Baby Bump | 28 Weeks

I’m returning to you from a baby-shower weekend to remember! It really was incredible, the whole thing from Friday until Sunday night. There are still lingering excitements, too because I have piles of bags in the baby room to go through presents from my sweet friends to admire all over again.

Friday I rushed to pack and prepare, distracting myself from the eager anticipation I felt as I waited to pick Lizzy up from the airport. Once the time came I had been running around in excitement all day so the ball was already quickly rolling downhill and I was happily aboard for the ride. We had many a laugh and discussion on the drive home and arrived to greet family and friends and later that evening we celebrated my baby shower at my parent’s house. You can read about that awesome party and see pretty pictures here.

Saturday, Lizzy revealed the gender of their baby to her family with a cute cake that Monica made, filled with pink icing. It was a sweet and unforgetable moment that I captured through video, which I shall be posting in a few days when I blog about her shower. That afternoon I took my BFF and kept her busy while they decorated for her baby shower. We had my sister take photos of us and our baby bumps so we could remember this time forever (this will also be featured in a coming post) and drove to town to enjoy some yummy treats while we passed the time.

Upon our return home the party-planning was wrapping up so I photographed some of the details, the reveal of the party decor to Lizzy and we got to work showering Lizzy with hugs, love, presents and happy memories. You can read my separate post about her shower soon. I also got to talk babies and pregnancy and birth with other mommies and I got to stare at my new, cute little nephew, Asa. It was fun. After the shower we talked and laughed and I sat sighing while people cleaned up the remains of the party. Then Lizzy and Monica and I sat on the couch with hands on my tummy, feeling little Baby Tarchala dancing around in there.

The fun didn’t end there. Sunday I spent the day with Chantel and the roomie-of-my-heart, Sammy Jo. We shopped and ate cheesecake and had an all-around fun day together that was so very much needed.

It was a whirlwind of a weekend and one I will not soon forget, that’s for sure. It was so fun and overwhelmingly exciting and yeah… I think that covers it.

In other baby news there really isn’t too much to tell! I’m excited to get our crib (hopefully this week) and get working on several baby room projects that I’ve been planning. I’ll probably blog about those at some point in the next few weeks. I’ll be going through all my shower gifts and finding places or potential places for them. This week I have a huge design project that will be taking up most of my time, though, so this is easily a list of things that are likely to leak into next week.

The Bump

Baby’s Size| Chinese Cabbage

How far along | 28 weeks

Sleep | I’m getting so uncomfortable it’s starting to effect the quality of my sleep, even though so far I’ve been ok actually getting to sleep. Although I did go to bed at 2 a.m. one night and for several nights in a row I couldn’t get to sleep until about the same time. I got back on schedule though after the weekend.

Clothes | I wore my new Soma dresses over the weekend and have still been rocking the comfy maternity shorts and tanks I purchased when I first started showing. I think they’ll last me and with the heat we’ve been having it’s basically the best option I have.

Cravings | I have had several Strawberry Island Breeze cream slushes from Sonic in the last week + but I’m not sure it’s a craving as much as it’s just plain yummy and irresistable. Did I just describe a craving? Whatever. I also have still been downing the peaches and other juicy fruits like watermelon and cantaloupe and cherries. Oh. Here’s a big one. Coffee. I’ve been really wanting the taste of strong, creamy coffee, so I’ve been brewing my own decaf espresso at home in the mornings and most mornings I have 2 cups because I can’t satisfy my cravings with just one. It’s funny because during my first trimester coffee actually sounded pretty gross, it’s weird to be craving coffee again since it’s something I’ve craved before being preggo. Haha.

Food Aversions |  Sometimes eggs and hamburgers (I know, what???)

Symptoms | A huge one (literally): Swelling. My feet are so freaking massive and uncomfortable and my hands get to the point I can’t even write with a pen very well. But, as I have said before: I’ve embraced it. It’s still not fun, but I have accepted that I’m going to feel miserable and it’s just going to get worse. I do feel a little sad about things on occasion and I am beginning to desperately look to the day when I have lost my water weight, my face is clear of pimples, my feet look human again and I can walk from the car to the store without wanting to collapse. This is a very common day dream these days. But the very best part of this day dream is that I imagine all those things I just listed but also in my vision is my little baby boy. In my arms, being cradled in his little carrier on my chest, existing beside me. My outlook at the moment: I feel like I am standing on one side of a big valley filled with unpleasant things and I’ve already taken a few steps into it so I just have a taste of what to expect on my journey but I am strong and determined with my eye on the other side of that valley. On the other side of that valley is the vision I just described to you, so I guess you would call me focused. Not usually a word to describe me, but that definitely describes my attitude right now.

Doctor’s Appointment | Next one is July 13. After that I go to every 2 weeks!

Movement | I have started my kick counts every night now and he’s most active between 9-11 p.m. I can see my belly thump when I’m laying on my side and I feel little limbs sliding around in there. I think he’s really long. It’s a new theory I have, so we’ll see. Tuesday morning I woke up and he was moving a bit then all of a sudden he starting kicking and punching in rapid succession like a machine gun! It actually about gave me a heart attack and I Googled to see if I should be freaking out about this new development, but it sounds like it’s nothing to be  scared of. He resumed a semi-normal pace of movement after that for another 1/2 hour or so. For a long time I was getting frustrated because sometimes I felt “kicks” on my left side and sometimes I’d feel them on my right. But now I’m pretty much convinced that one must be his head or arms because when he was having his crazy spastic movement attack it would jolting out both sides of my belly!!! It was nuts. Scary but also kind of fun. Curious about what to expect in the coming weeks.

Belly Button | Still a stubborn innie. The top of my belly button pokes and when I laugh it pokes even more, which cracks me up.

Gender | Boy. Were you expecting something else? In other news: he has a girlfriend now. Lizzy is having a girl! I wanted to have something exciting to say about gender this week. :)

Best moment of the week | Are you kidding me? Impossible to choose. Best friends, babies, presents, elephants, funny moments, food. I will feature this moment: soon after picking up Lizzy from the airport we were both laughing so hard it gave us hot flashes and we marveled at the wonderful place life has brought us to.

What I miss | Everything about my old body, basically, but now, instead of looking back at what I miss, it’s more like I’m longing for the me that will be someday soon.