36 weeks

We are in our 36th week of pregnancy.  Yes, that's 9 months of being pregnant.  I'm not sure who started lying to us girls when we were younger but people always say humans carry a baby for 9 months when in actuality it's 10 months.  We had our now weekly appointment today and baby girl is still just hanging out in there.  No dilation.  She's not even engaged in my pelvis.  I was surprised by this because it sure does feel like she is!  My swelling is still there, along with the carpal tunnel.  My blood pressure is still wonderful, thankfully!  The iron I have been taking has apparently done its job because my hemoglobin is right where it should be.
I have been feeling pretty good for the most part.  I'm still uncomfortable at night trying to sleep.  I'm annoyed when I wake up in the morning and my fingers are numb, and I can hardly fix my hair or put on makeup.  My reflux has not been so bad lately and for that I am very thankful!  Lillian is still an active little girl, well maybe not so little these days.
Her nursery is coming right along.  The walls are painted. The dresser is complete and full of clothes.  All her clothes are clean and either folded and put away or hanging in the closet.  The fabric for her bedding is ordered and should be in this week.  We have all her goodies (pack n play, swing, stroller, etc.) put together and in their places.  I finished another DIY for her room that I am very happy with the outcome.  I am planning on working on another this weekend.  We still need to hang the shelves in her room.  I ordered a tree decal for her wall behind her crib, and we plan on hanging it this weekend.  I am excited that her room is finally all coming together.
I made lists of everything we need to pack in our bags, so hopefully this weekend I will get those all done.  Jon has the carseat base in his car, it's just not actually strapped in yet, but I'm sure that will be done soon too.  I am also planning within the next 2 weeks sometime to put together a few meals that can be frozen so that we will have them for those first days after we get home.  My sweet friend and co-worker, Amber, also created a meal train for us.  In case you haven't heard of a meal train...it is a website that organizes meal giving.  Someone sets it up for the couple or person and people can go on to the website and sign up for a day to bring a meal.  It's an awesome idea and will be really helpful in those first few busy, stressful days when we get home from the hospital.  To check out our meal train just click this link...Danielle & Jon's Meal Train

{DIY decor for the nursery}

{36 weeks}

Showered with Love

On January 12th a group of sweet friends and co-workers hosted a baby shower for me and Lillian. My sister was also one of the hostess and was able to come in town, along with my sweet friend, Adrianne, from Fort Worth. It was so wonderful and filled my heart with so much joy. I was overwhelmed with the love for me and Lillian expressed by everyone that was there! We received so many awesome gifts that I am so grateful for! Here are a few pictures from the shower...

[the beautiful-and delicious-cake my sweet friend, and now mommy, Kay had made]

[Lillian's going home outfit from my MIL]

[Kelli filled one of Ethan's baskets with goodies for Lillian-what a sentimental gift!]

[with Lillian's grandmothers]

[with the sweet hostesses-minus Kay who was headed home from the hospital with her 2 day old]

[the travel system we registered for-the gift from the wonderful hostesses]

On January 27th my sisters in law, along with my MIL and mother, hosted a beautiful baby shower for us.  It was a great time with family and friends.  I am still so thankful for all the gifts and love that everyone has shown for Lillian.  She is one blessed little girl already!!

[super cute bow holder- thankfully she is going to have a lot of hair and will need lots of bows]

[the sweet hostesses bought Lillian a swing! we will be using that often]

[with the hostesses]

[cute decor]

[more cute decor]

[the yummy cake my MIL had made]

Today at work a patient's wife gave me a blanket that she made for Lillian.  It is so beautiful and really meant a lot knowing she thought about me and our sweet baby girl.  I feel so blessed and truly loved by everyone!  I think we are officially ready for Lillian Grace!

The truth about pregnancy...

...or my pregnancy at least.

For as long as I can remember I always thought pregnant women were so cute!  I love pregnant bellies and pretty much every pregnant person I see is so precious.  Then you see maternity pics like this...

