30 Weeks!

How far along? 30 Weeks!  Can someone tell me how I have been pregnant for 30 weeks!!  That means that I have right around 10 weeks left of this, "How are you feeling?" "Are you excited?" "You don't even look pregnant!" "You will probably need a c-section." fun time of my life left!  Wa- freakin-who!  Some people say that ten weeks is forever, oh that is another one!  Although I am 7 months pregnant, people seem to think I have all the time in the world.  Tip to the bystander talking to the pregnant lady who clearly looks a mess and will pee/vomit on you at any moment:  Tell her 10 weeks is nothing, not that you still have so much time left.  Yes, it is great that we are this wonderful vessel for this new human being, but if someone tells you that this is fun they are: 1. Lying to you and need to be smack by every pregnant women who has their face in a toilet or 2. They do not have to go to work, the have a maid to clean their house, and their husband has tons of money...actually that sounds like Kate Middleton and you know what? I bet she has joined the I hate being pregnant club as well, so revert back to number 1.  Anyway I am 30 weeks pregnant!!  

Weight Gain? About 29lbs

How big is Nugget?  Nugget is a cabbage this week.

 

Best moment this week?  We had a really good week but the weekend with my hubs was the best.  Apparently when you are 30 weeks pregnant your husband all of the sudden becomes super husband, well at least mine did.  He let me nap while he cleaned.  He cleaned while I went and sat in my mom's hot tub, don't worry all you pregnant nazi's the temperature was set to a nice warm, below body temperature of 97 degrees.  He then let me nap when I got back because I was so tired from sitting in the hot tub.  THEN!  I woke up and he had dinner ready for me in bed, with juice in wine glass...you know just so I can feel fancy.  At night we had dinner and went to go get coffee, as well as play with our new camera.  I even made him go bra shopping with me and he only complained for about 5 minutes.  We ended the night with an awful movie...Don't rent Ted, it will make you more dumb by the moment.  It was a nice, little we are having a baby in 10 weeks!!, weekend.  

Odd Pregnancy Symptom of the week:  Well not really odd, but I am a true emotional mess.  There should be rule that your puppy must stay alive through the whole term of your pregnancy.  I miss her so much and I cry every time Dufda brings her up.  He just tries to make me smile by telling me stories about what Tasha is up to...He has a killer imagination and I cannot wait for him to have his little buddy to share it with.   When I put my dog, Nala down I do not remember it being this hard.  She was also visibly sick and I knew she wouldn't last.  Tasha was full of energy until the day she fell off the bed ; (.

Miss Anything?  When I woke up this weekend, the additional weight of Nugget is definitely making his prescence known.  I am totally unable to complete the tasks that I want to do a.k.a if you would like to gift Nugget anything I heard he would like to have a maid come and help out his mommy.

Food cravings?  Man, they are getting so bizarre.  I will be laying in bed and need Doritos..the cheesy kind...like now.  Then I will get up and need tomatoes followed by ice cream.  It is amazing how you can have no energy, but then all of the sudden at midnight you can get up making your self an exact replica of a #4 of the Mcdonalds Breakfast Menu.

Looking forward to?  Christmas!! We celebrate on Christmas Eve and Christmas day with different people.  All the presents are wrapped, which wasn't very hard because we went with gift cards for most people this year, and by that I mean the 4 people we have to buy for.

We got to go out for a Christmas concert this week.  Go check out the post here!

Night out at the Mansions

So rarely do Dufda and I go to anything that is outside of Starbucks or dinner.  We are pretty mundane when we plan our activities.  That is why I was so excited to go to the Mansions on Fifth with my parents and aunt and uncle.  The reason that they were going was their friends Dave and Maureen Budway were playing a Christmas concert at the Mansion.  The Mansion also happens to be owned by my aunts good friend.  This made us feel unusually welcomed from the moment that I walked in the door.  A couple of day later I asked my dad, "Didn't it feel like everyone treated us like we were their best friends?"  He definitely agreed.

One of the things that I love about living in Pittsburgh is the great history that everything brings.  This mansion belonged to Willis F. McCook who was Henry Clay Frick's attorney.  McCook's family lived here in the early 1900's and is situated on Millionaires Row.  This is where all the steel industry big wigs lived back in the day.  When this mansion was first erected, the cost was a towering $300,000 in 1906.

