My Story --------to be continued....

As I think about everything that has happened so far in 2015 I feel blessed because my husband and I have so much to be thankful for but I also can't help but feel 2015 has been one of the worst years ever. The series of events we have gone through have been one heck of an emotional rollercoaster, especially after losing Josh's little brother. When I look back I realize everything bad that has happened recently with our families somehow has to do with drugs. It seems as though drugs are taking over the world. It makes me so sick to my stomach because the people who do drugs don’t realize how many people they are hurting. We all have a story, we all have some sort of past that has left us with scars, a past that has helped form who we are today……I believe, in order to heal, you should talk about these things. Here is a bit of my story and the hurt I struggle with...

Growing up everyone thought we had the perfect family. We had nice things, lived a better than average life, my mom was a stay at home mom who made sure breakfast, lunch and dinner was always freshly made and that her kids were never in the care of someone else. My dad worked full-time, he owned his own business and made sure we were financially set so that my mom never had to leave us. My mom had me when she was 21 and married my dad when she found out she was pregnant with me. They met at a party and didn’t date very long before she became pregnant. I was an “oops baby” and the reason they got married. My dad wanted a little girl so bad. When he found out I was a girl he was so happy. He spoiled the heck out of me. I don’t remember most of my childhood, but dad reminds me of it often. He would always tell me how jealous my mom was of our father daughter relationship. She would get so mad at him for picking me up from school early the days he left work early.

My brother was born exactly six years after me (we share the same birthday). My mom said she didn’t want another baby but that my dad and I begged her to have a sibling for me. At 18 months old my brother was burned over 50% of his body with a deep fryer full of hot grease. I remember the day like it was yesterday. We were running around the house and jumping on the couches, my mom kept telling me to settle down. She was on the phone with a girlfriend and my dad was cooking French fries in a deep fryer in the kitchen. As my brother and I ran through the kitchen, he stopped, and pulled the cord to the deep fryer. All of the grease in the deep fryer fell on top of him burning over 50% of his body. He was flown from our house to Torrance Memorial Hospital by helicopter. He spent months in the hospital. We are very lucky he made it. My mom spent those months in the hospital with him. She never left his side. Because of his accident, he was babied by all of us for many years, which is totally understandable after all he had went through and all the guilt we all felt for what had happened.

When I was in middle school we moved. I started a new school mid-year and had to make new friends. I remember not really feeling like I fit in because I came from a school that was pretty much every race except white and now was in a school full of white people. Eventually I made friends with some great people. One of those friends is my husband and another is still my best friend to this day.

In middle school my house was the house everyone went to for breakfast before school and the house that everyone hung out at after school because we had a pool. My mom would make us pancakes in the morning and would often host pool parties for us. Everyone though my mom was the best. She got along with everyone’s parents and was good to all of my friends. My dad was a little more reserved. He would work a lot and when he’d come home he would go straight to his room because he would be annoyed that we had so many people over (especially if I had guys over). Not too many people knew my dad, unless they were really close to me, then they knew him.

What everyone didn’t know was how much my mom didn’t care for me and how much I always felt that. How much she resented me for how much my dad “spoiled” me with love. How she was nice to all of my friends but not the nicest to me. It wasn’t until recently that I learned her issues were much further than her being jealous of my relationship with my dad. She had so many hidden secrets, she wasn’t the person everyone thought she was…

To be continued….

The time we needed to just get a way, for a day, just the TWO of us.

About a week ago my husband and I had a wedding to go to. My husband worked that day but we planned on going to the reception once he got off work. I went to the mall that afternoon in hopes to find a dress to wear, I wasn’t in the mood to shop to begin with, but needed to find at least something nice to wear.

Atiana was super fussy that morning, getting out the door took forever and once we finally made it out the door she decided to scream the whole way to the mall. I was hoping once I got her out of her car seat and into the stroller she would calm down. Well, that didn’t happen. The first store we went into she screamed, not even crying, just screaming. I gave her a Sippy cup with milk to try and calm her and she threw it across the store, so embarrassing. I grabbed a couple of random dresses, parked Atiana in the dressing room with me and tried on the dresses. She was quiet for the time being because I placed her directly in front of the mirror. I barely had any room to try anything on, I felt completely rushed because I didn’t know if she was going to have another tantrum or not and everything I did try on made me feel fat and just didn’t look good on me at all.

I left with nothing and decided I would try and walk around the mall in hopes that Atiana would take a nap. That lasted all about 5 minutes before the screaming started AGAIN. She didn’t want to be in the stroller, she just wanted to be held and there was no way I was going to get any shopping done carrying her. So, I decided shopping was out of the question and instead took her to have lunch and then drove home. She knocked out the minute we got into the car and slept for about 2 hours. Obviously she was just overly tired and teething.

Once she woke up I took her to my dad’s so I could attempt to find a dress again. I walked in one store, tried on 4 dresses and left with the first one I tried on. It wasn’t anything special, just a black dress that kind of hid all my flaws at the time. It didn’t make me feel or look fat and it covered up my deflated boobs. I bought some jewelry at the same store to match it and was back at my dad’s within an hour. At this time it was already 3 pm and the reception started at 6. I went back home and packed Atiana’s diaper bag and attempted to at least get my makeup done, but I wasn’t getting far, so instead I packed Atiana’s stuff up, and drove her to my mother-in-laws house a tad bit early so I could get myself ready for the night. I had about 30 minutes to get myself ready once I returned home. I did my makeup, got dresses and just threw my hair in a side bun. I looked like I felt, rushed lol.

We had Josh’s brother drop us off at the wedding and planned on taking a taxi home. It was open bar all night. I don’t know what was wrong with me that night but I just wasn’t able to loosen up. Maybe it had everything to do with how my day went, crying baby, not getting anything done, feeling rushed etc…or maybe it had something to do with how I felt, I felt like I just looked like a mess, like I didn’t put much effort into getting ready or maybe it had something to do with feeling distant from my husband all of a sudden. Maybe it was all these things combined and it was just weighing me down. Anyhow about 2 hours into the reception Josh and I started bickering. What we were bickering over to begin with isn’t important but it escaladed to a few hurtful things being said to one another and after that I was ready to leave. I walked outside to call a cab when a couple of our friends came out to talk to me. They just reminded me that right now we are both stressed because we have so much going on. One of our friends said something that really got to me, he said “You guys are Josh and Steph, you’re always happy”. He was right, we are always happy, we rarely ever fight because we ALWAYS communicate. We do pretty much everything together and we tell each other everything without holding back anything. So what happened, what made us both snap at one another? Shortly after, Josh came outside. He apologized and wanted to just forget about it all and go back to the wedding but I just couldn’t. I’m not good at acting fake or like nothings bothering me. If I’m upset, it’s very obvious and I didn’t want to kill anyone else’s mood. So we called a taxi to take us home early.

