29 weeks

I'm almost into the 30 week mark. Definitely on the downhill now.

Not really much to share for this week. Our monthly doctor appointment got cancelled on Friday due to bad weather. So we're seeing him tomorrow. Which also pushed my chiropractor appointment till Wednesday. Darn.

Sprout's movements are becoming more pronounced. Saturday morning when I woke up, it was all super wiggly. So much in fact that sprout stretched and kicked to where I felt it on both sides of my stomach. Totally a crazy feeling. Our kid it a bit shy if I start pushing back or heaven forbid put my hand on my stomach. Once I do that...nothing. Silly baby.

I started crocheting a blanket this weekend. I'm using this pattern from Red Heart Yarns.It'll be my first blanket I've crocheted. It took me a couple tries to get the pattern working right, but I now have it down. I'm really excited about how it's starting to turn out, but it's going to take me a long while to finish it. I have two more months, hopefully that's enough.

And that's about it. Just getting closer, bigger, more excited and more nervous.

Pregnancy Ups & Downs

This week...

Pregnancy Ups

- It feels so good to be able to exercise again! I've done yoga, which felt amazing. I also started walking on the treadmill, I tell myself, "Oh I'll just go for 15 minutes", but I end up walking a lot more! I've done a mile each night so far.

- I love feeling sprout move, but my favorite time feeling sprout is in the middle of the night or early morning when I've woken up to pee or whatever and it's all wiggling about. Makes being constantly awake at night worth it.

- I'm reading "Mindful Birthing" which is really good so far and goes along nicely with what we're practicing in our Bradley Method classes.

Pregnancy Downs

- My right side has been so achey for the past couple weeks. To make it worse, it only hurts when I sit...which is pretty much all day. I found if Rob massages it, it helps. I go to the chiropractor on Monday, thank goodness!

- My mind has just been non stop with all this baby stuff. Whether it's thinking about the labor, breastfeeding, taking care of a newborn, breastfeeding at work, nursery, buying things and so so so so much more. I was totally obsessing about what our baby will wear when going home the other day. Thankfully, I just started reading a book about mediating during pregnancy and labor. It'll help me focus on the present and develop more of an "it is what it is" mentality, which I'm usually pretty good at, but this baby stuff is just so much!

Second Trimester Recap

Oct -Jan

Oh glorious Second Trimester can you stick around a little bit longer please? You were such a delight! I felt so great and normal...normal! So many awesome things happened, my belly grew and I started to feel our little baby move around.

I remember those first few weeks when my belly started to grow and I thought that that was big. Ha ha, I was showing my belly off thinking I totally looked pregnant. More like beer belly! Now I look pregnant and to think it's going to be even way bigger! I'll look back thinking that this was just a mere beer belly in comparison.

Being pregnant became real. It is my way of life now. Hard to image myself not being pregnant. Hard to image that the Suzy from just 7 months ago is no longer. Ok, I'm still me, but I'm a different and better me and the me I'll be after we have the baby will also be a different and better me. It's actually really exciting!

My Second Trimester Tip:
Stay positive!
Sometimes it's hard not to get sucked into all the books, blogs, internet articles and stories from other people. You'll hear about all the horror stories and scary symptoms. I stayed away from all that as much as possible. I don't read any pregnancy books. I only read positive blogs. And if I have a concern, I ask my doctor. (ok sometimes I did look up stuff on the internet, but I took it with a grain of salt)

Lately I'd been reading birthing stories...and I will admit, it got me a little freaked out. So I told myself that I need to stop and just focus on me. Everyone is different! My labor will be completely different than everyone else's.

Practice relaxation techniques, yoga, meditation...anything that helps you focus on the amazing thing that's happening right now to your body.

But staying positive has tremendously helped me. Everyone keeps asking how I feel and I always reply, "I feel awesome!!" Yeah, I have days and moments where things aren't so great, but in the big scheme, I am happy all the time.

28 weeks

Holy cow! The third trimester! 3 more months! 12 more weeks! We're almost there!!

I only have 3 more months to get my body and mind as ready as I can get. I've reserved some books at the library on meditation during pregnancy and labor. The guest room is all cleaned out now, so I can resume my yoga. And the treadmill is now in that room too so I can walk when the weather is crappy. Rob and I will continue to practice our Bradley Method exercises and relaxation techniques. I feel good about all of this!

