Posted on

Vacation

Peter and I went down to Jacksonville/Daytona Beach/Orlando a few weeks ago for a week vacation. It was a lot different from any other vacation we’ve had, because there was no planning! We literally said, “We’ll go to Daytona Beach,” and that was the only plan (besides seeing family, of course!). However, I do think it was Peter’s plan all along to rent this car:

We didn’t have any specific vacation plans, but we thought it would be fun to head to a Disney park while we were there. We ate, we swam, we relaxed, we tourist-ed. A great time was had by all!

We even met a nice old man, named Herman Dixon, who helped us find our way to the Kennedy Space Center. I guess I should explain… Apparently the street address that Google Maps gives you for the KSC takes you to a marsh. Then the address on the KSC website brings you to the actual Kennedy Space Military Base. So when we arrived at the base, Herman gave us GPS coordinates and showed us on our way. What a nice fellow!

We also went to Animal Kingdom, which changed their hours of operation on the day we were there, so we had to rush, rush, rush through as many things as we possibly could to get our money’s worth. We saw a bird show, went to the Lion King, rode on a train, played with goats and pigs, walked through a menagerie, ate Disney pizza, watched a parade (for about 2 minutes), saw gorillas/bats/antelope, watched It’s Tough to be a Bug, went to the little animal laboratory, watched some animal videos, and walked our butts off.

At one point, I looked down, and my ankles were actually a little swollen. Yikes. Peter kept calling me “mastodon feet.” Such is love. Actually, I know it is love…he even carried my purse all day for me, because it was super heavy (filled with water bottles, etc.).

Posted on

Taking Care of Sicky

We went on vacation last week, and this week Peter has been sick, so it’s been a little busy :).

I figured I would take a minute to blog before we head out for Friday night dinner. Vacation was great! I will make sure to post some pics and write a few stories at a later date.

We came home to a well-painted room — thanks, Dad! — and it was filled with clothes — thanks, Mom F.!  Peter had painted the spare room, but he left a little bit of detail work for my dad to do. My dad is the master of painting walls right around the ceiling, so you don’t have paint on the ceiling.

Also, I found this cute little lamp that I think I might order. We have a fan in the room with a good, bright light, but I figured this lamp would be perfect for slightly lighting the room in the middle of the night when diapers need changing.

Posted on

Baby Theme

I am generally pretty practical with furniture and the like — or at least I’d like to think so — which is why I’ve been looking into neutral bedding themes and multipurpose furniture.

I’ve seen some that are just totally cute! I love the yellow and gray theme that everyone is doing right now, but Peter is anti-white crib for some reason (–hey…when a man shows interest in something baby-related, you just go with it).

So we picked out furniture styles that we liked in a dark chocolate color. It is a 4-in-1 convertible set, which means it converts into a toddler bed with rail, without rail, and twin bed. And we are going to use the dresser as a changing table by putting a changing pad on top. MULTIPURPOSE, PEOPLE! 🙂 Here is the winner!

Since we didn’t go with white furniture, I didn’t want to do the yellow/gray scheme, because I thought it might look weird with brown furniture. Yes, I know…none of this really matters, but window shopping for baby stuff is just about the only thing you can actually do when you are pregnant. You can’t lift heavy things, you can’t paint, you can’t do gardening or pick weeds, you can’t go boating, you can’t ride your bike… You can basically eat (with limitations) and shop.

There aren’t many gender neutral bedding sets out there that aren’t monkeys, the alphabet, or birds. So I went with birds! I love all of the owl and fat birds that are popular right now. Peter calls them “budgies.” Is this a real term??

A Contender…
Skip Hop Treetop set
The winner!
Migi Little Tree set

I love the Migi Little Tree because the birds are just too darn cute. I am going to incorporate some owls in there, too.  I liked that the Migi Little Tree set could be purchased without the bumper (which made it cheaper), since they seem to be a suffocation hazard for babies.  Why get a set that costs an extra $50 for a piece that I won’t use?

I have also been stalking the tubes to find some cute vinyl decals for the wall. Maybe something like these:

Posted on

The Dreaded Belly Pics

I’ve been waiting so long to post any kind of picture of myself online. I am not really “bumpish” enough for anyone to notice that I’m pregnant, but I’m pretty sure people have been noticing my expanding waistline.

I still don’t have strangers saying anything about my belly, and I know people find out that I’m pregnant and say, “You’re so tiny!” I don’t know if this is true or not, but you can judge my gut…

Not a flattering angle to begin with 🙂
About 19 weeks, I think.

Apparently flash has the ability to x-ray capture my bra.
About 23.5 weeks
Posted on

A New Coat of Paint

We picked out some paint from Lowe’s, called “Winter in Paris.” It is a light gray blue that is just girly enough without being pink.

This week, I taped the trim up, and Peter painted the walls. It looks really nice. We’ll have to do a little touch up work here and there, but I am pretty happy with how it turned out! Nice job, Pete :).