It took the taxi about 45 minutes to get there so we spent that 45 minutes talking about what upset us so much. Basically it came down to the fact that we have both been so busy, Josh with work and side jobs, and me with working and then trying to take care of all the home stuff on my own and still managing to find time for myself. Normally Josh and I share all of our household responsibilities because we are both working parents, but for the past week or two I’ve had to do them all by myself and I felt burned out and tired, and he’s been busting his butt at work to make extra money to pay for my surgery, so he’s exhausted and stressed out too. For the first time we realized we hadn’t been communicating like we normally do, and we felt disconnected from one another. We hugged, we cried and we hugged some more. We both realized we needed time alone together, time to reconnect, to talk and listen to one another. Stressing out and being this busy was causing us to drift away from who we are as a couple and it that is not ok.

The next day I called my best friend and asked her for a huge favor. I asked her if she would mind watching Atiana overnight one night so that Josh and I could have a night alone. Not just a night alone from Atiana but from the animals and household chores too. She immediately said yes and offered to watch her that Friday night. We had a wedding to go to that night so we decided to rented a hotel room walking distance from the reception and just enjoy the night together. We've only been away for the night from Atiana once since she's been born and that was when she only 3 months old. We have date nights often but we never leave her overnight. This night was much needed, we had such a great time. We were worry free and able to enjoy each other completely. It felt like it wasn't that long ago when it was just the two of us doing this often. The next morning we got up and went to breakfast, just the two of us, and then drove back home and had Atiana back in our arms by 9:30 a.m. : ) Needless to say, we can both agree that we felt completely refreshed and completely connected after that night.

The truth of the matter is having a baby changes so much about your life. Life becomes 1,000 times busier, especially if you’re both working parents. You HAVE to continue to have alone time, time to connect as a couple and continue to keep your marriage alive. Luckily for Josh and I, Atiana goes to bed pretty early and once she's in bed we sit down and relax with a glass of wine and catch up on our day. We make it a point to stay connected and always communicate about everything! However, all it takes is one crazy work week to throw us off and we are both on edge because we haven't had the time to sit down and communicate and connect. Communication is EVERYTHING in a relationship, it really is. When we communicate we feel so connected to our partner and when we don't we feel so far away from them. My husband has always been something special, he's a man of his word, a man that never goes a day without making me feel appreciated and wanted. I feel blessed to have married someone who knows me better than I know myself sometimes, someone who is so selfless and truly cares about his family more than he does himself.

To my wonderful husband (because I know you will read this): I love you with all of my heart. We don't fight often and I know that's because we communicate about EVERYTHING. However, I appreciate the little fights we do have because I truly feel those little fights are indicators that our communication is slipping a bit and they bring us back to where we should be. God placed the perfect man in my life and I'm thankful for that every single day. I can't help but brag about the man you are because I think men like you don't come around often and I know that I've truly scored with you : ) Thank you for always keeping our marriage spontaneous, fun, exciting, full of love and full of so many laughs. Thank you for showing me a kind of love I've never experienced with anyone else before, it's indescribable head over heels kind of love. And thank you for being the absolute best father to our beautiful daughter. It’s crazy how falling so in love with someone makes you want to create a life together and then how obsessed you become with that little life you've created together. I am so obsessed with you and this life we have together. I love you so very much. Thank you for giving me a life that I thought only existed in movies. You are the PERFECT ONE : )

Being a Mom..

I can’t believe my baby is 9 months old. It seems like just yesterday I was at home all day long taking care of my newborn baby wondering if things would ever get easier. The newborn stage was not easy at all for me. Luckily my husband and running kept me sane most days. Although I look back now I miss it. I wish I would have held her more (even though I spent most of my days holding her non-stop because she HATED being put down), I wish I would have relaxed a bit more and not worry so much about cooking and cleaning, I wish I would have gotten out of the house more often with her and not stay cooped up because I was scared to go out in public alone with a new baby. The first two weeks were easy. She slept all day and only woke up to nurse and have her diaper changed. She has always been a pretty good sleeper at night, but during the day, it was nearly impossible to get her to nap for longer than 15 minutes, unless I allowed her to nap on me. My Ergo carrier became my best friend. By the time my husband would get home from work I was so exhausted because she gave me no breaks and she was ready for bed for the night by the time he got home (lucky him).

During my last few weeks of maternity leave I let her nap on me as much as she wanted. I knew those were moments I would never get back and wanted to soak it all in. Once Atiana turned 3 months she started napping better, she allowed me to actually put her down and she slept 10 – 12 hours at night. All of a sudden she became this perfect baby right when I had to return back to work (I went back to work when she was 3 ½ months old). I worked part-time my first week back to work. I had such a hard time transitioning and leaving my baby. However, each passing week became easier on the both of us. She loves daycare now! She’s so spoiled there and has become so smart from being around so many kids from ages 6 months – 5 years old. The daycare she attends is also a preschool and she’s included in all the preschool activities. I don’t have to worry about what I’m “supposed” to be teaching her which is something I always questioned when I was home all day with her.

My husband has always given me the option to stay home with our baby or to continue to work. I choose to work because #1 I’m not good at the stay at home mom thing. I’d go crazy! Call me crazy but I call into work “sick” less now than I did pre-baby because let’s face it, staying at home is much harder than being at work (most days) lol. #2 Josh and I want to continue to travel the world with Atiana. We still want to be able to go to nice dinners often, have nice things, buy our dream home within the next couple years (Our little family has outgrown our current home we purchased 6 years ago), and spoil the heck out of Atiana. We have so many goals still and having Atiana has only motivated us more. I’m thankful that we have a daycare we absolutely love because it allows me to continue to work knowing my baby is being well taken care of daily and at the end of the day I’m so excited to see her. She is my motivation in life.

At nine months old our baby has become such an easy baby! We are often told she’s the kind of baby who “tricks” people into wanting a baby. She’s so much fun, she never cries (she will whine if she’s overly tired but you’ll rarely ever hear her cry), she sleeps from 7:30 p.m. to 6:30 a.m. every night in her crib and within moments of opening her eyes she’s full of smiles and energy. She’s so hyper! Some mornings, if I’m not ready to get up at 6:30 a.m., I’ll bring her back to bed with me and nurse her back to sleep and she’ll sleep another hour in bed with me. I love how easy she is because it truly makes being a mom so enjoyable all the time. Never in a million years did I think I would be the kind of mom who would want to take my baby everywhere with me. I’m the weird one who actually enjoys taking my baby to the grocery store or Target runs.

