Show Us Your Life- Tell Us About Your Church

I haven't done Kelly's "Show Us Your Life" in a long time, but I love this week's theme: church!

A little background info first: I did not grow up super religious. I've always believed, but I didn't really go to church or anything. I met Jeff and quickly found out that his dad is a minister and his mom works in a church. Obviously he grew up going to church every Sunday and had a strong religious background. He was OK with me not having one because I was willing to learn, go to church, and raise any children we might have with a strong church background. Once we got engaged, we decided we should try to find a church, but we never got around to it. Same thing when we got married. We always meant to do it, but never did it. I know that's bad, but that's the way it was.

Then, I got pregnant. We decided it was time to get really serious about finding a church so that our son will grow up with that in his life. Once I started feeling better with my morning sickness (around 17 or 18 weeks) we decided it was time to go to church. We absolutely love the church Jeff's mom works at on Long Island (we got married there). We wanted something more modern since that was what we were used to. Jeff talked to his mom, and she told him about Willow Creek, which helped Jeff find us a church on Old Greenwich. We started going around Christmas, the kids' pageant was actually our first time there and we loved it.

Jeff and I go to Presbyterian Church of Old Greenwich. We felt welcomed there immediately and I really love the kids' programs they have. That was hugely important to us considering that we're having a child very soon. There's people our age there, and we love the fact that the service is modern, but still follows some traditions, and it reminds us a lot of the church we love on LI. We decided to begin the membership process, so we met with the Pastor, then a few elders, and now we are church members as of February! Everyone has been so nice to us and they're very excited about our baby boy! It kind of amazes me since they don't know us well yet, but it's been wonderful. One of the deacons invited us to lunch at her yacht club a couple weeks ago, and we had such a great time with her. I just love the sense of family at our church and hope that someday we can make someone feel as welcomed there as we do. Once the baby is born, I think both of us will get more involved than we are now, and I look forward to that. Jeff and I are excited to finally be part of a church and we look forward to bringing our children up as part of this church family!

30 Weeks!

I have about 10 weeks left in this pregnancy and I can't believe it! Things are going well, but I am super tired and starting to get uncomfortable. The baby likes to put body parts in my ribs, which makes it hard to sit. I also hate being back at work. It was really nice to have a couple weeks to just relax and I will definitely be taking a couple weeks off of work before my due date to rest some more. I can't see my feet too well anymore, so polishing my toenails is hard and I think I will start getting pedicures so I don't have to deal with it. I see the Dr. on Thursday and then I get to start going every 2 weeks. Good thing the office is 5 minutes from where I work, so it's nice and easy to get to!

I am in serious nesting mode and I think Jeff kind of is too! He painted the nursery and put together the crib, glider, and dresser this weekend! The room looks great and I feel much better that it will be done before Landon gets here! All that's left is decorating, and I know people got me a lot of the decor stuff off my registry for my baby shower, and I need to wash all the clothes and blankets. I'm holding off on that because it's too early yet and I know I'm going to get more clothes and stuff at the shower, so I figured I should wait until I had everything.

Here's my 30 week belly. Some of my co-workers told me that I "popped" over the break:

Mommy Advice

As my due date gets closer (About 11 weeks to go!) I get more and more excited to meet our son, but anxious about how much everything is going to change. What I would love is for all of you veteran moms to chime in and tell me what you wish you knew about childbirth, breast feeding, taking care of an infant, whatever! I'd also love to hear about any products that you just could not live without!

29 Weeks!

I always thought 30 weeks was a huge milestone in pregnancy. Not sure why, maybe because that means there's only 8-10 weeks left, but regardless, I am so close to 30 weeks now and it just amazes me. I have a Dr. appointment next week, then I start going every 2 weeks instead of every 4! I feel like I already live at the Dr. and now I will be there even more!

I'm feeling good, but let's see how I do next week when spring break is over and I'm at work again! I was sick with a cold all of last week which sucked because you really can't take much for a cold when you're pregnant, but I feel much better now. I can tell that Landon is running out of room in there because I can feel/see a lot more of his kicks and movement. It's really cool and I spent most of church on Sunday watching my belly move instead of paying attention to the sermon! Oops! My back is hurting again, but I have a massage planned for tomorrow, so hopefully that helps. I've been getting Braxton-Hicks contractions for the past couple of weeks. They don't hurt and my Dr. said they're harmless as long as I don't have pain and they aren't coming at regular intervals. They last about 30 seconds if that and come whenever they want, no consistent pattern, so it's all good.

I also passed my glucose test! YAY! I'm so happy I don't have to do the 3 hour test or deal with gestational diabetes and a really strict diet. I'm a very picky eater as it is, so I would have starved!

