

On the agenda this week: lots of yoga ball bouncing, walking & spicy food. Stay tuned...

36 1/2 Weeks!

Well, we're really in the home stretch! I guess there's a pun there...

Nothing new to report. Just trying to keep the house clean and keep my legs shaved. The latter is more difficult than the former.

This Sunday she'll be technically full-term, my bag's packed, and I'm planning on doing lots of walking, bouncing on a yoga ball, and eating delicious spicy food.

Who knows...by my next post, she might be here!!

Well...

...nothing new really to report. And I don't want to seem whiney, so I'm going to keep this short and sweet. I'm feeling fat. And tired. And clumsy.

In other news, I've finished up my last two projects until baby gets here...one of which you can see here. 

When I finish a project, I always feel like I'm coming off a design high and if I don't have something to immediately delve back into. I go through a little design withdrawal. So I'll keep up with designerly-type things on my design blog for the weeks to come. 

But if you don't hear much from me here, it's probably because I'm trying not get too repetitive with the whole "I feel huge and am ready pop" stuff. 

Anyway, here I am at 34 weeks with my pretty friend Lindsey at her wedding last weekend, a lamp that I love in Eva's nursery (love that it looks like a little lady hat), and Mo. Just keeping the Cuddle Bunny warm for her for a couple weeks. How thoughtful of him. 

Notes on the Third Trimester

I'm about a month into the home stretch. With each day getting closer and closer to our baby's arrival, I find myself feeling so many different things. Some days I feel very prepared and have a generally laid back attitude. After all, they don't call them maternal instincts for nothing. They'll kick in all will be well.

Other times, I catch myself in a little panic that I haven't done enough research and hastily whip out my iPhone, looking up everything I can re: "what they don't tell you about having a baby." Sometimes that's scary. I don't know if I recommend it.

Overall, I think we are as well prepared as we can be. Brendan has done a phenomenal job getting the nursery ready and reading through books and blogs with me that are full of really good info. And I feel really lucky to have lots of great friends who are moms to little ones, so their experiences are still pretty fresh and their insight has been so helpful.

Lately, Brendan and I both are short on sleep and he said the other day that it's just preparation for what's in store. While I do find myself wanting a nap pretty much all day, when I actually do get the chance, my mind just won't cooperate. I'm wrapping up my last two design projects, and in my line of work, you never really stop working on something.

Projects are constantly in the back of my head and even if I'm just flipping through a magazine or running my own errands, the designer in me is still scoping out things for projects or concepts. The "off" switch doesn't really exist. This isn't a bad thing; it means I love what I do, it just makes rest difficult when combined with all the other million things running through my head.

Good thing preggos need to skimp on the caffeine...otherwise I'd really be in trouble.

Luckily though, yesterday was super relaxing and Brendan and I both napped on the sofa for a few hours. It was heavenly. And for my first mother's day (which feels pretty weird!) all I wanted was to have a breakfast food feast at home and to lay around in my sweats. It was all a girl could dream of. And then we had fro-yo and it was officially the best day ever.

By the way...those are Danish Pancakes from Trader Joe's. You need to get them. They're delicious.

Anyway, I'm off to get some work done! Hope your Mother's Day weekend was great!

Scatter Brain

Oh boy...I can't believe we only have about eight more weeks until our little Eva Joy gets here! In some ways I feel like it was just yesterday that the faintest pink line appeared in the little window of the pregnancy test. Already, our lives have changed so much and it's only about to get crazier!

Brendan and I got a book called Baby 411...which by the way, we have no idea who sent it to us...so whoever you are, thanks!...and it's been super helpful in preparing us for what we're in for.

I'm starting to pack my hospital bag, just in case this little one decides to make an early debut. I can't believe I'm saying that! All of a sudden, time has flown!

And I know I'm a little all over the place...but here's a sneak peak of the nursery...

Can't wait to show you the finished room!

Third Trimester!