The mansion was then bought by the Bonavita family in 1946 for a measly $48,000.  This family actually rented rooms on the second and third floor to Carnegie Mellon, University of Pittsburgh and Chatham students.  Hopefully, those students weren't like the ones that I rent to in Oakland now.  There is a second mansion that sits behind the McCook Mansion that the Bonavitas also purchased.  Margaret, wife of Emil Bonavita lived in the main mansion until 2003 when she died.  In 2004 a fire broke out on the third floor of the main mansion making it uninhabitable.  The couple decided to sell off the mansions to someone who would restore them to their original beauty.  

They were bought in 2005 by my aunt's really good friends who set out to bring these mansions back as well as upgrade them to make an unique boutique hotel experience.  One of the things that I think is wonderful about the restoration of the mansions, they were completed in the most green fashion that could be done.  Everything that could be reused was and products and furnishings were purchased as local as they could be.

Now enough of the history... We went for a concert and a great concert is what we got.  Dave and Maureen Budway were names that I heard growing up because they just so happen to be customers of my dad.  I remember getting out of school early and my mom taking me down to Matta Motors for my dad's Christmas party.  Dave was playing this small little keyboard and putting on a show for like 7 or so employees.  The weekend after the show we were just at, he went to play at the White House...you can say he has upgraded.  Dave and Maureen our brother and sister which makes for a great connection while they sing.  Two of my favorite songs where their rendition of Santa Baby and then they went through and were singing different "country themed" Christmas songs, ending with a Lebanese Jingle Bells that was pretty hilarious.

  

Dave and Maureen were playing as a part of concert series that was hosted by The Mansions on Fifth.  Food was provided during the event.  They literally served the best brownie I have ever had.  This could be because I was pregnant but I do think that it was to die for.  The crowd was definitely geared toward the older folk, but there is no reason that 20-somethings couldn't make this place a new hang out.  Anyway if you are looking for a fun historical place to go, go check them out.  Parking is tight, so if you are in the area think about walking.

2nd Trimester Recap - Everyone is a liar...

When I did my recap on the first trimester you might remember that I was really hoping for some relief from this awful pregnancy that I had got myself into.  Check out my thoughts here.  I am sad to say that this has not happened.  I am just one of those people who do not get to enjoy pregnancy.  I am still on Zofran daily and even with that, the nausea never stops.  I have heard enough people tell me, "Shouldn't morning sickness be over by now?"  That the next one who says it to me might get vom-ed on.

I did finally get my bump that I wanted!  It is incredible to look at those pictures over time.  I don't even remember how it feels to be that small anymore.  I love this bump!  I love dressing my bump up, and I love looking pregnant.  Dufda loves this bump and he looks at me daily and gets excited about how pregnant I am.

What I do not love about this bump is the pain and in convenience it brings.  The second trimester is a great time of change.  It is when you first experience the joys of sneezing and peeing yourself at the same time...or laughing, or throwing up, everything causes you to pee.  It also when you realize, as well as your husband realizes that you now own the bed.  He is best to find other arrangements if you would like to ever get comfortable again.  Dufda knows that he best not be crossing the snoogle barrier in bed and disrupt my fortress of pillows that keeps me sane.

I have also learned through the second trimester that everyone has this incredible opinion on your pregnancy, but when you share your opinion you will be wrong.  You are not allowed to have a say in anything that is different than what your mother, sister, great grandma's aunt did.  I am not one to keep quiet though, so I share my strong opinion almost just to erk people because guess what all pregnant women are smug.

 As well as you do not have the right to feel pregnant until you are about to have a baby descend the birth canal.  It is like you are not pregnant enough to be tired or sore or have awful heartburn yet.  And that brings me to the next wonderful thing that happens during the second trimester.

What is with the heart burn?!  I am hungry, I am finally sort of eating for two people that need food, but I cannot get anything to feel good in my stomach because I feel like I am a fire breathing dragon.  Peanut butter sandwiches and white rice are what make me feel good.  Pair this with the fact that the second trimester ran right through Thanksgiving and it made for one very unhappy pregnant lady.