Jeff is in the process of painting the nursery! We have the crib already and I ordered the rest of the furniture, so he can assemble everything soon. Based on my registry stalking, (did any of you do that? I did it with my wedding one too) I am getting a lot of the nursery stuff (curtains, wall art, etc) for my baby shower next month, so I should have nursery pictures to show within the next month or so! I'm really excited to see it all come together!

Here's my 29 week belly shot taken a few minutes ago:

Elton John Concert

Last night Jeff and I went to NYC to see Elton John in concert! It was my 4th show and Jeff's 3rd and honestly, I was a bit disappointed! The beginning was great, he was singing songs everyone knew, we were all pumped up, and it was fun! Then, he had this really old dude who I guess is a rock legend and in the hall of fame named Leon Russell come out. They have done some tours together, which I purposely didn't go to because I don't care for Leon Russell and wanted to avoid it. We figured they'd do maybe 3 or 4 songs together and that would be it. WRONG! It went on for an hour and I didn't know a single song they sang and there were like 10 of them! I know most artists do sing some of their new songs at a concert, and I totally respect that, but an hour was way too much and I was getting super pissed. When Leon Russell FINALLY left the stage, Elton started singing his old hits again and I was happy and not bored anymore.

This has nothing to do with Elton John himself, but the seats at MSG were really uncomfortable and there was almost no leg room! Jeff is sort of tall at 6'1" and I'm tall and pregnant, so we were really uncomfy and my back was killing me by the end of the show. Also, the 3 women in front of us couldn't have been more annoying! They kept getting up to get drinks, switch seats, etc. I felt so bad for the 2 people who had the aisle seats and had to keep standing up to let these women leave. They never all left at the same time and one of them was either getting up to leave or going back to her seat every 5-10 minutes. I was getting so pissed and it really didn't affect me too much. When the 2 seats next to us that were also aisle seats cleared, we told the couple who had to keep getting up to come sit with us so they could actually enjoy the show. I couldn't believe how rude those 3 women were! It was absolutely ridiculous! Once the other people moved, they did apologize and stopped leaving every 30 seconds, but they decided to stand up and dance like idiots instead. To their credit, they did keep asking Jeff if he wanted to switch seats since we were in the back row and they were worried they were blocking our view. They weren't and the last thing I wanted to do was move. They were also super late to the show, and between that and constantly getting up, I don't know why they bothered coming.

All in all, Elton did sing his hits and did a great job with that, but it wasn't my favorite concert of his by a long shot. My favorite based on songs was at Mohegan Sun a little over a year ago, and seat-wise, the best was in Hartford when we had seats in the 21st row. Those were a V-day gift from Jeff. We won't be going to a concert again anytime soon, but I was a bit sad that my last time seeing Elton John for who knows how long kind of sucked. With all of the walking and getting home late, I am BEAT today! I can't do nearly as much as I used to and I am still getting used to that!

28 Weeks!

Today marks the beginning of my third trimester! I can't believe in about 12 weeks I will be meeting my baby boy! 2 of my friends had their sons within 2 days of each other (Saturday and yesterday) and seeing pics and hearing how amazing their birth experiences were makes me all the more anxious and excited to have my baby! Part of me wants it to be June right now, and the other part wants to enjoy what's left of my pregnancy.

I took my 1 hour glucose tolerance test this morning. I got to drink fruit punch flavored sugary stuff instead of the orange (the lab tech said the fruit punch is so much better), which was a pleasant surprise. It wasn't that bad and waiting for an hour for them to take my blood wasn't a huge deal either. I really hope I passed so I don't have to do the 3 hour one though haha! Having gestational diabetes would be a disaster for me since I'm such a picky eater anyway and they put you on a very strict diet. I'd probably starve!

I'm feeling pretty good! I'm very tired and my lower back is killing me on and off, but I'm managing. I can't see certain parts of my body anymore which makes some things challenging! I'm off of work until March 28th for spring break, so it's really nice to rest all day and sleep late! I scheduled a pregnancy massage for next week and I cannot wait for that! I'm also going to see Elton John tomorrow night, so it will be Landon's first concert too in a way! I love that he can hear now and hopefully he enjoys the concert too!

The nursery is ready to be painted! Last Saturday, Jeff and my parents moved the couch out of out basement, and all of Jeff's office stuff down to the basement. Jeff still has an office, and the baby's room is completely empty! We're going to pick out paint and Jeff will actually paint the room sometime next week hopefully. Then we can start putting together the crib and ordering the rest of the furniture we want. I feel so much better now that the room is cleared out because that was the hardest part of this whole thing! I'll be sure to post pictures as we make progress.

