Third Trimester!

I'm 28 weeks today.  And apparently there are many ways to do pregnancy math, but my weekly emails from babycenter.com declare this the start of the third trimester!  I would kind of like to hold on to the 2nd trimester a little longer.  In my mind third trimester = big and uncomfortable and I'm not looking forward to that part.  But I am looking forward to meeting a cute baby at the end of it all!  She's been quite active the past 2 days.  I thought maybe she trying to bust through my abdomen with all the pressure I felt by my belly button last night. 

I will make a post about Thanksgiving and my fabulous shower down in Atlanta once I have a little more time and energy, whenever that may be.  I can say that I probably did not "live up to the hype" in eating for two on Thanksgiving.  I had to start slow because I never know how much food I can stuff in my stomach these days.  But I did get a lot of grief about wanting a few S'mores while we were up at a relative's cabin in the north Georgia mountains.

Turkey Day!

It's Thanksgiving Day, and Brandi is eating for two. Can she live up to the hype? Full report to follow. I'll have to rely on my informants in Atlanta, because I'm not there. Brandi is home gearing up for the biggest gift giving day of the year... her Atlanta baby shower. I'm sure we'll hear all about it when she returns.

Catching up

Got a little behind in posting belly pictures. Here's 24 and 26 weeks. I hit 27 weeks this week, just in time for Turkey day!

First Shower!

So we've had occasional baby gifts arriving at our door for a while now.  But the first baby shower took place last weekend,on the day after my brother's wedding.  And it was a bit of a surprise!

My mom called me on Saturday to let me know that my Maine relatives had a few gifts for me and wanted to do a little impromptu shower Sunday morning.  I arrive at my parents' house to see this.

A table full of presents, cupcakes, and a kitchen full of breakfast foods!  Hash brown casserole, biscuits and gravy, and bacon.  Mmmm!  My mom is getting everything ready and says "Oh, I didn't make eggs or anything.  Brandi, do you want to me cook up some eggs?"  My mother, who had hosted a rehearsal dinner, married off her only son, was hosting a house full of people, and just cooked a big breakfast the morning after said wedding, wants to know if I want her to do more work to make some eggs??  That was a definite no.

The baby received a lot of great presents.
Clothes (a small sampling):

Bibs:

Mommy and Daddy represented equally!

And books!

And last, but CERTAINLY not least....handmade gifts from my talented mom and aunts:

Adorable hats from Dori

Sweater from Val with little ducky buttons!

Booties and a hat to go with the sweater

My mom checks out the little booties

Gorgeous blanket made by my mom

Me imagining using the blanket to sleep on the plane

There's a family history for the sweater set that my Aunt Val shared.  The knitting pattern was my grandmother's.  It's one she used to make the same set of items for many babies while she was still able, including me and my older cousins.  My aunt took the pattern and used it to make a set for our little girl. It's such a great continuity in the family and a way for grandmother to be a part of it even though she's no longer with us.  Guess this means I should learn some sort knitting or crocheting skill so I can fit in!

And mommy-to-be wasn't forgotten in the gift department either.  I got a few maternity clothes to add to my collection.  A big thanks to everyone involved from gift giving, to planning, to executing!

Looking ahead, the main event shower-wise takes place next weekend with the family shower in Atlanta.  I'm sure that means more pictures of cute baby stuff to come!

My Brother Gets Married!

Jeff and I were in Atlanta for the big wedding festivities for John and Jess on November 13th.  It was a busy but fun weekend.  I flew in on Thursday.  This allowed for an important mani/pedi outing with some family on Friday!  My parents' house was full of activity all weekend with relatives coming and going.

Jeff flew in just in time to arrive at the rehearsal dinner Friday evening.  My sister made some gorgeous fall centerpieces to decorate the tables at the dinner site.  My parents provided the booze and the site provided a "bartender."  A bartender who said they didn't do anything as "fancy" as a White Russian and found my request for a half sprite and half orange juice "interesting" and "a new one."  My dad quickly schooled the guy in White Russian making, as having that drink available for Simpson events is as important as having brandy old fashioneds available at Baker events (Jeff's mom's side of the family).  Everyone was welcomed back to my parents' house after dinner for more socializing.  Jeff and I were there for about 5 seconds before I decided it was too much noise and people for me to handle.  So I grabbed my stuff and we escaped to the quiet of his parents' house.

We had a laid back morning at the Schulze's on Saturday, with the requisite trip to Chick-fil-a for lunch.  We headed to the reception site late afternoon to be present for pictures.  The reception site just happened to be the same one Jeff's sister had her reception 10 years ago!  The evening ceremony was outdoors.  Jeff and I were front and center, with my assigned seat being right on the aisle in the front row.  So we had a good view as my grandfather officiated the ceremony to make my brother a married man.

It was a beautiful ceremony!  But then it was time to party down! The DJ was a little on the naughty side, but definitely entertaining.  It seemed a good time was had by all.  And I can now say my brother is married to Jessica Simpson!!


Here are a few more pictures.

Jeff Posts... again!

Well, it's now been over 2 weeks since Brandi last posted on here.  So, you're stuck with more of Jeff's perspective on pregnancy.

What I've noticed so far:
The belly is definitely getting bigger
Brandi pees a lot

Hrm, that's about all I've noticed.  I should either be more observant or just thank God that I'm not the one who is pregnant.

In actual baby news, Brandi had her glucose test today.  She had to drink this little orange drink.  It looked just like the cheap sugary drinks you find in the unmarked bottles at the grocery store. 

We'll find out later if she has gestational diabetes.  I think I got diabetes just watching her drink that stuff!

I'll see if I can get Brandi to post something before her big trip to Atlanta (again) this week.