Next up: Nesting.  You hear about this great phenomenon that happens when you get pregnant.  You will want to clean you house and never stop.  This is totally true.  What no one tells you is that you will clean and want to clean and organize the crap out everything in your home but your body will feel like that of a 90 year old lady so you won't be able to.  This will then cause this extreme hate for your husband who does not have this nesting need, but does have the ability to complete these tasks, but will not do them.  The second trimester is when we started our nursery too.  This paired with my total lack of energy has made this a huge chore.  My nesting has created this insane need to sew...EVERYTHING!  This is also cruel because I can't sit for very long, but I have this whole plan in my head how I am going to make custom monster curtains for Jad, that he will probably never care about, but I can't get comfortable enough to make them.

Near the end of the second trimester you have gained enough weight and have a big enough bump that you are unable to breath like you used to and you get so tired walking anywhere.   Shopping isn't very fun, grocery shopping is a huge chore and laundry will be the death of me.  How much longer do I have again?

No one sugar coats the third trimester.  This is because you are so pregnant that you are going to pop at any moment.  You have developed 8 chins from you 30-40 new best friends, and by friends I mean all those extra pounds you put on.   I have seen numbers on that scale that I was never even close to pre-pregnancy.  I told this to my wonderful dad to which his come back was, can you even see the scale anymore...haha your so funny. You are getting kicked to the point of taking your breath away because this little baby is running out of room.  And your belly button...don't even get me started on that.  

My third trimester is going to full of midwife appointments every two weeks, childbirth class, breastfeeding class, newborn class, baby shower, maternity pictures, finishing up the nursery, getting the house ready for the baby, and trying not to go completely insane.  I am hoping for an end of February baby, so everyone keep their fingers crossed.

29 weeks!

How far along? 29 weeks!

Weight Gain? I am back down to a total of 24 lbs.

How big is Nugget? Nugget is a Butternut squash this week.

Best moment this week?  This week was equally as hard as last.  From my last post you know that my little poodle was very sick.  We tried to take her back to the vet at the beginning of the week and ended up having to put her down on Friday.  She is my little buddy and she loved laying on my baby belly this entire pregnancy. 

We both really thought that she was going to be the baby's dog since she is so small.  We couldn't drag it out any longer and had to pull the plug and take her in.  We opted to bury her in our yard, which I have never done so I was unaware of how I would react.  To say the least, it was very tough watching a hole be dug and then putting her in that hole.  Our other two dogs were going nuts while this was going on and I know that they knew Tasha wasn't coming back.  This is bad, but what is good from this situation, I realized what a great husband Dufda is.  He has a love/hate relationship with the dogs, but when push comes to shove he loves those animals.  He was the one that made sure she had a nice place to be laid to rest and took care of burying her.  He also kept telling the other dogs that Tasha just went away to college and that they would go visit her later, I thought this was really cute.

Odd Pregnancy Symptom of the week:  What are these night sweats?  I wake up and I don't know whether I peed myself or I just turned into a fat kid on a hot summer day on the play ground.  Of course I am pregnant and far too lazy to wash the sheets everyday so I will just keep my nasty side of the bed to myself.

Miss Anything?  The ability to hold my pee.  This went away for a little and now is back in full swing.  I had to switch sides of the bed to have easier access to the bathroom, which I visit about 4 times a night.  How annoying!

Food Cravings?  Ehhh, I am just not very hungry lately.

Anything making you queasy or sick?  This is really sad and depressing but sleeping in makes me queasy.  I have to follow this very strict medicine and breakfast routine or I am thrown off the entire day and it is just miserable.

Looking forward to?  I have a trip scheduled to Athens at the end of the month for my friend Ally's bridal shower.  I miss that place so much and I cannot wait to go back!

Midwife Appointment:  I had my 28 week appointment on Monday.  I found out that I passed my glucose tolerance test with a 75!  This was very exciting, I really thought that I was going to fail for some reason.   I met a new midwife this week and she was great.  I start my appointments every two weeks now, which I feel came super crazy fast.

In other news I had my second gathering with the Pittsburgh Bump Club this weekend for our Christmas party.  Check out how that went here!

We also got to do out 3d/4d ultrasound this weekend which you can see here!

Jad's Picture Day!

