Saying Goodbye to June

Today we "celebrate" the last day of June.  OK, so not really celebrate, but still.  It's the last day of June people!!!!  We are half way done with 2014 already, what the what!?!!  OK sorry for that.  Not only is it the last day of June, but it's another new week of work which means another week will fly by and it will be another week closer to meeting our Baby BOY!!!!  Right now the absolute longest I have of weeks left to work is 11 weeks (that would put me at 42ish weeks pregnant).  11 WEEKS!!!!

NOTE:  I slept like absolute crud last night....probably because we decided to get Starbucks after dinner and I got a Java Chip Frap....(dumb move Jess). 

My weekend was pretty mellow and we both got a bunch of stuff done around the house, which makes this pregnant lady happy!  :) 

Friday - I met up with Ali for a dinner "date" and shopping.  We ate at Panera and then went over to Once Upon A Child (a children's resale store) and DSW Shoes.  At Once Upon A Child we found some AWESOME deals and the cutest onesies EVER!!!  Andy wears a LOT of Hurley t-shirts and we thought it would be so cute to get some Hurley onesies for the baby, but I was not about to spend full price on them...and then we found some at the store.  Cue excitement!!  I spent $16 there.

Saturday - we spent most of the day over at Andy's parents house.  Andy helped his dad finish cutting down a tree that fell over during the winter and take down the basketball hoop.  I tried Sugarfire Smokehouse for the first time and it was delish!  I love BBQ!!!  In fact, it was so good that I was stuffed!  That evening we went home, rested a bit and then I somehow convinced Andy to go to the outlet mall with me.  I needed to use a Carter's bucks coupon before Monday and wanted Andy to pick out something for our Baby Boy.  We walked around their quite a bit and then headed home.  I thought I was tired until I walked into the nursery and started to organize away, I am thinking the nesting phase has begun....LOL!

Andy picked out the sleeper outfits and the "gowns" I picked out.  I have heard nothing but good things about those "gowns", especially in the middle of the night when you don't want to deal with snaps.  Does anyone else have any experience with them?  

Sunday - unfortunately I was unable to see my mama on Sunday, but Andy and I got a TON of things done around the house.  Lots of laundry was done, vacuuming, cleaning bathrooms, cleaning up and getting the baby room finished, purchasing a curtain rod for the baby room, and getting the wall vinyl up on the walls.  I was quite proud with how much we accomplished in the baby room!  Special thanks to Andy for really stepping it up lately and helping out around the house so much!  :)

Smokey seriously things the glider in the baby room is his....sadly he is mistaken.  LOL!

Frog-legging it on the bed!  This was when we woke up Sunday morning.

Fresh and clean puppy (that's why she doesn't have a collar on)

Sharing the glider with the dog now....yeah.  #spoiled

Washing the bed sheets and Smokey decides he HAS to lie on all 3 blankets on top of my dresser.....what a goof!

Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

There is this commercial on the radio that comes on every morning while I am driving to work and they use the song "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" by Andy Williams for their "jingle" music.  This is my favorite time of the year, SUMMER!  I love the warmth, the sunshine, the swimming, the dress wearing, and the not bulky clothes (especially when you're pregnant)! 

 Not only is this my favorite time of the year, but today is one of my favorite days of the week!!!  First, its the last work day of the week.  Second, it signals that another work week is gone.  Third, it means its another week closer to meeting my baby boy!!!!!!  Eeeeee! (That's me getting excited!)

Oh I also need to issue a retraction to yesterday posting about the nursery:
I said that nothing was finished in the nursery that we wanted to get done last weekend (ANDY ARE YOU READING THIS?  LOL!)  Andy did get the white shelf hung on Sunday.  I apologize for my error in not getting my facts straight!  ;)  Haha!

Jen from The Adventures of Our Army Life  asked if she could send me something.  I don't know if I have ever shared this information, but I have a hard time trusting people.  Jen has been a great blog friend and I felt like I could trust her.  So I gave her my address and this is what showed up in my mailbox yesterday.  How cute is this outfit!?!!!!  Andy and I immediately LOVED it!  In fact, its already in the wash getting cleaned so that Baby Boy can wear it when he arrives!  :)  Thank you so so SO much Jen for such a thoughtful gift!  Jen and I even traded phone numbers, so now we are texting buddies!  :)  YAY!!

I want to touch on this more next week, however; my free breast pump came in on Tuesday!  My insurance covers a free breast pump for pregnancy, and I took advantage of it!  I plan on breastfeeding for at least a year and with having to go back to work, this will help my goal!

