Bumpers and Quilts and Pillows, oh my!

So, who knew there were so many potentially hazardous materials literally laying (lieing?) in wait to SUFFOCATE THE BABY!

Apparently, that adorable bumper is a just a vicious, breath-stealing monster in disguise. I don't know how much I buy into it all, but I guess better safe than sorry. The Patchwork Pooh set I was considering from Babies 'R Us is nearly $200, and that seems like an awful lot to spend on a crib sheet and dust ruffle, since we won't be using the bumper and quilt for more than decoration. I've found the set on ebay, so we may be going used - and I can always strip the bumper and use that fabric as a valance...

This, again apparently, is the 'safer, healthier' option for a bumper: http://www.breathablebaby.com/

It's available at BRU, too, so even though I don't think the crib will be nearly as cute, function over form may win out this time.

129 days to go.

So far, So good

Remember when you're a teenager, and 30 seemed so old? Well, even when I was turning 26, 30 still seemed impossibly old, and it felt nearly impossible that it was so quickly approaching. In fact, I spent a portion of my 26th birthday in tears - so upset that I was closer to 30 than 20, and why why why did I have to get old?

For my 30th, I skipped town. I've always been a 'let's celebrate' kind of person, but I didn't see any cause for celebration. At least I was married, and had an amazing husband who allowed my eccentricities and took me on a wine tour in Texas hill country for the weekend. It was wonderful, and will be a hard birthday to top. I didn't suddenly sprout crow's feet and liver spots (though I was awarded a stretch mark - even though I was LOSING weight - literally the week after I turned 30), and my joints didn't start creaking. All my friends in their 40s promised me my 30s would be great, even better than my 20s. Yeah, right.

Well, 2008 is wrapping up, and I'm officially 31. Reflecting on the past year. Wow. It's been pretty amazing. I'm coming in to my own at my job. My management values my contributions, and has awarded me handsomely, with a promotion, a raise, and a sizable spot bonus for my role in an enterprise project. I love my husband more every day, and we celebrated our one year anniversary on the Riveria Maya at a beautiful resort - a vacation we paid for upfront, something I never could have done in my 20s. And, despite my pessimism that it would take us months and months to get pregnant, we were blessed quickly, and now we're just slightly more than four months away from cause for another celebration.

I'll admit, my 20s were a lot of fun. I loved being able to get up and go practically where ever I wanted, whenever I wanted. But all those people that made those experiences so great - well, they're still around. We're still celebrating together, we're just celebrating new and different, and in my opinion, a lot more profound things. The question 'Where can I take my baby to nurse?' may replace 'Where can I put these jello shots?' occasionally, but I'm starting to accept that that's OK. And besides, how great is it (at least temporarily) not to have to suck my stomach in for pictures?! :)

Best. Ornament. EVAR.

Got these q's off Brandy's blog and figured I might as well play along...

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper. The kittens eat the tissue out of bagged gifts...

2. Real tree or Artificial? I much prefer real, but again, the cats rule our lives. It was a constant fight to keep Okie from drinking out of the stand when we had a real tree, and now we just have to yell at him for licking the artificial one. Seriously.

3. When do you put up the tree? Typically the week after Thanksgiving, but since it came so late this year, I actually had it up mid-November.

4. When do you take the tree down? Early January.

5. Do you like eggnog? Usually, yes - but right now, sounds really gross...

6. Favorite gift received as a child? Gosh... I dunno. Cabbage Patch Kids, maybe?

7. Hardest person to buy for? Garett's Dad. or maybe Garett himself.

8. Easiest person to buy for? Any of the nephews or niece.

9. Do you have a nativity scene? Yep - had the same one for longer than I can remember.

10. Mail or e-mail Christmas cards. Neither - never been in to it...

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Again, not real sure. I apparently have fuzzy memory of gifts received.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Love Actually. Soooooooo sweet!

13. When do you start shopping? First week of November.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Not that I can think of...

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Carmel crunchies, which actually contain no carmel, but are quite crunchy - cornflakes in some sort of butterscotch chip melted goodness. Dad makes them. :)

16 color lights on tree? I prefer white, but the pre-lit multi-color tree was cheaper, so we went with it. All white lights in the front yard, though.

17. Favorite Christmas song? Little Drummer Boy - LOVE Faith Hill's new a cappella version.

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Travel - got to see the fam! Though, one year, I swear, we're going to skip town and go see Rockefeller Plaza at Christmas.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? No way.

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? We have a star, but I do linke an angel...

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? The cold. Hate. it. But I do love snow, so I guess I'll deal.

23. Favorite ornament theme or color? Purple and silver. Go, Frogs!:)

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Turkey - basically a repeat of Thanksgiving.

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? Can I have my Christmas in May and wish for a healthy, happy baby?

