Finn's Nursery Details!

I've been so excited to share and post photos of our little dude's nursery! There are still a few details missing that I will add later (e.g. an adorable pillow I ordered off of Etsy), and a little more organization to be done, but other than that, we're so ready for Finn to be here and make good use of this space! "Nesting" has been one of my favorite things throughout this pregnancy thus far. There's nothing like countering the agony of back pain with the sweet smell of his clothes and folding outfits that fit right in my palms. For a quick update, we are currently 36 + 2 weeks pregnant. Our last appointment we were told that I am 50% effaced. With that, she told us it could be any time now, or, I could walk around effaced and dilated for a couple of weeks. It's all up to the little mister at this point. :) But enough of that and on to the nursery goodness!

I LOVE wall art. Some of these prints I found at a little shop in downtown Detroit, and the others I simply downloaded & printed from: http://littlegoldpixel.com/2014/10/free-printables-for-kids/

I'm slightly obsessed with this glider and ottoman. Glider can be found at Babies R'Us and ottoman (and "I love you to the moon" pillow) I found conveniently at T.J.Maxx for $60 & $10!

I'm so excited to try out the Mamaroo swing, I've heard so many wonderful things about it! Obviously, it won't be occupying that corner once Finn man is here. Found at Babies R' Us

 here: http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=54201756. That gorgeous crib is also a Babies R' Us find!

I couldn't be more in love with our dream catcher mobile! I'm all about unique things and supporting small, crafty businesses. Find similar items and other boho lovliness from BlairBaileyDesign on Etsy.com!  

The arrows on the wall are gold vinyl decals from https://www.etsy.com/shop/TheLovelyWall. I was sincerely in awe at how straight/evenly spaced I actually got them! The great thing about them is they peel off super easy, so if you make a mistake just simply peel and re-apply.

{{35 Weeks}}

Weeks Pregnant: 35 weeks + 3
 

Baby Size: Finn man is said to be about 5 1/2 lbs. and over 18 inches long! He's definitely feeling like a melon in my belly! 

 

 

Weight Gain: 24 lbs. so far, baby boy should be packin' on the lbs. himself right now.

 

 

Symptoms: The urges to pee are there and I don't see any signs of that stopping before our babe arrives. My most prominent symptom really is the aching lower back, but again, that's to be expected when your back is suddenly having to support a bowling ball! The itchy skin seems to of stopped (thank goodness), but I'm also obsessively slappin' on oils and lotions (organic coconut oil, Bio-oil, and Palmer's Cocoa Butter). Waddling is a definite, I can't even control it...it's just one of those signature pregnant lady qualities!

Attire: In all honesty, clothes are driving me nuts at this point. If being naked 24/7 was socially acceptable I'd be all over it. I'm refusing to buy any maternity clothes at this point since we are so close to the end (and I'm being a penny pincher!), so anything oversized and even some of John's t-shirts are serving me well!
 

Exercise: Walking, walking, and more walking. Stretching every night and yoga classes every Monday. Right now I'm really focused on meditation and deep breathing.

 

 

Movement: TONS! You can definitely tell there's a human in there! I don't even have to point it out to people anymore, the belly morphing is quite obvious. This morning actually I had the oddest shape to my midsection, it was like he completely curled up in a ball and headed as far down as he could!

 

Missing: You guessed it, still missing a good night's sleep. Bathroom breaks and tossing and turning to find a somewhat comfortable position consume a majority of my nights.

 

Cravings: I've literally been craving LaCroix sparkling waters like no one's business! Oh my goodness they're just so good and refreshing. Yum yum yummmmm!! And now I want one. :)

Sleep: Haha.

Mood: Mood swings (sorry, John). I'm easily irritated despite trying to be as "cool and collected" as possible! Oopsy, it'll pass...right?

 

Birth Prep: Deep breathing as much as possible and started packing our hospital bags! Talk about a dose of reality when you're at that point! :D We're down to weekly doctor visits so I know we'll be delving further into birth plans in the next couple weeks. I'm still planning on a non-medicated birth and learning new mantras to use for inspiration for the big day.

