Hello, Cupcake!

Big news in my life...the Cupcake has arrived!



I'm WAYYYY behind now on posting (and laundry, and sleep, and everything else :) but I'm working my way back to the land of the living and hope to catch up soon. In the meantime, I'm spending my days with this little princess:

34 1/2 weeks

We're going to have a baby.

If the hourly acid reflux wake up calls, nickel sized bladder, and pronounced waddle in my gait weren't enough to give it away, I got the official news at my doctor appointment this week that "if your labor were to start now, we wouldn't do much to stop it."

Whoa.

Though I am feeling less and less EMOTIONALLY prepared for this every day (I'm having dreams about living in the dorms again, easy & carefree...or my childhood bedroom...think that's related?), at least we are reasonably close to being prepared in a physical sense. The kid has a wardrobe that dwarfs mine and her fathers (at least for the first 6 months). She has a bright cheerful room that is actually mostly clean. And she even has a place to sleep - did I show you this GIANT gift at the baby shower? :



It was sort of the "grand finale" of the gift opening...



What could it be?



It's a mattress! And a crib! Thank you Mom & Dad (soon to be first time Grandma & Grandpa :)

They even delivered it to our house and helped the hubby and I put it together last weekend:



Norm "helped" too:



And without too much trouble, we got it done:



Shortly after, we arranged all the furniture, cleared off the dresser/changing table, and hung all of the tiny little clothes on baby hangers. It actually looks pretty good - at least it's clean :) Next steps (hopefully this weekend) are to put up this mermaid decal on the wall (ordered from Etsy - not sure exactly why they staged the photo with a bride & groom kissing behind it?!?!):



Then I need to get moving on curtains (I had a dream about curtain rods last night too...guess I'm feeling anxious about getting this done!), replace a switch plate cover, and mount our mermaid alphabet cards & a few other prints I've picked up along the years, and possibly add a few little shelves/hooks over the changing table. Oh, and probably pack my hospital bag, since somehow 8 1/2 months have passed me by already...

Cheers to a safe and productive weekend, Cupcake staying in the oven until after the holidays, and planning an epic Target shopping trip to pick up the rest of our essentials. TGIF!

Sugar & Spice and EVERYTHING Nice!

I don't have to think that hard to find things I'm thankful for this year - especially after the mega outpouring of love that was my baby shower last weekend! What a WONDERFUL day, I couldn't have felt more special. My BFF Alison outdid herself (as she often does). You already saw the impossibly cute invitations she made here, and that was just the tip of the iceberg. There were SO MANY adorable little details, I'll let the pictures do most of the talking:

I entered to bunches of brightly colored balloons floating all about the house:



Looped over the end of the banister are little die-cut cupcakes on ribbon necklaces for the icebreaker game - guess the famous mother! You asked yes or no questions, and when you got someone's "identity" right, you captured their cupcake :) So cute!



More die cut cupcakes made a huge swag banner, and the "guest book" was a gorgeous collection of fairy tales that I can't WAIT to read to our little one! Everyone signed dear messages on the cover page, it is definitely a keepsake.



The mantle was trimmed with custom made cupcake onesies Al ordered from Etsy! Did you know our little Cupcake would be decked out in such couture finery? :) My favorite is the one with the face :)



Pink favor boxes tied with ribbon waited on the table - filled with jellybeans that matched the balloons, and foil wrapped Hershey Kisses.



And then there was the food! I started drooling as soon as I walked in, and I HAD to claim one of these strawberry shortcakes...they were AMAZING! (Also, I loved my dress...that was the one I ordered to wear for Halloween but then changed my mind about my costume, but I'm so glad I got the dress :) It's about the only non-jeans maternity wear I've purchased!)



Mmmm, are you drooling yet? Tiny morsels of deliciousness...



My lil' sis flew in from Utah for the occasion, and even made these pretty cupcakes - YUM!



There were two full tables of desserts, including this "Milk & Cookies Bar" that is too cute for words.



Onesie cookies!



Chocolate, Strawberry, and Vanilla milk - is this not the best menu ever for a pregnant woman?!?!? With my heartburn, dessert is pretty much the only pleasant food group these days, and I'm drinking 1/2 gallon of milk a DAY. Not to mention it looks so very Martha all displayed in the carafes :)



Cake Balls! My cousin Holly has been making Bakerella-style cake pops and cake balls, I can't wait for her to teach me!



