Adios!

Just in case I have any true blog followers, I am checking in to let you know there will not be a weekly post this Monday... 


Why, you ask?

WE'RE HEADED TO THE BEACH FOR AN ENTIRE, BLISSFUL WEEK!

So Bon Voyage... I'll be checking back in when I'm a little more tan, and a little more round!!

3rd Trimester, a Newborn, and a Sledgehammer

So depending on which pregnancy book you read, there are different opinions on when the third trimester officially starts.  However, now that I’m at the end of Week 28, I am DEFINITELY considered to be 2/3 of the way through… WOOHOO!  So, so exciting.  While it still feels like we have a ways to go, I can’t help but start to feel a little panicked that we’re not going to have time to get everything purchased and ready for Baby Peele!  And the surprising arrival of our friends’ baby didn’t help my sense of urgency. J

Sweet Baby Smith definitely had his own agenda and decided to come about three and a half weeks early!  Our dear friends Ben and Sabrina have been featured periodically throughout this blog.  In fact, I just posted a picture of Sabrina and me with our bumps together at her baby shower a couple weeks ago.  We were exactly 8 weeks apart.  Well, on Friday night/Saturday morning at about 3:45am, I got a text from Ben that said, “Water broke.  At hospital now.”  It took me a minute to come out of my sleepy haze and realize that OmigoshSabrinaIsInLabor.  I nudged my hub to tell him and we decided to go back to sleep.  I just kept thinking, she’ll have the baby sometime tomorrow late afternoon.  After all, doesn’t everyone talk about being in labor for like a million hours?

Well, not Sabrina, because she is apparently Super Woman.  Here’s the story.  Her water broke when she got up to use the restroom in the middle of the night.  After her hub Googled “water breaking” to make sure that her water had, in fact, broken (he wasn’t quite sure he believed her), she started contracting.  They took their time, taking showers, packing up a hospital bag, etc.  He then realized that her contractions seemed to be coming pretty close together, so he timed them.  TWO MINUTES APART.  He didn’t want to alarm her, so he just nonchalantly said that they should probably get going.  He booked it to the hospital, and by the time they got there, she was SEVEN CENTIMETER DILATED.  The nurse decided to check Sabrina, and said, “Hey, Ben, come look, you can see your baby’s head.”  Well, all he could think about was the fact that she was just sitting in his jeep!  And now, with her feet in the stirrups, Baby Smith’s head was visible to all who cared to look!!

Long story short, she got her epidural, pushed about 10 times, and George Braiden Smith arrived at 7:00am on the dot.  6 lbs, 11 oz, and 19 inches of perfect newborn preciousness.

The proud daddy and his son!

We drove to meet the sweet newborn on Saturday morning as soon as we realized that he’d made his debut a little quicker than we expected.  My hub was so, so sweet with him and said, “It just makes me so excited to have my own.”  Oh how I love him!

The hub and me loving on George Braiden!

Look at his sweet face!

Truth is, I feel the same way.  Seeing Ben and Sabrina with sweet George Braiden got me so incredibly excited to be in their position.  The other truth is, it also scared the crap out of me to think that Baby Peele might come earlier than his/her due date.  Will we be ready?  Will we have everything we need off of our registry?  Will I have washed all of the clothes and blankets in the newborn detergent?  Will our hospital bag be packed?

However, when I think back to the new family of three in the hospital, I don’t think Ben and Sabrina could have cared less about whether or not everything is 100% ready and in tip top shape for their little one.  And I have a feeling that if our bug decides to make his/her debut early, all we’ll care about is having a healthy baby.

Don’t get me wrong, though – As soon as we got back home on Saturday, we hightailed it to the nursery and hung shelves, put up the art over the crib, got the mattress at the right level, and assembled the swing, car seat, diaper genie, and stroller.  ‘Nuff said.

In less exciting news, it feels like someone took a sledgehammer to my lower back and pelvis.  No really – I woke up this morning feeling like I’d been repeatedly hit in the back and pelvis bone.  Maybe it’s because sweet Baby Peele now LOVES to face my back with his/her butt/body out, kicking and punching my tailbone and pushing back against my tummy (over the past few days, all kicks/punches have been much more internal).  Also, the fact that we were on the go all day yesterday and again today probably doesn’t help, but I can’t stop – my brain is in OVERDRIVE!  My body wants to slow down, but my brain is constantly thinking of things to do, things to clean, things to organize.  Here’s to hoping my body and brain find a way to compromise sometime soon!