Keeley is loving the sunshine on her fur!  This is her favorite thing to do in the spring/summer/fall!

I made Andy stop by Sams Wednesday night so that I could get some more apple slices and blueberry muffins.  I picked up some cherries and this HUGE box of cheese peanut butter crackers.  That's 45 packs of those crackers for $5.50!!  SCORE!

I had to save this message between Andy and I.  On Wednesday he was so excited to go to the doctors appointment to she how baby boy is growing.  When I read his comment, my heart did melt just a little bit.  :)  LOVE!!

Bump Date - 29 Weeks

How far along: 29 Weeks!! 77 days to go till my due date!  

Baby Size: The size of an butternut squash, weights around 2 1/2 pounds, and is a tad over 15 inches long.
Weight gain:  still sitting at +9 pounds
Maternity clothes: all maternity, I really don't want to stretch out my regular clothes so I am sticking too all maternity right now.  I am thankful for #1, my friend Ali.  She has been an amazing support through this pregnancy (and the one before).  Not only has she been an amazing support, but she also has given us so many baby things AND pretty much supplied all of my maternity clothing.  Ali you are the GREATEST!!!

Stretch marks: Still none and I am OK with that!  :)    Sleep: really great!  I get up once to use the bathroom and that's about it.  I have zonked out pretty quickly lately and I hope it stays that way!    Gender: Baby BOY!!

Movement: Feeling him move and more everyday and LOVING it!!!  
Best moment this week: Doctor's appointment yesterday (Wednesday)!  Heard his heartbeat and he is measuring perfectly!     Looking forward to: 

Food cravings: blueberry muffins, apple slices, cherries, veggie sticks     Anything making you queasy or sick: just having odd days of eating.  One day I will be starving all day long, the next day I have a hard time eating.  I am not a fan of cooked foods right now either.  I'd rather have a salad or fresh stuff over anything right now.  Oh and I made a lasagna Monday night, ate about 4 bites of it and was done.  HATED IT!!!   Labor Signs: None, let's keep it this way for another 9+ weeks!   What I miss: liking Italian food, sleeping on my stomach, being able to remember things, the energy to get the things I want done on my list   Symptoms: upper back ache and exhaustion (nothing new)
Nursery: needing to find a curtain rod for the baby room, hang the shelf, sell the changing table since we are not using the one we inherited from my brother, and put the furniture protector on the glider (nothing new here because we didn't get to any of this last week.....LOL!)
Belly Button in or out? still an innie
Wedding rings on or off? On!  Hoping they stay on the entire time!!  I do take my ring off while I sleep now because I have noticed swelling while sleeping.  Otherwise my ring is still on during the day and fits like the same.

Mood: I've been ok, not bad but nothing too great.... I have begun the nesting mode and we have a list of stuff to do before he comes.  I am also soooooooooo looking forward to maternity leave.  I really need a change of pace for awhile and get away from work.  I haven't taken a real vacation since our honeymoon in 2012. 

Weekend Wrap-Up!

Oh hey, I am still here!  I meant to get this up this morning, but my computer went LOCO and there was NO way I was going to be able to get this posted until this evening.  

This photo actually was from Thursday night, but I had to post a photo of me and my Mokes!  He lets me hold him for about a minute (unless he is being really lovey) and then he's ready to get down and explore. 

• Friday evening I told Andy I wanted to get a jump start on the weekend chores.  The longer that I am pregnant, the harder it is for me to get just vacuuming and laundry done. That night we vacuumed the main floor and cleaned a good portion of it up.  It wasn't like we were living in a pig sty, however; I really needed to go through all sorts of documents (new car, doctors appointments, baby coupons, etc.).  

• Saturday we were invited to help celebrate my friend's son's birthdays!  Sam is turning 5 on the 24th and Max is turning 2 on the 26th.  The party was a lot of fun.  Those boys raked it in presents wise and you could tell they had a great time.  :)  I was more than happy to be there celebrating with those 2 boys!  

Sam opening presents

Max and I were playing with his new "Choo Choo"

• Do you receive Babies R Us flyers and coupons??  If so, check out the new deal they are offering!  I had a coupon for a free Dr. Brown's bottle (8 oz) if you spend $10 more more. I also had a coupon for 20% off item not on sale.  I wanted to get a crib rail guard (so baby boy wouldn't be chewing on wood and paint when he gets older).  I picked this one up. I was able to use my 20% off coupon and get my free bottle for a whopping total of $11.00!!  
• Saturday evening we went over to our neighbor's house for a BBQ.  We had chicken, burgers, corn on the cobb, cooked carrots and asparagus.  It all turned out delicious!
• I was exhausted from my day and was asleep by 10pm....lazy bones over here!!  Let's not forget that I got up at 9:30am that morning.  Does that make me sound even more lazy or do I get a pass for being pregnant??