I've gained 18 lbs so far, which isn't bad and it's all belly. I still have some time, but so far, my hips and butt have stayed the same size which is nice! I do have a few varicose veins on my left leg, and those are gross, but whatever. I'm also starting to get that ugly line on my stomach that most pregnant women get. I'm getting sooo tired of my maternity clothes! I feel like I'm wearing the same shirts/dresses over and over again, which gets old, but there's no point in buying too much stuff since I won't get to wear it forever! Also, maternity clothes are really expensive if you don't go to an outlet, find a sale, or go to Old Navy! They also fit weird sometimes.

Here's the belly this week:

Girl Scout Cookies

I finally got my order of Girl Scout cookies today! I may or may not have eaten almost an entire box of Tagalongs already... They really need to put more than 15 in a box.

The good news is I can stomach peanut butter again! That was a pretty big food aversion through most of this pregnancy, but I've been handling the Tagalongs just fine today lol

27 Weeks

This is the last week of my second trimester and my due date is 3 months away! I can't believe it!

Aside from the dehydration episode from last week, which you can read about below, I'm feeling pretty good! I tire easily, but I manage. I've also been drinking a lot more water so I don't wind up in the emergency room again and that's been making me feel much better. My latest craving is cereal. I can't get enough of it! There's definitely worse thing I could be eating, so I'm fine with it. When I got weighed at the hospital, I've gained about 15 lbs from when I found I was pregnant till now. I don't think that's too bad, we'll see what my Dr. says when I see her on Thursday.

I had parent conferences last Thursday and Friday, which made for very long days. After the first day, I was so sore from sitting on a folding chair for hours on end, so I brought a pillow for day 2 and it made a HUGE difference! I need to remember that my body is very different now than it was before and I need to take it easy and do things a bit differently.

I was looking at my first belly picture from when I was 10 weeks and I had to laugh. I was a tiny bit bloated, but definitely not looking pregnant at all. Seeing what I looked like then and now is amusing and I can't believe how small I was compared to my size now! I am happy that I've really only gained in my stomach. I have pretty big hips and thighs to begin with, so I'm glad they haven't gotten bigger yet! Hopefully they don't! See for yourself:

27 weeks, 10 weeks:

A Little Scary!

I spent yesterday afternoon in the emergency room. I had to leave while students were in the room, some knew where I was going, and they were a little worried.

Basically, I had been feeling really lightheaded on and off all day, so I called my Dr. during my free period after lunch and asked if that was a normal pregnancy thing. She told me to go to labor and delivery ASAP to get checked out, which was not what I expected to hear! I called Jeff, got my neighbor to cover my last class, and went on my way. The hospital is like 5 minutes from work, so that was good. Labor and delivery had no beds, which I guess is odd for them, and since I wasn't having contractions or bleeding, they sent me to the emergency room downstairs. In the end, I was dehydrated and needed IV fluid. I was told to stay home today and rest along with drinking lots of water at all times. I thought I was getting enough and pee SO MUCH as it is, so I don't know how this will work, but I will figure something out. I'm so grateful it was nothing super serious! I also got to hear Landon's heartbeat again, and that's always awesome!

The nicest thing was when I e-mailed the school secretary and the head of school to let them know I had to leave and needed coverage for my afternoon activity, the head of school offered to drive me to the hospital! I didn't get the e-mail saying that till after I was home, but I thought that was such a nice thing of her to offer. Our old head never would have done that, and I just love how supportive our new heard of school has been with everyone's pregnancies this year.

26 Weeks!

Happy March! I can't believe I will be having my baby in about 3 months! This year and pregnancy are flying by for me!

I'm 26 weeks today and feeling pretty good! I'm really tired, but do get random spurts of energy here and there. I took advantage of one this weekend and did some massive cleaning, but now my legs are sore and I'm paying for it. I really need to learn to slow down. I tend to be a very fast walker/mover, and that's just not working for me anymore because it hurts. I'm sleeping pretty well, but my body loves to wake me up an hour or so before I have to get up and I can't fall back asleep! I might doze a little bit, but it's not a deep sleep and that's getting really annoying, especially because I don't do that on the weekends when I can sleep late.

I'm still craving Double Stuf Oreos and strawberry frosted Pop Tarts. I'm trying to eat fruit and veggies too, but those aren't as much fun haha. According to our scale at home when I weighed myself yesterday afternoon, I've gained about 13 lbs total so far, but we will see what the Dr. says next week. It's kind of hard seeing the largest number I've ever seen when weighing myself, but it's all for a good reason and I know I will lose it eventually.

Here's my 26 week belly: