Baby Belly Bazaar

By a wonderful coincidence, the city of Greensboro hosted a Bazaar for pregnant ladies on the day of my shower.  All of my party planning friends told me to make myself scarce that morning, so I made sure to let Audrey and Lindzy, my two pregnant friends in town, that we had to hit it up.  The flyer promised belly painting, belly casting, chiropractors, and massage.  I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it was larger than I thought it would be!

They had local health food stores with booths outside (on 40 degree days, yowch!) and passed out little free samples.  The ginger lemon slush was especially delicious!  Inside they had music and belly dancing, lots of local crafty people selling their wares, and of course all of the advertised services.  It was hard for us to walk more than a few steps before being approached by someone offering raffles and giveaways, or just being happy to see us and our bellies.  There were definitely some questionable services (placenta art or pills anyone?) but mostly it was just a fun time to enjoy with scads of other preggos.

As for what I actually participated with, I got to enjoy a free five minute massage, purchased a maple teething necklace, and dabbled in henna tattooing on my arm.  Definitely the safe option, but I was too shy to whip out my belly and to leave it exposed while it dried.

It was a little orange, but so cute!

Audrey was braver than I was and went for the full belly painting.  She was definitely a main attraction at the shower, it looked so great!

So intricate and pretty!

I have to say that my favorite part of the day was the time spent with Audrey and her best friend, Lindzy.  By amazing coincidence we are all pregnant together currently, and each of us is separated by 9 weeks (Audrey was 39 at the shower, I was 30, and Lindzy was 21).  I had only met Lindzy once before this day, at Audrey's baby shower, but she is the sweetest person you could ever want to meet!  I think we got along very well, and she even painted my fingernails while we waited for Audrey to get henna-ed.  I feel so lucky to have these ladies around and to know that we will be able to raise our kids together, figuring out this crazy process as we go!

Love this picture!

Moments to be thankful for

As many of you know, I was blessed with my second baby shower over the long holiday weekend.  I am currently in the process of sifting through hundreds (yes, hundreds!) of photos taken by Julian and Sandi with their amazing cameras and even more impressive photography skills, so please bear with me until I can post those.  For now, I wanted to document my own reactions and emotions around such a special weekend.

In the days leading up to the weekend, I have to admit that I was a little stressed out.  It is very important to me that guests in my home feel special and well-cared for, which means a perfectly clean house, food that they like in the fridge, and fun activities planned for their stay.  With no less than six adults and two kids in our home, I knew that this would not just be challenging, it would be impossible if only because I can't give every guest the special guest room, buy the specific food everyone liked, or plan individual activities for everyone to enjoy.  I needed to understand and to accept that the people were coming for me, Jeremy, and the Bun, and not to focus on themselves.  They would all still love me if my home was a wreck, and would even pitch in to keep it from looking that way.  So I decided to let go and to work my hardest to be ever present in the moment and mindful of this special time with many of my closest friends.

On Friday as I drove to pick up Juliana from the airport my mind flashed to an image of various points on the map descending on Greensboro.  Juliana flew from Boston, Julian flew from New York, Katie/Sahil/Lark drove from Atlanta, Erin/Adam/Rhys drove from Maryland, and Sandi drove from Virginia, all around the same time.  With my mom having traveled from Florida the day before, I definitely felt like a tourist destination.  Somehow everyone who was in town was able to agree on Steak and Shake for dinner, and Sandi arrived just as her burger did, so I was seriously impressed that everything came together so well. 

On Saturday I got to enjoy making breakfast for everyone and feeling like I was helping to contribute something (just cinnamon rolls, but so tasty!).  Then I got to be whisked away by my two pregnant friends, Audrey and Lindzy, to the Belly Baby Bazaar (I'll post about that later) for the morning while the wonderful army of loved ones got everything set up.  After the shower everyone was wonderfully cooperative with the arts and crafts activity that I planned (another post to be written!).  We ate homemade barbeque, I got to watch a silly romantic comedy with two of my best friends, and then we all promptly passed out!

On Sunday there were leaf piles to be made and jumped in, parks to visit, and kids consignment stores to patronize.  Then there were the inevitable sad goodbyes, although everyone was great enough to stay later in the day so I felt like I had one more day with my crew.

Overall I am just overwhelmed with love and gratitude for the people around me.  I know that this is one loved little Bun, and I am so excited to share all her memories with them in the years to come!

29 week doctor's appointment

Nothing too exciting to report today, just a positive check-up with a doctor.  Belly is measuring right on track, weight gain is about 30 pounds, heartrate is a solid 140, and my bloodwork came back negative.  I also got a flu shot (yuck, arm is still a little sore) and was able to let the doctor know that I'm still feeling good.

Also, the saga of this-baby-hates-the-Doppler continued, and this time the nurse had to call for back-up to be able to measure the heartrate because the Bun kept swimming away just as she would find a clear enough signal.  Almost like she was taunting her...hmmm.  Anyway, between two nurses they were able to track it, although honestly, I think if she was able to move enough to make it hard to measure, isn't that a sign that the heartrate is probably very strong?  Glad to know she's doing well, and it's too funny to me that she already has a personality!

Just ten and a half weeks to go!

The creature within

Never has it been more apparent to me that I am gestating a tiny little human in there.  A real, distinct, fully functioning person-to-be.  I say this because, guys, she is getting big.  So big that her body parts are more distinct, to the point that I can mostly guess what is actually poking me and moving around.  So crazy!

