Wordless Wednesday x2!!!!

WW POST #1

WW POST #2:

Not so Wordless Wednesday:oP

(For those of you who saw my 101 blog...I promised pictures of pumpkin picking, so here they are!!!!)

Wordless Wednesday: FIRST MOUNTAIN TRIP!

Wordless Wednesday!!!

Wordless Wednesday

As requested...

So, in keeping with the desire to post more...and as requested by Sara from NinjaPanza...here are some of my recent favorite pictures of Autumn.

Blogging at 6am.

This is what you get:

HAWT!!! Don't I know it! Enjoy.

So, let's talk about my battle with STRETCHIES! They are sneaky little monsters! Can I tell you how many times Shawn said to me, "Cocoa butter. Cocoa butter! COCOA BUTTER! Or you're going to get stretchies..." and my response each and every single time "I don't want to. If you don't want me to have stretchies then YOU come in and cocoa butter my belly." He didn't. I didn't. The result - I have stretchies. BUT I SWEAR I DIDNT SEE IT COMING! Why?

I am one to thoroughly inspect my belly. Belly inspecting was like looking at a windshield after a rock has put a gouge in it and you make sure each and every single day that new cracks haven't stemmed from that gouge. I would triple check my scars from surgery, my belly button, and my side stretchies that already existed from normal teenage growth. NOTHING new had arisen. Then I finally woke up and realized the sad truth. They.had.been.hiding.

Shawn said, "They're all right there!" WHERE? Under my belly? NO! That's just the ridges from my pants and stuff. But I checked anyway, when he wasn't looking, and he was right:o( There are definitely impressions from the pants I wear, but there are other markings too. One that show wear and tear on a body. PICTURE TIME:

First, DICLAIMER - this is very much zoomed in! This is not my entire belly! This is the small pelvic corner on my left side, which is my worse side. I think it's worse than the right side because this is the side that her head was "stuck" on during most of the pregnancy. You can clearly note the ridge at the bottom from my pj pants and sleeping on my side all night. But those little pink/purple squigglies going up my belly are clearly stretchies.

I could blame Shawn for not doing his husbandly duties and coming in to cocoa butter my belly. But I won't. Because I can honestly say that I was just lazy and half-ass about the care of my belly and therefore it's my own fault. Even now, to try to prevent worse occurrences, I still only cocoa butter or Vitamin E oil once in a while. I'm lucky that my body handles scarring really well and I might be able to fix some it with a LOT of time and care.

But if not...I won't stress. Nope. Won't even let it bother me come bathing suit season. They are scars, but they are battle scars. The battle of pregnancy and ultimately I'm going to win! Stretchies can do their damage, but I still get the prize, so a few scars to show that aren't going to bother me in the least:o)

The first casualty:o(

How do you explain, "This is for the BABY, but not you-baby, the BABY-BABY!?!?!"

So I came home yesterday & my loving hsuband asks, "What was that duck thing?" And I immediately know what he's talking about. "It's a duck rattle." His response, "Well..." It seems Jynx got to it and he had thrown it somewhere, so I didn't find it until this morning to see what the damage was. Luckily it just needs to be washed. No rips. All seams in tact. Eyes are firmly attached. I mean even the tags from when I bought it are still there!!! She must've brought it out to the porch immediately to show Daddy before trying to tear it up, so it was caught pretty early. What's even more interesting...I had actually placed it in the bin where I'm keeping the baby books & toys, which meant she had to go into the room and look into the bin and take it out. Smart dog. Pain in the ass dog. But smart dog.

On the other hand, she's stupid. And I can't be too mad at her. The only toys we've really ever had in the house have been for the dogs. She doesn't know there's a baby on the way, so she can't understand the concept of "a toy for a child to come, but not yet here." It' a toy - it's meant to be played with. Also, the nursery used to be her room, so she still goes in there to lay down and she has been so confused about what we're doing to it. Poor Jynx. It really is like having another child who is too young to understand a "new baby" in the family. Jazz gets it - she's been great. She's a VERY SMARY dog. But my baby Jynx is my baby and she requires a learning curve in this department.

Here's the duck. It has now met the full acquaintance of Jynx. Been loved adn slobbered on by a pup. And now it will be fully prepared to be loved & slobbered on by a baby. (after being washed of course)

And here is Jynx being talked to about the differences between "baby toys" and "Jynx toys." She didn't get yelled at, but we need to start showing her what is hers and what is not hers. Oh brother...

Autumn's Room

Autumn's room is coming along VERY nicely! It's a very small room with a lot of furniture, but I think we've done an excellent job so far keeping it open in order to move around and be accessible. These are pictures taken with my laptop camera, so some didn't come out as well as I had hoped. Still to come...pictures of the dresser, wardrobe, & changing table.


Ta-da! Her name! YAY! The letters were a shower gift from my boss & good friend. They were white when we got them & then after a trip to Michael's they've been handpainted with a lot of thought behind their design.


This is her crib bedding. Actually, the set comes with black & white crib sheets, but we decided to accent the bedding with red sheets instead.

Her window treatments. The valance matches the crib set. The black rod came from Kmart. The black curtains from Walmart. And the sconces we've had around the house for years and were originally off-white. Shawn painted them red w/ black accents (sorry there isn't better detail to show).

Light switch cover & outlet covers. 100% my husband's idea. I'm glad we're creative together - it's made decorating her room so much fun!

Her closet door knobs. Painted red w/ NJ Devils (NHL in case you didn't know) logo stockers attached. Whose genius idea could that have been?!

