A Celebratory Weekend

Posted on March 31, 2014 by playinghousewi

To say this was a packed weekend would be an understatement. With my husband’s 28th birthday (he’s a youngin’) on Sunday, we made our way downtown to the Blue Jacket for some delicious (but very expensive) food with Mark’s friend CJ. It was a fun little dinner date that had us home by 10:30 pm.

Saturday morning, I was up early to get a few things done around the house and get ready for my sweet Katiekins’ bridal shower at the Iron Horse Hotel downtown. The shower was gorgeous and our friend Carrie who just had her baby on Tuesday made it, too!

The beautiful decor.

Tasty & extra fudgey cake!

Local food… SO delish! I woke up thinking about those buttery green beans.

My favorite lady friends… even sweet Carrie!

The cutest little piglet favor!

After the shower, I stopped by Anthropologie and Pier One to return an absurd amount of knobs (from the nursery dresser) and pick up my final selections (two from Anthro and the rest from Pier 1). I then ran home to put the knobs on the unfinished dresser and force my husband to admire them…

The dresser with the final knobs. Who knew it was such a process…

Knob close-up.

After the knob admiring (I refuse to acknowledge the awkwardness of that statement), my husband and I went out to Devons Seafood for a DELICIOUS seafood birthday feast. Mark’s sweet momma was just so lovely and gave us a gift certificate for the restaurant as a joint bday/anniversary gift. And let me tell you, we enjoyed it!

Sunday morning, it was time to start the whole “getting ready for the bridal shower” routine again… this time for my brother’s fiance. Then, my mom (2 weeks post-op), sister and I jumped in my car and headed back downtown for my third time that weekend. The venue was this super cute Italian restaurant that opened just for the shower. The shower itself was being thrown by my mom’s extremely generous and kind network of women. In fact, they are the same lovely ladies who threw my bridal shower last year!

The food at the shower was delicious… no complaints here. Think breaded eggplant sticks, pizza, pasta galore! Everything looked wonderful and it was nice to catch up with my aunt and cousins who were also there.

After the shower, mom and I were zonked. So, what does one do when their husband decides to spend his birthday helping a friend move GIANT Persian rugs all day? Watch Pretty Little Liars, of course. So, mom and I gelled all day… her in her drug-induced stupor and me in my Liars-induced stupor.

When the husband was finished with his slave labor, he met me at my parents’ house and we all had a little bday dinner together. Then, when we got home, I gave my hubs his gift, some cake with a candle, and this perfectly us card…

Happy birthday, Lovey!

Symptoms

It must be mentioned that our sweet girl made herself VERY present during our Liars Marathon… in fact, she had been practicing her acrobatics all weekend. It’s almost a bit crazy. I can’t imagine what’s going to happen as she gets bigger. She might break my ribs…

27 Weeks (March 28, 2014)

Posted on March 28, 2014 by playinghousewi

27 Weeks (March 28, 2014). Well, well, well. I’m definitely getting pretty darn big. It’s crazy… I don’t recognize my own body. But, I’m feeling great (pregnancy wise) and working to fight off this ick. Also, how cute is Toby? I swear I didn’t even call him. He just followed us into the room and sat down to watch me. So cute.

Interviewing at 7 Months Pregnant

Posted on March 27, 2014 by playinghousewi

Today I had a phone interview for a job I was contacted about this past weekend. The HR Manager had received my contact information through a friend’s cousin who is friends with the woman. This HR Manager knows I’m pregnant and knows I’m looking to be part time, yet I still have a second interview (or first in-person interview) scheduled for next week.

I keep getting the feeling like, “am I crazy?” Or maybe, “are they crazy?” Who the heck even considers hiring a 27-week pregnant woman? I’m feeling very puzzled by the whole thing.

And honestly, I’m not sure I’m even a little interested in the position. For one, it’s seeming like they would want me to work 30 hours a week (right now I’m 20 and 20 at my two jobs). For two, it’s for a competitor of my old company… I know that I left the other company over a year ago, but I still feel pretty loyal to them. It just doesn’t seem right. For three, I’m guessing they would not offer me enough to consider the position. And for four, do I really want to make a job transition right now while I’m nearly 7 months pregnant?

Anyway, I guess I will just keep going through the motions and will see what comes of it. No harm in chatting with them, right?

