Myths I've Debunked

So for those of you who didn't already know, before we found out for sure we were having a girl, we totally believed that we were going to have a boy. In fact, we were so convinced we already had a name picked out and referred to the baby as 'him' (which now I feel bad about). The reasons we felt so strongly about what we were having was due to many of the old wives tales that seemed to fit me to a t when it came to be carrying a boy. Well, now that we know it's a girl I thought it would be fun to look back on all the myths I've debunked.

Needle and Thread Test: Thread a string through a needle and hold the string with the needle above the expectant mother's belly. If the needle swings back and forth, the mom-to-be will be having a boy. If it moves in a circular motion, the parents will be greeting a baby girl. Now for this one I've actually heard it go either way with the direction that the needle moves so I even went to the next level by doing the test on my co-worker who already knew that she was having a girl and it was the opposite of what my needle did. So obviously I thought I would be carrying a boy.

Shapes: This one had two parts; one for the face and one for the belly. When your face gets fuller and rounder when pregnant, it means you’re going to have a girl. If your face is long and narrow, it’s a boy. I have an oval shaped face and it hasn't changed a bit since being pregnant which would mean boy. If you're belly is shaped more like a watermelon it's a girl; if it sticks out like a basketball it's a boy. I'm nothing but a basketball belly!

Cravings: Can't get enough sweets, girl. Love salty and sour, boy. Though I still love dessert, the only cravings I've experienced throughout my pregnancy have been for things that are salty. And even when I do want something sweet, I lean towards sour sweets like tart frozen yogurt or Sour Patch Kids.

Chinese Gender Chart: The Chinese Gender Chart claims to have an accuracy rate of over 90%. It is based on how old the mother is at conception and the month that she conceived. This tale told me we were having a boy. So much for its 90% accuracy rate.

Headaches: If you are having headaches, you might be carrying a boy. In the beginning of my pregnancy I had headaches every single day. They've decreased the farther along I've gotten, but I still get them way more than I did before being pregnant.

There are other myths I've debunked but if I listed them all, this blog would be annoyingly long. And of course there are some old wives tales that match me with the fact that we're having a girl so they're not all wrong. It's funny to think about how these myths got started and why; probably out of boredom. Definitely makes you think twice about believing everything you hear!

Nesting is in Full Effect

They say that typically around the fifth or sixth month of pregnancy is when the nesting instinct can set in, which is fitting because that's when you find out the sex of the baby. Even after we found out we were having a girl and I started immediately looking at how I wanted to design the nursery, I still didn't find myself truly nesting yet. Don't get me wrong, building up her nursery piece by piece and shopping for goodies and gear has been a blast, but it still didn't feel like the nesting phase that you hear about. I remember asking myself if I would ever really feel that nesting phase kick in because I'm usually always cleaning and organizing things. But over the last couple of weeks I've noticed that the nesting is in full effect and I'm having so much fun with it!

I spent all day Saturday getting all of Mallory's clothes, blankets, burp cloths, pillow slipcovers, and extra sheets washed and organized in their drawers and bins. I placed the little Arm & Hammer lavender air fresheners around the nursery, filled the changing table with diapers and wipes, packed the clothes that are too big for now in an underbed container that barely fits under her crib, packed her diaper bag, and vacuumed every nook and cranny (again). I took a break to go over to Target to get her bouncer and put that together - very cute by the way. I think I've even picked out her homecoming outfit; unless I find something I like better when my mom and I get together for one last shopping trip next weekend.

Today I will pack my hospital bag with the necessities from the list that was recommended in the What to Expect When You're Expecting book. Though I know that leaving for the hospital isn't always as dramatic as you see in the movies, I'd rather be prepared considering this is my first child and I have no idea what to expect. So after this weekend, we will be fully ready for Mallory's arrival. I know that once she's here we'll realize that there are things that we still need to get, but overall I feel really good about how prepared we are. From here we just wait until she's ready to grace us with her presence (and of course I'm still praying that it's at least after September 10 when I get back from my conference in San Francisco!).

