Swollen Feet

I have been feeling so tired lately. Today I slept in until 10am! I've heard this is normal during the third trimester, but it is definitely zapping my productivity!

Today, my feet are so swollen I can barely put my shoes on. I will spare sharing photos of that...

Tonight our Bradley Method instructor returns for our second class, where we'll go over comfort techniques (things I can do myself as well as things Dan can help with). We learned so much in our first class with her, so I'm excited for her to come back tonight.

This weekend Jamie and Neil will be visiting us. I am really excited to see them. They arrive Saturday morning and will be there until Sunday early evening. Neil is currently living in Portland while he completes a one year fellowship. He is specializing in minimally-invasive liver and pancreas surgery. Jamie is still in DC working for the Treasury Department. I would find it hard to live nearly 3,000 miles away from Dan for an entire year, but they are making it work by seeing each other every two weeks and talking often. We are hoping to take them to play Big Buck Hunter tomorrow!

New shoes!

Today I walked over to DSW with two $10 Rewards certificates in hand (DSW sends you great coupons in the mail if you're signed up for their rewards program). They expire on Sunday and basically equal $20 for free, so I was determined to find something. Since I already have my new winter boots for this year, I found a really cute pair of flat shoes for next spring/summer in the clearance section. After my rewards certificates, the shoes were only $8.75. Not bad! Check it out.

I took this photo with our new DSLR camera, which I am enjoying using since I learned how to operate it last weekend during our date night photography class.

Dan gets home tonight after a whirlwind trip to Frankfurt and then Denver. I am sure he will be glad to be home, and I will be happy to have him here!

Winter Has Arrived & Other Updates

This week the temperatures dipped into the 40s. It's starting to feel like winter! As long as it's not too windy, it's still nice to be outside. I'm planning to go on a long walk today wearing my new winter coat.

Last night our Bradley Method instructor came over for our first class. We are so grateful that she is willing to meet with us on Friday nights. It makes it much less disruptive to Dan's work schedule. Our first class was immensely helpful. One of the takeaways for Dan was "your wife will not find your jokes funny during active labor, so don't even try!" He and I thought that was pretty funny because he usually resorts to jokes to lighten the mood, but I think he will try a different approach during birth.

Tonight, we are going to a photography class with our new DSLR camera. I'm really looking forward to being able to capture better photos with a faster shutter speed. I'm hopeful we'll leave the class tonight with a good understanding of how to use it!

Round 2: Finds for Toby and Greta!

After seeing the deals they had at the Babies Tots n More Consignment sale, Whitney sent me a shopping list for Greta and Toby. I headed back to the sale this afternoon when most of the remaining stuff was marked down by 50%. What deals we got! So much of the clothing is practically new and some still have the tags on them.

Here's the haul for Toby:

And for Greta:

A big haul for Lauren!

Yesterday I went to the semi-annual Babies Tots n' More Consignment Sale. I had won a VIP pass to get in early to shop (the sale didn't open to the public until today). It was amazing! Most everything was in great condition (some stuff was new with tags still on it) and marked down to about 25-35% of the original price. Having access to the VIP sale was a huge advantage because even in the time I was there, a lot of the best stuff got scooped up.

I left with a lot of great finds for Lauren. I bought three non-clothing items:

Dwell Studio bouncer, with cute little elephants! I like that it's not too baby-ish or girly.

Phil and Ted's Portable Traveller Crib (we'll use this instead of a Pack n' Play)

Inflatable Duck Tub

I also found a ton of cute clothes! Here are the photos:

Tea Collection and Dwell Studio outfits

Baby Gap finds

Cute winter dresses for 0-3 months. Both come with bloomers!

The outfit on the left is cashmere! The one on the right is super soft.

Shirts and pants for next winter (12-18 mo. sizes)

I love this shirt and sweater! Both are 0-3 months

A peacoat for next winter (12-18 mo)

The zip-up sweater on the left is for 0-3 mo. The outfit on the right is Tea Collection for 6-9 mo.

9 pairs of Hanna Andersson tights for next winter (12-18 mo)

Sweaters! The top 2 are for this winter. The bottom one with the green appliques is for next winter.

Busy Week!

We knew it was coming, and now it's here - our calendar is officially "very busy" for the next few weeks. Between some big work projects I need to wrap up this month and baby classes, pre-natal exercise classes and other events in the evenings, there is a lot going on!

