Today is the Day!

I completely forgot to get E to take a picture of me last night for me to post on my last day of work, but that's ok. I will get one at home tonight and post it later on!

But today is my last day for 12 weeks!! 12 weeks off to be with my new baby girl. I am really excited. I know it will come with exhaustion, frustration and boredom on some (most) days but I always think of something that a friend said to his wife many years ago about staying home with their kids..."Any bad day at home with your kids is better than a good day at work doing a job you hate!" DING DING!! He wins the prize for reading my mind! I know I will have to go back to work for a little while but hopefully not for long. We have some big life events coming up besides the baby, that will be revealed when they are all confirmed so I am hoping to come home for good soon enough.

I will try to remember to post my last pregnant picture tonight when I get home, but after that...this may be the last post before I am a Mom. Monday morning, 6am starts the beginning of a long day for the staff here at Everyday Bailey!! (HA...like I have staff) But I will post pictures and announcements as soon as I get a chance! Wish me luck!!

Why? Why?

So 39 weeks has come and still nothing is happening! We went yesterday and to my surprise, I was scheduled to be induced on Thursday (as in tomorrow). I told her I didn't think I was mentally ready for that and then when I got "checked" and nothing was progressing, so we needed to shift our dates anyway. Sigh!

As of now, I am supposed to be induced on Monday morning but since NOTHING is happening, they aren't expecting me to have the baby until Tuesday. Ummm....a full day of labor? Maybe they know something that I don't but that doesn't excite me at the very thought. And maybe I misunderstood. Because there were alot of dates being thrown around and I didn't realize what I had heard until we pulled in the driveway at home. Yes, my ankles and legs are swollen beyond recognition, Yes, my back is killing me, Yes, the heartburn is almost unbearable. But a full day of labor? I don't know. The baby can't stay forever. She only has 2 more weeks until they have to go get her regardless.

Either way, last night was a sleepless night with all of thoughts that run through my head and I am sure I will have a few more of those before it is all said and done...oh yeah, and many more to come.

Ok Ok Back to work (insert sound of whip cracking)! So much to do on my last week of work.

This Week's Projects

Yes, I know I am giving birth next week (hopefully), but there are still so many things that I want to accomplish before she gets here. None of these are vital to the survival of the baby but they would all make me feel more ready. Plus, when I don't work on a project at night, I don't sleep. The nights that I decide to sit around and relax, I end up sitting around and relaxing all night with my eyes open for hours. Not worth it! Since the laundry room is completed with the exception of a few pieces of trim (E's project) and a cushion that my mom is going to make when she gets here, I needed a new project.

So here are the projects I want to finish this week:

1.) My poor neglected coffee table. Luckily E bought me a new sander this weekend so progress is moving alot faster. But the 25 layers of clear coats are super stubborn so I finally finished sanding the top, about half of the side, and 2 of the legs this weekend. Hopefully, by the end of this week, the table will be ready for a coat of dark walnut stain.

2.) Pickup the new glider from the store and put it together. They called yesterday and to let us know it was in.

3.)Finish painting the Living Room/Dining Room and the Hallway (yes...I did start the hallway...I was bored)

4.)Rearrange the Living Room and the Dining Room.

5.) And this project is for my mom to help me finish when she gets here but I already finished my part. This is an old door that we pulled out of the house and has been sitting in our garage for 2 years now. So I decided to use it as a headboard for our bed. I filled all of the holes and put 2 coats of paint on it already. This is the before picture and I can't wait to show you the after picture.

Same Old Nothing!

The much anticipated Dr.'s appointment was yesterday and we had lots of questions since I am less than 2 weeks away at this point. I had been working my butt off all week trying to get my body to start "getting ready" for birth. Every week I go to the Dr., I hear the same thing... "Nope, nothing yet!" And I have been determined not to hear that again this week.

After getting a lower than usual blood pressure reading and a "mile marker" of a weigh in, I was feeling a little bit down by the time we made it into the exam room. The nurse practitioner came in and we talked for a while. Then the Dr. came in towards the end of our conversation to "check" things to see if I had made any progress. And guess what? NOTHING!!!!!!! STILL!! Sigh! So this isn't a good sign at this point. I am going in again next week to get checked one more time and if nothing is happening still, I am being admitted to the hospital next Monday night and having the baby Tuesday morning. The risk for a C-section is higher when you get induced with your first pregnancy but with my blood pressure dropping and the fact that body is not getting ready as it should, I am carrying that risk regardless. Sigh...this is so scary but the fact that this will all be over in 10 days ...wow...I have no words for that!