I was never one of those girls who knew they wanted to be a mom. I always loved babysitting but wasn’t ever sure if I wanted to be a mom. Even once Josh and I got married we still didn’t know if we wanted to have a baby. We said if we did decide to have a baby it would be after five years of being married. We did lots of traveling together and spoiled each other like crazy and then realized we were ready for something more. We wanted a little one to take on all our adventures with us. It took falling deeply in love with the right person for me to realize I wanted a baby. I never in a million years knew how much I would love being a mommy until I became one.

So here we are, one week away from going on our first family vacation together to Cancun! Atiana already has her first passport and two more vacations planned for next year, Cabo and Costa Rica. While I’m nervous about flying with a little one, I’m excited to make memories and share our love for traveling with our little mini.

My Labor Story..

November 1, 2013 my husband and I went to bed around 11:00 p.m. I had slept for about an hour before I woke up at midnight (November 2, 2013) feeling a bit crampy. Not stomach cramps, but back cramps, just like I have when I'm on my period. I stayed in bed for about 30 minutes trying to fall back to sleep but the feeling just wouldn’t go away.

Not wanting to wake up my husband, I decided to go sit in the living room with a heating pad on my back. I sat with a heating pad on my back and decided to start timing the cramping I was feeling. I wasn’t sure if what I was feeling was contractions but something definitely felt a bit off. I timed them at 7 minutes apart with each one lasting about 60/90 seconds long. An hour had gone by and the cramping was very consistent. I decided to text my best friend who is a labor and delivery nurse to see what she thought and to warn her that tonight might be the night (she was going to be there when I delivered my baby). She said that what I was feeling sounded like contractions and to keep timing them and keep her posted. The cramping continued on and off until about 2:30 a.m. It wasn't anything unbearable, just light cramping that was a bit uncomfortable because it was all in my back and every time I tried laying down I would feel even more uncomfortable. I stayed up playing a game on my phone to help pass the time and to help distract the achiness I was feeling.

Apparently I was really into my game because I lost track of time and all of a sudden I heard and felt a loud POP. That loud POP freaked me out! I sat there wondering what the heck that could have been, wondering if the baby was ok, and then all of a sudden it clicked, my water, my water had just broke! I ran into the bedroom and woke up my husband telling him I thought my water had just broke. He asked me if I was leaking and I told him I didn't know I hadn't gone to the restroom yet to check. I ran to the restroom and sure enough I was leaking, slowly. I called my best friend and told her what I felt and she confirmed it was my water. She suggested we head to the hospital shortly because once your water breaks the contractions start coming on strong and you’re limited on time. I had no idea that you would feel and hear such a thing when your water breaks, I felt so unprepared.

I decided to take a quick bath, put some makeup on and get dressed before heading out. My contractions started getting stronger and closer together as I was getting ready. I had to stop and bend over the bed as each one came and just breathe through each one. My husband tried rubbing my back as each contraction came but it wasn't helping much. It was much easier for me to just breathe through each one in a bent over position. After each contraction I continued to get myself together and finish packing my last minute hospital stuff while my husband cleaned the house a bit, fed the animals, called our parents and loaded our stuff in the car. I was still leaking light amounts of water and had also started bleeding fairly heavy too. It was so hard to get myself ready because my nerves and emotions were all over the place so I had a hard time concentrating and found myself running circles at one point.

We finally left the house at about 3:45 a.m. and arrived at the hospital and 4:00 a.m. The car ride to the hospital wasn't long at all but holy cow my contractions started intensifying and some of them were starting to become back to back giving me no breaks in-between. At this point I think we timed my contractions at 3 minutes apart lasting about a minute long with a few that were back to back (those back to back ones are the most painful).

We checked into the hospital at 4:00 a.m. (1 1/2 hours after my water broke). My best friend and my dad met us there right away. They immediately put us in a room after signing a few things and hooked me up to the monitors. My contractions were about 3 - 5 minutes apart once they had me hooked up and though each one was fairly painful I was getting breaks in-between so it was tolerable. The nurses wanted to check to see if my water really did break and how dilated I was before admitting me. I was only 2 cm dilated and the nurses said my water hadn't broke. What, how was that possible? I felt my water break, what else could it have been!?!? My best friend said everything I described sounded like my water DID break but maybe it was a slow leak. Once the nurses checked to see how dilated I was the contractions started coming on harder. The nurses left the room and said they would call my doctor and see what she wanted to do. An hour went by and they still hadn't told me what my doctor said, or if they were admitting me, and at this point I was in a lot of pan! I had crazy back labor and my contractions were so strong at this point they were going off the chart. I held onto the rail of the hospital bed, trying to breathe through each one, but I could not catch a break! Just as one contraction would start coming to an end another one would start up again (back to back contractions suck!).

Finally at 6 a.m. after not hearing from any of the nurses, and not knowing if they were admitting me, I said "I need something for this pain, I can't handle it any longer". I sent my husband out into the hallway to flag down a nurse to find out what the heck was going on. When the nurse finally came in I asked her if there was anything she could give me for the pain. She asked what level of pain I was in from a 1 - 10 and showed me a chart and I said “10”. She asked me if I wanted an epidural and I said "yes, anything to relieve me of the pain". She said she needed to call my doctor to see if my doctor was ok with admitting me (ARE YOU KIDDING ME, I thought they were doing that hours ago). Come to find out those nurses were getting ready to go home for the night. Their shift was almost over so they were basically being lazy. After asking for an epidural they finally called my doctor and admitted me. They said it would be another hour until I could get an epidural as they needed to hook me up to an IV first and have me sign a few things.

A new batch of nurses came in and boy were they amazing! I couldn’t’ have asked for a better group of nurses. I was informed that my Doctor had fallen and injured herself and would not be able to deliver my baby. I was so disappointed because I felt so comfortable with her and had grown very close with her over the course of my pregnancy. At some point during my labor my doctor called my hospital room to apologize that she wasn’t going to be there. She told me that I was a very special patient to her and that she wished she could be there. She promised me that she would set me up with someone GREAT to deliver my baby and boy did she : )

The amount of pain I was in was so bad I couldn't even talk anymore. I was shaking uncontrollably, I was super hot and sweaty and I was throwing up with each contraction. My husband sat there fanning me with each contraction (the one thing I wish the hospital would have had or I would have brought is a hand held fan. The nurses set the air on super high for me and I was still sweating like crazy) and my best friend held a pan under me as I threw up. She also continued to put cold wet washcloths behind my neck which helped tremendously (Thank God for one heck of a best friend and one heck of a husband).

