Really starting to feel it now

I was going to hold off on this post until tomorrow, but since things have stepped up a notch, I figure today is the day!

This little Bun is a mover and a shaker.  Before today it didn't really seem to be a kicker though.  It all started on Monday, August 5 with three little taps on the left side of my belly while at a stoplight on my way to work.  At first (like so many other moms) I thought it was a digestive thing, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that a) I never felt anything like that before and b) it was in a place were there is only uterus.  I got tentatively excited, but decided to hold off on certainty until my next doctor's appointment, which was the next day.  When the midwife found the heartbeat, she showed me the Bun's orientation, and sure enough, the feet were right were I felt the taps!  Yay!

Since then I have felt mostly rolls and turns, which felt a little like the sinking feeling you get when you drop too fast, or like knuckles lightly moving under your skin.  I noticed the first clear kick on my birthday when I was searching for a spot for lunch, said out loud "how about Mexican?" and felt a tiny pop right below my belly button.  I figured that was the Bun's way of saying, "yay, tacos!!"  During lunch it moved a whole heck of a lot, bringing to mind a little version of the Mexican Hat Dance we were all forced to do in elementary school.  Perhaps it was the Bun's way of letting me know I made a good choice :-).  On the way to Atlanta over the weekend a song with particularly strong bass came on and it moved in such a way that I swear it was rocking out.  Gotta love a little one with an appreciation for good music.

One not so awesome discovery was on the 6 hour car ride back from Atlanta.  At first, I was worried that I hadn't felt anything in a while, but happened to notice that my need for a rest stop alternated between "eh, I can wait" to "stop NOW" in 1-2 minute increments.  Quite inconvenient for a road trip.  After a few minutes, I began to realize that the reason I hadn't been feeling anything to the front is that the Bun had started kicking towards the back, and decided that my bladder was a particularly fun spot.  Too soon, Bun, too soon!

Today, the kicks started in earnest.  Before today there was always a little doubt in the back of my mind that I was actually feeling movement.  Perhaps it was a combination of wishful thinking and GI activity, I thought tentatively.  Well, no more.  I think this Bun likes to hear a lot of voices because it has become very active during my therapy sessions.  Clear pops in the belly that tell me it is getting much stronger.  It's also getting active for longer periods, so I get to be mindful of this little miracle that goes through my day with me.  I do my best to describe it to Jeremy, but I know there's nothing like feeling it for yourself.  I can't wait for the day when its little legs get strong enough to make themselves known to the outside world, hopefully in a just a few short weeks!

For now I will savor them all for myself, and do my best to crank good tunes with lots of bass for the Bun.

Milhouse or Lisa?

What will it be?  Either way I know it has a decent chance of being a bit of a nerd, given the history of both Jeremy and I, which I love!

I was considering doing one of those super fun, Pinterest-y gender reveal parties, complete with a giant cardboard box of pink or blue balloons and themed snacks since I am addicted to throwing parties.  However, Jeremy simply can't wait that long to hear the news and is excited to find out at the next appointment, straight from the sonographer.  As a compromise I am organizing a small pool/raffle at work and exercised my crafting skills by adapting some of the cuter ideas on Pinterest.  As symbols of each gender I settled on bowtie for a boy and hair barrette for a girl since I think I would actually dress my future child in those, as opposed to the guns/glitter or mustache/lips themes that seem to be most popular right now.  I was trying to figure out the best way to make a teeny bowtie that actually looked like one instead of a regular hair bow when I got lucky and found some mini ones that are meant to jazz up wine bottles at World Market.  Score!  So now the materials are up in the office, and will be for the next week to give everyone a chance to weigh in before the big reveal on August 27.  I will wear either a mini tie or big flowery hair barrette on my lapel to reveal the news.  This way I can have my crafty fun and Jeremy can know right away.  Compromise!

Feel free to weigh in on the comments, although the raffle is limited to the Family Solutions crew :-).

Quick rundown of the stakes

Official guess log, crafted up Pinterest style

Breakdown of some old wives' tales, an exact even split!

Going public

::Insert Diana Ross' vastly superior voice::  I'm coming out!!  I want the world to know, got to let it show!!

Can I just say, it feels awesome/amazing to finally be able to talk about this pregnancy!  For far too long I have been squishing my belly with my pre-pregnancy pants and wearing super flowy or long, dark tops to conceal the growing bump from clients and coworkers.  Doctors tell you to wait until your second trimester (14 weeks) to share the news, and my parents were coming to visit me in my 17th week, so I figured I could wait to tell them in person and still let them be the first to know.  Little more challenging than I anticipated given my changing shape, but luckily my first trimester nausea was limited to the evenings, and frequent bathroom breaks are not noticeable in a busy office.  I hated lying every time someone caught me surfing craigslist for baby furniture or knowing just a little bit too much about pregnancy symptoms, but luckily I had a solid alibi in my 20+ pregnant friends.  I was so excited to tell my parents on August 9 and to make a big announcement at my birthday party on August 10.