Yesterday we went to Babies R Us and started our registry. That's one store that I hope to not have to go back to a lot. It's so overwhelming in there. We started out great and it was easy. By the time we got to the little things like bottles and pacifiers, we were wiped out and it was all just badly organized, least that's what we thought. And don't even get me started on the lack of gender neutral clothing, grrr. But we did it! Which we then treated ourselves to Mellow Mushroom pizza for dinner.

This morning I went to Target and set up a registry there as well. Babies R Us is great for the big things, but Target is great for little things and more modern looking items. Their clothing was a bit better too. Target carries some of the brands I really like like Skip Hop.

Overall I think we picked out a lot of good things. We didn't go overboard with silly stuff like diaper pails or wipe warmers. I learned a lot when we registered for our wedding like getting things that seemed great, but ended up not using it. Also, I figured people who are already parents will know what are the essentials and get those for us first. Two registries kind of seems like a lot, but I like giving people options and a lot of variety and whatever is not purchased, it's a great to-buy list for us. Plus having the Baby List, totally helps lump it together. It's such a relief to have that all done.

I am still feeling pretty great. My back has been bothersome this week. I am overdue on my chiropractor appointment, but I'll see how a bit of yoga helps. My appetite is still normal. My mood is awesome. Sleep can be a bit better sometimes. I have been peeing a lot more. My stamina was great today. Stores and cleaning and I don't feel the need to nap. Nice. I'm going to relish these last few weeks of this feeling this way before the uncomfortableness settles in.

Pregnancy Ups & Downs

This week...

Pregnancy Ups

- Rob put together the dresser and now we have all the main furniture set up in the nursery. I love that room so much already. We also opened up the stroller and the infant carseat. It's all so amazing and overwhelming!

- I think I'm starting to nest. I find myself going into the nursery and fixing things up. I've been reading the manuals on the carseat and stroller. I'm going through all my old pregnancy magazines and rereading a lot of the articles. I want to do do do. It's all quite fun!

- I still marvel at the fact of how normal I feel. Ok, I get achey and sleep sometimes is difficult, but it's not like I never had those problems before. I feel like me, in fact I feel like a happier healthier me.


Pregnancy Downs

- I am much more tired this week than I have been in a long time. I'm not sure if it's the restless sleep, the weather or the onset of the Third Trimester.

- I haven't done any exercising this week. It's been rainy and cold outside and the room I do my usual exercising in is still filled with stuff we moved over from the nursery. On the plus side, Rob will be getting rid of that stuff this weekend and I asked him to bust out the treadmill and put it in that room so I can at least do some walking. Part of my resolution IS to keep moving.

- I think sprout moved into a different position and while I feel a lot of movement, I don't feel the hard thumps like I have been. It's more of a deep underwater feeling. I really enjoyed feeling the hard movements. Hopefully sprout will move back into a better position.

Thank you EarthFare!

Right before New Years, EarthFare (one of my fav. grocery stores) held a contest on Facebook asking to share your New Year's Resolution. The winner would get to spend $100. Well, you can guess what happened since I'm writing about this!

Yes, I shared my resolution and I won!! How amazing and awesome is that?! Sprout is just becoming one lucky baby!! First REI, now this. I'll soon be offering belly rubs for good luck.

This is what I wrote:

"2013 marks the year I become a mom for the first time! So my resolution is to instill healthy habits to our baby that will carry on through life, by the products and food we give and through our own actions. And since I'll be pregnant for almost the first half of the year, what I eat and the products I use can also affect the baby. So, I aim to eat better and make sure any products I use are safe for the baby."

On Sunday Rob and I headed on over to the store and had fun with our shopping spree! Since it was sprout who inspired my resolution, it was only right to buy baby things. EarthFare has a great selection of natural and toxic free baby products. We got a few glass bottles, a sippee cup, a training sippee cup, hair brush, nail clippers, pacifiers, a nipple attachment for water bottles, teether and some extra nipples for the bottles. I also treated myself to some pregnancy tea and ointment.