If you did not know, we found out the sex of our little baby boy through an elective ultrasound.  You can check out the post here.  When we went for our 2d sex determination ultrasound, we purchased a package that allowed us to come back and get a 3d/4d ultrasound.  The second I left I could not wait to return to Insight Imaging.  I was so excited to see what Jad looked like and to just watch my little baby playing in my belly.  The people at Insight Imaging are pretty fantastic as well.  And as always, I had my trusty paparazzi taking picture every step of the way.

We get into the ultrasound room and you lay on this uber comfy bed, the opposite of hospital like.  They then start fishing around to get the baby to show us his goods.

Haha, I looked scared for some reason.  So we tried for awhile to get Jad to show his face, but he was really more interested in playing hide and go seek.

You can see his hand there totally blocking our view.  So after my stubborn baby would not cooperate, we tried to drink some cold water and move around to wake up baby.

Now back on the table!  This time Jad was getting mad, but he finally showed us his face.  At one point he even started to lick his arm and we got to watch.  I promised Dufda I would not post it, because he really wants our baby to be a surprise.  I will show you his cute little feetsies, though.

For our 3d/4d ultrasound we got pictures on a disc that we can print, pictures printed out for us and a 30 min DVD of the whole ultrasound.  I totally recommend this for a fun ultrasound.  It is so much nicer to have people who are excited to see your baby, instead of people who just want to measure the baby.  Jad has one final message for you today, "Peace out!"

 

Pittsburgh Bump Club Christmas Party

I had my second gathering with the Pittsburgh Bump Club this weekend.  We had our Christmas party at one of the girl's clubhouse and it was perfect.  The party consisted of a pot luck and white elephant gift exchange. 

For the pot luck I chose to make my crescent roll  Christmas tree shaped veggie pizza.  I think I make this once every holiday season because it is just so cute.  Here is what you need to make this wonderful creation:

• 2 packages of Pillsbury crescent rolls
• 1 cup of sour cream
• 8 oz. of Philadelphia cream cheese, soften
• 1 tsp of dried dill
• 1/8 of tsp of garlic powder
• yellow pepper
• green pepper
• red pepper
• carrots
• broccoli

 First you need to unwrap the Pillsbury crescent rolls and keep them in roll form.  You are going to cut these to make little pinwheels.  Typically I cut about 7-10 per roll depending on what kind of tree I am wanting to make.  You want to place them on a non-stick cookie sheet, cut side down.  After you bake them as the package directs you to, you will get something that looks like this:

This now needs to cool completely.  You now prepare the spread by combining the sour cream, cream cheese, dill and garlic.  I used an electric mixer because I like it to be really smooth.  I set that aside, because usually I do not wait long enough for the cream cheese to soften. 

While I wait I get to chopping and carving the vegetables.  The yellow pepper I always use to make a star at the top of the Christmas tree.  Find the flat side and then just carve away.  The rest of the pepper I chop into little squares that will look like lights.  The red pepper is sliced into long pieces to be made into the garland on the tree.  Carrots just chopped to make round ornaments.  Broccoli chopped to make the evergreen.

You will then spread your cream cheese mixture over the whole tree.  I start by placing the star at the top and then making the red garland.  You can then use all other vegetables to fill in the holes.  Then you are done and have super cute and simple holiday treat!

Now onto clean up....Dufda always gets mad because I make a ton of dishes.  How can you get mad at this pregnant lady?!

 

Next up was to get together presents for the white elephant gift exchange.  I had two gifts left from my wedding that were awful and thought they would be perfect so I wrapped them up and that was done. 

I bought a purple dress on Amazon that really was to big to wear as a dress on its own, so I decided to use this for my outfit tonight.  We both got ready and headed off because it was quite the drive for us.

A lot more people showed up than I had originally thought which was great.  We had so much food and yummies and of course non-alcoholic wine and my new favorite, non-alcoholic beer.

During the white elephant gift exchange, I pulled first to go and Dufda picked #2.  The first gift I opened up was awesome: Yankee Candle!

Who knows why I am making that face.  Dufda was up next!  He got a dancing Christmas decoration thingamajig.

