All Things Loved In July

1. Non-alcoholic margaritas--mmmm! Since I'm currently knocked up and off the sauce, I decided I wanted a delicious non-alcoholic slushy drink to enjoy this summer. I poured through recipes of different concoctions I could try, but in the end I decided to keep it simple. I bought a bucket of margarita mix, added Diet Sprite instead of tequila, and threw it in the freezer overnight. Ooh, it is so good! Sure it's not the real thing, but all the lemon-limey flavors are so delicious, and it's strong enough that it's still a drink you have to take your time to enjoy--plus I just love the fact that it's slushy. It's (almost) all the perfect combinations for summer!


2. Earlier this month we had some friends over for our third annual 4th of July party, which was so much fun! We spent the evening eating, drinking, and playing yard games, and when the sun went down we enjoyed an excellent view of the city fireworks from our backyard and deck. I also set up a little s'mores bar near our outdoor firepit for the second year in a row which was a big hit! This year's s'mores bar featured honey graham crackers, chocolate graham crackers, Hershey's milk chocolate, Hershey's dark chocolate, Reese's peanut butter cups, and of course marshmallows--so yummy!


And for the second year in a row, my friend Jill brought over some patriotic desserts! My favorite were her star-shaped red, white, and blue rice krispie treats. See the ones at the top that say G&D? So cute! (I ate the G.)


She also made this red, white, and blue..truffle? Trifle? We weren't sure which dessert term was correct, so we just called it both. The truffle trifle.


3. Catching a Brewers/Cubs game at Wrigley Field with our Cubs-loving friends Dan & Kelly, and their son Aidan. This was mine and G's first time at Wrigley Field, and although the Brewers lost we still had a great time!



4. Can you guess what my current craving is? I've never been a big cereal person before, but suddenly I can't get enough of it!


5. I've gone to quite a few movies over this past month. I keep telling myself it's because I want to get to the theatre while I still can before this baby comes, but the truth is I think it really might be so I can keep seeing the "New Moon" movie trailer on the big screen!

(For those of you who don't know, "New Moon" is the second book of the Twilight series...and Barack Obama is the current President of the United States, and Michael Jackson has recently passed away.)

Now I'm sure you all remember how much I hated the first Twilight movie, but I'm still SO EXCITED for the second one! The trailer alone gives me chills every time I watch it (and yes, there's an occasional tear here and there too--I'm pregnant dammit!). Come November 20th I'll once again be standing in line with all the other pre-teens waiting to get into the theatre. Ooh, maybe this time I can play the pregnancy card and line jump ahead of everyone? I CAN'T WAIT!

16 Week Bump

I've got to show you my CRAZY 16 week baby bump! Now this may be a little TMI, but I have no problem going there.

I've noticed that when I need to pee REALLY badly my belly sticks out way more than usual. So far G's the only one who's seen the proof first-hand, and when I try to describe this phenomenon to other people they're skeptical. So last week--at 16 weeks pregnant--I decided I had to get the proof on film.

Here's my 16 week bump normally:


Now here's what just blows my mind--this is my belly after I chugged a bunch of water and waited until I had to pee really bad:


And then here it is again 2 minutes later after I went to the bathroom:


Where the heck did it go? Isn't that crazy??

Teal Jacket...and Lots of Elastic!

Like my new jacket? This is one of my latest purchases which will hopefully continue to fit me through the fall season. It's pretty roomy so I think my chances are good. I just love it!

Jacket: Old Navy
Top: New York & Company
Jeans: Gap
Shoes: Nicole
Pregnancy: 15 weeks


And just like I predicted in this post, I can no longer get these jeans--my favorite pair--buttoned without feeling uncomfortable.

Time to make elastic my new best friend!

I only needed about an extra inch of space in the waistband, and since I couldn't find a rubber band small enough to loop through for a makeshift button, I decided to try a maternity band out. My friend Jill recommended this "Be Band" maternity band by the makers of the BellaBand, which I picked up for $17 at Target. It's basically an elastic tube which you can either wear folded over (pic 1) or pulled all the way up over your belly (pic 2). The elastic is strong enough to hold your jeans up, but stretchy enough that it's not uncomfortable on your belly or creates that dreaded muffin top look.

