Where Poppy will Catch Some Zzzz's (Hopefully!)

Let me start by apologizing about this long overdue post. I will have to write 3 more just to catch up. I seriously lived at my office last week as we had our federal review .. more updates on that later. I can hardly believe how fast time is flying .. 27 weeks already?! Insane. I feel like it was just yesterday I found out I was pregnant. We are getting to "crunch time" and I'm glad that Benny is nesting as much as I am so things are finally starting to get done. Our AMAZING friend Jenessa runs a painting business and is my go-to person for all my decorating/design needs (that makes me sound fancy which we all know is NOT true). She painted the nursery for us while we were gone over the weekend & it looks fabulous! When I thought about what kind of crib I wanted, I originally thought I wanted a fancy sleigh crib. After planning the nursery and looking at a gazillion cribs, I completely changed my mind. I decided I wanted something very modern and simple. I stumbled across a blog about modern cribs on a budget .. perfect!! I started looking into them and found several I really loved that were very affordable.

Ultimately, I narrowed it down to two contenders. I probably never would have picked one, but one night Benny said, "I cannot take one more night of you looking at the same cribs and reading the same reviews. Here's my card. Buy one." Ha! And my response was, "Can you just pick?" And he did .. I had shown him the cribs along the way so his mind was kind of already made up. He told me he hated one of them and loved the either so that decision was made .. I also made him click the "finalize order" button (as if I couldn't cancel or return it..). I'm glad to know that our crib is daddy approved!!

We could have it shipped to our house for 97 cents or to the store for free -- so what do you think Benny made us do? Of course, we cannot pay 97 cents when we can have it for free! The crib came in much earlier than expected and I was thrilled. Unfortunately my dad wasn't around that night and then we went out of town for the weekend so I had to wait FOREVER to pick it up -- exactly why paying 97 cents would have been worth it! We picked the crib up Monday night and I wasn't planning on opening it up until this weekend, but tonight Benny said, "Let's put the crib together" and so we did. After questioning him on whether this was smart to do without an extra hand, we went to work. Let me tell you -- I was expecting an hour long ordeal after some of the reviews I had read. It took us maybe 20 minutes .. hopefully Poppy won't fall through!

Here's some pictures of our crib adventure. I threw in a bonus tummy picture. Please note that up until this point, "official" tummy photos have only been given to a few privileged people upon special request so consider yourself lucky. ;)

 This is the classic Benny stare .. his "hmmm... what to do first" look!

 Benny being silly .. he thought we should leave one side open to give Poppy a little more freedom.

 Making progress!

 And this was the one thing Benny did wrong .. and I wasn't in the room so he totally could have lied to me and a)not shown me or b) pretended like it came like that. just a small scratch/chip in the wood... after a little bit of overreacting, I got over it!

 And, yes, I did my part, too! With the Barbie screwdriver of course!

Poppy says, "Thanks, daddy, for my sweet crib!" 

 I just keep staring at it .. can't wait to fill it with a mattress, bedding, and most importantly -- POPPY!

 Here's a "sneak peek" of the bedding.. the skirt will look like this fabric. This piece of fabric will actually be used on the windows, but had to see how it looked with the paint & crib of course! Personally, I love it. ;)

 Me, Poppy, and the crib!

 And here's the belly picture I promised!! Poppy is sure growing. We have an appointment tomorrow so I'll know just how much I've grown. I think my butt is definitely growing, too! My co-worker looked at me today and said, "Well, the turkey's done." My belly button sticks out a mile .. this picture just doesn't do it justice!

Tomorrow will be my first appointment without Benny. He already asked if I can re-enact Poppy's heartbeat when I get home.. haha! We're so weird. I have like 800 questions for the doctor and he's already on me about how I won't ask any of them without him there and even if I do I won't remember anything he says .. yep, sounds like me!

Our video monitor also arrived in the mail today. Benny was pretty proud of this bargain he found!! We've already been playing with it and he already put the monitor on my night stand. Ha! Not sure what I'm supposed to watch until Poppy gets here but at least it will be ready to go .. we're not excited or anything. This weekend we'll be getting the windows done and purchasing a rocker (which will require a completely separate blog post). I'm feeling great - realizing I can't quite do a lot of things I could pre-pregnant and getting ready to take a cushion out on home visits, but overall, I'm healthy and happy! I'll do a blog SOON about all my fun pregnancy symptoms/stories!

Now, I need to catch some Zzzz's myself. :)

24 Weeks of Poppy Loving!

Baby is 24 weeks young today and I'll be 24 years old in less than a week! Wow, time sure does fly when you're having fun..

How far along? 24 Weeks (16 to go!)

Total weight gain: 17.5 lbs (ahhh!) I feel like I'm not eating as much as I was up to this point and now I'm actually exercising since it's nice out (by exercising, I mean taking a short walk around the block on days it's really nice... I hope you didn't think I was actually exercising since we all know that's against everything I believe in), so hopefully I don't go overboard on the weight gain! I need to stop comparing myself to what other people look like at this point in pregnancy because then I feel like I'm out of control and need to eat a salad. It probably doesn't help when people say, "You're huge." "You better slow down, girl, you still have 4 months to go." Trust me, I love my prego belly - but leave poor Poppy alone already ... I'm just allowing more space for him/her to run and play!

