Greg's in Trouble

'Cause it's a girl!!!

I hope he understands what this means....$$$$$. I'm pretty sure that a shopping addiction is inherited, and I plan to pass along the gene to this little one. Or should I say to Ellie Kate?

That will be her name, little Miss Elizabeth Kate, Ellie Kate for short.

We already had to do some shopping after the doc appointment. I'll post some photos of what we got later.

We're off to our doggy obedience class. It doesn't seem like a proper way to celebrate, but oh well.

Buy Some Sparkle on My Behalf

So pretty much any purchases that I'm making right now are either maternity clothes or baby stuff. There is so much sparkly stuff out there right now though!! Since I can't make any extra purchases, I need some of y'all to own some these lovely treasures.Look at these Betsey Johnson beauties!! They come in pink too. They're on sale for $110. Plus you get an extra 10% off when you spend over $100 and free shipping. check out the pink bottom. Wow!! Talk about a great way to spice up a LBD.

I also loved this fancy, little headband from JCrew. It's also on a sale item at $24.99.This sparkly wallet, also from JCrew, is adorable for a mere $16. Maybe for the girl who likes her sparkle to be a little more hidden. Before you get too excited, this fully beaded Tibi dress is not on sale. It is listed on Shopbop.com for $1395. A little on the high side, but wouldn't you feel more like a million dollars in it? It is too gorg for words. It inspires more of a squeal from me!!

Alright now, some of you non-pregnant girls step up and start shopping! Please report back if you end up with any of these delightful items. Oh and feel free to repost them to your blogs. It will make me feel good to help find a good home for these sparkles.

Large Heirloom Tomato ( Sounds Delicious)

Yesterday I began my 19th week of pregnancy, so that means a babycenter.com update. Here it is:

"Your baby's sensory development is exploding! Her brain is designating specialized areas for smell, taste, hearing, vision, and touch. Some research suggests that she may be able to hear your voice now, so don't be shy about reading aloud, talking to her, or singing a happy tune if the mood strikes you.

Your baby weighs about 8 1/2 ounces and measures 6 inches, head to bottom — about the size of a large heirloom tomato. Her arms and legs are in the right proportions to each other and the rest of her body now. Her kidneys continue to make urine and the hair on her scalp is sprouting. A waxy protective coating called the vernix caseosa is forming on her skin to prevent it from pickling in the amniotic fluid."

Here's the creepy, little picture accompanying this weeks update:

And now there's just two, long days standing between me and knowing what my baby is. Hurry up Tuesday!!!

Only One Week To Go!!

In one week, and a few hours, from right now, we'll know if we're having a baby girl or a baby boy. I can't believe that it's already time. The first couple of months of pregnancy seemed to go by really slowly, but now it seems to be flying by.

Make sure you vote this week on my poll for what we are having. Of course, I have a pretty strong intuition that it's a girl, but we'll see.

Weekend Recap

This weekend I was actually off work most of the day on Friday and all day Saturday (thanks crappy economy). It was a good weekend to be off, though, since we had nice weather Friday and Saturday.

Friday I went to a local maternity boutique, Haute Mama. This is the second time I went out to this store, and I have not been impressed. It seems to be full of maxi dresses that are all $150 and make out of some nasty polyester or rayon material. I'm not paying $150 for polyester!

I did manage to find two cotton dresses, one maxi and one above the knee, that are okay. They were probably over priced though. I'm thinking that I'll just stick to the Gap, Old Navy, and A Peas in a Pod from now on.

The maternity boutique happens to be out in the suburbs, so I visited with several of my suburbanite friends while I was out there. It was nice to see them in their homes since I don't get out that way too often.

Later I was highly disappointed when my fav Friday night TV shows weren't on or weren't new because of another stupid sports thing. Didn't we just get rid of a TV interrupting sports thing? Hello TV people not everyone cares about grown men playing with balls!!

Sorry, Rant over.

Saturday morning Greg did a little (very little) yard work while I went to the gym. When I got home we both worked with the dogs on their training exercises.

Oh yeah, the dogs started an obedience class last week. They're actually doing pretty well so far, surprisingly. This week we worked on sit/stays and name recognition.

Saturday night we went with my dad and step-mom to my belated birthday dinner. They took us to Itta Bena, a speakeasy style restaurant/ lounge above the famous BB Kings Blues Club , and it was delicious!! I had Lobster Ravioli, She Crab Soup, and Shrimp and Scallops over Cheese Grits. Yummy!! We had a great time, even though I couldn't have any grownup drinks :((.