That is a picture of Martin Brodeur above my child's crib. Please note: it is BELOW the Cross because we cannot be committing sacrilege in this house:o) Yes, I agreed to this. Because sometimes you have to pick & choose your battles and, honestly, it's kind of cute how Shawn is putting his own thought into all of this.

The sitting area! The hamper & the bin (which will be used for books & toys) match the crib set also. The rocking chair & ottoman were from Craigslist and obviously do NOT match. The upholstery on both is blue with red flowers...hence the red throw over the chair. But this is the MOST COMFY rocking chair ever & I had to get it!

Wall art! This is hardly all of it - I'm still waiting on a few pieces. On the ride side is the wall beside the closet. The picture frames were a set that - again - match the crib bedding. The puzzle mirrors I adore! I think mirrors are great for little kids to look into and make observations and the puzzle theme is just really cute! We might get two more to add to the wall!

On the left is the entrance to her room. The NJ Devils flag was added by, guess who? He wanted to hang it somewhere more prominent in the room and I absolutely refused! This was a compromise - when the door is open it's actually behind the door, so you only see the edges.

And from Autumn...

BEARY CHRISTMAS!

i LOVE this onesie. It came in one of the tons of bags of clothes I got from a friend. Her daughter just turned one in early Dec, so Autumn will fit a lot of the same clothing. Unfortunately, Autumn won't be here in time for Christmas (which is a good thing!), but she'll definitely be too big for this next year. SO...I decided to dress Autumn while still in-the-womb. I think she looks awesome, don't you?! She's made this year so special for us and our friends and family and we're so lucky to have such a wonderful blessing in our lives!

32 weeks 3 days pic:o)

My arms look fat. They're not...bad shadows;oP

When a man ain't around...

Things can still be accomplished. Are they installed correctly? No. Will they ever tumble out and bonk Autumn on the head? Unlikely. Do they look nicer than a closet full of crap? YES! Therefore, it's awesomeness all around!!!

As of last week they weren't even completely painted. One still only has one coat, but I'm lazy, I can't tell the difference, and it's good enough to make me smile - so we'll call it "done." I need a nail gun to install the handles and I don't know where hubby's is, so it'll have to wait til he gets home. I know there will probably be some criticism because it isn't perfect, but it's the first time this closet has had doors since we moved in - 3 years ago! So...I don't care what anyone says. I'm happy!!!!!

Lookin cute!

I love NC! Why? Because it's November 8, officially fall season, and it's 70+ degrees outside, a beautiful day, and I can rock a spring dress! How awesome is that?! This was a dress a friend, Heather, brought over to me from her employer. It's VERY comfortable and I figure I should go ahead and wear it today because next spring I won't be preggo anymore! Hey - if the weather is nice enough - who says you can't wear a sundress in November, right?! The back is actually a little big for me because, despite some chest growth, it's still not enough to hold up a dress properly. I think this will be an eternal flaw (not even cured by pregnancy...so sad) :o(


In other news, I had a great time at a friend's baby shower yesterday and now I'm so excited for mine. I know it's months away, but I'm just ready for it. I want to be done with school. I want to be in mommy & baby mood and thoroughly enjoy it all before Autumn arrives.

Mama's New Haircut:o/

Before

After...shorter than I asked. She couldn't layer it like it was supposed to be b/c it was already cut short enough and I would have had the tiniest of layers. And I showed the girl a freakin picture! I'm not really excited about, can you tell?!

23rd week (with belly pics!)

So we're ALMOST to the "6 month" mark. I'm 23 weeks along, which means I have at MOST 17 weeks more to go. Possibly only 14, since at 37 weeks they consider it full-term and I could go into labor and they wouldn't try to stop it. What's funny is that my mom's birthday, January 27th, is exactly at week 38 and that was the first due date ever officially given to me (pre-ultrasound & pre-appointment checking my menstrual cycle). How cool would that be to have my little girl's birthday the same as my mom's?!

School is continuing to keep my busy, which I'm thankful for. Really, I am. It makes the pregnancy go by fast. I've got research to do and papers to write. The only part I'm disliking more and more is that there is less time to do housework and although he helps out when he can, Shawn is working as much as he can as well, so he has little time to help around the house. I guess I can always catch up on homework after the semester end in mid-December and before the baby arrives - I should have a good 3-4 weeks to work on it.

I'm also starting to hit the third tri-mester phase of exhasution a little early. I don't know if it's just been the weather in the past week and the busy schedule I have, but I'm exhausted by mid-afternoon around 3-4pm, just like I as during first tri-mester. By the time I get back home my energy level is back up, but I am seriously feel dead for an hour or two in the afternoon and it's hard to stay focused. Luckily, I take care of 2 great kids who are well behaved and we manage to find activities that suit everyone's needs.

Autumn is a mover and a shaker. She kicks me quite often, usually when I'm having downttime. It has yet to get uncomfortable ::knock on wood:: However, I think my punishment for not being so big (yet!) is that she does not have a lot of room to move around, so she just sits on my bladder. All.The.Time. It's awful.

We haven't registered yet, but I hope to soon. I think we're doing a red, white & black theme, but that has yet to be finalized. I have some really great ideas and Shawn can't wait to add his own personal touch to it. I'll be doing her name in painted letters - a fun project to distract me during the final weeks of pregnancy. Also, I'm starting to think about all the freezer food I want to make before she arrives, so I'll have less cooking to do when she gets here.

Tomorrow is my next appointment - a short update will show up tomorrow, I'm sure. As for belly pics - HERE YA GO!


















And since clothing, especially banded pants and tight shirts actually tend to make my belly look smaller, I gave youa full-on naked belly shot to prove that yes, it's a belly and it's much bigger than when it started!

SEE HERE!