My future sister-in-law’s bridal shower was today, so everyone was running around like crazy trying to get things in order. There was TONS of food (as usual), cute decorations, wonderful guests, and lots of laughter. I hope Rachel had a good time and enjoyed herself. Here are some of the details of the day:
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.).
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.
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??
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| A Contender… Skip Hop Treetop set |
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| 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:
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…
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| Not a flattering angle to begin with 🙂 About 19 weeks, I think. |
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| Apparently flash has the ability to x-ray capture my bra. About 23.5 weeks |
New carpet…courtesy of Lauren!
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 :).
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| Before Paint |
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| Before Paint |
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| You can kind of see the color. |
Peter spent pretty much all day today putting the finishing touches on the room.
This includes:
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.
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| Old Light |
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| New Light/Fan |
So I saw this news story today about a woman who restored a 19th century painting on Jesus Christ.
It reminded me a lot of something I saw on Pinterest.
I decided that I couldn’t live with myself until I made this:
If you haven’t seen the story, go here: http://video.today.msnbc.msn.com/today/48776729
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?
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.
