Next week, our countdown to due date is in the SINGLE DIGITS. What the crap. I remember finding out we were pregnant and wondering what it would feel like to be DOUBLE DIGITS WEEKS PREGNANT, and now here we are kind of nearing the home stretch.
We’ve got a crib.
We’ve got a changing table.
We’ve got a car seat.
We’ve got a stroller.
We’ve got a couple hundred diapers and wipes.
Homegirl could come and while we (emotionally) would not be ready (will we EVER?) we would be tangibly ready.
Last week they finally fixed our ceiling and our baby furniture came in the mail so while Justen was out for the evening, I got the crib and changing table all set up. We have to order a rug and some wall decor, so I’m going to wait to share pictures until then. But y’all, waking up and seeing the furniture for another human being is insane. Like we’re about to share a room with another human being who is currently chillin’ in my body. IT IS SO WEIRD.
Changed up the outfit because I was wayyyyy too lazy and it was too hot and I didn’t want to change. Also, I dug that dress out of the Goodwill Outlet and I’m pretty proud of it. Actually on that day, I found quite a few dresses and tops to wear and accommodate my growing stomach.
I’ve been reading this book Justen bought me while I was in Nashville. It’s actually been REALLY HELPFUL. I never realized that being pregnant was such an emotional roller coaster. As I read, I have to share parts with Justen that are SO RELEVANT to my experience.
This is random, but I discovered the number I weighed at my first prenatal appointment. I thought I’d re-gained all the weight I lost, but I’m still down 5 pounds from where I started.. which is weird because my stomach is getting bigger. I’m guessing it’s the combination of growing a human (that has to burn a lot of calories, right?) AND my loss of appetite (which is still happening!).
ALSO: Last week my blog post said that I had a bit of melanoma, but what I meant was MELASMA. My computer corrected it, and I was called out on it a few times. I’m grateful it’s not melanoma!
It. has. been. a minute. and by minute, I mean like a MONTH!! We were scrambling to get things ready for Nashville, then we were in Nashville, THEN we were catching up from being in Nashville. So we’ve got a lot to catch up on!
please ignore my hair. I slept in braids, and this is a cause/effect demonstration of that.
During week 24, I had this mild freak-out where I realized I hadn’t felt the baby move in 24 hours. I KNOW that it was before the worry about that period PLUS I have an anterior placenta, but this baby has been so consistent about her movements that I felt like something was just OFF.
We ended up going to labor and delivery where Justen had to answer all the questions for me because I was almost in tears. Turns out I was probably just dehydrated, so that’s cool. Everything was completely fine. One of the nurses welcomed me to being a mom. I told her I wasn’t expecting all this worry to start so soon, haha.
The nurse said that if we were further along, they’d look for a rise in the baby’s heartbeat every so often (IDK you guys I was just so freaked out and then relieved I hardly remember anything) but they wouldn’t look for it because we weren’t far enough along. Then she looked at the fetal heartbeat monitor print out and went “oh! but there it is! You’ve got an overachiever!” which is 100% Justen.
They performed an ultrasound in which they said she was overdramatic because of the way she kept turning her back whenever they tried to snap a picture of her face. That’s 100% me. We saw her practicing her breathing, which was my favorite part.
So yeah. Here’s a picture of our little overdramatic overachiever from that day:
That’s pretty much the biggest event that’s happened while I’ve been quiet.
While in Nashville, I did develop a little melanoma melasma (CORRECTION!) , which are dark spots on your face. They’re around the outside edges of my eyes as you can see in this really flattering picture:
People keep reassuring me that it’s not noticeable and will go away, but I’m honestly not that concerned about it. I’m so grateful that everything has been (relatively) uneventful and low-risk so I’m fine with a surface, cosmetic change. Plus it gives character 😉
A few more uneventful weeks and here we are at Week 28. I can see my stomach move, my hips are starting to hurt a little bit, and I did the biggest, most grown up maternal thing I’ve ever done.
