Stella 2 Months

Our little Love Bean will be 2 months old on Sunday! Each month (until she's a year old) I'll be taking a picture of her in our orange chair.

Watch her grow: 1 month

Stella 1 Month

Our little Love Bean is 1 month old already! Each month (until she's a year old) I'll be taking a picture of her in our orange chair.

Stella's 1st Trip To The Mitten

The Love Bean and I made our first trip to Michigan. She did so good in the car on the way up. The way back to Chicago, was a little different. It wasn't horrible, but we did have to make a couple extra stops, which added about an hour to our travel time.

It was such a good trip. Stella got to meet her Auntie Mal, Uncle Jesse, Uncle Owen, her cousin Raelin, and some of her Great Grandparents, all for the first time! And I got to meet my new nephew Gatlyn!! He was born at 28 weeks, but is such a fighter.

Stella's Poppy (my dad) took her for her first combine ride. I think she liked it, even though she slept most of the time. And I'm pretty sure her Poppy loved it! I'm sure she'll be begging me to ride with him again when we're up there for Halloween ;)

Love Bean Update: 39 Weeks

Eeek...39 weeks! One more week until her due date. I have a feeling the 24th will come and go with no Stella though. My dad doesn't think she'll make her debut until October. He'll probably be right. My daddy has a way of usually being right about everything...shh don't tell him I said that.

I've done a really good job the last 39 weeks of not complaining. Mostly because I've had a super easy pregnancy. And when I was just getting to the point where it would have been acceptable and easy to start complaining, my sister's water broke at 19 weeks (that's not good) and that really put into perspective how good/easy I have had it. (side note: sister and baby are doing well. He's still cookin' away, and she's being strong, brave and fighting just as hard as him. She's on bed rest in the hospital until he's born).

But, I'm tired of being pregnant. If I'm honest though, I was tired of being pregnant from the first day I found out. I know that sounds horrible, but I'm a straight shooter and that's how I feel. I'm just not one of those women who thinks growing a human is the most rewarding experience ever. (I think raising her to be a beautiful, intelligent, creative and loving woman, will be the most rewarding experience ever). And no it doesn't mean that I don't love my child or that I already resent her. I do love her and I'm so so so excited to meet her.

It's just that I'm ready to have my body back, I really want to drink a beer while watching the Bears game, I'm really sick of wearing the same 5 outfits over and over again. I want to know what she looks like. I don't want to be short of breath anymore just from climbing into bed or walking up the stairs. I want to wear skinny jeans again. Ok. I'm done now :)

Another doctor's appointment on Tuesday. She'll check me this week, so I'll actually know if I'm progressing at all. I really like my doctor, she's super honest and straight forward. She warned me when I hit 37 weeks, that even though I was considered full term, it'd probably still be awhile. Most first time pregnancies go all the to 40 weeks or longer. And while, I'm selfishly so over being pregnant, love bean can cook in there as long as she wants.

Love Bean Update: 38 Weeks

Last week marked making it full term. Today we hit 38 weeks! Love bean could come at anytime, but I'm hoping she'll hold off at least through the weekend. My daddy, brother and brother in-law are all at "man camp" and I'm going to the Renegade Craft Fair with my friend Rachel. Feeling really good this morning, so I think I'm safe. Actually my gut tells me she isn't going to come until after her due date, and from what I've read, that's totally normal for first time pregnancies.

Hospital bag is packed, nursery is complete, bassinet has a fresh sheet, freezer and pantry are stocked with easy to prepare meals. I still have a few things on what the hubs is calling my "nesting to do list"

1. Laundry (this really needs to get done, but I've been out of quarters and it's a pain to walk down 2 flights of stairs 9 months preggo with a laundry basket on your hip)
2. Clean and rearrange our bedroom
3. Organize the coat closet, or should I say junk closet. Hubs was suppose to take a bunch of stuff out there and down to storage like 3 weeks ago, but it hasn't happened...
4. Organize bathroom closest, I'm coming to terms that this probably won't get done, but it'd be nice

So the wait is on, but I'm not complaining. Sometimes I just get so anxious and nervous about labor/delivery and life after baby that I want her to take as long as possible before making her debut. I have strict instructions from the hubs though, "don't fight it, it will only make it worse." What do men know about carrying a child anyway?

My new boots came! I was super excited, until I tried them on and realized either my feet and calves are really swollen, just fatter now or I just ordered too small of size. I plan on trying the on again after love bean arrives, then I'll determine if I need to exchange them for a bigger size. This is why I hardly ever shop online...it always turns into a big hassle for me.