 

What I Am Loving: NESTING! Oh it's so fun, and all of his peanut sized clothes smell so wonderful from detergent (I've been using Dreft, which is just a hypoallergenic baby detergent). It's too crazy to think that in less than 5 weeks, the little man that's been growing inside of me will be OUTSIDE of me. That's quite the obvious statement, really, but only until you actually experience it does the craziness of it all really hit you!

xoxo
Kelsey

Baby Shower Details

 

First of all, I can't believe the shower is already done and over with! It's crazy to me that I am writing this right now and having to think back 3 weeks. Our shower was absolutely wonderful. It's overwhelming the amount of love and spoiling one can get in just a few hours! There are just no words that express the amount of gratitude we have for the people in our lives...we're so, so, grateful. With all of the bump-rubbing, hugs, smooches, well wishes, and birthing stories going on it was really difficult to capture the beauty in all of the décor and details (I have my momma to thank for a lot of those details). Fortunately, some friends snapped a few photos on my camera for me, and the rest of the following photos my wonderful cousin captured for us ((she's great, check out her work on danagphotography.pixieset.com))! The theme was simply "nature," so we had adorable tee-pee and floral centerpieces, succulents galore, hand-made lavender soaps for our thank you gifts, and sticks and baby's breath and balloons, oh my! <3

 

 

 

((Food baby vs. baby baby))

Oh, hi mum!

John just loved getting attention from all the ladies, so he decided to take each gift and walk around the room so everyone got a fair peak at all the goods! ;)

 

Though I couldn't indulge myself, a mimosa bar was absolutely still necessary!

xoxo,

Kelsey 

 

32 Weeks: Bumpdate

 

Weeks Pregnant: 32 weeks + 2 days (the photo shown is 10 weeks vs. 32!)
 

Baby Size: Little man weighs about 4 lbs. and is the size of a bok choy (says my "I'm Expecting" app, anyway).

 

 

Weight Gain: Officially packing on the pounds! I am at a 20 lb. weight gain thus far, and boy is it all belly...my back is certainly taking the heat for holding up a bowling ball!

 

 

Symptoms: Aching back, aching feet, itchy skin, the feeling of having to pee every 5 minutes, more and more veins, swelling & tender boobs, heartburn, charlie-horses in my calves, and holy braxton hicks. :) I'm starting to actually feel quite pregnant, oh and I've officially mastered the waddle! I am not sure if this is weather or pregnancy related, but my poor lips over the past few days are increasing in size...literally...they are bright red and swollen and cracking and just, ouch. I still don't have any signs of stretch marks on my belly, I do have some weird white lines on the small of my lower back, though. Bio-oil and coconut oil continue to be my slathering faves!

Attire: I honestly have very few maternity clothes. Fortunately I've always been a fan of loose, oversized, flowy clothes so those are all put to good use! Wedges still at work and sneaks on the weekends for shoes.

Exercise: Lots and lots of stretching and yoga, oh and squats because I realized this week that my tush is a little too soft for my liking. By the way I lied, I didn't just gain weight in my belly, but my upper arms! Ah!!! I didn't really make that discovery until recently, but you bet your buns I'll be incorporating a little more arm exercises. With the home renovations and everything piling up at once I'll admit my exercise regime hasn't been so consistent, but things are starting to fall into place (FINALLY!) so I'm motivated to get back on track!

 

 

Movement: I know each week I say "SO much movement," but seriously, there has been SO MUCH MOVEMENT! I love, love, love, feeling this little human so active inside me...even though he uses my bladder as a trampoline, it's just so wonderful. He's had hiccups quite a bit lately which cracks me up, and I was told by my doctor that he is currently head down and sitting cross-legged (my little dude is in lotus pose already!) <3

 

Missing: A full nights sleep. I toss and turn from back discomfort quite a bit, and of course, bathroom breaks keep me from sleeping through the night.

 

Cravings: No cravings, really. I will say being without a kitchen did some damage. We've been eating take-out way too much it's nauseating. We finally have our new kitchen in (as of yesterday!) so I am completely motivated and happy to whip up some healthy meals and nourish my babe with goodness during these last weeks!

 

Sleep: As mentioned, there isn't much of it. But hey, once little man is here there won't be much anyway so I'll just consider this practice!

 

Mood: A lot has been going on in our world so I'll admit I've been a little...snippy? Haha but so, so happy.

 

Birth Prep: Had the "talk" with my loving (but neurotic) husband about the big day. He absolutely hates seeing me in any amount of pain...so with that being said I asked that he not try and pressure me to turn to pain medication just because he can't handle seeing me in such rare form. He's so darn sweet, but I really do want to do this naturally so that talk was necessary! I can tell he's already a little anxious about it. ;) Still doing my meditation and yogic breathing but I think I need to kick the practice into high gear since we really are getting pretty close!

 

What I Am Loving: All of the movement and honestly, the comfort of knowing that he would be able to sustain life outside the womb at this point without too much medical intervention, just in case something were to happen.

Below is a photo from our absolutely beautiful baby shower! I will be posting details and photos from the shower soon.

