Celebrating 30 Years... for both of us!

So I really had planned on making an epic Golden Birthday post. Umm... notsomuch. I didn't even *post* on our birthday.

*sigh*

We did have a great day though... baby or no baby. ;-) We decided to hit up Torchy's, which is one of our favorite places in Austin. I was so glad my bff, Camille (who flew in from Rhode Island!!) could be there too. She finally got to have some Tex-Mex, and it was her first taco on corn tortillas. Umm... yes. I would say she's a Tex-Mex virgin, for sure! ;-)

Then we went to Big Top, which we LOVE. Jeremy and I hadn't been there in quite a while, so it was great to go! Jeremy took this neat photo of the chocolate cases:

We didn't get candy though (shocking, I know!), but we mainly go there for the old-fashioned soda fountain. Camille got the most delicious limeade EVER (Sonic who? ;-) ), Jeremy got a cherry limeade, and I got a coconut Italian creme soda... all of which were amazing! :-) And I may or may not be having a serious love-affair with anything coconut right now. Just sayin. ;-)

Can't have a birthday without cupcakes, right?! I was stoked that we were able to stop by Delish, which has gluten-free cupcakes... just for me! Okay, not *just* for me. Tee hee. But wow, they are DELISH! (No pun intended.... okay, it was intended because I'm not one to actually *say* "delish," but they really were delicious! :-D )

Jeremy and I didn't even get a photo of us together on our 30th birthday on the 30th. LOL. We'll try to remedy that today... four days later. No worries. :-) But Camille and I *were* able to get a photo. Yay!

I did get one recent shot of Jeremy. Umm... I'm not sure what he'd say about me posting his bum (a very nice bum, mind you ;-) ) for all of the internet to see, but this photo is just too funny...

He doesn't *usually* climb in their carrier (our euphemism for "crate" ;-) ), but he did this to cuddle with Ruby... and it was too funny when he did this the other day. I had to take a photo. Amber is looking on, saying, "What the heck is going on around here?!?!" Tee hee. :-)

So... that was our birthday! Yay! I usually do a birthday post about how Jeremy and I were born on the same day. You can see last year's here. But this year, I just wanted to show pictures of what we did. Fun, yes? ;-)

And... no baby yet. I'm really not worried or stressed or anything. Don't worry. I mean, yes, I'm getting uncomfortable, but not miserable. I am feeling chubby and pregnant at this point. LOL. But it certainly doesn't feel unmanageable or "I'm ready to be done!" No, nothing like that. Just patiently waiting. :-) Yes, I can't WAIT to meet this sweet baby. He/she will arrive when he/she is ready! :-D

As for the Texas heat, and this summer being on its way to being our hottest ever... I can honestly say it's not fazing me. LOL. I LOOOOOVE the heat! Seriously, every day, I just spend time hanging out on our porch. I love it so much. :-) It doesn't feel any different to me... you know, having this extra 42 pounds or whatever. It still feels glorious. And I'm not all *that* strange. Camille feels the same way. At least we're in good company! ;-)

And since I haven't shown photos of the baby's room in its completion yet, I thought I'd share some art I made. :-) I know there are tons of these on the internet... usually done with hearts or butterflies, like this one here. But I thought doing it with Mickeys would be wicked cool. :-)

This is the "if it's a boy" version:

And the "if it's a girl" version:

It's actually the same piece of art, but the peach Mickeys are covered up with charcoal Mickeys. Tee hee. :-p These were just SUPER quick photos I snapped. I'll take better ones when I post photos of the room.

The room is *pretty* much done. The side table doesn't have knobs/pulls. And two of the containers in the closet don't have labels (*gasp*). And the mobile above the changing station isn't done. But really, that's it! I'm SOOOO excited to show you the room! I'm loving how it turned out.

Soon. Very soon. :-) I'll try to get hubby to take them tonight... providing I'm not like... you know, giving birth or something. ;-)

Polling the Audience.