By the way, I passed my one hour glucose test!!!  And our appointment was great.  And my doctor is fantastic, because he agreed to let us come back for a quick appointment this Friday before we head to the beach for a week.  Yippee for getting to hear the bug’s heartbeat!

Also, tomorrow is my LAST NIGHT of grad school!!!!!!!!  While I’m still waiting on some final grades, I never thought this day would come and I am so excited to have the past two years behind me!!!!!!!!!

And, as I just wrote, we head to the beach on Saturday for a whole week!!!!!!!!

Can you tell I’m excited about some things?

Mostly, I’m excited about becoming a family of three in less than two and a half months! J

28 Weeks!

Third Tri Bump!

Baby Peele's Sweet Shoppe!

As if the 20ish pounds, body aches and pains, three months of nausea, constant kicks and punches inside my stomach, and arrival of nursery furniture didn’t make it real enough… I’m starting to believe that yes, I’m actually going to have a baby. J

This past weekend my sisters threw me an INCREDIBLE baby shower.  Talk about feeling so loved, special, and overwhelmed.  I’ve always known I was part of the best family on the planet, but this weekend was a great reminder of just how blessed I am.  All day on Saturday I could not believe that I was about to attend MY baby shower.  It seemed like it was just yesterday that we were throwing my older sister a shower – which was, actually, almost exactly two years ago – but the fact that this was a baby shower for me blew my mind.  I know, I know – from the outside looking in it’s easy to say that I should realize by now that yes, I am indeed pregnant (and not just bloated) and yes, I am indeed going to have a baby.  But I’d like to believe that for most women, everything just seems so surreal during the pregnancy.  Maybe that’s why we have to be pregnant for so long – it takes nine months for us to realize that this is all actually going to happen.

Anywho, back to the shower. J  If you’ve read earlier posts, you saw this invitation, showing that the shower was candy-themed.  (By the way, I have, like, the biggest sweet tooth ever.)

Another reason the weekend was so wonderful was because I got to see my older sister’s sweet little fourteen week baby bump.  She and I have always been ridiculously close, and being pregnant at the same time as one of my sisters is an absolute dream come true.  I cannot wait until all of the cousins can play together on the outside, rather than just being mashed together in an attempt to get a bump-to-bump picture. J

14 Weeks and 27 Weeks!

So this blog post is probably really just going to be a picture dump, because words won’t do the shower justice.  You’ve just got to see for yourself how awesome my sisters did in planning this shower!

Those are onesie/washcloths wrapped up as "candy"

Guests were able to make treat bags to take home!

Diaper Cake made by Grammy & Digby!

Yes, that is a cotton candy machine!

Homemade gumball machines with gifts for Baby Peele!

Baby Peele all dressed up for the party!

My mama (aka Grammy) and me

Me and my partner in crime getting a little wild with cotton candy!

So glad my mother-in-law and sister-in-law were able to make the trip!

Me and my Kewwy!

Me and Brookie, the newlywed pictured a few posts ago!

Anddd me and my incredible sisters, the wonderful hostesses!!

As for my little bug, he/she is continuing to host disco dance parties inside of me, which is awesome.  Following my sugar-filled weekend, I have my one hour glucose screening tomorrow morning – yikes!  So fingers are crossed that we’ll pass and won’t have to endure the three-hour screening.  For some reason, I have been SO nervous and SO dreading this screening.  Y’all know I just absolutely love to eat, and I can’t imagine having to restrict and monitor what I eat all the time if I end up having gestational diabetes.  But, my nurse told me there’s nothing I can do to prepare for the screening or prevent failing it (other than avoiding a sugary breakfast tomorrow).  So say a little prayer that my bloodstream kicks butt during the screening!

I AM excited about hearing the little one’s heartbeat tomorrow.  My favorite sound in the world. J  And I think that after tomorrow, we start going every two weeks, which will be MUCH better.  Only problem is, two weeks from tomorrow we’ll be at the beach, so I may try to sweet talk my doctor into letting us come in for a quick checkup before our vacation.

The third trimester crept in slowly, but has brought with it all sorts of aches and pains.  On the way home from Columbia yesterday, my back was in so much pain I was fighting back tears.  Also, this morning my legs, hips, pelvis, and back felt like I’d run a marathon when I really haven’t exercised in three days.  I still managed to get my dimply butt on the treadmill, and it actually felt good to walk out some of the pain.  I hope this discomfort is temporary and not here to stay for the next twelve weeks!