Yesterday the weather turned nasty. Cold and Rainy. Yuck! So we hung out at the house all day. I gave my blog a little face lift, obviously. I even changed my music player to some songs that are actually on one of my real life, iPhone play list, titled Love Songs (not very creative title, I know). Let me know what you think of my new look.

Hope everyone else had a great weekend too!!

You Say Bell Pepper, I Say Sweet Potato

Weekly babycenter.com update time! I was 18 weeks on Saturday. According to BabyCenter the baby is the size of a bell pepper this week, but I prefer bump.com's description, a sweet potato, better. Isn't it just much cuter? In fact perhaps it should go on the short list of possible terms of endearment nicknames for the baby.

Here's what's happing with the little sweet potato this week:

"Head to rump, your baby is about 5 1/2 inches long (about the length of a bell pepper) and he weighs almost 7 ounces. He's busy flexing his arms and legs — movements that you'll start noticing more and more in the weeks ahead. His blood vessels are visible through his thin skin, and his ears are now in their final position, although they're still standing out from his head a bit. A protective covering of myelin is beginning to form around his nerves, a process that will continue for a year after he's born. If you're having a girl, her uterus and fallopian tubes are formed and in place. If you're having a boy, his genitals are noticeable now, but he may hide them from you during an ultrasound."

I can also start to post the pictures that babycenter.com has of what the baby looks like this week. Believe me, you would not have wanted to see them before this week because they were freeeeaky lolking! Here's what the baby is looking like:Sorry, the picture also includes a naked women's ass, but at least it is a nice ass :). It definitely looks nothing like my ass right now since I'm not aloud to squats while pregnant.

Two Week Countdown

The countdown is on! Two weeks from today, we will know if what we are having. Or should I say, we will know for sure that we're having a girl?

Turnip Baby

Weekly babycenter.com update:

"Your baby's skeleton is changingfrom soft cartilage to bone, and the umbilical cord — her lifeline to the placenta — is growing stronger and thicker. Your baby weighs 5 ounces now (about as much as a turnip), and she's around 5 inches long from head to bottom. She can move her joints, and her sweat glands are starting to develop."

Is she going to be sweating inside me? Weird!!

I'm so happy about daylight savings time! Even though we are pretty off here today with the whole losing an hour thing. It's going to be so nice for there to be sunlight when I leave work (even if it's after seven).

We went downtown to a going away party last night for my friend Brisa who is moving to California. Today we are very tired since we didn't get to bed until after midnight. That is several hours later than our bedtime has been recently.

We did have a good time going out though. I went to A Pea in Pod and got a cute top to wear, so I actually didn't feel like the gross prego that I thought I was going to.

It was really weird to see my skinny friends. It makes me realize just how thick I've gotten, even if I don't look super pregnant yet.

Today we are doing some housework and hanging inside because the weather has turned chilly and gross again. We also gave the dogs a bath, so they will be all pretty when we go to obedience class on Tuesday.

That's right we are finally taking our bad ass dogs to see if they can be helped. We can't wait. I'm training Houser, and Greg is training Daisy. We're hoping a little healthy competition will help us do better has novice dog trainers. I'm gonna win!!!

It's Never Gonna Happen

Since turning thirty, and since I have a bun in the oven, I've realized the ship has sailed on some of my life goals.

1. Marrying Jake Ryan. I would have run off from my husband to marry the 80's movie star, but I could never leave a "family" for him. Kinda ironic that my husband looks more like Anthony Michael Hall.
   
2. Completing my wonderful wardrobe. I've spent the last 10 years cultivating a wardrobe that I love, and that I may never fit into quite right again. Even my damn shoes might be too small after I'm done gestating this thing. Right now I can still wear a lot of my clothes, but they look far from cute on me.
   
3. Becoming famous. Not really a recent goal, but every little girl pictures herself as a movie star, right? And yes I did still want to marry Jake Ryan recently.
   
4. Living in a cool city. I would love to live in Charleston or Austin, but now that we're having a baby, I don't see it happening. It's way more important for us to have our kid close to my family. Guess we'll just have to help make Memphis cooler.

Of course I am realizing one amazing life goal, becoming a mother. It will be pretty cool. It will also probably the hardest, but most rewarding thing that I'll ever do.

And Greg, Anthony Michael Hall has aged far better than Jake Ryan. I heard the guy who played Jake looks down right scary now. This is how A.M.H. has aged:

So really that was a total complement to you, honey!