So I've been pretty terrible about keeping up lately. Things have been busy busy busy around here. I don't even know where to start.

We've been working like crazy people trying to get the nursery done, which has mostly been lots of painting. Two opposing walls in the nursery have stripes, so that's been fun. And the ceiling needed to be repainted. And pretty much all of the furniture, which includes the dresser/changing table, rocking chair, and a little side table. And let's not even talk about the crib. That's a bit of a sore subject right now. See, when I say "we've been painting" I really mean Brendan and various other helpers. Not me. But Brendan endured a seven-hour stand-off with the crib I used as I baby, first trying to figure out how the heck to put together such a...shall we say..."vintage" piece. Then painting said piece for hours upon hours, meticulously detailing each spindle, trying to get sufficient coverage, only to find that upon drying the perfect shade pealed off like a bad sunburn.

Yikes.

We've surrendered and will be picking up a new crib soon.

We've also been getting a lot done around the rest of the house too. I think Brendan has caught the nesting bug too. We've put up curtains in the living room (finally!!), got some stuff of the walls so it doesn't look like we just moved in, and finished the old gun cabinet turned wine rack we found on the side of the road a looong time ago. We're not done, but are making huge strides and I'm feeling really good about it. I'll get some pics up soon. There are a few other things to get done first, though.

And on a sad note, we had to do something really rough last week. After finding out that our little Gigi has kitty-diabetes, we had to give her away. It was really sad, but we didn't have a choice because with a baby on the way, we don't have the time or money to worry about what treatment entails. And I know she's making plenty of new friends and cuddling with everything she sees at Pet Helpers. They can treat her there and I just know that some rich old lady will adopt her and not worry one bit about paying for her diabetes medicine. And maybe that old lady will even have diabetes too, so they can check their insulin together and be best friends forever.

But enough about that.

Eva is growing like crazy, which means I am too! Thankfully I don't have diabetes (gestational diabetes, that is) and am right on track with everything, but I was shocked that I hadn't gained more weight since my last doctor's appointment because I feel like every morning I wake up and am huge! She's totally popping out and everyone's taken notice. It was a total shocker to read that babies can come as early as 32 weeks and are generally fine. Holy crap...that's in just three weeks! Not that I think she'll make her arrival that early, but I know she'll be here before we know it. I feel like it wasn't long ago that I spent my days hugging the toilet and eating a steady diet of saltines. Now I'm just tired a lot and getting used to jabs in the guts. Things are really starting to sink in.

Here's me, my baby belly, and my sweet girls at Fuse last Wednesday. No, they don't always dress like this. It was Old School night. And they look pretty awesome.

Speaking of awesome...I'm gonna go lay on the couch. Good night.

Happy Spring!

Spring has definitely sprung here in Charleston. In fact, I think it's been here for a while. We've been super busy getting things done around the house, which I will show you later, and we've had some delightful people around that we don't get to see that often. So it's been a really good couple of weeks!

My mom visited last week and we had a blast! The weather was fantastic and we got to spend some time at the beach, and scouted around for things for Eva's room. We found some perfect fabric for curtains, which I couldn't be happier with, and also made some progress with other things too. I'm so excited to see it all come together!

Speaking of Eva, here she is pooching out!

I'm 24 weeks and feeling really good. My energy's good and now that my uterus is the size of soccer ball, I think I'm really showing. As my friend Megan put it, "That ain't no food baby!"

Aaand....speaking of Megan, she and her hubby Eric also came to visit this weekend from Knoxville and we were so happy to see them! We celebrated Eric's birthday at Basil and they got a chance to catch up with some friends in the area too. Fingers crossed that we'll be seeing more of them soon! ;)

What else, what else?

It's amazing how much stronger Eva is getting even this week from last. Her kicks and punches are much more obvious from the outside now. By that I mean you can actually see and feel them from the outside, it's not just me feeling them from the inside.

She's probably a little more than a pound now and anywhere from eight to twelve inches long. I can't believe that!

