30 Weeks!

I'm 30 weeks today! Whoa! Only 10ish to go. This is definitely getting more real. And we are getting REALLY excited! 

Here is a little rundown of how I have been feeling lately...

-I still have really bad heartburn. The peppermint tea didn't seem to help much. I ended up getting Prevacid or something that I take once a day. It only takes the edge off. I may need to find something else. 

-My pelvis hurts. A lot. Some days it feels like my tailbone is broken. I can't walk on the treadmill anymore. I can't really walk hardly at all anymore. Even going to the grocery store is killer! My midwife told me to do yoga instead of walking. Haven't started that yet. I need to find a good prenatal yoga dvd. 

-I started noticing this weird headache I've been getting. It's only on the top left of my head. It comes and goes. Once I change positions or eat or drink something, it goes right away. It's the strangest thing. 

-This is going to sound silly. I have had so many ingrown toe nails! My toes hurt all the time! I never used to get them. Like ever. I'm not sure why this is happening so I'm blaming it on pregnancy.

-About a week ago, I noticed I got my first stretch marks on my belly. Well, 3 actually. No more young belly. I'm probably going to get a billion more before this baby is born.

-A week ago I felt the baby have hiccups for the first time! That was cool. Cory got to feel it the other day too. 

I will try to keep updated on my pregger pictures. I'm sorry it's been like 8 weeks since I have posted one!

September Craft

This is the big moment we have all been waiting for... 

I mentioned we were doing something HUGE for the baby's room...

We are finally done!

Check this out...

Before...

After...

We took apart, sanded, stained, glossed and managed to put this back together. When I say we, I really mean Cory. We switched out the dowels for straight ones because we think it looks better. We also ripped apart the cushion and put on brand new soft fabric. You may notice there are only 2 stitching lines on the top cushion instead of 4 like before. Again, we thought it looked less old-looking with 2. I will be the first to admit a lot of blood, sweat, tears, cussing, frustration, stress, time...etc, went into this chair. We (more like I...) had a lot of  mistakes during the sewing part of this project. There were quite a few things we had to re-do.

We got help from this tutorial. I like to stick to instructions. Especially since I'm not the world's greatest sewer. But when things went horribly, terribly wrong, Cory would say, "Why don't you do it this way instead." Then I would hear my stubborn self say,"Well that would never work!"We ended up scraping the instructions for the top cushion because let's face it, sewing is not my thing. Who would have thought fabric glue and tracing things with a disappearing ink marker would make things go a whole lot smoother. I like to call some of Cory's sewing ideas "The Man Way" even though they always go better than "The Right Way." Now the foot rest is another story... I don't think we'll do that. We haven't even touched it.

We are so glad this project is done and over with! I don't think we will ever do anything like this again. Even though we originally only paid $20 for the chair, I don't think it was worth it! Ha. But it is an amazing feeling to step back and think, "Wow, we actually did all of this."

August Craft

I know I said I probably wouldn't be doing something for August but this just happened to work out. Um, so everyone keeps telling us how bare our walls are. We didn't think they were really that bare. Apparently, we were wrong. Consequently I decided awhile ago how I wanted to do some kind of wall art for our poor walls. One day, I went to the dollar store and found a few things that looked like this...

I almost forgot to take a before picture. Which is why there is Mod Podge smeared all over this little piece of work.

I thought how perfect they would be for my wall project. I slapped some scrapbook paper on these beauties and voila! Now, I had originally done just 4. (the blue and orange) But Cory said it would look much better if we added 2 more. Of course he was right. We are pretty satisfied with the results. 

Now hopefully our friends won't think our walls are too bare.

My Birthday!

It was my birthday about a week ago! And I must say, I had a great day. I got to do whatever I wanted! If I wanted to go to Target, we went. If I didn't want to do the dishes, I wouldn't. If I wanted to stroll Hobby Lobby, we would. I never had to compromise! ha ha. 

Cory surprised me with a couples massage that afternoon. I mentioned a couple months ago how I would love to get a prenatal massage. I didn't realize he was actually listening! What a great husband. I was surprised Cory got one with me. He hates people touching him. And he's really specific about how you massage him. He always said he would never get a professional massage. But he knew I wanted him there. And his palpation class may have made him a little more comfortable with the idea. Even though we didn't talk during our massages, it was still nice knowing he was right next to me. I'm so glad he got one with me!

