A little of this, a little of that...

Whew--the past few weeks have been FLYING by!  It seems like time is speeding up the closer and closer we get to Wyatt's arrival...I can't seem to keep up with anything.  And I think throughout the course of my pregnancy I've developed a moderate to severe case of ADD, because I cannot stay focused on completing one thing before I get distracted by something else.  Which is fitting because this post is going to be a compilation of the very random thoughts/questions floating around in my head this morning...

4 of my dearest friends threw me another baby shower a week and a half ago, but I haven't had time to upload those pictures onto my computer yet.  (Excuses, excuses, I know...)  It was a lovely shower and I had such a great time--thank you again Marie, Amber, Jeanna, & Katy!!! :)  I'll try to post some pictures from that fun day soon...

Yesterday marked 37 weeks of pregnant bliss (ha!), which I celebrated with my now weekly trip to the OB.  My doctor told me that Wyatt is "still way up there" and "not engaged at all yet", which was a little bit discouraging to me.  She encouraged me to keep walking to try and get the little guy to move on down into the birth canal.  Sam and I have been TRYING to walk more the past couple of weeks to get things moving, but 3 minutes outside in this heat & humidity and I feel like I've just run a marathon!! (not that I would REALLY know what that felt like, but I can imagine...)  Any tips from you mommies out there on getting this party started??  Here's a belly shot from 37 weeks that I took at midnight last night, which is why I look SO fabulous!

And here's a funny picture I took a couple nights ago...

Why yes, yes that IS a box of Wheat Thins stored neatly in the fridge next to my Gatorade. WHAT?! I don't hardly even remember eating the Wheat Thins, and definitely not storing them in the refrigerator. Oh pregnancy brain, you never cease to amaze me. (And entertain all those around me...)

Sam and I decided it was probably time to go ahead and install the carseat into my car, given the fact that there's really no telling when this little guy will decide to grace us with his presence.  Poor Sam spent a good amount of time in the sweltering heat of June in Oklahoma trying to get this sucker installed properly, and it's STILL crooked in the backseat.  We will be consulting a certified carseat technician in the very near future to make sure we're good to go...

And now my final questions for the morning are for those of you who have had babies already OR for those of you who haven't and would just like to impart some of your own thoughts:

1) Would you recommend keeping the baby in your room with you at night or sending them to the nursery in between feedings so you can get some rest?

2) Is there anything (other than the obvious stuff) you would recommend taking to the hospital?  (Packing the hospital bag is on my "to do" list for this week, along with finishing up the thank you notes, getting last minute stuff that we still need, exchanging duplicate gifts, putting the finishing touches on the nursery, getting a mani/pedi, & deep cleaning my entire house--haha)

Oh, and by the way, in case you're wondering why your comment isn't showing up immediately, I now have to go in and publish each comment individually.  For some reason, my blog has gotten inundated with some VERY inappropriate SPAM comments/websites from China & Japan (don't ask why...I have no idea how this happened).  SO, don't worry if your comment doesn't show up immediately--I'll publish it as soon as I see it! 

Have a great day!! :)

You know you're VERY pregnant when...

• You (sadly) get out of breath while simply using the Chi to flat iron your hair in the mornings...

• You don’t even wait to get home to open up the Maalox you just bought and chug directly from the bottle in the parking lot of Walgreens…

• You are scared to wash any of your jeans again because you know that if they shrink AT ALL, you will most likely be bottomless…

• Your co-workers are complaining about how cold the office is, but you still have your giant box fan blowing full force directly on you…

• You have to sit in the (air conditioned) car for a few moments and mentally motivate yourself before getting up the courage to waddle up the hill to your office…

• You opt for flip-flops to go on a walk just so you don’t have to figure out how in the world to bend over long enough to tie your tennis shoes…

• You have to stand up for a few minutes after you eat just so your lungs have enough room to actually get a decent breath of air…

• You go through an entire roll of toilet paper just about every day, due to VERY frequent trips to the bathroom…

• You start getting less anxious about the actual delivery and more anxious that the baby may not come out until AFTER his due date…

In other news, I had the most wonderful church baby shower this past weekend! Nine of the sweetest ladies in the world helped to make my shower so very special, and I was overwhelmed with all of the thoughtful & generous people who stopped by and showered us with gifts. I have another shower this coming weekend that some of my oldest & dearest friends are throwing me, and I am so excited about it as well! What a blessing it is to have such wonderful friends & family to show us so much love at such an exciting time in our lives!! We are truly, truly blessed. Here are a few pictures highlighting my church shower:

My lovely hostesses who were SO wonderful...