July will be here before we know it. In the meantime, I'll be getting work done and eating my newly beloved broccoli.

This & That

I feel like we've been super busy lately. Every week, there's practically something going on every night, so it was nice to have a little time this weekend and last to get some things done around the house and spend some time with hub.

Speaking of the hubby, he's been a project fiend lately. He's painted one of the bathrooms, redone what I think used to be a very old gun cabinet but is now repurposed as a wine rack, helped me paint some oars to hang over the couch (sounds cheesy, but they're not), and some other random stuff.

Things at home are moving right along. Before long, it'll be time to tackle Eva's nursery! We were going to start painting this weekend, but I ended up getting the wrong paint (call it pregnancy brain), so that'll have to wait.

When everything's done drying and moved up from the garage, I'll post some pics.

Speaking of pictures, here I am last weekend at 22 weeks, before heading out the Needtobreathe concert (which, by the way, was incredible!). Again, taken with an iPhone camera and edited in Instagram to make its graininess seam purposeful. I realized yesterday that the charger for my Nikon is out in the garage somewhere and I have yet to look for it.

Lately, I've been feeling pretty good. Eva is moving lots and Brendan has felt her tiny little kicks (or punches) twice!

I do find myself getting really tired a lot earlier in the evening than usual, and instead of laying in bed and watching Downton Abbey or Arrested Development re-runs on Netflix for hours, I'm finding that it's really important for me to give in and just go to sleep. Especially since around three or four in the morning, sleep becomes really uncomfortable for me and I usually end up tossing and turning, trying to get comfortable, for like an hour. Just getting me used to getting up for those night-time feedings, I guess.

Anyway, I'm off to get some work done before my mom comes to visit tomorrow! Happy Monday!

Our Little Girl!

Wow. I can't believe we're having a baby girl. Honestly, I've always imagined that my first child would be a girl, but when I actually got pregnant, I didn't want to say that I had a feeling one way or the other because I didn't want to get in the girl (or boy) mindset. Then if my instincts were wrong, I would have to recalibrate my thinking. Not that a boy would have been disappointing at all, it's just once you're in one mode, it's difficult to switch. You know what I mean?

So anyway, we are obviously super, super excited. Here's a little bit about our ultrasound yesterday:

For the first time in all of our appointments, we were fifteen minutes early, which meant we got to go back with our ultrasound tech early too. She was an incredibly nice lady who covered my belly in weird warm jelly and then starting rolling the little thingy around until up popped a head on the screen. I think Brendan and I both were so surprised at how big she is (almost a pound!). Then we saw her face, which was super cool, and honestly super weird. She wiggled around a little bit, then the ultrasound lady pointed out some other parts like legs and arms, which were a little harder to decipher.

And then came the moment of truth. Apparently our little girl is rather limber as her legs were in a scissor split position, making it super easy for the lady to identify that she's a girl. But we didn't get it so quickly. She zoomed in and asked us if we knew what we were looking at. Honestly, I had no idea. I didn't really see any boy parts, but I didn't want to say "Girl!" and then be wrong. When she told us that it was 100% surely a girl, we both were immediately all smiles and giggles. The ultra sound lady hugged us both and then we met with the doctor who told us that everything looked good!

I also gained four pounds since last month which is a relief for me since I had a little freak out last month about still not being able to eat like I thought I should be. I'm also going to try to start walking for at least thirty minutes every day now that my energy is up and I'm getting sick much less.

In other not so happy news, I dropped both of our kitties off to be declawed this morning. It was terrible because they hate the car and I'm pretty sure all three of us were crying on the way there. Then only a few minutes ago, I got a call from the vet saying that Gigi has an infection that she'll have to take antibiotics for three weeks to clear up, and then they'll be able to declaw:( The whole decision has been difficult and I feel so bad to have to do it, but with little Eva on her way and their increasingly worse clawing, it just had to be done. So one will come home tomorrow clawless and the other should be done in three weeks as long as her infection clears up.