Symptoms

I’m sick. Apparently, whatever my hubs (and the rest of the world) have been carrying is now my problem. I have some serious tightness in my chest, an annoying cough and just a case of the ick. I’m definitely hoping for a speedy recovery because this little cold thing is making sleep even more difficult than it already is. Not to mention, I have a big weekend! Two bridal showers and my husband’s birthday. There’s just no time for illness.

Also, as I was typing that I remembered that I’m on breakfast duty tomorrow at work. Every Friday a different person brings breakfast for the office. I had big plans of making some sort of french toast casserole or some homemade treat… but now I’m thinking bagels. I just don’t have the time or energy. Ugh. That sucks.

Beyond that, everything is great! Still been ending my evenings with some quality nursery time. It’s nice to just glide in the glider and reflect. In fact, I think I’m going to head home and cozy up in there now.

Introducing, Baby Phoenix!

Posted on March 26, 2014 by playinghousewi

My amazing friend, Carrie, gave birth to her sweet little pumpkin yesterday morning at 2am! She was 3 weeks early and a total champion. Both momma and baby are doing very well. I was lucky enough to get to visit with them yesterday… twice! Okay, yes, I just couldn’t get enough. I went to see them downtown (30+ minute drive) over lunch and then again after work.

I actually was there while the lactation specialist was in, and got some great tips… 1) breastfeeding shouldn’t hurt. It tends to be painful when the baby is sucking on the nipple only. Gotta get that boob in the kids mouth. 2) When they’re only on the nipple, they don’t get as much milk. 3) Boys tend to have a more difficult time latching.

Besides these fun facts, Care Bear (as I call her) was SO nice to let me get my overly curious eyes front and center as she worked to get baby Phoenix Jack (cute name, huh??) to latch. She even let me stick around to witness her pumping. That’s a real friend, huh?

Anyway, enough babbling… here’s the good stuff… the photos!

Mama Care Bear & her little cub.

He’s just SO cute!! And a total blondie!

Oy… I love baby toes.

Getting some snuggle time.

Erica loving on the baby boo.

A close-up of those blonde locks!

Symptoms

Meeting Baby Phoenix was so amazing and really got me SO excited to meet our sweet girl. This is about to be a very obvious statement, but it’s just so crazy… you go into the hospital and – in my friend’s case – 8 hours later you have a real live baby… forever. Like, forever! I’m not sure I’ve fully grasped that. I mean, I know my baby girl is with me, but sometimes I have a hard time actually grasping that this little person inside of me is going to be outside of me very soon, changing our world forever. Crazy.

With that said, I have to say… no matter how lame and cheese-ball it sounds… I absolutely, totally, 150% just love this little girl already. She’s already my sweet girl and I haven’t even met her face-to-face. I love feeling her move and kick and picking up on her patterns. I just love her.

That could be why I’ve been spending SO much time in the nursery. I love to sit in the rocking chair and soak it in. I put my hand on my belly, Toby (the pup) curls up at my feet, sometimes Marky comes and sits on the floor and I just soak it in. I think about how lucky we are to have our little growing family, how grateful I am to have such an amazing husband, how much love I already have for this little baby… I daydream about the animals interacting with her, about holding her and kissing her… it’s all just perfect. I couldn’t be happier.

The Great Nursery Build

Posted on March 24, 2014 by playinghousewi

Here is our amazingly productive weekend through a series of photos.

The official Best Seat in the House!

But before all of this loveliness came together, there was a lot of work!

On Friday night, we went to visit my mom and have dinner with the whole fam. Even my brother was in town. When we got back, we decided to get the room all prepped and ready to put the last coat of paint on the walls. That meant a lot of taping… and of course, a quick Lion King reenactment.

On Saturday morning, we woke up early and got to work. Even Toby was hard at work, following me around the room as I cut in on the bottom and Marky cut in on the top.

It’s hard work being a dog.

The kitty decided to help, too.

Toby got back to his post.

Finally, the room was painted and it was time to move onto the chandelier. I assembled the glitzy number and Marky installed the beast. It was a proud moment… electrical work!

Of course, no nursery is set without a dimmer… so Marky swapped out the old switch for this new fancy dimmer.

Then, it was dresser time. This was by far the worst part of the weekend and the biggest pain in the ass to assemble. 6 drawers = so many damn pieces. Also, one piece came broken, a couple things were missing, and Mark and I each broke a piece. Thankfully, the company had NO issues sending us all 7 replacement parts we needed.

