Pregnancy thoughts

Can you believe I only have 23 more days? I can't! Now everything seems to be going so fast. My whole pregnancy I have been feeling like it's taking forever and wanting to rush things along, and now that it's so close, I think I'm ready for it to slow down. I'm not ready yet. I haven't come to terms with the fact that this is going to hurt, a lot! The baby's room is not anywhere close to ready, my plans for organizing it this weekend didn't exactly work out as planned. The whole nesting phase your supposed to go through where you get a big burst of energy and get super productive... hasn't happened yet. So my long mental list of things to do aren't getting done. My mom is coming into town tomorrow to watch Rachael's kids while she goes to a medical conference in the Bahama's. Lucky her! So hopefully my mom will come to the rescue and help me get stuff done, I already have a few projects in mind for her while she's here.
Oh and for the record, since this blog is the closest thing to a journal I have, last week when I went to my 36 week doctor appt, I was 1cm dilated and 20% effaced! Rachael did some pushing around on my stomach yesterday and predicted with her medical expertise that the baby probably weighs 6 pounds right now, and if I deliver him on time he will probably weigh 7 and a half pounds. So I guess we'll see, but that sounds pretty encouraging.
Only 9 more shifts at work before I take off for my maternity leave!

Another Great Baby Shower

This past Sunday I had another great baby shower, put on by Todd's family. His family and friends circle is very large. There were tons of people there, okay probably more like 40, but it was a lot. I got so many great gifts for the baby, and even a few for myself. I am so thankful to have so many kind and generous people in my life. My baby is spoiled and he hasn't even been born yet. Although its getting very close.

Which reminds me of a dream I had last night. Very disturbing. I was in the hospital and woke up with a large incision across the middle of my stomach and no recollection of why. I asked the nurse what happened and she said I had had the baby but he was so big I had to have a C-section. He weighed 8 lbs 25 oz. (yes I know there is only 16 oz in a pound, but it's a dream) Then I wanted to know who did the C-section because I was not happy about the size of the incision nor how high on my stomach it was. Turns out it was some very old lady doctor who looked more like a grandma than a doctor. And that's all I remember about the dream. Weird huh?

Okay, back to reality...

Here are all my gifts that now need to be organized and put away. The crib is full of clothes too. This is going to be a BIG project. I may need some help from someone who is really good at organizing, I think my sister Francie might just be the perfect one for that. So if your not busy this weekend Francie, I have plans for you.

I just got these toy bins yesterday and had Todd put them together for me. I think I already have enough toys to fill them up. Oh and you can sort of see the football field wall, it's almost done, just needs some dirt painted on it for the finishing touches.

Here is a better picture of the wall. Todd asked me if I was using a college or pro football field because he didn't think it was done to scale properly. I'm hoping the baby doesn't notice that I didn't use a scale, I just made it up.

Here is the little rocking/reading/feeding nook in the room. But I have a problem. I bought the night stand, and the book bin you see on the floor (that still needs to be hung) and the toy bins from the same store and in the same stain, but when they arrived they are different colors of wood. So do I keep them since I like them all, or take something back? I now have 4 different pieces of furniture in the room of different colors of wood. The wooden rocking chair is going to be replaced soon (which will eliminate 1 wood) with a really comfortable chair that rocks, glides, swivels and reclines. I'm going to have to think about it for a few days. It's not that simple to return them either, I threw away my receipts and the boxes they were shipped in, so I'd have to drive to Chicago, where the closest store is, to return them which would be a real pain.

Basically I have a lot of work to do still, so as much as I want this baby to be born soon, I'm beginning to think I need the next 4 weeks to get everything ready. So as long as he doesn't weigh 8lbs 25oz. I guess I can wait another 4 weeks.

America's Next Top Model & Etsy Shop

My niece Kristen may have just gotten her first modeling job. Unfortunately it doesn't pay anything since she'll be working for her mom modeling purses for her new Etsy shop. I was over at their house when we took all these pictures and Kristen was loving the camera like a professional model. She told us she was America's next top model. This is all so different from when she was a little girl. She used to hate having her picture taken, and therefore in almost all of her pictures as a little girl she was rarely smiling and often looks grumpy. It sort of became her signature look in pictures. I think she finally started to like the camera in part due to Auntie Francie who is a bit camera happy and is always taking pictures. Once Kirsten's little brother Jack started allowing Francie to take pictures of him anytime she wanted without putting up a fight, Kristen started to get a little jealous of all the attention. (at least that's how I think it went down). Anyway none the less were all so happy that she is now more than willing to pose for pictures.

