Magic Sleep Elixir, Extreme Nesting, & 33 Week Updates

I had some seriously extreme nesting going on yesterday. Perhaps it was due to the first good nights' sleep I've had in weeks- it's amazing the magic that feeling rested can bring! I felt like I could conquer the world, and I have this little bottle to thank for it:

My pre-natal yoga teacher had mentioned this "Sleepy Nights for Pregnancy" at class last week, and Thursday I finally made the trip to Whole Foods to grab some. I took 2 dropper fulls before bed, 2 when I woke in the middle of the night, and another when I woke toward the morning. I ended up getting about 9.5 glorious hours of sleep- finally rising at 7:30am, which is the latest I've slept in as long as I can remember! This morning I still woke at 6am and couldn't get back to sleep, but at least I didn't have an hour of middle-of-the-night-schizo brain on top of that.

There's nothing like knowing paying guests will be staying at your house for 5 nights to kick the nesting into full gear. This coming Wednesday we have 2 couples arriving to rent our house for the Austin City Limits Music Festival, and there is much to be done. I completely cleaned out, scrubbed down, & organized our kitchen pantry, and did a similar deep cleaning of our bedroom closet.

One half of our master closet- I love this space. How cool is it to have a window in your closet?

I also made great headway in organizing the baby shower loot in our nursery. I have almost all bedding, blankets, & clothes washed & put away- the main things left to do are to hang art on the walls, organize a diaper station, & unpack/assemble the big baby gear.

 We have a changing pad! And I am still playing with that tree branch- the latest idea is to maybe put a storage piece of furniture where it now sits (storage basket drawers?) and have the branch on top of that in a weighted vase.

We also finally settled on the light for above the glider! A Mexican star light. Well, we actually removed the light feature due to the ugliness of an extension cord down the wall- but still love the look of this there. That bird painting to the right will get hung next to the window, and behind the rocker I'd like to either have a mirror or a couple of floating shelves.

I am also still debating on whether or not to get some kind of mobile above the crib. Here is the current view:

And here is what I am thinking of purchasing to hang from the ceiling between those two windows:

Link to mobile on Etsy here.

What do you all think? It could be whimsical/beautiful, or it could look like too much. The challenge with my just ordering it to see is that these are custom made and can't be returned.

I am 33 weeks pregnant today- here are the official updates!

How far along? 33 weeks

How big is baby? The size of a Honeydew melon. The apps say she should be in the 4 pound range now. The growth ultrasound we had a little over a week ago officially clocked her in at 3lbs, 6 ounces, so it is likely she is around 4+ pounds now.

Weight gain? I hit the 20 pound mark this morning! 20.4 pounds to be exact, so almost a 1 pound gain from last week. I am just now starting to get comments along the lines of "it looks like you are going to pop!" and "you're in the final stretch now!" I've apparently grown out of the "you're so small" phase, which is just fine by me. I am enjoying watching my belly grow!

 A belly shot from right before date night with BC Wednesday 

And the standard woobie belly fare (a little blurry, but that's how I'm feeling this morning)

Cravings/Aversions? I've noticed that I am NOT wanting salads or leafy greens lately. Now if we go out to eat I do still order a small salad or at least make sure I eat veggies, but at home it is the last thing I want to have. Very strange. I have been loving cereal as a late night snack (those mini cereal variety packs are awesome!) and am eating a Honey Crisp apple every afternoon.

Sleep? See above. I am hoping my new magic elixir buys me some good rest up until the baby comes!

Symptoms? I am having a lot of aching/stretching in the area between my lower back & glute muscles- I guess that is the outer/back area of my hips? If I am up and about a lot this area gets VERY sore, as it did with the extreme nesting yesterday. It helps to stop and do pigeon pose or a deep front lunge to get those muscles to stretch out.

The baby has been getting the hiccups many, many times during the day! It is a good way, in addition to her regular movements, to know all is well in there.

Most looking forward to? Purchasing the rest of the baby loot we need and starting to get things assembled. Now that the shower has come and gone I know exactly what is left that we need. Our car seat, an extra base, and the baby swing are sitting in boxes in front of me now (I was SO geeked out when that car seat was delivered last night!). And after our ACL guests leave I will order up our stroller and a plethora of other smaller items we need (to include things like pacifiers, newborn size cloth diapers, a baby bathtub/robe/washcloths, bedding items, etc). 

Our official ticker reads there are 49 days left until baby- even less if we do indeed schedule her in week 39 for a c-section! Lots to do, but I am having a lot of fun getting everything organized & prepared. : )

Nursery Nesting and 29 Week Updates

How far along? 29 weeks (as of yesterday)

How big is baby? This week she is compared to a butternut squash- estimated at just over 15 inches & 2.5 pounds. The baby apps say that this week begins a rapid growth phase where she will put on nearly 1/2 lb every week!

Weight gain? Up 15.4 pounds total, so about 1/2 lb from last week. I had an epiphany about all the comments pertaining to me looking small (despite my fundal height measuring right on schedule). I have a long torso! I don't know why I didn't think about this before, but it makes perfect sense. Even though I am petite (5ft 2 1/2-inches- and yes, I always count that half!) I am proportioned such that I have a long torso/shorter legs for my frame. So it would make sense that there is more room for baby to spread up and down vs. poking straight out in front of me.

 Fancy dress shot taken after dinner with friends last night. 

