32 Weeks

This is the "Before bed, crap its Wednesday night and I don't have a bump update picture" picture...enjoy!

How far along?: 32 weeks 

Maternity clothes: Mostly regular clothes that consists of stretchy skirts and sundresses. Luckily I'm a fairly modest person so most of my tank top and t-shirts are long so they [mostly] cover the bump!

Best moment this week: Relaxing for the weekend. Even though it was a pretty crappy weekend it was nice not to have to drive anywhere for once.   

Symptoms: Sleep is still pretty bad. I started taking Calms Fort before bed which helps for the first few hours but I still get up to pee which usually means I can't fall back to sleep for at least an hour after that. And that is yet another reason we will be doing the side-car co-sleeping since I have an extremely hard time going back to sleep if I get up and out of bed - no matter how tired I may be its just how I have always been. You could wake me up and have a full conversation but as long as I don't actually get up then I can usually fall back asleep fairly easily. 

Movement: Oh yes, he's very active and moving a lot! Tom has been feeling him waaay more and can now feel him squirming and pushing against me. 

Food cravings: Nothing really.

Have you started to show yet?: Oh yes! 

Gender prediction: It's a boy!

Mood: Just a little tired and feeling like we have so much to do before our little man is here. I'm also a very impatient person so I just want him to be here already!

Looking forward to: Going home for the weekend for a friends wedding. We met on the bus in Kindergarden and I invited her to my birthday party even though I didn't even know her name. Stephanie [I finally asked her name] then ironically moved to my street a few months later and now our moms are very, very good friends too - her mom was always one of my character references on every job application I filled out in high school and most of college! So needless to say it will be a ton of fun and we're pretty excited to get dressed up and dance :)

31 Weeks

From our trip to Skaneateles this past weekend. 

How far along?: 31 weeks 

Maternity clothes: Still mostly regular clothes since I'm wearng my stretchy dresses and skirts with the nice weather!

Best moment this week: Going back to Skaneateles - where we were married - for the weekend.   

Symptoms: Still just tired. Sleep is still not going well even with using Calms Forte (a homeopathic sleep remedy). 

Movement: Oh yes, he's very active and moving a lot!

Food cravings: Nothing really.

Have you started to show yet?: Oh yes! 

Gender prediction: It's a boy!

Mood: Happy but very overwhelmed. I have a bunch of freelance things to get done in the next week and I'm not sure when I'll have time for it. We have a long weekend with the holiday so all I want to do is relax and do nothing but that's not seeming like a possibility with all of my freelance work :( 

Looking forward to: The long weekend which will hopefully be pretty lazy!

And here are a few pictures from our weekend :)

Downtown Skan

This is what the entire lake looks like - it is crazy clear and so beautiful!

excuse my heavy under eye concealer - not sure if this or bags under my eyes are better!

Three Things Thursday!

Linking up with Kristyn and Myranda for Three Thigns Thursday!

This week: Three of Your Favorite Quotes

So I'm not much of a quote person but only because my mind doesn't work that way. I have ADD and ever since I was a kid I can;t really remember words to songs or quotes from movies unless said song or movie are playing - it's just how my brain works. On the other hand I can tell you exactly what you were wearing when we met and what we ate for dinner 5 years ago and where a specific word was on my notes page in high school - basically I have a photographic memory for all things color and design - I guess that's why I do what I do!

Anyways, here are my three favorite quotes for the time being - I'm keeping it light-hearted:

As a graphic designer this is a must! Along with many other witty font quotes :)

Friends is my favorite show of all time and is actually the only show I can quote from heart!

Told ya I was keeping it light-hearted :)

30 Weeks

Excuse the non-bright eyed and busy tailed appearance this morning!

How far along?: 30 weeks 

Maternity clothes: Mostly regular clothes since I can now wear my stretchy dresses and skirts which has been really nice!

Best moment this week: Celebrating my "first" mother's day although I'm not sure it totally counts so we'll call it my half mother's day instead!   

Symptoms: Sleeping has still been an issue and keeps getting worse it seems so I feel exhausted most days. I have a body pillow but I toss and turn so much that it usually ends up on the ground and isn't much help. I've decided to start going to the gym in the afternoon now so that I can sleep in on those days at least which will hopefully help a little.   

Miss anything?: Eh not really, its been cold here the last week so wine hasn't been on my mind much. 

Movement: Oh yes, he's very active and moving a lot!

