The difference a year makes.

Last year at this time I was going through one of the most emotional times of my career and life. A situation at work proved to be a catalyst in a deteriorating friendship and I was an emotional wreck.

Tony was my absolute number one supporter and encouraged my thoughts of a career change.

I can't believe it was already a year ago. It feels like just yesterday.

Currently the friendship has once again dissolved, this time with apathy instead of pain, I pursued a career change I had no desire to follow and it is now my turn to support Tony as he contemplates a career change.

So much the same and totally different.

30 weeks

My stomach is now as big as my butt! I don't know if that makes me sad or happy, because looking at the above picture I feel like I'm going to fall forward on my face lol.

Baby bless is now topping the scale at about 3 lbs, measures about 10.8 inches from crown to rump and measures about 17 inches from head to toe.

Apparently I'm also experiencing Braxton Hicks contractions . . . even if I'm not aware of them? Interesting, as I've never heard that before and thus far have not dealt with them to my knowledge.

Baby bless is still very active, although it already seems that the amount of hitting or kicking is less than the amount of time that I feel pushing . . . which it seems all of the Mom's tell me is due to lack of room already. Yikes. We've still got a ways to go! He can't be that big already!

He's also still practicing breathing movements which have now become rhythmic; and can sometimes get the hiccups when he accidentally swallows amniotic fluid the wrong way.

Bending is getting quite bothersome and I'm glad that I infrequently wear socks, because honestly they are such a pain!

I can't believe I'm already at 30 weeks. There's just something about being in the 30's that makes it more inevitable and we're sooo not ready!

29 weeks & maternity pics.

Yay! My favorite time, sneak peak preview time! Coming in early on her own appointed deadline, I heard from Gina on Saturday that our blog post was up! Unfortunately we were without internet and I was serving, so the best I got to see for a few hours was on my blackberry, but I'm so happy we did the session! She made my belly look good! Lol. To any of my Minnesota girls, even if we weren't old pros at this by now, Gina makes you feel sooo comfortable in front of the camera. I wish her the best of luck and she may even be the first photog that I go back to and break my own tradition!

Ton's totally looking down my shirt and not at Baby Bless, he even told me so! lol.

And goodness sake's just to make it clear, Gina did give me express permission to post these pictures. Just so that no one thinks I didn't learn my lesson the first time!

It'll be so much fun!

Oooh boy, I'm exhausted from this weekend and I barely did a thing!

First of all, thank you for the concern and prayers regarding our Roto Rooter fun. It turns out that he was kept under 100 feet and I'm a bit numbers dyslexic {truly}, as Tony told me $248 and I heard $284 . . . We're not exactly pleased with Mr. RR though as the guy they sent out didn't complete the job thoroughly, so we basically can expect to call them out again. Tony will be calling today.

Saturday we had a crew of friends over to help with demo-ing the nursery. Yes, that amazingly aggravating husband of mine got his way and added a few weeks and hopefully only a few hundred dollars onto our house projects.

Completely necessary barrier.

Because blown-in insulation sucks!

My lovely menfolk that I seem to abuse to frequently, only repaying through food and alcohol.

Aaron taking a well deserved break to read up on the 1941 Beauties of St. Olaf {I'm not joking}

My worst food picture yet . . . recipe to come Country Style Boneless Slow Cooker Ribs

The bathroom, when standing in the nursery.

The nursery.

Sconces, mirror and picture frames!

Wow, we accomplished a lot, but again it wouldn't have happened without Aaron, Steve and Eric. We're very blessed to have the willing helpful friends that we do. They always rise to the crazy challenges we put them up to.

Yet to come our maternity sneak peak and my 30 week post.

I'd rather not be friends with you.

Roto Rooter and I should not have a relationship and yet we do, or atleast there is between my husband and Mr. RR, as of today.

Last night I went to the bathroom and was very perplexed as to why the toilet was clogged, automatically blaming Tony for previous damage! I called him down . . . and wouldn't you know, our main sewage line was clogged.

Yay, just what I wanted to spend money on.

Tony tried all of his tricks and tried out his Dad's snake, but all to no avail. Roto Rooter is at our house now and I'm hoping he sticks to under 100 feet . . . otherwise it's $200 more on top of the initial $300!

This post is pictureless because I like you.