We had to switch insurance. After being without insurance for a month, I bravely went to an all new office and saw an all new person… just for her to tell me she’s leaving in August. Here’s the thing: sometimes you are brave and go places you’ve never gone before and then other times you sit in your car crying for 20 minutes because you’re going to have to keep doing this whole new person thing over and over.
I took my glucose test, which is just a bummer because after not eating for 8 hours, they were 45 minutes late administering the test. I took a TDAP vaccine in my left arm so chose my right arm for the 3 blood draws and when the lady said my arm(s) would probably be sore, I tried to get her to tell me I won’t be able to do dishes. But she wouldn’t say that. The audacity of some people.
This week, we’re putting all the baby’s stuff together. We ordered a crib and changing table… y’all I am dying how cute are they…?
SO ANYWAY, we ordered those and we’ve started brainstorming where to put this baby and this weekend we’re rearranging our room to accommodate our tiny addition. I’m really excited. I decided I’d go ahead and get a head start and do what I can, and this is as far as I got:
I put the changing pad cover on. LOL. I guess maybe the nesting thing is finally starting to kick in since I’ll actually be able to do something, though last weekend we spent half of Saturday cleaning our apartment. I cleaned our diffusers and I went ahead and had a party with my new dymo label maker. Also a year ago if I tried to take a picture and my stomach was photobombing it, I would have been so ashamed and now I’m like “THERE’S AN ACTUAL HUMAN BEING IN THERE WHAT SORCERY IS THIS”
So this is 28 weeks. Homegirl has a high rate of survival should she come early, and that has been the spot I’ve been living for. I know it’s not quite the home stretch, but I (hypothetically) breathe a little easier. Hypothetically because I tried walking to the Farmers Market while on the phone with my dad and he asked what was wrong because I was so out of breath.
Last week I did something I’ve never done in the 2.5 years of having my Poshmark closet. I went to my Seller Tools and scheduled my closet to be on Vacation Mode. No sharing, no answering stupid questions (AMEN!), no offer-ing to bikers… nothing but enjoying my time with the people I was with.
It was amazing, stressful, terrifying, relaxing, troubling, refreshing and… well I guess that first word, amazing, is the best word for it all. My current situation is this:
The girls are playing in the play place after we barely made it in time for hash browns (I literally ordered Lucy a biscuit at 10:29 am). I’m sipping on my iced tea and bouncing between writing this blog post and working on my Poshmark closet(s). I said closet(s) because I started a new one and I have ALL THE THINGS I can be doing to help that get up and running.
But man, the past week has been really great not worrying about work. It’s the blessing and curse of working for yourself: you don’t have to ask anyone for time off, but it’s up to you to tell yourself to enjoy your vacation and decide when to clock back in.
Pit stop for coffee with Justen… it’s like Justin, but with an E. or Justine, lol.
We got in at like 2 am, which was crazy. We were exhausted but so glad to be there. There was a huge issue with the rental car when we arrived so we took my mom and her friend Kassie to the airport the next day to get it sorted out. As we were leaving, the girls pointed out that they were hungry – indeed, it was 1:30 and they hadn’t had lunch. I’m going to rock this mom thing, y’all.
We went to Chuy’s where Lucy put her master chef skills to work making a concoction of rice, beans, sour cream and chips.
In no particular order, here are some of the things I got to do while Vacation Mode was toggled on:
Layla did my hair like Rapunzel. I may have lost a bunch of those flower clips, I can’t be completely sure. Also I 100% spilled coffee on that outfit before we even left the house.
We got out of the car and discovered that Lucy had two left feet. I died. She’s also the left handed one, so Lefty Lucy 100%.
It was two summers ago that I started taking my (then) gluten-free, (still) vegetarian friends to Chick-fil-A for breakfast. One of my favorite photos on Instagram is captioned “chick-fil-layla” which evolved into chick-fil-lucy and then a video they sent to my mom where they said chick-fil-linda! My mom loves CFA breakfast as well, so we all finally got to go together.