And of COURSE, you need some classic cookies - my soon to be sister-in-law (AKA, the OTHER HEATHER) made these little chocolate chip and chocolate mint goodies, perfect for dipping in milk.



I am not a glamorous gift opener, so I'll spare you the whole litany of my strange facial expressions, this is one of the most "normal" looking snapshots :) In the future, I'll have to be a little more conscious and try for much more photogenic posing. But I definitely appreciated EVERYTHING, and it was so fun to see what everyone picked out! We got a few of the essentials, and a LOT of little girl outfigs - the Cupcake definitely has a full and fancy wardrobe now, including this hand-crocheted frock from her Great Grandma (above).



We played a second little game during the gift opening as well - after each gift, Alison asked me a question about my childhood or my husband's, and if my answer matched the information that my mom or his mom had given about our early years, then the gift GIVER won a prize! I'm sorry to say I was oddly TERRIBLE at this game, at least when it came to my own childhood :) But I got some of hubby's questions right, and it was pretty cute to hear the stories!



The "big finish" was pretty literal - this huge present was Cupcake's crib & mattress, from her Grandparents (my mom & dad)! Can't wait to get it assembled in her room, I think it will really make it feel like a nursery.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to Alison & everyone who came to share in this "sweet" occasion :)

Cupcakes with "The Cupcake"

Today marks 31 weeks in the oven for my little Cupcake! Whoa, where has time gone? I'm a little scared to acknowledge that I'm feeling pretty good (knock on wood), and definitely still better than during my elongated 1st trimester. I'm only up about 10 lbs over my "normal" weight, which is baffling, since my belly is all I see when I look in the mirror. I've acquired a new unpleasant symptom - morning leg cramps - which actually drove me to the doctor today for a quick unplanned check up (not a blood clot, it was just such a bad cramp that I'm still limping 4 days later). The heartburn is taking a toll, I don't have much energy... but guess what is right around the corner? My BFF is throwing us a shower!


(edited for privacy - sorry, stalkers)


She made each invitation a little different, and in a rainbow of colors, this is mine. She even mailed it to me like a "real" guest. I love getting mail. And aren't they ADORABLE?!?!? Martha would totally approve. Onesies and baby t-shirts + cupcakes = complete cute overload. The shower will be a dessert buffet (hooray! and yay again for passing the glucose test!)...and that's all I know! She's keeping me totally in the dark. Last time I asked her a question about it, she said I was officially cut off, and had to show up and be surprised :)

I am so excited to be a guest at a party! I even have a cute dress to wear, and lil' sis is coming into town, so it should be an exciting weekend. I'm definitely looking forward to it. Al, you are the greatest.

Got my flash on, it's true, need that picture of you...

For clarity, the child shall henceforth be known on this blog as "The Cupcake." There is no grand reason, but it solves this dilemma.

Now, speaking of The Cupcake:
Since I had some sort of iffy "low placenta", she got another photo shoot yesterday morning, and here are a few of the highlights:



1. she's still a girl

2. she sucks her toes (maybe my circus school experience did something to my genes? Because clearly I was not that flexible)

3. the offending placenta moved sufficiently out of the danger zone, and....



4. the kid officially has HAIR. Hair that is perceptible on the ultrasound. Measurable hair. It's only 1/2 cm so far, but I suppose since the whole cupcake is only about 2 1/2 lbs, it's still proportional. And the heartburn hasn't been in vain :)

Only 82 days left in the oven, give or take! See you soon, kid!

Bedtime Stories

Last night was a "last supper" of sorts, since my gestational diabetes test is tomorrow I have a whacked out idea that if I avoid sugaring-it-up for 24 hours or so I might have a chance of passing. By all accounts my eating patterns today wouldn't really change anything, if I have GD I have it (and a 12 lb baby to look forward to) but if it makes me feel better, we'll go with it. While I've managed to blissfully cope with the idea of labor (mostly through denial) the thought of a strict bland diet for the next 3 months sends me fully over the edge into despair.



For my "last supper" hubby and I went with apple crisp. Not for dessert, just apple crisp for dinner. With vanilla Hagen Daz ice cream. Actually, its probably more healthy than my McDonald's lunch was (banner day, in retrospect - where do I get my mommy of the year award?), what with all the fruit & calcium and lack of deep frying...And in an interesting twist of fate, the apple crisp didn't result in any heart burn. Could that mean a full night of sleep???