It was actually very funny. Well, my gift got stolen from me by an unnamed pregnant lady and I had to pick another.  This was what I got next:

That would be Always pads, Witch Hazel and two adorable baby hats.  I thought this was a great gift, if you have read anything about being pregnant before you know why.  And because of this, it was also stolen!  But that pregnant lady wasn't going to get to keep it for long because as the white elephant gift exchange goes, I get one last chance to steal.  After I had my wonderful gift stolen, I opened a bottle of Narcisi wine.  Yes, a very nice gift of which I have no use for.  So I stole my pads, witch hazel and baby hats back.  Within this stealing mess, someone also stole Dufda's gift and we had to end up with one of the same gifts that we bought.  All in all it was great night!

 

Nugget's Nursery - The Small Things

So we are continuing to work on the nursery and man has it come along way from the huge dressing room that it once was.  The theme for the nursery is crazy fun monsters.  I am trying to make as much as possible myself because all the little things that you can get on Etsy sure do add up. 

At the very top are 3 of the 4 monsters that will go on Nugget's mobile.  They are handmade by me! and I love them!  I basically just took the designs from what I think a friendly monster would look like and free handed it.  I started out with the one with wings, then the yellow one and next the blue one.  I still have one more to make.  I found it easiest to do the mouths with four strands of thread through your needle and to close the monsters up with two strands of thread.  It takes a lot of time, but sure does beat the $90 mobiles on Etsy.

Next is the infamous paper lantern cluster.  These are everywhere on Pinterest and I thought it would be super simple to do.  It is not.  I have officially given up till I have more patience.  I think I need to make the orange one smaller or remove it completely.

We are cloth diapering and we scored a huge lot on eBay, but where was I going to store all of them.  I finally found these great under crib storage drawers at Ikea that match perfectly.

The flooring is going to be the stacks of the Arabic letters.  I had it laid out, but then didn't want it to get ruined before Nugget gets here.  They are a rainbow of colors and make a great play surface.

I really wanted a fun light for this room.  I didn't know what kind, but found this sun at Ikea.  I think it's perfect.  It makes the light in the room less harsh then bright white and projects the yellow light like rays over the ceiling.  Installing it though, was not fun.  It actually had to wired into the ceiling, while I thought it was a simple dome.

More Monsters!  I am going to make a whole slew of monsters to match the decor.  I am thinking about displaying them in painted fruit racks on the wall until he is old enough to play with them.  They make me laugh every time I look at them!

That tree canopy up there was a point of contention between Dufda and I.  He didn't get it, and I had to have it.  I won.  I think it is going to look even better after the curtain get installed.

I found that cute little frame at Burlington.  This is not typically something I would buy but it matched perfectly.  I can't wait to put Jad's picture in there!

And finally is Jad's collection of newborn fluff so far.  His diaper for when he gets bigger are nearly as fun or cute, but I am so obsessed with how little these ones are!

We still need to get his bedding, make curtains, hang curtain rods, make book slings and hang stuff on the walls and then we should be good to go!

28 weeks!

How far along? 28 weeks

Weight Gain? I am weighing in at 140 steady.  Work is about to slow down so I am sure I will start to gain weight again as I will be far less active.  I have never seen 140 on the scale and it surprisingly doesn't bother me.

How big is Nugget?  Nugget is the size of an eggplant.  Dufda is super excited about this because then I will use the eggplant to make his favorite dish.  Recipe to follow!

Best moment this week?  Well let me tell you there were none.  This is how my week went. Tuesday:  Woke up in the morning and decided I should take another shower.  Went to blow dry my hair and my hair dryer stopped working.  I had to go to bed with wet hair.  Wednesday:  Worked like crazy and my mom gave me a hair dryer to use. Thursday:  Tasha falls off the bed and dislocates her leg, she is then overdosed with aspirin because Baby aspirin is what you give her does not equal the same thing as Baby, aspirin is what you give her.  That same night I am suppose to go renew my car registration and was unable to.  I am still driving around with an expired registration.  I plan to play dumb and pregnant if I get pulled over before I get to this.  Saturday: Had to be at the lab at 8am to do the glucose tolerance test.  I am still nauseated and was unable to eat before this.  They then give you this awful orange sugar drink that you must drink and then wait an hour.  I thought I was going to lose feeling in my arms and entire body I felt so weird.  I won't know if I pass until my Monday Midwife appointment.  I may die if I have to do the 3 hour test.  After that my week did start to look up.  We went to the convention center to a craft fair called Handmade Arcade.  We got Jad a new monster, probably the only one we will buy and not make:

I am sitting on the new to me rocker we bought off of craigslist in this picture.  You never know if you will survive a craigslist purchase, so I am very happy to have the chair and be alive.  Anyway I hope my week gets better next week because I don't know how much more of this I can take.