Cramping My Style

Today I am officially 35-weeks along. Though we're ready for Mallory's arrival and very excited to meet her, I had a moment last night as I was sitting in her room that she will be here before we know it and I started to feel a little anxious. For some reason I've had this feeling that I'm not going to make it to my due date and she'll be early. If so I wouldn't mind but at the same time, I need her to wait until I'm done with my last three events at work. The biggest one is next week, starts on Monday (yes, I have to work on Labor Day) and goes until Friday, and it's in San Francisco. Normally I love traveling for work, but the fact that I'll be 36-weeks along worries me a little because if something were to happen, San Francisco is not an easy city to get out of should I need to come home in a hurry. And I really, really don't want to give birth in San Francisco in an unfamiliar hospital, with an unfamiliar doctor, and no husband to support me as I deliver our first child.

So this is what I was pondering last night as I sat in Mallory's room and why I became anxious. And though I know there is nothing that I can do so worrying about it isn't going to help, it's hard for me not to think about the possibility of it happening. However, I was able to brush the thought away and enjoy the rest of my evening by going through her layette again to makes notes of what we still need to get. Then at 4:00am I was woken up with lovely Braxton Hicks contractions that kept me from being able to sleep. It's not the first time that I've gotten them, but last night they were much stronger. When I got out of bed at 5:30am they actually got a little worse and I started to feel nauseous. I even skipped my morning run as I didn't want to push myself. All morning as I got ready for work they were definitely cramping my style and put those anxious thoughts of San Francisco back in my head.

So I've decided that I'm going to monitor how I feel for the rest of the week and when I go to my doctor's appointment this Thursday I'm going to talk to my doctor about it. If he suggests that I not travel then Friday will be an interesting day coming to work to tell the team that I won't be able to go to the conference; and by interesting I mean people are going to be upset because their workload just got harder. If that happens I will feel very bad because I hate leaving my work for others to have take over, especially when I've put so much time and effort into this conference and I'd love to see how it goes. But at the same time work is not worth the possibility of having my first birthing experience be a horrible one. Guess I'll have to wait to see if these Braxton Hicks decide to continue to cramp my sytle.

Showered with Love

So I'm finally getting around to blogging about my baby shower that was on Saturday, August 14. I've been so incredibly busy (aka stressed out) with multiple work events that any free time I get I use to relax and decompress. I was so stressed out the Friday before the shower that I actually broke down at work and started crying. Thankfully most people had already gone home for the day so I didn't have to worry about making a scene in front of others - I hate crying in front of people. This is the first week in a few that my Outlook calendar isn't booked solid and I'm totally looking forward to it. I love my job but when it gets so busy that I get stressed out, I don't like it so much; especially this far along in my pregnancy. The last thing I need is my job sending me into early labor.
I had a hard time picking out all the decorations for the baby shower because there were a lot of different ideas I had in my head. When I went to Party City I would pick a design, start loading the items in my cart, go down the next aisle, see another design I liked better and have to start over. I did that at least three times before finally deciding on a paisley design. I was really trying to bring in other colors than pink because I'm just not a pink fan. I like it in small quantities but not as a main color. The paisley design I found had green, purple, pink, blue, and orange so it was perfect; and I absolutely love paisley so I was sold. I had Cupcake Craving make four different flavors for me: carrot cake, lemon meringue, black forest, and strawberry angel food. I put together some great prize gifts with items from Bath and Body Works for the games Jamie put together. While I was at work on Friday my mom went to Costco and Raley's to get the turkey pinwheels, cheese and crackers, fruit, and Crystal Light. I mulled over what to do for favors for a long time and just decided on a bag of sweet treats with the tag reading, "All the sweet things a baby brings..."

We decorated with balloons, streamers, baby feet confetti (which Jody helped me punch out), and my favorite part, the clotheslines hung with onesies and my maternity photos. We had the shower in my community's clubhouse which I had never been in before and it worked out perfectly. We played Guess Mama's Belly Size, Baby Items Price is Right, Trivia about Mom-to-Be, and Guess the Celebrity Baby. Jamie even had Guess the Baby Food but we ended up not having enough time to play it, though I still tasted a few of them to see if I could tell what they were. Mallory was definitely showered with love that day and received lots of wonderful gifts. She got more clothes in that one day than I think I have in my whole closet, and of course they are all adorable outfits! Girl clothing is so much more fun than boy clothing. I felt so blessed that day to be surrounded by family and friends who have shown nothing but love and support throughout this journey. And I know there were others that couldn't make it that day that wished they could have been, and I missed them greatly but I know they were there in spirit.