Weekend Update

While we typically work at least an hour a night on the house these days, Friday night was the exception. Since we worked all night Wednesday and Thursday, we figured that we deserved a break. So a little pizza and a little movie .... much needed.

But back to work on Saturday. It was a long day of painting, laundry, cooking and caulking. No more pictures of renovations for a while. It's nice to see a little bit of difference being made each day and I want you all to be floored when you see the final product.

E left early to attend a boys night at Matt's house where they grilled some fish and he was able to take Maggie too so that she could play with their dog, Neal. While they did their "boys thing," I stayed home and made The Lady and Sons Lasagna, Blueberry Compote and Chocolate Espresso Shortbread Cookies. I love to put the Blueberry Compote between 2 whole wheat blueberry waffles for breakfast and I had a Ghirardelli dark chocolate toffee bar just sitting around looking for a good use...so why not cook. Besides this may be the last time I actually want to cook for a while. But I also made the lasagna so that I would have a few meals in the freezer for after the baby gets here. So I plan on putting it in the over tonight and eating it for dinner, BUT that still leaves 3/4 of a casserole dish for left overs.

I know I know...thinking ahead!!

Sunday, I made 2 big pots of Southwest Chicken Chili. One for us and one for Renee and Russell who just a baby on Wednesday. Congratulations to them on the birth of their son, Isaac. Renee was three weeks ahead of me and so I always got the 411 on everything that was going to happen to me 3 weeks ahead of time!! That was nice!! And we didn't even eat half of our pot of chili and I can throw the rest of that in the freezer too for the post baby season! Told you...thinking ahead!!

I do have a picture or 2 though from Sunday night. I took a nap and when I woke up, I saw this. E, napping, and Maggie watching tv (which she never does) in the living room. But then I took a closer look. She was actually watching the AKC Dog Show. It makes me wonder if she actually got a hold of the remote control...

Thanks GOD It's Friday!!

I know I am not the only one that is exhausted after a long week. Raise your hand if you are ready for the weekend!!!

Since "NOTHING" is happening regarding the birth of my daughter (can you tell I am still bitter about this?!?), I am keeping busy at home. I was told by the dr. that misery was in my future. Those last 3 weeks, you just start spitting venom you are so miserable. But I was feeling fine and thought nothing of it. The next day, the misery began. But I am not that person that can sit on the couch and relax when there are things to be done. Plus, I always feel guilty when E is working on the house and I am relaxing. So, instead of putting my feet up, I decided to put a coat of paint on the walls of the laundry room, do the baby's laundry, and help E install the new carpet tiles.

I felt so bad for him scraping the old vinyl tiles off of the floor but we put all of the carpet tiles we had down and realized we only had enough to do about half of the room. So he put down as much as he could and then laid in the floor and wrestled with Maggie on the new carpet!!

Nursery Time

Me and E spent all Monday morning trying to put together the baby's crib. We kept putting it off over and over again and I am glad we did. We really needed some extra time. It wasn't a new crib. But I had cleaned, sanded and repainted it and it was looking great. However, we started putting it together and quickly realized that we were missing MORE THAN A FEW parts.

Luckily, E is the "think on your feet" kinda guy and immediately started going through his stashes of extra fasteners and before we knew it, the crib was done. The front gate doesn't move up and down like it is meant to but we can just adjust the mattress height when we get to the different stages of the baby's life. But nothing was spent here and I am super proud to proclaim this. The bedding is from a friend back home, Emily, the sheets were given to me by my 3rd grade best friend, Ashley, (she found sheets she had never even opened when we went to visit), my parents gave us the crib and we used paint we already had in the garage and a little elbow grease!

But here is a preliminary look at the nursery. Keep in mind that it's not finished yet and won't be until my mom comes a few days before she's due. But regardless, this is a good start and I feel ready.

Here is the changing table, given to me by the same friend that gave me the sheets, Ashley, with all of the storage containers that my sis, Brit, gave me.

Here is the night table I just finished painting along with the new lamp I just bought.

These are all apothecary vases I had...one I got at the beach this summer and ironically, my Nanny gave me a large one that matched for Christmas so I went out and found one more that matched and filled them all with Valentine candy. I still think I need to double the amount of jelly beans in the large jar but until then, I think it turned out really well.

I finished the chair before Christmas and bought a rug last week. I really like that rug and I seem to have to fight Maggie to get off of it.

Now I am just waiting for my mom to show up and make pillows for the bed and paint a few peices of artwork for the walls.