Here's a close-up of the elastic over my button, which doesn't quite reach it's button hole anymore. They better get used to it, because those two won't be coming together again for long time.


It's taken a little bit to get used to and to find the right position to wear the band so it doesn't get rolled up, but overall I like it. And I really like that it will allow me to keep wearing my regular jeans for a while longer.

And you'd never guess that I had a tube of elastic holding up these jeans, now would you?

Scarf & Jacket in July

We had a few days of unseasonably chilly weather earlier this month. On this day the highs were in the low 60s, so to my surprise I needed to raid my closet for some much needed keep-me-warm accessories. Even in Wisconsin, who would've ever thought I'd need a jacket and scarf in July??

And although it was on the cooler side, I refused to surrender my open-toed shoes. I only get to wear them a few months out of the year, so these babies were staying put!

T-shirt: Old Navy
Jersey Scarf: Old Navy
Jeans: The Limited
Jacket: Old Navy
Shoes: Nicole
Pregnancy: 15 weeks

First Prenatal Appointment

Written on May 26, 2009

Today I'm 8 weeks and 1 day pregnant and had my first prenatal appointment! At the start of the appointment the nurse asked me how I've been feeling and I said, "Good. Too good! I'm beginning to worry that I'm not really pregnant. I WANT TO SEE THIS BABY!!" Well luckily we didn't have to wait long--here s/he is!

2D ultrasound pictures:


3D/4D ultrasound pictures:


G and I were so excited to see our little baby for the first time! They confirmed that my due date is January 4, 2010. The baby is measuring at 1.7 centimeters (so less than an inch) and I think they said the heartbeat was 170bpm, but neither one of us can remember for sure. I can only remember what it sounded like--music to my ears!

This appointment was really short and sweet. We met with a nurse who did the ultrasound and then afterwards I went to the lab for a blood draw, and that was it. The blood draw was horrible, but thank goodness I did not pass out. It was touch and go there for a bit. I just kept picturing our little baby which we had just seen for the first time. G also did a good job distracting me by bringing up designer handbags--he's going to make a great labor coach!

My next appointment is in 2 weeks which is when we'll meet with the doctor, hear my lab results, and get a ton more information. For now we're just thrilled to have official confirmation that we're having a baby--not to mention seeing him/her and hearing the heartbeat. What an incredible day!

Room To Grow

Even though we were trying for this baby for seven months, we had actually been planning for this baby for well over a year before we conceived. One of the changes I made in anticipation of one day being pregnant was that when shopping I tried to only buy clothes that would work both pre-pregnancy and into my pregnancy. This geometric print shirt is a great example. I got a lot of wear out of it last fall (pre-baby), and there's still plenty of room for it to grow with me now that there's a baby on the way!

Top: The Limited
Capris: Target
Shoes: Nine West
Pregnancy: 15 weeks


I am ridiculously in love with these red leather T-strap stacked heels from Nine West. You can't see it in this picture, but they also have little grommet studs up the back of the heel strap. Love them!

Teal & Yellow

I'm not sure how much longer I'll have a waist that curves in instead of out, so I decided I better belt it while I still can!

Top: Banana Republic Outlet
Belt: Gap Outlet
Jeans: Gap
Shoes: Nicole
Ring: Pier 1
Pregnancy: 15 weeks

Pregnancy Books Are Making Me CRAZY!

Written during my 7th week of pregnancy.

One of the first things I did after finding out I was pregnant was stock up on pregnancy books. I pride myself on being an educated person. Knowledge is my friend, and I like being well-acquainted.

Enter the pregnancy books.

And the beginning of my first trimester break-down.