Food cravings: Not much other than I wanted a donut really bad the other day but didn't give in since that's probably the worst thing I could eat.

Have you started to show yet?: Oh yes! 

Gender prediction: It's a boy!

Mood: Happy but very tired. I'm also feeling a bit overwhelmed that we only have 9 (or so) more weeks left! 

Looking forward to: Going to Ithaca and Skaneateles this weekend. We're heading to Ithaca on Saturday to go to a baby consignment store that has cloth diapers for $10 instead of $25 plus we need a few more sleepers. And then we're spending the night in Skaneateles where we were married since we were given a gift card to the Inn we had our reception at as a wedding present and have yet to use it. It's supposed to be a beautiful weekend there so we're pretty excited and Skaneateles Lake is absolutely gorgeous which doesn't hurt!

10 Things That Make Me Happy

Even though I am not officially participating in the "Blog Everyday in May" challenge, I liked this topic and decided to blog about it today.

So without getting serious [ because obviously my husband, our little man, my family, friends and our pup make me beyond happy ] here are ten things that make me happy!

[1] Chocolate and Peanut Butter - in any form it is always good no matter what but of course Reeses top the choc-PB list.

[2] A good Sauvignon Blanc - none of that cheap crap, only the good stuff! [ and by good I mean a $10-15 bottle :) ]

Not sure what kind of wine this is but we'll pretend it's a sauvignon blanc :)

[3] Traveling - my parents passed this love of traveling to me and I am always my happiest while on vacation and traveling!

On our honeymoon in Jamaica!

[4] Ice Cream - I eat it almost every night and if I'm having a bad day its my go-to pick me up.

[5] Buying and giving gift - I just love to see people happy when I give them meaningful gifts. I have to wait to get gifts for birthdays and Christmas because if I get them to far ahead of time I want to give them right away - I just can't wait!

[6] Wearing a new pair of sneakers for the first time - vain? I know but the feeling of putting on and running in a new pair of sneakers is an awesome feeling - as long as they don't give me blisters that is.

[7] Underwear - weird but I love underwear and have a slight obsession with it. I have an entire drawer and some still have tags on thats how bad it is.

[8] Mexican food - My husband and I are slightly obsessed with Mexican food and always look up mexican restaurants when we travel, be it on our way or where we are staying, we have to find a mexican restaurant!

[9] a random, cute text from Tom - not necessarily romantic but just a text that basically is stating 'thinking of you' - it always puts a smile on my face.

[10] Laughing at a good comedy - whether a movie, TV show or comedian I am always in a better mood after seeing any of the above!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to the most amazing mom and best friend a girl could ask for!

Thought I would share a few of the many things I've learned from my mom in the last 25 years.

I've learned:

...to be a strong woman

...how to be independent

...to be caring

...to be stubborn

...to be empathetic

...to always put on mascara before leaving the house

...to love eclectic jewelry

...to embrace my curly hair

...to love

...how to achieve my goals

...to love my career

...to put family first

...and most of all I've learned how to be an amazing mother!

29 Weeks

Again, getting so busy we haven't had time to change our chalkboard!

How far along?: 29 weeks 

Maternity clothes: Mostly regular clothes since I can now wear my stretchy dresses and skirts although the dress above is maternity from H&M and on top of that its organic!

Best moment this week: Being home for the weekend for my shower! My cousin who just had her first baby in October surprised me and came all the way from Virginia so it was a ladies weekend at my house with the most amazing women I know!  

Symptoms: Definitely more tired since sleep is not going so well. My stomach also starts to feel really heavy by the end of the day so instead of standing around the kitchen as Tom cooks I bring in a chair.  

Miss anything?: Again, just some good wine during this beautiful weather. 

Movement: Oh yes, he's very active and moving a lot!

Food cravings: Eh, nothing really still.

Have you started to show yet?: Oh yes! 

Gender prediction: It's a boy!

Mood: Happy but very tired. I feel like we have so much more to do to get ready yet we are so busy the next few weeks we won't have time to rest before the baby comes. 

Looking forward to: A weekend at home this weekend! My dad is coming in and we are photographing a wedding so even though that will be tiring, at least we won't be driving!

Oh, and do you want a chance to win a $50 Amazon gift card? Check out the giveaway!

About Me

I now have an About Me page! That only took 4 months :)

Check it out!

You Want How Many Kids?

