33 weeks

And post # 100 for Domestic Diva!!!

I've been getting the feeling that lately our weekly pregnancy updates have become a little redundant as we get further and further along. So I've decided to switch things up a little bit this week - we've removed some of the questions that don't really apply anymore, and added some that I think will spice things up a little bit ;o)

This weeks' weight gain/loss: 0lbs

Total weight gain/loss: +1lbs

Size of Baby: Honeydew!!! Only one more fruit left to go!

Biggest challenges: Bending over lol shaving in the shower has become quite the chore, but I absolutely refuse to give that up - I still have to feel like a woman somehow! But putting on shoes, tending to the animals, picking things up off the floor etc. have become quite difficult. When something falls on the floor, I sit there and think to myself first "do I really need this right now, or can it wait until Bryan can get it?" lol

Cravings: My nausea has actually resurfaced a little :o( Not nearly as bad as it was back in the beginning, but I do find myself gagging here and there. I'm also really thirsty lately - so I guess water is my current craving.

Gender: it's a BOY!!! Owen Richard W*****

Movement: He's actually been super active lately - kept me up most of last night. Lots of rolling and turning, but still some really strong kicks here and there. Hiccups are becoming much more noticeable lately and it makes me giggle when I feel them :o) Poor little guy.

Sleep: Oy, where to begin?! Because of Bryan's work schedule (he works nights), I've been going to bed with him fairly early these days. I try my best to stay awake and get things done while I'm laying there, instead of falling asleep so early, but that doesn't always work. So then I'm wide awake when he leaves for work around midnight and usually can't fall back to sleep again until the wee hours of the morning.

What I Miss: Being able to breathe lol I constantly feel like I am out of breath and therefore severely out of shape. I can't wait to not be winded just from the simple act of walking around.

Emotions: I have been very sentimental and anxious this week. Thinking about finally getting to meet Owen and officially start our new little family gets me all choked up :o) But I am also feeling the pressures of nesting and that's really making me antsy. Knowing that our remodel isn't finished yet and therefore we can't officially finish his nursery, just makes me want to rip my hair out! I want it to be done already!!! I am in hardcore nesting mode and there's so much standing in my way *sigh*

Best moment this week: We had our first shower this past weekend (see post below) - it was absolutely wonderful! So many family and friends came out to welcome Owen, the love and support was overwhelming!

Any baby related purchases: TONS due to our shower, but we were also able to return some duplicates and purchase his car seat!!! I cannot believe that there is an infant car seat in my house!

Milestones: Definitely our shower - I still cannot believe how much baby stuff is in our house - and being in the last week of July... in a few more days we'll be able to say that he could be here this month or shortly into the next!!!

Shower #1

We had our first shower this weekend!!!

It was absolutely wonderful! Approximately 30 of our family and friends came out to welcome Owen - the love and support was overwhelming. We are so lucky and blessed, I can't wait for Owen to meet all of these amazing people!

The shower was hosted by my awesome mom and held at a local restaurant on the lake. My BFF handmade the invitations, organized a few games, baked cookie favors for each guest, and worked her butt off all day long lol she's the best! I will never be able to thank them enough for throwing us such an beautiful shower!

The theme was rubber duckies and they went alllllllllllllll out with it:

The place settings

The table scape - rubber duckies galore!

 The adorable centerpieces

 Custom ducky banner that says "Welcome Baby Owen"

The delicious cake that my mom picked out herself

Owen and I with the cake

Shower guests, enjoying the party

The overflowing gift table

The aftermath - it looked like Babies R Us threw up all over our living room lol

Everything was so great - the decor, the food, the company.... it was just an absolutely perfect day! We could not have asked for anything more and we are so so so grateful! I actually started crying once we were done opening everything and I was thanking everyone for coming - I just couldn't believe how loved he is already.

