Book Review Time!

I mentioned last week that I read some books on babies and parenting that I really enjoyed. These books just happened to go along with my mindset on babies, labor and even parenting. I like things explained in a matter of fact sort of way. I also like that some of these books encourage you to look into yourself and use common sense, not necessarily go with what the general public thinks you should do or act.

What's Going on in There? How the Brain and Mind Develop in the First Five Years of Life - A friend gave me this book and I just love it! It's so nerdy and scientific. Sometimes this book goes overs my head with how scientific it gets, but most of the time I totally get it and I just love reading about babies minds' and what influences them.

Mindful Birthing: Training the Mind, Body and Heart for Childbirth and Beyond - This book teaches you about meditation and how it can help you with labor and such. This is real good for people who have never meditated before. I think learning meditation and relaxation methods for pregnancy and labor are super helpful. This book was a great companion to read along with our Bradley Method classes.

Bringing Up Bébé and Bébé Day by Day - I'm actually surprised I read a book like Bringing Up Bébé. I think those French/Greek/Japanese Women Don't Get Fat type books are silly. Nor I am one for reading parenting books. But I downloaded a sample of this book and I was like, "Hey! I feel the same way about parenting!" Ever since we went to Japan and saw how well mannered kids were over there, we knew we wanted to raise our kid in a similar way and this book (and its companion Bebe Day by Day) fit what I was looking for. It's a common sense sort of book that brings you back to basics and teaches you that you don't have to be a helicopter parent in order to raise the best kid.

Happiest Baby on the Block -  The copy from the library was so worn out that I just had to laugh. I can only imagine how many tired desperate parents read this book while their babies just cried and cried in their arms. That's why I read this before we have our kid! This book is about the "4th Trimester" and how newborn babies are not truly babies once they are born and prefer to still be in a womb like environment for a few extra months and are so freaked out about the outside world they cry and cry. That's why swaddling, rocking, loud noises and such can help calm a baby. This book also got scientific which I loved.

33 weeks

ran out of time for our normal shots, i'm slacking!

I'm at the point now where I'm losing track of which week I'm on. I'm sure it'll change when I hit 36 weeks and we're counting down.

Oh third trimester, you make things so uncomfortable! If my belly is not burning, my back ribs are in pain. I hate complaining about it too. Thankfully, I am still happy and smiling and so freaking grateful to be pregnant. Today while driving to the store, I tried to breath through my pain and accept it. It actually did work! If I accept it and become comfortable with the pain, then it's not so bad. I'm really going to try working on that this week.

Rob's parents drove down this weekend. We received a ginormous garbage bag filled with baby stuff! Some stuff from our friend, Rob's aunt and his parents. So awesome of everyone! We got baby clothes, blankets, some supplies and a couple stuffed animals. Also, Rob's mom gave us knitted blankets, bonnets and sweaters that his grandmother knitted when Rob was a baby. I hope that our baby will be able to wear some of the sweaters. The craftsmanship on the sweaters is so amazing. I feel so lucky that we have them.

Since we got a bunch of stuff, I decided to do my first load of baby laundry. Yes, I fit everything, including linens in one load...but it was soooo much to fold! All that little teeny tiny stuff. I also learned that I shouldn't wash baby stuff on the normal settings, nor put terry cloth socks in with bibs with velcro. Some things got some loose threads and something stained a few items. Oh well. Lesson learned. Thankfully the few pieces that I really like did not get ruined.

We have a doctors appointment this week. As always, looking forward to that. This week is also our last Bradley Method class, so sad! But then it's March and things are going to get crazy busy as we get things ready for baby.

Pregnancy Ups & Downs

This week...

Pregnancy Ups

- I have been reading some good baby and parenting books lately, which I want to do a post on. I'm actually reading three different books at the moment, all so good that I can't read just one.

- I just love our Bradley Method class. We are learning so much and at the same time, a lot of my views  are similar to what we are learning, so I feel that I am on tracking with this whole labor thing. Next week is our last week, I'll write up a good post about it once it's all done.

- My appetite is finally starting to pick up. Personally I was a tad concerned that I was never crazy hungry like you typically hear about pregnant women. I'm still not like that, but I find myself getting hungry more often and I can sometimes eat more than I thought I could. What's good is that since I am more hungry I can really make sure I get in my veggies, calcium and protein.

Pregnancy Downs

- Oooh the burning!! My belly is on fire! There's lots of growing and stretching going on and it's quite uncomfortable. The other day I had to lift my shirt above my belly since it was that sensitive.

- As always, my back ribs have been hurting. I went to the chiropractor on Monday, where I got a good shoulder blade massage and learned some stretches. It took a couple days for things to settle down and it's feeling much better...which is good.

- Work has just been crazy for us. It's all so worth it, but I am just beat when I get home and don't feel like doing much. It kind of sucks cuz there's a lot to do! Things should settle down in a couple weeks, but I need to make more of an effort to start working on the baby to-do list. At least I've been working on the baby blanket, which looks awesome, btw.

32 weeks

Not quite 32 weeks, but close

No official photo this week. We went to Myrtle Beach, SC this weekend and by the time we got back I was beat.