• On the radio (Y98) this morning DJ kept talking about the "Choco Taco" so I had to get one when I saw them at QT.  I even instagrammed a photo of it and tagged her in it.  I loved that she commented back.

• My only real "goal" for the weekend was to get some sunshine on my skin (sunblock was also included) and relax in my moms pool and that lasted a total of 10 minutes....we went out to Target and lunch (Jimmy Johns) and literally as we pulled into the garage it started to rain....The storm was pushing to the north/west and kept missing us but there were a couple times where the thunder was too close for comfort, so we spent most of the time out of the pool.  There's always next weekend!

• I found these at Target for 50% off and thoughts why not, let's try to grow some Basil and Cilantro since my seeds didn't grow.  They also probably didn't grow right because I wasn't watering as much as I should have.....DO OVER!! 

• Pods all planted and yes I did water them!  Grow herbs, GROW!!

• Smokey thinks he needs to be everywhere we are, including outdoors.  Where he is, we are a floor up from the ground.  I took the photo and then pulled him away from the edge....such a silly goose.

• Sunday evening Andy and I went up to bed to watch TV around 7 pm (no joke).....around 8:30 the TV was turned off and 9 pm we were both asleep. 

• Here Keeley is exhausted also.  She was soooooo sleepy, I couldn't believe it!  

• Well there you have it, our weekend.  Hope you all had a fantastic weekend! :) 

Happy Friday Folks!

Oh Happy Friday folks!  

Every Friday when I get ready for work all I can think of, another week down and another week closer to meeting this baby boy!!!!  This week at work has been a little less hectic, thank goodness!!  I am starting to get caught up on things and I haven't been nearly stressed as I was last week.  :)

{ONE}

Thirty One Zip-Top Organizing Utility Tote

New Diaper bag was ordered and delivered to me yesterday!!!!!!  Where the yellow butterfly is on the tote, I put little man's name on there in aqua thread.  Since I am holding off on announcing his name, you will then have to wait and see the finished product.  I will say, I LOVE IT!!  Now to get a changing pad, several zip up bags (to help keep me organized) and to start getting several travel sized items to start stocking the bag up.  YAY!!

{TWO}

Cute pants, right......yeah they are not my friend today!  The band is a short one and it either it digging into my lower stomach area or cutting off circulation around a portion of my stomach and then when I sit down they sit around half way down my butt.....#firstworldproblems  At least I am semi-comfy for work today!

{THREE}

My ghetto rigged backyard set up....yep we are in desperate need of a patio and some nice chairs for the "patio".  I have never spent this much time in our backyard until this year since the basement has been completed and finished and now I am dying to get this patio in!!  The way our house faces we get shade in the backyard after 6pm and it's nice to sit out there and play ball with Keeley.  Notice Smokey in the door wishing he was a dog.....

{FOUR}

(source)

I am OBSESSED with this show right now!!!!  Where have I been the last 2 seasons while it's been on?  Well I am catching up and watching all of the episodes that I can.  NBC is offered free watching of Season 2 on their website also, SCORE!!

{FIVE}

Third Trimester over here!!!!!

I cannot believe that I am already into my 28th week of pregnancy.  I have been pregnant for 203 days and have 83 days to go until my due date!  Say what?!?!!!  You can read my 28 week bump date here.

 

28 Weeks - Bump Date

How far along: 28 Weeks!  We are officially in the Third Trimester!!!!! 84 days to go till my due date!  

Baby Size: The size of an eggplant, weights around 2 1/4 pounds, and is around 14.8 inches long.
Weight gain:  9 pounds
Maternity clothes: all pants, most shirts and a mixture of regular and maternity dresses (the usual)

Stretch marks: Still none and I am OK with that!  :)    Sleep: still pretty good.  I sleep on my sides and switch throughout the night.  No pain while I sleep thankfully.  I have more pain in sitting in my office chair more than anything.   Gender: Baby BOY!!

Movement: Feeling him move everyday, especially in the afternoon and evening.
Best moment this week: Andy feeling the baby kick Wednesday night!!  Seeing his face light up when he finally felt the baby kick was amazing!!!!  He then asked if it felt weird to have him kick.  LOL!   Looking forward to: the best friend's birthday party she is throwing for her boys on Saturday (I can't believe that Sam will be 5 and Max will be 2 already!) and hoping for some pool time on Sunday at my moms!  