The Countdown Continues

So, that little countdown thingy I put on the side there ---------------------------------->
is really getting down there.  As I type this, there are 105 days and 9 hours left.  These things being unpredictable, that baby could pop out well before or after the countdown reaches zero, but it does put in some nicer perspective.  We'll see how I feel once that thing reaches single digits.

I had a friend ask me how I'm doing.  Am I getting excited?  Am I ready?
My response... well, it really hasn't affected my life much.  I'm not the one growing the little thing.  My life doesn't change until the baby comes home and expects me to care for it.  So, ask me again in late February.

In other news, baby bump is all set to make it's Atlanta debut this weekend.  Brandi and I are headed home for her brother's wedding.  It should be quite exciting.  Unfortunately, I won't be there for the initial revealing because Brandi will be heading home a day earlier than me.  Even without me there, I'm sure they will still find some way to be happy and excited!

[Brandi's note: Here's hoping everyone will keep in mind that the only appropriate thing to say to a pregnant woman, if you must comment on her appearance, is how great she looks.  Not "AHAHAH YOU'RE SO PREGNANT!!!!  It's cute!!!" as my sister recently commented about the pictures I emailed of my dress choices for the wedding.]

[Jeff's note: Don't edit my posts. Make your own darn posts.  If that doesn't work, there is a fancy comments section you can access clicking the button below.  Just remember that I know where you live!]

Halloween Weekend

It's our last Halloween without a little rugrat of our own to dress up in costume. (Side note: can we use our 8 month old to get candy for ourselves?) Anyway Jeff actually had the weekend off! So what did we do?

Friday was the day for celebrating Halloween at school.  I was happy to see that I could make my Halloween shirt still work, with a little help from a longer tank top underneath to cover the rest of the bump.  And I had the requisite candy corn earrings to go with it.  One of my schools does their Christmas card picture at Halloween so I participated in some themed dress up in the morning.  We were all chefs.  Aprons from home, 50 cent paper chef hats from Oriental Trading, and some utensils in hand....voila!  Chefs!

Jeff spent the day on a fairly uneventful ambulance ride along.  In the evening we grabbed some dinner at Sweet Tomatoes (a salad and soup buffet place) and visited Jeff's favorite store--Fry's!  It's a computer/electronics place.  Heaven for a computer guy like him!  I believe he wanted to scope out a monitor he had recently added to his Amazon wishlist.  That boy really takes the "wish" part of the name very seriously!

Saturday was errand day.  First we had to deal with Jeff's car.  It was making a noise in the front that he was only able to troubleshoot to a certain point (pulleys or pumps or something, I don't know).  He decided to take it in and let the mechanics figure out exactly what was wrong rather than replacing the front end himself one part at a time. (But once that issue was resolved they found another issue on their test drive that needed replacing. Jeff's irritated that he paid someone else to fix things he could have done himself.  I, on the other hand, am happy that he did not have to spend the whole weekend working on his car.)

So after dropping off Jeff's car we headed to Babies R Us.  I wanted to measure the changing table to see what options I had for storage containers. This is the second time I've dragged Jeff with me to Babies R Us.  He's (mostly) a trooper about it but I'm sure he's dying on the inside.  I did put him to work with the tape measure, but otherwise he just followed me around, probably counting the minutes until I was done.  I also wanted to pick up a lampshade I had fallen in love with that I was afraid was going to no longer be available.  Jeff was making fun of me, but hey, when it's suddenly no longer available online and is on sale in the store I get a little worried. Anyway, the cute multi dot lamp shade is all mine!

Since we were near Jeff's grandparents, we stopped by to visit with them and share ultrasound pictures.  It had been a while since we stopped by.  After that we were going to go grocery shopping, but Jeff had a headache.  When it gets bad, sleep is the only effective treatment for him so we headed home so he could take a nap.

While he was sleeping, some local friends stopped by to drop off some fabulous baby gifts--hand-me-downs from their little girl, a case of wipes, and a big box of diapers! Add that to the clothes my mom sent a few weeks ago and the bedding I bought and we've got a pretty big pile of loot.

Fortunately Jeff's nap cleared up his headache.  So he was ready for the big event of the weekend--dinner and a show!

Every once in a while Jeff and I enjoy a fancy dinner out followed by a little musical theater.  I started getting the urge again a few weeks ago.  I mean, it's been since May that we saw Billy Elliott.  But none of the shows in the big theaters downtown were grabbing my interest enough to justify the cost.  So we visited a mid-priced theater in the 'burbs to see Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.  It was a great show!  Definitely entertaining with numerous laugh-out-loud lines, catchy tunes, and pretty good singers, especially the female lead.  The theater also had a pre-show dinner option that we tried.  The food was pretty good and not too pricey.  So I'd say it was a successful night out.

Sunday we had church followed by their pancake breakfast.  I've been looking forward to pancakes and sausage for a good two weeks.  And it did not disappoint.  Yum!  Unfortunately I had to follow that up with finally getting my flu shot.  :(  My arm is still sore!

Jeff was excited to actually be home for Halloween this year and to hand out candy.  I did it the first year we moved here, but last year I turned off the lights and hid inside.  It's more stressful than fun for me.  Always waiting for that doorbell to ring, hopping up off the couch without busting the laptop to quickly get to the door, wondering if we had enough candy, and so on.  So this year I got to sit on the couch under a blanket and watch Jeff hop up.  And let him deal with a few greedy little boogers who reached their hands into the bowl and tried to grab big handfuls.  Now that was a good Halloween!

We rounded the evening the off with a trip to Starbucks for some warm drinks.

And there you have it.  A blow-by-blow account of our weekend.  It was actually a pretty eventful one for us, but I suspect it loses some luster in written form.  :)