The nurses came back in to hook me up to an IV. I asked to use the restroom first. I could hardly walk to the restroom because the contractions were so intense. I sat on the toilet trying to go to the bathroom but it was so hard because the contractions wouldn't let me catch a break. I was finally able to go and when I looked into the toilet all I saw was blood.

Immediately after walking out of the bathroom the nurses had me walk across the room to sign a bunch of paperwork (I honestly had no idea what I was signing because all I could think about was the amount of pain I was in). I had 3 really big contractions just walking over to sign everything and had to stop and bend over a chair just to get through each one. As the nurse was explaining everything to me it was just going through one ear and out the other. There was no possible way for me to focus when I was having contraction after contraction.
Once I signed everything they hooked me up to an IV and began prepping me for an epidural. By the time I got the epidural it was 7:30 a.m. To my surprise the epidural was painless. I had all this anticipation built up that it was going to be painful and all it felt like was a small prick in my back. It was instant relief, thank god!

Shortly after the epidural I had a room full of people, my husband, my mom, my dad, my mother-in-law, my grandpa and my best friend were all in the room with me. Everyone was talking and joking, and I was trying so hard to rest up before it was time to push, but it was so hard because I felt sooo good finally and everyone was full of excitement. How is one supposed to rest when feeling so excited?? I was also starving!! I hadn't had anything to eat since 6 p.m. the night before. I knew the hospital wouldn't allow me to eat so I packed some snacks and my best friend snuck me handfuls of the cheez-its I brought. How is one supposed to have the energy to push without food lol.

Eventually I told everyone to go about their morning so I could rest. I expected to be in labor for many more hours so I wanted everyone to go about their day. Everyone except my dad left. My husband went out to the car to get our overnight bags. The nurses came in to check me again and said I was 6 almost 7 cm dilated and 100% effaced. I had progressed super quickly but knew things could easily turn around. Being the excited over exaggerator my dad is, he immediately texts everyone to come back, telling everyone I can have the baby at any moment and that the doctor’s could see her head lol. Everyone runs back to my room all excited when I had to tell them what my dad said was very much so exaggerated and that things could still change at any given moment.

An hour later the nurses come back into the room to check me again. This time I'm 8 cm dilated and I start feeling the contractions again but only on my right side. I could tell the epidural was slowly wearing off so I told the nurse I was starting to feel the contractions again and they upped my epidural some. All of a sudden my legs were completely numb, so numb that I couldn't even lift them or turn myself in the hospital bed without help. I started panicking a bit. Not being able to move the lower half of your body is a freaky feeling. I was afraid I was going to be so numb when it came time to push that I would have no control over what I was doing.

I tried my best to relax but 30 minutes later the nurses were back to see if I had progressed. I was now 10 cm dilated and 100 effaced but rather than have me push immediately, they allowed the baby to labor down a bit (This helped tremendously as far as not tearing too bad).

20 minutes later the nurses were back to check me and decided it was time for me to push. I wasn't prepared to push, I didn't feel that urge to push that everyone talks about, I was so nervous! I could however move my legs at this point which meant my epidural was perfect and would probably start wearing off again so if I was going to push it was the perfect time to do so. I kicked everyone out of the room except my husband and my best friend. The nurses positioned me and guided me to start pushing while my best friend counted to ten making me push for a full ten seconds each time (her counting to ten was so motivating, it truly made me push to my fullest even when I felt I was completely out of breath). I pushed twice and then the nurses had me stop because they could already see the baby's head. It was time to bring the doctor in to deliver our baby.

The doctor arrived quickly. Everyone positioned themselves and they had me start pushing again. It was only a couple of pushes before her head was out and then they had me stop pushing for a good five minutes. At this point everyone was talking about how much hair she had and the doctor sat there playing with her hair, swirling her fingers in it and styling it before she came out. Finally they had me push a couple more times and she was out! Pushing felt like I had just run a marathon, boy does it take EVERYTHING out of you. I only pushed for maybe 15 minutes before she was out but it felt like I had just gotten done running, I was breathless! The doctor that delivered my baby was so amazing. She was so encouraging while I pushed. She told me that if every patient she had pushed like me I would make everyone’s job so much easier. I think working out throughout my pregnancy helped tremendously with pushing.

They laid her on my chest immediately. It took her a few seconds before she cried but when she did tears of joy ran down my face. There is just no better feeling than seeing and hearing your baby for the very first time. After some skin to skin with my baby they measured her and weighed her - 7 lbs 4 ounces and 20 ½ inches long. We named her Atiana Nicole and she was born on November 2, 2013 at 11:58 a.m. My due date was October 31, 2013, according to my doctor. However, the place we got our 4D ultrasound at gave us a due date of November 2, 2013. Needless to say, she was born on November 2, 2013. Every detail about her that was given to us at the 4D ultrasound was accurate.

I healed fairly quickly post baby. I really wasn’t all that sore at all. I had bad sciatica pain that I had to get adjusted right away post baby and my butt hurt a bit making it uncomfortable to sit for long periods (I swear I birthed a baby out of my butt lol) but no other pain aside from that. I stopped bleeding by week two and still haven’t gotten a period yet but I’m sure that’s due to breastfeeding. My recovery process was crazy because I really didn’t even feel like I had a baby.

And that is my labor story! I didn’t have a birth plan written out but I was hoping I wouldn’t have to be induced, that I wouldn’t end up with a c-section and that I wouldn’t need an episiotomy and luckily everything went smoothly for me and none of those things needed to be done. I was terrified of labor prior to having my daughter and now I can honestly say it was such a beautiful day and I would do it again any day. I enjoyed every part of that day and can honestly say it went by far too fast. It was an easy labor and I feel very blessed.

Sorry it took me so long to get this blog post up. No one warned me how hard the first month or two of being a mommy is. Holy heck, I’ll save that for another blog post. I had lots of breakdowns and a baby that never let me put her down. She’s 5 months now and it’s gotten so much easier. She’s a whole different baby now, so happy and such an easy baby. I wish someone would have told me it gets easier after their about 3 months old lol.

I’ve been back at work for 2 months now and I finally have a good balance going on so I’m hoping to start blogging more. There are so many moments I want to blog about so that I don’t forget them!

Almost 39 weeks!

