le bebe update

People are finally starting to notice (or at least think) that I might be pregnant. I haven't been trying to hide it for a few months, but I guess it took a while for my belly to POP.

A couple of the girls in my primary class have started touching my belly. I don't mind it so much, but it is a little bit interesting. So far no adult has taken the liberty to just touch me, which I very much appreciate.

Ryan and I were at Office Max a few days ago and the woman at the cash register asked me how far along I am. I have been waiting for that question! I pretended for just a moment that I didn't know what she was talking about, but that was clearly embarrassing her (I suppose that was the idea, though), so I told her to ease her pain.

Last night I spent some time watching Baby Center birthing "classes" on my iPad. I got brave and watched a woman giving birth. Oh. My. I am quite glad that I never have to watch myself from that angle! Even though it might have made me want to squench my eyes shut and look away, it was also kind of fascinating. A woman's body is pretty amazing.

I can't believe I will have a daughter in less than 3 months. A few nights ago Ryan asked me, "Can you believe we are going to be parents? We will have that role for the rest of our lives in just a few months. How crazy is that?" REALLY crazy!! But I feel so ready. I am not nervous or anxious about what's to come (including the birth). I think that is a sure sign that this step is right. Thank goodness, because it is a little late to change it now!

A Circle of Leaves

My favorite time of year to be Pinteresting is when the season starts changing from hot to cool to cold. I have always loved Autumn - when the leaves start changing, the air gets crisper, and I get to pull out all of my somewhat forgotten long sleeved t-shirts. It's like suddenly getting a whole new wardrobe every year! (Granted, this year is a little different because I won't exactly fit into all of my seasonal fall clothes.)

Along with the season change comes Holidays!! And crafts! I found a cute Halloween wreath to make, but after asking Holly if she wanted to do it with me, we decided together that we wanted to make a wreath that we could hang on our doors in both October and November. So we designed our own! No little tutorial to follow. We felt pretty, well, crafty!

We both got an 18" grapevine wreath for $3 at Michael's. $3! Not too shabby. :) Then we went to Hobby Lobby and bought leaf garland, gourds and pumpkins, and little plastic beads on wire sticks. I also grabbed some raffia (thanks to Ashley for reminding me what it's called!)

We sat at the table and threw them together in a mere 30 minutes or so. We used wire cutters to get the leaves off of the garland, and the pumpkin/gourd sticks and beads we simply shoved into the grapevine. We hot-glued the leaves into the wreath. I also made a little bushel of sorts out of the raffia and glued it on. I managed to get away with just a minor glue gun burn, and our wreaths turned out great!

Holly's wreath

My wreath

Ryan isn't quite as ready for the colder weather as I am, so our wreath won't be making its big debut until October 1st, but I can't wait to put it up and enjoy it until December!

Immunocompromised

I am not usually one to complain about things. I try to stay positive and take things in stride.

But you know what is not the most fun thing in the world?? Being immunocompromised. And that is what I am - an immunocompromised baby-building woman. And let me tell you something: I can tell!!

In the past I have had a pretty stand up immune system. It was not incredibly often that I picked up other people's ailments. Got sneezed on? No biggie. A snotty nosed, coughing child nearby? Meh. Piece of delicious food accidentally got dropped on the ground? 5-second rule!!

But now???? That sneeze that got on me means a wicked cold for at least a week. The coughing child equates to yet another cold that lasts at least a week. And that food off the ground? Oh, that leads to almost certain death.

You would think I would have learned more quickly to AVOID GERMS while pregnant!!! I guess it takes me a good 6-months to get something thoroughly through my head.

Let me tell you a little story.

Two nights ago after I finished washing the dishes, I got very tired and just wanted to lay down. Shortly thereafter I found myself feeling just completely unhealthy. My night proceeded to be a loooooong one. I had not had a sickness like that since...oh... junior high? The next day (yesterday) I spent in bed. Literally. And if you ask my husband, I hate just laying and being sedentary for much longer than necessary, so obviously I was feeling pretty deathly. I managed to eat 2 pieces of toast (even though it took me 2 hours to get them down), a few saltines, half of an apple, and a couple bowls of plain white rice. It was rough.

And of course I had myself all worried about the baby. I took a microbiology class a couple of years ago and we learned alllll about lovely foodborne illnesses (which is more than likely what I had). And there is one, listeria, that is particularly cruel to a fetus. But my doctor said not to worry, and as if she could read my thoughts, baby girl was wiggly all day long so that I knew she was doing okay in there.

Ryan was also an incredible help. I may have kept him up half the night, but he did not complain about it one bit. He was obviously genuinely concerned for my well-being. When I asked him for a blessing to help me to sleep, he gave no hesitation, even though it was 4:00 in the morning. He stayed home with me in the morning and went to the store to get me 10 different kinds of juice, fruit, and crackers. He didn't even complain about the mess in the house when he got home from work (I guess I get lazy when I can't hardly stand to move). What a great guy I've got.

You will be happy to hear that this morning I woke up feeling superb. I slept just fine last night and even ate a bowl of cereal today! Things are looking up, and maybe my immune system is not so bad after all. :)

The Room

We are starting to design the baby's room! Shortly after we found out that we were expecting, we found this pretty awesome painting at Hobby Lobby. Usually I'm not one for impulse buys, but oh my goodness, I had to have it! I knew that's what I wanted the nursery themed around. It has a white background, a dark brown tree, and a single teal bird sitting in the tree. I love it. I really wanted to match the color of the bird for the paint in her room, but realized that it would turn out rather intense. This is the color of the bird and paint:

source

To help counter act the boldness of that color, we decided to put in some wainscoting. I was hoping that we would get to do this, and Ryan has always loved that look, so when we realized how not-too-expensive it is, we bought some! It will look like this:

source

I have always liked bold colors paired with a bright white. I think it is going to turn out looking really nice when we are finished!

In other - but similar - news, here is me showing off a little baby bump! Almost into the 3rd trimester!