Well, less than one week away from my EDD (July 30th). I kinda have this feeling I'm going to go over, but since it's our birthday, of course we're keeping our fingers crossed. ;-) And then when we heard about this couple, we even *moreso* are keeping our fingers crossed. See? It could happen! ;-)

So... let the guessing game begin! I set up a poll on the side there ------------------->

... if you want to take a guess on whether it will be a boy or a girl.

And if you want to guess on birthdate, weight, length, that'd be fun too! I can't guarantee you'll win something because after Baby K arrives, I'm pretty sure I'll be busy and tired. ;-) But hey, I could make something happen for one of you if you get several right! :-D

I'm just so excited to meet this little one. Such a surreal feeling. VERY surreal.

Growing: 37 Weeks

(Hee! Look at my belly button! Baby must have been pushing it out all kinds! :-D )

And some stuff about me at 37 Weeks (okay, I'm a bit past that now)...

Notes: I'm feeling pretty good, I think... I mean, pretty good for being 2-3 weeks away from my due date. ;-) I have some pain in my pubic bone from cartilage-softening. But I keep telling myself this is a *great* thing, so that there's lots of stretching going on! ;-)

I'm really enjoying being pregnant... even in the Texas heat (which I love, by the way! LOL). And even on days when I'm uncomfortable and/or in pain, I don't want to take one single day for granted. I know what it's like to lose a pregnancy. I know what it's like to be wanting a child and not be pregnant. I know what it's like to think it would never happen...

So I'm really trying to enjoy every second of this. :-)

Inches grown around tummy: 16 inches

Weight gained: 40 pounds (I started out under-weight, so this is fine... I'm actually really glad about this weight gain so far!)

Sex of baby: it's a surprise!

Heart rate of baby: baby is always moving up a storm, so the heartbeat is always moving between 130 and 160. :-D

Baby's Size: According to the average at this time, Baby K is about 6 1/3 pounds now and over 19 inches long! Craziness!

Movement: Still lots and lots! I love when I can see the butt or foot or knee sticking up. It's just so cool! And I love seeing its little limbs moving across my tummy. :-D

Cravings: peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, bean and cheese burritos, rotisserie chicken

Weird food notes: A friend of mine made some lemon cupcakes for me last week at my church baby shower, and I... seriously... can NOT stop thinking about them. I only got two, and it was NOT enough. They were the most delicious cupcakes EVER! I think about them every, single day. LOL. :-p

Baby's Room Progress:

• Room is cleaned out! PARTY!
• Clothes, diapers, blankets, etc are all washed and put away in bins! YES!
• Rocking chair cushion and pillow are MADE (sewn by me!) ... okay, I still have to hand-sew the closing of the pillow... ;-)
• Still have a few projects to do (more wall art and finish side table).
• I'll try to get in there with my camera, so you can see another in-progress shot. ;-)

So when Jeremy took my belly profile photos last week, I think he was feeling a bit left out. This is his "before the Phantom Fetus" shot....

And the "with his Phantom Fetus" shot...

And I thought it would be fun to get one of me looking down at my belly...

This next photo of Jeremy... How cute is he??!?! REALLY? :-D My heart melts at this shot. He's so excited to be a daddy. :-) He talks to our baby every night, and he always wants to talk about being parents. Love this guy. :-)

This is so surreal. I can't believe the baby will be here in a matter of WEEKS! As in... like... two or three! Just CRAZINESS to me!

Getting Things Accomplished!

So... we did SOOOOO much yesterday! YAY! *sigh* I LOVE being productive. LOVE it. I'm glad I've had a bit o' energy. ;-) You know, between breaks. ;-)

Honestly didn't think *that* was going to happen yesterday either... because we're pretty sure Jeremy got food poisoning yesterday. Poor guy. Was throwing up....

Jeremy: BLEHHHHHHHHHHH!

Me (from the other room): Did you just sneeze?

Jeremy: No... I just threw up my cereal.

Me: AWWWWW!

... and he spent the ENTIRE day in bed. (I took good care of him too! :-D ) But... when he woke up (at 4pm... LOL), he was ready to get some stuff done. YAY! :-D

He finally got around to painting the rocking chair and side table I got for the baby's room. He borrowed his dad's paint sprayer to make the job easier. Hoorah! (We still need to seal it with this Safecoat Acrylacq.)