Sorry I've been MIA lately.  My computer was down and I started maternity leave two weeks ago so I've been trying to catch up on little things around the house so I can relax as much a possible. 

I'm almost 39 weeks now, very pregnant and very ready to not be pregnant anymore.  My doctor has continued to tell me she thinks I'll have her early because I'm so petite but I'm staring to think she's going to make a late arrival because there are just no signs of her coming as of lately.  I've had lots of back cramping off and on that will last for a few hours but it's not consistent and seems to only happen every few days or so.  I have some days where I feel so good all day that I hardly feel pregnant and I also have days where even walking for longer than a couple of minutes is nearly impossible before everything on my body starts aching.  Each day is different.  When I hit 36 weeks I gained a good 5/6 lbs in a matter of two weeks.  She must have went through a big growth spurt because that's the most I've gained in a two week period.  Since then I haven't gained any weight, in fact I've actually lost 1 1/2 lbs which puts me at a 22lb weight gain.

I started maternity leave on October 7th and I'm so glad I decided to start leave sooner rather than later because it's truly helped me relax.  The first week I was off I got all the baby's clothes washed and put away and my husband completed her nursery.  I also spent time deep cleaning parts of the house that were driving me nuts.  The following week I did some meal prepping so that I wouldn't have to worry about cooking right away once the baby arrives.  I made a huge batch of my turkey chili and my spaghetti sauce with ground turkey and froze both of them.  I also stocked up on oatmeal and protein powder for breakfast and froze a bunch of fruit and spinach in individual bags so I could make smoothies easily. Since being home I've had a smoothie for lunch almost every single day. My smoothie usually has 1/2 banana, 5 strawberries, handful of raspberries, handful of spinach, ground flaxseed, two tablespoons of Greek yogurt, almond milk and crushed ice. I'll also have an open faced chicken sandwich with that or a chicken salad.  This week I plan on relaxing as much as I can, working out lightly when I feel good and maintaining a clean house.  It feels so good to not have to worry about waking up for work, getting ready for the day when I don't feel like it, driving and being uncomfortable and stressing about what else I need to get done before our baby arrives.  I actually feel very relaxed about everything right now, except how labor is going to go lol that freaks me out!

I have more energy at night than I do in the mornings and afternoon and really have to push myself to keep my body moving because I can easily plop myself on the couch all day and not move.  It's much easier to get my workouts in now that I'm on maternity leave because I can get them done whenever I feel my best which usually happens to be around 11:30ish.  I'm so grateful that I learned so much about lifting before becoming pregnant because cardio is very minimal right now.  For the past few weeks my only source of cardio has been uphill walking on the treadmill (inclined at 10 and walking at 3.5) for about 20/25 minutes 3/4 days a week.  I've continued to lift 4 days a week and feel best after lifting. Sometimes the uphill walking kills my back for about an hour or so after doing it.  I'm extremely proud of myself for staying active up until the end of my pregnancy.  I feel it's made a huge difference in how good I've felt throughout this pregnancy.  I've continued to eat as healthy as possible but I always allow a treat at night which is usually a little bit of Ben & Jerry's half baked frozen yogurt.  I buy the small little container of it and that will last me about 4 nights so I really don't eat a whole lot of it each night but I do look forward to it : ) I've had a few nights where I've craved REAL pancakes (not protein pancakes) for dinner along with bacon and eggs but other than that my meals stay pretty clean. 
 
My next doctor's appointment is Thursday and I thought my doctor would have started checking me by now to see if I'm progressing at all but she hasn't which kind of sucks.  I'd like to know if I'm getting anywhere at this point but I also understand that even if I am dilated or my cervix is thinning out it could still mean labor is very far away.  She won't start checking me until I reach my due date, which is next week.  I really don't want to be induced but I have a feeling that's what will happen to me because I have no real signs that she's anywhere near coming yet. I've tried pineapple, sex, walking, bouncing on a yoga ball, squats, spicy food and today I started taking primrose oil.  So far nothing has helped : ( Any suggestions on how to get this little girl moving?  I really don't want to be pregnant for another 2/3 weeks, ugh!
 
The most uncomfortable part about pregnancy in these final weeks is the pressure of the baby pushing down on your pelvic area and butt along with the non stop Braxton hick contractions that constantly squeeze the crap out of your stomach making you feel like you can't move or bend and have to pee really bad suddenly.  Both the pressure of the baby and the non stop braxton hicks make it really hard to walk around for long periods so I've spent a lot of time on the couch these past few weeks.  I've been really lucky and haven't had to deal with heartburn other than maybe twice during my whole pregnancy, nor have I had to deal with constipation, bloating, leaking, etc., however, I have had really weird pain in my hands these past few weeks.  My hands hurt really bad in the morning, throughout the night and right before bed.  Sometimes they hurt so bad I can't even open a bottle of water.  It hurts whenever I try to bend my fingers. Hopefully this goes away post baby.

Well, just in case this is my last blog update before Atiana arrives, I'd love to hear any advice or suggestions you all have on labor, delivery and these final days of being pregnant....

How far along: 38 weeks and 6 days, almost 39 weeks ahhhh.

Weight Gain: 22 lbs (I lost 1 1/2 lbs at my last appointment)

Stretch Marks: None

Belly Button: What belly button lol, it's completely flat.

Wedding Rings On/Off: - Took them off about a month ago when they started feeling a bit tight. 

Movement: Definitely a lot less active these days.  She gets the hiccups multiple times throughout the day and I'll feel her roll from one side to another but the kicking and punching has stopped. 

Cravings: No big cravings, I crave boba a lot and now that I'm on maternity leave and have time in the mornings my go to breakfast is a piece of Ezekiel bread with a little bit of cream cheese, sliced avocado and chicken.  If I'm a bit more hungry I'll have it on a wheat bagel instead.  This has to be my favorite thing to eat right now.  I've also craved breakfast for dinner a few times, mostly craving REAL pancakes which is something I haven't had in years until now.

Symptoms: Feeling nauseous some days, back cramping other days, lots of Braxton hick contractions randomly, everything on my body hurts when I'm on my feet for longer than 10 minutes and sitting straight up is nearly impossible because I get so many Braxton hick contractions that I can't bend or move very much. 

Missing: Going out to dinner and being comfortable, walking around for longer than ten minutes without feeling awful, being able to get up and down without it being such a chore and exhausting me, sleeping without a big pregnancy pillow between my husband and I, being able to shave my legs comfortably, etc...and SUSHI!  My husband and I have agreed that sushi will be our first post pregnancy date night.