It all started out great. I was soaking in the knowledge, reading everything I could get my soon-to-be-swollen hands on, and eager to learn all I could about what to expect when I was expecting the worst. I decided I could handle anything the pregnancy books threw my way as long as it was followed by the phrase: "this will return to normal after your pregnancy." Great. Bring it on.

EXCEPT FOR SKIN TAGS!

I just read about these damn things the other night! Skin tags are skin growth that look like a small piece of hanging skin. Skin tags might possibly overtake needles as my biggest pregnancy fear, as they're the one thing I've read so far that did not have the sacred "this will return to normal after your pregnancy" phrase after it. Those little bastards can stay the hell away.

But I digress.

As I'm reading through the books, studying the symptoms I should be experiencing with each week of my pregnancy, it suddenly hits me--NONE of this stuff is applying to me! I read things like: "Congratulations, you're in week 6! By now your breasts have grown a full cup size and look like a road map of the state of New Jersey."

Wait.

What?

This has not happened for me. Believe me--if they had grown I would have noticed.

Other symptoms the pregnancy books are currently consoling me about include constipation (nope, not me), morning sickness (no sign of that yet), food aversions (I don't discriminate), and frequent urination (a symptom I had at first, but even that has gone down). Other than feeling tired, I've been so symptom free that I'm beginning to think something is wrong with me!

I know I should be embracing the fact that things are going smoothly so far, but instead I find myself worrying that something's wrong and I'm not really pregnant. It's driving me crazy! Until I get to hear this baby's heartbeat or see this little baby in my first ultrasound, I'm looking to the symptoms to assure me that YES, THERE REALLY IS A CHILD IN THERE!

So far my symptoms suck at this task and are about as reassuring as a Magic 8-Ball.

Those damn pregnancy books give you all the doom and gloom, but they don't assure you that it's equally normal NOT to experience these things. So until my first prenatal appointment--or until I start vomiting profusely--I will continue taking at-home pregnancy tests whenever I need that little blue line to offset the crazy-making these books are doing to me.

Any leftover crazy shall be spent vehemently searching my body for skin tags.

14 Week Baby Bump

I'm a little behind in my fashion posts, but here's my little baby bump at 14 weeks. Yeah, yeah, I know it's not much yet--but it's all mine!


And here's what I wore to work that day:

Tank Top: Old Navy
Cardigan: GAP Outlet
Jeans: The Limited
Shoes: Nicole
Pregnancy: 14 weeks

Get To Know Graph Paper

I love graph paper. It's quite possibly my number one favorite decorating tool--after my wine, of course. Before I spend even a minute moving furniture or pondering whether something will fit in a space, I bust out my trusty graph paper and get to work.

The first space I graphed in our current house--and also the first space I decorated--was the living room and dining room. The space is one large open room with an archway in the center.

Before:

With the exception of a short wall in the dining room, there are windows on every single wall in this space, which makes furniture placement a bit of a challenge. On top of that G has a monster of a TV that he wanted to stay in the living room. I wanted a lot of seating, but I also like things to feel spacious and open. And last but not least, I wanted both spaces to complement each other, but still be two distinct spaces. How did I make this all happen? Well, it all started with graph paper!

First I measured literally every inch of this space to determine exactly how much space I had to work with and exactly where things like windows, outlets, cable jacks, and floor registers were placed--all things that need to be considered when deciding where furniture and electronics should go. For this step I do a rough sketch on notebook paper. I'm just looking for the measurements at this point.

Next, I graph out an exact replica of the space on graph paper, only in a much smaller scale. Now this may seem like a difficult task, but it's actually very simple. I measure the room in inches, divide by 10, and then graph everything in centimeters. For example, let's say a wall is 123" wide. 123 divided by 10 = 12.3. So for that wall I measure out 12.3 centimeters on my graph paper. And since centimeters are in tenths, it's actually very easy to measure 12.3 centimeters--it's just 12 centimeters plus 3 more little hash marks on the centimeter side of your ruler. Piece of cake, right?

