36 / 37 weeks

 

These last few weeks have flown by! I'm now seeing the Midwife every week in anticipation of this little dude's impending arrival. Overall, I'm still feeling good - though he has definitely dropped his little head into my pelvis thus making walking much more uncomfortable. I've got the waddle-walk down.

Two weekends ago I had a family baby shower which was so fun! It was great to see both sides of our family - Hubby's and mine together. It meant so much to me that Hubby's sister and our adorable niece Stella flew in from Denver, people traveled from Michigan for the day, and one of my oldest friends traveled from St. Louis.



This past week my co-workers threw a baby shower for me which was fun - we got even more stuff: adorable clothes, swaddles, and an itty bitty bathtub to name a few items. It's still so overwhelming to me how generous people are when there's a baby on the way. This little dude has more clothes than I do. Now, if I can just get all the clothes washed and put away, we'll be set.

I've scheduled my last prenatal massage for this week, and am looking forward to some pampering for my tired muscles!

xoxo,

PJ

Preparing for Little Dude

Since being catapulted into the world of all things "baby", I've learned that options abound on all things within the baby gear world. Who knew there were so many options - beyond color schemes and patterns. It's a bit overwhelming.

There were a few things I knew before I discovered I was pregnant:

• I wanted to exclusively breastfeed


• I wanted to cloth diaper


• I wanted a high quality stroller that would survive in the City {since we don't have a car, it would need to be especially durable}


• I wanted a quality baby carrier


• I wanted a low-intervention, natural childbirth if possible

Beyond that, I had pretty much no idea. Enter hours of research {here}.

Though our preferences may change, these are the items that we're planning on using for our little dude:

What: Breastpump -- Medela Pump In Style Advanced
Why: Since I'll be returning to work full time and want to exclusively breast feed, I need to have a high-quality pump to utilize during my work days. I'll also need to start building up a stash of frozen breast milk during my maternity leave. After taking our breast feeding class, and reading tons of reviews the Medela Pump In Style Advanced does seem to be the best option for me.

What: Cloth Diapers -- BumGenius, Fuzzibunz, Flips, Thirsties, Bumkins
Why: After spending {what felt like} hundreds of hours reading and watching video reviews about cloth diapers, we decided to start with a few of the various brands and types of diapers to figure out what works best for us. So we're starting with a combination of pre-folds & covers, all-in-ones, and pocket diapers. We also have a few itty bitty newborn ones to use for those first weeks.

What: Stroller -- Bugaboo Cameleon
Why: I knew I wanted a stroller with a bassinet, and one that would be able to maneuver and handle the madness of city streets and sidewalks. Hubby and I went to one of the baby superstores to test out strollers prior to pulling the trigger on this big ticket item. Hubby liked the Bugaboo Cameleon the best, and we both really loved the design. We {I} watched video reviews and obsessively checked Craigslist for a gently used model -- which is hard to come by since many of them are used and abused. In the end, we bought a new one via a hefty discount over the Thanksgiving holiday.

What: Baby Carrier -- Ergo
Why: I love the Ergo, and have used it on several occasions with my friends' kids. It's easy to use and offers great back support. We also wanted one that Hubby and I could both use. It was an easy choice.

What: Childbirth Education -- Mother Me, Inc., Ina May's Guide to Childbirth, Birthing from Within, Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way, Doula
Why: Childbirth education for Hubby and I was a must. Even though Hubby is in nursing school and recently completed his labor & delivery rotation, it was still very important for us to have this education together. Throughout my pregnancy, I have been reading various books, watching films, and talking with friends about their birth experiences. When it came time to sign up for childbirth education classes, I'm really glad that we chose Mother Me, Inc. I posted a review on Yelp, with a summary of our experience. One of my favorite things about this class was the perspective of the instructor, Rita. Very middle-of-the-road for those of us planning a hospital birth but wanting to have very few interventions, if any. If you've watched The Business of Being Born, it's clear that there is a spectrum of childbirth philosophy including the idea ranging from highly-medicalized hospital births to no intervention home births. We fall somewhere in the middle of this spectrum -- and I say "we" because Hubby will be an active participant in this birthing process! After reading Ina May's Guide to Childbirth, Birthing from Within, Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way, attending the Mother Me, Inc. class, and meeting with our doula, I feel pretty confident in our plan for a low-intervention hospital birth. Note: all this to say -- if little dude needs assistance getting outta my uterus, you'd better believe that I will consent to birth via cesarean, and an epidural if necessary.