This rocking chair was $50 at an antique store I love. Not sure it's actually an antique, but it's SUPER sturdy and comfy and adorable. And of course, I needed it to be white to match our crib...

This side table? It was FREE! It was *outside* the Goodwill drop-off. And the guy said they couldn't sell it because a piece of wood chipped off. Umm... okay. He said, "You can take it! Just don't let anyone see you!" LOL. Umm... okay! :-D

(Yes, Kissa is making a cameo in this post, and no, I didn't want to crop her out... because she's too adorable. :-D )

(I'll be sure to show before/after shots of both the rocking chair and table when they're completely done and in the room!)

I sorted baby clothes. That was kinda fun. Tee hee. This is my "to wash" pile of Newborn and 0-3 month clothes. (Yes, that top one is blue. No, I don't know if we're having a boy or a girl. I just had it, so decided to throw it in there. :-D )

And the "to wash" cloth diaper/cloth wipes pile. I'm VERY excited to wash these and put these away... probably more excited than any other job. Tee hee. (Yes, another blue item. I LOVE blue. Sorry. And if we have a girl, she will wear LOTS of blue. Because I LOVE blue. That is all.)

Next... two vintage items I would love to see in Baby K's room. This scale? How adorable is it?! Seriously?! LOVE it! It was a gift from my next door neighbor. :-) And this cute vintage baby box was $2 at my favorite antique store (where I got the rocking chair). Love that it matches our color scheme.

And a peek at the in-progress closet. Honestly, this pale grey (Benjamin Moore's Silver Lake) looked purple to me at first, but now I just love it! This stuff (sitting on the changing station) is just set there for now. None of it will stay put. That cute bag? I LOVE it (and it's blue, of course!)! I'll use it as the diaper bag, and then I can use it any way I want after that! :-D Adorable, compact, blue, lots o' pockets, and on-sale! Perfection.

This is also an "in-progress" shot. That lamp? I painted it to match the closet. Then I covered the lampshade with one of our room fabrics. Oh my. SO excited to see it on that cute little table (top of this post). And my Disney figurine collection. Jeremy may or may not argue when we go to actually hang it up. *sigh* Tough. I love it. It reminds me of my childhood. I love it. End of story.

A little peek at the crib and crib skirt I made! GO ME! (See how it matches the lampshade? WOO!) Umm... I still need a mattress cover and sheets. Tee hee.

And that's it! Well, we also went through a million boxes and worked on cleaning out the garage. See? Didn't we totally get a lot done?! It's crazy that we only have like... five weeks left until we hold this little one.

Growing: 33 Weeks

(I look really tired in this photo. Taken at like 10pm... LOL.

Also, my lordosis has gotten worse since I've been pregnant,

and I just noticed this today! So I tried to correct it in this photo,

by purposely trying to straighten out my back. Tee hee.)

And some stuff about me at 33 Weeks...

Notes: Finally feeling pregnant! LOL. Getting up in the middle of the night (and the morning) is SO difficult! LOL. Honestly, I feel like I'm 100 years old... you know, normal 3rd trimester stuff... a bit of swelling in hands/feet, arthritis in hands and wrists, pain in my back and sciatic nerve (I had this before pregnancy, but it's just flaring up now...), and stiff and sore. Thankfully, this all pretty much goes away within 30 minutes of being out of bed. YAY!

Feeling a bit tired too, but I'm *trying* to take naps to help that. That's tough for me. I'm not a fan of naps. Tee hee. Still feeling pretty great during the day though, and I know it gets harder and harder over the next few weeks, so I'm just trying to stay positive. :-D

And... I'd take all this over 1st trimester nausea and sheer exhaustion any day! ;-)

Inches grown around tummy: 15 inches

Weight gained: 34-ish pounds (I started out under-weight, so this is fine)

Sex of baby: it's a surprise!

Heart rate of baby: cancelled my appointment (due to exhaustion... tee hee) for this last week, so I'll know in a few days!

Baby's Size: I haven't shared this before, but it's fun to know! Baby K is about four pounds now and over 17 inches long! Craziness!

