Happy Galentine’s Day! How cute is this floral maternity dress from Old Navy? It’s really comfortable, too. It would make the perfect Galentine’s Day outfit for brunch with all of my favorite lady friends. Also, I’ve worn it to two (of three) baby showers and I wore it out shopping and to enjoy the beautiful 80-degree weather we had on Sunday. The first two showers were in January, and it was slightly colder then so I paired the dress with my taupe ankle boots and looked pretty darn cute. It’s also office-appropriate so I’ll probably be wearing it a lot in the next few months as I start my new job.

I’m 34 weeks now and the realization that in about six-ish weeks I’ll have a real, live baby is sinking in big time. We’ve had all of our baby showers and finished the nursery, and now all that’s left is installing the car seat and packing my hospital bag. March 24th will be here before you know it!

Dress & Shoes: Old Navy | Necklace: gift | Sunglasses: Target

Linking up with Let it Shine

P.S. What’s Galentine’s Day? Allow my spirit animal, Leslie Knope, to explain:

image source

There are only a few more months to go before Nick and I have a baby. A son. A living, breathing little human that is going to be dependent on us for EVERYTHING. Holy Crap! In all seriousness, though, we’re getting pretty excited. And I’m getting a little nervous, especially about labor & delivery. I’m trying to remain calm and positive about it so I don’t freak myself out. The last thing I need is a traumatic birthing experience. To all the mamas out there, I’d love to hear about your positive experiences/moments in the comments! No negative or scary stories, please. It’s not good for my psyche.

On to the baby stuff…

baby size: Approximately 3.75 pounds (about the size of a large jicama or bok choy) and about 16.7 inches long. Although it still looks fairly small, my belly is measuring right where it should be at 32 cm (also known as fundal height).

cravings: Though not as intense, I’m still craving cereal and I eat a bowl (or two) each day. We’ve gone through A LOT of milk! Baby S should have the strongest bones on the block when we arrives. The past month I’ve been chowing down mostly on Rice Krispies cereal with bananas. I passed my gestational diabetes test (meaning I don’t have GD) but we discovered that I’m slightly anemic (losing iron to the baby) which is very common in pregnancy, so my doctor has advised me to add more meat, beans, and leafy green vegetables to my diet. No big deal. The good news is that Rice Krispies are enriched with iron so my bowl or two a day is probably helping.

I have a serious cereal problem!

movement: Baby S is moving around so much! Before, I was mostly feeling him in the evenings but now it’s all the time: mornings, evenings, middle of the afternoon, when I wake up to pee in the middle of the night, when we’re in childbirth class… He’s even kicked my ribs a few times, which is painful. I’ll be sitting on the couch and feel a sharp jolt in my ribs that makes me jump. I gently ask him to kick somewhere else. Luckily, he doesn’t do that very often but I imagine bruised ribs all the same. He also gets the hiccups several times a day, usually after I eat a meal or drink something really cold. As weird as it is, I love feeling him moving around and I think that might be the only thing I’ll miss about being pregnant once he’s here.

miss anything?: I miss being able to comfortably bend over to do things like put on socks, tie my shoes, and pick up things off the floor. My belly is pretty big for my small frame and it’s been getting in the way of certain things. I also miss getting to wear all of my clothes! I have so many cute skirts and pants that just aren’t comfortable with my belly band. Same with some of my cute tops — they just don’t fit over the belly so they’re all just sitting patiently in my closet until I can fit into them again. I could purchase more maternity clothes but I only have a few more months and plenty of non-maternity things that fit, plus the budget could be better spent elsewhere.

how we’re prepping: We’re still working on the nursery, but we’re so close! We’ve had two small baby showers already with one more planned  for next month (which is a little embarrassing to admit that we’re having so many but it was really hard to get all of our people in one place at the same time) so we’re still stocking up. Most of the furniture is in and most of the decor is finished. We’re just missing a few pieces like a rocking chair/glider.