Love Bean's Nursery

Last time I blogged about the love bean's nursery, all we had up was a sign on the outside of her door. After a trip to Joann Fabrics, Buy Buy Baby and Ikea, and an online purchase from Anthropologie, Stella's nursery is ready for her arrival! It's still missing a rocking chair,  and of course there are a few little things I would still like to do, but for now it's finished. I couldn't get a shot of the whole room, and you can't see the red rug in the middle of the room any of the pictures, but this will give you an idea of what her nursery looks like.

Skip Hop Mod Dot Crib Bedding

The red pillow is actually from the first set of bedding hubs and I had. It won't stay in the crib. It's for the rocking chair once we have it.  I'm pretty proud of the frame collage! The two empty frames will have photos of us as a family of three.

 This is will be the reading/rocking corner, once the stroller is replaced by the rocking chair

Closet door, toy tote and Gerry

Her dresser with the Anthropologie knobs I bought last week. Yes, we know the letters aren't level...

Diapers, monitor and her mute button pacifier

Love this lamp we bought at Ikea today. And how adorable are the pink sparkly shoes?! Welp folks, that concludes your little tour of our love bean's nursery. Sorry the pictures aren't the best quality. I'm still only have my point and shoot that's like 6 years old. I'm still trying to talk the hubs into getting me an SLR for as a push present...but that isn't likely to happen.

Love Bean Update: 35 weeks

I'm two weeks from being considered full term! I'm starting to be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Though I heat these last 5ish weeks will seem to be the longest, I'm really not that worried. I'm still really little, so I haven't really been that uncomfortable, besides the occasional baby foot jabbing my rib cage. Really through out the last 8 months my only complaint has been that I can't enjoy a beer or a margarita every now and then.

Overall being preggo has been better than I expected. But there are a few things that I've been disappointed about and a few things that I've discovered that I'd like to share.

• No cravings! I really just wanted to wake up at 3am wanting to eat something crazy and make Tim go out a get for me. No luck. I've tried to fake it, but he sees right through me. 
• The glucose test isn't bad. I was dreading having to drink the sugar drink because I'd only ever heard about how horrible it was. I was imagining having to drink a 2 liter of this nasty stuff, but it turns out it's like 3 big gulps of a flat pop. If I can drink it on the "L" with no chaser and without gagging, then it can't be that bad. 
• Comparing your pregnancy to other people's isn't worth the anxiety it causes. Every mom and every baby are different.
• Young men and women not giving up their seat on a crowded train or bus. My whole pregnancy I've only had 3 people offer me their seats. I've only actually said yes once, but it's the thought that counts. I'm going to give my fellow commuters the benefit of the doubt and chalk it up to the fact I didn't really look pregnant for the first 7 months.
• 3D ultrasounds are creepy. At one of my ultrasounds the tech turned on the 3d machine because she was having trouble getting a clear image - creepiest thing I've ever seen. Don't get me wrong, I love the little bean inside of me, but I had to look away. 
• Roughly 5 weeks to go and I'm still waiting for that "nesting phase" to hit. I hope this isn't another one of those things moms exaggerate and that it does actually set in, because love bean's nursery isn't even close to being ready for her
• You need to educate yourself! I read a lot of articles about pregnancy related stuff, just ask my family. They get really sick of me saying "I read that..." I just think it's important to know what's going on with your body and baby so you can make the best decisions for both of you. 
• I haven't experienced crazy mood swings, but I have noticed I get annoyed by little things a lot easier. For example the other day on Facebook I saw someone called the "Magnificent Mile" the "Miracle Mile" (that's the nickname for the shopping on Michigan Ave. here in Chicago) and it annoyed me for like half the day. Normally I wouldn't even think twice about it.

I'm starting to get really anxious about what life will be like once love bean's enters the world. This is starting to eclipse my fear of labor, so it's kind of a welcomed distraction. 

Love Bean Update

I spent the first 20 days in our new place with any internet. I survived only because I could check emial, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and my Google Reader while I was at work. It also forced me to get unpacked faster, well sort of, we're still 100% unpacked and settled in, but we're getting there slowly.

Since it's been so long and some of you may be hoping for a love bean update, I'll indulge you.

This was taken about a week ago, I was at 30 weeks. I've been feeling really good, although this heat has made me a little irritable and at times my toes have looked like sausages. I had a check-up yestertday, and my doctor says I'm measuring a little small, but I'm still in the normal range. I have an ultra sound in a couple weeks to check the growth of the little love bean.