Um, no, of course not. First there was the midnight potty break (and cursing myself for not turning on the heat once again, since I was perfectly cozy under my blankets, but the thought of leaving them for the chilly night air was not appealing). Then there was the 4am bloody nose, and the resulting quest for Kleenex, made all the more sporting by my reluctance to turn on a light and not being conscious enough to find my glasses. Pretty sure I let the dog out around that time too, and hopped around freezing on the porch until he was done sniffing the perimeter of the fence before heading back to bed. Exhausted. And that's about when the aching in my hips reached epic proportions so that I was flopping from one side to the other about every 30 minutes. Till I overslept. And thus today I feel like I got hit by a truck.



I'm ready for my happily ever after now!

The glass is half full...of milk...with a Tums chaser :)

Things I did wrong this weekend:



- thought a few dips of cheese bread in pizza sauce couldn't possibly give me raging heartburn...till I was up from midnight - 4am praying for a quick death.

- assumed the pizza sauce was the culprit of said heartburn disaster, and there was no harm in finishing the cheesebread by itself the next day...turns out, the garlic alone is perfectly capable of causing great pain. If this keeps up, I fully expect my child to look like Rapunzel.

- figured that with my new pregnancy blood volume (150% of a normal person) and the space heater growing in my belly, I'd be plenty warm on a 39 degree evening without the heat on. And then I woke up shivering violently at 4am, contemplating any and all alternatives to leaving my blankets for a potty break.

Funny how they all result in a significant lack of sleep :) Oh well, guess if I can wean myself off of needing rest now, it'll all be easier later, right?!?!

And now that the negatives are out of the way, can I please get one of these:



Actually, I might need five or six of them, because there were a helluva lotta things I did RIGHT this weekend too! WHOO HOO! Namely:

- Finally returned leftover invitation materials to Michael's...after driving them around in my car for a month!

- Battled the "free sample Saturday" crowd at Costco to scoop up the savory dips for my party (lobster spread and spinach dip, yum!), as well as Christmas gifts for all the nieces - double "to do list" success!

- Made a list of all the serving utensils & dishes I need for the Halloween party and borrowed most of it from my mother (I love that she has a whole drawer of ladles. And another one of trays. And a whole cupboard for chafing dishes).

- Stopped by Cajun Potluck to put a down payment on the Cajun catering, as well as snag some Cajun BBQ sauce and Cajun seasoning for other dishes I'm making.

- Threw a Mardi Gras parade in my living room. 9 1/2 hours of work and the decorating is *mostly* done...in that first room. As usual, my plan was much more time consuming than I had thought, but it's off to a good start. Now if only I had a few more weekends...and could still take ibuprofen for my aching back...

I'm realistic in doubting I'll get much accomplished this evening, in general Mondays are just about survival for me right now :) But with only one more weekend to actually work (and one of those days already tied up) I'll have to push through some of these evenings and pick up the pace. Only 12 days left!!!!

EDIT:

I totally forgot to mention I solved 1/2 of my costume crisis! Goodwill to the rescue once again, I scooped up a $20 ballgown, grabbed some accessories at Party City, and I'm on my way to a classic Mardi Gras Ball outfit :) Whoo hoo!

She Will Be Loved...and well dressed...

I should really come up with a cute moniker to refer to the impending daughter on this blog since I'm resisting using her real name (though it's ADORABLE and I LOVE IT), but I can't seem to commit to anything. Regardless, she will be the first grandchild on my side, and her soon-to-be Grandma appears to be pretty excited. Among many other things, she couldn't resist these adorable footie sleepers for the little one, and presented them to me this weekend:

Monkeys:

Frogs:

Panda Bears:

Awwww, don't you just want to pinch her cheeks already? :)

The Case of the Rapidly Vanishing Weekends...

I had big plans this weekend. They mostly involved finishing up Halloween invitations and getting started on the actual party prep, seeing as our party is just over A MONTH away (ouch). I had a couple other commitments to work around, but I was confident I could make some progress...

HA HA HA HA HA. Clearly I forgot that I was pregnant.

And exhausted.

And emotional.

So Friday night, after an unexpectedly crazy week at work (that SHOULD have been a total cakewalk), I came home and crashed at 6pm. No, seriously, I did. I think I woke up at some point to put on my PJs, but that was it for the evening. Goodbye, Friday.