Movement: TONS! I love seeing the wave-like movement going on in there! Today at church... a couple, sitting next to me, noticed my belly was moving around like CRAZY. The husband was like, "WHOA!" And gasped and giggled out loud. It was pretty funny. The woman on my other side said to me, "I guess your baby likes music!" (we were singing) LOL. It was pretty neat. :-)

Also, a funny story: At birthing class this last week, our instructor asked everyone if we thought our babies had rhythm. Jeremy's hand shot up, and he said, "I love feeling our baby move around! Reyanna says the baby gets hiccups, but I think he or she is beat-boxing in there!" LOL! It was hilarious. He totally made the whole class laugh. :-D I love him. He's so awesome.

Cravings: milk, sandwiches, ice cream

Weird food notes: Cake & ice cream is probably the most fabulous food combo EVER. Just sayin... ;-)

Baby's Room Progress:

• Crib skirt is made! I haven't taken photos yet because I still need to attach part of it to the crib frame.
• One piece of wall art is DONE!
• Still need to make mobile.
• Still have LOTS of projects to do (more wall art, side table, rocking chair, cushions, etc).

Also, Jeremy's family and a high school friend of mine threw me a shower this last Saturday. Jeremy and I also had a few close friends there, and it was lots of fun. (I will *probably* post photos...) While I was showing my step-mother-in-law how the baby was moving, Jeremy snapped this photo...

It's nice that I now have a pregnant photo of me NOT wearing black! ;-) Heee! I should probably take some more. LOL. :-p I have a church baby shower this week, and I'm SO excited about it as well! Hopefully, I'll remember my camera... ;-)

Updating.

I feel like such a horrible blogger! I'm sorry. :-p

Truth be told, I've *wanted* to blog. I REALLY have. I LOVE blogging! But... I got my feelings hurt my something someone said about the photographs on my blog, so I stopped taking photos (gasp!) and stopped blogging... or simply blogged less.

*sigh*

And that? Is horrible! I mean, people are entitled to their opinions... that's not the horrible part. I don't claim to be a photographer... in the slightest. (I use my point & shoot for everything. I don't even know how to use my DSLR [hubby does!], but I'd love to learn.) The horrible part is that I let this get to me! And I feel guilty for that. I shouldn't have.

Anywho, I will be better. :-D

I have been SOOOOOO busy lately! I have LOTS of photos to take and share here, and I'll do that soon, but this is what I've been up to ... tee hee. :-)

Worrying:

All the time. About all kinds of stuff. LOL.

At least I'm not worried about giving birth! :-D

The worrying is starting to get me down though.

I gotta stay positive! :-)

Watching:

(My favorite season!)

Eating:

(Namely, Century Sundae and Strawberry Cheesecake!

Photo found here. Not sure of original source.)

Lounging in:

(Very comfy!)

Inspired by:

Source: houseofturquoise.com via Reyanna on Pinterest

and this:

Wearing:

(One of my favorite shades!)

Attempting to make my own baby book, using this:

Growing (just about at 33 weeks! And look! I have a butt now! ;-) )...

Wearing glasses (they're tinted, so that's why they're dark :-D ) and no make-up (tee hee):

That's about all that is going on here! We're still working on lots of projects. We re-arranged our living room the other day, and we're LOVING how it looks. We're so weird... every time we go in there, we say, "I love our living room!!" LOL. :-p Photos soon! Promise! :-D

Growing: 30 Weeks

Okay, technically this photo was taken at 27 weeks... just before I left for Colorado (I'll do another post about that). It's funny: I'm actually getting used to (though, still craziness!) the sight of my belly, so I feel like it hasn't grown all that much in the past two months. But then when I actually *compare* the photos, I notice I've *definitely* grown! LOL. :-p

And some stuff about me at 30 Weeks...

Inches grown around tummy: 13 inches

Weight gained: 30 pounds (I started out under-weight, so this is fine)

Sex of baby: it's a surprise!

