Secrets of the Baby Whisperer

Since this parenting thing is a brand new concept for us, I figure a little research is in order. I'm finding no shortage of opinions on how to approach the first year. It seems to be quite the touchy subject, especially since there isn't one "right" way to do it. So I stocked up on some best sellers (thanks mom!) to see what the experts have to say, and then we'll figure out what seems to be the best fit for us and give it a try. I have to imagine each day will be a learning experience, but I can't wait to get started!


First up was "Secrets of the Baby Whisperer" by Tracy Hogg. Just finished it - a pretty easy read and seemed straight forward and I like the idea of consistency. She calls her approach EASY - Eat, Activity, Sleep, and You Time. It seems like a happy medium on the spectrum of On Demand vs Schedule philosophy. Flexible but structured - sounds like something we can handle.

On deck: The Happiest Baby On the Block

My Notting Hill Moment

Remember the movie Notting Hill with Julia Roberts & Hugh Grant? LOVE IT!

We got a call around noon from the Realtor wanting to do a 2:30pm showing. We're not in any position to turn down traffic but the quick turnaround was not ideal. Brian was in Southern MN for work but luckily my afternoon was clear of meetings, so I rushed home and cleaned like crazy. We had to be out of the condo for an hour so Brian met Bella and I at the dog park. It was a beautiful afternoon and we had so much fun watching her frolic around and meet some new friends - I think Oliver the lab/retriever mix was her favorite.


I was lying on the bench in the sun and was in heaven. Then it hit me - this was totally my Notting Hill Moment - just substitute an iPhone for the book and this picture pretty much sums it up :)

Meltdown on I35

After 2 days in Indianapolis and a 2 days in Des Moines I was exhausted by Sunday afternoon. Throw in some crazy pregnancy hormones and a four hour drive and it was the perfect storm. Somewhere around Clear Lake we started talking about how frustrating it was that we hadn't had a condo showing in a couple weeks. We had a trunk full of new baby items and I had been daydreaming about setting up a nursery for baby. It hit me that there is a good chance the condo won't sell by July. The tears started flowing and didn't stop till Owatonna - poor Brian and Bella were pretty confused. I was finally able to pull it together and told myself to get over it and spent the rest of the drive thinking about how to make a 1 bedroom condo work. If millions of people in Manhattan make it work with 1/2 of our square footage we can too. We love being downtown and Bella loves her home in the sky so little man will have lots of fun being a city baby. We're still hoping the perfect buyer comes along in the next two months - your prayers would be much appreciated! We'll be fine either way - it just took a little meltdown for me to realize this.

Bike Time

We got to see our nephew Eric Scott this weekend - he's growing up so fast! He's more than ready to join his friends on bike rides so Uncle Matt & Uncle Brian have been practicing with him. He's getting so close!

Woods Clan Baby Shower in Des Moines

We spent this past weekend in Des Moines with Brian's family, and were so blessed to be treated to a beautiful baby shower on Saturday hosted by my sister-in-law Amy and Brian's Aunt Sherri. The afternoon was absolutely lovely - it was so nice to spend time with the Woods Clan Ladies and their family friends. I even got to wear a tierra - it doesn't get much better than that! We started out with introductions and baby advise, and then got to play three really fun games that Amy came up with - it got pretty competitive! Sherri had delicious Petits Fours cake for dessert (Brian is still raving about it) and she even had a cheese and cracker plate just for me. Everyone was so generous with gifts - Baby Woods is one lucky boy - he is so loved and spoiled already! He got a couple weeks worth of cute newborn outfits and even a few matching blankets - he'll be one coordinated little dude. He has all sorts of books to read and toys to play with now and some great bath/first aid items. Brian and I were especially excited to get a few essentials off of the registry. The video monitor, bouncer, and diaper genie will come in so handy! I'm thinking we might have to test these out on Bella ;) A huge thank you to Amy & Sherri for hosting! We're so lucky to have an amazing group of family/friends in Des Moines - your support means the world to us!

Grounded

I was in Indianapolis last Thursday/Friday for my last business trip before baby. The trip went smoothly - the team in Indiana is wonderful and our presentation seemed to go over well. I enjoyed sprawling on my king bed at the Hilton and surrounded myself with 5 pillows and could not have been more comfy ;) The first class upgrade on the way home was a lovely end to my work travel adventures - baby is going to come out an airplane snob - it will be hard to go back to coach!