Last night I went to a Bump Chicago dinner event where the guest speaker was a sleep expert who gave us tips about creating a good sleep environment for your baby and helping them get into a routine by 8-12 weeks. She had some helpful advice. I hope we can figure it out when Lauren arrives! I sat next to Lydia and Ena, my pre-natal exercise class friends who also happened to be at this dinner last night, so that was fun.

I'm really excited about tomorrow night, though! It will be busy, but great! First, I won a VIP pre-sale pass to the semi-annual Babies Tots n' More Consignment Sale (thanks to a raffle hosted by the Neighborhood Parents Network, which I recently joined). The sale doesn't open to the public until Friday, but I'll get in at 4pm on Thursday along with all the volunteers. Yay! Apparently this sale is amazing, so I'm excited to go with my list and see what I can find. Then a few hours later Dan and I are going to our first baby class at the hospital - it's part 1 of 2 of a newborn care series. I think it should be very helpful. I have no clue how to change a diaper, so I need to learn that pronto!

In the past day, Lauren has been bumping around and kicking a lot. I don't know if she is changing her position or just keeping active in there, but it's fun to feel her move around. My next doctor's appointment is Friday, Oct. 21 and after that I start going every 2 weeks until the final month. We're nearing the final countdown!

Christmas Stockings

Today I bought Christmas stockings for Dan, Lauren and me. This will be our first Christmas in our own home vs. spending it with our parents, and I want things to be festive and homey for Lauren's first Christmas. I love the monogrammed needlepoint stockings C, W and I had growing up (and they are still in use at Mom and Dad's house). I looked around online and found some beautifully made wool needlepoint stockings with velvet backs on Land's End. This morning Dan and I selected one for each of us and will have them monogrammed with our names. They should arrive by the end of October.

Dan chose the polar bear stocking for himself (left), I chose the sleigh ride stocking (middle) and Dan selected Santa with his sleigh for Lauren (right). 

Baby Bump Update - 30 Weeks!

Lauren is growing and getting ready for her debut in about 2 - 2.5 months! I took this photo of my bump today. It's pretty incredible to compare to the last photos I posted in mid-July.

October 3 - Week 30

July 30 - Week 20

July 15 - Week 18

Dan's new closet

When Dan and I moved into our place, the closets in the master bedroom left a lot to be desired. My closet wasn't even built out, so that became priority one. Dan's closet had probably been organized decades ago and was not optimized for hanging space. Plus, it has this weird "nook" on the side/back of the closet where shelves hung, but were pretty much useless. Now, nearly 1.5 years after our move, it's clear Dan simply needs more space. I drew out a new closet design a few weeks ago, ordered the parts, and today our handyman came and put everything together. It is so much better!

I forgot to get true "before" photos, but here are work-in-progress photos and the finished product (two levels of hanging rods and a bank of drawers that are actually accessible!).

The shelves (from the side nook and the top) are down!

Here's a glimpse at the weird nook in the back of the closet as well as the hole in the wall where a chunk of plaster fell out last year. That was repaired today, too!

The finished product! 2 levels of hanging space, drawers on the bottom left, and a top shelf.

Plus, hooks on the right (Dan loves to hang his shirts here during the week).

And hooks on the left wall for hats and smaller stuff.

Paint Fumes

Tonight I got home from Lydia's baby shower (which was a lot of fun - more on that later) and when I walked into our place I could smell something burning. It turns out the heat resistant paint on our newly-installed radiator lets off "gases" for the first few days (and up to a week) after the heat is turned on. Our whole place was pretty filled with the smell, which is not too pleasant, and I didn't want to risk inhaling anything harmful to little Lauren, so I turned on all the fans in our place, opened a few windows and left. I'm staying at a hotel a few blocks away tonight. Hopefully the gases have dissipated and the smell is gone tomorrow.

Earlier today I had a really nice time at Lydia's baby shower. I found out that her friend who hosted the party went to Johns Hopkins! We had fun chatting about our experiences on campus. She graduated 8 years before me, but still, a lot of the same activities and organizations have been around for a long time, so it was fun to swap stories about what we were involved in. The activities at the shower were really fun (vs. the sometimes silly/hokey games that people come up with for these events). We all decorated onesies and bibs using fabric markers. So the "activity" was actually something useful, too.