In the end, the incomplete dresser looks like this. I bought a bunch of different knobs and didn't like the look, so now I will be ordering some more. This piece remains a work in progress.

We had a much needed break from the dresser mid-way through! My sweet friend Marci, her lovely husband and their adorable dog came for dinner. Then, it was back to the evil dresser. In the end, the incomplete dresser looks like this. I bought a bunch of different knobs and didn’t like the look, so now I will be ordering some more. This piece remains a work in progress.

After the dresser, it was definitely time to call it a night. We would start again the next day.

The first task on Sunday was putting together the changing table topper. You can’t really see it, but here’s the best picture I have. My sweet husband built this while I was off lunching with my girlfriends.

After the changing table topper, we tackled the bookshelf! It actually came together very easily and quickly. Looks good, huh?

Then, it was crib time! Mark’s sweet dad came to join the fun and help our furniture building process along.

The crib was another quick and easy job (and of course, Toby helped).

More crib building.

After the crib, Mark was feeling ambitious and decided to install the wall shelves. These were an added bonus… not on my original agenda for the weekend.

So Mark, his dad, and Toby put the shelves together and devised a plan for hanging them.

But in order to figure out placement of the wall shelves, I needed to see where the curtains would fall. Mark hopped on his stool and put the curtains back up.

Then it was drill time.

And voila! The official Best Seat in the House!

The lighting and size of the room do not mesh well with my camera settings, but here’s the room!

The closet, sans doors.

After a nice dinner with Mark’s dad and step mom on Sunday, I came home and relaxed in the nursery with my animal babies.

Ollie joined the fun, too.

All in all, it was a GREAT weekend and I’m obsessed with where the room is at. It looks amazing and just makes me so happy. My husband really is perfect.

Symptoms

Baby’s getting bigger and kicking harder! I was super excited because this weekend my mom, dad, and sister-like friend, Marci, got to feel the baby kick. Big kicks, too. She’s such a little champ. Also, I’m starting to get super excited for my shower. It’s coming up in just three little weeks! I can’t even believe it. AND, even more exciting is that my aunt, uncle, and cousin from Cali are coming in for it and are staying with us. This just makes me way too excited. Last night I was googling DIY onesie ideas for my cousin, aunt and I to do together. Maybe a little onesie bedazzling… who knows? The options are endless!

The husband is a true champ

Posted on March 24, 2014 by playinghousewi

Even under the weather, my hubs really pulled through this weekend. I can tell the poor guy just isn’t feeling well and despite that, he got our nursery set up! Walls are finished, chandelier assembled and installed, dimmer installed, dresser put together (minus the pieces that either came broken or we broke), the bookshelf from our Milly is built, crib is done, wall shelves are installed, and drapes are up.

I really owe him. It’s not like we HAD to get it all done this weekend. He knew it was just what I wanted.. And without complaint, he did it! Such an amazing man I married. And even better, we both really love it! Yes, even him! It’s the perfect space for our sweet baby girl.

Now, of course there is still more to do in terms of decorating and we do have to finish the dang doors, but the big stuff is all done!

What a weekend 🙂

Look what’s going in…

Posted on March 22, 2014 by playinghousewi

Yay!!!!! Next step, purchase and install a dimmer switch and then we’re onto the great furniture build adventure! I might be having the best weekend ever 🙂 husband… Not so much.

26 Weeks (March 21, 2014)

Posted on March 21, 2014 by playinghousewi

26 Weeks (March 21, 2014). I cannot believe I’m 6.5 months! When did that happen? Also, I must note that I’m very glad my stomach isn’t as flaming red as it was a few days ago. It is getting pretty large though. The baby is about 1.75 lbs and 14″ now! And, she’s a little kicking monster. This morning, I’m pretty sure she actually wound up and kicked my bladder full-force. Such a stinker.

Symptoms

I’ve been feeling really great. The vacay helped me to relax and I’m feeling super excited and just all around good. Since we’ve been back, we got the trim caulked and putty’d and last night we did another coat of paint on the trim and on one of the doors. Tonight, we’re going to do the second coat on the walls… AND THEN… we get to move onto furniture and chandelier installation!! Could anything be better? Marky is going to start the chandelier on Saturday and maybe during that time I’ll either work on getting more dang paint on the doors or I could build something small… like the changing table topper. Oy. The room is going to be WAY different come Sunday night. I just can’t even contain my excitement.