This girl is officially grounded from travel and am ready to be added to the no fly list. After a year and a half of up to 50% travel for my job, it's time for a break. I will definitely miss it - I've worked with some amazing people all over the East Division and my favorite part of the job is being out in the field. Last year alone I flew almost 70,000 miles. But the thought of going into labor without Brian in the middle of Michigan/Ohio/Indiana/PA/Mid-Atlantic/Northeast is enough to keep me out of the sky for these next 11 weeks and once baby is here I have a feeling I won't want to leave the room let alone the state without my little man...

Katie Went to Haiti

My twin sister Katie just got home from spending a week in Haiti. She spent the last year volunteering/working abroad in Cambodia in microfinance, and since she's been back in the states she's been consulting as a microfinance advisor to World Wide Village. Her job is to assess the feasibility of WWV expanding their existing microfinance operations in several communities in rural Haiti. Below are a few pics from her trip:

Relaxing Weekend at Home

It's been a lovely Spring weekend in Minneapolis. We've been on the road a lot and have three trips coming up so it was really nice to be home and the weather could not have been more beautiful.

Friday evening I got to catch up with a few Kappa ladies which was wonderful. I volunteer as treasurer on the Twin Cities Alumni Board so I hosted a planning meeting at the condo, which was 3/4 chatting and wine with some solid budgeting and 2010-2011 strategy discussions squeezed in. Brian got a round of golf in and shot 4 over par - not to shabby!

Saturday we headed North to catch up with our good friends Nate & Brooke and their adorable little ones. After lunch the boys went boat shopping and the ladies headed to the Outlet Mall. It's a good thing it took 7 months for me to discover the Baby Gap Outlet - loved it! Made my first baby purchase - two cute little summer outfits for $12. The Coach Diaper bag sure was tempting and the outlet price was decent but I was able to resist for now...



We headed North again in the evening for a grill out at our friends Natalie & Dave's place in Maple Grove. Bella was a lucky girl and got to come with to the party and play with their yorkie Dylan. They are both from the same breeder and have the same coloring so we think they are distant cousins.


We spent this afternoon in Burnsville enjoying the weather. A true sign of Spring is when my parents open the three season porch which us kids affectionately call the tree house. Nothing better than watching Twins games out there. Bella loves to lounge in the sun and watch the birdies and bark at squirrels. Their putting green is open for the season and the waterfall is flowing....yay Spring!







We had burgers on the grill for dinner and my little brother Trent stopped by on his way back from VEISHEA in Ames. Always the life of the party he livened up dinner by saying "I may or may have not gotten another tattoo last night." This beauty is a result of a lot of beer and a lost bet - Go Twins/God Bless America ;)

Rings

I never take my engagement ring and wedding band off - it's probably been at least two years since I've gotten them cleaned. Over the last couple weeks my hands and feet have gotten pretty puffy thanks to pregnancy edema. My ring finger was starting to go numb and tingly and it finally occurred to me that maybe I should take the rings off - shouldn't be too hard right? Oh my gosh they were hopelessly stuck - after 10 minutes pulling and panic the swelling had doubled and my knuckles were purple so I gave up for the night fearing they would have to be cut off:( Took a couple days for the swelling to go down a bit so I researched online - apparently its a common issue with pregnant ladies so luckily there was no shortage of tips. I tried a bunch with no luck (ice bath, butter, lube, saran wrap - fun stuff) and finally figured I'd give the most ridiculous looking method a try- dental floss! And low and behold after 5 very painful minutes and a very blue finger my beautiful engagement ring came off!



I'm trying out wearing them on my pinky finger but I'm worried they'll slip off so will probably find a silver chain to put them on and wear as a necklace. Not that Brian needs to worry about dudes hitting on me at 7 months pregnant and puffy, but I do want strangers to see I'm a married lady and that baby has a daddy ;) Keepin it classy!