We’re also reading as many books and taking as many classes as we can. I’m actually really interested in Hypnobirthing so I’ve been reading books and resources on that method of pain management, and Nick has been reading books and articles about how to be a great support person (he’s going to be amazing, I know it). Last week we took a childbirth class, this week we’re taking a tour of the Labor & Delivery unit of the hospital and a newborn care class, and in a few weeks we’ll be taking breastfeeding classes. I’m learning so much!

looking forward to: Completing the nursery so we have one less thing I have to worry about. Feeling like I’m ready, although, will I ever feel ready? Probably not.

best moment so far: I already mentioned this last week, but I was concerned that I wasn’t gaining enough weight. My midwife said my belly and Baby S are measuring just fine, BUT I should start eating more peanut butter, avocados, loaded baked potatoes, ICE CREAM AND COOK OUT MILKSHAKES. Pretty much all of my favorite things… and it’s doctor’s orders! This pregnancy thing isn’t so bad.

Holy cow, when did I become six months pregnant? It feels like the time is both flying and creeping along. March will be here before you know it, but let’s get through these holidays first, shall we? In the last few weeks, I think I’ve started experiencing every pregnancy symptom there is when you’re in the second trimester, which has been rough considering I went from no symptoms to ALL of them. I experience a lot of gas pain/pressure in my ribs and back, getting comfortable has become increasingly difficult, and I get breathless just sitting on the couch! I’ve been trying to do some prenatal yoga to help me feel better. But, enough about that!

baby size: 11.8ish inches and 1.3ish lbs, about the size of a large zucchini or ear of corn. He’s now considered viable if we were to be born tomorrow!

cravings: Chocolate-y cereal and cookies (fig newtons and sugar cookies). Y’all, the amount of sweets I’ve been eating this pregnancy has been unreal. I’ve always preferred salty and crunchy foods over sweets (like chips, fries, and savory cheese) but since becoming pregnant and having cravings, I’ve wanted the sweet stuff. I’m a little concerned that I’ll end up with gestational diabetes or something. I’ve gotten much better about balancing my intake of healthy foods with the sweets, but I still have that bowl of cocoa puffs before bed just about every night.

feelings: Emotionally, I’ve been staying pretty stable. I have had a few days recently where the crying has been free-flowing because of current life situations, but nothing that hasn’t been controllable. I figure I’m allowed to have a little catharsis every now and then. Physically, however, I’m feeling it. Like I mentioned above, I’m having all the symptoms right now and that’s making me a little moody.

movement: Baby boy is moving All. The. Time. I still feel him most in the evenings when I’m relaxing on the couch, but he does randomly kick and punch throughout the day. Sometimes I’ll even feel him moving around in the middle of the night if I wake up from a weird dream or have to go to the bathroom. It worries me just a little on the days he’s really still, but I guess he needs his rest like everyone else.

miss anything?: The holidays are coming up, which means parties and dressing up are just around the corner. Right now, I miss getting to wear all of my pretty and fancy dresses to holiday gatherings. And, while I haven’t done a deep search, it’s been harder than I expected to find a fun, glittery cocktail-style dress for pregnant women.

looking forward to:  Working on the nursery. The crib is up and we’re debating whether we should paint the room before we get any more furniture. Initially, I wasn’t interested in painting but here lately I’ve been changing my mind. We’re going with a woodlands/forest theme so I’m thinking we might paint at least one wall light blue and then put up a tree decal and paint some clouds. It seems like a lot of work so we’ll see what we end up deciding.

how we’re prepping: We’re still adding items to our registry to prep for baby showers. I have very little experience with babies so I’m practically clueless when it comes to knowing exactly what they’ll need besides a bed, food, and diapers. I’ll add a bunch of things to the registry and then remove them, and sometimes add them back! Do we need a changing table or should we invest in a dresser with a changing pad? Which mattress is best? What are the pros and cons of everything?  Ugh, it’s very overwhelming.

best moment of the month: Not specifically related to the pregnancy but I really enjoyed spending Thanksgiving with our families, some of whom haven’t seen the bump in a while, if at all. I love family so getting to spend the holiday with them while we’re prepping for our own little family was one of the best things to happen this entire year.