The AWESOME diaper cake that Bailey made...

Ashley (my lovely shower assistant) and the sweet robe she had monogrammed for Wyatt...

The stroller/carseat set that my hostesses got me...

Me with 2 of Wyatt's Great Grandmas (AKA: My Grandmas)...

Me & Wyatt's Grammie (AKA: my mom)

Me & Wyatt's Grandma Ward (AKA: Sam's mom)

And now, I must resume the seemingly endless task (but I'm definitely not complaining) of writing thank you notes!  I do have a question though and would love your thoughts. Shower group gifts. When you get a gift from a whole group of people (anywhere from 5-10+) and there are no specific instructions on the card (ex: “no thank you needed”, or “only send one thank you to…”) do you send a thank you note to EACH individual person in the group or one thank you note to the whole group? I’m not sure what the proper etiquette is in this case, and I certainly don’t want to come across ungrateful, but do you think each person in the shower group expects an individual thank you note, or does one thank you for the group suffice? Let me know what you think...

Can You Smell That?

So I realize it's been 3(ish) weeks since my last post, but who's really surprised by that?  My long list of "to do's" keeps growing longer and longer the closer we get to this baby's arrival, and updating the blog just seems to keep getting pushed further and further down the line.  However, due to the fact that it is blazing hot outside (keeping me from running my errands) and the fact that I'm actually still at work right now (it's a very slow, very quiet Friday afternoon so I'm taking a quick "blog break"), I decided to post a little update:

I'm 34 and 1/2 weeks along right now, Wyatt's due date is in 39 days, it's June 4th, 95 degrees outside, and I. Am. Melting.  I am not kidding you, I am hot ALL the time.  Poor Sam has been bundling up with blankets and extra clothes whenever we go to bed, and I still end up throwing all my covers off onto him in the night.  It's crazy.  But I'm not complaining, because as crazy hot as it is outside, I still prefer this over the catastrophic icy winter we had--hands down.

You may be wondering what any of this has to do with the title of my post.  Here's the deal: I can't smell a thing right now.  And along with that, I can't TASTE anything either.  I am not exaggerating when I say this...I literally cannot smell ANYTHING--good, bad, or ugly.  "Why can't you smell anything?" you may ask.  I'll tell you why. 

Last Thursday (as in 8 days ago) I started coughing.  No big deal, right?  WRONG.  I went to my regular doctor on Friday, was diagnosed with bronchitis and the start of a sinus infection, put on some antibiotics, and sent on my way to the 3 day weekend.  Saturday...no better.  Sunday...worse.  Monday...I think I'm dying.  Okay, not really, but I was MISERABLE.  So Tuesday morning I go in for my regular 34 week appointment with my OB and she says I probably have a nasty virus on top of everything else.  Being the lifesaving angel of a lady that she is, she called out a prescription for some AMAZING cough medicine with codeine (AKA: The Elixir of All Things Good & Holy in this World) and some steroids to get this junk knocked out.  By that evening I felt remarkably better, and other than the nagging cough that will probably linger for several more days, I've been on the up & up since then.  Except for the TINY little fact that I realized on Wednesday morning that I cannot smell or taste anything at all.  It's a very weird sensation...I know what food SHOULD taste like, but all I can feel is temperature and texture.  I should probably be capitalizing on this opportunity to choke down all the healthy foods that I normally detest (broccoli, cauliflower, etc.)  Nah.  But I will tell you one thing: my smell & taste better come back QUICK after I'm done with this round of steroids, or I'm going to be one grouchy pregnant girl.  Has anything like this ever happened to anyone else?  Just curious...

Okay, and now I'll leave you with a couple of ultrasound pics from Wyatt's 32 week appointment.  Sam and I opted out of the 3-D Ultrasound experience so that we can be totally surprised when he comes out to meet us in a few short weeks.  The first picture is of his face, and the second is a profile shot with hand on his head.

Isn't he cute??? :)  Haha.  Okay, I must get back to work now.  Have a great weekend!!