Heart rate of baby: 150-160

Movement: TONS! He/she has pretty much taken up residence on the right side of my belly... more specifically under my ribs. LOL. But really, I don't care where he/she lives in there, because I love all the crazy moving around. I'm pretty sure he/she is doing flip-turns in there (a swimmer)! ;-)

Cravings: milk and watermelon

Weird food notes: I am still loving dessert, but I'm eating it *much* less frequently. Plus, yesterday, someone brought me some chocolate chip cookie sandwiches: sandwiched together with frosting. I only had one, and I think I may be set (read: sugar high) for the next 10 weeks. LOL. ;-)

Baby's Room Progress:

• Closet shelving is up!
• Room is cleaned out. (yay hubby and FIL!)
• Crib is built. (again, thanks to hubby and FIL!)
• Planning to start making crib skirt and rocking chair cushions today!
• Still need to make mobile.
• Have LOTS of painting projects to do (wall art, side table, rocking chair, etc).

It's hard to believe I'm *almost* there! We're getting more and more excited by the day! :-)

Scrapping!

I really haven't done a lot of scrapbooking posts in the past... umm... eight months?! After my miscarriage in September, I just didn't feel like doing *any*thing crafty. And it was really hard to get back into it. Ironically, this was the first project I decided to do:

It's a pregnancy journal, and I'm totally excited about it! I've already added photos to the first five months (okay, one photo is missing... :-p ), and I did take notes, so I just need to add those to the insides of the envelopes. I'm totally stoked to see it finished and have it to look back on. :-)

{It's made with Maya Road envelopes, the Bind It All, October Afternoon Mini Market stickers,

plus the SC Metropolitan kit.}

Then I did a layout with some old and new Jillibean Soup...
Those photos are actually from when we went to NYC in 2006!!! Crazy I'm finally scrapping them! ;-) That was our Christmas card photo that year (I just LOVE the colors... and my super-cute hubby ;-), and this photo of the puppies is one of my favorites EVER! They LOVED Central Park. LOVED it. We let them off the leashes a few times, so they could run and play, and they had a blast!

{Inspiration for that layout came from this pillow at LL Bean Home.}

And this is my newest layout. I just did this the other day...

My sweet Ruby. :-) She really is the cutest and sweetest dog ever. Truly. :-D I used this month's SC Singin in the Rain kit. I did use some white Mister Huey though to tone it down a bit. I like how soft it ended up being. :-)

Oh! And the inspiration for the design of the layout came from cards I saw at Tokketok.

Thanks for stopping by to see my new projects!

Growing: 22 Weeks

Comparing this photo with the last, I seriously feel like I've ballooned in the past 40 days (even in the past three weeks)! LOL. I was planning on taking this photo at 20 weeks, but time got away from us. Eh... having monthly shots is my goal, so I'm still good. ;-)

And some stuff about me at 22 Weeks...

Inches grown around tummy: 11 inches

Weight gained: 18 pounds (I started out under-weight, so this is fine)

Sex of baby: it's a surprise!

Heart rate of baby: in the 140s

Movement: finally felt the baby on March 16th! YAY! Now I feel him/her ALL the time, and I LOVE it. Jeremy LOVES it too. :-D

Cravings: cinnamon raisin Mochi (still), toast, cereal, sandwiches

Weird food notes:
Whenever I make waffles, I have to stop myself from eating every, single one... in one sitting.

Cantaloupe is my new favorite fruit.

I feel like my body *needs* dessert after every meal. Yes, this includes breakfast. ;-)

By the end of my pregnancy, I'm sure I will have eaten my weight in butter.

I hate juice... but I really want some.

Baby's Room Progress: Painted closet! Hopefully, shelves will go up this weekend! ;-) Started altering table lamp (gotta use what I have.... LOL). "Preparing" side table for complete makeover. I'll post photos as things get completed!

Jumping Up and Down.

I have become one of those crazy moms who gets all giddy when she sees her little baby on screen. No tears. Just laughing and giggling and barely-controlled glee.

