Weekending: Birthday Celebrations

Happy Monday! I'm recovering from a really fun weekend of celebrating MG's birthday throughout the weekend, so of course there were lots of highlights:

~Friday morning my work Christmas Elf struck again, leaving me 11 tea bags for the theme of "11 pipers piping"

~Had hubs' birthday gift waiting for him when he got home from work (with a few more coming soon in the mail)

~Got ready for MG's birthday dinner out at Eddie V's...wore one of my new Loft tops (not maternity, but definitely wear-able during pregnancy; I love the bell sleeves on it)

~Had the most amazing meal at Eddie V's: moscow mule for MG and a mocktail for me; lobster bisque and wedge salad to start, MG got the steak and I got the shrimp, plus we got the truffled mac and cheese to split. And we ended with blackberry cobbler which was SO good.

Everything was SO good, and let's just say I was glad that I had my belly band handy that night lol

~Walked around for a bit after dinner and enjoyed the rainbow Christmas tree

~the next morning MG decided he wanted to replace the toilet in our master bathroom so I accompanied him on a trip to Lowes to pick it up...and a few hours and some curse words later, we had a new toilet installed

~While MG worked, I did a lot of baby research for things to add to our registry. I think I have a pretty good base for all of the major things--the Baby Bargains book was super helpful and I highly recommend it to moms-to-be!

~Went out for a sushi dinner that night and then came back and watched more episodes of Goliath--soooooo good!

~Sunday morning started with blueberry pancakes and was followed up by errands for the week

~Headed to one of our favorite restaurant/bars to celebrate MG's birthday with a bunch of his friends while watching the 1pm football games. Everyone showed up and several hours were spent chatting and watching games (sort of haha), and we even had an appearance of our friends' twins

 MG enjoyed some baby holding...becoming a natural, that one :)

~Headed home around 5:30 to eat, shower, watch a bit more football and relax for the night

Overall, I'd say it was a successful birthday weekend for MG. The biggest highlight for me was when he told me that this is just where he'd want to be in his life on his birthday: with me, and our baby on the way. #mush :)

Hoping your weekend was fun, too!

Weekly Faves

Somehow it's already December, although the temps here haven't totally caught up with that idea since we've been in the 50s and 60s here (and I'm completely ok with that).

This week brought with it some craziness since coming back from Thanksgiving break, but also some awesome favorites!

{1} More (unexpected) baby gifts

I saw one of my favorite preschool parents yesterday when she dropper her son off for therapy. This mom was SO understanding, supportive and wonderful during everything with my dad this year. So, it was no surprise when she was super sweet and brought a gift for our baby when she came this week (she found out I was pregnant before Thanksgiving). She was also super excited to find out the gender (as am I!!!), and it was just nice having a parent who is so kind and sweet all the time, who showed us some love in this sweet way!

{2}Holiday Cheer

I stopped by my mailbox at work and found a note addressed to me...upon opening it I saw this letter, and found some yummy treats in the teacher's lounge freezer!

I had no idea that someone was doing this Christmas Elf thing, so it was a complete surprise, and a welcome treat! Plus, this person has to know me, and my fondness for Drumsticks :)
Needless to say, I'm willing to bet you can guess what I had after dinner last night ;)

{3} New Show: Goliath

{via}

If you have Amazon Prime, you need to watch this show! It stars Billy Bob Thornton and has amazing reviews, so MG and I decided to pop it on the other night, and then quickly rolled through two of the 8 episodes. SO intense, with some funny parts, and also SO good! Definitely a new one for us to watch (and probably breeze through in the next couple of days)

{4} Funnies (usually these are number 5, but....)

When you're pregnant and feeling bigger, and people tell you how good you look

{via}

When you call up daycares and they tell you how much the price will be per week, then you multiply that by 4

{via}

When someone asks you a question right as you put burning hot food in your mouth

{via}

When you're in a meeting with someone who can't shut the h*** up

{via}

{5} Happy Birthday to my Favorite Guy!

My amazing husband is turning 35 today, despite still looking like a college kid (and still gets carded). We have dinner reservations at Eddie V's tonight for some delicious steak, and have plans for a big get together with friends on Sunday afternoon, plus some gifts sprinkled in there, too!