A little more about my sisters Etsy shop:

It all started when she taught herself how to sew to make her kids halloween costumes, and she made them all these cute little candy bags to carry (as opposed to a big plastic pumpkin). Then next thing you know she's sewing cute little bags for Kristen and Katya's piano books, and now she's making purses for her Etsy store. The great thing about it is that since November is National Adoption Awareness month she has decided to donate all the proceeds from the store this month to buy christmas gifts for orphans in Russia. You can read more about it on her blog or at her Etsy shop SimpleWishes. Or better yet go online and buy something from her Etsy shop. It's only been up and running for less than 24 hours, she started with only 2 purses on it, and now there is only one left, but check back often, she has many more cute purses that she has already made, she just needs to add them to the store.

Here is pictures of the Halloween bags she made that started the whole thing.

Another plus side of working night shift!

(Sarcastically speaking in the title)

Good for you all... you get an extra hour of sleep tonight!

Bad for me... I get an extra hour of work!

Tonight ends Daylight Savings.

Don't forget to turn your clocks back.

If anyone needs a personal reminder at 2am just let me know, I'll be up.

Battle of hairstyles

Yesterday I got a much needed haircut, I can't believe it has been 5 months since my last one. When I saw my hairdresser she was so happy to hear that I hadn't changed hairdressers, she had begun to wonder since it had been so long. Although the truth is she would have to do a really bad job for me to switch, I get a cut and color and eyebrow wax for $35 or just a haircut for $15. I'd be a fool to go anywhere else. She doesn't give everyone that same deal, but I found her when she was new out of beauty school and I sent her a lot of people from work to help build her clientele so she gives me a good deal.
So when I went to see her yesterday I was thinking about doing something a bit different than the usual, so I decided to cut bangs. I brought in these two pictures and let my stylist pick which one would work best for me. She picked the one on the bottom of Ashley Olson.

I tried to take a self portrait to show you my version of Ashley Olson's hairdo, but my picture looks really blah next to glam celebrities. So you'll just have to wait and see me for yourself.

I like the bangs, they are a bit hard to get used to, I keep wanting to brush them off my face, but I'm glad I did it. Something different for a change.

Todd's response to my new haircut was that he doesn't really like bangs! Normally I would welcome his opinion on such things, but most of you know that we have had an ongoing battle over his current hairstyle. He has decided to let it grow, it has been 9 months since his last haircut and the time before that he waited over a year. It all started with a silly bet he made with his mother that she meant as a joke, but Todd was up for the challenge. I think the bet was something like $500 if he could go a year without cutting it.

So I told him that as soon as he cuts off the ponytail I will grow out my bangs. Unfortunately I don't think that is going to happen anytime soon. The last thing I heard on the subject of him cutting his hair was that as soon as Notre Dame goes to a bowl game he'll cut his hair. So folks it looks like its going to be a while. I'm hoping he's not serious, but I try to leave him alone about it, it seems the more people tell him to cut it the more stubborn he gets.

Here is a picture of his current hairstyle:

And here is a picture of what it used to look like. This is a picture from our honeymoon in Dominican Republic.

(Ahh, the good ol days when my stomach was somewhat flat, although I'm sure I probably thought I was fat at the time)

PICTURE UPDATE

I deleted the halloween picture of Todd and I and reloaded it for all of you who couldn't see it. hopefully it works this time. Let me know if you see it now. Scroll down or click HERE to go to the post.

HAPPY HALLLOWEEN PART II

With no kids of my own yet (for another 35 days or so) and because I live in a countrified town that has very few trick-or-treaters, we didn't stick around at home last night to hand out candy. I did leave the porch lights on and a bowl of candy on the porch, but it was all still there when I got home, so I think it would have been a boring halloween if we'd stayed home. Instead we went over to my sister Rachaels house and enjoyed the whole halloween experience with her family. Next year I'll have a little boy who will be 11 months old (wow that's hard to imagine) yet I'm already thinking of costume ideas. We will probably still go over to Rachael's house, she lives on the perfect street for trick-or-treating, it's only got about 15 houses on it! And the very best part of the evening was the warm apple pie she made.

Here are my nieces and nephews in costume!

KRISTEN THE ARCHAEOLOGIST

JACK AS CHEWBACCA

(is that how you spell it? my spell check says no)

KATYA AS A KITTY CAT!

(we fixed the white ankles before sending her
out trick-or-treating, I don't know what her
mom was thinking when she put white tights on her)

BEN AS BOB THE BUILDER MAN!

(who by the way, would correct you if you called him anything but builder man)