Maternity clothes? I moved all my non-maternity work pants and jeans to the top shelf in our closet. I was mostly just annoyed that they were taking up valuable space when I won't be wearing them for several months. We went to some maternity consignment shops in Sioux Falls and I got tons of pants for very cheap so I'm feeling a little better about my current wardrobe. I also got some not-so-cheap dresses at Motherhood Maternity (I have to be styling for all my weddings, graduations, etc. this summer!)

Stretch marks? I've been using Mustela lotion (stretch mark double action) and I swear it works miracles. I HATE how it smells & feels so I only use it at night so I can wash it off in the morning, but it makes those stretch marks that have appeared fade so quickly!

Sleep: What's sleep?!

Best moment this week: I have a few --- Sitting in the recliner watching Poppy make waves through my tummy and laughing hysterically with Benny about it, catching up with an old friend I hadn't seen in years and geting to hold her precious baby girl, watching one of my little ones take her very first step (toward me, I'd like to add), waking up on the couch at 4am to find my husband camped out in the living room with me (he told me the next morning it was too lonely in our room..don't tell him I told you), a long walk around the lake holding hands with my best friend, and my favorite childhood book (which made me cry every time my mother read it) arriving in the mail and Benny reading it to Poppy and me (yep, still makes me cry).

Miss Anything? SLEEP. More than anything -- sleeping in my bed with my husband! I fall asleep in an instant on the couch at approximately 8:30pm and wake up there in the middle of the night. I always feel bad when I get to the bed at 3 am and Benny's all alone. But I feel even worse knowing that the second I lay down, his sleep is over for the night because I'll be tossing and turning and trying to make sure he knows I'm uncomfortable. if I miss sleep now, I can only imagine how much I'll be missing it when baby is actually here! Ha!

Movement: Yes!! I literally can't help but giggle every time my tummy moves. The kicks, punches, somersaults, pirouettes (whatever baby is doing in there) are very visible. Benny finds it hilarious, too, so we're having a lot of fun with that. I busted out laughing in church because I looked down and my tummy was just moving like crazy! I always wonder if anyone else sees it, but then I remind myself that no one but me is staring at my tummy 24/7.

Food cravings: This last week I randomly craved salt water taffy (which I've maybe had twice in my life), but I just HAD to have some. My co-worker was leaving for California that day and sent me a picture of a store I'd like to call "Salt Water Taffy Heaven" so she is bringing me back an assortment. My pregnant co-worker told me I have to share .. bummer!

Anything making you queasy or sick: The thought of labor & C-Sections. No, really, it's disgusting. Also, I've been getting really queasy at work with all the little runny noses & poopy diapers. (I was reading through this and realized I wrote "poppy diapers" at first .. what can I say, I've got Poppy on the brain!)
Gender: Surprise!! Most people are still saying girl... I may have been in a little trouble this weekend when I purchased a little Chicago Bears dress (it was at a consignment shop and dirt cheap). I couldn't pass it up knowing Poppy MIGHT be a girl.

Labor Signs: Nope and let's keep it that way! Doc says let's keep it that way until at least 36 weeks and I'm all for that!

Symptoms: Decreased lung capacity (aka..I can't breathe!). Non-stop fidgeting in an attempt to get comfy. CLUMSINESS - falling up stairs, tripping over chairs, etc. (I think this is because I can no longer see my feet).

Belly Button in or out? OUT! But I wouldn't even call it a belly button anymore - it's completely closed and mostly just looks like a tiny little line on my tummy. I claim that "it hurts" but really I just hate belly buttons and think it's a mental thing.
Wedding rings on or off? Well, if I had mine it would be on. We had a little mishap -- while we were maternity clothes shopping, I stopped in to have it cleaned real quick and a diamond fell out in the cleaning solution. It's already finished but since it's an hour and a half away, I won't be seeing it any time soon.

Happy or Moody most of the time: Hmm.. Very Happy, but extremely emotional with brief moments of utter panic that baby will be here before we know it and we have nothing ready (because I'm sure this has NEVER happened to any other mother ever in the history of mankind). Any time I think about holding Poppy - I cry. Any time I get stressed at work or my boss approaches me - I cry. (This is okay because I work in an office full of women so tears are nothing uncommon). Any time Benny says something that's not exactly the right thing to say at that moment - I cry. And cry. And cry. And when I tell him I think something is wrong with me because I can't stop crying, he replies "Yeah, you're pregnant." Oh yeah.. I tell him every day he should go pro in taking care of pregnant women because he's amazing at it. I'm pretty sure anyone else would tell me, "I'll give you something to cry about" (famous line from my father growing up .. I tease him about it now!)

Looking forward to: My BIRTHDAY! (especially the cake Benny's making me .. IF I pass the glucose test!), Easter - church, family, brunch, etc., getting the nursery painted, buying the crib (when Benny gives me the okay..), maternity pictures!

We have a friend who says the most hilarious, random things and once he said, "It doesn't really hurt. It's just more ackward like if you had another person in your shirt with you." This has become my favorite thing to say because it describes exactly how I'm feeling!

P.S. Spell check kept correcting "anytime" and making it "any time" and it really drove me insane, but I was too lazy to google the correct spelling. So what's the verdict all you grammar police out there?