…love Jillian

Yesterday a co-worker invited me to be friends on The Facebook.  Now usually, I try to avoid being friends with people I work with on FB for various reasons but mostly because some things are best left out of the office. Sure, I have no qualms about blogging for complete strangers, acquaintances, and lord only knows who else but work people? Not so much. (Don’t roll your eyes, I know my logic is dumb—ANYONE could find and read this blog but for some reason, I’m thinking the majority of people I’m not interested in sharing my life with have better things to do than track down my tiny corner of the interweb : )
Anyway, I do like this particular work friend so I decided to peruse my status updates to see if there was anything incriminating on there (you know, like taking off at 3 or complaining about things that shouldn’t be complianed about) before I accepted and do you know what I found? I’m Baby Elizabeth obsessed. I cannot stop talking about The Wee One. 
I always thought I would be the type of mother who stayed the same. The mother that would have a little one and my outlook and priorities would stay pretty similar. But I’ve already turned into the mom that can’t think about anything else.  Her movements mark my day (I fully enjoyed feeling her hiccup on cue for 3 straight hours yesterday) and it’s apparently obvious that I can barely talk about anything else….
So for all you readers that miss the snarky comments and ridiculous stories, the only left to say is this: My name is Jillian and I’m obsessed with my baby.

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I sure hope her activity/sleep schedule now is not indicative of her schedule when she finally arrives because this is what Baby Elizabeth has been doing to to me all day:

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Oh, I can’t believe I forgot to put this late night conversation in my earlier post.  Last night I was totally cuddling with Hubs INSTEAD of my body pillow for once; we were spooning with my belly on his back when I was woke up:

Me:  Wait, What are you doing?

Hubs:  I’m just rolling you over

(I’m a lot like turtle these days)

Me:  Why?  I was sleeping sooooo good.

Hubs:  Well, you’re a furnace and it’s hot

Me:  But I was cuddling with you

Hubs:  I’m sweaty and Baby Elizabeth keeps kicking me in the spine.   

Me:  You’re complaining about baby kicks?!?!?!??!  Oh brother.  You know that’s how I sleep every night?  Right?

Hubs:  Yeah, I wasn’t complaining. It was totally special.  It’s just hot.

Me:  (rolling over to the body pillow and probably rolling my eyes as well)  Suuuuuuuuuuure.   

I’m thinking Hubs might be a prime candidate for one of those preganancy suits….

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The weekend was full of things I love…Baby Elizabeth, family, and a 3 day weekend!  Although, it was also full of things I hate:  Fireworks and 4^th of July.

On Friday I went in for my 28 week check-up and everything is looking good–nothing exciting to report.  I suppose at this stage of the game no news is definitely good news.  Then, Hubs and I went in for our pre-delivery visit at the hospital.  It was kind of nice to see where we will be when the baby comes.  At least I can envision what it will be like a little better now.  We filled out all our paperwork and put a rough plan in place.  If you can call, “trying not to get an epidural but we will see how things go” a plan.  When we started to talk about how we were planning on feeding the baby, I told the nurse about Hubs’ infamous babies are mammals comment and she totally looked at ME like I was the crazy one.  So, I back tracked, saying we would breastfeed as long as we could.  She totally nodded in approval saying, “3 years of breastfeeding would be perfect!”  WHAT?  YOU’RE A CRAZY LADY!

Saturday morning we got up early and went to see our sweet Baby Elizabeth in 3D.  It was so exciting.  She seriously had her right leg/foot up by her head the entire time and there was no amount of pushing, jumping, and jiggling that could get her to put it down.  At one point she even put her other leg up—giving us a great look at her lady parts—she is definitely a girl!   We really didn’t get a GREAT picture of her but it was so sweet getting to see her.  Grandma and Grandpa came and I think they really enjoyed it too.  As well, as Hubs!  We made it through the entire hour without one tear!  Here are some of my favorites:

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It was a big weekend for baby.  Friday, I had my 28 week check up and we did our pre delivery visit at the hospital.  Then yesterday morning we had our 3D Ultra-Sound–it was so nice getting to “see” our sweet baby girl again.  I will post more on that later this week but for now, I have an official announcement:  WE FINISHED THE NURSERY!

And now that we’ve finished the nursery (complete with Bedazzled letters) I have two choices:  to continue keeping our sweet girl’s name a secret and NOT show pics of the nursery or just say, “to hell with it,” and tell everyone!  Well, after mulling it over and talking it over with Hubs, I’m just way too excited to keep the nursery/name under wraps for 11 more weeks so without further ado….

We decided to name her:

Elizabeth Arelene to be exact.  We named her after both of our Grandmothers and keeping it a secret was so hard!  Every time someone refers to her by name; my heart totally melts and I’m so relieved to start calling her Baby Elizabeth since “Baby Carter” just seems so generic.  It’s amazing how she is already so much a part of our little family and we are so excited to meet her.