Looking forward to: As scared as I am of labor, I'm also looking forward to getting it over with already so we can meet this little girl and start this new chapter with her!

Sleep: I wake up multiple times now but when I knock out I knock out hard so I really can't complain.  Some nights I only wake up to use the bathroom once and other nights it's 2/3 times.  I wake up all the other times just to switch sides because my hips get sore.

35 week Pregnancy Update

With only 5 weeks left until my due date I can't help but feel anxious, scared and excited all at the same time.  I'm excited to meet this little girl that I've been carrying in my belly and excited to start our life with her, I'm anxious to know when she will make her arrival but I'm scared of what labor is going to be like and how much our life is going to change once she's here.  I know these are all normal feelings but man is my mind going crazy these days.  The past few nights I've had a hard time falling asleep because I have so many things running through my head.  I start thinking about how labor is going to feel, wondering when during the day/night it will start and when will I'll know it's time to go to the hospital, will she be late, early or on time, will I end up with a c-section like my mom...oh so many questions.  Then I start thinking about what kind of mom I'll be.  Will everything just come naturally to me?  How will I know how much and how often to feed her, change her diaper?  How am I going to function once I have to go back to work having had very little sleep?  The questions I have are endless but I guess that's what being a new mom is all about.  You learn as you go and everything works out eventually, right?

Regardless of how scared I am about everything right now I also cannot wait to be a mommy to this little girl.  I feel like God has given me a little girl for so many reasons and one of those reasons being that I get to make up for everything my mom didn't do with and for me growing up.  I'm not saying my mom was a "bad mom” because growing up I had everything I needed and more (although I give my dad credit for that), however, she was and still is very selfish.  Her selfishness took away a lot of special moments for me and it also prevented us from having a close relationship of doing mother and daughter activities.  I can honestly say I’ve never gotten a manicure/pedicure with my mom, never have had a spa day with my mom, I can’t even remember ever going to the movies with her or her taking me out to dinner just the two of us.  I can say we went shopping a lot, but that was only because I begged my dad for new clothes and he would give her the credit card to take me shopping and then she would hardly let me pick out a whole lot and would buy herself a ton of new stuff. I never got a sex talk from her, nor could I talk to her about any of the boys I dated or was interested in, heck I couldn’t talk to her about anything. She attended my wedding but didn’t help plan it and wasn’t there until minutes before walking down the aisle.  I can go on and on about all the things she didn’t do but really what good does that do me?  All I know is that I’m going to do everything my mom didn’t do and more with my daughter.  I want her to feel like she can come to me with anything.  I want to build a relationship with her that I never had with my mom and take her to do all the things that make you feel girly and special.  God is giving me the opportunity to make up for lost time and I can’t wait to be the mom I always wanted my mom to be.  

I need to start packing my hospital bags within these next few weeks. Any suggestions on some MUST bring items?

I don't really have much of a birth plan.  People think I'm crazy but I really want to go into this and enjoy the process rather than worry about something not going the way I planned or scaring myself half to death. I know I want to try and labor as much as I can at home where I'm most comfortable and then once the pain becomes unbearable on our way we go.  I rather not be induced because I hear it makes labor ten times more painful but if it needs to be done then it needs to be done.  If I need an epidural (which I'm sure I will) I WILL get an epidural.  I've also prepared myself that I may end up with a c-section just like my mom and while that scares the crap out of me, so does a baby coming out vaginally LOL.  That's about as far as my "birth plan" goes, pretty basic huh?

Now that I’ve put all my thoughts out there, let’s carry on with my 35 week update.  Only 2 weeks left until I’m full term and right about now this little one is doing a lot of growing  She’s putting on about 1/2 a lb a week which explains why my stomach feels so incredibly heavy now and why my feet hurt super bad after standing for longer than 10 minutes. While pregnancy has been pretty easy for me I'm soooo ready to be done. I think I'm at the part of pregnancy where everyone says they are done and it's no longer as enjoyable as it once was.  I felt GREAT until I hit 34 weeks and then slowly started feeling more tired, sore and uncomfortable.  This week has been the most exhausting week I've had during my pregnancy.  I feel completely drained, a little bit of swelling coming on, nauseous, sore and the pressure I'm feeling down below when standing is soooo uncomfortable.  I'm now getting up to use the restroom twice during the middle of the night and I've had a few sleepless nights that really suck, especially when you have to work the next day.  However, I've also had some really awesome nights of sleep like last night and the night before so you never know what you’re gonna get.  I'm really looking forward to going on maternity leave so I can relax and nap more often and not feel so stressed because there is so much to do both at work and at home. I honestly feel a bit overwhelmed right now just thinking about all the needs to be done still.  

Speaking of maternity leave, I had my 34 week check-up last Thursday and my Dr. insists that I stay off my feet for long periods of time.  She doesn't want me going into pre-term labor so she said I need to start resting as much as possible.  She also wants me to start maternity leave next week, so October 4th will be my last day at work.  I've gone back and forth on whether I want to take a whole month off before or work until two weeks before my due date, however, after talking to my doctor I've decided taking a month off (well actually 3 1/2 weeks) before my due date is best.  I cannot wait until I'm officially on leave, I am exhausted, not to mention I have so much organizing I have to get done on very little energy.

This past weekend was our baby shower.  Everything turned out so beautiful thanks to my mother-in-law and best friend and all our other family members that helped put it all together.  They really went above and beyond and took care of everything so I didn't have to do a thing.  Josh and I feel so blessed.  We had about 80 people at our shower and the day went by so quickly that I felt I didn't even have the chance to talk to everyone.  We got just about everything we need and more for this little one so we are set!  Now I just need to figure out how to organize everything and wash everything.  The day after the shower I was so exhausted I felt sick.  Thankfully I took the following day off work because there was no possible way I would have been able to function.  Every part of my body was sore, my eyes were burning and my feet hurt so badly.  I felt so awful that for the first time in 5 years of being married I made my husband a grocery list and had him do our grocery shopping so I could stay home and rest.  I'm so thankful for that man, he has helped me so much during this pregnancy with cleaning, doing the dishes every night, picking up dinner the nights I don't feel like cooking and offering to do anything and everything he feels is too much for me. I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful husband who truly cares about how I feel and I feel even more blessed to know our daughter is going to have one amazing daddy who will do anything for the both of us.