Last weekend I had my first of three baby showers! Love bean's Busha (that's Polish for grandma) hosted it and lot's of the hub's family was able to attend. Love bean and I were showered with lot's of gifts. When I got them all home, hubs went right to work putting everything together. I need to start putting her room together, but for now, I've only gotten as far as hanging this sign up on the outside of her door.

The picture reminds me, I don't know if I ever shared we had a name picked out! Stella Marie. Ever since college I've liked the name Stella, and it also happens to have been my Great Grandma's name. Luckily Timmy loves the name just as much as me and we've known from the moment we found out we were expecting that if it were a girl, she'd be Stella. Hubs picked out her middle name, it's after his mom (Stella's Busha) her middle name is Marie too. Marie also happens to my Grandmas' first name. We think it's pretty cool that three of her grandma's are represented in her name!

Every day we're getting more and more excited to meet her, and I get more and more scarred about the whole idea of pushing out a baby...

Love Bean's Bedding

Timmy and I have our baby registry just about complete. I think the only things left to add are stroller and car seats, but not 100% sure about that, have to have my momma look it over one more time to make sure I didn't miss anything. Registering for our little love bean was so overwhelming! One thing I learned is that I have expensive taste in baby stuff. But I think we did a good job of narrowing it down and finding less expensive options for most everything.

The hardest decision was crib bedding! I thought I really wanted a girl, because girl stuff is so much cuter, but I quickly learned that boy crib bedding is more my style. We ended up going with something neutral for two reasons; my girly choice was a too expensive at $45 a pop for crib sheets and Tim had the final say, and what we ended up going with was his favorite of all the options.

Here's a look into how we made up our minds.

Before we knew our love bean was a girl, we were both liking DwellStudio's Transportation set. We loved the graphic print, colors and that everything wasn't really matchy-matchy.

Once we learned our love bean was a girl we started looking for something along the same lines, but girly. Not much luck really, is it a rule that girl crib bedding has to be pastel and flowery? We landed on DwellStudio's Sparrow Lilac for a bit. Girly, graphic, but the colors we still too light.

At this point, I'm in love with DwellStudio and decide that the Skyline Lt. Blue set could work for a baby girl, but wasn't 100% sold because, it seemed a little boyish and I couldn't decide if it was weird to have skyline themed bedding in the city.

After I had exhausted all my DwellStudio options, I was on the hunt for something else. I looked at all the girl crib bedding at the Buy Buy Baby (where we registered) but didn't see anything that jumped out at me. While poking around on Pinterest one day I found Auggie. It hit all my criteria, girly and NOT matchy-matchy, I love the mix of patterns. But at $45 a pop for one fitted crib sheet, it seemed a little pricy.

In a last ditch effort I went back to the crib bedding on Buy Buy Baby's site. This time I looked under the neutral bedding section. I had skimmed it before, but this time I took my time and found the Mod Dot set. It met all the criteria, wasn't too expensive and was Timmy's favorite. So onto the list it went.

Extra Thankful

On a scale of 1-10 this past week has been 11. A lot of good things happened this week and overall life is coming up roses.

Monday: The company I work for, Dwellevate, launched it's website finally after like 8 long months. This was a great way to start my week. Extra happy bosses equal extra happy couple of work days. I plan on posting more about Dwellevate next week, so I can give you all an idea of what my role was.

Tuesday: After freaking out all weekend long about trying to get our of lease, we found out that they would void it with no penalties. Halleluiah! Now the hunt is on, and we don't have a lot of time. Gotta be out of here by June 30th.

Wednesday: Today we got even more wonderful news. Not many people know this, but we had a little bit of a love bean scare. At my ultrasound around 18/19 weeks they found a Chorid Plexus Cyst on our bean's brain, they're pretty common and usually mean nothing, but sometimes it can mean the baby will have Trimosy 18 . Though my doctor wasn't concerned, it still scared the living day lights out of me and the hubs. And today I had a follow up ultrasound with the high risk doctor—CYST IS GONE!! I'll still have another follow up ultrasound with the high risk doctor, but not for 10 weeks.

In other happy love bean news, we're having a girl! At my previous ultrasound, she had her legs crossed the entire time and the tech couldn't tell. This time she was still a stubborn little thing, but no boy parts in sight, so girl it is!