I am truly grateful to EarthFare for choosing me as the winner and allowing us to buy such wonderful products that I know are good for our baby. I can't express how much I love that this store is just down the street. It feels good to go in there and know that I don't have to worry about what's in the food and products I buy.

27 weeks

Again no official belly shot this week. I think we may need to find a new spot since I can't foresee the guest room getting cleaned out any time soon.

I'm at the point now where I lose track of what week I'm at. Being pregnant is all I know and can remember. It's who I am. Was I really that skinny girl over 6 months ago?

Today we bought our nursery furniture! I finally got to go to Ikea and buy the furniture I've been looking at for so long now, over a year maybe? Before we started, we needed to fuel up with some coffee (decaf for me) and a slice of chocolate, because, as you all know, Ikea is exhausting. That's so why Ikea has a cafeteria, they know you need all the energy you can get to go through their store. But we did it! We got a crib, a mattress, a dresser, lamp and night stand. There's more we'd like to buy, but I need to see the room with the basics set up to really picture it. I'm also so happy that Rob and I totally agreed on everything, which made it so much easier.

Currently we only have the crib and nightstand put together. The trip to Ikea and our weekly shopping tuckered us out. The room already looks amazing! I'm incredibly happy!

Other than that, I'm feeling pretty good, 'specially after Monday and the doctors visit on Tuesday. My growing belly is really starting to stretch on top. I often feel burning and tightness. I'm totally loving Trader Joe's Coconut Body Butter. And last night I watched my belly tremble as sprout moved around. No creepy alien pushes yet, which I really hope I don't see, heh.

It's all really starting to sink in now. At this past Bradley Method class, we talked about the first stage of labor. That was really the first time I felt anxiety over going into labor. I know feeling like that won't help, so I took a deep breath and shook out those negative thoughts. This is something I has no choice but to go through and while it my be hard and painful, this is what having a baby is all about. This is why we are even taking this class, to prepare each other for that final moment before we have our baby. As long as I keep taking good care of my body, doing the stretches, exercising, practicing relaxation, keep smiling and have having positive thoughts and study what we've learned, then I've done all I can do and that's more than enough, even more that what most people do.

Pregnancy Ups & Downs

This week..

Pregnancy Ups

- We picked our day care! This was a very overwhelming experience since it's hard to make a decision like this when you haven't even had the baby yet. At first I was hesitant, but now I'm just excited picturing our baby going there and learning and having fun.

- Rob has started reading Good Night Moon to the baby. It feels a little silly, but it's fun and cute.

- Painting the nursery was such a exciting first step to getting the nursery ready. I often go in the room just to look at it. This weekend I think we're going to buy the furniture. I can't wait to put the room together.

Pregnancy Downs

- I had my first real pregnancy "scare"-ish. Monday late afternoon I had string cheese. Now I'm sensitive to dairy sometimes, I can have things like pizza, yogurt and cheese on sandwiches, but something like cottage cheese or massive amounts of cheese, a big no no. Apparently string cheese falls into that now since two hours after I had it, I was in SO much pain and had to lay on the couch for the rest of the night. I couldn't even eat my dinner until much later. Thankfully sprout was active, so I wasn't too worried, but worried none the less since I was in a lot of pain up until I woke up the next day. I called the doctor and they wanted me to come in, just in case. As was well of course....it was just the string cheese. A simple piece of freaking cheese. The doctor gave me some suggestions and tips on what I can do next time. On the plus side, I got to hear sprout's heart beat!

- My poor ribs just get so sore sometimes from all this growing. I started brining the heating pad to work since sitting all day does not help.

Baby List

Is it really that time to start thinking about registries?!

Actually, I feel like that about everything baby related lately. To which Rob likes to remind me that we have just a few more months.

So yes, it's time to start thinking about these things.

I happened upon Babylist while reading my fav. geek girl blog The Mary Sue. Basically it's an internet wide baby registry where you can add baby products from any site like Etsy, Amazon, Target, ThinkGeek. I really like that idea because I see baby products everywhere that I'm like, "I totally want that and it'd be cool to have something like that on a registry."

So naturally I thought we should start one (just cuz it's so cool). We live in a far away state and I would think that it'd be easier for our friends and family to shop online. I believe I can link other registries of ours to it too, like say Target. I was excited to see that I can also add something like a gift subscription or service, like I added Honest Diapers, a eco-friendly diaper service, which we get told often that babies need diapers more than anything.