I am sorry, but my baby is cuuuuuute! Sure, he/she is only like 11 inches long and looks like a bunch of black and white squiggly lines, but look at that profile! ;-)

And not only is he/she cute, but he/she is super flexible! ;-) We're sitting there, waiting for a good shot of Baby K, and what does he/she do? The legs came up (how cute are little baby knees?!?!?), he/she grabbed that foot, and it went straight for his/her mouth! My baby is *already* a flexible gymnast. ;-)
Seriously, it was the cutest thing ever. It's playing over and over in my head. And every.single.time I think about it, I get this goofy grin on my face, and I want to jump up and down at the thought of *my* baby in there! HA! Just too cool for words. :-)

Baby is doing VERY well, by the way. A very strong heartbeat and actually he/she is growing faster than expected and measuring about a week ahead of schedule! (Baby may "even out," so they won't be changing our due date...)

We were also *very* strong when the tech discovered the sex of the baby. Nope. We don't want to know. We love surprises WAY too much. And yes, I'm a planner, and yes, I LOVE organization (a lot), but I love surprises way more. And you know... I'm actually saving loads of money *not* buying baby clothes right now. LOL. :-p (Because honestly... those of you parents who know, how do you resist adorable clothes?!?!?)

This post has gotten ridiculous, so I'll be stopping now. :-) Thank you for reading my babbling. :-)

Looking at the Stats...

I just may like the headless belly shots better! ;-) Tee hee.

How far along: 20.5 weeks (photo taken at 19 weeks)

Inches grown around tummy: 10 inches

Weight gained: 15 pounds (I started out under-weight, so this is fine)

Sex of baby: it's a surprise!

Heart rate of baby: 154 (so my sister thinks boy because her boy's current heart rate is 153... LOL :-p )

Cravings: cinnamon raisin Mochi, stir-fry, and dessert after every meal (tee hee)

Movement: have not felt baby yet... but probably this week, I hear! ;-)

Next ultra-sound: March 17th! (I'll scan the photos!)

Other things: I'm tired (especially if I *do* something... ha ha), but sleeping at night is not my favorite. I toss and turn and get up to pee like... umm... a lot. :-p I get these waves of energy, where I want to do anything and EVERYTHING around the house. Then I start getting Braxton Hicks and have to sit down. Tee hee. Scrappy mojo has not come back yet. Grrr. No swelling or stretch marks yet (knock on wood), so I'm enjoying that part of it. :-)

This whole thing is SOOOO surreal! But I'm loving every second. :-)

Painting and Nesting!

So... many of my friends suggested we start on the baby's room, so I'm not painting and building and hanging stuff in my ninth month. Sounds good to me! ;-)

Perhaps halfway is a bit early, but we don't care. Since we're having a surprise, I'd love to still plan things out!

First... colors! I thought we'd really go with one of these two color schemes:

... but... I LOVE aqua and grey together. And especially if it's a girl, I would love, LOVE to have peach/aqua/grey. Just so cute. And *then* after I saw Vivi's beautiful nursery, I knew I had to do that color scheme.

Did Joni not do an AMAZING job on her daughter's room? It's gorgeous! (LOVE her website too! How fun is it that she makes nursery inspiration/style boards?)

Anywho... So my sister suggested we choose white/aqua/grey/beige... and then add peach/coral for a girl and charcoal for a boy. She's a genius, I tell you!

So... I needed to set out on a search for an inspiration piece or fabric with these colors. And wouldn't you know it? The 2nd day of my search (and after looking at HUNDREDS of swatches), I came across this gem of a baby line...

Seriously?! How cute is THAT?!?! SOOOO perfect! We had already decided on the paint color we wanted, so when I received the swatches from here, I was OVER THE MOON excited that they matched perfectly. Wahoo! Then I used the swatches to choose a grey and beige. So yummy. :-)

It's much more fun to see the progress of a room, don't ya think?! ;-) Here is what the room looked like when we moved in:

And here it is after we painted it Benjamin Moore's Antiguan Sky. (Please excuse the messy bookshelf in the center. That *will* be removed.) I really love how it turned out. It's so lovely. The closet will be grey, and that's what I'm doing today. :-)

What do you think? I'll keep you updated with the progress!

p.s. Tomorrow is my NINTH Blogiversary! Check back for a giveaway! :-D