Baby Showers

Last weekend Vanessa came to visit and I had my "friends" baby shower.  On Friday night Steve, Vanessa and I went to Blue Stove and had the best cheese platter appetizer.  I want to go back and eat it every week.  

Then on Saturday we had my baby shower.  It was about 25 people, and I had a lot of fun.  It was really warm, like 80 degrees, which I would normally love.  But it was so hot in our house!  We had champagne punch, sandwiches, orzo salad, a cheese platter and a yummy cake from the woman who made our wedding cake.  My parents and Steve's parents helped a ton.  Even so, I was still exhausted after it.  We got all kinds of lovely gifts, some things from the registry, some cute outfits, blankets, etc.  We got a few really neat homemade items, like blankets and burp cloths.  It was so great to have all of my girlfriends in one place!  Wish I saw all of them more often.

Sunday morning we went to the Side Street Cafe, which I had never been to.  It was really good, and I plan on going back soon!  Then I took Vanessa to the airport and we stopped at BRU on the way.  I returned a couple of duplicate items I got, and bought some clothes for the baby.  After I got home, I did 3 loads of laundry, and hung everything up and folded it all.  And Steve built the changing table.  The baby's room is really coming along!

Then yesterday we had my "family" shower.  Basically a duplicate of the week before, but with family and a few friends.  The running joke is that I am just gonna have a party every weekend.  I had a really great time, and the weather was beautiful again.  We got some big items on the registry, like the car seat, the stroller, and the pack and play.  And a breast pump is on it's way.  So now we have all of the big items.  All of our family and friends were so generous.  We got soooo much stuff for baby!  There is still some stuff I want to get, but I feel like if the baby came tonight, we are almost set. 

Steve and his friend Clint went to Utah from Wednesday until Saturday.  They went snowboarding and stayed with Steve's cousins.  Sounds like they had a really great time.  And the baby stayed put while he was gone, so that was great.  Here's my cute happy husband.

32 Weeks and crib pics

Here's our crib all set up.

And here I am at 32 weeks, 4 days.  I am getting seriously big.  And uncomfortable.  And slow.

32 Weeks

I am now officially the age I will be when I have my first baby.  31!  Sounds old.   Not just 30, but in my thirties.  Yikes.  It's all in your mind though right?  And I still think I am 20, so there.  Steve was sick on my birthday, which was a bummer.  I felt bad even dragging him out to dinner but he was a good sport.  We went to Giovanni's in the valley.  It was really yummy, and there were about 10 of us.  I have the best family.  :)

The next day, I went out with mom and Tina and went shopping for baby stuff and baby shower stuff.  Thank god they helped me, because after only a few hours of traipsing around town, I could barely move.  It is amazing how tired and achy being pregnant can make you!  But I got almost everything we need for my showers, and also some things for me for after the baby arrives.  My fave is the cozy soft $10 robe that I found at Target for the hospital.  I am wearing it right now, and I wish I could just live in it!

How pregnant am I?:  32 weeks, 2 days - will post a picture later on

Weight gain so far:  Well I didn't gain any weight as of last week either, but I guess the baby and I made up for it this week.  I am now up 31 lbs.  I am half a lb away from 170.  Yikes.  Never thought I'd see that number!  Oh well.

Belly Button:  Flat, but still not an outtie

Clothing options:  Boring boring boring.  I am so sick of my maternity clothes, and can't wait to wear normal clothes again!

Boobs:  Same.  Huge.

Now about the real star of the show:  The baby now weighs as much as a honeydew.  That's about 4 lbs.  And it might be as long as 18-19 inches!  I definitely can tell it has grown.  I am getting kicked and punched so much, and when it rolls around, my stomach stretches in the craziest ways!  Baby is also really looking like a baby now, depositing fat under it's skin and chubbying up.  Also, the baby can apparently tell the difference between day and night now, because the wall of my uterus is thinning and letting more light in.  Which makes sense, because it sleeps at night while I sleep, but the second I wake up in the morning and take my medicine, it is awake and wiggling around so I don't get to roll over and go back to sleep!  Finally, the baby has it's own immune system in place now.

Pregnancy "symptoms":  Same as last post.  Backaches, I waddle, I am tired, slow, and uncomfortable a lot of the time!  Oh, the new thing is, my right foot is totally swollen, but I left is normal.  I am one sexy lady.

Cravings:  Sweets still, lots of water.  Can't seem to get enough these days.

What I've bought so far:  Nothing new this week, but my baby shower is today, so this baby should be getting some new things!

Best moment this week:  Knowing that Steve is completely done painting the nursery!  Now I can begin decorating, washing, etc.

What I miss:  Energy.  Being able to walk more than 5 feet without needing a bathroom.

What I am excited for this week:  My shower!

Ultrasound from 12/14/10

Here is a link to our ultrasound from 12/14/10. It's sorta boring, but around the minute mark, you can see the baby open its mouth and swallow.  And you can see that it had it's arm up almost the entire time.  It DID NOT want to be bothered!  :)  The ultrasound tech kept going back to 2d and jabbing my belly with the probe, trying to get it to move.  She got a clearer shot towards the end....

3D Ultrasound

30 weeks!

Well, I finally found some time to blog in the current week, instead of playing catch up!

How pregnant am I?:  3o weeks, 4 days

Weight gain so far:  As of week 30 exactly, I had gained 27.5.  Which was exactly what I weighed the week before.  It's the first time I didn't gain weight, and I don't know how I managed to do that over Christmas!  But I did spend the previous two weeks going to the gym 4 times per week.  I slacked over the holiday, but I plan on getting back in there this week again.  I have to if I want to continue eating all the sweets that I am craving!