We are so lucky that we actually got most of our "big ticket" items and we had a few duplicates to return, which worked out great because we had just enough in store credit from them to buy his car seat! AND we still have another shower to go! I have no idea where we're going to put all of this stuff lol but it's very exciting :o)

32 weeks

How far along: 32w1d

This weeks' weight gain/loss: +3lbs

Total weight gain/loss: +4lbs

Symptoms: Aside from the swelling, sleeping has been awful - all I do is toss and turn all night long :o( It's hard to roll the belly over every few minutes and I hate when my limbs fall asleep.

Maternity clothes: All maternity at this point.

Stretch marks: Some around my pelvic area and thighs, but none on my tummy :o)

Best moment this week: This has been a rough week to say the least, but I am looking forward to our shower this weekend. Hoping that brightens a rather gloomy week... hoping.

Movement: I'm starting to recognize his routine(s) - he's definitely most active in the evening, once I get home from work and of course after dinner. We're starting to be able to make out specific limbs as they go by lol

Food cravings: I ate way too much junk food this week :o( Potato chips, cookies, candy, etc. And felt like absolute grabage every.single.time *sigh* I was definitely stress eating (work this week has been awful and we're having a massive heatwave right now) but that's no excuse. Gotta get back on the bandwagon!

Gender: it's a BOY!!! Owen Richard W*****

Any baby related purchases: Found a couple super cute outfits at Target this past weekend, that I simply couldn't resist. One is a brown onsie that says 'snuggle bear' with two bears hugging, pants and a hoodie with little brown bears all over it - but the best is the bear ears on the hood :o) The other is a onsie that says 'I Love My Dad'.

Milestones: Our first shower is on Saturday!!!

31 weeks

How far along: 31w0d

This weeks' weight gain/loss: 0lbs

Total weight gain/loss: +1lbs

Symptoms: Still have swelling in my hands and feet on those hott, humid days. My back and belly hurt when I stand for too long. Sleeping is getting increasingly difficult. My lung and stomach capacity is decreasing by the day. And now I can definitely feel him moving on my bladder, because all of the sudden I will get that 'gotta pee' feeling lol

Maternity clothes: All maternity at this point.

Stretch marks: Some around my pelvic area and thighs, but none on my tummy :o)

Best moment this week: Taking our own maternity pictures, this past weekend, was a lot of fun and we're really happy with how they turned out. I am so happy to have them as a nice memento of my time with Owen and I hope that he can appreciate them one day too.

Movement: Lots of rolling now that he's getting bigger and running low on space. I do still feel kicks here and there, but definitely more rolls than anything else these days.

Food cravings: I'm officially back to craving sweets, mostly chocolate. I am loving the peanut butter m&m's right now - yummmmmmmmmm! That's considered protein and dairy, right?!

Gender: it's a BOY!!! Owen Richard W*****

Any baby related purchases: My aunt (from out of town) was the one who purchased our highchair and she had it sent to our house last week, so we officially have a highchair in our house!

Milestones: 6 more weeks until we're full-term, next month! Whoa!

DIY Maternity Pictures

I can honestly and truthfully say that I am not completely comfortable in my pregnancy skin, not that I was ever completely comfortable in my regular skin either. But especially as we get down to the wire here, I'm feeling huge and that's definitely not helping with the comfort level.

Because of this, I'm not usually and am not really now, particularly fond of having my picture taken.

BUT I did want at least a few pictures to commemorate this experience - my time with Owen. HOWEVER I was not willing to spend a large sum of money, for pictures that I would inevitably not like. AND I can't imagine doing maternity pictures with the first child and not the [potential] others, so dropping that kind of cash for every.single.pregnancy is also just not an option.

So what's a girl to do?

Well this girl just happens to have a pretty decent DSLR camera and a husband with a little bit of skill when it comes to photography, which he continues to improve [by leaps and bounds] daily. And so came about the inspiration for DIY maternity photos! Free of cost to us and totally up to my discretion :o)

This past weekend we went out to a local park and snapped some pictures...

I don't usually like to "toot my own horn" lol but not too shabby for a couple of amateurs.

I still have to play around with the editing a little more - my photoshop skills are also improving by the day, at least I like to think and hope that they are - but these are a few of my "faves" (or at least the ones I was comfortable enough with to share) with some basic and quick edits.