Traveling With A Bump

 

 

It's been a of couple weeks since we've posted, and boy, has a lot gone on since then! As I mentioned in a previous post, the husband and I decided to take one last hoo-rah/vacation before the babe comes. Honestly, we'll travel just as much as usual even with our bundle, calling it a "babymoon" just gave us an excuse to escape at this moment. We were originally supposed to go to a gorgeous resort in Mexico, but without going into too much detail (I'll begin to cry), my passport wasn't going to be ready on time (despite paying for expedition) and we were unaware until a week before our departure. No, we did not get refunded for our trip expenses, and the one time we didn't buy flight insurance, look what happens. It ended up costing us a pretty penny to reroute our flights to West Palm Beach in Florida, where we are fortunate enough to have some wonderful friends who live there. Going the route of staying with friends not only eliminated additional expenses of finding a hotel, but provided us with a sense of "home" between their personalities and their 2 awesome dogs to snuggle with. Not to mention the weather, ah, it was FANTASTIC.

 

Anyway, I wanted to focus this post around the actual travel portion of our trip. When we left Monday morning I knew that things weren't going to be as smooth-sailing as usual. How? Well because 10 minutes into our CAR ride to the airport I already started squirming in discomfort (back). Not a good sign. At nearly 29 weeks pregnant my oh-so-glorious and generally problem-free pregnancy began to slowly take a turn. Not for the worse by any means, but with regard to comfort. Despite staying active and my attempts at staying strong during this experience, my bod just isn't used to having a watermelon hanging off the front of it. Nope.

 

After finally getting to the airport, that's where the real fun began. Three things I noticed immediately while at the airport: 1.) People no longer look at my face in passing, they look at my watermelon. Wait no, they stare at my watermelon. 2.) My husband got more death stares in the 2.5 minutes that I had to pull our luggage so that he could take a phone call, than in a lifetime. Apparently pregnant women can't pull their own luggage without society's take on in. Poor John, ha. 3.) People treat you like you're incredibly fragile. Which yes, I am in a sense I mean there's a tiny human in me. But seriously I felt it was to the point where someone was bound to stamp an actual FRAGILE marking across my forehead. The perks to that? Fast-tracking through the security line... which meant no bending over to take off my shoes, jackpot.  Also, some of things people said to me, oh my goodness! Of course I received smiles and kind, congratulatory remarks, but also some off the wall ones! For example, while waiting for our luggage after landing in West Palm, a petite middle-age woman approaches me. "Boy, when I first saw you walk on our plane I started praying that you wouldn't go into labor on me. I looked through my purse for clamps and anything else I could find just in case!" Of course I giggled while responding with "Oh, no worries I'm only about 29 weeks!" ...and then her response..."29 weeks, that's it? You look like you're about to pop! I didn't look like that at 29 weeks!" Whhhatttttt.....cue the instantaneous self-consciousness. Apparently this little lady didn't read "Shit You Don't Say to a Pregnant Woman." That book does exist, right? Because if not, it should. Overall, the airport itself wasn't too bad...but the flight... oh the flight.

 

Not only did my discomfort begin after a few minutes of sitting is those gross, cramped seats, but NEVER have I had to struggle to get a damn seat-belt to fit across me comfortably, until this point. It got to a point to where my lower back began to hurt so badly from being so restricted I was almost in tears. Also, in the back of my mind for some reason all I could think of was "blood-clot." Pregnant women are known to be more susceptible of getting blood-clots, especially while traveling. My doctor told me to simply get up every now and again and walk up the aisle to stretch, which I did, but not without those aforementioned stares. So we have the discomfort from sitting, the discomfort of getting up to walk out my phantom blood-clots, and the discomfort of having both a baby and a seatbelt making you feel like you're going to piss your pants every 3 minutes. To say the least, the air time we had throughout our trip wasn't the most pleasant. I will say though, what helped at least a little bit with the back discomfort was placing my neck pillow under my tush which forced me to sit straight up with my pelvis tilted slightly forward. I recommend it.

 

My conclusion: Traveling at this stage in pregnancy is...uncomfortable. BUT, totally worth it. Our actual trip was just wonderful. We couldn't have asked for better weather or friends to stay with. Being able to wake up first thing in the morning, whip up a hot cup of tea, head out back to enjoy some morning yoga by the pool, and then spend the rest of the day lounging about with my husband without an ounce of worry was so, incredibly, worth the discomfort of travel. Yeah those dreadful stares continued while actually on the trip (look a baby whale! No, just a pale pregnant woman in a bikini), but again...so...completely...worth it.

Our adorable vacation pets that made us feel at home.

 

xoxo

Kelsey