I officially only have 4 more Mondays to make it through at work…WOO! Anyways, here are a few Mommy-themed musings I have pinned lately:
Source: someecards.com via Emily on Pinterest
Source: pixdaus.com via Emily on Pinterest
And P.S. – I was featured today! Head over to Double the Fun and check out her Monday’s Mama post. I love following this blog since it’s led me to find so many other preggo’s who are expecting around my due date.
I’m going to try really hard to do these until Baby C is here…I think me and Hubby are both sick of saying each night “what’s for dinner?”
Monday - Southwestern Pizza w/Black Beans & Corn
Tuesday - Sloppy Joes
Wednesday - Sun-Dried Tomato Chicken and Bacon Quesadillas
Thursday - Tortellini with Veggies
Friday – Pasta & Turkey Meatballs
Saturday – Orange Chicken (from Trader Joe’s) & Brown Rice
Sunday – Chicken Pot Pie
A few pics of what I’ve been up to lately with DIY goodness:
A co-worker asked me to make some wine poem cards (find the original post here) for her niece’s bridal shower, so I was able to use some leftover scraps and stickers to whip these ones up. And yes, the picture was taken at work but I didn’t actually make these at work…well, I did use the hole puncher to poke the ribbons through.
And then another co-worker’s last day was yesterday so I decided to make strawberry lemonade cake for the lunch pizza party. Omg this cake is just amazing, I really need to make it more often. Luckily we have so many people in our office now that it went very quickly and there were no leftovers :) You can find my recipe here. Though, I did more of a glaze this time for the frosting – light cream cheese instead of regular and less powdered sugar so it was a lot thinner.
And then last week I finished an order of bridal shower invitations for one of my sister’s friends. If you’re a fan of the subway art design, you can find a digital copy in my Etsy shop that I can personalize for you.
I’m hoping that with ending work in a month (eeek!) that I’ll have a little time to finish some projects before Baby C arrives, but we’ll see. I have a feeling I’ll be doing last minute baby clothes laundry and other chores I always put off!
I’m still feeling pretty good, though, I have noticed a few little things. Like how I almost burnt my belly on a pot of hot water when I was draining pasta tonight. Or how every time I bend over, I feel like I need to push off the ground with my hands to get back up. I'm still amazed I haven’t had any swelling and I really hope it stays that way until after our maternity pics in a few weeks. I can tell exactly where I’ve gained weight (despite everyone’s nice comments, I know for a fact I’m not all belly) and I don’t want my face to be any puffier. Or I may end up with a third chin by the end of this.
I had another doctor’s appointment yesterday – this going every 2 weeks thing is annoying. I know it’s good for a check-up but the fact that I waited over an hour to talk to my doctor for a good 5 minutes is not fun. I was ready to lay down and take a nap on the patient’s table at one point. Also, trying to pee in a cup when you can’t see over your belly is just ridiculous. Anyways, he asked me again about the epidural thing since I saw a different doctor last time and wanted to know my feelings about everything. I was pretty straight forward about how I’m trying to deliver naturally and only want a c-section if necessary, and he seemed very surprised by that. Though he did say he was not recommending it per say, he asked my thoughts about an elective c-section. I just have this weird feeling that a spinal won’t work for me if I choose to have a c-section and I don’t want to think about it unless it absolutely comes down to that. Anyways, I left the appointment feeling a little apprehensive about what’s to come. On a different note, he measured my bump and told me Baby C is measuring to be a “healthy sized baby”. I think that was code for “you have a large kid cooking in there”.
32 Week pic…let’s just say I can’t believe I still have another 8 or so weeks to go and I’m already this huge…oh my…
And what I wore to work…have I shown this dress before? I can’t remember but I have a feeling I’ll be repeating outfits soon if I haven’t already. Maternity dress from Target, shrug from JCPenney, belt from NY&Co.
Even though the invitations, venue, and food were BBQ themed, my sister and college roomie put a nautical spin on the cake, favors, and décor because Baby C’s nursery is full of boat decorations and beachy stuff and lots of navy blue. I won’t do a lot of writing in this post and just let the pictures speak for themselves…everything came out so freakin’ cute, they did such a good job!
When the guests walked into the room reserved for us at the restaurant, they first saw the nautical clock I had registered for on Amazon.com, and then they were asked to decorate a sand dollar for Baby C’s nursery:
Next are the favors – they made chocolate lollipops in sailboat and whale molds and stuck them all in pails full of shells and decorated with anchor ribbon:
Some of the décor…lots of clothes and presents!