I can honestly say, that I am glad to have them - they will be a nice memento for Owen's scrapbook and something for us to admire together in the future. I also look forward to sharing them at my upcoming showers.

Cherish

As mentioned in my last weekly update - I still cannot believe we're at 30 weeks already!

At first it felt like time was going by so slowly... felt like I waited forever for my bump lol

But now, now it feels like time is just flying by and I find myself conflicted.

I want so badly to finally meet Owen - to hold him, hug him, kiss him and love him! I cannot wait until he is finally here and we get to actually see the little person that he has become. I can't wait for that day!

But I also don't want to wish away this pregnancy. I've dreamed of being pregnant for such a long time (and we've been through so much to get here) and now that I finally am I don't want it to end! I love feeling him move around in there and kick me, I love our little moments together - it's like a secret that just the two of us share. I love knowing that no matter where I go, I am never alone and we're always together.

So during these last 10 or so weeks, I am reminding myself that (1) I simply cannot wait to meet my son, but (2) to cherish every.single.moment that I have with him like this.

30 weeks

How far along: 30w0d

This weeks' weight gain/loss: +1lbs

Total weight gain/loss: +1lbs

Symptoms: My feet are still swelling a little, we have good days and bad - nothing that's preventing me from living my life normally thank goodness. We did get the results back on our 24hr urine collection and bloodwork, which all came back great! The nurse said that she's never seen such a great urine collection lol my protein measurement was 90mg and they like to see anything less than 150mg for the day, and my platelets were good :o) Combined with a clear ultrasound of my right leg, it looks like my swelling is just normal!

Maternity clothes: All maternity at this point.

Stretch marks: Some around my pelvic area and thighs, but none on my tummy :o)

Best moment this week: We finished painting the nursery!!! It was a very productive long weekend for us. The room looks soooooooo good, we absolutely love it and are so happy with how it turned out! We're still sleeping in there until our master bedroom remodel is complete, so I get to stare at it in awe every night :o) The only thing missing is his crib, which we'll put in once our bed is moved out.

Movement: Oh my goodness, he was movin up a storm last night! I saw limbs and a head go by (it's funny to be able to identify body parts haha), he was bouncin and rollin around like he was gonna bust the heck outta there lol

Food cravings: No real cravings right now. I'm trying to stay away from the sweets and ice cream, which is difficult because not only do I really enjoy them but the warm weather is making me want them even more.

Gender: it's a BOY!!! Owen Richard W*****

Any baby related purchases: Someone purchased our highchair off of our registry this weekend (yay), which I was actually really surprised by - the one that I wanted was last year's pattern and so it had since been discontinued and put on clearance, it wasn't available in store and could only be purchased online. I honestly didn't think anyone would get it for us, but someone did!

Milestones: We're officially in the 30's weeks!!! Whoa!!! 7 more weeks - less than 2 months - and he will be considered full term!!! I cannot believe how quickly time is moving now!

Happy Holiday Weekend!

The Independence holiday weekend is upon us folks! And since this weekend promises to be a busy one for us as usual, I wanted to get my holiday greetings out there early so that I don't forget come Monday :o)

So everyone please have a safe and happy holiday weekend!

On our agenda this weekend...

Friday - Dinner with friends at a local diner (amazing food!).

Saturday - Farmers market [bright and early] to stock up on fresh veggies and fruit! Then my BFF is coming over to help finish the paint job in the nursery!!! Hopefully tomorrow evening it will be all nice and finished!

Sunday - More nursery prep! Hopefully getting some decor put up and furniture put together.

Monday - The in-laws are coming over for a BBQ!

Tuesday - I took an extra day off from work because... well, because I wanted to lol but also because it's our anniversary! We will be married for 3 years on the 5th! We have a "tradition" of going to this little natural eatery on the canal for our anniversary meal, so I took the day off in order to allow for us to continue with that tradition. So we'll have lunch outside by the water, grab some ice cream, and take a nice walk along the canal :o)