Favorite Foods

I mentioned in the last post that I thought my stomach couldn't handle the rich food of Rinata, due to my restricted diet of late. I don't think restricted is the correct word choice, as it is completely up to me, but I choose to eat the majority of the same foods . . . and for what's sure to be my most boring post ever, I'd like to share my favorite foods.

Peanuts {I know, I know}

Jello Sugar Free Dark Chocolate Raspberry Pudding

Green Giant - Healthy Weight blend {screw the name, this stuff's good!}
Black beans, snap peas, edemame and carrots in a light butter sauce.

Honey Crisp Apples {or Pink Lady}

Craisins

Skim String Cheese

Light and Fit Yogurt {raspberry, blackberry or raspberry white chocolate}

I eat these everyday people. Everyday. And I do mean every one, everyday. With little or no variation. Variety is only in the form of my main course which is still in a small rotation of soup, turkey sandwich or Lean Cuisine. I'm a sad, sad satisfied pregnant lady. Lol.

More Valentine's Day Surprises

For our Valentine's Day present, Tony and I scored a maternity session with Gina. While the timing may not have been ideal belly-wise, the price was when combined with the files {more and more photographers seem to be going to $/image pricing}. We had an absolute blast with Gina in Photogen's studio. I decided to start things off by mentioning the 6 people we had in common via facebook and oooh boy, that was only the beginning! The whole entire time we seemed to find some new common ground! She mentioned a preview on her blog in a week, but you know that's not stopping me from pulling it up at least once a day! :)

Following pictures, Tony and I were off to enjoy our Valentine's dinner. He withheld the name of our destination to keep it a surprise, but when we arrived I had never heard of it to begin with. Lol. I still appreciated the action. We went to this little Italian joint in Uptown called Rinata. Now I'm not a food critic and I'm not sure the last time I phenomenal Italian, but Rinata is hands down a gem of a restaurant. To seal the deal, on Sunday's they offer a 4 course meal for $20. Um, yeah, I said $20 buckeroos, easily $45-60 elsewhere and the portions were perfect. Definitely not skimpy, but not overdone so that you could easily enjoy all the offerings.

Between Tony and I we had:

Antipasti:
Eggplant involtini with pine nuts goat cheese and tomato sugo
Smoked ham soup with white bean and vegetables

Salad:
Caesar with romaine hearts and garlic pepper crouton (authentic Caesar)
{The table next to us ordered the Poached Marsala Anjou pears with gorgonzola and walnuts and it look fabulous}

Main course:
Spaghetti with house made meatballs and tomato sugo
Papardelle with rapini tomato cream sauce and red chili oil
{We'd love to go back and try the Gnocchi with chicken involtini prosciutto and fontina cheese}

Dessert:
Cannoli with sweet ricotta and pistachios

The experience last about 2 hours, but it never felt long, due to great conversation and appropriately timed courses. It was so special to reconnect with Tony. What with my new job, his hockey and our remodeling we've been a little stressed lately.

As for the surprise topic for Tony . . . it did combine Baby bless' name. I asked Tony how he would feel taking on naming our son. He seemed completely caught off guard, but in a very sweet way. He accepted the challenge and would appreciate prayer in the matter. We also came to the conclusion that Baby bless may not have a chosen name before his arrival.

Additionally, Tony proposed that I contact Melissa again . . . because he wants me to use my waitressing tips to pay for her services!!! I have a couple of back checks that I haven't cashed yet and still have two more months of serving, so I think I can do it!

Unfortunately the Valentine's day surprises did not end with all those considered, as my evening last night was all too eventful. It was spent in our bathroom. As much as I absolutely loved Rinata, it does not appear to have loved me back. I do fully recommend it, even after my evening, as it was seriously mind blowingly good, it was just too rich for my stomach {which is no surprise, my diet has been quite restricted lately}. Tony on the other hand didn't have any problems lol.

Valentine's Day Surprises

Finally! Something fun out of our bathroom demo! Past the blown in insulation, Tony uncovered newspapers {whole newspapers} from the spring of 1941 through the summer of 1942.

Headline: Indians Desserting Reservations to Enlist in Army

Ad: Gas Range on Sale $39

Headline: Something concerning the WPA

A bouquet for our baby boy.

