My Perfect Baby Shower

My baby shower was last month and it was perfect!  My sister, Heather, volunteered to host the shower for me.  Heather was a good sport, I called and texted her every other day about the shower, making sure all the planning was going smoothly.  I set up Tuesday evening meetings with her over the phone since she lives in Boulder, CO to discuss where things were at each week.  I'm just a very particular person and a major control freak :)

I had some very specific requests/’rules’ about this shower.  For one, no games.  I just felt too old for shower games, I felt like games might give folks free reign to touch my belly so I know if I said no games, I could most likely avoid this.  We kept it open-house style and Heather did do baby wish cards and parent advice cards while I was opening gifts so that was fun to have those to read later from each guest.  Second rule was no animals themes.  I did not want to see any plates that had smiling teddy bears with pacifiers in their mouths. So kept it to pink polka dots/solid pink decorations.  I wanted to keep things classy looking, not childish.  Third rule but more so a request was I wanted a ‘baby-sized’ brunch buffet, so all mini foods, such as mini muffins, mini cinnamon rolls, mini parfaits, etc.  The food at a party is a big deal to me, it can either make a party a hit or a miss. 

      

The morning of, I went and got my hair and makeup done which was really nice to have a little pampering before the shower.  Plus help calm the anxiety I was having of 25 people coming thru my house that morning on top of my controlling tendencies to make sure everything was to perfection. 

Overall, it really was a perfect shower, Baby Hyde was showered with awesome gifts and with lots of love, the weather cooperated, everything turned out beautifully, my sister did an AMAZING job making sure my vision was accomplished and I can’t wait to return the favor to her someday!  I only had one person touch my belly during the shower so I consider that a success.  Here are some pics that Jackee (www.jackeeausterman.com) took for us: 

Baby Sized Brunch with pink polka dots

Mini Cupcakes

Mimosas and Non-Alcohol Pregatinis for the pregnant peeps!

My sister and hostess Heather and I (notice how I made sure our outfits complimented each other for pics)

Daddy-to-be!

The baby sized brunch buffet: mini banana muffins, mini cupcakes, mini cinnamon rolls, crockpot egg sausage casserole, mini parfaits, mimosa bar, coffee, tea and juice 

Enjoying time with my guests

Centerpieces: baby books, fresh flowers and pics of when Aaron and I were babies, with polka dot table runners (we used wrapping paper for table runners, genius, thanks Pinterest!)

Can't you tell the guests loved the open house style concept so much more than games?! 

'Ready To Pop' favors, popcorn in pink polka dot bags

My shower invitations, gray with pink and white flowers

Silly friends

Guests enjoying the social hour (well actually the social 45 minutes, I had a time lined schedule for the party)

Aaron was such a cute little boy! 

Time to transition to gift opening, behind me on the gift table were white wooden letter that spelled BABY, cute!

Behind on the TV we had a slideshow of my weekly pics running during the party 

So much fun!  It was PERFECT!  THANKS HEATHER!!!

Pregnancy Journal: Week 35 & 36

Week 35:

SO I went a whopping 4 weeks of not gaining a pound but yet my tummy was growing on target and then BAM! Gained 3 lbs in one week.  I’m not getting bent out of shape over it, I probably would be if I had gained over the last few weeks but I hadn’t so I’m telling myself this is a ‘free pass’.  Now if I gain 3 lbs next week… well… then I might be singing a different tune. 

Birth plan is done and printed.  OB said everything I have listed looks good and is within reason.  I’m leaving it up to Aaron if he wants to cut the cord or not, I’m really not an overly sentimental person so told him if he wants to that’s cool but he doesn’t have to.  He just has a very strict rule of no petting my head during labor.  Have you ever seen those labor videos where the guy is petting the woman’s head while in labor?  That really drives me nuts to even watch on tv.  NO petting my hair, bad enough my hair probably won’t look great but then to have it mashed to my forehead by extreme husband petting would drive me to probably slap him.  He gets it, we’ve had that talk.