Lately I’ve been missing my crazy workouts that I use to do pre-pregnancy.  Maybe it’s because I tend to push myself harder during fall/winter that I’m starting to miss my old workouts and since we are now officially out of summer it makes sense that I’m starting to think about my old workout routines.  Last week I did 3 days of cardio and 4 days of lifting (a total of 5 days).  Two days of jogging for 45 minutes and 1 day on the bike for 25 minutes.  I was super tired every day after work last week so it was really hard to get out there and get my workouts done. I'm pretty sure my jogging days are now over until this little girl arrives (my stomach just feels too heavy now) so I plan on getting in some uphill walking a few days a week from here on out and continuing to try and lift when I can. I really want to try and push myself as long as I can.  I figure once I’m on maternity leave it will be a bit easier to make time because I’ll be home all day so I can workout when I feel the best which is usually mid-morning.  My husband and I are already coming up with a plan to get back into shape after the baby is born and my doctor approves me working out.  I’ll be sure and share that plan with you all once that time comes.  What I can share right now it that it will include a few days of insanity, lifting and running.  

There’s not much more to update as of now, however, I did promise you guys some more maternity photos, so I've shared some more below as well as a 33, 34 and 35 week belly pic.  I post most of my belly updates on Instagram (stephani_fitlifehappywife) and share only a few on Facebook.

How far along: 35 weeks (almost 9 moths, yikes)

Weight Gain: 17 lbs at my last appointment.

Stretch Marks: None

Belly Button: Flat but starting to pop out a tiny bit.

Wedding Rings On/Off: - off for now : ( they were getting tight and I was afraid I'd wake up one morning and not be able to get them off.  I feel naked without them!

Movement: Lots of movement all day long and nonstop hiccups which feels like a twitch I can't get rid of lol.  This little girl is active all throughout the day and less active at night which allows me to sleep pretty well.  Her movements are painful these days, I feel like I'm being elbowed from the inside 24/7 and each movement causes me to tense up, it's really hard to relax with how much and how hard she moves.
Feeling: Exhausted!

Cravings: My mom swore up and down that I would have these crazy cravings eventually but it hasn't happened yet.  I still want fruit a lot or anything cold like Thai Tea Boba mMmmm

Symptoms: Shortness of breath.  It's getting harder to breath the further along I get, especially after meals.  I hate the feeling of not being able to breath, it's one thing I definitely won’t miss.  I'm also feeling a little nauseous and my feet hurt constantly.  I've had a few nights where I've felt some sharp pains down below and cramping in my pelvic area.

Missing: Sushi I want sushi BAD.  Being comfortable after meals and my hardcore workouts.  Hopefully I can do pull-ups, pushups and dips again one day soon.  I know it sounds crazy but I miss being able to do them!

Looking forward to: Maternity leave so I can relax both physically and mentally.

Sleep: Sleep is still better than it was pre-pregnancy, however, it's getting harder to initially fall a sleep at night.

8 Month Pregnancy Update

First of all, I cannot believe it is September already OMG!  Why oh why did summer come so late.  I hate how hot it is, I really do : (  Baby girl is nearly 4 lbs now and we are now 8 weeks away from my estimated due date. Wednesday I had my 8 month checkup and everything is looking good.  I've gained a total of 15lbs so far (I didn't gain anything from my last checkup 2 1/2 weeks ago) and my doctor says for being pregnant I don't have a lot of fat on my body.  That's always nice to hear, especially considering I’ve missed a few days of working out because the past couple weeks have been busy and it's been incredibly hot.  I always get at least 4 days of workouts in, however, I like to shoot for 5/6.

These past few weeks went by so fast!  Two weeks ago my husband and I had our 4D ultrasound where we got to see our chubby cheeked little girl and from there we went on a little baby moon/anniversary trip to San Diego.  The 4D ultrasound was an amazing experience!  I highly recommend everyone who is contemplating on doing it to do it.  It was so awesome to see all of her features, her eyes open, her fat cheeks, her mouth moving and sucking.  The ultrasound lasted 30 minutes and we got a DVD of the whole thing with about 6 songs we got to pick to have on the DVD.  We picked some of our favorite country songs and it really makes watching the video that much more special. This little one has been head down for about a month now with not much room to move around.  Her head was partially covered by the placenta making it hard to see her real good.  I’ll share some of the pictures we got of her below.

Our little getaway to San Diego was so amazing!  It was a weekend of being on our own little private beach, laying around in our cabana and room services for breakfast, lunch and dinner!  We had plans to go out to a nice dinner one night but our room was so relaxing we decided to stay put and just order in room service. We had breakfast on the beach in our cabana every morning and lunch too.  We rented a speed boat one day and just had this awesome relaxing weekend of doing nothing but enjoying each other and the beautiful weather!  It was such a memorable weekend and much needed.

Last week a few of my wonderful co-workers/friends put together a beautiful Dr. Seuss themed baby shower for me. They spoiled me with some really awesome gifts.  One thing I have been dying to get is the 4Moms Mamaroo (if you haven’t heard of it, look it up, so awesome) one of my really good friends at work bought it for me! I was so excited! I also got tons of clothes, a few pairs of baby uggs, tons of Dr. Seuss books, blankets, diapers, frames, a super cute diaper cake someone  made for me, swaddle blankets, headbands, video monitor, nursing pillow (aka Boppy), A Moby baby carrier (which was so confusing on learning how to use until I looked it up on YouTube lol), etc… and tons of gift cards for Babies “R” Us, Buy Buy Baby and Target.  My boss was so thoughtful and on top of getting the baby a few gifts he also gave me a $250 gift card to Lulelemon, how awesome is he!?  After arriving home the day of my shower there were also a few gifts left on our porch.  One of my best girlfriends who cannot make our shower this month sent us the highchair we registered for and another girlfriend of mine sent us the changing pad and cover we registered for.  We still have our big family/friends shower this month.  This little girl is going to have so much stuff!  My husband and I had so much fun setting up all the gifts we got.

This past weekend we had our maternity photos done.  It was so hot out the day we did them, like 95 out, ugh!  I felt like my makeup was melting off and my hair went flat almost immediately: (Anyhow, I love the photographer we picked.  She made us feel so comfortable and made the experience so enjoyable regardless of how hot is was outside.  I'm waiting for her to send me the proofs and once she does I will share some of them with you all.

I've had lots of Braxton hicks contractions this past week.  I told my doctor my stomach has been getting really tight lately and it feels a bit uncomfortable and heavy when it does.  She said those are Braxton hicks contractions (very common during this part of pregnancy) and when I feel them I need to stop doing what I’m doing, sit down, rest a little and drink some water/orange juice.  I wasn’t aware that I should be resting when I feel them coming on, I usually keep doing what I’m doing.