Also, it must be mentioned that my superstar momma is back at home now. She was in the hospital since the 17th due to her second total knee replacement. I saw her in the hospital when I got back and again yesterday and she’s doing REALLY well. Way better than last time. Her surgery happened to be scheduled after we booked our trip, and unfortunately, it was while we were away. For her last knee surgery, I stayed at the hospital all day with my dad, but this time, I was in another country. Needless to say, I was feeling pretty guilty and worried about her. In fact, so much so that I literally BURST into sobbing tears during lunch with my hubs. Any amount of crying in a restaurant seems to cause a scene, but I will confirm that when on vacation, in a happy, all-inclusive resort, crying is even more out of sorts.

Also, in my absence, my sweet Mother-in-Law (Milly) sat with my dad while my mom was in surgery. Knowing that she was there with him was SUCH a comfort and, such a reminder of how lucky I am to have such an amazing support system in place. I couldn’t be more grateful for my born-into-family and my married-into-family.

The Babymoon / 1 Year Anniversary Celebration

Posted on March 20, 2014 by playinghousewi

We are officially back from our jaunt to Mexico… in fact, we’ve already gotten right back into nursery prep mode. Last night we picked up the crib, glider, and ottoman from Babies R Us and did all the caulking around the trim in the nursery. As my Milly (Mother-In-Law) says, 0 to 60 in no time 🙂

But, before I get too far ahead of myself, I have to say, we had a REALLY great trip. After the worst winter ever, it was so nice to feel warmth… and the sun. Oh did I miss the sun. However, I did get pretty damn fried the first day. I really think it has to be partly because of the pregnancy, because wow did I fry. To the point where I had to take extra strength tylenol just to be able to pee.

Beyond that, it was wonderful. We stayed at the Excellence Playa Mujeres and honestly, couldn’t have picked a better resort. We were worried about spring breakers debauchery run-off from Cancun, but didn’t have a single issue. We got a pool or beach lounger whenever we wanted one, the crowd was a lot of couples (due to the adults only status), and there were tons of activities.

We did trap shooting with an air-soft gun, an aloe vera class, played tennis (Mark only), took a yoga class (me only), saw tons of shows (even a Mexican version of Michael Jackson), and relaxed a plenty.

My first time shooting and I was a rockstar! 2 out of 3! Poor husband didn’t hit anything 🙂

Our lovely room.

Exploring Isla Mujeres via golf cart with the hubs. Took a giant catamaran sail boat over to the island for a nice day trip.

MJ is BACK!

Delicious dinner at one of seven restaurants! This was one of our faves… the Italian, Toscana.

The most heavenly few hours EVER.

So, I need a pool and a hammock… no biggy.

We got the sweet baby girl a little outfit from our first out-of-country family vacay!

This could be why I gained so much weight this month… breakfast on our balcony.

Mixing up a mask in our aloe vera class (I’ll post the recipe soon).

Marky lathering up in our aloe vera class.

Our anniversary! ONE fabulous year with my love.

A special babymoon gift from our concierge. Sparkling cider and a freaky baby cake!

The weirdest and funniest St. Patty’s Day beer tasting event EVER.

Enjoying the balcony on our last morning.

Bon Voyage!

Symptoms

I just had my doctor’s appointment today, which went well. The doc was very surprised (and maybe a little pleased) that I didn’t really have many questions at all. Everything is looking good, although, I did gain a bit of weight this month. She said I needed to put on a little extra because I was low before… but I put on that little extra and then a little extra after that. The nurse said if I get back to my normal eating habits and workout regimen, things will likely even out. Nothing to worry about… but I will definitely not be indulging as I was. EXCEPT for our one-year anniversary cake that is being delivered tonight. SO excited. Our cake lady added the mini cake into our wedding cake package. She made the cutest little design… love birds with eggs in the nest.

Our anniversary cake! Can’t wait to see it (and taste it) tonight!

Other than that, I’m feeling really great! Still have random aches and pains in the back and cramping in my hip, but nothing to complain about. Also, the little nuglette continues to practice her acrobatics in my belly. She is quite the wiggle worm. Oh I just love her. Can’t wait to meet her!! Only 3.5 months left!