We had a nice time down at Myrtle. Rob and a few of our friends ran the marathon. Everyone did an awesome job! Their crazy celebration afterwards was well worth it. Unfortunately, the weather got crappy after the race with cold, wind and some rain. No walking along the beach for me. However, because of that weather...it started to snow on Saturday night! Big fat snow flakes!! (Meantime, Charlotte had already gotten over an inch of snow and was gone by the time we got home, boo) Sunday we hit the outlet stores before heading home. Motherhood had a store there. I got a couple things. I wish we had more time to check out other stores, but we needed to be back in Charlotte to pick up the dogs.

Rob and group, who ran the marathon and half marathon

The rest of the week was nice, but just so busy with all our appointments, work and pre marathon stuff. Our infant and child CPR class was good and informative. I highly recommend taking a class like that. The doctors went really well as I talked about on Friday. I'm feeling pretty good. My belly is popping again, and I'm now rounder than ever. And I've been craving Ben and Jerry's this week thanks to the new store that opened by us.

Pregnancy Ups & Downs

According to my due date, I've hit the 2 month mark! Crazy sauce!!

This week...

Pregnancy Ups

- We had our 2 week appointment. Everything is going great. We are all measuring where we are supposed to be. The doctor even checked sprout's position, nice and head down. He even put mine and Rob's hands where the head is. It's so crazy to feel an actual head! Also, my doctor said a maternity belt might help with all my uncomfortableness and wrote me a prescription to get one.

- My dad sent me a gigantic teddy bear for Valentine's Day. I was laughing so hard when we opened the box at the shear size of it. The bear, named Benjamin, is currently sitting in the nursery chair. I can't wait to take a picture of sprout and Benjamin, a tiny baby next to a 4 1/2 ft bear.

- The other day at work I had a craving for some chocolate ice-cream or a chocolate milkshake. Not a bad craving, but it just sounded sooo good. Rob walked by my desk and half joking I ask him to go get me a milkshake. He then goes out of the office, me thinking he's just going to the bathroom. A few minutes go by and I start to wonder...surely he didn't go! Sure enough, Rob comes back with a milkshake in his hands. I have the BEST husband!!

Pregnancy Downs

- This rib pain is a bummer. Morning car rides are no fun. I try to relax and breath through it as best as I can. My doctor said not much I can do and I understand...look what's going on in my body, it's in a constant state of change.

- I can tell we're going through a growth spurt when my tummy starts to burn. This week was particularly intense. I couldn't have anything touching my belly. Nice excuse to by body lotion.

- Despite the milkshake being so awesome, I have come to the realization that I just cannot have cold dairy. I mean I really couldn't have it before I was pregnant, but Pepto was always there to take if I needed it. I can't have Pepto now and since my digestion is much slower, it takes that much longer for my body to try and process the dairy. Not fun people! Thankfully I can still eat pizza!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Love,
Suzy

The Concert Was When?! AKA Pregnancy Brain

I have been inflicted with pregnancy brain. Me, who has an awesome memory, a wicked eye for spotting things and a notorious planner.

The following tale is a true story.

Rob and I scored some tickets to the Flogging Molly concert. Not a lot of fun bands come to Charlotte and we haven't been to a concert in 5 years. This was something I really wanted to do. I love Flogging Molly! I actually had to convince Rob that we should go despite me being 7 months pregnant. 

We had the day all planned out. Rob worked from home that day, so the dogs wouldn't be in their crates all day and he'd be able to walk them. I'd pick up Rob after work and we'd have dinner at the pub next to the Fillmore. I dressed up in something cute. I was so excited! How fun would it be to tell our kid that it was at a concert?

So 3 o'clock rolls around, almost time to go home. I go on Facebook to check out what specials the pub is having that night. Latest post, beers on tap. Next post, "Pregame for Flogging Molly Specials". Sweet, irish car bombs, I'll have to tell Rob. (of course none of that for me). Then I saw it...the pregame specials was posted 22 hours ago. Why are they posting a special so early?! 

A wave of panic hit me. I checked the Fillmore's site. I don't see Flogging Molly up there anymore, maybe because it's tonight? Too scared to look further I messaged Rob.

Me: Please check what day the concert is. I'm being paranoid.

Rob: OMG! One sec.

*a couple minutes go by*

Me: Please please please tell me I did not just f this up!!

Rob: OMG!! It was yesterday!!!

That's right. We missed the concert. My pregnant brain had it set that the concert was Friday and not Thursday!!!

How did I miss this?! I had known about the concert for months. We had the tickets in our hand. I went on Fillmore's and Flogging Molly's website. I even saw what time the doors opened and what time the concert started. Yet I NEVER bothered checking the date!

If I wasn't at work I would've completely lost it and cried my little heart out. I was so bummed, so embarrassed. I took it hard. Thankfully, Rob being such an awesome husband told me that it was OK, to put it behind me. I did laugh about it, because if I didn't I'd be a wreck. Humility folks, it comes in handy.

And now I have a funny story. A story to tell our friends and family and even our kid about the time Suzy had major pregnant brain and missed a concert.