Afterwards, we tried out a Mexican restaurant we heard was good. (Thanks Tamara!) It was better than we expected! The menu was even in Spanish. Good thing Cory speaks it. I had to ask him what a couple of things said.  He ordered tacos. I ordered tacos, enchiladas, a side of rice, and a side of beans. When our food came out, the server asked individually, "rice...beans...enchiladas... tacos?" To each, I answered, "right here!" She laughed at me as she walked away. I was hungry okay?!? It sure was yummy! 

We also got me a birthday cake and cuddled up to watch the football game. We lost. Really bad. So I'm going to forget that part. I had a really good day. Thanks Cory for making it great!

Labor Day Trip

Over the weekend we drove to Ohio to visit Jimett and her husband Tom and their kids. For those who don't know, Jimett is my Aunt but more like my older sister since she lived with us for the majority of my childhood. I have missed them very much. It was so good to see them again. We played games, watched home movies, and had lots of treats! Jimett and I were even able to sneak away for some smoothies. It was fun to have Cory FINALLY meet Tom and the kids. He met Jimett at our wedding but it was more like a quick hello. I wish we could have stayed longer! We had a lot of fun.

Here they all are in their cute Labor Day Attire.

A little something I learned today...

I need to lay off the Tums.

This picture describes almost perfectly how I felt about Tums a few days ago. Yes, I found it from Google images.

I happened to learn this little piece of information from my Hypnobabies home study course. This week I'm learning about nutrition during pregnancy. I need lots of protein. I need lots of calcium... Yeah, yeah I know. Taking Tums is bad... wait what?? ( it was not phrased that way of course). I was taking Tums for my heartburn. What I learned is this--Tums neutralizes stomach acid (duh). But protein and calcium can't be absorbed properly without acid. Antacids such as Tums "deplete the body of proteins and calcium." When A LOT are taken, it can affect the liver, " thereby causing toxemia" (a.k.a. pre-eclampsia). Of course if you're getting what you need, you won't have this problem. But in my case, since I have been taking many many Tums, it made me take a step back. I should probably hold off on those as much as I can.

Another interesting fact: Taking Tums as a calcium supplement is practically useless. You need magnesium and vitamin D in order for calcium to be absorbed and used properly. I have never taken Tums for that reason but if I hated milk or were lactose intolerant, I probably would. Let's face it. Tums tastes amazing. It's like candy. Luckily I absolutely love milk. Whole milk especially. I've struggled with adjusting to 1% since W.I.C. doesn't pay for whole milk until the baby is born. Trust me, this has been cruel. I'm getting off track... The reason I mention this is because I have always wondered how great of a calcium supplement Tums actually is. They claim to be an excellent source of calcium. Now I know. 

Because Hypnobabies is so great (I'm sorry. I love Hypnobabies right now), they have compiled a few things you can do to ease heartburn.

-Eat several small snack-meals rather than 3 big meals.

-Drink liquids separately from solid food.

-Avoid greasy or heavily spiced foods. (This one is hard for me because I love spicy food)

-Sit up after you eat anything.

What they say can ease heartburn:

-Papaya enzymes (whatever that is), or drink papaya juice (that is probably disgusting so I won't attempt that one).

-Ginger

-Peppermint tea

-Almond milk

-Apple cider vinegar

-Hansen's Natural Soda

How to neutralize pH level:

-Add lime juice to your water

-Add 1/8 tsp of baking soda to 2 oz of water

I must say that I have already tried eating small meals, standing or sitting after I eat, and tried not to drink anything with my food. The only thing that slightly helped was drinking throughout the day and not with my food. But that is extremely hard to do! And it does not matter what I eat, I always get heartburn. Most of the time it's not right after I eat. It's several hours after I eat. Usually at night. So, I'm going to try some of these things to see if they help. Next time I'm at the store, I'm getting me some peppermint tea!

My Current Craze

I would like to apologize right now to those who follow me on Pinterest for all of my maternity pic pins. I am obsessed. I really should not have spent all morning searching the internet for photos I like. Let me explain myself before you all stop following me. Honestly, I'm not a big fan of maternity pictures. Most of the time I think they are weird and cheesy. But for some reason I still want to have them done! Over the past few weeks I have been going back and forth on whether this would actually be fun. I must say that after an entire morning of hunting Pinterest and blogs, I now REALLY want to do it. I feel a lot more confident.

I mean, how beautiful is this....

And how cute is this...

Now I need to find something to wear...