Here's the final graph of my living room/dining room space--the living room is at the top of the page and the dining room is at the bottom (click to enlarge):


Let's take a closer look (click to enlarge if needed). The two small shaded squares toward the center of the side walls is the archway--that's how much surface area the actual archway takes up. Each outlet is marked with a star, cable jacks are marked with a hash mark, floor registers (which stick out from the wall a little bit) are drawn as little rectangles on the inside of the floor plan and marked with stripes, and windows (which don't stick out from the wall) are drawn as rectangles on the outside of the floor plan. The dotted line on the right side of the living room represents the separation between the living room and the kitchen. That space is all open, but the flooring changes from carpet to hardwood so I wouldn't want my living room furniture going past that dotted line. There's another dotted line on the bottom right in the dining room, which is an open space that leads to the entryway.


Once the space is all graphed, it's time to turn to the furniture. Again, I measure everything in inches, divide by 10, and then graph it in centimeters. Then I label each piece of furniture and cut them all out so I can move them around my little paper house. It's much easier to move a paper rectangle labled "couch" than it is to move an actual couch!

My paper living room furniture started out all white until I decided I needed a rug, but was having such a tough time visualizing it in the space. Not to mention the fact that I couldn't decide on a size. And would it be too much brown? If I had Photoshop, or even any basic computer editing skills, I could have doctored up a picture to get a sense of what things would look like, but alas I have no Photoshop and am rather technologically challenged. So to put my mind at ease I got out my markers and started coloring my little paper furniture. Yes, I got a little OCD when it came to coloring the rug. I admit it. I own that. But you know what? My worries about purchasing the rug disappeared after seeing it in my paper living room, so I ordered that bad boy and now I can't imagine the room without it!


Here's a picture of the furniture arranged in the space. The dining room table may look a little small, but that black rectangle doesn't include the chairs that go around it, or the space you need to pull chairs out. Also, the table extends to seat up to 12 people, so it needs all that extra room on the ends. (Click to enlarge)


View of my paper living room from the kitchen:


And the same view in real life:


When I'm all done playing house, arranging furniture, and deciding on rug sizes, I toss all my paper furniture in a small ziploc bag for safekeeping until next time.


Everything stays in my little graph book where I can always come back and reference it when needed. It's time consuming up front, but so convenient to have later when I'm looking at getting new furniture or I'm interested in re-arranging a room!

Friday Florals

I found this top on clearance at Old Navy for just a couple of bucks. I've never been much of a yellow person, but I've also never been much for florals, and since this is my summer of expanding my wardrobe horizon with florals I figured--why not yellow? The top came with a matching yellow camisole underneath, but I removed it and went with a white tank top instead.

Top: Old Navy
Tank: New York & Company
Jeans: GAP
Necklace: New York & Company
Shoes: Nicole (from DSW)
Cardigan: New York & Company
Pregnancy: 13 weeks


The top was a little boxy, not to mention that it gets pretty chilly in my office with the air conditioning, so I added this turquoise cardigan to the mix while I was at work:


Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Pregnancy: Weeks 5-8

May 4
Today marks the start of my 5th week. I’ve known about our pregnancy for almost a week now, and according to an online due date predictor our due date is January 4th--a little New Year’s Baby!

I've been feeling pretty good! No morning sickness so far, which is good. I've definitely been feeling more tired--especially in the evenings. No weight gain yet--but holy hell the bloat! I've never had period bloating before but if this is what it's like I feel sorry for everyone woman who has! I have this little pooch belly that sticks out from all my close-fitting shirts, and it's all soft and jiggly. I keep poking at it wondering, what the hell is this? I'm excited for the pregnancy belly, but didn't realize I'd be getting this first!

Oh--and I'm peeing a ton! I didn't realize this would happen in the beginning, but then I read something about a certain hormone that's increased in the beginning of pregnancy, which leads to more frequent urination. I feel like I'm constantly scanning for the nearest bathroom everywhere I go.

G is already such a wonderful father and has been taking such great care of me. Earlier this week he surprised me with a sweet "expectant mother" card that just melted my heart. I couldn't ask for a better husband!