So anyway, after the 3D Ultra sound and a little help from Baby Elizabeth’s Grandma and Grandpa, we finished up her nursery!  I’m so pleased with how it turned out.  My mom did an amazing job of storing all my stuffed animals from my childhood room and after a little spin in the washing machine and a couple Downey sheets they smell and look brand new.  I’m so happy to decorate with pieces from my childhood and am looking forward to making all new memories with my own daughter.  Before we started the nursery was just an empty brown room.  We knew about Baby Elizabeth when we bought the house so we just left it alone til now.   

BEFORE:

And some AFTER:

This is where the baby sleeps:

Curtains:

 Cross Stitch Blanket Hubs’ Mom made:

 Extra Sparkly Wall Decor:  

 Changing area (we still need the changing pad):

Shelf with Decals Grandma Made:

 Chest:

I loved every minute of painting, shopping, decorating and spending time with Hubs and Mom/Dad.  Also, I never realized how much I would love bedazzling all things girl!  It was definitely a team effort and I’m so proud!  I sure hope Baby Elizabeth like sparkles AND jungle animals….

P.S.  I have more pics trapped on a camera but I can’t get them off so I will post more tomorrow!

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This week has been sooooo much better than last!  I got the results from my 3 hour glucose test and I passed with flying colors!  Our baby furniture is being delivered tomorrow AND I was able to sneeze without crying because my butt hurt—we are on a pregnancy up swing :)

Over the weekend my Mom and I decorated the wooden letters for Baby Carter’s nursery.  We went to Michaels and picked out a million different kinds of sparkles/ribbon.  They turned out so good!  They are super girly and I want to post pics but since we’re keeping the name a secret; posting them is next to impossible.  Baby’s name is rapidly becoming one of the worst kept secrets and I’m starting to think we should just tell.  Also, when someone mentions her by name it makes my heart melt–so maybe we will share her name in the coming weeks. 

The nursery is coming together nicely.  Mom has been coming over during the day to touch up the trim, paint Little Miss’ closet and just touching things up in general.  Sure, I’m going to be a mom but I think that “Mommies Touch” is something that comes over time and my mom definitely has it.  Oh, and my favorite part?  She’s been doing laundry!!!!!  (There is just something about laundry, washed with love by your mom that makes it so much better than when you do it yourself.)   

So, with the painting complete and the furniture being delivered I’m hoping we can get some serious decorating on this weekend!  I can’t wait!  I’m as anxious to see how the nursery turns out as I am to see what our sweet baby looks like….

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Let me just say last week was one rough week for this Momma-to-Be!   When you couple a terrible cold with hemorrhoids the size of an ACTUAL thumb and exacerbate the aforementioned cold/hemorrhoids  with a 12 hour fast and a 3 hour glucose test– things have a tendency to unwind very quickly.  I may or may not have found myself in the middle of a tearful breakdown, ranting about the baby sucking every ounce of life right out of me and I wanted her out–NOW! 

When I finally stopped crying, my friend laughed and said, “This is normal.  You should probably make peace with that right now.”  And this morning, she sent me this letter:   

J,

Being a mother is the hardest and most rewarding experience. And seriously this is not intended to be overly dramatic.  Just honest and maybe informative.

I love being a mommy and a lot of times I wish I could stay at home with our sweet baby everyday. But then on days where sleep is non existent, I’m thankful for the time I have away from the babe. And honestly I think it makes me love him more!

I always thought the hard part would be getting the baby through the keyhole and into the world. Wrong. Everyone says that your lives will never be the same and I promise they are right. For the most part. YOUR life will never be the same. You will sacrifice and you will never sleep again. You will spend your free time pumping, doing 17 loads of laundry, and washing bottles and pump parts.

You’ll lose the baby weight because there’s no time for you to eat. And when you find time to snack, your baby will immediately cry. You’ll learn to do things with a baby in your arms. You’ll multi task like never before.

While your life is completely changed, your husband’s life continues like normal. Sure he’s a dad now, but his obligations do not match those of yours.  He will sit with the babe while you do laundry, wash dishes, clean the never ending sink full of bottles and hopefully, he’ll change diapers, feed the baby and try to keep her entertained. But if he needs to shower he does. If he’s hungry, he eats. Needs to run to the store, done. You’re going to be lucky to bathe weekly.  Trust me there are plenty of other things you can be doing while the babe takes a rare nap.   

Bedtime will test your marriage like nothing else. And if your baby happens to nap and go to sleep like a perfect child, please don’t tell me. Jealousy is an ugly thing.