Saturday morning we had an ALL DAY birthing class. 9-5. And that was the short version. I went into it with a mild mix of curiosity and dread, knowing that I'm an awful patient, a confirmed fainter, and somewhat in denial of labor. But we gathered up our pregnancy manual, blanket, and two pillows, and ventured to the basement of our hospital to be enlightened. We learned all sorts of "interesting" little gems, such as the encouraging news that "the human vagina is built for accommodation, and has no trouble birthing a 15 lb baby." Unfortunately, though, your pelvis is not so accommodating and vehemently disagrees. Within the first hour, this little demonstration was passed around:



Well, not exactly this one, I wasn't taking snapshots - but this little setup found here is pretty much what we passed around the room in order to play "mash the baby through the pelvis."

That first photo makes it seem much less traumatic than it is, that pelvis is barely wider than the baby's head, and jr. has to twist and turn to wiggle through, so here's another illustration



[found here]

While we were lucky in that our instructor didn't have the adorable placenta piece of the playset, it was still enough to make me sweaty...and fainty...and run to the bathroom with dry heaves.

This bodes really well for me and the whole ACTUAL labor process, right? I told you I was a bad patient. But seriously, has anyone seen the head sizes in my husband's family? I'm getting sick again thinking about it...

I'm pretty sure the Husband would have been more than willing to leave at that point, but we stuck it out. There were actually some fairly helpful and surprising ideas raised, such as during the labor simulation (mostly a waste, since I have no idea what a contraction will feel like and consequently how far off the deep end it will send me). This is the iconic part of the class where you sit in front of your partner with your pillows and he's supposed to soothe you through your contractions.

HA HA HA HA.

Remember previously when I was confused about the "soft music" recommendation? It's for this part. Also suggested were "low lighting, aromatherapy, and soothing massage." We did an exercise with ice in our hands to determine what helped us cope with stressful/painful situations.

All of the above annoyed the !@#$ out of me.

It's not a huge surprise.

But what I did find out I appreciated was movement. Namely, playing with these guys:



Birthing balls = mega fun. At least when you're not birthing, for that confirmation I'll have to get back to you. But with my antsy high strung personality, I loved being able to bounce and rock and roll around. I'm highly considering replacing my desk chair with one, like they did on DeGrassi:



(source - and a funny account of visiting the DeGrassi set)

And with that, worth considering is that once you have an epidural, they pry the birthing ball out of your hands for the rest of the labor and make you sit in bed tethered to an IV, fetal monitor, and urinary catheter. It has something to do with being numb from abdomen to thigh, not really conducive to bouncing or walking (or holding your urine) and apparently a bit of a liability for hospitals. So something to ponder - what will be more comforting to me, movement or medication? Prior to this class I was leaning towards the epidural, but now I'm considering other pain medications as well.

The truth is I still have no !@#$ing idea, and really can't decide till we get in the moment.

And the point of this meandering story was that I didn't get anything done on Saturday either. By the time we got home from our class, I was completely wiped out. And maybe crying in the fetal position.

Sunday we went to the Renaissance Festival, which was equally traumatizing but for completely different reasons (I'm not saying I didn't have a bad outfit phase in college, but let's all agree not everyone should wear corsets. Or chain maille. Or crop tops.) It was mega crowded, and my patience for crowds (short as it was) came to an abrupt end months ago, as did my tolerance for incense, cigarette smoke, and most heinously, cigars. Who smokes cigars in the middle of a bunch of kids?!?!? Argggggh! We also parked 6 miles away, so I was tired by the time we got in the front gates.

And then I fell asleep at 9 while trying to watch Madmen, and had a dream I was asleep in my office at work.

AAACCCCCK! How am I going to get all of my Halloween projects done in a month?!?!? Adrenaline, don't fail me now!!!

Confession: Heather's life is often neither creative nor exciting...

This week marked my annual Costco pilgrimage to replenish our household stash of:













Not to mention a 5 pack of deodorant, 500 Ziploc bags...Super sexy, right? Not exactly the most fun shopping trip, and I'll admit in my hormonal state I cried a little when I got home and realized how much all this not-fun-old-fogey-necessity stuff set back my bank account, but at least I don't have to worry about paper products and the like until the babe is sleeping through the night (fingers crossed). And speaking of the little one, one new addition to the super-sized shopping spree:



Yeah, that's 900 baby wipes. I had a coupon. From what I hear, that might only last about a week, but at least it's a start. And the box weighs as much as a sack of potatoes.

And to round out the disappointing nature of my purchases, I threw in some giant underwear. Remember when new underwear made you kind of happy? That doesn't seem to happen during pregnancy. It's more like waving a white flag and giving up on something. But at least they're comfortable.