Now I'm off to achieve my immediate goal of eating some yummy salty French fries with tons of malt vinegar and ketchup. Don't judge me!!! I'm pregnant and can't help myself.

Things Are Looking Up For My Birthday Plans

All week the weather forecast has been calling for rain on my birthday tomorrow. That really sucked because my request was to go to the zoo. But I just checked it again, and it is now saying high of 71 and only a 20% chance of rain (which is pretty much everyday in the spring). Yay!!

Of course we have a rain plan too. If that happens, Greg is going to take me to the movies to see the new 3D Alice in Wonderland. Which would also be fun. I wonder if I would be able to resist the popcorn since it made me sick last time.....probably not.

Now I have to decide what I want for lunch. Hmmmm???

Corey Haim Dies

TMZ and few others are reporting that Corey Haim died yearly this morning in Burbank of an apparent drug overdose. Being a child of the 80's, this makes me really sad. I looooved License To Drive and Dream a Little Dream, and I used to watch them over and over on HBO and Cinemax in the late 80's, early 90's.

Grapefruit...Yummy!!

No, the baby is not the size of a grapefruit yet. This is a post about cravings. I can't get enough grapefruit all of a sudden. It's not just about eating grapefruit though. I want everything in my world to smell like grapefruit. Weird, huh?

I just went on an online shopping tear for grapefruit scented products. My first virtual stop was Ulta.com . Here's what I got:

Inexpensive and one of the revues said it can clear up little bumps on your skin..... one of the many joys of pregnancy.

This body scrub is organic and suppose to be really scrubby (can't believe that word made it through spell check).

Lotion in the same product line as the scrub, so it's also organic.

I can't wait to get these little, fragrant delights onto my body and into my smeller!

Tomorrow I'm popping into the mall to hit up Bath and Body Works, so I can grab this little goody:

Shiny lip gloss that I get to smell and taste all day long. I might just need to go ahead and grab two while I'm there. I could see this going real quick!

Speaking of tasting it all day, I'm going to try to find grapefruit gum tomorrow too. Yummy, yummy, yummy! I want some juicy grapefruit gum NOW. Who wants to track some down and deliver it to me? No takers? I guess that leaves Greg. It's the least he can do since I'm growing his child.

Guacamole Anyone?

Actually that might title might be a little gross for what this post is pertaining to. This is what's up with my little "avocado" according to babycenter.com:

"Get ready for a growth spurt. In the next few weeks, your baby will double his weight and add inches to his length. Right now, he's about the size of an avocado: 4 1/2 inches long (head to rump) and 3 1/2 ounces. His legs are much more developed, his head is more erect than it has been, and his eyes have moved closer to the front of his head. His ears are close to their final position, too. The patterning of his scalp has begun, though his locks aren't recognizable yet. He's even started growing toenails. And there's a lot happening inside as well. For example, his heart is now pumping about 25 quarts of blood each day, and this amount will continue to increase as your baby continues to develop."

After Greg read this he told me " you're going to double in size over the next two weeks". What? No, the baby is going to double in size. I'm pretty sure that I won't be 250lbs in two weeks.....maybe by August though.

Last Week of My Twenties

Next Thursday I'm turning thirty years old. If I wasn't pregnant, I would probably be pretty freaked out. Being pregnant, you really don't focus on anything else, even turning into an old lady (well, at least getting older, not turning into a "lady").

What really does suck, though, is getting older and fatter at the same time :((. At least if I wasn't pregnant, I could diet and work out like a crazy person to drop a little self-esteem boosting weight. Oh well, at least I get some fat girl, aka maternity, clothes out of my body changes.

My husband is super lucky that I'm going to be pregnant on my thirtieth because he gets out of throwing me a party. Instead I think I'll have him take me to the zoo that day (as long as the weather cooperates). And indulge my every maternity apparel whim.

BTW the bedding was delivered yesterday, and it's even better than the photos online. The colors are actually slightly more intense, and some of the fabrics have a sage green color that didn't show up online.

Now I'm off to work for a bit. Then I'll be back home to stare at the baby bedding, stalk the internet for nursery decor ideas, and obsess over every detail of the baby's room.

More About the Nursery

Our doctor's appointment went well yesterday. She found the heartbeat really quickly, so all my preparation to not worry was all for nothing. We also set up our time for the big appointment. Dun, dun, dun!This is the planned layout for the nursery. We chose to use the smaller of our two guest rooms. It just seemed cozier to me.