Correction

So apparently I got a whole week ahead of myself and stated in my last post that my belly picture was at 32 weeks.  That was a lie.  An unintentional lie, but a lie nonetheless.  I am only 31 weeks in the picture--I WILL be 32 weeks this coming Tuesday.  Whew, I feel better now after getting that confession off my chest...

I realized my mistake in the middle of the night during one of my countless trips to the bathroom, but was obviously was not about to correct myself then.  (I'll save the middle of the night posts for a couple months from now when I have a fussy baby and can't sleep anyway...)

And now, just because I want to brag on him a little bit, here is a picture of the lovely fruit tray that my sweet husband helped me prepare this morning for a baby shower. 

Warning: You can stop reading now if you get annoyed reading about other people's "perfect" husbands, but I have to give credit where credit is due.  Sam got up extra early and everything this morning to help me get this ready.  Please pay careful attention to the perfectly aligned grapes, he obviously has way more patience than I do at getting the "presentation" of the food correct.  (As evidenced by the fact that the fruit dip is indeed store bought instead of homemade.) And when I got home from the baby shower, he had unloaded the dishwasher, folded & put away all the laundry, and was repainting the doors in our house.  He definitely gets an A++ for today!  Okay, I'm done now.

Have a great weekend!! :)

Random Thoughts Thursday

So this is the first time I've actually blogged an official "Random Thoughts Thursday", but considering most of my blogs are pretty random anyway, I'm sure it won't be much different than usual!  I'm also more motivated to participate in RTT this week because I've gotten some threatening emails/text messages from a couple enraged friends who are put out with my lack of blogging.  So, in order to give the people what they want, here goes my Random Thoughts Thursday (Baby-Themed):

My baby registries are stressing me out.  Sam and I finally registered at Target & Babies R Us (after a couple panicked calls to some patient friends who helped walk me through the process), but I didn't really know what to register for at which place.  So I kind of ended up putting a lot of the same things on both registries.  Any new moms out there who have advice on how to know what to register for at which place? 

Speaking of registries, I bought 2 different baby gifts for 2 different people last week and apparently the lady at the checkout didn't know how to mark off which items have been bought.  How do I know this?  Because I'm Type A and I checked both of their registries online yesterday to make sure the purchased items were marked as purchased and alas, THEY WERE NOT.  So what do I do now?  Ruin the surprise for the friends and tell them what I bought so they don't get duplicates?  Call Target and complain?  Maybe I'll just include the gift receipts for both gifts so they can take them back with no problem if they DO get duplicates.  Problem solved.  Whew.

I'm watching a (very) old episode of friends while I blog and am amazed at how much heavier high waisted pants make Monica & Rachel look.  It's kind of the same look that Jessica Simpson got ridiculed for last year.  Which reminds me why I ALWAYS go with low-rise pants/jeans.  Although cracking out isn't particularly fun either...it's a delicate balance.

Right now though, I don't really have to worry about low rise/high waist/anything because I wear whatever pants I can fit into comfortably and not want to rip off after 10 minutes.  You'd think elastic waistbands would be the most comfortable thing ever, and some of them are, but some of them sit just awkwardly enough on my baby bump that I either have to pull them way up (granny style) or way low (saggy gangsta style).  It's lovely.  Really. 

I can't quit thinking about all my friends this week who either just had a baby, are in the process of having a baby, or are waiting any minute to go into labor.  There are seriously at least 5 different women who are all due in the next week or so, and I am so excited for all of them!!!  But then it makes me think about...

The fact that Wyatt is due 2 months from today!  And that fact is super exciting and incredibly scary at the same time!!  I can't wait to meet our sweet little guy, but I'm also suffering from PTSD from the childbirth class we took last weekend.  I mean, a lot of the information was great.  I didn't even mind the somewhat graphic computer animated diagrams/models.  But I REALLY could have done without the live birth videos.  That was a bit traumatic. 

And now, my tummy is growling and you know what that means...DINNER TIME!!!  So I'll leave you with this week's belly shot, since I'm guessing that's the reason a lot of you are even still reading my blog at this point! :)  Here's the 32 week shot:

P.S. I forgot to actually hit "publish post" until just now!  (it's 10:23 PM)  Oops! :)