Week 36:

Over the weekend, I felt a shift in how the baby was lying.  I feel her dropping.  At my 36 week appointment that was confirmed, she is head down and sitting low.  But my doctor said that doesn’t necessarily mean I will go into labor early.  My instincts are telling me I may go a tid bit early though.  Speaking of appointment…this is going to be a TMI but I find it important to educate those first-timers out there as this would have been nice to know going into it.  So I had read beforehand on Baby Center that at some point soon, I could be getting Group B Strep Testing.  As I read the description of this testing I started to panic, it consists of a swab of both the vagina and the rectum.  The second part of that freaked me out.  I was hoping my doctor’s office would not be that thorough but sure enough, I walk into my week 36 appointment and I found out they were thorough.  It wasn’t terrible but not pleasant and would have been nice to know a little more beforehand that this would be taking place.  So FYI first timers out there, chances are pretty high you will get this test too so be prepared.  It goes quick, it’s not that bad but I just didn’t get enough advance notice to mentally prepare for such.  

With the baby dropped and sitting lower, I now consider myself feeling ‘miserably-great’.  Walking hurts, sleeping hurts, sitting isn’t too bad but overall I’m just either in a slight pain or uncomfortable.  But doing great because all signs show baby is healthy and right on track, so miserable is bearable and I’d rather be the miserable one, not the baby.  So if you ask… I’m miserably-great because well that’s the truth! 

Justin Timberlake - Baby's First Concert

A few weeks ago I was listening to the radio and heard that Justin Timberlake was on tour and would be in the near vicinity in just a few short weeks.  My heart rate went up dramatically.  JT!!?!!!! AAHH!!!  I immediately called Aaron and in my excitement I said we have to go!  I got home and looked into tickets and my heart sank… $800 for JT tickets?!?!  NO WAY JOSE.   And get this, that was the price for the worst seats, way up high.  The tickets were sold out so the prices were marked-up resells.  But I’m someone who is pretty driven that if I really want something… I’ll be darned if I don’t find a way to get it.  And I’m not saying that to come off sounding ‘spoiled,’ I mean it in terms of I’ll find a way to work my magic and get a deal, I’m willing to invest the time!  

Literally not even a week away from the concert I’m checking back online again… with zero hopes of getting tickets and all of a sudden I perk up, what’s this?!?!  Tickets within Aaron and my discussed price limit in the lower level?!  Looks like great seats… heart beat increases.  Tickets bought!  Baby does a flip inside.  Whoohoo!  JT here we come!

It was an AMAZING concert!  So many favorites… but my 2 personal favorite songs were “Drink You Away” and “Mirrors”.  The stage actually lifted off the ground and floated to the back half of the arena where we got an up and close of JT for probably a good 30 minutes.  Let’s face it, JT is this era’s Michael Jackson. No doubt about that, even the media throws that comparison around. To see JT in concert is a HUGE deal! 

The only thing though… is half way thru the concert, I started to think, what if I’m hurting the baby inside of me by this loud music?  It was pretty loud.  At that point I was trying to enjoy the concert but was a worrying mom about if I could be hurting my baby’s ear drums.  So I Googled it on my phone and the consensus is that as long as I wasn’t right next to a speaker (which I wasn’t) and it was only for a few hours, it shouldn’t be harmful.   The possibility still didn’t rest easy with me though.  And it was something I completely didn’t consider until we were in the midst of the concert.  So would I recommend attending a concert at 8 months pregnant?  NO.  Not even for JT.   Would I recommend the JT concert in general, absolutely!! Worth every over-priced dollar.  I keep hinting to Aaron I want to go again maybe later this year while his tour is still on.  Of course we are making no definite plans until Baby Hyde arrives and we see how that goes. 

Other concerts on our 2014 bucket list… Garth Brooks and One Republic.  Garth hasn’t announced his tour dates yet.  One Republic, we have a few possibilities that are near us and they are touring with The Script so that makes that concert even more appealing to us.  Toby Mac is in the middle of his tour but nowhere that’s near us, darn.   Here are some pics from the JT concert.  