*never in a million years could I personally take a pic like this*

and it leads to believe that pregnancy is not only cute but can be sexy too.  Well this pregnant girl definitely does not feel sexy (that was never really a pre-pregnant feeling anyway) and it's hard to even feel cute most days!

In the first trimester you just feel tired and crummy majority of the time.  If you are like me, your skin becomes incredibly oily and you look as though you've just hit puberty with unbelievable acne.  As your body is getting used to (or not accepting) all the new hormones raging in your body you get to experience things like constipation and frequent urination. 

*just a glimpse at what my acne looked like in the beginning...GROSS*

When you get to the second trimester you finally have a little bump and it's pretty exciting.  People can usually start to tell that you are carrying a baby in your belly and not one too many six packs.  You actually start to get your energy back and begin to think that pregnancy is not so bad after all.  You do start to gain more weight, so most likely your wardrobe does not fit anymore, therefore maternity clothes become your best friend.  (I'm thinking of wearing panel pants forever!)  At this point you may also start swelling.  Putting your feet up whenever possible is the best thing at this time.  You also may need to wear compression socks.  And don't be surprised if you are really limited as to what shoes you can wear.

*just putting my feet up while I had a chance at work*

*compression socks are a lifesaver*

Then you get to the third trimester.  You can start to see the light at the end of the tunnel, yet it still seems so far away.  By this point your belly is so large that everyone and their mother feel the need to tell you that you are about to pop.  You no longer walk anymore, but instead waddle.  The swelling that started in the 2nd trimester is only worse and even starts to cause carpal tunnel.  The carpal tunnel is so bad in the morning that you can barely put on makeup and straightening your hair is totally out of the question.  You sleep in 2-3 hour intervals, waking to attempt to get comfortable or get up to pee.  Speaking of peeing, if you don't go to the bathroom often, it's likely that you may wet your pants if you sneeze, cough, laugh, or heck, maybe even take a deep breath.  Maternity clothes don't seem to fit or feel cute anymore, instead you want to wear sweat pants and your husband's oversized shirts. 

Your body goes through some crazy changes during pregnancy.  Some days you don't feel human and you wonder if your body will ever be what it was 9 months ago. 

Please don't take all this the wrong way...I am very grateful for the opportunity to be pregnant.  I am so thankful for an uncomplicated pregnancy and so far a healthy baby.  I am so anxious and excited about meeting our sweet baby girl.  I know that all this craziness called pregnancy will be totally worth it once I get to see Lillian and kiss her sweet face.  Until she arrives I will do my best to make the most of this pregnancy and take care of her and protect her while I can.

DIY Disaster aka Lillian's Dresser

Once we found out we were having a girl, I immediately starting thinking about how I wanted to decorate her nursery.  I fell in love with the white wrought iron cribs and really liked the "old timey" or classic look of them.  After I got lucky and found one for an incredible price on Craigslist, I started thinking about what I wanted for her dresser/changing table.  I knew I wanted something different and also something she could use as she got older.  I decided I wanted to get an antique dresser and redo it.  This was my inspiration...

I started looking around town at different antique shops.  I was having a hard time finding one that I felt would work just right.  Most were too tall and skinny or too short and wide.  I had friended Saved By Grace antique shop on facebook and one day, to my surprise, they posted a dresser that I thought would work out just right.  I went to the store the next day to check it out and measure it (I had to make sure a changing pad would fit on top).  This is what I found and had to get....

-sorry the picture quality is pretty bad-

I called my mom to tell her about it, and she decided to buy it for Lillian, and my step-dad went and picked it up for us and brought it to our house!  I then went to doing some research to figure out how we would redo it.  I asked at the antique shop how they redid a lot of their furniture and they told me with chalk paint.  I then started researching chalk paint and came across milk paint.  Miss Mustard Seed milk paint seemed to be the best that I could find.  I read all about it, watched every video tutorial, and read numerous other bloggers experiences with this milk paint.  It really appealed to me because it was a natural paint (therefore I could be the one to paint with it), it did not require any prepping of the dresser (stripping, sanding, etc.), and the finished product was just what I was going for.

