Soooooooo much to do!

I had yet another doctor's appointment this morning... surprisingly I got right in and out this morning.

My blood pressure was still good, so I'm happy about that. I'm even happier about the fact that I LOST a pound since last appointment. (And I feel like all I've been doing is EATING!!) Baby is still growing right on track... I'll be 35 weeks tomorrow and I'm measuring 36.

The exam with the doc went pretty quickly. He looked at my belly and goes, "Stand up... I want to take a look at your belly. Are you really pregnant?" and laughed. It's pretty bad when my DOCTOR isn't sure if I'm pregnant by looking at me....lol. I wore a white maternity top today, but I guess I didn't look all that pregnant when I was sitting down. Once I stood up and my belly very obviously made my shirt stick out, the nurse goes, "OH yeah. Look at that belly!"

So I've got a little belly. Oh well. Baby's fine, mommy's fine...that's all that matters.

One other thing though... once the doctor and nurse saw my belly, I was told to take my belly ring out soon. LOL. (Woops... they weren't supposed to see that!) I've kept it in this long and have had NO problem with it whatsoever, but the nurse goes, "We don't want anything tearing." Believe me, if my belly was about to tear, this thing would have been out a long time ago! I'm not THAT attached to it!

At the end of the appointment, doc said he wants to schedule me for AN ULTRASOUND! WOO HOO! I get to see my little girl again! I haven't had an ultrasound since my 18 week one in Pittsburgh. So next Thursday I'll find out how big my little one is, and if she's head down and ready to enter the world! I can't wait :-)

So that was my appointment.

Today I plan to just do things in the nursery, and do some laundry. But not just ANY laundry... BABY LAUNDRY! I'm on my second load of baby laundry... so far today I've washed up all her receiving blankets, burp cloths, teeny tiny little socks, caps, mittens, and some onesies, and now I've moved onto all the rest of the 0-3month clothes. I'm getting things done, slowly but surely. So why does it still feel like there's SO MUCH TO DO?!

I've started compiling a list of things I need to do....
1. Finish baby laundry
2. assemble pack n play, swing
3. put together stroller
4. carseat in car (and then figure out how the heck to use it!)
5. Get bag packed for hospital (mine AND Aly's)
6. put up curtains in nursery
7. wash up bedding for kid bed
8. Etc etc etc etc......lol

5 weeks (maybe!) to do all this.... better get busy. :-P

Have a great day :-)

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the mommies and mommies-to-be out there! Hope it's been a great day for everyone.

Yesterday we took Russ's mom out to dinner, and today we went to my parents' house for a little bit, then we all went over to my Grandma Jane's house to spend time with my mom's side of the family. It couldn't have been a more beautiful day.... blue skies, sunny and 70 degrees :-)

It's hard to believe that next year I will have a little one of my own for Mother's Day! I even got some cards from friends and family, wishing me a Happy Mother's Day THIS year... I thought that was sweet of them :-) Russ's mom got me a card, and so did my cousin and a friend of mine. My wonderful husband even bought me some roses.

Overall it was a great day... now it's time to relax :-)

Not much else to talk about... just wanted to write real quick to wish everyone Happy Mommies Day. Have a great day/evening/night... whatever time it happens to be where you are right now! :-)

Trip to the doctor's...

Well, I had another doctor's appointment this morning... things went pretty well. My pregnant butt gained another 2 pounds since my last visit, but doc didn't say anything about it. That puts me at 15 pounds for the whole pregnancy so far. He said, "That's 1 pound a week... you're doing everything right."

Woo hoo!

Aly was being stubborn this morning and wouldn't let the nurse find her heartbeat. After a few minutes, she settled down and stayed in one spot. Her heartbeat was nice and strong. I've decided that I think Aly is head down, lying sideways with her butt toward my right side. (most of the time, anyway!) I always feel a big hard bump sticking out on my right side, probably her little butt! Also, yesterday she had the hiccups and I felt them down really low, then I could see the right side of my belly moving too... probably her belly. I could tell she was annoyed, because she kept moving around until they stopped. But anyway... I got a little off track there. Back to the appointment.... :-)