And now the best part…the cakes! College roomie made these with some assistance from my sister:
Love them! The one in the middle was covered with fondant and came out perfect – everyone thought a bakery made it. And I’m still pretty impressed sista decorated one of the sailboats as she doesn’t have a lot of crafty skills ;)
So those were all the details and now here are some other pics:
Parents-to-be :)
Opening up a very long clothes line full of clothes – it ended up being twice as long as what’s shown!
Me and the college girls
Me and my fam
Auntie and Mommy-to-be
We were pretty lucky to receive just about everything we registered for with the exception of a few things. While it was a little crazy having a lot of people at the shower and I felt guilty not being able to spend more time with everyone, we were very thankful that our friends and family were so good to Baby C. And everyone kept telling me last week how much fun they had and they liked how it was co-ed. I think it made everyone feel more comfortable since they could talk and mingle at the tables, and I felt better being up in the front opening presents with hubby since we all know I’m such a big fan of attention…notttttt :) Everyone is really excited for Baby C to get here…less than 2 months to go!
When we started planning the baby shower, I knew I wanted to make it coed, as we have lots of “couple” friends and I didn’t want to exclude the guys. Plus, I wanted more of a party atmosphere rather than a traditional shower. One of our friends had a “BaByQ” last fall for her shower and it was great, because the guys felt comfortable being there since it was very low-key, and it was easy for the hosts to throw together the typical BBQ menu and foods. When I was searching for locations that would fit our crowd, one of the first places that came to mind was a local BBQ restaurant that’s on the other side of our town. Luckily their buffet prices were very reasonable per person, and the best part was they didn’t charge a room or any kind of service fees. Basically you just show up and pay for the food!
I love designing invitations and digital art pieces, so I begged my sister to let me create the invitations. I told her that she could do whatever she wanted for the actual shower with games, favors, cake, decorations, etc. as long as I could work on the paper goods. Here’s what I came up with for the invite:
Obviously I blurred out some personal info, but hopefully you get the idea. Apparently it came out cute, because when I listed a similar version at my Etsy shop, it started selling like crazy! Instead of printing at home and cutting them all, I printed them at Vistaprint.com – highly recommend them. I think with a coupon code and sale, I received 70 invitations with envelopes (they were similar to a 5x7 size) for less than $30.
Other than the invitations and the place/date/time, I was kept completely out of the loop for all the other details of the shower. Another post to come with actual pictures from the day of :)
I was going to write today how I’ve been feeling pretty good again until I got home from work today and promptly napped for 2 hours. Ugh who knows how I’m going to fall asleep tonight.
I mentioned already that our baby shower was this past weekend – I’ll do a separate post on it with some pictures. Let’s just say everything came out so cute. And Baby C was SO spoiled. We are really lucky to have such good friends and family who are excited for us.
31 Week Pic:
And what I wore to work…a NON-maternity maxi dress and shrug from Old Navy. I was amazed when I tried this on yesterday and it fit in my normal size. I’m wondering how it’ll fit once the bump is gone!
Old Navy has some seriously cute clothes lately…and even though he received so many onesies and rompers at the shower, I may still do a little more shopping :) For instance, this will be the story of me and Baby C’s life this summer…well he may have it a little easier than me, though…
And I’m tempted to get this one, too, since he’ll be a little traveler. We’re already planning a vacation to Maine when he’ll be about 2 months old:
This one just make me LOL:
Of course, no outfit would be complete without some flip-flops:
Who said baby boy stuff wasn’t cute? Haha I could go nuts with buying so many things for him :) Luckily he was beyond spoiled at the shower – promise to post some recap pics this week!
Only 10 more weeks to go (hopefully)! Maybe 9 if I’m lucky? :) Today I had a quick doctor’s appointment – my blood pressure, weight, and Baby C’s heartbeat are all good. The bump is measuring at 31 weeks but the doctor said that’s still on target and fine. He also is pretty sure that baby is in the right position with his head down, so I’m praying he stays that way from here on out! I think he’s already running out of room in there based on some of the crazy kicks I’ve received in the past week. I go back in 2 weeks for another check-up.