Texas

We've been in Dallas, Texas since Wednesday evening for a weekend of wedding festivities and two days of work squeezed in for me. Colin is a good friend of Brian's from Urbandale and he met his beautiful bride Sangita in College at Notre Dame. Brian was pretty much in heaven spending 3 days with his high school buddies - it's really cool that this group has stayed so close despite going to different colleges and living all over the country. I really like his friends - they've been so welcoming to me over the years. They're a very entertaining group to be around, especially after a few cocktails.

We stayed at the Hotel Adolphus downtown Dallas - beautiful historic hotel in a prime location. Thursday was nice and relaxing - we spent the evening at the bride's parents gorgeous house in Arlington and then the boys stayed out exploring Dallas establishments. When he got home at 2am all he wanted to do was rub my tummy and talk to the baby - he's lucky it was so damn cute that I couldn't get mad even though I had to get up early and head to work on Friday.

The boys headed out for a man day Friday and spent the afternoon at SpeedZone racing on souped up go-karts and drag racing. I headed out to Irving for a work meeting with the manager of the Texas Region - she is my absolute favorite to work with - just a lovely lady. I made it back downtown to head over to the rehearsal dinner at the Nasher Scuplture Center - such a stunning place for an event, and it's where Colin proposed. It was a touching evening full of toasts and the food was amazing.

Saturday was another early morning for me as I headed back out to Irving for a work event. Rushed back downtown for the wedding which was beautiful - a very cool mix of a Cathlolic Ceremony and Indian traditions. The reception was at a historic mansion and was exquisite. The drinks were flowing and the dance floor was packed. I'm not a big dancer normally, but it was about the last thing I felt like doing sober and pregnant. Luckily I was more than entertained by watching everyone else bust a move as the drinks took affect - Brian pulled out some interesting moves I've never seen before ;) When we got back to the hotel Brian insisted on walking to the hotdog stand that he had stopped by each night after bar close for a late night snack - he was one happy camper.

We had to be on the road at 5:30am this morning to make our flight. We did get to drive by where Kennedy was shot and the Cowboys old stadium right before they blew it up so even got some history in on this trip. Luckily we got upgraded to a direct flight so we got home at 10:30am instead of having a long layover in Atlanta and landing at 3:30pm.

It was a great vacation for Brian - glad he got a crazy weekend with his best friends in before baby arrives. It was nice that I was able to get 2 days of work in so I can save my PTO for baby, but it didn't feel like a vacay for me - pretty stressful running back and forth. I didn't get much sleep and was on my feet way too much so it caught up to me today - I'm achy all over, have puffy feet and hands and hope these charlie horse type cramps in my calves go away soon - major ouch. I took a glorious 4 hour nap which helped a lot - wish I could do that every day!

26 Weeks

Well I'm finally starting to feel and look pregnant. Feels like baby has been growing like crazy this past week. Excited to break into double digits for days to go - 99 left! Milestones:

-My belly sticks out as far as my boobs now
-My hands and feet are starting to swell
-Bending over is increasingly more uncomfortable
-I got my first strechmark - boo :(
-Randoms are asking when I'm due
-Had my first awkward belly touching encounter
-I'm told I've picked up the pregnant lady walk
-I'm hungry all of the time
-Craving McDonald's Vanilla Milkshakes & Cereal
-The homeless man in the skyway playing the guitar stopped mid song as I walked by today and started singing "She's Having My Baby." Nice.

Sorry peeps - I've gotten lots of requests for belly pics but it's not my style - I avoid the camera at all costs. Maybe starting at 30 weeks I'll give in and take one a week as we count down.

Brian and I are heading to Dallas, Texas tomorrow through Sunday for Colin's wedding - should be a fun weekend! This will probably be our last flight without a carseat and stroller in tow...craziness!

25 Week Dr. Appointment

Baby and I got a good report from Dr. Berven this morning! Measuring 25cm which is right on track for 25 weeks. Baby's heartbeat was loud and strong at 155. I just hit the 10 lb mark so glad the weight has come on slow and steady thus far. I had the glucose screening this morning (drank icky orange solution and then had blood drawn) so hopefully the results come back negative. Besides moving slower these days and an achy back I'm feeling good and getting more excited each day for little man to arrive!


Hope everyone has a wonderful Easter weekend! We're hitting the road this afternoon to spend the weekend in Des Moines with Brian's family.

:::Hugs:::