Gotta love my Mom. So, Saturday night, I'm at the restaurant punching in an order by the front of the building and who do I see walking up? My mother, with this beautiful, fragrant bouquet . .. for the baby, so as not to step on Tony's toes lol.

Following work I also got the unpleasant surprise of being threatened with a $100,000 copyright infringement suit for my post on the push present wish list, for failing to respond to an email to my blog account within 22 hours. No fun and definitely leaves an unpleasant taste. I also seemed to have failed to detail that I in now way expect a push present from Ton! I just thought the blog post would be a fun subject, since it was exactly that, a wish list, something that I knew would never come to fruitition.

And for the record, of the two photographers blogged about, it was not Moments in Time.

Push Present Wish List

I've been wanting to compile a push present wish list post for quite some time now . . . finally it clicked that the reason I couldn't really come up with a wish list, is well, because there's nothing that I really want!

I'm not one for jewelry. I've got my wedding ring and some small studs that Tony got me for Valentine's day when we were dating. I pretty much call it a day at that. If I want to go super fancy, I dredge up some of the samples from my days at Target. With that said a necklace or fancy ring just wouldn't really be worth it to me

Emerald is May's birthstone

The next option I came up with was something camera related, but really, I don't think a wide-angle would really be fitting? {Maybe I'm wrong?} And a camera bag just seemed to be without sentimental value.

The only, only thing that I would want as a push present would be to have the pushing documented. That's right ladies and gent (hi Aaron), I'm talking birth photography. If it's a new or nasty concept to you, rest assured it is truly beautiful. And by beautiful, I don't mean in a hippy enjoy-everyone's-bodies-for-what-they-are beautiful, I mean hands down, tear inducing on the spot, beautiful art, that captures the remarkable majesty that is our Creator.

I wasn't pregnant the first time that I saw Melissa's beautiful images, but I knew that if we could manage it, I wanted it. Several months later when I went to discuss it with Tony, he seemed surprised that I hadn't contacted Melissa yet, as the first time I'd shown him, he knew that I would want her services lol.

Unfortunately, it is just a wish list item. But I just wanted to share her amazing skill and the beautiful niche that is rising out of birth photography.

For an absolutely amazing birth {I swear there is nothing squimish about it!} click here. It's of my gorgeous friend Rachel welcoming her much longed, supported and prayed for son into the world, with a smile on her face. :)

28w3d

Since we couldn't find my point and shoot for the 27w shot, I think it's really hard to compare where Baby Bless's outward progress has gone in the past week.

Baby bless now weighs about 2.5 lbs and is about 10 inches from crown to rump and 15 inches long from head to toe.

At this time, the baby has tastebuds which allow it to distinguish between sweet, sour and bitter tastes, and veggies lol, which he's been getting plenty of! With the exception of mushrooms and tomatoes, blech.

Brain tissue and brain development increases at this time as Baby bless grows the folds and grooves needed for a developed brain. Eyebrows and eyelashes are probably present and his hair on his head is growing longer.

His body's filling out, getting a bit fatter as fat deposition continues, but it is still somewhat red and wrinkled.

Additionally, Baby bless is now big enough for his presentation to be determined. That is, my caregiver can probably tell how he is oriented in my uterus. He may be breech (bottom down) or head first. If Baby bless is in a breech position now, there is no need to worry as there is still plenty of room and time for him baby to change positions . . . but that knowledge does not stop me from speculating or worrying! I try to locate whether most of the movements now are below or above my belly button, not that helps any, but it makes me feel like it's helping!

Most women have gained between 17 and 24 lbs by this time, which would make me one of most women lol.

I can no longer cross my legs, which has been of great consternation to me, as my body hasn't quite caught onto this new rule. When I do cross my legs, that pain I was speaking of before in my pelvic area grows until it becomes unbearable, which means I'm in pain oh about every 10 minutes lol, due to forgetting.

Every single sleep shirt ends up around my bust by the time I get up in the morning, without fail, it doesn't matter.

I've got an idea in my head that involves Baby bless, Tony and myself, but I haven't shared it with anyone other than Nadia. I think I'm going to reveal it to Tony on Sunday when we celebrate Valentine's day.

We still haven't decided on a name either, so it really wouldn't have mattered if we hadn't of agreed to with hold the names! lol.

Let's use words that begin with A.

That husband of mine can be the most amazing man.

You guys have definitely taken notice of his handy man skills. Yeah, I know, not only is it cost saving, it's also hot. :)

Add on top of that the fact that he's not letting Valentine's Day slip by unnoticed, even though that's fully what I had in mind. I haven't really discussed it, but I'm still waitressing once a week, Saturday night . . . so that basically meant V-Day was shot at least in my mind. Little did I know Ton has been planning on celebrating on Friday evening, that is until he was assigned a high school hockey game, so now we're on to Sunday evening. Even better in my opinion. He asked whether I wanted to just go laid back or something romantical, and given the fact that 95% of our life is laid back, I chose the latter. :)

As for the other a word? He can also be the most aggravating man ever.

You know all of that progress he's been making? Apparently he decided he's ahead of schedule and that we have money to blow, because he's got the idea to gut out the nursery and re-sheet rock it and he won't shake it. While aesthetically I can't argue against it, as the walls are "textured" due to about 5-6 layers of paint and there is no over head lighting {which Tony would be able to install if he were to gut the room}, I just can't deal with the time and cost, even though admittedly the cost would basically be replacing the trim since the sheetrock is being taken off of our co worker's hands. I just know that the trim won't be done until months after Baby Bless is born and I just worry about how much this little project will set us back timewise. Bah.

In other news, we received notice from Menard's that our counter top is in and Tony's chalked it up to his Saturday plans, which is not a short list.

- Picking up countertop
- Driving to Wisconsin to pick up sheet rock and dura rock
- Driving to Inver Grove Heights to pick up lumber for vanity
- Finish demoing bathroom

Oh and yes Sarah, my last post was a nursery update, at least in my mind lol, as every project crossed off brings us closer and closer to actually working on the nursery! :)

Nursery Update :)

Here she is in all of her glory. Not quite used to the idea that I'll be getting ready in the basement from here on for awhile, but I gave it a trial run tonight and I can't say I have many complaints!
At this point, we're just waiting on trim . . . but of course Tony's not actually waiting . .

Today our main floor bathroom renovation began! Tony started with this . . .

and turned it into this, and I couldn't be happier!

Thankfully there weren't any surprises! So next up, demolishing the bathtub and tearing out the ceiling and floor laminate. In addition to that we have to pick out the hardwood for the vanity, as we're still stuck on that one, and decide on the floor and shower surround tile. I want to wait on the tile choice until we actually see our countertop, so we'll have to see.

After working hard throughout the majority of the day, I knew the perfect ending! Dining out at our local pizza joint! I suggested it to him about an hour left to work and I swore he could have jumped for joy, if he of course could actually still jump at that point. :) We met up with my Mom and my brother for a great trip down memory lane. Who else loves shrimp pizza?!

Bathroom update.

Ironically, even though I had stated the bathroom would be without adornment for quite some time . . . I forgot about a stash of wedding present items that we never did anything with! Everyone encouraged me to register for our future home, which I hated doing, but looks like it worked out in the end! So I was able to spruce it up virtually penny free! The virtually being that I bought the little thingymajobber on the toilet at Target on clearance. :)

To finish up Tony just has to seal the grout, touch up the paint on the one wall that he did, and rig up our shower curtain!

As for the upstairs, Tony has designed plans for his Dad to make us this vanity, pulling from my former boss's woodshop. Our choices are Ash, White Oak and Maple. We're having a tough time deciding, but we're basically stealing it at under $2 per board foot.
Additionally, we ordered the counter top when it was on sale at Menard's. We ended up choosing a high resolution laminate, with a black/blue/grey pattern to it. We ended up getting it for $20/sq foot, so it came out to $135, with Tony's Dad making the cut for our sink.

Now that the wood is at least narrowed down, all we have left to purchase for the upstairs bathroom is the lumber, stain, drawer pulls and tile. That is amazing.

Bummer drag, man.

Tony and I aren't getting very far by way of registering and when I say getting very far, please interpret that to mean we haven't even started narrowing down our choices, and when I say narrowing down choices, we don't even have choices to chose between! Gulp! Me thinks we need to start prepping for this baby!

So instead of focusing on important decisions like strollers, car seats and cribs I've been seeking out diaper bags. Yes, diaper bags. Why, I have no idea. Maybe because I can chose the wrong one without fear of harming Baby Bless? That's probably it.

So anywhoo, the reason for the title is that I was severely bummed out to pull up one of my top contenders on etsy tonight and find it unavailable. No, not just merely sold, with a near replica available, as in completely unattainable. The seller is on vacation from January to May. May. How perfectly convenient, but simply not an option to wait it out. Because I have decisions to make people, we've got a baby coming!

So (for my 3rd paragraph starting with so), I bid farewell to the thought of making this lovely item my diaper bag.

Heat register sulking.

I'm in a funk you guys and I can't quite shake it. I know what the quick fix is, to spend more time in the word and pursue my relationship with God, but I'm not doing it.

It's like when I was in 7th grade. I was the only girl at my small private school without a boyfriend and one of my supposed "best friends" was going out with the guy I'd had a crush on since Kindergarten {yes, the school was really that small and yes she was well aware of my crush}. So I of course flirted with every other boy and presented myself as the fun girl every chance that I could get right? Wrong. I sulked, for the whole two months that they were going out. I sat on the heat register by the exit doors of the school in hopes that my friends would see how upset I was or best case, that he would notice how distraught I was by his choice in girlfriend.

Every day for two months, I literally just sat there and hoped that someone would pay attention to me, only to tell them "I'm fine." After two weeks, no one asked me anymore, everyone was used to me being a bump on the log. Eventually, I realized I was being a baby {or they broke up, one of the two} and I gave up my heat register sulking days.

I still reflect back on that time period, because it sadly took a few months for me to realize that all I did was hurt myself. I did not successfully show my friends that I was hurting nor did I garner any special attention from them and at the core, that's really what I wanted more than my crush.

I'm kind of doing the same thing right now. I have a social life, I'm just not making the most of it. I'm blessed with a beautifully easy pregnancy and yet I still want more from the experience. I have the most hard working man that I know as my doting and loving husband and yet I want more from him. All I'm doing is hurting myself by refusing to embrace these things for what they are and seeking the more from Him alone. This world can not fulfill me.

27 weeks

Baby bless now weighs more than 2 lbs (!), measures 9.6 inches from crown to rump and his total length is about 15.3 inches. If Baby bless were born now, he would have about an 85% chance of surviving with the help of my great friend Nancy at Children's NICU. She provides care, successfully, to preemies everyday who are growing earlier and earlier in comparison to where our little guy is at developmentally. Nonetheless, he still needs another 13 weeks of in utero development to be considered full term, which I'm completely okay with!

His beautiful eyes, no longer fused shut, are now open . . . here's hoping they're blue like mine! His skin still has a very wrinkled appearance, but it is protected and nourished by the covering of vernix, a waxy coating that keeps the skin supple. He looks almost like a full term baby, but is still much thinner and smaller than he will be at birth. For comparison sake, I googled 26-27 week preemies. It's shocking to think that such a developed little being is in my body right now. You'd think I'd be over it by now, but no, not really.

Apparently my cholesterol levels may be elevated, though this is usually normal in late pregnancy as cholesterol helps build up the pregnancy hormones that are being produced by the placenta. Of those hormones, progesterone is particularly important right now as it aids breast development {joy!} and the muscles of the uterus.

My boobs now touch my stomach when I bend over. Very disconcerting. I also have a very odd pain in my pelvic area. If I think too much about it I'm convinced it's a blood clot, but it feels more like an enlarged gland? I'm not a doctor, I shouldn't play like one.

So long as Baby bless isn't born before April 26th, I'll qualify for short-term disability! Unfortunately, I'm not covered by FMLA, so my leave will hopefully be a short 6 weeker if I have a normal delivery.

I had my glucose test on Friday. Thankfully I had the choice between the trash talked orange flavor and the better reviewed lemon lime flavor. It was well chilled and went down pretty easily. The good news is that I passed! No gestastional diabetes for us . . . but the cut off was 140, and I barely scraped by at 136. Also disappointing, big gulp here, I'm up 21 lbs. I was really hoping for 25, but to be starting the 3rd trimester 4 lbs away from my goal, knowing that most of my weight gain in the 3rd is supposed to be all baby, I don't have much hope.

For a better topic, I'd like to switch to the baby bedding! I |think| this is what we're going to go with for design and layers. On the backside there will be a navy blue quilted material. What do you guys think?