I ordered the paint (because of course, nowhere near here sells the stuff).  I decided on the color ironstone, which is basically a white or antique white.  The paint arrives in a powder form and you mix it with water and get started.

I started to paint, but my sweet husband took over because I was not doing a very good job.  (I have to give my husband so much credit for taking on these nursery projects and doing them without complaining and with a smile on his face!)  So as you can see in the picture above he just painted the dresser, just like the website and tutorials said to do.

After a couple of hours some of the paint started to chip off, giving it a distressed look, which is what we were going for.

-close up of the chipping-

We dusted off what had "chipped up,"  and Jon painted another coat.  We ended up having to paint a total of three coats to get the dresser as white as we wanted.

As you can see in the picture above, the paint ended up chipping off quite a bit.  I did not anticipate so much of the paint chipping off.  One of the tutorials said that you never know how much with chip and how much will stay on, it's just the nature of the paint and a gamble you have to take.

After dusting off the areas that chipped off the dresser looked like the above picture.  It was a lot more than I had wanted and I was not really happy with the result.  Jon and I talked about what we should do to make it look better.  We came up with a few options..1 totally strip it down and start over with a different type of paint and technique   2  sand it down and paint over it with a basic white paint and not necessarily have a distressed look or   3 lightly sand it and put a clear varnish and call it done.   At this point I was just ready to get it finished, and I also didn't want to add a lot more work for Jon to do, so I decided on option 3.

Jon bought a super fine sand paper and a can of polyurethane.  He barely sanded the whole thing, trying not to make anymore paint come off.  He then painted on 2 coats of polyurethane.  It ended up looking better than I had thought, or maybe the look of it just grew on me.  I went to Hobby Lobby and bought new hardware for the drawers.  This is our finished project...

It definitely does not look like the picture that was my inspiration, nor does it look like I wanted it to, but I am satisfied.  I think it will look even better with her changing pad on top.  I'm sure we will eventually have to change the look of it, but for now it works and looks good with the other furniture in her room.  

35 weeks

proud painter

Quite a few things have happened since the last pregnancy update post.  First and foremost baby girl's room is painted!  My husband and my father-in-law spent all last weekend painting her room, and they did a wonderful job!  It looks so good!  I am now working on getting everything in its place and stuff on the walls.  I have washed all of her clothes.  I hung up some and put the others in her dresser.  Speaking of her dresser/changing table...it is finally finished!  It did not turn out anything like I had envisioned, but I have accepted the way it looks.  It deserves a post all of it's own, so I will get working on that soon.

lots of clothes already!!

We had a doctor's appointment today and it went really well.  We finally got to see our precious girl via ultrasound today.  At first she did not want to show us her face but just as we were going to give up on her, she decided to look at us and bat her little eyes and suck on her tongue.  Seeing her sweet face made me even more excited about the day we will finally meet her!  The doctor said everything is looking good with her.  She is measuring about 6 pounds and 6 ounces.  She has chubby cheeks, big lips (not sure where those came from), and a TON of hair!  Her hair was "flowing in the fluid," to quote the ultrasound tech.  Maybe it's true what they say about having indigestion and reflux due to your baby having lots of hair.  We were happy to see that she is head down!   I'm almost ashamed to admit that I have gained 7 pounds since our last appointment (2 weeks ago).  OMG!  I have been telling Jon that I feel like the Michelin man looks...

 (just in case you didn't know who I was talking about)

It's not so much my feet and ankles like it has been, it's my entire body.  The swelling has even caused carpal tunnel in my wrists, mainly my right one though.  It's worse in the mornings and seems to get a little better as the day goes on.  The doc said the only thing to really help it right now is to wear a wrist brace, but I don't feel I am quite to that point yet.  My blood pressure is still wonderful and I am not spilling protein in my urine or anything of that nature, so she is not concerned that I am preeclamptic.   We will be going to the doctor on a weekly basis now, which is exciting and scary all at the same time. That means we are getting so close to her being here! 