The one fun purchase I threw in the mix:



I had just discovered this raspberry lemonade when grabbing a drink at the gas station last week ($1.79 single serving) and since I'm still loving all things sour, I was overjoyed to find a 3 pack of full sized bottles for under $6! Score!

In addition to my disappointingly-grown-up shopping trip, I also got my flu shot this week (prego = high risk, working with high schoolers = even higher), organized and mailed off a bunch of bills, and we have a "childbirth preparation" class this weekend. Clearly, I've been much too responsible, and hope to spend the rest of the weekend on FUN and FRIVOLOUS projects, namely completing my Halloween invitations (so close!). I did get my first shipment of "supplies" for the Mardi Gras room, and would love to spend some craft time on my VooDoo shop.

Here's hoping you have fun weekend plans,

-H

Playlist...and a lot of talk about placenta...

You might think that if you wait till you're 30 to have a baby, you'd know everything and sail through the process. Turns out, there are about 300 things so far that have surprised the hell out of me, with new items added to the list every day. In retrospect, this shouldn't be all that hard to believe, since really neither the hubby nor I have been around actual babies since...well...maybe when my 21 year old brother was an infant. And I was...9. Yeah, so I should have expected the confusion...but I was blinded by my ignorance.

Luckily now-a-days we're blessed to have "all the answers" at the tip of our fingers. Strange symptom? GOOGLE IT. And you will generally always find out that your worst fears are confirmed, and both you and your baby will die.

And then your doctor will tell you to knock it off, and stay off the internet. Which works for about a week.

BUT, where else would I have learned about episiotomy, vaginal tearing, afterbirth, and placenta smoothies? Because Lord knows polite Lutherans never talked about such things. But mommybloggers do. A LOT. Even ones I like. (BTW, blogger does not know how to spell episiotomy, but I'm imploring you, don't plug it in your search bar just to check the spelling like I did - you can't unsee the diagrams and pictures that come flying up. Damn speedy Google).

One day I did sit down and read the final chapters of the two baby books we've been sort of relying on, which was a lot like reading The Monster at the End of This Book. (Internet, whatever damage you have done to my psyche by convincing me I am always dying is redeemed by having this book online at my fingertips). Anyways, I knew I shouldn't keep turning each page, but I did anyways. And at some point the hubby came home to find me in a pile of tissues sobbing about ultimate impending destruction of my whoo-ha and life as I know it.

Talk about a monster at the end of the book...

My original strategy of denying any knowledge of the birth process was CLEARLY the way to go. Were I to do it over again, I'd argue fervently (with myself) to assume magical fairies just hand me a baby at the end of the story, which truly is not any more strange and unbelievable than what "really" happens, but definitely sounds more pleasant. And by the time I were to realize that's not really how the gig would go down, it would be too late to lament it anyways.

Instead, I'm terrified. And now, as we're closing down on "V-Day" I need to make a birth plan. And rather than focusing on "important" stuff which makes me rock back and forth catatonic (drugs? natural? interventions? huh?), I'm filling out the "easy" parts first.

Except I don't really get them either.

So, mommies and others, explain to me why I need "soothing music" for this endeavor? Once again my lack of experience and understanding is clearly showing through, because to me, this seems counter-intuitive. Wouldn't I want stadium rock, like a workout playlist (or what my never-been-in-a-gym-self assumes a workout playlist to consist of)? I look at labor as a horrific athletic endeavor - you use muscles, endure pain, push your limits, and probably collapse in a puddle of your own bodily fluids...wouldn't fast, inspiring, angry music be better for that? Wouldn't I feel better focusing on the pounding beat of Green Day and Rancid than people counting and telling me when to breathe over the soft (annoying) sounds of Enya?

Please explain.

And help me build my playlist.

Because I refuse to acknowledge most of the rest of the decisions I have to make for my birth plan :)

My baby can beat up your baby...

We've been lucky to receive a lovely assortment of cards and messages since announcing our big news, and a week ago came our first baby gift:



MOST AWESOME BABY GIFT EVER!!! Yep, those are temporary tattoos for your infant. My infant. My living breathing dress up doll, at least until she can start ripping off pieces and complaining about it. I can't wait to lovingly apply these images to pudgy baby arms:



I think the pacifier with the spikes might be my favorite, I love the juxtaposition of the cuddly baby items with the hard core twists of thorns, metal, and barbed wire. Perfect for the natural faux hawk stage all babies seem to go through. Now where do I get baby roller derby outfits?

Thanks, Amy! Love them!