I had a "my belly is getting BIG!" moment

 And today's 29 week belly

Sleep? I've been having schizophrenic brain all weekend long, which is making me restless & finds me waking between 5-6am, unable to get back to sleep. My body SO wants to sleep more, but once my overactive brain wakes up, it's over. This has happened 3 discrete times in my pregnancy so far: 1st when we found out we were pregnant, then when we found out we were having a girl, and now with the nursery decorating (more on that a little later in this post).

Food cravings/aversions? Meats continue to sound too heavy & unappealing to me. I have been eating a lot of fish, watermelon, apples, & trying to get in my greens daily. Still loving sweet treats as well!

Symptoms? 

*Nose bleeds. These picked up again a couple weeks ago- most often happening when I blew my nose in the morning. I invested in a humidifier for our bedroom last week, and since then there has been a noticeable improvement.

*Baby movement: something shifted this past week- I think Baby Girl had a growth spurt. I can now not only feel her movements (which are a lot stronger!) but I can SEE her moving across my stomach. It is fascinating! I can also feel parts of her body poking around and undulating beneath my stomach.

*Baby hiccups: I have been feeling these at least once a day for the past week.

*Muscle pulls: My left glute was feeling pulled again this week. Then all of a sudden my right inner thigh was completely pulled & painful (without any definitive cause). It is still tugged a bit but getting a little better every day.

*Fatigue: Even before my brain went into overdrive this weekend I was having pretty intense fatigue over the past week. I would get a full restful nights' sleep then feel exhausted and ready for a nap within an hour of waking. This corresponded directly with the baby's increased movements. Now couple that fatigue with my weekend schizophrenic brain and I am feeling increasingly zombie-like.

*Braxton Hicks Contractions: still going on every day. I am pretty used to them now- they aren't painful but are quite uncomfortable. My entire belly turns into a rock and puts pressure on everything below it (read: bladder!)

Most looking forward to? Getting the nursery finished and organized! Our glider chair was delivered Friday, which spurred me into major nesting/decorating mode. I've been hitting a gazillion stores this weekend looking for the right lampshades, pillow, throw blanket, & rug. I am still on a mad hunt for the perfect rug and will try to post my progress photos later on this week.

Here's hoping my brain calms down enough this afternoon to allow me to nap, because I sure could use it.

Fall Nesting

Two years ago this month, Babycakes and I were fortunate enough to purchase what we consider to be our dream home in East Austin.  Located just 1.5 miles from downtown and literally steps from the hike and bike trail (leading to the Colorado River- which is only a few blocks away!)- we feel lucky every single day we're here:

Being a Realtor definitely has its advantages. I had seen that this beautiful 2008 built 5-star green Craftsman style home had been sitting on the market for awhile, and brought BC kicking and screaming to see it (his response was 'WHY would he want to go see a house when we weren't looking to move and buy something?' I retorted 'for FUN!' And he bought it (pun intended)).

We immediately fell in love with the house, but thought it was a bit out of our budget.  We ended up meeting directly with the builder, who proved to be a kindred spirit (a fellow Ashtanga yogi!). We then went on about a 6 month tangent, deciding to design and build another house specifically for us (long story having to do with the fact that the builder would lose money selling the "dream house" to us, and we decided we'd be just as happy building something a bit smaller). 

As you know by now, I am a huge believer in things happening for a reason. The building process got shut down several months in (due to appraisal issues)- and the builder came back and re-offered us the home we had initially fallen in love with- to which we answered 'YES!' without hesitation (even BC!!). And from there things FLOWED amazingly smoothly, and we closed on our new home in November of 2009.  

                                 Even Sam and Mr. Otis love this house!

And nothing sings to my soul more than nesting in our beautiful home. We spent last weekend buying out shopping at World Market, finding many gorgeous furniture and light pieces to add to our home.

I am very passionate about Feng Shui, and am acutely aware of the Bagua Map's layout in our home. So much so that when we initially saw our current home, the first thing I exclaimed was that the Money/Prosperity corner was missing! And being the freak I am, it made me hesitate on wanting to move forward at all (the builder was already losing money on the house-- and upon realizing this I declared to BC 'It's already happening!') 

So immediately after moving into our home, the FIRST purchase we made was a water fountain to symbolically fill in the missing Money/Prosperity corner. A happy bonus surprise was seeing it double as a bird bath!

                                           Keeping the chi flowing

Our weekend treasures included this mosaic glass candle holder, which fit perfectly into an empty corner of our bedroom (the MONEY corner of the bedroom, no less- I fully expect a financial windfall in 2012! ; )  )

BC's favorite purchase was an array of white flowers, to supplement the willow lights we already had in this vase:

               Little did he know, this is the 'family' area of the Bagua- now in bloom!

I love this console table which fit perfectly against an empty living room wall:

I also went on a huge de-cluttering/cleaning binge yesterday. I organized my office closet (a HUGE task- it was so incredibly cluttered and unsightly, and also was the "Money" section of my office space. As I said- 2012 WINDFALL please!). I organized drawers, cabinets, & filled up a huge garbage bag with unneeded trash. It felt so good to be nurturing our home and clearing out the junk! 

I am definitely in nesting mode. We did have another IUI performed last Friday morning, so you never know! Maybe there is a reason I have been psychotically cleaning & organizing. 

I turn 36 tomorrow and would love nothing more for my birthday than getting some 'positive' news this cycle.  In the past year I have definitely learned to take life one day at a time,  better appreciating the 'now' and trusting that things unfold exactly how they should.  I'm ready to start another year of living & learning, and can't wait to see what my 36th year has in store (hint: babies please!)