Seriously, though. This is pretty much the most comfy way to wear these pants. Under the belly just squishes my bladder and makes me have to pee every three minutes instead of every five.
P.S. I know I’ve been slacking on the blog posts. We have been crazy busy, but I am working on an update – check back soon!
I couldn’t decide between pineapple photos, so here’s a bonus one for this week.
Happy 8 months to me! Now I can officially say that I’m in my 8th month of pregnancy. I can’t believe there are only two more months to go.
The nursery is really coming together now, and I’m dying to show you what it looks like but I think I’m going to wait until we have it all put together before I post photos. We’ll see how long I can hold out.
I was sitting in there last night while Geoff assembled the changing table, imagining how it will be when little man is here – how I’ll rock him, change him, feed him and love the crap out of him in that nursery. It is such a weird feeling to know that he will be here soon.
We had a great time last weekend at our very first block party and we got to talk to a lot of the neighbors we hadn’t met yet. There are WAY more kids on the block than I originally thought, so that will be good for our little man when he arrives. After the block party we headed off to another first – a LEGO party! It was so much fun. Nick, our friend who hosted the party, sorted thousands of LEGOs into boxes by color, then let us dig in. We built houses, cars, airplanes, boats, and even a pirate ship. I had originally built Mr. and Mrs. Fancypants, which quickly turned into Geoff and I with the addition of a baby bump (courtesy of our friend Laura). I’m so happy Nick got this photo – I mean, seriously. It’s pretty awesome.
Continuing with our weekend fun, we have a wedding to go to this weekend (congrats Spencer and Betty!) as well as my first baby shower! It was supposed to be just my girlfriends from my hometown since I haven’t seen them in so long and they all have/are having kids (congrats Nikki and Kenny!) that I am dying to meet, but unfortunately most of them are unable to make it.
So instead of the whole high school group of girls my friend Cara is throwing me a mini shower with my mom, a few of the girls and maybe some of their moms. I’m getting so excited!
P.S. There’s a new bump photo on my See the Bump page! I took two different ones, so here’s a bonus one for you (like my new dress?).
As your baby’s senses increase, his mommy’s breathing room decreases.
Weighing in at three-plus pounds and measuring 18 inches long, your baby is quickly approaching his birth length — though he’s got to pack on another three to five pounds before D-day. Also developing at an impressive clip: your baby’s brain connections (he’s got to make trillions of them!). He’s now processing information, tracking light, and perceiving signals from all five senses. He’s also putting in longer stretches of sleep, which is why you’re probably noticing more defined patterns of wakefulness (and movement) and rest (when he’s pretty still).
Chances are your diaphragm is feeling a little cramped these days. Okay, a lot cramped. That’s because your uterus is pushing up against it (and all the other organs in there), crowding your lungs and making it more difficult for them to expand fully. The result: Your body is spare on air and will be until your baby drops near the end of pregnancy in preparation for birth. But don’t worry: Your baby is as happy as a clam because he’s getting his oxygen from the placenta.
Last weekend Geoff’s little sister got married! Both Geoff and I were honored to be a part of the wedding party, and the day could not have gone more smoothly – it was beautiful.
Here are a few photos (shoutout to another one of the bridesmaids, Amy, who took half of these):
I loved the photos on the bridge – it looked like a photoshoot from a magazine or something. We also took some photos by a waterfall, which I’m dying to see! It only took me about a year to get down all the stairs in my heels to the place where we took the photo (and did I mention that the stairs were all wet?). Luckily I had Geoff to hang onto so I didn’t fall. Despite all of that, I think the photos are going to be well worth the effort – I’m so excited to see them!!
Remember when I mentioned back in June that the bridesmaid dress place made me order a size 18W dress? Well, thanks to some miraculous (and expensive) alterations, I did not look like a tent! Again, well worth the time and effort.
Here’s me wearing the dress before I got it altered, and one of me and Geoff at the wedding. Much better, right? It was pretty humid that day, which actually helped the stiffness of the dress fabric to fall a little bit, making it much more flattering.
If anyone is in need of a pre-altered gray bridesmaid dress with built-in room for a baby bump, please let me know and I’d be happy to lend/sell you mine.
Three things I have learned this week:
1. I hate demi-panel maternity pants.
I’m currently rocking some awesome red crop pants, but they have this stupid demi panel in them! It is pretty tight in order to hold the pants up, which isn’t the most comfortable. Even having it that tight doesn’t stop the pants from slowly inching down so I have to keep tugging them up every five minutes. And when I sit down the panel folds over in front. Plus it makes my bump look weird. Maybe it is supposed to be supportive or something? Whatever, I don’t like it. Give me a full panel or go under the bump – none of this halfway in between business.
2. I can get a free breast pump through my insurance.
One of my friends mentioned this the other day and I jumped all over it. I called my insurance company to see if I qualified, and it turns out all you need is a prescription for a pump from your doctor. I also have to order from certain retailers, so I checked their websites to see if they carry either of the two I had been looking at (they do)! Now I just have to order it and the claim goes right to my insurance so I don’t even have to get reimbursed. We will save around $300! I love saving money.