Pregnancy Journal: 33 - 34 Weeks

All the ‘big’ items are done, we are ready for Baby Hyde.  Well not really… I have a substantial list of small items that I would like to have done before her arrival so if she could just stay put for a bit longer, that would be nice. 

We are lining up our plan for when she will arrive.  Aaron is going to casually work from home that first week out of the hospital as I try to manage taking care of the baby mostly myself during the day and adjusting to the new routine.  Limiting all guest that first week home as it will be overwhelming enough.  The second week, my mom is coming to help out.  And from there we have some additional visitors/help sporadically.  I’m expecting the worse… lack of sleep, no showers, quick runs to the grocery store, frozen not fresh meals (or take-out), irritated/frustrations that come with learning how to be a mom.  But hoping for the best too as I’m not sitting back leisurely waiting for disaster to strike, I’m learning as much as I can now from all sources and preparing to the best of my ability.  But I am fully confident that I can do this!  There will be bumps in the road, maybe a few calls to Aaron freaking out during the day but I'm going to try to be as tough of a cookie as I can and figure things out on my own.  I'm going to be tired.  I'm going to be cranky.  I might smell.  I might not have a clean house and yes that is going to drive me nuts.  But one thing I don't want to loose sight of is being grateful for our blessing, no matter how hard it may get. 

Prepping for Charley too.  Even have some special Charley toys tucked away for when baby comes to make her feel special.  I’m not too worried about Charley, she’s pretty adaptable and I think she will handle it well.  But she sure does LOVE getting her own attention and it will be important to not neglect her so she doesn’t become jealous.  She especially gets wound up when visitors are over so that might be a little bit of a tough balance when visitors are there to see the baby, not Charley.  I'm not sure how I will handle that yet, I don't think trapping her in the spare room or outside is going to make things better.  Maybe that is when I bust out a treat a few minutes into the visit to distract her. I have one friend who offered to take her to the dog park for me.  If anyone else out there wants to come walk Charley, I'd be more than happy to let you this Spring!  Just know that she isn't an easy walker and is strong.  In addition we have some trustworthy local friends who have offered to babysit (the baby not Charley) when needed.  So I'm starting to feel some support outlets starting to pour in, which is nice to know that we have that option if needed.  Aaron and I feel it's very important that we still get a date night out once a month, even if it's just a few hours as we both want to be cognizant in protecting our marriage during this transition.  

I’m still finalizing my details for my maternity leave, it’s looking like it will be 8 to 10 weeks.  Which I’m hoping is enough.  My boss has been so awesome, he is pretty much letting me have whatever time I need and has even told me that if I need to ease back into things, I can.  So I feel a sense of relief/no pressure from work and the support from my boss has been wonderful but I also want to be mindful and not take too much time, especially since I’ve only been at my new job for 6ish months. 

As I get bigger and more uncomfortable I think I tell Aaron this every single day… when this baby comes out, I’m going to strap her to the front of you and you are to wear her all day long so you know how I feel right now.  But that will just be 6-8 lbs, we need to add some water bags and tape them to the front of him to add an additional 20 lbs.  And then once he gets all that on, I’m just going to jab him in the side every now and then to give him the feeling of what it feels like to have a kung-fu fight occurring inside of you.  Of course I won’t really do this but I’d sure love for him to carry this baby for just ONE day to see what it feels like.  Kid you not, I bet I tell him of this every single day. 

I don’t know if I just have a more active baby than others or what but I’m not kidding, I feel like I’m in a kung-fu fight, my sides get sore from her kicking the crap out of me.  Some days I feel like I’m black and blue inside.  I have some intense strong movements going on in there.  Which they say are all signs of a healthy baby but wowzas is she STRONG and ACTIVE!

33 Weeks!

34 Weeks - Pretty sure I grew quite a bit this week!