Oh man...so much to get done before our little girl gets here. I can't wait!

Drum Roll Please....

Well, today's the big day!! Today, we found out who's squirming around in my belly!

We're so excited to announce that Eva Joy will be making her way into the world in early July!

Preggo Go-To's

If you've been following my blog throughout my pregnancy, you'll know that some aspects of pregnancy have caught me off guard. For instance, a constantly runny nose, or the disappointment that is Target's maternity section.

So I thought I'd share a few of my go-to's for any preggos or perspective preggos out there.

1. Burt's Bees Mama Bee Body Oil: I slather this lemony-scented stuff all over my belly twice a day. Fingers crossed, it will help me abate or even avoid the dreaded stretch marks. So far, so good.

2. Colour Riche Lip Balm: Since becoming pregnant, I've noticed that my lips are super dry. Really, all of my skin has been super dry (not the norm for me), so I opted for this tinted lip balm that isn't lip-sticky at all. Just some nice color and chap-fighting moisture. A+

3. Body Pillow: Oh, body pillow. We have such a love hate relationship. I hate sleeping on my side, but a good body pillow (only $9.99 at Target) has helped. As much as I hate side-sleeping, the body pillow has really been a life saver.

4. Liz Lange Maternity V-Neck Ts: Yes, I have been sorely, sorely disappointed with Target's maternity ware and most maternity clothes, but these t's are versatile, inexpensive, and come in lots of colors. I like to dress them up a little by pairing up with a pretty scarf and jewelry or even under a blazer with some boots.

5. Broccoli: Can't really explain this one except to say that I can't get enough of it. Usually steamed, no need for cheese. Odd.

6. Horizon Organic Chocolate Milk: Satisfies a chocolate craving (which I don't really get too often), but isn't nutritionally void either. I've found that my tastes have been very simple, even a little juvenile, during this pregnancy. I love a glass with a grilled cheese or a with waffles in the morning.

7. Neti Pot: Nope. That's not a tea pot, though I do love me some black mandarin tea right now. That's a neti pot, a tea pot-like thing that you fill with warm salty water and stick up your nose to clear out your nasal passages. Delightful. Especially when you're constantly plagued with snot and can't take a dang thing for it.

8. Humidifier: No, our humidifier isn't this cute, but we do use one almost every night and it's made a world of difference with the sinuses and even a little bit with the dry skin. Highly recommended.

9. Be Band: This is a the Bella Band's cheap twin sister available at Target. You may remember my whiney saga about trying to find maternity skinny jeans. Well, I got some, and while it's fair to say they're straight-leg, they just don't cut it like skinnies. You see, I'm really picky about jeans. Because I'm somewhat petite, I feel like it's really easy for jeans that are too loose throughout the leg to just make me look short and wide, so I'd go with a jegging before going with boot-cut. And of course, unless you're willing to drop some serious dough on jeans you won't even wear for too long, you're screwed. So I do wear my preggo jeans from time to time (rolled up at the bottom for a boyfriend jean look, usually with some kind of cute flat so that I don't look like a total dunce), I took a pair of skinnies that were already a little worn out anyway and cut the top off. Ha. But they hold up great with the Be Band, and I get the best of both worlds! Room for the baby bump and skinnies that I can actually wear boots with! Hooray!

So there you have it. These are just a few things I won't be without for the next few months.

PS: Countdown for finding out the baby's gender is only TWO DAYS AWAY!!! O M G. I can't wait I can't wait I can't wait.

20 Weeks!

Twenty weeks! I can hardly believe we're half way there! Believe it or not, I do have an actual camera, but it seems iPhones are just way more convenient. Especially when you're taking your picture in a hotel bathroom mirror.