Feeling Loved

31 years and 2 days old. It was a great weekend. We started Thanksgiving on Thursday with G's family and spent the afternoon at his Aunt's house. Friday we drove up to Stillwater and had Thanksgiving 2.0 with my family. Then, Saturday, Thanksgiving III at the Clausings. Even though the Pokes lost, we had a fantastic time.

I got lots of goodies for my b-day, including a really neat wine carrier, a cute purse, a recipe book, a restaurant gift card, my favorite perfume, and some baby things.

Garett is taking me to the Nutcracker at Bass Hall on Saturday, and also bought me a nightgown (yes, I'm apparently a 60 yr old in a 31 yr old body, but they're soooooooooo comfortable!) and surprised me on monday with flowers and a teddy bear. :)

We also went out to eat hibachi, and despite my steak aversion, the filet sounded so good, I decided to try a bit. Didn't work out so well... I couldn't swallow it and had to excuse myself from the table. So. Yeah. I guess that aversion is still going.

Other than that, not much baby to report. I think I felt it moving last night, but it may have just been wishful thinking. Next ultrasound is in two weeks. 156 days to go!

Big Week

It's Thanksgiving and my b-day week. Hooray! A little early b-day present, even though we really didn't look at it that way:

Isn't he a cutie?!?! His name is Charlie. The idea was to get a new friend for Okie to play with, but so far Okie isn't so interested in the playing, as much as the hissing and the avoiding. Oh, well - it took him a few days to get used to Sampson, too, so we're hopeful. We found out there is an FIV vaccine, so we were able to adopt Charlie even though he's FIV negative. But, a kitten has to be 9 weeks to get the shot, and Charlie is only about six. So, in the mean time, we're keeping them separated whenever we're not around to monitor...

My sleep is still really crummy. I took a nap yesterday, which turned out to be a mistake, b/c I couldn't sleep at all last night. Sigh. Last doc visit was uneventful - blood pressure was good, weight gain is on track, baby's heart beat was strong. Next visit is the big sono where they look at all the anatomy. Still holding out for the gender surprise at birth, so that visit will likely be fairly uneventful as well - but, new sono pics!! :)

164 days to go.

Yay! Christmas!!

It was a very nice weekend. Mom and Dad came down to visit and we went and saw Ice! at the Gaylord Texan and then had dinner at Old Hickory Steakhouse. Ice was really neat - I've been wanting to go the last couple of years, so I'm glad we got to go see it. Dinner for me was just OK, but I think fancy dinners are kind of loss on me right now... I would like to go back after having the baby, when I can enjoy everything on the menu.

Mom and Dad went to Baby's R Us with me yesterday. It was pretty overwhelming just to walk in there, knowing I'd be shopping for myself and Baby T soon. I wasn't there to purchase, though, just to look around and try to find a nursery look I could live with. I found this Patchwork Pooh design and think we're going to go with it. We can paint the walls green to match, and I think that will look really nice.

We decorated for Christmas today - a little earlier than we normally would, but with Thanksgiving coming so late, I didn't want to wait until the weekend after, and I was afraid if we waited until next weekend, it just wouldn't get done. We bought new ornaments for the tree, since what we've used for the last couple of years were the ones I made myself when I was using a TCU theme. It's really pretty, and I'm really pleased with the way it turned out. Now, just to finish Christmas shopping and wrapping the presents... Really ready for that second tri burst of energy! (At least I have been able to stay up past nine lately...)

Next doc visit is on Monday. No sonogram this time, so it should be pretty non-eventful. 172 days to go!

13 hours of (nearly) uninterrupted sleep

I'm sooooo happy to report my ability to sleep in hasn't completely disappeared. My sleep pattern during the first tri mainly consisted of laying down at 9 p.m., uneasy sleep, broken up by a couple of bathroom breaks, never really getting fully into deep sleep. Last night, though, I laid down around 11 p.m., tried to read for a few minutes and couldn't keep my eyes open, and was out in a blink. Woke up once in the middle of the night, then not again until 9 a.m. Hooray! Even better, I was able to fall back asleep and didn't get up 'til noon. Bliss!

Of course, it may be because all we have to do today is clean and run errands, and we're just avoiding it... Catching up on the Colbert Report right now, then taking the boat to get winterized at West Lake Marine, then over to The Dump to check on a new mattress, at some point running through the bank, and ending with a trip to the grocery store.

Hmmm... maybe the cleaning will have to wait until tomorrow. Can't procrastinate more than that, though, because we're getting the carpets cleaned on Wednesday. (Long overdue) Now that we've decided to stay in this house for a while, we really need to put some work in to keep it up...

Back to Reality

Vegas was a blast. It completely wore me out, but was so much fun. My only regret was not putting more money down on the Frogs to cover the spread - it was only 14.5, no way they wouldn't have topped that. My $20 bet paid though, so yay!