I've said it a million times, how much I love MG, so I won't go into it again and bore you with my mush. But, just know, I appreciate this man so so much, and am so exited to celebrate another year together!

Hoping your weekend is relaxed and fun, and you get all of your holiday shopping done! I need to get our cards addressed! Eeep!

See you on Monday, lovies!

Thursday Randoms

As usual, I have some random stuff circling around my brain...

~it feels weird calling up and looking into daycare centers before we've even picked out a crib yet #yearlongwaitlists

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~I tried my hardest to get the OB at my appointment last Tuesday to ask for an ultrasound so we could find out the gender before Thanksgiving. She was nice about it, but the answer was still a "no" because there wasn't a "medical reason" for it. I tried explaining that if I didn't find out, I'd go "medically insane" but apparently that's not part of the DSM IV #showmethegender

{via}

~I had a crazy parent meeting scheduled for Friday, which is also MG's birthday. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't dreading it since we got back from Thanksgiving, and then it got cancelled. Which only feels like a stay of execution at this point since it will be rescheduled. #temporaryrelief

{via}

~How is it already December? #timeisflying

~One of the nurses at my practice told me I should be drinking 130 oz of water a day. To which I almost peed myself. Maybe because I always need to pee, but also because the thought of MORE liquids in my body just overwhelmed my bladder. #cantstopwontstoppeeing

{via}

~I used my "flex days" this week to make up therapy for a couple of groups I'd missed this past month due to meetings, etc. And then today there's a chorus concert during the time of two of the groups I made up for November. I can never get ahead. #itried

~When I get messages about using "infographics" that someone has designed, about a topic I never write about, nor would I write about, it annoys me. Same with posts about dumb topics. Whenever I email these people back with what I charge for that, they always so "oh, this isn't something we would pay for". Well, if I'm not writing about it currently, I'm not going to write about it simply because you asked me to. #leavemealone

{via}

~I spent a lot of money during the online sales this past weekend. Like, a lot. And only about 1/3 of it was for others. #oops #mamaneedsmaternityclothes

What's on your mind this week?

WHW {#69}:Crazy Preggo Dreams

For today's edition of What's Hap-"Pinning" Wednesday, we're talking about my weirdo pregnancy dreams, since these seem to be happening on a nightly basis.

Everyone told me that when I got pregnant I'd have really weird dreams. For the first trimester I didn't have weird dreams, but in my second trimester oh my word! It is just about every night, and sometimes I have multiple coo-coo dreams in one night. And they are VIVID!

Here are some gems thus far:

~I had a dream that I was part of a Mexican family who performed at different events like weddings and the like in traditional festive Mexican garments. In the same dream my "sisters" were on stage at a highschool or something, performing a song (and not singing well, might I add). I woke up with the song stuck in my head and it is NOT a song I've ever heard before.

{via}  think a dress like this...except more gaudy

~I had a dream that my best friend's boyfriend was a middle-aged overweight mountain man (not at ALL what her boyfriend is like)

~I had a dream that MG and I were on an island vacation and he told me he no longer loved me anymore. Except the person in my dream wasn't MG, but I thought that it was?

I woke up from that one and told him I was a little mad at him for it lol

~I dreamt that I was a high school or college student taking a theater class and Katy Perry was in my class, and Andy Cohen was my theater teacher. I was also pregnant, and a girl that I worked with more than 5 years ago and haven't seen since then was also in my class.

{via}

{via}  See? Even Andy is confused by my dream lol

~I had a dream that I was driving home from work, but in a 4-wheeler (which we don't have, nor have I ridden other than when we were in Greece), and my helmet was dented at the top. I was also pregnant in my dream, riding around on the 4-wheeler on windy back roads. There was more to the dream but I couldn't remember the details once I'd woken up.

{via}

I'll leave you with those gems for today. My pregnant/mom friends...do you remember any of your crazy dreams from pregnancy? If so, share so that I feel normal :)
Now it's your turn to link up and share what's hap-"pinning" with you (whether it be crazy preggo dreams or otherwise!)

Thanksgiving Weekending

Oh man is it hard to come back to a Monday, and a full week of work, after having 4 awesome days off to celebrate and spend with family!

Luckily my Thanksgiving weekend was filled with highlights to get me through the Monday blues:

~Up and on the road early to pick up my mom and drive up to PA

~Had Thanksgiving at my SIL's house with 28 other people (it was massive!)