It has been so hot out that working out has really been a challenge for me.  I’m still managing 4/5 days a week but boy is it hard to drag by butt into the hot garage and get it done.  My cardio is still done on the treadmill jogging at 5.0 for 25/30 minutes 4/5 days a week and I’m still lifting for about 30 minutes 4 days a week as well.  For those who have asked what my workout regimen looks like while pregnant, it’s pretty similar to what it was before pregnancy.  Doctors say as long as you were working out that way before pregnancy, it’s perfectly fine to continue to do so.  However, to start working out in a way you never did before pregnancy while pregnant is not safe.  Lucky for me I’ve been a runner for 8/9 years and lifting weights consistently for about 2 years so continuing my routine wasn’t a problem when I found out I was pregnant.  I definitely run A LOT slower than I use to but I still manage to jog just fine.  My comfortable treadmill speed before pregnancy was 8.2 – 8.5 and now I’m jogging at 5.0 which is about a 12:00 minute mile.  I use a belly band when I run to help lift the baby away from my bladder.  Without a belly band I would not be able to jog like I do.  As far as lifting goes, you can find my typical lifting regimen on Facebook under my pictures in the album labeled “our home gym and workouts”.  The only difference in how I lift now is that I do not lift as heavy.  I’ve lowered the weight just a little bit (not much, maybe 5/10 lbs depending on which workout it is) and I DO NOT workout ABS at all anymore and haven’t since becoming pregnant.  

As far as my eating goes, I have to admit it’s pretty boring these days.  I pretty much eat the same thing over and over again because once I find something I like I get stuck on it.  My breakfast is the same and has pretty much been the same since finding out I was pregnant.  One of the most common pregnancy symptoms is constipation.  I have yet to deal with constipation because throughout my pregnancy I’ve had a high fiber diet. As most of you know, a high fiber diet mean more carbs.  Prior to becoming pregnant I would moderate my carbs and would only eat them in the morning and then taper them off after about noon.  One thing I did not want to have to deal with while pregnant was constipation because I know how crappy it makes you feel so I switched my diet up some and increased my fiber intake a lot. Having a high fiber diet during my pregnancy has really helped with my energy levels. Every morning for breakfast I have Fiber One Cereal (the rabbit pellet looking one that’s only 60 calories and contains about 60% of your daily fiber intake) with one whole banana chopped up inside, blueberries, raspberries and almond milk.  This is my breakfast staple and has been for the past 8 months.  Yes, I am aware that Fiber One isn’t “clean” but that doesn’t bother me one bit because I truly feel this morning combination is what keeps my metabolism up and going all day.  For lunch I’ve alternated between two meals most of my pregnancy.  Meal one is an open faced sandwich on one slice of Ezekiel bread with mustard, tapatio, spinach, cheese, cucumber, avocado and chicken breast (I buy the pre-cooked ones at Sprouts/ Ralphs because it makes meal prepping 10x easier) with a fruit of some sort, usually green grapes/cherries. Another lunch favorite of mine is 1/2 cup of brown rice topped with a teriyaki chicken breast (I make my own clean sauce for the chicken and my husband BBQs it) topped with a grilled pineapple.  As for dinner, most of you know I’ve been on a taco kick almost my whole pregnancy!  Thank god my husband doesn’t mind and has been ok with eating them multiple times in a row haha.  I use lean ground beef/chicken/turkey (I change the meat I used each week), corn tortillas, chopped spinach as a lettuce replacement, Greek yogurt as a sour cream replacement, tomatoes, tapatio and cheese!  I’ve also made my tortilla soup a few times (you can find this recipe on my Facebook page in my “Notes” section), quesadillas (I posted this on Facebook the other day) anything that’s simple, clean and lasts all week so I’m not slaving in the kitchen.  My go to snack almost this whole pregnancy has been wheat thins and cheese and I do allow myself  little bit of ice cream every other night or so.  I've been very fortunate and haven't had any crazy cravings.  Usually when I'm craving something it's fruit or some sort.

 

How far along: 32 weeks and 3 days (8 months, shut up!)

Weight Gain: 15 lbs

Stretch Marks: None

Belly Button: Flat, hoping it stays this way and doesn't push out much further.  Also hoping it goes back to normal one day lol

Wedding Rings On/Off: - Still on, however, I have noticed it being a bit tighter with this hot weather.

Movement: Huge rolling movements still in the same exact spots and they hurt!  This is the most she has moved around and the hardest movements I have felt since being pregnant. She's active all day long! She's been in the same position for over a month now.  Her head is wedged pretty low within my pelvic area on the left side and I don't feel too much movement there unless I cross my legs a certain way.  I'm pretty sure it squishes her because it's the only time I feel her head move.  She's usually curled up and I can feel her butt pressed up under my rib cage and I always know when she's stretching because she pushes her feet up against my side and they bulge out.  I like to tickle her foot/give it a little grab and it makes her squirm : )  When she's kicking around she tends to kick and push against my ribs and that HURTS!

Feeling: Pretty dang good actually aside from this heat.  I can honestly say I hardly feel pregnant most days, until I eat a big meal and my belly doubles in size and becomes heavy lol then I get super uncomfortable and it becomes hard to breath.

Cravings: Still no real cravings...

Symptoms: Nothing new really other than my lungs feel a bit crowded making it hard to breath after meals oh and major hot flashes lol but it's hot as heck so what do you expect : ).  No heartburn, pain or feeling uncomfortable yet : ) Shaving my legs and getting in and out of my little sports car is becoming harder though. 

Missing: Having a drink when I want to.  We have gone to so many events this past summer and it sucks not being able to drink with everyone.  I'm so happy that there are no more BBQ's, birthdays or holidays until after I have the baby so I can finally enjoy a glass of champagne with everyone.

Looking forward to: Our big baby shower this month and maternity leave so I can finally start nesting and figuring out what else we need to buy and get done.

Sleep: I really can't complain because I sleep pretty dang good.  I only wake up once around 2 a.m. to use the restroom and knock out right away.  The hard part is getting comfortable when I first lay down at night, however, once I knock out I'm good the rest of the night.  A lot of women say sleep becomes harder around this time of pregnancy.  I've been very fortunate thus far and sleep has been amazing for me.  I drink about 5/6 water bottles a day but stop drinking water around 7:00 p.m. and I truly think this helps with having multiple bathroom trips in the middle of the night.

 Our little one in 4D, poor thing is so squished in my tummy, but she's smiling : )

 Work Shower

 Super cute diaper cake that one of my friends made me : ) I'm in love with the little uggs!

 Slowly adding some pink to our little girl's room