What: Maternity Leave -- 12 weeks of maternity leave {I realize this isn't a baby item, but it's part of our preparation}
Why: Since this is our first {and possibly only baby... you never know!}, I wanted to take time off work to be with this little dude as much as possible during the first weeks and months after his birth. In order to do this, Hubby and I set up a new budget plan to include saving enough money to cover my time off during leave. Since I switched jobs, and am ineligible for FMLA to cover our insurance expenses, this meant that we would need to save up enough money to cover my salary, insurance, and expenses during the extra 6 weeks that I will be off "unpaid". One thing I do appreciate: my Hubby is fully supportive of my choice to take this extra time off, and has been incredibly flexible in cutting costs to make this work for us.

Who knew there were so many decisions to be made before giving birth? I can only imagine the amount of commentary that exists for parenting. Oy!

xoxo,

PJ

32 weeks & a baby shower

This past Saturday my friends B & J hosted a baby shower with some of my favorite friends. It was perfectly laid back, with delicious brunch treats and drinks. I loved catching up with everyone - and making them take a drink of their beverage every time I said the word "cute".

Here are a few photos of the day...



 

I'm just so thankful for loving and supportive friends!

In other news, "pregnancy brain" is in fact a real thing. I used to think it was just a silly made-up phrase. It's been pretty intense this week, and I find myself very distracted and forgetful. I've been trying to be patient with myself, but it's pretty difficult {especially since I'm a very task-oriented person...}. Oh, well.

I can't believe I'm 32 weeks now. I see the midwife every 2 weeks, and then at 36 weeks I'll start going each week until "the end". Eek!



xoxo,

PJ

 

January 13, 2013

I can't believe it's been over a month since my last post. The holidays have come and gone, and we're 13 days into this new year. This year, Hubby and I were able to spend time with his side of the family for Christmas and New Year's. It was really nice to be out of the City and with family. We also got to meet our niece, Stella and hang out with her parents who live in Colorado. Super fun. FYI - She's absolutely adorable and it makes me even more excited for our little dude's arrival.

This past weekend, Hubby and I took our first "baby" class - a breast feeding class. It was awesome. I learned a ton, and feel really encouraged. I'm also keeping an open mind about my expectations {especially the length of time that I'd like to be able to breastfeed}. Heading back to work after 12 weeks is going to be difficult and one of the things I was really worried about was figuring out a pumping schedule. Now, I have a bunch of resources about setting up a realistic schedule prior to my return to work and tips about adjusting baby to bottle feeds. Overall, I'm pumped {pun intended}. Later this month we're taking our two-day birthing class via Mother Me, Inc. I'm really excited!

One of my favorite things about having a kiddo a little later than our friends is their incredible generosity of passing on hand-me-downs for little dude. Seriously! Maternity clothes {thanks, B!}, clothes, toys, bottles, and accessories for this mama has saved us literally hundreds of dollars. I'm so thankful and grateful for the support of our friends. I haven't purchased more than $40 worth of clothes, and this little dude is set for at least his 6 months. Though there are still a million more things it feels like we should have -- we can now afford to purchase the items that we really want because of the support {like our stroller}.

