28 Weeks Pic

As promised, here's a few from today.

 







 

And there you have it. Much more house-like than before! I feel tired pretty often these days, but really con't complain overall. I deem this a pretty pleasant experience thus far.

On a sad note, I'm sending out all my thoughts and love to my mom and the rest of the family for my uncle. Love you guys.

*Officially* in the Third Trimester

NOW we're in the third trimester! Fully and officially. 28 weeks and 1 day. I promise to post a new picture tomorrow.

Cory and I spent the past weekend in Knoxville for my niece's 10th birthday party. It was a wonderful weekend much like the previous one for the baby shower. We stopped at my favorite restaurant (Louis') to pick up dinner on our way in to my moms. Delicious as always, but I did forget to bring my leftovers back to Chattanooga, so there's that. Saturday we took a trip out to Buy Buy Baby before heading to the birthday party. I'd never been there before and of course we don't have one in Chattanooga. It's a lot like BabiesRus, but to me it seemed like they had a LOT more stuff. And possibly better organized. Then again, we have very limited options when it comes to baby stores and supplies in Chattanooga. We didn't buy anything but it was nice to see what kind of selection they had. I'll probably be back after the next baby shower to pick up the few things we might still need.

I did come across one item that's fairly new in the world of baby things. The Kiinde Twist Universal Direct Pump. It's a breastmilk feeding and storage system. Seems neat and I like the idea of not having to wash bottles constantly. Here's the video for it if you want to know more. There aren't a whole lot of reviews for it since it's relatively new, so that sort of turns me off from it a bit. I don't know.. I'll think it over for a while and try to decided if it's something I'm interested in enough to try out.

I've also been fantasizing and planning our family's first trip to Disney World. The 5th birthday is when Nana likes to take the grandbabies to Disney and it just so happens my nephew will be 5 next October. Now... Colette will just allllmost be one at that time, but maybe if we all stay in a big house we could pull that off... maybe. It's good to dream. Right Cory? Right?! :)

Anywho, here's a couple of pictures from my nieces party!

 

[gallery type="square" ids="578,579,580,581,583,584,585,586,587,588"]

 

We polished off the weekend with a nice little trip to Dollywood on Sunday morning and a delicious fajita dinner on the back deck with the family.

And now it's Monday and back to work.

The First Baby Shower

We had our first baby shower this past weekend! This one was in my hometown with my side of the family (and Cory's mom and grandma as well!) and my very much missed friends. I started the day getting breakfast downtown my BFF then heading to get my hair done curtesy of my sister-in-law and Douglas J. Aveda Institute. After a morning of pampering I was whisked away to my mom's to finish getting ready while the rest of the shower was being set up. Setup is generally the most stressful part of any event, but it seems everyone made it out okay.

The shower was excellent. My mom, sister and sister-in-law turned the house into baby shower heaven.

The menu:

• Roasted veggie and orzo salad


• Lots of fresh veggies and dip


• Mini Pigs'n a blanket


• Sliders


• Mac'n Cheese Cups


• Cotton candy cupcakes


• Vanilla bean cupcakes


• Vanilla cake with strawberry filling


• Donut holes


• Chocolate dipped rice krispy treats


• Homemade butter pecan ice cream


• Pickles :)


• And a variety of candy to make up a lovely candy bar

All delicious like all of our family gatherings.

It was so nice to see everyone that I rarely get to see since moving south. I'm a very blessed girl to have the family and friends that I do and I can't thank you all enough for coming to the shower!

Below you'll find some pictures of the big event!

[gallery type="square" ids="547,548,549,550,551,552,553,554,555,556,557,558,559,560,561,562,563,564,565,566,567,568,569,570,571,572,573,574,575"]

I'm No Math Magician and Thoughts on a Birth Plan

Okay, so I lied about being in my third trimester in my last post. *Technically* that doesn't happen for another 2 weeks, but I AM however, 6 months along. Math schmath.

We had our regularly scheduled check up last week and I also took my glucose screen while I was there. And, not to my surprise, got a call yesterday telling me I failed it. The cutoff for passing is 130 mg/dL and I was at 140, so I wasn't too far off. If I could turn back time I wouldn't have eaten that bowl of Cap'n Crunch and banana. But alas, I can do no such thing and I'll be going in for the 3 hour glucose tolerance test tomorrow. I think the only thing I'm worried about it how hangry I'm going to be that I won't be able to eat anything between 12am and 12pm. I usually eat right when I get up or I feel terrible so I can imagine drinking a glucose solution AND not eating won't be pleasant. I may carry a celebratory burrito in my purse for the moment the last blood sample is drawn.

 

[caption id="attachment_464" align="aligncenter" width="452"] Probably what I'll look like tomorrow.[/caption]

 

In other news, I've decided to interview a doula next week. Never in my life did I imagine I would ever say those words. My life-long philosophy on childbirth has been, "If I ever have kids, it will be in a hospital with drugs. Lots of drugs." I even felt this way for the first few months of my pregnancy. It's only in the last month or two that I realized I'm not totally sold on that philosophy.

I still plan on birthing at a hospital, there's absolutely no question there. I don't have anything against home-births or water births.. or whatever else someone may choose to do; It's just not for me. But the debate on pain killers and inducing is what's making me rethink the drugs part.