We stayed at the Monte Carlo, which was pretty nice. I also stopped in at New York, New York, Caesar's Palace, the Bellagio, MGM Grand, Paris, the Tropicana, the Wynn, the Luxor and the Venetian. My favorite venue was the Bellagio, and my favorite part of the trip (besides the game, of course) was the fountains at the Bellagio. We also went down to Freemont Street on Sunday night, but I was pretty exhausted by that point so didn't enjoy it too much. The casinos down there are a lot smokier, too, which I wasn't keen on.

We ate at Olive's for lunch on Sunday and it was just perfect. We got to see the fountains timed to Celine Dion, the National Anthem, and my favorite, Time to Say Goodbye. We also had a couple of good dinners - Sensi at the Bellagio and Il Fornaio at New York, New York.

I wish I'd been in shape to go to the clubs, but the late night just wasn't happening for me this trip. Vicki and I decided we should go back every two years for the Frogs came, and said that next time I wouldn't be pregnant, then joked that, yeah, probably I would be. I don't know, though... that's pretty quick! Gotta get through this one first before I can wrap my head around that...

A couple weeks 'til my next doc. appt. I did find out today on my EOB that sonograms are billed as x-rays, which are 0% no deductible on my insurance plan, so that's awesome. I was worried we were going to hit my HCA max before the end of the year, but it looks like we might just squeak by. We're going to do the HCA again next year, but we're putting considerably more back on our flexible spending account. Inpatient surgery is 10% after the deductible, so I'm pretty sure we'll be owing a good deal of moolah for the delivery.

183 days to go!

Three Days from Vegas

We leave for Vegas Thursday after work and I cannot wait. My excitement, however, is somewhat tempered by my current condition, even though I know we'll still have a blast. My hormones did have a little surge last night...

We took a quick trip over to Fort Worth - Shannon had picked up a t-shirt for me at the TCU bookstore on Saturday, but it was too small, so we ran over there to exchange it for something else I could wear at this weekend's game. I also wanted to pick up a Horned Frog onesie to go with the OSU one I bought in Stillwater, but $20 was a little steep. It's really cute, though - 'Thank Goodness for Little Frogs'. Christmas is coming... :)

Anyway, on the way back, G and I were talking about the plan of attack for Vegas. He mentioned that he thought the first thing he'd probably want to do when we get there on Thursday is hit Fremont. Well, we don't get in until 9 p.m. Vegas time, which is 11 p.m. our time. I have a feeling I'll be pretty much done the second we hit the hotel. I absolutely don't want to keep him from going and doing, but it bums me out that I won't be physically able to participate in all the fun. Queue tears. He promised even if they do Fremont that night, he'll take me back on another night so I can experience it (hah!) also.

Overall, I know it's going to be a great time, but I'm also looking forward to going back sometime after the baby's born to get the full Vegas experience. In the meantime, Go Frogs! Beat the Rebels!

191 days to go. Second trimester officially begins tomorrow. Woo hoo!!

Shout out to my hubby

Also just have to give a big virtual hug to G for his help this last week. I've been a big slug around the house and he did the grocery shopping all by himself (surprising me with baby goldfish crackers and snickers minis) and unloaded the dishwasher unprompted last night. *kiss* thanks, babe!

Rough Start, but Looking Up

My new bedtime this week has been 9 p.m., but I'm still waking up every four hours to use the bathroom, so even with going to bed at 9, I'm still exhausted every morning. I had the hardest time getting up today. I knew I didn't have any meetings, so I just reset the alarm and laid there for another half hour. I never got back to sleep, but just being able to stay in bed that much longer helped a little. I woke up pretty congested, and after I got up was coughing so hard I triggered by gag reflex... I wasn't able to eat much last night, though, so all I chucked up was phlegm and bile. (sorry, probably tmi) Anyway, I ended up only about 45 mins late to work, and my boss is really understanding, so at least I've got that going for me. And, it's Friday. Hooray! Here's keeping my fingers crossed that I'll get that mythical 'energy surge' in the second trimester...

195 days to go.

It's a Baby!

Yep, it's a baby! The sonogram yesterday confirmed at least that much... 12 weeks down, 198 days to go (assuming an accurate due date of May 7, 2009). They also did the Nuchal Translucency screening, which helps determine the likelihood of the baby having Down's Syndrome. They couldn't give a yay or nay - the measurements are sent off and run through a formula, combined with my personal info and blood work, to determine a percentage chance. The tech said it looked pretty good, though, b/c the baby had a nasal bone, and apparently down's babies don't.




G and I have decided (well, maybe I decided and G agreed not to disagree) that we don't want to find out the gender. There are so few true surprises in life, I think it's much more exciting to wait and find out when the baby is born. Hence, the Baby T(BA).

Still struggling a little bit with the nauseau and the fatigue, but I'm hoping that in the next couple of weeks that will ease up as I move into the second trimester. *fingers crossed*