This is the crib that we are using. It will be white for a girl, black for a boy. It's a really classic design. In fact, my mom even used the same design in my little sister's nursery 23 years ago. We will also use the changing table to match the crib.

I would like to do a fabric canopy above the crib like this. I'll just have to find the right fabric for it to work. I don't want anything to matchy, matchy with the crib bedding.

I'm pretty excited about this glider/rocker ( and the matching ottoman). I'm waiting on the swatches to make sure the fabric and color is exactly right.

We're lucky enough to have a Pottery Barn outlet here in town, so we're hoping to find a rug at some point there at a good deal.

Once we find out the gender, I'll get to pick up odds and ends and decorative accessories. I can't wait!

How Much Do I Think the Baby is a Girl?

Enough to go ahead and buy nursery bedding. In my defense, it's only from Target, so it's returnable for the next three months. If we find out it's a boy after the big ultrasound, he won't have to sleep on little rosebuds.

The bedding should arrive in the next few days, but I'm going to go ahead and post pics of it now.

Here's the lovely shabby chic bedding that I have chosen.

This is a close-up of the bumper with patchwork on one side and ivory chenille fabric on the other.

Close-up of the crib sheet

Close-up of the dust ruffle

I really surprised myself when I decided on the shabby chic look. At some point I really started to like the idea of having blue in the decor, while still keeping everything really girly. I initially fell in love with a crib set that was $600. I found this on the Target website for a fraction on the price, and I really like it just as much as the pricey set.

I've already decided on the layout and the furniture for the nursery too (coming soon in a future post). The layout will be the same with either gender, and so will the furniture, just in a different finish.

I'm so excited about decorating the nursery (obviously)! Maybe my nesting instincts are kicking in early. Or maybe I'm just an anal planner :)) .

Maternity Clothes

So I went ahead and ordered some stuff off Motherhood.com. Here's what I got:

I thought this skirt would be cute with a tank and flip flops or dressed up a little with a cardigan and a pair of wedges.

I love the shorter length of this one. Plus this color looks great on me!

I'm not a 100% sure about the length of this one (I'd rather it be just a little longer), but the fabric on the bottom is super cute!

I'm excited about my first maternity purchases. I wonder if I'll be able to tell if will fit well on my future preggo looking body, or not. I wish I had one of those fake pregnant bellies I could use to try them on :)) .

Apple Love

I reached my 15th week of pregnancy on Saturday. Here's what babycenter.com says is happening with my little "apple" this week:

"Your growing baby now measures about 4 inches long, crown to rump, and weighs in at about 2 1/2 ounces (about the size of an apple). She's busy moving amniotic fluid through her nose and upper respiratory tract, which helps the primitive air sacs in her lungs begin to develop. Her legs are growing longer than her arms now, and she can move all of her joints and limbs. Although hereyelids are still fused shut, she can sense light. If you shine a flashlight at your tummy, for instance, she's likely to move away from the beam. There's not much for your baby to taste at this point, but she is forming taste buds. Finally, if you have an ultrasound this week, you may be able to find out whether your baby's a boy or a girl! (Don't be too disappointed if it remains a mystery, though. Nailing down your baby's sex depends on the clarity of the picture and on your baby's position. He or she may be modestly curled up or turned in such a way as to "hide the goods.")"

We go to the doc tomorrow. This is the first appointment that we'll have without an ultrasound. She will just do a "tummy check", whatever that is, and will listen to the heartbeat with a doppler, for the first time. I wonder if the heartbeat will sound different than it does on the ultrasound.

Speaking of ultrasounds, I called the 3D ultrasound place, and they are closed for renovations the week that we wanted to go. If we waited to go the following week, it would only be two weeks before we will find out the gender at the doctor anyway. I think we're going to skip it for early gender determination. We still might get one around 30 weeks, once the baby starts to look a little more cute.

Now the big day, that we will find out what we are having, will be March 30th! It's also the day that they do the all measuring and diagnostics to make sure that the baby is normal. That kind of makes long for March 30th and horrified by it, all at the same time.

Today I've been looking at maternity clothes online. Oh to be able to shop again!! I'm still in my normal clothes, but I've heard over the next month my body will be changing more quickly. I think that I'll be carrying high, so I wonder what that means for maternity wear. I found some cute things on Old Navy, Gap, and Motherhood. I have a feeling if I order them now I would be swimming in them until May, but I need to shop!

I'm about to head to the gym. I'll post some pics of the clothes that I've found later.

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!!