I love my life as a wife and a mommy. I long for the days where I play with a baby all day and I survive on 5 hours of sleep a night. It’s hard but there’s nothing I would rather do.  Except maybe eat or shower.  And to answer your question, yes, baby does suck the life right out of you and having the babe here makes it abundantly clear.   But don’t worry, baby changes everything….for the better.

The funny part is that I KNOW what an easy pregnancy I’ve had.  Sure there have been some trying weeks—27 is currently the front runner for Most Miserable Week of pregnancy but I suppose if that’s as bad as it gets I really need to thank my lucky stars.  This week is much better and I probably owe the unborn and apology….

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Dear Neighbors,

Hi! It’s us. You know, the new neighbors that rarely come outside, have the dogs that HATE your kids (and their bikes) and if we are being completely honest, you. Yeah, I would stay out of our yard.  Anyway, last week Mr. Lives Behind Us (yeah, we are grrrrreat with names) instructed us to call Mr. Pushiest Neighbor/Realtor to donate $50 to the 4th of July fund. We spent a couple days making fun of such assumption and didn’t call you to donate–obviously.  (Mostly because I hate the 4th of July and we have very little in common with you.  Yeah, our kid is still baking and yours have scooters that torment our dogs.)  No, we didn’t FORGET to call, we didn’t have any intentions of calling.  Sorry.  But have fun–we’ll be inside, hunkered down, waiting for America’s Birthday to end!

Happy 4th,

J &D*

*Unfortunately, I didn’t get this letter out in time because last night, the “4th of July Committee” (I wish I was making this up) came over, rang the doorbell, pissed off the dogs, and ruined our super important shower discussion about whether or not horses are mammals and if baby horses drink their mother’s milk or eat grass right away (these things need to be discussed people and for the record: horses are mammals and yes, baby horses drink milk) to talk about America’s Birthday.  I of course, stayed in the shower and sent Hubs to handle the “4th of July Committee.” I was confident Hubs could handle this in a quick, matter of fact manner using a method we are both extremely comfortable with: blame it on the other. In this case?  Me.

I gave him very specific instructions:

Hubs: It’s The Worlds Pushiest Neighbor (and his posse) to discuss the 4th.

Me: You are kidding.

Hubs: I wish.

Me: We ARE NOT donating $50 to their 4th of July fund.

Hubs: Ok.

Me: Did you hear me? We ARE NOT going  and we ARE NOT donating.

Hubs: Ok.

Me: I mean it. I hate the 4th and we are totally going to be at my parents!

Hubs: Oooooooooo. kkkkkkkkkkk!

Here’s how I envisioned the convo to go while I waited for Hubs to come back to the shower:

Hubs: Hey guys!

Committee: Hi! We are here to plan and collect your $50 for the 4th. Btw, what are your names again?

Hubs: I’m DaShaun and my wife is Jillian. And speaking of Jillian, we are going to be at her parents’ house—primarily because that’s what we do every year if we are town and secondly, because the 4th isn’t exactly her favorite holiday.

Committee: Oh, well, the 4th is our big blowout event. It’s going to be super exciting and we wish you could come.

Hubs: Yeah, me too. But a happy wife makes a happy life and she’s not really a ”4th of July Blowout” kind of person!Have a good night!

After 30 minutes of waiting, Hubs comes back in. I look at him with big eyes expecting him to say something like, “OK! That’s handled!” But instead our conversation goes that like this:

Me: OMG! How long does it take to say, ‘We are gonna be at her parents’ house?”

Hubs: (looking totally defeated) well, it would have been a lot easier if the hadn’t responded with, “Oh, well we do everything on the 3rd!”

Me: Did you tell them that I hated the 4th? And fireworks?

Hubs: Kind of. They said it was mostly eating and potluck and 12 families right around here already committed.

Me: We are not giving them $50 dollars.

Hubs: $40?

Me: We are not giving the neighbors ANY money. And they better clean up our yard.

Hubs: Yeah, they said clean up was part of it.

Me: Did you sign us up to bring anything to this “potluck”

Hubs: No.

Me: Did you give them any money?

Hubs: No

Me: Did you give them your email?

Hubs: No

Me: Did you give them MY email?

Hubs: (laughing) No.

Me: So, basically we aren’t any closer to getting out of this than we were before they came over?

Hubs:  We didn’t commit to anything

FYI, I have no problems going to their potluck and chatting till dark (we don’t want to be THOSE neighbors) but there is no way in hell we are contributing to their fireworks fund (and yes, it’s highly likely that I’m simply being a cheap difficult bastard and if Hubs had sent me out to talk to the “committee” I might have just given them $40 to go away.  But that is not how things played out :)

So, my current plan is as follows: to attend this neighborhood pot luck.  When dusk sets in (or the fireworks start, which ever is first) we are heading home, taking Tylenol PM (for me), Benadryl (for the dogs), get all snuggled in our bed, watch tv as loudly as humanly possible and count the moments until this stupid holiday is over!