Oh yeah...here I am at 35 weeks in my pjs. 5 weeks to go. I have completely lost sight of my feet, which is probably a good thing since my ankles are softball sized these days but all in all, now that the nursery is somewhat put together, I feel alot more ready for my own version of Labor Day.

Pregnant and Clumsy

Since I am finding that clumsiness is definately a pregnancy symptom, I am racking up on things I have broken, dropped, spilled, tore apart...you get the idea! This morning, started a brand new day for me though...until I knocked over the coffee press with my belly. Poor E!! No coffee this morning.

I guess I should go ahead and update everyone on the baby thus far while we are talking! We hit 33 weeks (out of 40) on Wednesday. I am bigger than life and can barely turn over in bed. Walking around is a nightmare especially during the holiday shopping season. I only last about an hour. Baby is BIG these days. We typically sleep in shifts. I sleep at night while she stays up and I keep watch during the day while she sleeps off and on. E likes to watch my belly which contorts into odd shapes these days depending on how she is positioned. My sister said that I should go ahead and get my hospital bag packed just in case. That realization SCARED ME TO DEATH!!! I wasn't ready to hear that! But she is right and I have no idea how much longer I can last. Thank goodness all of the traveling is over.

But after a visit with family and friends over the Christmas holiday, I am feeling much more prepared, at least mentally!! The nursery is getting closer to being ready. We bought the stroller this weekend since we had a serious coupon for the day after Christmas and we were also given a changing table from a childhood friend of mine. Yah!!!! I think a little organization and elbow grease will reveal a gem in time.

More pictures and holiday updates to come...

Belly Sneak Peek!

While I don't have any new pictures of my belly at 28 weeks, I have this accidental picture that found this morning while cleaning off the camera memory. And yes, I am getting super fat!!

Belly Blast

I know I know.  I have been super delinquent about posting belly pictures.  I took one a few weeks ago and meant to post it but forgot and the camera memory card had to be reformatted and we lost the photo.  Sorry!  But here I am at 24 weeks.  I still can't believe I have made it this far with no major anxiety attacks.  It's bizarre that the life as I currently know it, will be completely over in three and a half months.  

We got a good report at the Dr. yesterday.  I was literally told "You are looking good and doing pregnant proud!!"  I think that's good, right?  Swollen feet and swollen fingers are dominating my life these days.  So much so that I have already starting putting certain pairs of shoes into storage.  Since they say you grow a have size shoe size and don't shrink back, I am going to be well deserving a whole new shoe collection.  Thanks E!!!  I eat everything in sight (and in my thoughts).  Homemade chocolate chip cookies go a long way, as does Ben and Jerry's Everything But The...  I love that flavor.  Nothing is left out of the pot.  Soup is still a prominent craving.  Also, strawberries, oranges and apple sauce.  Oh yeah...did I mention I have gained 20 pounds already?  Opps...I guess I forgot that part.  Rachel (the baby) kicks at bed time, lunchtime and REALLY HARD about 4am until I finally get up and feed her breakfast.  What a spoiled princess!!  haha I can already tell she is going to keep me up all night when she finally comes home.

But I hope you enjoy the picture.  I don't think I will ever get used to seeing myself this way.  I just hope the weight comes off as fast as it is coming on!

Saturday Night Ball Games

Boy, after leaving Alabama several years ago, I had forgotten all of the football fanatics that plague our state (and my family). But we agreed to go to dinner party to watch the game anyway. E ended up helping family members on their computers while I socialized with the women while we talked about what we were/weren't going to name the baby. My cousin's wife Tara made lasagna, salad, garlic bread and an AWESOME Blueberry Pineapple Cobbler. (BTW, Tara, I need that recipe)

To appease my immediate family who couldn't attend, my aunt took several pictures of me including one belly picture. (**Please keep in mind that this belly picture is not current and is, in fact, a month old since all of the these events happened during the hurricane evacuation. My current belly no longer looks anything like this...will post current pics soon)

My aunt wanted someone to compare my belly to for a picture she wanted to send my mom. Immediately, my grandfather stood up, grinning from ear to ear, pulled up his shirt and posed for the picture. TOO FUNNY!!!

Best Laid Plans

My trip to the Woodlands got cut short this week so I am back to the blogosphere earlier than expected. Due to an out of control heartrate over 2 days, I was told I needed to go to the ER and get checked out since I was out of town. To tell the whole truth, I was more worried about the baby because I hadn't felt her move since my heartrate had jumped up which was a bit unusual. But the ER said I was fine, but wanted me to go home where I could be properly cared for by my own OB and they wanted me to see a cardiologist. They also checked Baby Bailey too. No worries there either. She was stunning!! As soon as they started hooking monitors to my belly, she felt the need to start jumping up and down and kicking and hasn't stopped yet. In fact, E felt her move for the first time last night while I was sleeping. He was quite excited. He says he is still not in baby mode and probably won't be until all of his schoolwork is over with (which will be Monday evening!!!)