Here are the last two pregnancy update photos ...





xoxo,

PJ

Holiday Wishlist 2012

Confession: I have not started any of my Christmas shopping. I'm particularly distracted this year which I blame partially on this growing belly and hormones that accompany. I have ideas and lists of items to purchase for my family and friends, but I have not purchased one item. In an effort to get my holiday gift inspiration going, I created my own little holiday wishlist of sorts. It's hard to focus on myself and not ask for things for the little dude that will be making an appearance in the new year - but alas! I did it.

Holiday Wishlist 2012 by pilarjoy

Holiday Wishlist: Magazine Subscription to Real Simple or Lucky | Tunnel Scarf |

Prenatal Massage | Infinity Ring | Slippers | Belly Butter | Woodsy Candle

Festivities

The big holiday weekend has come and gone. For the first time since starting my new job, I had four consecutive days off. No on-calls, no nothing. It was lovely. I slept in, stayed up late, and spent quality time with my family.

Friday night my sister and brother in law drove in from Michigan.

Saturday morning my dad and I went for a glorious 4.5 mile run, then returned to assist with brunch hosted by my parents for my extended family: aunt, uncle, cousins, and my cousin's family. It was delicious. Saturday night Hubby and I went to a Hanukkah hosted by B and her husband.

Sunday morning was spent sleeping in, eating a laid-back breakfast, sipping coffee. Hubby strummed the guitar while we sang Christmas carols and spent time listening to my parents read the scriptures. Instead of cooking traditional dinner, we all went out to a late lunch at a local Chinese restaurant.

Overall, it was such a great weekend spent with family, creating new memories and sharing old ones. Gosh, I wish we all lived in the same place.

Here's a little photo recap of our Christmas weekend:

{Hanukkah Party with B on Saturday night}

{Christmas morning all of the kids on the couch ... plus Lennon}

{Sisters}

{New sleep masks courtesy of Carolyn}

{New snuggies courtesy of Hubby}

{My most favorite little gift - Marcel the Shell with Shoes On book}

{My most favorite pretty gift - a necklace from Hubby that he picked out all by himself}

{The family all together}

{The Christmas Doggy}

Since all of our holiday card-making items were buried in our storage unit, this year we ordered {gasp!} our holiday cards to coincide with the new year. I will post a photo of our card for my 2011 recap/ new year goal post coming up.

xoxo,

PJ

Holiday Wishlist: Hubby Edition

Hubby enjoys making his holiday wishlist just as much as I do. In all honesty, he probably loves it a little more than I do. Here's his list of things that he would love to receive this holiday season. Do you hear that, Santa?!

Hubby's Holiday Wishlist by pilarjoy 

Nixon Voyager Messenger, Burton 2.5L Fix Jacket, Brooks England Flyer Saddle, Men's Health Magazine Subscription, Keen Men's Springwater Cycling Shoe, Xbox Kinect, Handlebar

Weekly Gratitude: Sixth Edition

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things i'm thankful for this week

• cupcakes; specifically cupcakes from molly's cupcakes. they're de-lish.
• birthdays - i love celebrating loved ones' birthdays. since my husband and my sister share a birthday, it's a double-whammy!
• good hair days; i know this sounds shallow, but sometimes good hair days just make your day!
• melting snow
• the "spring" smell in the air reminding me that spring is (literally) just around the corner
• evening runs with hubby
• costco specials; 12 freshly baked bagels for $5?! YES!

xoxo

30 for 30: take sixteen!

{white button down & jeans - gap | sweater - anthropologie | boots - lucky brand | bag - urban outfitters | scarf - H&M}

i'm finally over the hump of the half-way point. i know that i've already made it 30 days wearing the same clothes, i just haven't taken photos everyday. so i'll keep going :) i'm determined to finish this thing!

i love love love this sweater. it's the most comfortable piece of winter clothing i own. there's also something lovely about the color, commonly called "mustard". mustard has always been a favorite clothing color of mine because it always reminds me of vintage home decor circa 1960s. i feel similarly about avocado. avocado appliances, anyone? haha. i enjoy the color because it's the only color of yellow that i can actually wear. i don't like to wear pale yellows because i think it washes out my pale, freckled, skin tone. but mustard, i can definitely do! 

i will leave you with a sneak peek at one of the photos for our holiday card. every year since we've been married, we've sent out holiday cards, and for the past three years we've made them ourselves. this year will be the fourth! 

xoxo,

pilar

30 for 30: take fifteen!