Food cravings: blueberry muffins, apple slices, grapes and fresh veggie sticks.     Anything making you queasy or sick: nothing thank goodness!  I will say though, that sometimes I am having to force feed myself a meal because I am not hungry at all but know I need to eat.   Labor Signs: None, let's keep it this way for another 10+ weeks!   What I miss: my energy and my brain.  Nothing new here...   Symptoms: upper back ache and exhaustion
Nursery: needing to find a curtain rod for the baby room, hang the shelf, sell the changing table since we are not using the one we inherited from my brother, and put the furniture protector on the glider
Belly Button in or out? I still have an innie, but its become so stretched out that the belly button is flat almost.  Wonder if I will then get an outtie?  
Wedding rings on or off? On!  Hoping they stay on the entire time!!

Mood: exhausted and anxious!  I don't feel like I am ready for the baby yet, but we still have a good 12 weeks for him to bake in there. 

27 Weeks - Bump Date

How far along: 27 Weeks!

Baby Size: The size of a head of cauliflower, weights around 2 pounds, and is around 14 1/2 inches long.
Weight gain:  7 pounds
Maternity clothes: all pants, most shirts and a mixture of regular and maternity dresses.

Stretch marks: None!!  No sign of the linea nigra either which I thought would show by now.  Don't worry, I have this "cute" spider vein on the back of my right calf.  It's been there since the beginning of my pregnancy.   Sleep: not too bad, work has been so stressful that when it's bedtime, I am out and sleep through the entire night.  Typically I wake up before my alarm around 4:45 and toss until 5:15 when it's time to get up.   Gender: Baby BOY!!

Movement: I am feeling him more and more everyday!!    
Best moment this week: I hate to say nothing, but nothing exciting has been happening so nothing   Looking forward to: the weekend and not working, but who isn't?

Food cravings: cheese popcorn (my dog and cat are addicted to it also.....yes we have silly animals)     Anything making you queasy or sick: Zantac has been a lifesaver!!!  I missed my morning dose yesterday (Wednesday) morning and I paid for the rest of the day until bedtime.  I have to remember in the morning to take that!   Labor Signs: None, let's keep it this way for another 11+ weeks!   What I miss: my energy and my brain.  Pregnancy brain is no joke....(nothing changed from last week again...it's probably going to be like this for the rest of my pregnancy and there after)   Symptoms: the bigger belly, back ache, exhaustion (nothing new)
Nursery: nothing new lately
Belly Button in or out? Still an innie
Wedding rings on or off? On!  Hoping they stay on the entire time!!

Mood: Pretty down and stressed, work is really taking it out of me....I wish it wouldn't but there isn't anything I can do right now.  Just trying to get through each day with my head held high.

26 Weeks - Bump Date

How far along: 26 Weeks!

Baby Size: The size of a butternut squash, weights around 1.68 pounds, and is around 14 inches long.
Weight gain: 6 pounds
Maternity clothes: all pants, most shirts (I don't want to stretch out my non-maternity shirts, so I am staying away from those now) and a mixture of regular and maternity dresses.

Stretch marks: None!!   Sleep: not too bad, lately though bedtime has been past 10 pm which is SUPER late for us!  Normally I like to fall asleep around 9 or 930.  Last night (Wednesday) I didn't fall asleep until 1045.....   Gender: Baby BOY!!

Movement: I am feeling him more and more everyday!!    
Best moment this week: picking up the Glider on Sunday, getting the curtains in for the baby room and his car seat canopy   Looking forward to: the weekend and not working!

Food cravings: yesterday on Instagram, someone has a photo of their child eating a hot fudge sundae and I knew I had to have one.  Seriously I was not able to get that stupid sundae out of my head....so to Dairy Queen we went last night.

1. Mama wanted ice cream, Keeley wanted a car ride and Dad is taking care of his girls!  :) 

2.  My ice cream (Dairy Queen Peanut Buster Parfait) and the animals both thought that they needed some ice cream too.  We are ice cream freaks around here! 

    Anything making you queasy or sick: Zantac has been a lifesaver!!!  Ever since I've started it, I have been able to eat and not feel miserable.   Labor Signs: None, let's keep it this way for another 12+ weeks!   What I miss: my energy and my brain.  Pregnancy brain is no joke....(nothing changed from last week)   Symptoms: the bigger belly, back ache, exhaustion
Nursery: The crib is finished!!!!  Now to pick the glider up that just got in yesterday, hang up the shelf, and put the little touches in the room.
Belly Button in or out? Still an innie, but it's really stretching and almost starting to poke out
Wedding rings on or off? On!  Hoping they stay on the entire time!!

