30 Week Belly Pic

Annalisa: "Who do you think is more excited for this baby to come -- you or me?"
Chris: "Me."
Annalisa: "Why?"
Chris: "Because I'm not the one that has to push it out!"

Touche, Chris, touche.

I have to say I'm impressed by Chris's keen perception of my anxieties these days. It means that when I've said to him once a week for the last 7 months "I'm nervous about going into labor," he was actually listening.

Kudos.


Pregnancy Statistics
How far along? 30w1d
Gender: Girl
Current Cravings: Twix candybars and Hostess cupcakes
Weight gain: +20 lbs
Best moment this week: Starting our birthing class.
Funniest moment this week #1: Despite having gained 20 pounds in the last 7 months, my bathroom scale still tells me I have a BMI in the "normal" weight range. I'm pretty sure this irks Chris when he steps on it and it tells him otherwise.
Funniest moment this week #2: Arriving at our birthing class and noticing two "life partners" in attendance, and then watching our instructor struggle to find another word to use besides "daddy" to describe the non-pregnant persons in the room.
Belly button in or out: OUT!
Labor signs: None.
What I miss: I still miss laying on my stomach. And blue cheese. And being able to eat chicken without dry-heaving.
What I'm looking forward to: Setting up the crib.


In other news, our nursery is clean and ready to go (seriously...I dusted every blind of every window and every baseboard of every wall last weekend. Nesting, anyone?). We're waiting on some carpet people to come stretch the carpet in that room before we set the crib up for good. We had the carpet installed less than 2 years ago but there is a wrinkle or bubble in nearly every room of our house! So irritating. Luckily it's all under warranty so they're coming to fix it for free.

But good luck getting me to be patient about it. Hmph.

Crib box a la bambina.

Dresser a la bambina.
(It's really not dusty...I'm to OCD for that...I just have a crappy camera.)

Sisters

Here's a picture of Michelle, Amy and I sitting in a chair at my parents house last Sunday. (Nevermind the fact that I'm taking up half the chair all by myself.)


In related news, I had my 30-week doctor's checkup this morning. The nurse weighed me, did a double-take, and weighed me again to make sure she hadn't made a mistake.

Hmm. Do you think it's time to give up my daily 10 AM Twix bar?

A New Low

I keep a water bottle on my desk at work to drink throughout the day. It helps me keep track of my fluid intake so I'm making sure I get enough. Plus, I've been ravenously thirsty lately. Like, I-wake-up-in-the-middle-of-the-night-multiple-times-and-drink-a-huge-glass-of-water thirsty.

Sometimes when I'm working, my water bottle will fall empty. And even though I'm thirsty, I'm on such a gosh-darn-roll with what I'm working on that I can't bring myself to stand up and walk the 30 feet to fill it up. An hour or two later when I'm practically dying of thirst, I hoist my pregnant-rear out of my chair and finally walk to the water jug.

So today, I reached a new low. I went to the store and bought a HUGE water bottle for my desk, with the sole intent that it will keep me from having to stand up and walk to the water jug too many times each day. Because, heaven-forbid I should get too much exercise.

Way to go, Annalisa.

Exhibit A: The lazy-man's refreshment of choice.

Vicky's, Specialty Stores and TMI

(Men, you might want to avert your eyes...we're about to have a conversation about bras.)

I bought a new bra last May when I was about 14 weeks pregnant and my old one was so uncomfortably small I couldn't stand it a day longer. It was a horrifyingly embarrassing experience that included me purchasing a garment from the "full-figured" rack of a department store (because I had long outgrown anything at Victoria's Secret). And the only one they had in my size? Leopard print. Awesome.

Fast forward to now. My band is starting to feel so tight that by the end of the day I feel like I can't breathe. I've been tempted to take it off in the car on the way home from work a few times. But don't worry, I haven't yet.

There's no way I'm heading back to the department store to buy a new one that I'm going to outgrow again in 2 months anyway. So. I've been doing the only reasonable thing, which is to search for a bra extender.

Exhibit A. The bra extender.