There were literally over 10 options for dessert!

~My other SIL and her family came over for dessert so we got to see them, too

~Got 3 bags of maternity clothes from my SIL's sister-in-law to go through and took home 1 bag full of clothes which included my first pair of maternity jeans and holy cow...love!

~The next morning I'm pretty sure my baby bump had popped...not sure if it was that extra helping of stuffing, but the bump was definitely out! 

~Did a little online shopping Friday morning: got some maternity things from Old Navy and Loft, along with some birthday presents for MG. My Under Armour order arrived the next day!

~Saturday we went to the movies and saw Allied with my mom, in-laws and BIL and SIL--the movie was really good! Definitely recommend it!

~Went out to dinner with everyone for MG's birthday to one of his favorite places locally

~Sunday morning it was up and on the road by 9 to beat the traffic

~Once we got home, we unpacked and got the Christmas decor out, and set up

~We had also picked up a new rug for the living room while we were up in PA

~We rearranged the basement to bring the couches closer to the tv, and create a play/storage area in the back of the room

~Had some time in the afternoon to relax and finally get started on Gilmore Girls. I'm only one episode in so NO spoilers please!!! I've avoided them twice so far

~Grabbed burgers out for dinner since we didn't have any groceries and didn't feel like going out to get them

~Came home and took advantage of the cool weather to have our first fire of the season while we watched Bad Moms from Redbox (Bad Moms was meh....)

~Sunday involved meal prep, and errands where I picked up this adorable maternity top from Target 

~Did some Kindle reading, had puppy snuggles, and got in a 3.5 mile walk to work off some of that stuffing! :)

It was a fantastic long weekend, and a wonderful holiday with family. It was bittersweet not having my dad there, but it was nice to be surrounded by the love of our family.

Hoping you can ease into your Monday today :)

WHW {#68}: Thankfulness

Happy what's hap-"pinning" Wednesday, A.K.A. Thanksgiving-Eve!

Every year I take the time to document the things that I'm thankful for, and wanted to continue that tradition. Likely, not a lot of it has changed, but I still like taking this time to reflect and appreciate the goodness (and greatness) that I have in my life.

{MG} 

He's at the top of my list because, as cliche as it sounds, without him, I'm not sure how I would have gotten through this past year. Having him by my side as my dad fought through his final days, and in the days following losing my dad, I found so much love and comfort from just being wrapped in his arms. Then to go through more of our fertility struggles, and have him be my shot-giver through our IVF process, to my nurse after my egg retrieval and egg transfer. And then getting to celebrate the fact that we would be parents, and knowing that the baby that's growing every day inside of me is equal parts him and me....it literally makes me tear up thinking about it. And then he goes and melts my heart even more when he talks about how excited he is for this baby...

Did I ever want to get married at 31? No. But was it worth the wait to find this man who is so perfect for me? Absolutely 100%. I'm SO thankful that MG is my life partner.

{Our Baby}

It's probably of no surprise to you that this is on the list. For the past two years, I've hoped and wanted so desperately to be at Thanksgiving saying "I'm thankful for this baby" and it feels surreal to be able to say that this year. It's been a journey to get us here, but that journey has only made me appreciate every single part of this process that much more. Seeing, and hearing our baby's heartbeat for the first time, seeing little baby arms and legs kicking and punching on an ultrasound....they make me tear up every time. I can hardly believe that this is real sometimes, but I'm so thankful that it is. This baby is already loved beyond measure and I know that that love will only grow bigger and bigger.

{Family}

This year is different in that we're going to be marking every holiday and special occasion by the absence of my dad. In years past I always spoke about how thankful I was that my dad was still here to celebrate with. And this year, I'm forced to look at things from another angle and be thankful that I have my dad looking out for me in a different way now. But I'm still thankful that I had a dad who showed me what it was to be strong, how important education was, what it means to possess good morals and act on them, and what it means to be loved unconditionally by a man.

I'm thankful for my mom for being so strong through everything with my dad. I'm thankful for her phone calls and visits, and how excited she is about "pumpkin" as she calls the baby. I'm thankful for the love and support she's given to me through all of our ups and downs, and am glad I can be there for her when she's needed it, too.