Mood: Not so great the last week....work has been really stressful on me lately and the pregnancy hormones and pregnancy brain are not helping matters at all

Baby Registries - Part 1

I thought I'd talk over the next several weeks about Baby Registries.  I decided to register at 3 different places because we have a lot of out of town family and because of the benefits of when your registry is over.  I registered at Target, Buy Buy Baby and Babies R Us.  We are fortunate to have all three semi near us and thought it wouldn't hurt to register at all three!  Plus, when your registry is "over" you get a completion discount coupon to use on items that you did not receive.  Coupons are fine with me!

Tips on Registering:

     1.  Do your research!  I researched my heart out on baby items.  I scoured the internet to find reviews on all baby items.  

     2.  Bring someone with you!  It will get overwhelming and having someone with you makes the registering process a little bit easier.  

     3.  Ask questions!  If you are unsure on how to use that product, just ask!!  

     4.  Ask the employees their opinions on products.  Yes, some of the employees have never been a parent, but they sell this stuff on a daily basis.  Ask how often this item is sold or which one is better.  Most times employees will tell you the honest truth!

     5.  Try out car seats in your car before you select the car seat you want to register for.  We have a 4 door car and a 2 door car.  I wasn't worried about the type of convertible car seat for our 4 door car as much as I was for the 2 door car.  We took our 2 door car to Buy Buy Baby with us and the employee took us outside with whatever car seat we wanted to try in our car. She said we could try as many car seats as we would like.

     6.  Take your time!  Don't go and registry when you are rushing and don't have enough time.  

     7.  Put at least 100 items on your registry.  That seems like a lot, but if you are having a baby shower, your guests like choices.  

     8.  Don't feel like you have to put everything on your registry the day you are registering.  We have this awesome option called the internet and you can edit, add and delete items anytime you want.  Plus the internet has even MORE options than the store offers.

     9.  Put items on your registry even if you think they are too expensive.  If you like it, put it on there.  Some people like the more expensive options and if you don't get those items and still want them, you get that completion discount that you can use at a later discount!

     10.  If you don't get a goodie bag at the end of registering at that store, ask for one!  The goodie bags have some great items in them AND coupons!  They are totally worth the process of registering.

Over the next several weeks, I plan on talking about registering at each store (Target, Buy Buy Baby and Babies R Us), what was in each goodie bag that I received and some of my favorite products that I have registered for.  So make sure you keep an eye out for those posts!  :) 
     

Happy Registering!

Hard on myself

The last several days have been tough on my self-esteem.  Some days I am so hard on myself for making one silly mistake.  Other days I feel like everything I do is wrong.  Some days I wonder why I even have this blog and then the thought of stopping blogging makes me sad because I love going back and see what I wrote about.  

Work has been extra stressful for me lately.  Not only do I feel overwhelmed and burnt out, but I also feel like I can do nothing right there as of lately.  Being pregnant is not only physically exhausting, it's also mentally exhausting.  Pregnancy brain is NO JOKE and I have a severe case of it.  Before being pregnant, I had the best memory.  Now, it's mush.  

We picked out a daycare for our Baby Boy 2 weeks ago.  I am happy with our choice but still the thought of having to take him there 5 days a week stresses me out.  I even asked my mom if he would remember that I am still his mama after he will be there at least 50 hours a week.  I feel guilty in putting him into daycare, but I have too.  We cannot afford life without 2 incomes at this moment.  I know that Andy is doing everything he can to help provide for our family, but the job market isn't in our favor at this moment.  Then the thought of leaving my job field is stressful to think about because it took me 3 years AFTER graduation just for a company to give me a chance at working in Human Resources, if I left to be a stay at home mom, would I be able to even get back into the work force in Human Resources?

These are just some thoughts and frustrations in my head at this moment.  The weekend was nice to be with Andy, the fur-babies and family.  We didn't have much planned and just being around those who I love is what makes my life happy.  I had been dying to get into the pool and just relax but over the weekend, it wasn't possible.  Next weekend I am hoping to get some Vitamin D and just relax in my mom's pool.  

This is a typical day in our house, anytime we are home, Smokey and Keeley are in the same room as us.  CANNOT wait for Baby Boy to be here with us too!

Andy making beer Saturday morning!  He was a happy fella to get that going.

Whoa baby bump!!  I think tank tops make the bump stick out so far!

Watching TV and my puppy cuddling with her mama!  LOVE HER!!

I was sitting outside waiting for my mom Sunday morning and Keeley sat with me.

I think it's safe to say, Keeley loves her mama!