May 9
I was back in my hometown today for my friend Dana's 30th birthday party, and an early Mother's Day celebration for my mom, so I shared the news with that side of my family. There were lots of excited well-wishes. Later in the day, the heckling I was expecting from my sisters finally came out with comments like, "I hope you gain a ton of weight." And, "You know your kid is going to be ugly, right? Good looking people don't make cute kids." Ahh, sisterly love!

May 10
Today is Mother's Day and G surprised me with an adorable card, a gift certificate for a pedicure, and dinner at a delicious Mexican restaurant. What a sweetie! Today is also the day we told G's parents, Steve and Pam, the big news. They were overjoyed! Lots of hugs and lots of watery eyes. Pam said it was the best Mother's Day ever, which was quite possibly the sweetest response ever!

Additional Pregnancy Week 5 Post:
Forgetting I'm Pregnant

May 11
Today is the start of week 6. I haven't had many symptoms over this past week other than feeling tired. And the bloating is gone, which I'm happy about! We spent last week referring to the baby as "our little poppy seed" because that was the equivalent size. This week it's the size of a sweet pea!

May 14
Have I mentioned that my good friend Jill is also pregnant? Yep! What are the odds of that? She's 7 weeks ahead of me, and it's been so nice having someone to share in this experience with. I've been using her as my personal encyclopedia when it comes to all things pregnancy since she's got 7 weeks of studying on me. Jill and I work together and we carpool nearly every day. Prior to getting knocked up, many of our drives home would feature a quick (or sometimes not so quick) stop for happy hour drinks. Well now that we're responsible expectant mothers interested in giving our unborn children every advantage at proper development, these happy hour stops have come to a screeching halt. Well...almost. Today was such a nice day that we decided to stop at a Mexican restaurant on our way home for some chips, salsa, and some non-alcoholic margaritas out on the patio. Mmmm...that hit the spot! But I limited myself to just one drink--after all, I was driving.

When I got home I was so surprised to receive a care package from my good friend Allison! And yes, in this case "so surprised" means bawling my eyes out over her kindness and thoughtfulness! Included in her package was a hilarious Safe Baby Handling Tips picture book with very informative dos and don'ts when it comes to caring for your newborn. For instance--did you know you shouldn't palm a baby by the head like it's a basketball? Or throw it in the dryer when it's wet? True story. And there's even diagrams to support these little-known facts for quick reference:




Also included in her care package were two books: "Belly Laughs" by Jenny McCarthy and "Sippy Cups Are Not for Chardonnay" by Stefanie Wilder-Taylor.

The title of that second book just owns me! Too funny!

Additional Pregnancy Week 6 Post:
Forgetting I'm Pregnant

May 18
Today marks the start of week 7 and so far I'm still feeling great! I'm still not having many symptoms other than feeling tired. And I have a stuffy nose--something I didn't even realize was a pregnancy symptom until I started reading more pregnancy books. In fact--I've been so symptom-free that I was beginning to worry I wasn't even pregnant anymore! So yesterday I took another pregnancy test--just for the piece of mind--and thank goodness I got the reassurance I needed that I'm still pregnant!

Our little baby is the size of a blueberry this week and is working hard at brain development, generating new brain cells at the rate of 100/minute. I, on the other hand, feel like I'm losing brain cells at the same rate as I constantly find myself forgetting what I'm doing, typing words out of order (or typing the wrong word all together), and I can no longer spell. I always prided myself on being smart. Guess it's time to kiss that goodbye!

Additional Pregnancy Week 7 Post:
Pregnancy Books Are Making Me CRAZY!

May 26
Today I'm 8 weeks and 1 day pregnant and still feeling great! We had our first prenatal appointment today! We got to see our little raspberry-sized baby and hear his/her heartbeat--it was amazing! More on that--and pictures--in an upcoming post!

Additional Pregnancy Week 8 Post:
First Prenatal Appointment

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