At the end of the day, I was so incredibly happy with how everything turned out. The anticipation of planning was all worth it in the end. Now that Mallory has been showered with love with a baby shower I can now focus all of my excitement on waiting for her arrival. Of course there are still things that I need to get done around the house before she gets here though I don't think we'll ever be completely ready. I'm thisclose to being done with her nursery; I just have a couple of paintings that I want to do and a mobile that I need to make. I'm striving to have those things done before the end of the month so I can use my last month to just relax before she gets here. I'm betting that I won't make it to my due date anyway, so I don't think I'll have too much time on my hands anyway.

Thank you again to all who made my baby shower a memory that I'll never forget!

Barbie Ferrari

I never thought I would get so excited over a stroller until I discovered the BOB. Though, I'm thinking that if I weren't an avid runner I might not be as elated. Regardless, I am super stoked about Mallory's stroller and can't wait to use it. It's extremely lightweight, maneuvers in tight spaces with ease, and folds up with two simple steps. When you're juggling a bunch of different things at once these features are important to any mom. Additionally, the wheels go from road to rugged terrain and it's built to last forever. And no, I'm not being paid to promote the BOB brand, I'm just enamored by this stroller.

I'm also proud of the fact that I put it together on my own and when we went to REI to make sure I did it correctly, I got a seal of approval. The car seat adapter is key for now as she'll be too small to ride in it solo for awhile. Of course when picking out my car seat I made sure to pick one that would match the stroller because I'm weird like that. When I put the whole thing together last weekend Jody looked at it and said, "It's like a real life Barbie Ferrari." I would have to agree with him; she's gonna be riding in style for sure. In fact, her ride is better than mine; hmmmm...I might have to do something about that...!

Maternity Photos

One of the things that I wanted to make sure to do during my pregnancy was get maternity photos taken. I knew I needed to wait until I was far enough along that you would definitely be able to see my belly in the photos, but I also didn't want to wait too long because the vain part of me didn't want to look swollen. Thankfully since I've been able to continue my running and working out routine, most of the weight that I have gained is in the baby belly. I'm proud of myself for staying active and feel that because of my hard work I've very much embraced my body changing with the stages of pregnancy. It was certainly something that I thought of before getting pregnant. No girl enjoys gaining weight. And though it's only temporary and for something amazing, it's still a little scary.

I knew from the beginning that I wanted Katie Fretland of Platinum Photography to take my photos. I've known Katie since high school and we reconnected via Facebook about two years ago. In looking at her profile and seeing her posts I found out she was a professional photographer for weddings, portraits, and all things baby related. Visiting her Website, I found myself smiling as I looked through her portfolio and have thoroughly enjoyed keeping up with her latest updates of photo sessions. So when I became pregnant I knew she was who I wanted to go to for my maternity photos. I contacted her early on to ask when we should take them and scheduled a session last month when I was 29-weeks. I was so impressed at how comfortable she made us feel throughout the entire session. Sometimes taking that many photos can make you start to question how to stand and where to look so you don't look stiff and posed. I love the natural looking photos when you're not always looking at the camera and she definitely caught some great ones. She met me last Friday evening to give me the DVD and I couldn't wait to get home to see how they turned out. There are over 140 pictures total and I love them all! It's going to be really hard to choose which ones to enlarge and hang up in the house. I'm going to print out a bunch to hang up at my baby shower next weekend and most likely have a larger one with a mat that everyone can sign. I'll also put some in Mallory's nursery. I'm posting a few of my favorites here on the blog, but I've uploaded them all to my Shutterfly Share account so family and friends can see the whole album. Obviously we'll be using Katie again to take Mallory's newborn photos once she's arrived and I'm already excited because I know they'll turn out just as captivating. I highly, highly recommend Katie to anyone living in the Sacramento area - you will not be disappointed!

Pregnancy Cravings

One of the questions that I have gotten a lot since being pregnant is, "What kind of pregnancy cravings do you have?" My reply has always been very boring as I don't really have any at all. There's a part of me that is kind of bummed because you always hear stories from others that have these crazy cravings all of the time. However, maybe it's a good thing because a lot of times it's a craving for something that might not be the healthiest thing to be eating all of the time. When my mom was pregnant with me her craving was Oreo cookies; she said she could eat a whole package to herself. I'm definitely glad I don't have to worry about that because I already feel guilty when I indulge in sweets more than once a day.