I told the doctor about how I've been swelling more lately... he kinda got an "uh oh" look on his face. I showed him my feet and said, "Well, right now, it's just my feet and ankles." His nurse practitioner asked me if it seems to happen more after work. I said yeah, but that even when I'm not working and am on my feet for a short period of time, my ankles and feet start swelling. She goes, "Well, how about we cut your hours down at work?" (Which is what I knew they would probably say...) I told her I really can't do that, because right now I'm working 3 days a week for 12 hour shifts. If I cut myself down to 8 hour shifts, that would make me have to work for 4 whole nights 11pm-7am, then pick up another 4 hours a different night. I am NOT going to be working 5 night a week and be swollen like that. The way I see it, I swell after a few hours at work, so it's still gonna suck regardless of whether I'm at work for 12 hours or 8 hours.

So then the nurse goes, "Well, how about we cut your days a week down?" (Which I'd LOVE, but I can't do...) I told her, "Well, that'd be great and all, but I have to stay full time, since I'm the one holding the insurance benefits...my husband is on MY insurance." If I dropped to only 2 days a week or whatever, that would be considered part time and the amount taken out of my paycheck every 2 weeks for insurance would go up about $400. No thank you.

So as of right now, I'm sticking with the same work schedule. Doc told me he'd just like to see me in a week, to make sure things are going ok. The good news is that even though I'm swelling a bit, my blood pressure was alright. It was 110/something this morning... at least it's not climbing. Then I'd be worried.

Now I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that things stay alright and that I don't have to go on maternity leave early. I'm just gonna do what I've been doing...watching my salt and drinking water. Doc said "Don't drink TOO much, just ENOUGH." So I'm assuming that's the recommended 8 glasses a day. Still hard to do! Thank goodness for Crystal Light packets!

So that was my morning. I'm just gonna sit with my feet up and relax for now. I have to work AGAIN tonight, then I'm off for a 4-day weekend. Yay!

Here are a few belly shots I took... one was yesterday (the tired exhausted looking one...lol) and the other was today after I got back from the doctor's. (A little more rested.)







Well, that's it for now. Have a good day!

Somewhat of a shower update :-)

Morning!

Sorry it's taken me so long to post about my baby shower!

I wanted to post lots of pictures right now, but can't. Let's just say my camera sucks. I fully charged up my digital camera batteries the night before my shower, but the thing STILL managed to screw up. Luckily, I DID get pics of the shower BEFORE everyone got there, so I'll post those. But when it came present-opening time, my camera screen went black and wouldn't let my best friend take any pics with it. So I have NONE of the present opening pics right now. Those are the ones I've been waiting for... everyone said they'd email me their pictures, but they haven't yet. Grr...... lol. Once I get them though, I'll put them up on here :-)

Anyway...

The shower went really well. About 30-some people showed up, so there was a nice crowd there.

Here are some pictures I took before everything got started. Click on them to bring up a bigger pic. :-)


Here's the buffet (before everything was out though...) Note the CHOCOLATE FONDUE! Yes, it was awesome.



Next, we have the CAKE, complete with little baby booties made of icing! It was yummy too! :-)



Here is a pic of one of the tables.



A few pics of the guests....





And... THE PRESENTS! (And this isn't all of them!) :-)



Sadly, as of right now I have NO pics of preggo me... hopefully SOMEONE got a belly shot so I can put it up on here :-)

I ended up getting lots of good stuff... lots of odds and ends! Let's just say Aly now has clothes out the butt. She has an entire summer wardrobe and then some. I got THE cutest little sundresses, onesies, and skirts. Seems like mostly everyone decided to buy me baby clothes! I have half a closet full of 0-3 month stuff, a little bit of 3-6 month, and only a few 6 month+ things. I'm not too worried about the 6 month stuff just yet. At least she's set through the summer and into fall!

I got my diaper genie, rainforest waterfall soother, storage baskets, aquarium bathtub, swing, lots of receiving blankets, bibs and burp clothes, and lots of "little things", ie baby wash, baby lotion, wipes, diapers, balmex, BUTT PASTE (hehe), etc.