This weekend we were in Anderson at a conference at NewSpring, which was super fun and encouraging. I also got to spend some time with some really cool women who gave me so much valuable insight into pregnancy and childbirth (think things they don't tell you!). I've been really blessed to have so many great and encouraging women in my life who've shared their experiences with me and I'm so thankful to have a better idea of just what we've gotten ourselves into:)

The last few weeks, I've been feeling really great- thank ya Jesus! I still feel randomly exhausted sometimes and have had a pretty incessant runny nose, but I'll take that over morning sickness any day!

The baby's squirmy and especially in the morning and at night I can feel it moving around like crazy. So cool! Brendan hasn't been able to feel it yet, but he will soon.

And speaking of soon, we won't be calling the baby "it" much longer! We find out the sex Wednesday! So keep your eyes peeled! We can't wait!

Monday Miscellany

Happy Monday! This is truly a happy Monday for me because despite the mass amounts of random super bowl food I ate last night, I did not wake up feeling sick! Hooray! I will warn you ahead of time, this will be a random, incoherent post. I just have a lot things floating around in my mind, so welcome to the chaos that are my thoughts.

First, I know it's been a while since I've posted any baby bump pics. I feel like I don't look too much different. I feel a lot bigger, but I think I only look slightly bigger. I was in the fabric store the other day and a lady did comment, which made me feel good because up until now, I've felt like I look more like I've just eaten a big burrito or slung back one too many brewskies than like there's actually a baby in there.

Also, I'm sick of posting things with no visual interest at all, so today I share with you the plans for our second full bath.

Please excuse the low-res image of the vanity...that's really only to help me visualize what the existing vanity will look like painted, something Brendan is less than thrilled about. But I think he'll realize how good it will look when it all comes together. The yellow fabric will be the shower curtain, which I have to order, and I have to order the light fixture, but other than that, we have everything, so we should be able to knock this out soon!

At first I was going for a little more sophisticated design, but then I realized that this will ultimately be a kid's bathroom, so I wanted it to be something gender neutral, bright, and clean. There are sooo many little things to get done around here. I can't wait to see them all come together!

Additionally, I can't wait for watermelon season. I saw this on Pinterest recently and the craving is in full swing. Seriously, how delicious does this look??

And the last thing I can't wait for (well, at least as far as this post is concerned)? Running! I know that's totally weird and random, but lately I've just had these random ridiculous urges to go running and I'm just not so sure that's a good idea right now. I even dream about it. I'm not a huge runner, and would run here and there before getting preggo, but nothing too hardcore. I guess absence makes the heart grow founder.

Welp. This has been sufficiently random. Hope your week's off to a great start!

Morning?

Good morning! I say that like it actually is morning, even though it's 11:45. It still feels like morning to me because if a morning is rough and I have the chance, I try to sleep it all away for like an hour, after which point, I will wake up and be hungry, despite the fact that I was sick just a little earlier. It's kind of like deciding that the day just needs a restart.

I can't do that every day that I'm sick of course, but days when I can I do. And today I slept through something on Hoda and Kathie Lee about a no-bake cookie recipe, which I may have half-dreamed, and woke up reeeally wanting to make the cookies, but now can't find the recipe online:(

Anyway, I don't really have anything new to report on the pregnancy front. Yesterday was the first Monday in three weeks that I haven't been sick and thought this could be the week that breaks the cycle, but then I drank maybe a little too much orange juice this morning and well...it wasn't pretty. I yi yi.

Tomorrow's our monthly check-in with the doc in two weeks we're finding out if this booger's a boy or girl! I can't wait! There will be so much we (and by we I mostly mean Brendan) can start doing. Painting the nursery, painting the crib, starting the hunt for all the cool things I want to put in there. Poor Brendan. There really is a lot I would love to have done before the baby gets here, not even including the nursery. We have four bathrooms to swap out mirrors and light fixtures in, paint, etc. Not to mention painting our room, the downstairs living room/studio area, putting up more blinds, doing some wainscoting in the dining room....

Ok, my head is spinning now. I think on that note, I'll get back to work. More pics and gender announcement coming soon!!