Miss Anything?  I am just like an old lady.  I can't get out of bed fast, which is a problem when you constantly feel like you may pee yourself.  I also am so tired.  I made myself work for two hours the other day and it was very a hard.  I could barely walk after.

Food Cravings?  Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches!  I have been eating them every day.  It is one of the only things that stops my heartburn.

Anything making you queasy or sick?  Still my vitamins : (

Looking forward to?  We get our 3d/4d ultrasound next Saturday!




 

27 Weeks!

How far along? 27 weeks

Weight Gain? Down 1lb to 24lbs.  I think this is because work has picked up and I am constantly running up and down stairs to show apartments.  I know it is good for me, but man does it make me useless at the end of the day.

How big is Nugget?  Nugget is about the size of rutabaga, so they say.  I think he is more the size of the first toy we bought him, this super cute airplane. He also is opening his eyes this week!  How exciting!!

We got a new camera this week and we are still learning.  The point and shoot was much easier.

Maternity Clothes?  I am at a weird point.  I think I have about 12 weeks left.  Twelve weeks doesn't seem very long to wear any amount of clothes.  I know I want to get a nice (probably expensive) dress for my shower, but other than that I am thinking I may be able to make due with what I have.  Plus, buying baby clothes is way more fun!

Best moment this week?  My mother got the hot tub that she has been waiting for, for about 18 years.  This was great because since I do not have a bath tub I was finally about to sit in a pool of water.  It was beyond relieving.

Miss Anything?  I am waiting for the nesting thing to start because I could probably care less about my house.  Any takers for being a free maid for a tired pregnant lady?

Food Cravings?  I wanted chinese food and waffles so bad this week.  Together, not seperate.  Dufda told me he could make me a peanut butter sandwhich and that would be all.  It was 11 o' clock at night and I was pretty specific when I asked for Chinese food from Tong's in Oakland.  They most likely were not open at that hour.  

Movement?  He is so active.  Last night at about 3 am he was going nuts in there.  I could have been dreaming, though I am not very sure.

Anything making you queasy or sick?  I am still unable to take my prenatal vitamins, which makes me feel sort of bad, but not really.  I am all around just feeling off.

Looking forward to?  Seeing our little baby.  I think about him all the time and just can't believe he will be here in a a few short months!

Dufda quote of the week:  While getting ready to go to the hospital tour: " Make sure you find my wedding ring so it doesn't look like I knocked you out."  I would have a black eye if you knocked me out, not a diamond ring hehe.  

We went on our hospital tour this weekend and I was very disappointed.  Although we will only be going there in the event of a necessary transfer, I could not believe the policies instated by the hospital.  I am giving birth to my baby.  A baby I will take home and be responsible for until it can handle itself.  Why in the world would I not be able to walk through the halls while holding my baby?  They tell us it is dangerous.  What is dangerous is continuing these absurd practices and never improving maternity care in the U.S.  The hospital was dated and not nearly as inviting as The Midwife Center.  The lady who gave the tour was a older women and very much had an older mindset.  She kept saying that everything was for the baby, but they some how forget that it is essential for baby to be with their mother, not with nurses.  Why must the nurse clean off my baby?  Why can the baby not be given directly to my husband or I?  Why do you have to remove the baby every night at midnight to weigh them?  Why does my newborn child need to be bathed right away?  And if this is required why is the mother not allowed to do it?!  This lady did not like Dufda and I.  There was one other couple during the tour that had the same mind set as we did.  I have been guided through my prenatal care through my choices, not someone elses.  My birth center is baby and mother focused and would never remove your baby, unless it is to go the emergency room for some extenuating circumstance.  If midwives, who most people think are inferior to that of doctors, can weigh and care for your baby bedside, how have doctors not figured out this practice yet?  I honestly left there feeling bad for the other pregnant women who may think that this is there only option in childbirth, which I assume was about 8/10 of the group.  They were also the ones totally side eyeing the people asking questions, because they would just accept this for what it was.