I still would like to buy my bouncer and jumperoo, and I still need a high chair. We got money and gift cards also, so I'll be putting those to good use. Mostly everything else I need are little things, like binkies, bottles, a few more receiving blankets.... things like that. I'm finally feeling more relaxed now! I spent two days after my shower just getting things put away . The nursery now looks SOMEWHAT less of a cluttered mess! :-) Now comes the part where I have to wash everything up. Fun fun.

Well, I promise to post more pics as I get them. Also, I'll take more pics of the nursery as it becomes a little, uh, less cluttered. :-) It looked like a tornado hit it after we piled all the shower stuff in there...lol.

Alright, well I'm going to take a little nap so I can de-cankle myself. I just finished up work about an hour ago, so it's time for this girl to put her feet up and get some rest. I'll write more soon!

Have a great day!!

Insomniac baby shower post that just made me very hungry.

Good morning!

Yes, a 5am post means that Betsy cannot sleep again. Darn this insomnia! I fell asleep lastnight around 9pm, and woke up around 4. Obviously I couldn't fall back to sleep, hence the post. And not to mention, I have lots on my mind, because.......

TODAY IS MY BABY SHOWER!!!! YAY!

It's from 1-3pm today, though the room is reserved until 4pm. I absolutely CANNOT WAIT! We're heading over to the restaurant around noon to set some decorations out (centerpieces, balloons, etc.)

I just can't wait to see what little Aly gets! Not to mention I can't wait to eat the food there. LOL. We're having lots of good stuff. For starters, all the non-pregnant people (yeah, everyone but me) get a mamosa when they arrive. For anyone who doesn't know what that is, it's a drink of OJ and champagne mixed together and it is AWESOME! I am soooooo going to be wanting one.

We're having a buffet luncheon... meat/cheese and veggie trays, fruit and CHOCOLATE FONDUE (at my request, haha!), garden salad, potato/pasta salads, and croissant sandwiches. For dessert we're having raspberry sorbet and cake. My cake is going to be 3 different things. One part is chocolate with bavarian cream filling, another is white with raspberry filling, and the last part is white with lemon filling. Can we say YUM?!

Yeah, I am officially hungry now. Hmm... is 5am too early to eat a bowl of cereal?

Well, that's about it for now. I just updated my pregnancy blog, which I've been sadly neglecting, so check that out if you want! There may be some repeats between this post and that one, but I also talk about my adventures with getting kicked in the, uh, 'backdoor.' You know, fun stuff like that. (Come on, please tell me some of you mommies-to-be have been dealing with the kicks in the behind too... I'm not the only one, right?!) LOL.

Alright, I think I'm going to try and lay down for a few hours.

Have a great day! I'll update after the shower and post some pics!

Hello, ankles! (and other stuff.)

Good morning!

First off, and most importantly, my cankles are gone. I know you were wondering. (haha) I feel much better today, though I'm still feeling somewhat exhausted. I may be going through some major nesting, but I guess I need to learn when to just TAKE A BREAK! :-)

I'm still dealing with the "waking up in the middle of the night and not being able to fall back to sleep" thing... it's happened to me both nights I was off. I had taken a nap from about 10am-1pm yesterday, then was STILL totally exhausted by 8pm. I fell asleep on the couch close to 9pm (and missed American Idol!!!), and woke up around 11:30pm when Russ came upstairs and said, "Honey, let's go to bed." When we got back there, neither of us was very tired, so we layed there and talked (yes, just talked...lol) for about 20 minutes, and then watched some tv. I heard Russ snoring shortly after that, but I just laid there staring at the ceiling. I ended up staying up til 1:30 or so, then fell back to sleep until 5:30 this morning. I hate when my nights are like this!! I guess I'd better get used to the odd sleep schedule though, huh.

So this morning I made Russ breakfast before he left for work, then did a few loads of laundry. I washed my VERY FIRST load of "baby laundry".... Alyson's crib bedding. That Dreft detergent smells sooooooooo good! I was getting ready to put the washed bedding in the dryer, and couldn't quit sniffing everything-- it all smelled like baby powder!