We hope to finish the nursery (for the most part) before our big vacation (which is in TWO WEEKS… my precious nephew reminded us many times that we’d see him again in TWO WEEKS!).  I will post some pictures as soon as we get it looking good – I LOVE it so far!

Thank you again to my incredible family for a weekend I will NEVER forget.  Thank you to the guys for whisking away my hub for a “man shower” (aka golf weekend) and giving him a chance to get away from his pregnant, cranky wife.  And thank you to my favorite women in the world for reminding me that family is, indeed, the most important part of living.  J

27 Weeks!

27 Weeks Under Cover

The Dreaded Double Pee

As I have mentioned a million times, the hub and I are knee-deep in home improvement projects.  As his dad often says, he is nesting as much as I am!  Because of this, we have spent many weekends roaming the aisles of stores like Target, IKEA, Home Depot, Lowes, Walmart, HomeGoods, World Market… and the list goes on, and on, and on.  Other than making progress on the house, I have also succeeded in learning the whereabouts and quality of each store’s restroom facilities.  Yes, that’s right, I am turning into the pregnant cliché.

Funny thing is, just two weeks ago my sister-in-law asked if I found myself peeing all the time.  My answer was no, that is actually one of the symptoms I managed to escape (even though the rest of my pregnancy has been pretty textbook).  Well, the pregnancy gods must have heard me, because almost on cue I began having to pee all.the.time.  I mean like, omigosh, I have to go RIGHT now, if I don’t, I’ll explode – and then I get to the bathroom and it’s like a trickle.  And I’m like, are you serious, that’s it?!  And OH – the dreaded double pee – if you’ve ever been pregnant, you know exactly what I’m talking about – I finally find myself in a bathroom, relishing in the sweet relief of emptying my bladder.  Leave the stall, wash my hands, and leave the bathroom only to realize that nope, I’m not done, I have to go again.  Immediately.  What the heck?!

So if you’re ever visiting Winston Salem, doing a little shopping around town, I can tell you the exact whereabouts and quality of every single restroom in almost every single store.

Now, on to more exciting matters – like the little bug causing me to have to pee every other minute – he/she is DEFINITELY a morning person, just like this mama.  As I wrote last week, he/she always turns sideways when I am sleeping.  Every morning when I wake up, I can feel the kicks, punches, and squirms on my sides – movements that will actually ripple throughout the rest of my stomach – and I just lay there and take it all in.  This is definitely his/her most active time.  Sometimes I don’t feel much movement throughout the day (sometimes not any if I’m really busy), but the bug never lets me down in the mornings.  J

I think I’m continuing to go through a belly growth spurt, which is fine by me.  Bring it on!  If I’m going to harbor all of these pregnancy symptoms, I’d at least like to have something to show for it!  The weeks are definitely creeeeeping by ‘til my next appointment, which is next week for the big glucose test.  I THINK this is my last four-week wait between appointments, hallelujah.  The past four weeks has been the longest wait yet, and I hate not having the affirmation that all is well in there.

We had a pretty laid back, 4^th of July with just the two three of us.  I baked some delicious brownies, we grilled out, and I finally convinced my hub to let me put a pool in the backyard.  Not quite the pool you’re probably envisioning, though.

Yum!!  (And yes, that is a bite out of the bottom left corner.)

No diving allowed!

She eventually fell in... Bailey is NOT the biggest fan of swimming!

I have to admit, it gets the job done.  I’ve been so sick of being stuck inside between my grad school work, home improvement projects, and the heat, so this little pool is just what this mama-to-be needs. J 

In exciting news, we got to celebrate our dear friends’ future addition at a baby shower this weekend!  She is due August 15^th, and she’s GORGEOUS!  I hope I look like that when I’m a month away from my due date!  (We actually took a picture together about two months ago, so feel free to scan back to compare!)

We are EXACTLY 8 weeks apart!

I can’t WAIT until my baby shower, which is this weekend!!  My sisters have been working hard, and I know I’ll be blown away by all they’ve done.  The boys are taking the hub to Charleston for a “man shower” (whatever the heck that means), so it’ll be a girls’ weekend in Columbia and I am so, so ready to be surrounded by my favorite women!

T minus less than three months ‘til Baby Peele’s due date – holy moly!!

26 weeks!