It started with her head.  Very round and distinct, and it would roll around my belly button and was actually so tight it was almost painful!  Don't get me wrong, it's amazing to be able to cup the top of her little head with my hand and actually know her shape, but the reality of it all is dizzying.  

I then started paying more attention when I felt rolls and localized tightness in my belly, so I started picking up on limbs that were laying across my belly, or little knobs that must be either knees or elbows.  This Bun is bony like her mom, so I keep feeling jabs which make me press my belly with my hand at times that appear random to others, but its in the hope that I can help her keep shifting away from a painful spot!  She has a favorite spot to wail on on my left side, so if you see me in person and I keep pressing on my left side, that's what it's all about :-).

Last night was the most fun moment for me, when I could actually feel what I knew to be a foot.  I pushed on it like I always do, and she pulled her little foot away immediately!  It felt like the first time we were clearly interacting.  I mean, I know that she can hear me, that she responds to various stimuli and such, but to actually feel it happening in the moment was indescribable.  I grabbed Jeremy's hand so he could feel too, and his eyes got very wide!  He said he could feel the little heel and the point where the toes would be.  It made me so happy.

I'm looking forward to more of these moments, and I know that as she grows they will be more frequent and mind-blowing.  I can't wait!

The mac to my cheese

For this year's Halloween costume choices we decided to put the belly to good use.  I looked on Pinterest and checked out pregnancy forums for pregnancy costume ideas, and most of them were either gross or shameful.  The two most popular that I saw were the pumpkin belly (which I did for the carving party) or the zombie baby popping out of the shirt (so gross!).  There was also a list of very insulting ideas, such as being Jabba the Hut or a cow (talk about playing up one's insecurities about being fat and disgusting).  After all that research I narrowed my options down to two, either a 50s housewife and milkman or Juno and Pauly Bleeker.  Jeremy quickly nixed the milkman/housewife thing because he is proud of being the husband and legitimate father, and when it comes to husbands, Jeremy is pretty boss, so Juno it was.

Let me tell you, that was the most comfortable Halloween costume in the history of time!  Sweatshirt, T-shirt, skirt, jeans, sneakers?!  Amazing!  Pretty cheap too, all I had to buy was the orange and white striped shirt and the skirt, both of which I found at Goodwill, no problem.  I also found some gold basketball shorts for Jeremy that were longer than track shorts since he was worried about being cold.  He invested in the movie authentic hoodie and some sweatbands to really make it work.  I think we looked pretty spot on!

I carried around the DVD to make sure people could appreciate the authenticity/know who we were

Overall I think we put the belly to good use.  A fellow party-goer thought it was fake, which I enjoyed a little.  That would be serious commitment to the costume!  So exciting to think that next year we can try for a costume tri-fecta instead of a couples costume.  Hopefully the Bun will cooperate more than Roxy does!

Enjoying the finished corner

The final piece of the nursery furniture arrived yesterday.  Say hello to the ottoman, compliments of my lovely cousin, Jessica!

It says "hey"

This picture is also very special to me because it represents the first finished corner of the nursery.  Look left and you see the changing table cluttered with the to-be-hung mobile and various hanging supplies, look right and you see the blank expanse of wall eagerly awaiting a mural, but keep your gaze fixed here and it's perfectly ready for her.  For this reason I linger in the doorway and am wistful when I walk by.  So nice when things turn out like you imagine them to be!

Conquering the nursery with the cunning use of flags

Any Eddie Izzard fans get that quote?

ANYWAY.  This is yet another post about craft projects in the nursery.  I decided to make it a little longer and have some how-tos, so I can be like the fancy bloggers that actually help readers to recreate what they made.  So if you don't care to read about all the steps, feel free to skip to the end to see the pictures of the finished product!

This blank space of wall was staring me in the face every time I walked into the nursery:

Just begging for something beautiful, right?

My favorite nursery on Pinterest had several great ideas, one of which being a lovely flag garland with the baby's name on it:

I also stole their oval frame between the windows idea and miraculously found that rug at a local antique store

So since I have a TON of fabric from past projects that needs a good home, I just had to grab some $1 a spool ribbon from Michaels (I bought 2 but used 1) to get started.

 

Seriously. So. Much. Fabric.

I already had a triangle stencil from making paper flag garland for my birthday party, which I cut from a piece of junk mail.

Waste not, want not!

Then I traced it onto the fabric twice, with one of the long sides touching so I could fold it instead of sewing two seams.

Let's minimize the work where we can!

Because the fabric was wrinkly, and to avoid having to pin the triangles in place, I ironed them flat with the wrong side out.

Behold, my iron.

Then I just sewed the one long side.

Wrong side out, don't forget!

After I did all twelve an turned them right side out, I decided to do two strands of six instead of one long one and spent a ton of time arranging them.  The ribbon is a nice black and white stripe, and I placed it with just a little overlap so that most of the flag was visible.

I cut the two strands of ribbon after holding them up in the available wall space, so the flags had to overlap a little to fit

Then I played with the placement on the wall with the help of my old friend, sticky tac, until I liked how they looked.  Four nails later, this is the finished product!

This is probably arrangement #15.  I messed with it a LOT.

And that's it!  Fun way to fill lots of space for a grand total of $1.  I may end up moving them if I get more sentimental art in there, but for now I love it.

Any one want to try it?  I still have way too much fabric for one person to use!