Belly Button:  Flat, but still not an outtie

Clothing options:  Few and far between.  I outgrew some of my maternity clothes.  I basically live in jeans, leggings and sweaters now.  I am not even that huge, but I think some of the styles I bought were only good for the first and second trimester.  Oh well, live and learn.

Boobs:  Ginormous.  See pictures from Christmas morning in previous post.  I can't imagine what they are gonna look like once this baby arrives!

Now about the real star of the show:  This baby is a mover and a shaker.  I keep wondering if there is such thing as TOO MUCH movement.  It jabs me all over, but mostly on the right side.  I swear it thinks that there is an escape route over there.  And of course, whenever I want to relax, it wants to play.  I kinda poke it back in when it jabs me now, and then it jabs me some where else.  At this point, the baby is approx. a whopping 3 lbs!  It's huge!  No wonder I feel so big.  It's brain is developing grooves now, instead of being smooth.  It's putting on more fat, and so it's skin is changing from red to pink.  It's also losing its lanugo.  Baby has eyelashes, and it's eyes are open now.  It might suck its thumb, and it swallows and hiccups all the time.  The food that it is now compared to is a head of cabbage (based on weight).

Pregnancy "symptoms":   I feel the baby moving all the time now.  I am also hungrier.  My back aches, my hips ache, and I am much slower than I used to be.  I also waddle.  Oy.  But overall, I still don't have too much to complain about.  My back is the worst part, but I've always had back problems, so I'll survive.

Cravings:  Sweets still

What I've bought so far:  Well nothing recently, but we did get a ton of gifts for Christmas.  We got our baby monitor, the changing table, books, toys, stuffed animals, baby converse from my brother, a photo album, and some clothes.

Best moment this week:  Seeing the room painted, and the crib all set up.

What I miss:  Wine, walking normally, my energy

What I am excited for this week:  My birthday!

Holidays

Wow, I can't believe that Christmas and New Years came and went already!  I remember during the summer, thinking that once I got thru the holidays, this baby would almost be here!  And time flew!

The week before Christmas, we had quite a few events.  I was so tired by the day after Christmas that I didn't move all day Sunday.  I think I even stayed in my PJs all day.  We had a work party for Steve on the Sunday before Christmas, and another one the Thursday before Christmas.  It was also Kevin's birthday, so we went out to celebrate at the Ladyface Alehouse.  I had some amazing bread pudding that I can't wait to go have again.  I think we even went to trivia night that Tuesday too.  I don't know how I did it!  

For Christmas Eve we went to my parents house as usual.  The whole Anschultz clan and extended family were there, plus Steve's parents, and Aunt Sue.  It was loud and fun and all the kids had a blast.  I didn't overeat, which was a miracle.  But I managed to sample just about everything.  Christmas morning, Steve and I exchanged gifts, then Steve and Tina came over to our place for our gift exchange. Then we packed up and went to my parents house to exchange with them.  We really got soiled this year.  We got tons of gift cards, a changing table, a bookshelf for the living room, an entry way mirror/shelf, baby stuff, and all sorts of other little things.  We are lucky to have so many people who love us!

Next we headed to The Odyssey in Granada Hills for brunch.  This was our first time here, as we have gone to the 94th Aero Squadron in Van Nuys for at least the last 12 years, maybe longer.  I thought that the food was much better, and the view was really nice.  Here's a couple of pictures from after brunch.  I didn't realize how huge I am beginning to look until I saw these!

The next week, Steve started to paint the nursery.  He did a little each day, and it's almost done.  Because of our high ceiling (wooden beams that are painted), it is a real pain.  So he had to edge with a paint brush, and you can't really tape off the ceiling because it won't stick.  I felt bad that I couldn't help, but he refused.  So we painted the top 2/3 yellow, and the bottom 1/3 sage green.  It came out really nice.  We put up a wallpaper border in the middle to separate the two.  Now he just needs to paint the baseboards, the window, and the trim around the door.  

This past weekend was New Years, and we went to Kevin and Sarah's to hang out with friends.  She made homemade lasagna, a few friends made some appetizers, we took over garlic bread and lemon meringue pie (special of the month at Marie Callendars, fyi!) and we just hung out, played games, and caught up on life.  Watched the ball drop, wished each other a happy new year, and then went home.  Definitely a fun mellow night. 

I spent the rest of the weekend relaxing, but also put the crib together and got all the bedding on it, with the help of my mom.  It looks fantastic, and I am super excited.  I will try to take a picture and post it soon!

28 weeks

We had our second and last visit with the perinatologist during my 27th/28th week.  They basically do another in depth organ scan, making sure that everything is developing normally.  We found out that the baby is measuring 1 week ahead, and that all systems/organs are perfect!  Here's our little one.  It's not the greatest picture, because I took a photo on my iphone of the image.  But you get the idea.  It kept blocking it's face, but finally moved down enough to get a shot of it's face. 

 Most people thought the baby is a boy after seeing this picture.  I still have no clue.  I feel sorta bad referring to the baby as it though!

Also, here I am at 28 weeks.

At this point, I was starting to get pretty uncomfortable.  Sleeping is more and more difficult, and our bed has been taken over by my pillows.  Poor Steve.  He said he feels like we are in entirely different beds, cuz I keep a big pillow down the center of the bed to prop my belly up.  I also have to launch myself off the bed/couch, otherwise, I can't get up.  It's pretty funny!  Only 12 or so weeks to go!