I have been feeling pretty good for the most part.  I am uncomfortable a lot, but who wouldn't be carrying all this extra weight?!  I sleep in 2-4 hour intervals at night, waking to either go to the bathroom or get in a more comfortable position. I can definitely tell that Lillian has moved down because there is a lot more pressure "down there."  I am definitely waddling all the time now!

I have to give a shout out to my husband... Jon has been so wonderful, catering to my every need!  I can't imagine going through all of this without him.  He has taken on all my crazy projects with a smile on his face and determination to get it done and to my satisfaction.  He waits on me constantly and is always willing to fulfill my late night cravings, mainly for ice cream!  I know that he is going to be a wonderful daddy, and I am getting so excited to see him with Lillian!  The thought alone brings tears to my eyes and so much joy to my heart!

sweet hubby went on a late night ice cream run

35 weeks

33 weeks

We are one week further along! I swear some days it feels like the pregnancy has flown by and others I think I've been pregnant for years! We had a check up with the doctor yesterday and everything went really well. I only gained 1 pound again these last 2 weeks! This time I was really shocked because I have felt super puffy and swollen, but the scale said different. My blood pressure is still really good! She did say this time that I'm measuring (my fundal height) a little big so sweet Lillian may in fact be a chunk. We will know for sure next appointment when we have an ultrasound and get her measurements. We go back to the doctor in 2 weeks and that will be an important appointment because we will have an ultrasound, a CBC check (to see if this iron is doing the job), and I will be "checked" to see if anything is happening. After that we will start going every week to the doctor. It's really coming down to the wire now!
I have been feeling pretty good I must say! My feet do hurt a lot in the evenings but I try to put them up as much as possible once I'm home. Reflux is getting worse despite the Protonix and Tums, but I guess there is no way to prevent that when I'm running out of room in my abdomen. Jon did find me some Tums breath mints- double score!
The room has not been painted, but that's partially my fault because I have yet to clean out the last few things of ours in the room. I am now contemplating just painting one wall in the room, having a pink accent wall, but I don't think Jon is real fond of the idea. The dresser has turned into a disaster and headache! It looks terrible and we are trying to figure out how to fix it! Poor Lillian may not have her room all ready until she goes to kindergarten!
This weekend my sweet friends and Schumpert co-workers are throwing me a baby shower! I am so excited! I know these ladies are going to do a great job and everything will be so wonderful! I will be sure to take lots of pictures to post!
I want to give a shout out to one of my great friends, Kay, and her hubby, Matthew (from The Sweet and Sours) they will be welcoming their sweet baby boy, Luke, into this world today! I can't wait to meet him and I hope mommy has a great delivery!

Achilles Update

Jon is now 13 weeks post ruptured achilles repair.  What a long road to recovery it has been, but he is doing really well.  He's been out of his walking boot for about a month.  Since he's been out of the walking boot he has been going to physical therapy 3 days a week.  It's awesome to see the progress he's made in 4 weeks.  When he first got the boot off he had to use crutches for about a week because he could not put much weight on his foot.  He then was walking without crutches but with a heavy limp and almost gangster strut.  His gate has improved so much the past couple weeks!  If you weren't looking for him to limp a little, you would never notice.  I'm sure within the next couple weeks he will be walking like normal again.
He went for a check up with the doctor today and he was very impressed with the progress he has made.  He released him from PT, but of course wants him to continue to work on his calf strength and flexibility on his own.  The doctor only wants him walking, no running or jogging allowed yet.  I am just glad he is able to walk, and well at that.  I now have a walking partner again!
Who knew that an innocent game of flag football would lead to this?!  I know that accidents happen, but this sure was a doozy of an accident.  I have told Jon that it may be better if he sticks with sports without any contact, like golf! :)  I am very thankful for a successful surgery and that Jon is now almost back to his old self!