So we decided it was time for me to come home and my traveling days are over unless we are together. Fine with me. It makes me nervous not knowing where the nearest hospitals are in case something happens and now that I am married, I have no desire to be in an ER waiting room by myself. I like to think I am independent enough to handle certain things alone but at the end of the day, I don't want to be that independent. And I know it made him sick that all of this stuff was going on while he was at home waiting for a phone call with the prognosis. But we are back home now and hopefully life will get back to normal starting today!

We are Having a Girl!!

The ultrasound was yesterday and we got the shocking news that we were having a girl!!! I honestly couldn't believe it! I have been thinking it's a boy this whole time so when she said we were going to have a girl...well, I was a little floored. Almost speechless. Even the last ultrasound we had 8 weeks ago said she thought it was going to be a boy. I couldn't believe it! Not that I wanted one sex over the other. We didn't care what we were having but I still wanted to know. E is a little shocked too. He has no idea what to do with a girl. This is going to be an interesting ride!

So we are excited. We started talking about which room would be the baby's and automatically people have been volunteering their bedding and hand-me-down clothes. That's great news to me! Free Stuff! But the one thing we haven't talked about is girl names. We haven't even discussed one...only boy names. I guess it's time to get moving!

20 Weeks Marks Halfway Point...and other updates!

Whew! Halfway done. And as the Dr. said yesterday "You are looking ripe." I guess that means I am starting to get fat. I asked E yesterday if he would still love me when I was fat...his response was that he would still love me and that I was ALREADY fat! Thanks E! Your the best!

We went to the Dr. yesterday and had some blood work done. The heartrate is good, I have gained a total of 13 pounds, he is 6.5 inches long and we go today for our ultrasound. SO PUMPED!!! I feel like once I know if it is a boy or girl, I can finally start getting ready for him to come home. (Sorry, still using the pronoun him...I still think it's going to be a boy) So I will post pictures tomorrow and let you know what we are having. I feel like a kid trying to sleep on Christmas Eve. I can't wait to see him.

E has 3 weeks of school left and then we can get the house ready. He also said that I could get a housekeeper to help me out too. Hallelujah!!! I have past that point where I can clean the bathrooms and load the washer and dryer. This was mostly a charity act as there is a lady who cleans houses that lost alot of customers after the storm and is trying to pull her life back together. However he does it, I am just thrilled to have help finally.

The plumbing is finally fixed however, now we just have to replace the subfloor where the leak had ruined the floor. Turns out, the previous owners used a straight lead pipe (bent into an L-shape) instead of a PVC L-shaped one. And of course there were SEVERAL holes where the pipe was bent. I think E had to fix the plumbing 3 times. Everytime he thought he completed the project, he would find another leak. Luckily I was out of town.

18 Weeks Strong!

It's so hard to believe that I have almost hit the halfway mark in my pregnancy! I still don't show enough for people to think I am pregnant, just getting fatter. Maybe that's a good thing but I am itching to look pregnant! I have a new aversion to pickles, cheese pizza, ranch (I know, I dip everything in ranch like a good southern girl) and yogurt. I go back to the doctor in 3 weeks to find out the sex of the baby.

E will be completely done with school in 5 weeks and we can start cleaning out the baby's room soon enough. I am starting to get really excited. I got a few new pairs of maternity pants while I was away because I had grown out of my original ones I bought when I first started gaining weight. I think I have gained about 8 pounds in all so far. Nothing new to report, really! But I wanted to update you all.

12 Weeks

Here we are. I never thought I would make it. I still don't think I can make it through the week to finally see the light at the end of the "first trimester" tunnel. It has been a LONG few weeks. Just when I think things are looking up, something throws me on my back again.

Something about work changes my health during the day. If I am at home, I am fine until the afternoon. But if it's a weekday, HOLD ON TIGHT!!! It going to be a rough day!! Oh the nausea and headaches until lunch time. Luckily the nausea goes away after lunch which makes the all day headache a little more bearable!! thank goodness my office is in the back and no one ever stops by because most of the morning is spent taking deep breaths and trying to stay upright. I can't afford to use anymore sick days.

My appetite is back in full force. Still watching my portions so I am not miserable. I just can't get used to making a full meal for me and E at dinner time and then 2.5 hours later, I am ready to eat again but I don't want what we just had for dinner and I also don't want to have to clean the kitchen again...so I have resorted to tomato sandwiches and bowls of cereal for the past few days.