Before Paint
Before Paint

You can kind of see the color.

Peter spent pretty much all day today putting the finishing touches on the room.
This includes:

  • new electrical plates that are baby proof.
  • new door stop.
  • new ceiling fan.
  • new light switch with fan speed control.
  • new closet kit in the other spare room, so I could move my stuff off the floor.

I napped. I honestly tried to do something, but he is having a good time bossing me out of the room, so he can take over and do these activities. I think he is enjoying himself.

Old Light
New Light/Fan
Posted on

Movements of a Gut-ular Nature

Lately I’ve been feeling like an alien is trying to escape from my loins/gut area. At first thought, I can see how people think it might be gas, but this is no gas.

It feels like a finger poking you from inside at random intervals of time. There is no pattern, no rhythm. Last Saturday night, I wondered if I could feel the bumps from the outside, so I was super shocked when I could actually feel it under my hand.

I know women are always talking about the beauty of life and how miraculous things are to be “growing life inside you.” Blah blah. Hippie crap. I say no matter how much evidence you have to prove that this stuff is going on inside your body, it is still weird as crap.

So naturally, my first inclination is, “Weeeeeeeeeeird. Hey, Peter. Come see if you can feel this.” We have spent all week sitting in weird positions to see if he could feel anything. The conversations pretty much go like this:

Lauren: Did you feel that one?
Peter: No.
Peter: Wait. What was that?
Lauren: It’s your pulse in your hand.
Peter: Oh.
Lauren: That was a big one. Did you feel that?
Peter: No.

There was one time where he claims he felt something…to which his response was, “Weeeeeird.”

Tonight I noticed that my gut will actually distort itself if I look at it while it moves. SEE?!?!?! In what other situation is an involuntary, moving gut something completely normal?

Posted on

Fruits and Veggies

We are members of a Farmers’ Market or CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) group that gives us a basket of in-season fruits and vegetables each week. It’s a pretty good price, considering it has seriously reduced the number of grocery store visits we have to make. Living with vegetarian, Peter, you’d think that we would eat healthy. No, we really have to force it. 

So each week when we get our basket, we try so hard to use the veggies each week. It is just not possible sometimes. The usual amount is about 6 apples, a bag of string beans, 4 ears of corn, 2 green peppers, a cantaloupe, 3-4 zucchini squash, 4 tomatoes, and some carrots. We generally can’t use it all in a week, so we either give it away to family members or store it in the fridge. 
Tonight I tried to use as many veggies and fruits as possible. Our dinner consisted of stuffed portabello mushrooms (– stuffed with mozzarella and parmesean cheese, bread crumbs, tomato, green pepper, zucchini) and parmesean garlic string beans. 
Then for “dessert,” we had a watermelon, strawberry, and mango smoothie. Just fruits. No milk or added sugar.
Yum to everything!
Posted on

What a Pain in the Ass

I have been reading that women might experience leg cramps for the past month or two, but I was excited by the fact that I’ve made it to 22 weeks without getting them…until 2 nights ago. Aaaaah!

I literally woke up screaming from a huge pain in my ass cheek. That’s right. Not LEG. I thought Peter was going to think I went insane, but luckily I did not wake him up. At least somebody slept through the night.

I have decided today that I haven’t really had “cravings,” (at least not like the ones you see on TV), but I could eat a sausage biscuit any time of the day.

Since I am not allowed to paint or lift heavy objects, the only thing I can do is window shop on Pinterest. I saw a few cute ABC and 123 poster prints, but none of them have the right color scheme. I am looking for a mix of blue, green, orange, pink, and purple. Since I couldn’t find something just right, I made my own. What do you think? Should I print them?

Also, I noticed last night that the little kicks and flips I feel inside can actually be felt outside, too. It feels like an alien is trying to escape from my gut.

Just to note, Peter hates painting, but he is doing a great job :).

Posted on

She’s Got Legs

The doctor visit this week (August 16) wasn’t too interesting, but I did find out that I have good blood!

They did an integrated serum test to find out about the chances of Down Syndrome and neural tube defects in the pregnancy. Luckily, everything came back negative, which means things are looking good. 
I can’t even imagine how hard it has to be for doctors to have to tell people bad news. I am very thankful for this “uninteresting” visit! 
The ultrasound technician didn’t have to beat me up with the stick today, which was good, because last time, she stabbed me so hard in the gut. I felt it for hours.
We even got a shot of Miss Sassy Legs.
My back is still killing me. I think it’s my sacrum/coccyx area. I seriously have to do these stretches that make it look like I am about to take a dump on the floor. These are the only positions where I get some relief from the stabbing pain. It also amuses the crap (no poop pun intended) out of my husband.
I made these cookies that I saw on Pinterest, because I thought they looked delicious. I didn’t think about the fact that they contain absolutely no flour…they are like diabetes cookies. I only ate one, because I don’t think I could live with myself if I ate more than one right now. I had to send them home with our friend, Matt. I hope I don’t find him in a coma tomorrow.