So now I have all the crib put together. Or so I thought. I realized a little bit ago that hmm... I don't have any crib mattress pads yet! Oh well, I put the sheet on there anyway. I'll just stick the mattress pad on later. I just wanted to get the crib bedding all on, so at least that part's done. The crib looks so cute! The mobile is adorable... now all the crib is missing is little Aly :-)

I swear, I could just spend all day up in the nursery! I took all my gifts I've gotten in the mail upstairs today and put them in the nursery, and I just kept looking around at everything, thinking about how Aly's going to be here SOON! Then I caught sight of myself in the mirror and thought, "Maaaaaaaan, I've got a big belly." LOL. Not too much longer for that, too, thank goodness.

I'm just getting nervous and excited with each day that goes by. I'm going to be 33 weeks tomorrow! Yikes! I'll feel alot better after my shower Saturday... then I'll know what I have, and what I still need to buy before Aly's here. I'm finally starting to feel like everything's coming together :-)

Well, not much else to write about for now.

Before I go, just want to send a big ol' THANK YOU out to Theresa, Brittny, and Sarah L for the baby gifts! You're the best! (I know I already emailed you guys, but wanted to thank you here just in case you happen to read this BEFORE you check your email!)

And lastly, if you read this-- Platinum Rose, I'd love to read your blog but I'm locked out of it. Can you let me in? :-) betsy.hunt@hotmail.com Thanks!

Alright ladies...have a great day! Just think, the weekend's almost here!!

Cankles R Us

Hello :-)

Not much to write about, but it's been awhile.... so here's a post.

I finished up my third night turn in a row this morning.... I am officially EXHAUSTED! I requested not to be worked more than 2 nights in a row on the next schedule at work, and thankfully my clinical manager gave me what I asked for! Only 1 1/2 more schedules to go at work, then I'm on MATERNITY LEAVE!

This morning I slept for about 3 hours, then woke up and cleaned... and cleaned.... and cleaned. For about 4 hours, at least. I washed walls, and mopped floors, dusted, washed windows... you name it, I did it. Hmmm... NESTING?! :-) After that, hubby came home and we cooked on the grill and took advantage of the warm weather by eating outside on the deck.

This evening, I swear the phone rang nonstop... my best friend from Cleveland called and said that YES she can come in for my shower Saturday! I'm so excited!!! I haven't seen her since summer! Unfortunately she has to work Sunday, so she can't stay the night here with us like she did last time she came in :-(

Next, my cousin Bren called and we BS'd about the shower.. then my mom called. More BS'ing about the shower. LOL. :-) After what seemed like hours on the phone, I sat down to put my feet up for awhile, since I noticed what looked to be the beginning of cankles. LOL.

Of course that didn't last long. I got a little stir crazy and got back up to start on my shower favors. I put them all together, and they are soooooooo cute! I bought Sarris chocolate rattles, along with those soft mints with "Baby Girl" wrappers on them. I put the rattle and mints in clear cellophane bags with baby print on them. I attached a cute little note from Baby Aly and a decorative pink plastic safety pin to the bags with ribbon. They turned out rather nice, I must say! So at least that part's done!

All I'll have to do Saturday morning before the shower is get the balloons ready. Russ's mom and her boyfriend came over this evening, and she offered to take the balloons somewhere to get them blown up with helium, so I just might take her up on that!

Sooooooo...that was pretty much my evening.

Oh... one more thing. Today I got more gifts in the mail!! Russ's cousin got me a Bare Naked Boppy and a cute reversible Boppy slip cover. I can't wait to use it! :-) Also, my neighbor got me my Kick and Crawl Aquarium gym along with some toys-- teethers, keys, etc. :-) I get so excited to get baby stuff :-) And yes, I'll admit, I've been a registry peeker!! People are starting to buy alot of stuff, so I'm PUMPED! The way I see it, there's still that element of surprise there, because I don't know WHO got me what, and people always end up buying things not on the registry too... so I'll still have some surprise gifts :-) I CAN'T WAIT til Saturday!All Russ is concerned with is where we'll put everything after the shower...lol.

Well, time to go put my feet up. No lie, my legs look like frickin' tree trunks right now... I haven't had them up all day. It doesn't help that they are usually a LITTLE swelled after night turn anyway... but these babies take the cake today. I kept telling Russ today, "Honey, now I DO have cankles!!" :-( Hopefully they'll be gone by morning. :-( Ahh, the joys of pregnancy. 7 weeks to go....