I've ready many, many, biased reports and reviews on natural birth and epidural-assisted births. (I'll let you find these on your own and pick out what you believe to be credible or BS.) My opinion for *myself* is that I will do what ever I can on my own. I don't want to be induced and have no desire for Pitocin to be in my system. I'm also weary about the epidural but not completely impractical. If I get to a point where I just can't take it and there's still time for it, I'll be glad to have it.

So there's the reason for the doula interview. I think it could be beneficial to have someone there who has been though it and can provide extra support for just me and Cory.

I think that's the plan but as the old saying goes, 'the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.'

I'll be sure to update on the doula decision after the interview. That's all for now!

Planning to Plan

I've made one small step in getting organized this week. I used to do fairly well in the meal planning category, but since we moved away from the city and into a more rural area, I let that slide into a weekly meal plan consisting of very unhealthy fast food choices. As for keeping the house clean, it was a lot easier to do when we were in our starter home. Now we're in a very old, large home that needs a lot of love... and often.

There are four categories that I really want to hone in on when it comes to 'getting organized.'

• Home/ Household duties
  -Keeping it clean


• Meal Planning
  -Steering clear of the yuck and excessive spending


• Business
  -Photography goals/contacts/to-do's


• Blogging/crafting
  -Yeah... that. More on that another time.

I know a lot of this is going to change over the next few months after Colette arrives,  but I think it will be good for me to break out into a routine now. Then I can easily work my way back into it once I figure out how to work a baby and stay awake for long enough to think a coherent thought.

My first step was to invest in a day planner. This isn't new to me. I've had a day planner every year since I was a freshman in high school. I usually bounce around on brands but a few years ago I came across dot.mine Day Planners and loved them. However, as of this year, they are no longer making printed copies. *sobs* They're only doing digital versions. One of the things I liked the most were the covers; they always had a classy metallic version and were very consistent... (basically they look good on a bookshelf when they're full).

So now that I'm back to looking for a planner, I thought, "Hey, why not make my own!?" So what I'm doing now is taking pages and tips from others and crafting them into a super planner just for the Taylor household. I've started with information from Life as a Mom. It has a lot of what I want in it as far as meal planning and household duties. Not to mention they also have a blog section. I actually purchased the $12 package and I will be going through it, making notes and revising the information to fit my personal needs. Then once I put the red pen away, I'll put it all into inDesign and make it all purrty-like and send it away for printing. With any luck it will be something I can just tweak for future years and have reprinted. I'll keep you updated on how that turns out.

It will probably take me a couple of weeks to get that done so in the mean time I want to get back into meal planning. I'm trying out a salad plan this week for lunches and dinner sides that's going fairly well. I'll get more into the actual meals starting next week. I got the salad plan from *where else* Pinterest.

http://pinterest.com/pin/67202219412710533/

I also made my own ranch dressing which is pretty tasty, maybe a little garlicky. But you can find the recipe for that below. You can use fat-free mayo/sour cream for a lighter version, but it was quick to make and much better than a store bought version.

http://pinterest.com/pin/67202219412710541/

With Pinterest these days, how can anyone every run out of ideas for pretty much anything. Thanks Pinterest.

Here's a peak at the salad bar I created for the week.

[caption id="attachment_456" align="aligncenter" width="560"] Mm. Salad.[/caption]

This is for cooking as well. Carrots, peppers, tomatoes will all be used for other dishes.

That's all for now folks!

The Sudden Onset of Cankles

[caption id="attachment_452" align="aligncenter" width="560"] Grayton Beach 2013[/caption]

 

We had an excellent vacation in Florida over the past week. Lots of sunshine and warm weather. When we stepped out of the car after our journey back to Tennessee on Saturday I noticed my feet were fairly itchy. When I bent down to scratch them is when I noticed it.... The dreaded cankles. My left foot was fairly larger than the right, but both were nicely swollen. Between the long car ride home, the super sunburned knees (yes... my knees were the only part of my body that were burned somehow), and the hot and humid beach weather, my poor little ankles and feet couldn't take it. You can kind of see it getting started in the picture above. Luckily it was temporary and I'm now back to a regular ankle/foot connection. {I am, however, being a bit on the cautious side and watching the salt intake and doubling up on the water.}

 

Now it's back to the grind of a normal work week.

 

I'm currently at 25 weeks and 1 day. Which means I'm 6 days away from being in my third trimester. WHAT!? That can't be right... there's still so much to do! We got the crib set up yesterday and all the furniture moved around in the nursery where I think most of it will probably stay. The only piece of furniture we're missing is the glider and ottoman that should be here sometime this week. :) I also finalized my decision on the baby bedding. I'm going with the something I picked out from Cottage and Cabin on Etsy in blush and vintage white. Now we just have to get the order in and wait 8 weeks!

I think the nursery is to the point now where I can say it's more shabby chic themed than it is sheep. But sheep are definitely present. I still love the sheep.

 

As far as home improvement goes... We had bath fitter come out and give us an estimate for the master bathtub (currently blue and used for giving the dogs baths in winter) the week before we went on vacation. I think that's what we'll be going with so now we just have to get a vanity, mirror, toilet and tile. We also need to get started on the electric. They said it would only take a day or two so that's excellent. AND we noticed that one of our doors on the side of the house has gotten a little too moist... it's mildewed quite a bit and is swollen to the point of splitting on the side :( So that needs to be replaced... Check one thing off the 'to-do' list and add two more, right?

I think those are the main things left to do. (You know, other than anything baby related.... picking a hospital, birth plan, baby showers... etc.)

Tomorrow I'll post about my upcoming week in the food department. I even made my own ranch. Mmm.