Last night we went to the hospital for the breastfeeding class as part of the childbirth education package I signed up for. There were probably 15 other couples there. It was kind of funny because I felt like they were all so much older than us! I really think just us and maybe 2 other couples were in our 2o’s. Guess it’s true that more and more people are having babies later on in life. I know I’m a judger, but I was a little disappointed with some of the other outfits the moms-to-be were wearing. I guess my idea of comfy yet stylish is much different :) Anyways, the class was very informative and well worth going. It got preachy about not involving formula unless there’s a medical reason to, but the way she explained how breastfeeding should ideally work and some of the common myths about pain made sense. At the end we watched a video of some examples of mothers breastfeeding with the baby “bobbing” up and down on her chest until he/she found the nipple and latched on with practically no help. It proved how they have instincts and pretty much know what to do as soon as they arrive! Overall the class made me feel much more confident, so hopefully everything will go well.
And today my co-workers threw us a surprise baby shower! By “us”, I mean me and my other co-worker, who is due in late May. We both had NO idea it was coming, and it was such a sweet gesture. So much food and they gave us each a cute basket full of stuffed animals and books. Baby C has plenty now to start off his library, which I’m very happy about. I’ve always loved reading and plan on reading to him very early on. Afterwards, I was a little sad thinking about how I’ll be leaving in just a couple months. Last week I told my boss that I would be resigning officially on June 1st and would not be returning. It will be weird being at home instead of working full-time like I’m used to, but I know it’s the best decision for our family and we’re very lucky I can do this. It’s still bittersweet to leave everyone after 4 years, though.
30 Week Pic – love how my bump is kinda pointed and not totally round haha:
And what I wore to work – maternity tunic from Old Navy, maternity pants from Target:
I was looking at my pictures from San Diego yesterday and I can’t believe it’s already been 2 months since we were there. Need to finish these recaps :) Catch up with Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.
On Saturday of our vacation, we started off early to head up to the neighborhood of La Jolla, which was about a 20 minute drive from our hotel. I had read in one of the tourist attraction books in our hotel room that La Jolla is a must-see and to definitely wake up early to grab a parking spot to see the seals and sea lions on the nearby beaches. It’s a good thing we left when we did, since by the time we got there it was only 9AM, and there were very few spots left. La Jolla is gorgeous – huge cliffs overlooking the ocean, amazing views, cute little neighborhoods, very nice parks (people were even doing yoga outside), and it was so clean. Seriously, the sidewalks and parks are spotless.
We walked down to the famous “shared” beach where the seals hang out, also known as La Jolla Cove. You’re allowed to go right down to the beach to see them, but there is a yellow rope hung up suggesting where you should stop. It was so fun seeing them in their natural habitat – I could have spent all day there but I think we were only there for like a half hour.
After watching the seals take naps on the beach, we drove to the Birch Aquarium. Their exhibits showcase local animals you can find in the ocean around San Diego. Definitely no big creatures, but it was pretty neat to see how many different fishes and other marine life are living in the Pacific. Tickets were $14 a piece and I had a $4 off coupon, so it was worth it to spend a couple hours there. I can see how this would be a big hit with younger kids.
And the best part were the outside patios that let you see the amazing views of La Jolla Beach and the pier. By this point, it wasn’t so cloudy and it was starting to get warmer outside:
We did drive down to La Jolla Beach, but didn’t actually end up getting out of the car. It’s definitely a surfer’s spot, though – so many of them were there. We decided to drive back to the hotel to make some lunch and then in the afternoon we headed to Point Loma, another neighborhood that was only about 10 minutes away. Point Loma is the most southern part of San Diego. We went to the Cabrillo National Monument, which is part of a national park that also includes the Old Point Loma Lighthouse and a visitor’s center. There’s a ton of trails you can explore for hiking, but I was pretty tired by this point so we only checked out the lighthouse and the visitor’s center. It’s $5 per car to enter the park, which is well worth the price – I would say the best views of San Diego and Coronado can be found here.
After a full day of walking around, we went back to the hotel to hang out for awhile. We then decided to walk to a nearby Italian restaurant for dinner called Pomodoro, since it got really good reviews on Yelp. It was absolutely packed when we arrived, and when I asked if we could put our names on the list, the hostess was pretty rude and suggested we consider going next door to their sister restaurant, the Lighthouse Bar and Grill. She claimed the menu was practically the same and they had tons of open tables. I was REALLY in the mood for Italian and pretty skeptical about checking out the other place since I was a little put off after dealing with this girl, but we were starving by that point. We decided to see what the other restaurant had to offer. They sat us right away and the service was great, so it was a good move. We had amazing meatball skewers and very tasty pasta dishes – overall the experience was pretty good.