In my first trimester I had morning sickness so bad that it wasn't a matter of what I was craving, it was a matter of trying to find something that I could keep down. I was able to find that the macaroni and cheese at Jack's was enjoyable for me during that period and though I wouldn't eat it all of the time, I ate it more often than I ever have before in my life. After the first trimester and morning sickness passed, I noticed that answering the pregnancy cravings question started making me question whether I would ever get to experience a certain craving.

Well, now I'm just shy of my 8 month mark and I finally realized today that I do have a pregnancy craving and have had it for awhile; canned green beans. And they have to be the Del Monte cut green beans. I love them and eat them almost every day. And when I don't have a chance to eat them, I think about them and wish that I had a can. I guess the reason why I never thought that this was a craving up until now is because I've always been a big vegetable fan and eat something in the vegetable family every day like the Food Pyramid says to. But this Del Monte green bean addiction is definitely a craving since becoming pregnant and I can't get enough of them. Weird pregnancy craving but that's the way it should be!

Birthday Weekend

Jody's birthday was last Friday; he's now 31 years young. And though each birthday that I've celebrated with him he always says he doesn't care to make a big deal out of it, I decided that since it's his last before Mallory arrives downplaying his birthday wasn't going to happen. Especially since it landed on a Friday which means that you get to celebrate it all weekend long - a birthday weekend.



When I got home on Friday, I gave Jody his cards and gift. He got a card from Littles, Leo, and me. I put a shout out of love from Mallory in my card to remind him that she will soon make his birthdays a little more meaningful. I truly believe that we start appreciating birthdays again once we have children because it means that God let us live to enjoy another year with them. One thing that Jody has had to sacrifice a little since we've been budgeting for baby is golf, and I know he misses it. So I surprised him with a gift card for a round and range balls to one of his favorite courses. But I couldn't just give him a gift card in an envelope, so I got creative and made my own gift card holder. I printed out a golf bag and cut a slit where the side pocket is, covered the envelope with a print out of a box of golf balls, and rigged it so it was coming out of the golf bag a little. Now he has something fun to do in a couple weekends while I have my baby shower. That night he wanted to see Dinner for Schmucks. Funny movie but I think it's one of those movies that will be funnier the second time around.



Birthday weekend continued on Saturday afternoon when Jamie, Steven, and Kaylee came over and we all piled into the car to go to the State Fair. I haven't been to the Fair in probably over five years because most of the time it's always over 100 degrees and I'd rather not spend my money to go and be miserable in the heat. Luckily this summer has been somewhat mild for Sacramento and Saturday the weather only got up to 90 so it wasn't that bad. We also didn't get down there until about 4:30pm so we knew we wouldn't have to endure the heat for too long. Kaylee wanted to head straight for the games and rides. Unfortunately for me, I wasn't able to enjoy the rides like I could pre-pregnancy but we did hop on the giant Ferris wheel. Played a couple of games - even though they're such a ripoff now - before hitting up some of the expos to cool down. Then it was time for some junk food. After a corn dog, some bloomin' onion, and a lemonade I was stuffed and ready to go walk it off. Fair food may taste good, but it never leaves you feeling good. Saw some more expos, watched some horses gallop around the arena, visited with the livestock and let some goats nibble on our fingers, played a couple more games in the kids area, and were entertained by the shopping building that contained products you usually only see on TV. We all enjoyed an ice cream cone for dessert and watched an 80's cover band rock out while waiting for the fireworks to start. Sadly, I was thoroughly disappointed in the fireworks show. I know they're expensive and budget cuts have caused things to be taken down a notch, but geesh they were pretty pathetic. At the end of the day we all had a great time and Jody was happy, which is all that mattered.



Sunday was more mellow and relaxing: church, gym, dog park, cleaning, a nap, grocery shopping, and settling back on the couch to watch Clash of the Titans. It was a perfect way to end the birthday weekend and I got joy when Jody said to me that he had a really enjoyable weekend. It's always nice to hear the one you love say they're happy. Happy birthday my love and I look forward to sharing many more with you and our growing family!