I'm thankful for my extended family, my in-laws, who I only refer to as my in-laws for confusion purposes, because to me, they ARE my family. I have two sisters who I love, and a mom and dad who didn't give birth to me, but treat me just like one of their own. I'm not lucky, I'm blessed. I know my dad said at one point that it comforted him to know that I had such a wonderful family to take care of me when/if I needed it, if anything happened to him. And I take those words to heart, knowing my dad knows that we're supported, even in his absence. I know not everyone has this kind of relationship with their in-laws which makes me that much more grateful for the ones I have.

And I can't forget Cooper, the furry love of my life. Coop and I have been together since I was a single girl, until now when he's going to be a big furry brother to our little one. Looking into Cooper's eyes while I pet him makes my heart happy, not to mention the nightly cuddles he gives...I know he was made for me and meant to be a part of my life. It's been the best 8 years together and I'm hoping for many many many more!

{Friends}

My IRL and blog friends are my heart. I'm lucky to have so many friends in my life who I can count on through anything. When my dad died, I saw a whole other side of the friendships that I had--how people really reached out and supported me. They say you know what a true friend is, not during the good times, but during the hard times. And this year I'm thankful that I had so many friends who lifted me up during the hard and dark times. I've also made friends with others who have struggled through fertility like we have, and we've helped each other through the process. I can truly say that the friendships that I have in my life right now make me feel truly blessed, and give a new meaning to "richness."

{Our Home}

I'm so thankful that MG have our house that we've made into a home in the last 2.5 years. It's been fun to take on home projects together since moving in, sometimes learning the hard way how to do something (or NOT do something lol), but learning nonetheless. I'm so thankful that we have a big house that holds enough space for our families to come and stay, where we've already made tons of memories, and where we are sure to make more in the coming year when we bring our baby home.

There are tons of other things I'm thankful for, but these are the big ones I wanted to share here today.

I hope that your list of things to be thankful for this year is ever-growing! 
Happy Thanksgiving, friends!

The First Bump-Date!

I'm so excited to be sharing my first bump-date on the blog! I've been taking weekly photos (well, almost every week) since I was 4 weeks pregnant when we first found out, and the progression has been so cool to see! I look back at my first photos and then where I'm at now and it's already SO different! I can only imagine how I'll feel in another 20 weeks!

How Far Along: 4 months (16 weeks)

Size of Baby: The size of an Avocado

Gender: To Be Determined but OH how I wish I knew already!!! I have 3 other friends due around the same time as me and they already know! (I'm thinking girl though)

Weight Gain: About 6 pounds

Food Cravings: Recently it was pancakes, but in the beginning it was cheese. Like seriously, one day, I could have ran someone over with my car for a grilled cheese! (the same day we made pesto grilled cheese at home haha)

Food Aversions: Thankfully nothing overall. Last week the idea of shrimp grossed me out so I subbed that out of a recipe for chicken and all was well.

Movement: I haven't felt anything yet!

Sleep: Ummm, like all the time! I'm not passing out on the couch as soon as I get home from work like I was the first trimester (especially the first 2 months), but I can definitely pass out around 9-9:30 on the couch and then go up to sleep solidly through the night for 8-9 more hours.

Clothing: I've not worn any maternity pants yet, but that's because my belly band has been helping me get some extra use out of my pants that I already have (hello, unbuttoned pants all day long!) but I just wore my first maternity top this weekend (see above)

Other Pregnancy Symptoms: Some random acne which is annoying.

What I Miss: Up until this past week, the only thing I really missed was turkey sandwiches from a local deli that I love. Then last week when I had a horrible meeting with parents and their lawyer, afterwards I really wanted a glass (or 5) of wine, but that's really the first time I've missed alcohol. That might be harder with the holidays coming up, but totally worth it!

Best Moment: This week it was getting a steal of a deal on our glider/recliner for the baby's room, and getting that room cleared out more, making plans for what we'll do in there.

Looking Forward To: Finding out the gender! I have an appointment today, but I don't think an ultrasound is involved (much to my dismay and attempts at nudging of the doctor), so I'll have to wait a few more weeks to find out. I just really had hoped we'd find out this week so we could do the reveal with our whole family at Thanksgiving since everyone would be together. But alas, we plan, and God laughs!

Can't wait to share more in the coming weeks!