Another fun thing about today was that Tim and I went to a Cub's game. It was freezing, we totally busted our budget and bought a freaking $49 blanket, and left in the 6th inning because it started raining, but we still had lot's of fun. We've gotta soak in all the couple time we can this Spring and Summer.

Thursday: My 5 day weekend starts!! My little brother is graduating from high school. And I'll be there, YAY!

Friday - Monday: I'll be in the Mitten camping with the fam, eating lot's of good food my daddy makes over the fire and eating s'mores.

Needless to say, I'm feeling extra thankful for all the wonderful things in my life.

My Style: Maternity

I'll be 22 weeks tomorrow! I can still fit into all my pre-pregnancy clothes, which is really nice, but things are getting a little tight. And since my belly started to pop a couple weeks ago I've been keeping my jeans up with a hair tie. I did buy a pair of maternity capris, and thanks to my momma I got to go a little shopping spree and get some other new clothes!

Almost half my shopping spree budget was spent on unmentionables...O.M.G. getting some bras that actually fit my growing ta tas, has made such a HUGE difference! I went into Forever 21 thinking that I'd be able to get lot's of stuff because I'm really not big at all, but that was real depressing. Mostly because even though they'd fit me now, I knew they wouldn't fit through the entire pregnancy, so I settled on one shirt (the plaid one in the top left corner) and a pair of leggings.

The rest of my shopping I did online at Motherhood. I ordered the dress and 4 other shirt in the picture above. They haven't arrived yet, but I can't wait to try them on and hang them in my closet. I love new clothes!! I didn't buy any jeans, because I can still wear mine pretty comfortably unbuttoned, and I'm debating between jeans and shorts, though I'll probably end up getting a pair or two of both.

One other item on my list to buy it a bathing suit. I am NOT looking forward to this at all. I've always hated buying bathing suits and with my aversion to "naked" pregnant bellies, it's gonna have to be something that completely covers me. Needless to say, I will not be one of those women who rock a bikini the whole nine months. Go them. But it's not for me.

#1 thing I should NOT do while pregnant

Normally, I love Facebook. But I'm beginning to think that while I'm pregnant I shouldn't be on there. Why? Because it seems that a TON of my female FB friends are also pregnant, and their statuses usually have to do with their pregnancies, and then I inevitably find myself comparing mine to theirs.

This has already lead to me having one nightmare. You see there is one girl, who is a few weeks behind me, who has already heard her baby's heart beat. I haven't heard our belly monster's heart beat yet, in fact at my last appointment a could of weeks (11/12 weeks) when the doctor tried to find it, she couldn't. I wasn't freaked out about this, until I read that the above mentioned girl had heard hers.

I wasn't freaked out because, before my doctor even tried to find the it she said, "It's still pretty early, you're right on the cusp, but since you're on the skinny side, we might be able to hear it." and when she couldn't find it she said, "Don't worry, I'm not concerned. But since this is your first baby, I'm sure you're nervous, so you can either come back in two weeks and we can try with the doppler again, or we can order you an ultrasound."

I went with the ultrasound, we go on Tuesday! I'm excited to get to see our little love bean. Lesson learned, #1 thing I should NOT do while pregnant is compare my pregnancy to others. It's not worth the nerves, and if my doctor isn't worried, says I'm completely healthy and that everything is looking good, I should trust her.

Love Bean

I have a special announcement. Timmy and I are expecting a little love bean, our first child. I'm 12 weeks along and due end of September. We found on January 25th and have been waiting for to hit 12 weeks, which is when we agreed we'd share the news with extended family and the rest of the world (our parents, siblings and a couple of our closest friends have known for awhile now) I'm pretty sure this is one of the hardest secrets they've ever had to keep, as they are all very excited. Our love bean has us excited and scarred, and came as a little bit of a surprise. Meaning, we weren't trying, but we weren't preventing and were totally okay if it did happen.

Needless to say, my blog will may take a turn to more baby related material. I'm already working on putting together a little book documenting the pregnancy. It's called "Letters To Our Love Bean" I've been writing letters periodically, which will go in the book along with photos, so we can have something to look back at to remember this exciting 9 month journey.

So far, I'm really not one of those women who, love to be pregnant. Fingers crossed that changes after I'm completely through my first trimester, and I actually look and feel more pregnant. Otherwise it's going to be a long, hot, summer with a very cranky Jamie.

*Note to my friends on Facebook: I don't plan on posting a lot about the pregnancy on my Facebook. If you want to know about it or see pictures, you'll have to follow my blog ;)