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The biggest draw for this trip (aside from the normal days spent with some of my favorite people) was Ernie’s backer show! We got there a few hours early and decided to go to No Baked, a cookie dough cafe. It was honestly the best edible cookie dough I’ve ever had.
The backer show was so cool. In September, Ernie launched a Kickstarter for his new album, and the kickstarter raised like $56,000! One of the rewards was a backer only show, and people came from all over to be there. I’ve never been in a room of so many Ernie Halter fans. Like check this picture I have from watching Ernie play at a place in Ohio back in 2006:
and then check my view from the backer show:
Towards the end I realized that the girls were sitting on the floor in the front, so I went and joined them. It was so sweaty, I’m 6.5 months pregnant, and when I got up I noticed I’d left this really cute sweaty butt print on the floor. You are welcome, everyone that saw that.
Also, me watching Ernie play in Pennsylvania, 2006:
Layla, watching her dad play in Nashville, 2019:
It was getting way past the girls bedtime and Ernie was taking requests. The girls requested Angel, a song they listen to every night when they go to bed… and the pavlovian response was so real.
Wow, these pictures from my phone in a dark room turned out SO WELL, y’all.
On the way home, we were so tired. The girls fell asleep and we decided to go through the classiest McDonalds of all time. Also it’s amazing to me how quickly my taste/cravings change. Two weeks ago I had McDonalds Mc”Chicken” sandwiches (I’m being so vulnerable right now, this shames me to my core) TWICE for lunch during the week. I ordered one, ate half and then gave it to Justen. Anyway. Back to the girls sleeping and the classy McDonalds…
Only serving Bottle Water. I’m dead.
The next day we went to our friend Collins’ 1st birthday party! It was a pool party and the weather was great and Collins is so cute. Afterwards, Justen and I went to a brewery called Mantra so he could try out some new, local to Nashville beers. I don’t understand the beer thing, but it matters to Justen so it matters to me. I got a root beer which was… root beer-y and pretty good. We played Battleship which was a lifesaver for me because sometimes watching Justen drink beer and log it in his beer drinking app can be boring.
On Monday, Justen’s last day in Nashville, we dropped Ernie off with some friends and went to 5 Daughters Bakery (SO GOOD! AND SO CUTE!) and then went to Portland Brew right down the street for mochas. I love that the girls are at an age where they can hang. They packed their backpacks with their journals, waters and a puzzle, which occupied them for nearly an hour before we had to leave.
and then… Justen left. and I never imagined I’d be this person, but I literally cried when Justen left. For hours. I’m that person. Not sure if it’s me or my pregnancy hormones, but I cried.
So now my vacation mode is off, even though I’m still out of town. I’m still spending my days with the girls, but I’m back to sharing, offering, answering questions, etc. Grateful for this last little trip to Nashville before our lives drastically change. <3
Martians love their coffee. All day, every day. When we first met, we were constantly going out to coffee and spending all the dollars having mochas and lattes and sometimes free iced coffee refills at Starbucks.
Like anybody who budgets would say, that ADDS UP. It’s like a leak in your budget. On average, I assume I spend $5 every time I get a coffee out somewhere. That is so much money!
Over the winter, Justen and I discovered something that changed the way we coffee at home. We were perusing Goodwill and saw, in a brand new box, something that would change our coffee game forever. Sitting there, waiting for us to snatch it up and love it, was a Bodum frother. Originally $25, only $10.
We took it home and quickly made it ours, especially in the winter, making milky hot chocolate, mochas and lattes.
If you are looking for a way to save money without sacrificing fancy coffee, look no further.
Here’s the simplest way: just froth your creamer. Pour half a cup of your coffee and then top with the frothy creamer. bada boom, you’ve got yourself a fancy latte!