Side Note:  I know the 4th of July is to celebrate America’s Birthday.  And I’m all for celebrating America’s Birthday–with an American Flag Cheesecake or a BBQ.  But I hold firm in my belief that blowing stuff up is never a good idea.  And when Little Miss Carter is old enough to blow stuff up, Hubs is totally gonna have to sneak contraband smoke bombs by an over protective mother while MY MOM distracts me in the kitchen—probably with arranging cherries on the American Flag cheesecake.

3 Comments | In: Holidays, Letters | | #

The weekend flew by! I can’t believe it’s Monday already. Although, right now, I’m sitting at my desk doing very little beside enjoying the Little One move around. I swear she is practicing her back handsprings. The doctor said she would start to slow down a little since she is getting bigger and running out of space but I’m not really looking forward to that…I love feeling her move!

Anyway, back to the wekend, I got tons of sleep (well except for on Saturday night when the neighbors got all crazy with the fireworks and then it thundered most of the night. My house was definitely the place to be if you love hearing an over nervous Sheltie bark incessantly) and I logged lots of good quality family time! Mom and Dad came over on Saturday and we did some more work on the nursery and they brought over their old Precious Moments cabinet…yay! My Dad totally brought over his tool box and hung a shelf in the laundry room for his laundry challenged daughter and found another board on the deck that needed replaced. (Somehow he always finds himself at Lowes doing a project he wasn’t’ anticipating when he comes over—he is always looking out for his little girl :) My parents are a true testament that parenting does not end when the kids are grown. I can count on my dad for anything…all it takes is a phone call. I can count on Mom too but it was FATHERS Day weekend :) Then we went to dinner at the Olive Garden with Juls…it was a nice day.

Sunday we spent the day on the boat. It was super relaxing and I got the perfect amount of sun. The perfect amount being, a little color without getting burnt! Nothing ruins a good night’s sleep like pregnancy AND a sun burn. Then we all headed back to Mom/Dad’s for Dad’s special Father’s Day dinner–meatloaf and cheesecake! It was super yummy! I love that I’ve stayed so close with my family over the years.

I think Hubs had a good time in Vegas too. His flight got delayed so he got home way too late for us to talk about this trip and I’m pretty sure he’s still asleep right now. I’m definitely anxious to hear some of the stories tonight…

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Yesterday was Hubs’ birthday. He turned the big 3-6. We went to dinner at Outback and then to see Super 8. Both were fun (dinner might have been fun because Little Miss hated my dinner and encouraged me to eat an entire hot fudge sundae…which I did.) It doesn’t feel like Hubs and I have gone on too many dates since we moved. There is always stuff to be done and since growing the baby is nothing short of exhausting I usually veto any plans that keep us out past 9…yeah, I’m a barrel of fun!

Sometimes it feels strange that Hubs is 36. 36 seems like “my dad’s age.” Actually, 35 feels like my dad’s age–not OUR age. Yes, yes, I know that my dad has 20 years on Hubs but somehow 35 is a grown up’s age. And we can’t be grown ups…can we?

I suppose Sunday night will tell the ACTUAL age of Hubs. Is he really 36 or still just a crazy kid? How will this weekend determine Hubs’ actual age you may be asking; well this morning he got up at 330am and headed to Vegas for a bachelor party. And from what I can tell (from his Tweets), they haven’t stopped moving all day AND I’m sure they will go out tonight and maybe tomorrow too. Now, this sounds like the perfect weekend for the younger Jillian and Hubs, 3 days in Vegas? Yes, please! Buuuut, Hubs is out of practice. We go to bed at 9/10 (perhaps Hubs stays up watching TV a little later than I but he’s still snuggled in next me) and we usually wake up around 730/8. I’m curious to see how Hubs hangs with his single friends in the city that never sleeps….

As far as me, this weekend will be very exciting. I will probably hit the hay a little early tonight since I haven’t really been sleeping that great this week. And hopefully, sleep in a little tomorrow morning too. I might get up and go to Fusion and then paint our banister. Maybe I will run around with Mom a little and then on Sunday (Father’s Day) I have every intention of lounging around on the boat, soaking up some sun, (well, I might only soak up a little sun since pregnancy/sunburns are an uncomfortable combo,) have some Father’s Day dinner and perhaps land on the couch with Mags for a movie when I get home…see I’m super fun :)

Anyway, I will keep everyone updated on Hubs Vegas Vacation!

No Comments | In: Holidays, How much I love my Husband, We Like To Do Stuff, We Like To Go Places | | #