{dress & belt - target | white button down & tights - gap | black flats - michael kors | necklace - vintage}

i planned it out as i drifted to sleep last night.  do you plan your outfits like that? sometimes i dream about creating outfits only to wake up to discover that they are all in my "dirty" pile. boo. this time it worked out. this is my first time trying the collared shirt under a dress look, and i think it came out alright. it felt too formal until i added the belt for a little something different to break it up. 

what worked: i enjoyed wearing this outfit. it was comfortable and dressy. i felt a bit formal for a normal day of work, but i could rock this outfit again when i need to dress up for a work meeting ... 

what didn't work: next time, i need to wear this outfit with heels!

xoxo,

pilar

30 for 30: take fourteen!

{tank - target | blazer & skirt - banana republic | tights - gap | belt - calvin klein | boots - hand me down from sister | necklace - lia sophia}

confession: i had to mix out an item to incorporate this skirt. does it count if i never wore the item?! confession: i'm really glad that i did because i forgot how much i love this skirt.

i don't have much to say today. do you have days like that? i've been sitting here with this post open for at least fifteen minutes and i all can think about is to comment on how cold i was while i took these photos today. LAME. 

so, here's my outfit from today. i tried something new, what i've labeled as "the fancy belt". i even watched this tutorial! overall, i loved how this outfit felt today. what worked: the tights and blazer kept me cool but comfortable. what didn't work: these boots aren't waterproof, so my feet get really wet when i walk through the snow. boo.

xoxo,

pilar

ps. the last photo is me dancing my way back indoors. haha.

30 for 30 double take: twelve & thirteen!

{top, jeans - gap | cardigan - target | scarf - gift from russia via my sister | flats - michael kors}

{my most favorite ornament!}

i'm horribly behind on my posts for the 30for30 challenge. honestly, i haven't worn anything other than my 30 items, i've just had difficulty remembering to take photos! so i'll be doubling up on my posts to show what i've been wearing when i haven't had the camera around.

confession: i've worn this outfit more than once. well, at least some version of this outfit. the weekend i visited michigan, i wore the very same outfit mixing it up with a purple tank and a different scarf. so here's a photo of me from today, wearing that outfit. i've got to do something to catch up. so i'll leave it to you: which one do you like better? i love the russian scarf, so i'm going to go with that outfit. either way, this cardigan is the most comfortable cardigan i own right now, and it's not so warm that i'm sweating indoors with the heat, nor am i freezing when i'm outside (with a coat, of course).

here is an eerily similar outfit that i wore a few weekends ago during my road trip to and from michigan. disclaimer: these photos are rather schizophrenic. indoor lighting is not my friend.

 {top, jeans - gap | cardigan - target |  necklace - family hand me down | earrings - gift from hubby | flats - michael kors}

 {our chicago ornament}

according to my handy dandy google countdown calendar, there are only 18 days until christmas! i love the countdown calendar. so much in fact, that i'm always counting down to something. past countdowns have included: graduations, vacations, 5k, 8k, birthdays, well, you get the idea. i've become a little obsessed with countdowns.

currently i have two countdowns: christmas (duh!) and a family vacation to colorado for the holidays! we leave in 10 days! my sister-in-law jen, her hubby, and her adorable dog live in colorado, and we're headed there for week to visit & celebrate the holidays! i'm. so. excited. i do love chicago, but i'm ready to take a break to breathe for a few days, and spend some quality time with family! 

xoxo,

pilar