I took a risk in the dress I wore to my birthday party in that it was rather loose and my belly was getting rather noticeable, but only a couple of coworkers later told me that had an inkling.  Right before the announcement my heart was beating incredibly quickly, as it always done in a big moment, but once I was able to say the words, "I think 30 is going to be the biggest year yet!" and smooth my dress down, I immediately calmed and exhaled with relief.  Reactions ranged from subtle "I thought so"s to screams and tears from some of my sweeter coworkers.  It was awesome.  I have been having fun over the past two weeks sharing the news in various ways, taking a bunch of fun pictures for announcements, and calling all my nearest and dearest to share the news.  Among that group of people there is a definite sense of "I knew it!" or "It's about time!" but we got a lot of that after we got engaged after 6 years together, so it's something we're used to.

Expected of us or no, we are just thrilled.  Jeremy is taking very good care of me and the Bun, as I like to call it, and are counting down the days to August 27 when we know if it's a little Lisa or a little Milhouse (no Barts, please!)

Blowing out my candle, right before making the announcement.  If you look for it, you can see the bump!

Right after telling everyone, (finally) letting it show!

Something something, Burt Ward!

That's right, from now on there will be a little more love in the house!  I'm due January 18, 2014, not aware of the gender (yet) and feeling remarkably great!  I was tired and nauseous in the evenings during my first trimester, but now I'm feeling good, except for what Jeremy has dubbed The Hunger.  Seriously, I'm eating everything.  Conversations in our house go a little like this:

Did you eat that big bag of Doritos?  I ate everything.

Did you eat all 8 of those waffles?  I ate EVERYTHING.

And so on.

So excited for January!!

Happy first anniversary!

Wow, one year in this house has gone by so quickly!  There are lots of projects that I have completed in that time, some of which I have woefully neglected to document here.  We have painted, we have crafted, we have added fun art and accessories.  I tried to upload a video to no avail, but feel free to visit my Facebook page, where it was uploaded successfully.  Here is a quick summary:

Accomplished:
Painting the:
      -living room
      -dining room
      -downstairs hallway
      -mudroom
      -stairwell
      -upstairs hallway
      -master bedroom
      -spare bedroom
      -office
      -stripes in the guest room
      -guest bathroom
      -master bathroom
      -half bathroom
      -back of the built-ins
      -front door

Stripping the dresser of eight, yes EIGHT, coats of paint down to the beautiful woodgrain

Sewing curtains for the master bedroom

Framing lots of custom art/magazine pages/fabric swatches/sentimental pieces

Making custom silhouettes for the dining room

Adding little furniture touches like slipper chairs to the living room and a storage bench to the guest room

Slipcovering the library chair

Organizing the attic

Turning the den into a library

Replacing the oven and microwave in the kitchen

Planting an herb and veggie garden, as well as two peony bushes in the backyard


Still yet to be done:
Paint the half wall in the library with magnetized paint

Make/buy window seat cushions for the library

Replace the carpet in the upstairs, but especially in the spare bedroom and on the stairs

Replace the washer, dryer, and dishwasher (eventually)

Perhaps replace the hardwood floors with darker, wide plank hardwood (someday, maybe)


Overall, I am very satisfied with where we are.  The in-laws are coming for the first time tomorrow to see all of our handiwork, and I am so proud to show them what we have accomplished!  Can't wait for many more years to come :-).

Put a bird on it!

I noticed a pattern in my home.  I have put a bird in almost every room of my home.  I then turned it into a fun game by photographing all of them in a sort of scavenger hunt in my own space.  Here they are, in no particular order.  Feel free to look for them on your next visit!

As you can tell we have quite a range, from owls to pheasants, to cranes, to sparrows, to chickens and peacocks.  I don't think it was deliberate at first, but maybe at a certain point I decided to spread the love between the rooms and keep a consistent theme around the house.  I can't wait to see what else I find over the years!

The art of randomness

Reading these DIY design blogs has helped me to think of fun ideas for inexpensive/homemade art to fill the wall space in various rooms.  I have already posted pictures of my framed wallpaper sample:

 or custom framed newspapers from UF victories:

but here are a couple more.

This I created using a few old National Geographics I found at a thrift store.  More specifically I pulled a few of my favorite ad pictures.  All the women have fabulously over-styled hair and cat-like eyeliner.  The woman in the ad for a stereo in the middle frame looks just like my mom did in her senior picture, so it has a special place in my heart.  The colors are muted and romantic, so it looks perfect in the dining room.  The frames I got at Target for $9 for 2, but this can work with any matched frames.  If I lived closer to Ikea I'm sure I would have gotten them there.

This is in the guest bathroom.  I used a white frame from Goodwill and a mat purchased at Michaels.  The art itself is a page from a calendar I found on sale at Target (let's hear it for mid-January calendar sales!).  It has a nice mix of gray, blue, and green, as well as some bird pictures.  Everything is better with a bird on it, right?

And finally, another item sourced from a 1963 National Geographic:

I blew this 8 x 10 shot into poster sized at the local Kinko's for a couple of bucks.  I just love the little girl dancing with the statue!  This is for anyone who questions the value of art, and also for anyone that loves to smile at child antics :-).

Overall I have learned that anything is art as long as you love it and frame it.  For me it's pictures of birds, kids, flowers, or things that are blue.  How about you?