I'm still playing around with it, adding a few things from here and there. We still need to do our brick and mortar registry for people who like touching things and not ordering on stuff on the web (and for those things that I need to touch and see as well). But for now, we've got this going on.

Check us out: Baby Biddiscombe

26 weeks

No belly picture this week. The room that we take the photos in is currently filled with furniture from the old guest bedroom. But let me tell you, I am getting bigger and rounder!

The old guest bedroom is no longer a guest room! It is now officially the nursery! We painted the walls this weekend. I have been waiting to do that for months now. As you can see in the photos, we went with a grey, which when you first hear it you'd think it's a weird color for a nursery, but it's actually a really nice and fun color when decorated with accent colors. I'm so excited to finally get this room looking like an actual put together room. Even when it was just our guest bedroom, it was just thrown together. But soon, it'll have real furniture and decorations and all that good stuff. And because we are moving the guest bedroom into the other room across the hall, we'll have to fix that room up as well. And when buying paint for the nursery, we bought paint for our bathroom, which is another room I've been dying to paint. Painting these rooms just makes this house more ours.

Another thing I did this weekend was crochet something for the baby. I made one of those stuffed animal heads that's attached to a blankie. I've seen those around and thought it's a great idea for kids. Kids like stuffed animals and kids like blankies! I made a sprout one! I didn't follow any sort of pattern other than how to make a crotched ball and some leaves. I think it came out pretty cute. I used some green cotton yarn I had laying around since I wanted to make this now and not have to go to the store. It's funny because I had *just* enough yarn. I really hope our baby will like it.

Other than that I've been feeling pretty good. Earlier this week I was feeling pretty achy and uncomfortable around my tummy. A lot of growing is going on in there and it's stretching me out. Such a weird feeling. But I did some yoga and I keep up with my stretches every day to help. Since I've been feeling good, I even took the dogs on a good walk on my own this afternoon. I was so happy to make the entire route, which I haven't done in months. It's not like it's a long route or anything either. It felt good to get some sunshine and fresh air and I know the dogs enjoyed it too.

Sprout has been moving more and more. I think we may have a schedule here too! Sprout is most active around 9:30-11 at night, then a bit in the morning around 7:30-8. The night time is just fun. I was bugging sprout on Friday by pushing on my belly. Sometimes it'd respond back, like "Ugh mom quit bugging me!" Last night I think it got the hiccups, it was small movements that repeated a few times. I just love it!

Pregnancy Ups & Downs

This week...

Pregnancy Ups

- Rob got to feel sprout move this week! Sprout gave some hard kicks the other night that you probably would've been able to actually see. Rob was able to feel a couple of those. Yay!

- I did yoga and my exercise dvd this week. I did yoga just because I wanted to and knew that I needed a good stretch for my body.

- Now that the holidays are over, it feels good to be eating normal again. There's so much fruit and healthy yummies at home.

Pregnancy Downs

- I've been pretty uncomfortable this week. My belly is either getting in the way or it's been achey from all the growing and stretching.

- Not a good body image week. It's ok, I'm allowed those once in a while.

- Being close to my third trimester and such, I started to get paranoid about preterm labor, if the baby will be born healthy and all that fun stuff. I know I don't have anything to worry about, but..well, I can't help worrying over nothing sometimes.

Hello 2013!

Happy New Year!
This is certainly going to be one of the best and amazing years I'll ever have!
For my resolutions this year, I adopted one of my fav. authors Sarah Addison Allen's 3 Word Resolution, which she shared on her Facebook page.

My 3 words are...

Create - Me and the couch have spent too much time together this last half year. I barely do any crafts, sew or draw anymore. My goal is to create more.

Move - Again, me and the couch is not good. My goal is to keep moving. Big or small. Running or just stretching. Anything that gets my body moving.

Mother - I'm going to become a mom this year, that's huge! While I know those first few months will be us getting into our roles, I want always be a good example to our baby. I want to teach it to be healthy, to be kind, patient, open minded, grateful, creative, positive and happy.

I'm not going to be strict on myself either. As long as I know I am trying and as long I as DO something, that's good enough.