That’s it for now. Be sure to stay tuned for next month’s updates.

Linkups: Let it Shine

Thanksgiving is just around the corner so I’d like to take some time ahead of the holiday to reflect on the things in my life for which I am the most thankful. Thankful Thursday is a weekly series for the month of November.

With the holidays upon us and expecting a baby in the spring, I’ve been thinking a lot about how I grew up. Parenting styles and decisions are extremely personal but they often originate with what we know, which is our own experiences with how we were raised and the traditions of our families before us. Nick and I have created a couple of new, small traditions of our own since getting married, like purchasing a new ornament for our tree every Christmas, and now that we have a baby on the way, I’m really excited to establish our own family traditions. So this Thursday, I’m thankful for all of the wonderful traditions and practices I have to draw from as we start our family.

My family has always made a big deal out of birthdays and holidays, and I love it. We all come together, eat good food, and open gifts when the occasion calls for it. My aunt always bakes a cake or makes some kind of dessert. My uncle is almost always in charge of the gravy. My dad carves the turkey or operates the grill in the summertime. My grandmother makes coleslaw (we are from the south, afterall).

My brother and I would help my mom put up and decorate the Christmas tree. Sometimes we would go pick one out of a lot, sometimes it would come from our back yard (seriously, we lived in the woods), and one time we dug the tree up, roots and all, and then planted it after Christmas. It lived for so long after that! Due to crazy work schedules and dispersed families, we would celebrate Christmas Eve with the extended family by enjoying a feast and opening all of our presents, and then Christmas Day would be much more low key with just the four of us in my immediate family: mom, dad, brother, and me.

I’m not sure yet how we’ll navigate the holidays once the baby is born since our families live on opposite sides from the state from each other and we don’t want to deprive any grandparents of holiday time with the little one. Luckily we have some time to figure it out. But I know one thing for sure: I’m extremely thankful to be so close to my family and to have traditions that make the holidays so memorable.

Sweet baby boy!

That’s right! We are thrilled to announce that Baby NCsquared is a boy and I can’t wait to be a boy mommy! I’m really impatient so there’s no way I could wait to find out at a party or even at birth. In fact, here’s a confession: We’ve known for about a month now! I paid for an elective ultrasound in my 16th week to find out the baby’s sex as soon as possible because I couldn’t wait an extra month to find out at my 20-week scan today. But JUST IN CASE the sonographer was wrong, I wanted to wait until it was confirmed at our 20-week scan before making the big announcement. And you may be thinking how likely is it that the sonographer is wrong? Well, probably not very likely BUT I did have a friend from high school who went her entire first pregnancy thinking she was having a boy because that’s what the sonographer told her only to give birth to a beautiful baby girl! Oh, and then there’s this woman whose surprise at giving birth to a boy after being told she was having a girl was captured for the world to see! We have double confirmation (and some pretty good sonograms for proof) so we’re now confident we’re having a boy 🙂

Another confession: there’s something I need to get off my chest, a soapbox that I need to address. I *hate* when these things are called “gender reveals” because there’s a big difference between gender and biological sex. This was a biological sex reveal because all we’re telling you is that my baby will be born with male reproductive anatomy: penis, scrotum, testes, etc. Gender is a socially constructed role that describes certain characteristics of being male or female, but it isn’t always determined by reproductive anatomy. But that’s a post for another day.

Anyway, now that we know we’re having a boy, we’ve picked out a name (to be revealed later) and have started decorating the nursery. We’re doing a cute woodland animals theme with the fox as the main character. It’s also given me a chance to start bonding with him because I can call him by his name and better picture our future with him. I really can’t wait to meet him and see what his personality is like and all those other cool things that come along with bring life into the world.