If you’re looking for a little bit more of a classic latte experience, buy yourself some syrups (we love Monin!) and add a few pumps to a mug, pour with a little coffee, and top with frothed milk of your choice.
Wanting a mocha? Add chocolate sauce to the bottom of your mug. Pump the syrup if desired. Pour some hot coffee, stir the coffee + chocolate while your milk is frothing and then top with milk. IT IS SO SIMPLE.
For us, it was a $10 investment but if something were to ever happen to ours, I’d gladly pay the $25 to replace it. That’s 5 days of Starbucks.
Also full disclosure, I’m writing this post AT A COFFEE SHOP, sipping on the mocha I paid for. Gotta splurge sometimes.
If you’re a fancy coffee drinker, what are some ways you’ve figured out to have fancy coffee at home?
also PS how cute is our little coffee corner? I know one of our bulbs is out. it’s a shame I’m too lazy to replace it.
It’s still really funny and kind of weird to me that I’m doing the whole week by week photos of my pregnancy thing.
I’ve been deep into Pinterest trying to find an actual format for pregnancy update blog posts and wouldntchya know… there isn’t one. 🙂 So I guess I’ll just figure out what I want to share and make my own… which is what everyone appears to be doing, hence the lack of actual consistent format.
ps we’re missing an exclamation point but we are excited! the next day as I walked up the stairs to our apartment, I found the ! laying on the ground.. it had fallen off, haha.
New Things
This past week, Justen and I both felt her kick from the outside. I’d noticed that she was moving around pretty aggressively so I put my hand on the part I was feeling movement and y’all I LOST MY MIND because the next time I felt her inside AND against my hand. So while we sat there watching YouTube videos of the newly opened Star Wars Land, I held Justen’s hand against my stomach until he felt her.
Now I’m obsessed with that and every night I lay in bed trying to feel her. It happened one more time and I got so excited. I have no chill with this baby, y’all. Just look at our fridge. No chill:
Weight
Last week I’d gained a pound, making my pregnancy weight gain -6 lbs. This week I’d lost a few ounces, so my pregnancy weight gain is around -6.5 lbs. I know that in a few months that number will go up as I put on literal baby weight, so having the wiggle room to grow a baby and still be within the recommended 10 pound weight gain is comforting. Also, I’m not trying to lose weight. It’s just happening.
Worries
In addition to what I believe are normal worries (is she okay? is she still alive? will she be born too early? will I be an okay mom? etc), Justen and I are without insurance for the month of June. The insurance from his last job covered us through May 31st and his new job’s insurance will kick in on July 1st, but I’m hyper aware of everything. As people in my Facebook groups go into early labor, get diagnosed with preeclampsia (which I have a high risk for) or lose their babies, I am fearful that any and all of these might happen to me and I’ll be gun-shy to get help because of a lack of insurance. I can’t wait for July.
Happy Things
They finished fixing the roof in our apartment, which means soon they’ll fix our ceiling and then we can buy a crib. I’ll be sitting next to it sobbing, don’t worry.
I wrote her full name down on a piece of paper for the first time.
Acquired Things
I spend a lot of time in Goodwill, in case ya didn’t know. I’ve been finding some cool things there, so I’ll start sharing what I’ve found. I’ve found boxes of Honest Diapers for $10 each (they’re normally $26!) and a $15 baby blanket we wanted for $4. To say that I’m excited to share is an understatement 🙂
I’m a ball of emotions, and after a really struggly first trimester I’m just so excited to feel so much whole-hearted excitement for this tiny human inside of me that will become a part of our family FOREVER. That’s a long time, lol.
PS our normal picture taking spot had REALLY WEIRD shadows (it was a sunny evening for the first time in forever) so we had to relocate, but look at the past month’s change! I literally had Justen take the picture in different angles because I looked fat. He corrected me and said I actually just look pregnant.
I live in the Pacific Northwest, where I love to drink coffee and adventure. I blog because I think life matters too much to let it go by without noticing
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