Last weekend, after trying a few supercenters and maternity stores but leaving empty-handed, Julie and I stopped at Victoria's Secret at the Gateway. One of the associates stood by the entrance, welcoming customers as they walked in. "Welcome to Victoria's Secret. Can I help you find something?" Yeah, um, we're looking for bra extenders. You see, I'm getting fat but I'm too cheap to buy a new bra. Can you help?

The look we received from the sales associate as she told us no was priceless. I almost wanted to crawl in a hole and die.

A few days passed and I was still bra-extender-less, and I thought I was going to die. In my desperation, I started searching the internet. (Can I just confess my love for Google Shopping right now?) I finally found a bra extender with the proper hook dimensions at one of those online "specialty" stores. You know, the stores where they promise to ship it to your house in a discrete box? One of those stores.

Yowsers.

Please let it get here soon.

First Fruits

We picked our first red tomato from our potted tomato plants this week! After Chris picked it he said, "so, do you think it's safe, like, to eat?" He was convinced that nothing grown from our own yard could ever be edible.

So he made me eat it. You know, just to be safe.


In other news....when I walked in the door from work that day, Chris said to me, "Honey, it looks like you fell and your hair got pushed sideways. What happened?"

No, Chris, my hair was supposed to look like this today. But thanks for asking.

Meet The Basement

A few days ago we got our guest bed moved out of the soon-to-be-nursery and into the basement. Our soon-to-be-nursery now looks like this:

(We've even got the crib mattress! I'm so excited.)

With the exception of this pile of Chris's school books in the corner, it is ready for the crib and dresser to arrive on Saturday!

(The offending pile of school books. Like a good wife, I bought him a file tote to help him get his crap out of there ASAP. And yes, he did graduate over 5 months ago.)

Most people find our basement to be sort of comical, so I thought you might enjoy a tour. Internet, meet my basement.

(And according to this picture containing floating orbs, our basement is also haunted. Wonderful.)

Complete with dark paneling, bright red bowling-alley-esque carpet, and all the hand-me-down furniture you can handle, our basement is a veritable fun-house.

Let's begin first at the far end of this giant room. Here we find our transplanted guest bed and night stand, as well as a few windows with functional yet still beautiful window coverings. Who wouldn't want a guest bed in their family room?


Next to the bed is our collection of antique furniture we're "holding" for Chris's dad. (How long do you think it would take him to notice if I Craigslisted 'em? Just kidding, Stan, just kidding.)

(This picture actually does the red carpet justice.)

In the center of the room is Chris's personal sanctuary containing his couch, a coffee table (aka footrest), a side table (aka beverage rest) and a recliner. Chris likes to sit here and stare at the opposite wall, imagining what it will be like someday to watch a giant big-screen there.

(The imaginary big-screen. For now Chris has to settle for watching his bikes.)

And lastly, we come to the highlight of our basement oasis. I give you, the wall of mirrors.

(I see you've spied our gorgeous pink and gold vintage drum lamps. These were hanging on either side of the master bed when we bought the house. For reals. And they're now on Craigslist. For reals.)

This delightful checkerboard collection of cork and acrylic tiles accented by gold curtains, sits opposite the lava rock fireplace. When we bought our home the seller told us they liked to watch the reflection of the fire in the wall of mirrors. Chris and I are pretty sure they liked to smoke their doobies in there, so we've lovingly renamed it The Drug Room.

(No snide remarks here about our lava rock fireplace. I'm rootin' for these to come back in so we don't have to remodel it.)

Last but not least, no basement room of mine would be complete without at least one corner full of diapers.

(Don't worry, my sister-in-law has already signed me up for Hoarders.)

Baby Shower Bash

In celebration of the upcoming birth of our bambina, I'm throwing myself a virtual baby shower on Slavetosave, my other blog.

(Who says I can't throw myself a party if I feel like it, right?)

Starting today and ending November 30th, there will be at least one giveaway per week. Since my other blog is a Utah-based deal blog, many of the giveaway sponsors are awesome Utah-based companies, as a way of celebrating our great state and the fantastic ideas that have developed here.

So head on over to Slavetosave and check it out. This week's kickoff giveaway is a custom-fit swimsuit from Essential Swimwear. In the coming weeks there will be vinyl lettering, hand-stamped jewelry, custom holiday photo cards, children's shoes, and other fun giveaways!