Dream On

One of the biggest things pregnancy has affected for me lately is sleep. Sleeping on my side has not been my favorite, and I got a body pillow, which really isn't all that helpful. It just seems to take up a lot of space in our bed and isn't all that convenient when I want to roll over.

But when I finally do fall asleep, I have been having the weirdest dreams. Mostly it's been scenarios from my past but I'm the current version of myself and I just find myself very confused. Like last night I dreamt that I worked at Chick-fil-A, which I did in high school, but I didn't want to do any training because I had already worked there before. And everyone got mad at me I got in trouble for drinking diet Coke. Then I popped into another dream where I worked at Pier 1 and found a secret stash of all of this designer furniture and accessories in the back and I tried to carry it all out to my car, but then panicked, not because I was basically stealing a butt-load of stuff, but because I was pregnant and not supposed to be lifting anything.

More commonly, I have been dreaming that I'm back in either high school or college, but as the present day version of myself. I'll be doing homework or in class and realize "Hey! I've already done all this!" and then have that weird moment where something in my conscious tells me this is just a dream and the dream version of myself starts to do all these crazy things because it's just a dream and then I wake up, usually to find myself in some bizarre position wrapped around my oafy body pillow.

I'm almost half way through, and this is what I know of pregnancy so far: it's weird.

16 Weeks + TGIF

Sixteen-week belly! Here it is. I've felt preggo for a long time, but now I'm finally starting to look it! This morning when I looked at myself in the mirror I felt like the bump had just popped out overnight. And I swear I've felt a few faint flutters. But I've also been eating a lot of broccoli...so...

Anyway. Have I mentioned how much I love Fridays? Duh, everyone likes Fridays but Fridays are Brendan's Saturday and this morning, in a record-breaking turn of events, we slept in till 10:30, hung out downtown, ran into some long lost friends, had coffee at Kudu, and are now vegging on the couch watching crime shows. De. Lightful.

And on the books for tomorrow: painting the bathroom. Can't wait:)

Hope your weekend's grand!

Little Updates

Well...

• I got my maternity jeans in the mail. One word: disappointment. Really, Old Navy?? That's the size I ordered?? The "baby band" which was disproportionally tight compared to the rest of the sagging "skinny" jeans was so low that they might as well have just been ill-constructed elastic waist jeans that I don't think anyone would be caught dead in. Not to mention that the charcoal cowl neck sweater I also ordered was somehow confused by the same geniuses for a hideously pleated bazar black sweat shirt that looks nothing short of amish. And to add to my madness?? I drive 25 minutes to Mt. Pleasant to return the horrendous items only to be told that they don't accept maternity items in the store.

Thanks. For. Nothin.

• In more uplifting news, since I was at the Towne Centre, I stopped in Pea in a Pod, which I should have done all along, and got some much more satisfactory jeans. Thank ya Jesus for well-fitting preggo jeans.

• Brendan and I went to the wedding of our good friends Jeffery and Ashleigh this weekend and I had Brendan take a baby bump picture before we left, but after further review, I hate it, and therefore will not be sharing. Maybe now that I got some better jeans, I'll post one soon.

• 16 weeks was Sunday...and the roller coaster continues. Many more ups than downs, but still, Monday was rough.

• First house project complete: blinds for the downstairs! Yay! So now when I'm working, I don't share awkward glances with people walking by outside. Next step, blinds for the second and third floor and the bathrooms/half baths!

This is what we're doing in the second floor half bath. I'm still scouting out the mirror, just the version that doesn't cost $300. I know I can find it cheaper. And so the hunt is on.

Mmk, friends. I'm off make brownies for our Code Orange viewing party tonight. What's that, you ask? Elevation Church in Charlotte is hosting a 12-night event where speakers, pastors, and musicians from all over the country (and the world) are taking the stage and our very own Pastor P will be speaking tonight. So if you can, check it out! It's streaming live tonight at 6PM here.

Ciao!