But the fun part was yesterday, when I had a doctors appointment. We got to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time. It was 164 beats per minute which ...is good...I am told! The new doctor was great. Yeah, we knew him from a neighborhood BBQ but I am really glad we chose him. He is going to work out great! He's not creepy at all!! Nice guy, former military, very personable. But my 12 week Dr. appt went good and all is well!! We have a sonogram next week so maybe I will have a picture to share next week (not that the untrained eye can actually decypher those images).

My Flair

Some friends of mine have sent me some "Pieces of Flair" on Facebook. (reference to the movie "Office Space") I know that alot of you don't do facebook and I actually barely do Facebook but these buttons were so cute I had to share them with you all.

Monthly Goals

So I have felt inspired recently to have more short term goals instead of long term goals. I am already cooking a bun in my long term oven so I think I am going to need some short term projects along the way.

Brainstorming:

August: Get Lindy and Lucy's website up and running & Clean out the Bathroom closet & walk my 10K

September: Finally get around to painting Elizabeth and Matt's trim since my first trimester will FINALLY be over!!! (with a mask of course) and clean out the Sweet Pea's closet

October: Finally finish our laundry room project and put my office together

November: Register for baby stuff (before Thanksgiving) and complete living/dining room projects

December: Make some major life changing decisions (sorry that's not up for discussion yet) and get a few quotes for our kitchen renovation project

January:Paint Sweet Pea's room and purchase a dresser for our master bedroom

February: purchase baby furniture and get it arranged

...oh yeah...and bring home baby!!

10 Weeks and Still Kicking

Well, I have made it this far right? A quarter of the way through the whole pregnancy. The baby seems to be doing fine. And me...well...if I could just keep up with all of the changes my body is making, I would be fine. One week I am exhausted all of the time and could do nothing but sleep all day and night. Now, if I sleep even an hour during the day, I don't sleep at all during the night. So the new trick is to keep me awake until at least 9:00pm which is alot tougher than you might think these days. After 3 of the worst days of my life dealing with the lack of sleep (combined with the fact that I can't take anything to sleep better, I can't take anything for the headache, and I can't have a cup of coffee to keep me awake), I think I can finally handle everything.

It's very bizarre how your body changes too. I still weigh the same as I did before I got pregnant. I haven't gained any weight but looking in the mirror...That is not the same body I had 10 weeks ago!! I am sure it doesn't help that I am not running 3 miles a day anymore. But I can still wear most of my old clothes but I am uncomfortable in them all. So I have already swapped over to few smaller pairs of maternity capris and some elastic skirts.

And food, I don't even want to talk about food. However, I am finally getting my appetite back again. Learning when to stop has been incredibly difficult though. There is such a fine line between almost full and WAY OVER full. That fine line can be only one bite. So eating slower, more often and concentrating more on how I feel during a meal is taking some time. I can only eat something about the size of a deck of cards, maybe slightly bigger, at a time. But since my taste has COMPLETELY changed, there are only a few things that I actually want to eat still.

Only 209 days left!!!

What's Cooking Wednesday?

I have no idea. And ironically, I cooked all weekend. Although it was nothing new and nothing I wanted to eat a second time.

Everyone has always told me that my sense of smell would change during pregnancy but I never thought about how that would affect my sense of taste. Well, much to my disappointment, I spent all weekend cooking...Tomato Basil Soup (which is a main staple and one of my main cravings), Southwest Chicken Chili, Greek Pot Pie, Panzanella, even chocolate chip cookies. I haven't wanted any of it. I made each one of them like I always do and they just don't taste right and I don't want to eat any of it again. So now I have a freezer full of leftovers for E to eat.

Things I will eat now:
Gatorade
Water
Orange Juice
Instant Breakfast
Cheese Quesadillas
Apples and Peanut Butter
Animal Crackers
Boiled Eggs
PB&J Sandwiches
Strawberry Popsicles
Raison Nut Bran

Never in my life do I remember being such a picky eater and now I feel like one of those kids that only eats mac and cheese and hot dogs. With that in mind, sadly, I am putting What's Cooking Wednesday on hold for a while. What's the point in cooking if I won't eat it. And how do I know if it's good. E says everything I made this weekend was good, but mine tasted like first class garbage and he ate boat food for 3 years. I guess my food bills are about to get skinnier. Poor E!!

Even though What's Cooking Wednesday is on hold, if you have a recipe you want to share, I will be glad to throw it up here. If you say it's good, that's enough for me.