Baby Shower Numero Uno

My lovely sister and aunt hosted my West Virginia baby shower last weekend.

It was fantastic! The best part is that we weren't forced to smell fake poopy diapers...or chug from baby bottles. Most importantly, I wasn't humiliated by everyone using a string, steamer, toilet paper to guess my girth. Do people really think that's an appropriate thing to do to a pregnant woman?!

Annie and Karen made some delicious treats that everyone loved.

Yummy punch with floating duckies!

Mint chocolate cupcakes... *drool*

I had a great time seeing a couple old friends and family members that I typically only get to see at the holidays. They totally spoiled me, David and Baby Whatshisname. I can't even believe their generosity. I hope they all know how much I appreciate it. I also really appreciate my mom, sister and mother-in-law sending their gifts to my house because there's no way I could've fit everything in my car if they hadn't!!

We're about this close to having everything we need for the baby's arrival. Of course, I'm certain we really have no idea what we really need.

A few more pictures from the day...

Surrounded by all my goodies

 

Me and the grandmas



Cinnamon roll favors homemade by the baby daddy

And a special thanks goes out to Kelly. When I gave her my camera and told her to go for it, she went for it and captured my special day so well. 

I'm sorry, Annie, I have to include this one. Your eyes look a little crazy! Stressful day? Love you, sis!

Hawaii, Baby!

Dear Baby Boy,

I hope you like that name-- Baby Boy Schwartz-- because if your father and I don't make a decision, that's what's going to be on your birth certificate. Sorry.

I want to dedicate this song about you-- the Israel Kamakawiwoʻole version. I adore it. It brings a tear to my eye every time I hear it. I cannot listen to this song without memories of your dad's and my favorite place on this planet-- a place that we'll share with you one day. Hawaii.

The last time we were there was May 2010 for my 30th birthday. We had just begun trying to get pregnant. We were wasting one afternoon on Maui at the Alii Kula Lavender Gardens, smelling and taking pictures of the wonderful views.

We ran into a guy who was selling his paintings. Normally, I'd avoid this type of person but his paintings were really pretty so I was browsing. We started chatting and he told us about how he moved to Hawaii from the mainland to paint. He had an old Hawaiian guy with him who was his mentor. We talked with them for what seemed like forever. The old Hawaiian asked if we had any kids and we told him no. He asked, "Not yet?" As in, you want them but you don't have any yet?

We agreed. "Not yet." He asked to give us a Hawaiian blessing for childbearing. He claimed a pretty high success rate, which I thought was a little funny. He told us about what he would be saying, mentioning the Hawaiian words for things like wind (makani) and flowers (pua) so we could listen for them.

Then, he made us stand close and look out over the island (see photo above.) The wind blew and he chanted his Hawaiian blessing. Normally, I wouldn't want anything to do with this mumbo jumbo, but this moment... This moment was amazing. This moment was Hawaii. It was everything I love about Hawaii. Whether it had any effect on childbearing is irrelevant. It had an effect on my heart and will always be one of my fondest memories of Hawaii.

Baby, I can't wait to share Hawaii with you. We'll teach you about volcanoes and astronomy. We'll try weird fruit that we pick from a tree ourselves (only what we know is edible though, Baby) and eat loco mocos at Ken's Pancake House.

We'll snorkel for hours and I'll try not to freak out about my kid floating face down in the ocean. I also try not to freak out about myself floating face down in the ocean. We'll chill on the beach, build sandcastles and play in the surf. I hope you'll love Hawaii like we do.

Until then, here's the song:

Love,
Mom

My Zeroth Mother's Day

For reasons that I will not discuss-- because then everyone would know how truly nerdy I am-- computer programmers start counting at zero. So, it was very easy to accept that this was my zeroth Mother's Day. I wasn't, however, sure if it counted to anyone else because most people don't count from zero.

I woke up on Sunday with Laika crying in my face as usual. After I fed her, I climbed back into bed because the house was freezing but I also neglected to switch the heat back on. So when David got up, I asked him to turn it on and planned on hanging in bed until the house warmed up some.

But when I got out of bed an hour later, the house was still freezing. When I walked into the living room and confirmed that the thermostat hadn't changed, I said to David, "Dude, are you trying to kill me and your baby with hypothermia? You're such a terrible husband!" (It was really only 67 so clearly I was being a complete smartass and was just giving him crap.)

It was at exactly that moment that I noticed the flowers on the entertainment system. Hahaha! It's a good thing he loves me and understands my overly dramatic sense of humor. Otherwise, I would've felt like a total jerk.

He's a wonderful man who knows exactly what I like. I got lilies and a really good quality photo album that we decided would be for all of our family photos that I don't scrapbook.

I chose to spend my day cleaning and nesting but it was still a wonderful day. David also took care of some of my nesting tasks and made me a delicious dinner. I could not have chosen a better guy to be my Baby Daddy.

Nursery!

I'm not trying to raise anyone's expectations about post frequency or anything, but I couldn't wait to post these! It took me all day Sunday and two entire evenings after work, but I got it finished.

Before-- gray. And this is a terrible "before" picture because the real before picture includes the room being stuffed full of junk. This was our holding area for things that need to be moved to storage.

After. The lighting isn't so great, but that's a light grayish blue with white, navy and lime green stripes.

David left me alone a few Sundays ago with HGTV and I decided that we can build a bench seat/toy box for under the window. So that will be the last furniture-type item to go into the room. We also need to get the baseboards back on. One day I'll post a real final nursery picture but I couldn't wait to show off the new paint job!

27 Weeks

Ok. I'm officially huge. And I still have three more months.

And compare that to this one, which was one of the very first ones we took. I was leaning waaaaay back to demonstrate to David just how big I was going to get. I had no idea...

I had a doctor appointment today. Nothing exciting. I officially have to go every two weeks now-- that whole third trimester peskiness. She said I should be drinking ONE GALLON of water per day to keep the swelling down. Yikes! She also suggested 30 minutes of laying on my side directly after work every day. Not a problem. I think I'll be an overachiever and make it an hour.