3. Never believe Chris Harrison.
I watch pretty much every season of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, so the show really doesn’t have to do much to get me to watch. However, I found this season to be… slightly boring. They really tried hard to make it seem dramatic, but in reality it just seemed like Des was too normal for the show, so nothing crazy happened. Yes, I know that Brooks leaving was supposed to be dramatic, but it came off more depressing than anything. And the fact that Chris Harrison said something along the lines of, “I know I say this every season, but trust me, this season finale is the most dramatic thing that has ever happened in Bachelor history!” had me all excited to watch it. Then nothing crazy happened other than the Brooks thing. Um, didn’t this happen already? I’m pretty sure Frank left right at the end of Ali’s season, so really, we’ve seen this exact situation before. Sort of a let down of a season. But of course, they reeled me back in by choosing JUAN PABLO to be the next Bachelor! I think that was the highlight of the season for me.
Your baby’s facial features are really filling out… and your belly button may really be popping out!
Your baby is about eight and a half inches long and weighs one and a half pounds, gaining steadily at a rate of six ounces per week. Much of that weight comes from accumulating baby fat, as well as from growing organs, bones, and muscle. Those little ears of hers are getting sharper and can hear very loud sounds, from a yapping dog to a jackhammer. Also by now, that fabulous face is almost fully formed, complete with eyelashes, eyebrows, and hair. Is your baby a brunette, a blonde, or a redhead? Actually, right now her locks are white since there’s no pigment yet.
If your former innie is now an outie, welcome to the club. Almost every expectant mom’s pregnant belly button pops at some point as her swelling uterus pushes on everything in its path. Things should return to normal after delivery, though your navel (and some other parts of your body) might look a bit, well, stretched. Just think of it as one more badge of honor that only moms get to wear. What other pregnancy woe is pushing your buttons? Well, probably your uncomfortably numb wrists and fingers, thanks to carpal tunnel syndrome. (Don’t worry — the sensations will disappear when you give birth.)
This week’s fruit/veggie is not very fun… Can’t they think of something better than a sweet potato? Anyway, I tried to find the most attractive photo I could for this week’s cover photo.
There are only THREE WEEKS remaining until we can find out the gender of the baby!! Get your votes in using the poll in the sidebar before our big reveal (current results show that most of you think it will be a girl)!
If you have been following me on Facebook or Twitter, you know that I went on a crazy shopping spree this weekend, and basically bought myself a whole new wardrobe of maternity clothes. I wore one of my new dresses to Wicked for our two-year anniversary (the blue one in the photo), but I also got tank tops, camis, work shirts and pants, shorts, jeans and a few more dresses. I’ll try and post photos every time I wear a new outfit. And look for a bump photo this week too – I am seriously slacking in that area.
I also inherited some new books from one of Geoff’s cousins (From the Hips, The Girlfriend’s Guide to Pregnancy and Eating Well When You’re Expecting), and I can’t wait until I have some free time to sit down and really read them. I’ve actually contemplated buying each one of them at one point or another. Have you read them? Did you find them worthwhile?
You might start to feel your baby moving around anytime now, which is a great way to take your mind off your bothersome back.
Your pregnancy back pain may have you tied up in knots (see below), but your baby’s getting ready to bust a move. At five and a half inches long and five ounces in weight, he now may be large enough for you to feel him twisting, rolling, kicking, and punching his way around the womb. Plus, he’s developing yawning and hiccupping skills (you may feel those soon, too!) and his own unique set of toe and fingerprints.
Oh, my aching back! If you’ve uttered those words more than once this week, here’s why: Your uterus, now about the size of a cantaloupe, is causing your body’s center of gravity to shift, pulling the lower back forward and pushing the abdomen out (so now everyone can see that you’re pregnant!). On top of all that, joint-loosening pregnancy hormones are wreaking havoc on your muscles and ligaments, adding up to one big ouch!
This is a great version of a healthy pizza that you can make on the grill (or on a panini press), so it’s perfect for the summer! Feel free to swap out the toppings if you prefer other veggies or meat, but keep in mind that it will change the Points+ value if you are doing Weight Watchers.
Ingredients
6 oz cooked chicken sausage(s), about 2 links, halved and thinly sliced
1 small uncooked red onion, cut into thin slivers
1 small yellow pepper, cut into 1/4 inch slices
1/2 cup store-bought pizza sauce
4 medium whole-wheat tortillas
1 tsp dried oregano
3/4 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
Instructions
Step 1: Preheat an outdoor grill to medium (or a grill pan over medium-high heat). Place sausage, onion and pepper on grill in a grill basket; cook, flipping once, until sausage is golden and vegetables start to brown, about 4 to 6 minutes. Remove from grill and set aside until ready to use.
Step 2: To prepare pizzas, spread 2 tablespoons of sauce on each tortilla. Sprinkle each with 1/4 teaspoon of dried oregano and then top each with 1/4 of sausage-vegetable mixture; top each with 3 tablespoons of cheese.
Step 3: Place pizzas on grill (or as many as will fit on grill pan at one time) and cook until edges begin to brown, about 3 to 5 minutes; rotate pizzas. Continue cooking until cheese is bubbly, about 2 to 4 minutes more. Yields 1 pizza per serving.
Pat the Belly 