Tom and I get this a lot when we mention how many children we want. By the way, we want 4 although we know it is really up to God how many we are blessed with. We are hoping to not be blessed with more than that but if it happens it happens and we will figure out how to deal with it. I have one brother and Tom has two sisters (although he  only grew up with his older sister as his younger sister was adopted when he was a senior in high school) and as much as we love them we both want our kids to have multiple siblings and have a big family. My mom is one of four, my dad is one of two, Tom's dad is one of five and tom's mom is one of five with 5 (I think) other step-siblings so we both grew up with big extended families and LOVE that. So basically we want our children to have lots of siblings because we see how awesome it is through our parents.

We know financially it is more difficult to have 4 kids, but once Tom and I pay off our student loans (in hopefully 5-7 years) we will feel like millionaires considering our monthly payment is 2.5 times our mortgage right now. But we also know that our children will not be in the latest and greatest clothing and we're fine with that - they grow so fast anyway that to me it seems like the biggest waste to spend a lot of money on their clothes. We know that eating out will be a treat but that's how it is with us too since we only go out maybe once a month or on a special occasion.

College tuition is the only thing we know we will struggle with having 4 kids. Most people believe that their children should take out loans and that as parents they do not owe their kids a paid college education. But Tom and I believe education is the most important thing we can give our children and want to give them the best they can get. We also do not want our children to have to be in the insane school debt that we are in as it is a huge financial burden and if God forbid we were to loose our jobs there is no way unemployment could pay even half of our payment thats how much we owe. My parents paid almost all of my education but Tom's parents were not able to and he got very limited financial aid as he was in one of the most competitive physical therapy programs and they don't give scholarships so his loans are massive. We have already decided that we will be starting a college fund for each of our children as soon as they are born and then we will help out a much as we can so that they leave school with very minimal debt.

We are already planning a family vacation to Disney next July for our Little Man's 1st birthday :)

We still plan on taking family vacations every year by making sure we save throughout the year. We both love to travel and my parents traveled everywhere with my brother and I - from Hawaii to Europe - and we want our kids to travel to amazing places as well. Growing up my parents believed traveling was more important than having a summer camp or having "toys" like dirt bikes or 4 wheelers and as much as I wish we could have a summer camp and travel to Europe that won't be an option with 4 kids so traveling wins. Again, this means we will have to save and skip eating out except for special occasions, but traveling is important to us and we want all of our kids to experience that no matter how many we have.

So yes, 4 kids is "a lot" to most, but it is just right for us and we can't wait to grow our family :)

Mom-To-Be Worries

I'm sure every new mom has many worries about, well, being a mom. Don't get me wrong I am a little worried I will completely screw our little man up somehow but honestly I've always had motherly instincts and feel that I will know what to do when the time comes. Right now my biggest worry is about my relationship with Tom. We decided to go to Boston on a whim a few weekends ago and had so much fun together, we always do, but as we were laying in bed all I could think was that next time we go to Boston [ most likely not on a whim ] we will have a baby, or maybe two by the time we get there again. I'm worried we'll both be so wrapped up in the baby and kids that we'll forget about each other and not connect like we use to. It's been just the two of us for almost 9 years its kind of hard to imagine it any different. We are obviously both beyond thrilled to be having this baby and want a big family but it's change, it's good change, but change nonetheless. 

Climbed a mountain, drank a beer at the top :)

We know that having a baby will change our lives and what we do - like going to Boston on a whim - but just like my parents did with me, we plan on taking this baby everywhere with us - out to dinner like normal, to the grocery store, TJMaxx [ it's the only store anywhere near us haha ], to visit our parents as often as normal, to visit our friends in Maine, and anywhere else we want to go.

On our honeymoon!

I know we will both love this baby more than we could ever imagine loving each other so I worry about us loosing sight of one another or that I'm going to get so wrapped up in the baby that Tom feels like I've forgotten about him. We know date nights are important, but with no family around that will be hard once the baby is born and we've already decided that we don't want to leave the baby with a sitter - even our parents for the first year since that is when bonding is the most important. We do have a wedding to go to in October in NJ so my parents are coming with us and will watch the baby when we are at the reception so weddings are really the only exception to our first year rule.

At a VT brewery two years ago for Tom's 25th birthday. I surprised him with a brewery tour to 6 different breweries around VT and a night in Burlington.

Is it normal to have this worry? Or am I just not as good with change as I thought I was? Maybe this whole idea sounds crazy to most, and I know deep down Tom and I will be fine and I'm really worrying over nothing, we've made it through a lot over the last 9 years, but baby makes three and it has only been two for a very long time!