26 weeks covered up, and...

26 weeks dressed up for the baby shower!

A COUSIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That was my reaction when I found out about baby Luton a couple months ago.  Hub and I were SO hoping that my sister and brother-in-law would be calling us with this news sometime soon, and we couldn’t have been happier when we got the video of our sweet nephew saying, “Big Brother!”  The hardest part was keeping it a secret for so long… But now, the secret’s out, and we can shout from the rooftops that Baby Peele is going to have a cousin just three months younger than him/her!!!

I was SO blessed to grow up with not only two amazing sisters and a brother (that eventually expanded to include an awesome stepbrother and stepsister), but also many, many cousins.  We LOVED when we were all together, which usually happened at Grandma’s and Grandpa’s house.  Our get-togethers included plays – lots of plays – productions that we thought were Oscar-worthy, of course.  And games, like rolly-polly, the bubble gum machine, and sliding down the stairs on egg crates (for my family members reading this – you know what I’m talking about!).  So suffice it to say I am beyond thrilled to recreate these same types of experiences for our son/daughter and (hopefully) future children.

WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Baby Peele and I have had a big week.  And by big, I mean expanding.  The past week or so has been the most uncomfortable since I graduated from the morning-sickness misery.  I’m not sure if the pictures will show it, but I swear I’ve gone through a growth spurt.  I’ve felt a lot of stretching, and tightness, and discomfort in all sorts of places indicative of growing pains.  Also, I am quickly realizing that I cannot quite keep up with my hub like I used to.  For example, we spent all day Saturday and Sunday home-improvement shopping and nursery shopping (even with an impromptu trip to IKEA in Charlotte) and it just about killed me.  My hips and back and feet are still aching, and I am e.x.h.a.u.s.t.e.d.  With the third tri just a couple weeks away, I’m sure I’m not even close to experiencing true discomfort, so I’m trying to be as productive as possible and enjoy pregnancy while I can – Because y’all, I LOVE being pregnant right now! J

There are a couple things I’ve noticed about our son/daughter lately.  First of all, when I cross my arms (which now sit on top of my belly), I am apparently invading the bug’s space, because he/she will kick and punch at me like, “Um, excuse me, get out of my way!”  Also, he/she stays pretty vertical throughout the day; however, at night, he/she likes to switch positions and lay horizontally across my belly, often waking me up with kicks/punches on each side of my belly.  Coincidentally enough, my baby book said that this is the time when babies start getting a sense of equilibrium, which I guess explains the shift in positions at night!

Also, bug LOVES the Rolo McFlurry from McDonalds as much as I do.  As a matter of fact, he/she LOVES all food as much as I do, because every time I eat, I feel the dance party commence inside of me. J

The dance parties have been more and more frequent and a lot stronger lately, which you all know I LOVE.  Actually, the baby moves more than it’s still… and I just can’t get enough of it.

We’ve made some major progress on the home front, though the checklist is still quite daunting.  We ordered a glider and are awaiting its arrival… Hub tried to put the dresser together, but realized they sent us the wrong parts. L  So now we have to wait until the new parts come (fingers crossed it all works out!).  AND we found the PERFECT rug for the nursery, ordered it from Home Depot, and then got a call that we may or may not be able to get it – we won’t know until Tuesday (fingers crossed even more!).

By the way, when I walk by a mirror, or a window, and I get a peek at myself, I still can’t believe that’s me – that’s my body – that has changed so drastically to support the life growing inside of me.  I mean, have you ever really thought about it?  The way a woman’s body just changes, and a human being grows inside of it, and the body adjusts and spreads out and expands and the baby kicks and squirms and grows and WOW.  If I think about it – I mean if I REALLY think about it – it just makes me want to cry with joy.  I am so blessed to be carrying this child.  And I am both shocked at and loving the way my body is changing to support our sweet, sweet baby.

Have I expressed enough how in love I am with the idea of being this baby’s mom?  Just sayin’.

25 Weeks!  (A HUGE growth spurt, or at least I think so!)

P.S.  My hub is going to kill me for including this (one of his favorite lines now is, “This doesn’t need to go in the blog!” ha!)… but just now we were scanning all of my old bump pictures since I really felt like I’d gone through a growth spurt.  As we went wayyy back to the beginning (when I swore I had a tiny bump), his exact words were, “Look how thin you were!”  Um, babe… in your next life, don’t say that to your pregnant wife. J