Denim Love

I love, love, love my jeans. Actually, not just my jeans; I love my denim jacket and I've had my share of denim shirts and dresses. But, don't get me confused with someone that loves to wear the "denim tuxedo," á la vintage Britney and Justin...

{no. thank. you}

I could probably do something like this though...

{images via darling dexter}

When it comes to the beanette's attire, I'm positive that denim will be making an appearance. She already has something like the one below. Her's is from the Gap too, but I did not go out and spend $30 on it. Umm...no, I'm too frugal for that. It does look exactly like that one; perhaps it's already on clearance in the stores and not the web?

{romper from baby gap}

I also really like this little sun hat from Baby Gap.

{so cute}

Then, today, while sitting watching the tube while home sick with a yucky stomach bug, I saw these on some pop news show.

 

{huggies denim diapers}

I'm not sure how I feel about these yet. My first thought what that they were cute, but the more I think about them, the more I don't love them. What about poop explosions and cold San Francisco weather? I'm also a fan of cute little leggings and onesies that would cover them right up. I do have to say they are a fun concept.  What do you think?

The Bean Bump: Weeks 30/31

{week 30}

{week 31}

{the toes. I had to put the camera pretty far out to capture this one}

Week: Movin' and shakin' in week 31! 

Bean Size: This week chiquita, you're the size of a large head of lettuce. It says you're about 18 inches and 3.2 lbs. Keep going! 

Total Weight Gain: I'll find out for sure on Tuesday. I haven't weighed myself since my last dr. visit 5 weeks ago, so I'm sure I'll be in for a surprise. 

Maternity Clothes?: How can it be that my maternity tops are getting tighter in the chest and shorter. They must have shrunk. I've been forced to do some more shopping because I can't look like a slob or a pregnant hooker at work. 

Sleep: I believe my body is getting me ready for the long nights with the beanette. I'm waking up often (pretty much any time I switch sides) or when I get a cramp in my leg. I also feel like an old lady getting up in the morning; my hips hurt and I have to roll back and then quickly push myself forward in order to get out of bed. nice. There's also some grunting involved. sexy.

Movement: Most definitely! The past few weeks she's been getting the hiccups a lot! I can feel them down really low and they sometimes tickle me. We like to play games like, "I poke you, you poke me back" and "This feels like daddy's hand, I'll stop moving like crazy now." 

What I Miss: Not visiting the toilet every half hour, or at least it feels that way. Every liquid I drink feels like it's passing right through me and my itty bitty squished bladder. I wouldn't mind so much if I could get up and go to the restroom whenever I please, but I can't. I'm looking forward to the end of the school year just so I can relieve myself without a time limit. Only 14 more days!

Status of the Button: It's still definitely in. I don't think this one is coming out. 

What I'm Looking Forward to: Kissing and snuggling my baby. I cannot wait to meet her!

Best Moment this Week: Picking the red ring out of a box at the children's store and thus getting 40% off the Ergo carrier I was buying! score! My brother texting a message telling me that he can't wait to meet our daughter because he's looking forward to being an uncle. How cute is that!? 

Preggers Bod-New and Exciting!..maybe: I feel like the belly is much bigger than what it looks like in the pictures. My back hurts...not fun. But, I found that sitting and rolling my hips around on the exercise ball really helps.  My uterus is making it's way up to my chin. So that may be an exaggeration, but for the first 29 or so weeks, my bump was pretty low. I definitely had a gap (or a look at my normal stomach) between my breasts and my bump, but I feel that is almost no longer there. It's all bump now and it's still really far down. I could never really wear low-riding jeans during my pregnancy because my bump is soo low. I'd need some special super-duper-low-riding-hide-the-poody-and coin-slot-pants. I don't think those exist.

Bean Milestones: Baby J, they say you're running out of room in there and that you're fattening up for momma. You're also working out that bladder in preparation for all the diapers daddy and I will be changing. Keep growing little one!

Food Cravings: Sugar! My goodness. I've always been good at allowing myself only one sweet treat a day, but it has gotten really hard to do that lately. I am so weak. I'm blaming it on Baby J. 

How's the Rice?: Soo cutie and busy. We both felt like the past week went by sooo slow, especially since the hubby didn't get much of a weekend last week. He had to work almost all weekend. boo. We're looking forward to a three-day weekend and time with friends by the pool. 

Tid Bits: We saw the "Babies" movie today and I really enjoyed it. It was super sweet. cute, and funny at times. It was a nice contrast to the hubby's pick from last weekend, "Iron Man: 2." I don't think the bean enjoyed Iron Man at all. She would not stop kicking and punching me throughout the entire movie. I think it was all the loud noises that were scaring her and preventing her from taking her nap. 

Our maternity photo session is coming up this week and I'm elated! Nicole and I have shared some ideas for the shoot and I think they are going to be really cute. I may be biased though. =) There are 4 outfits I'm contemplating right now, but I think I'm going to narrow it down to 2. Oh, I also finally got my hair done after not having anyone touch it for 7 months! It looks so much better now. 

This is one of the jean options I'm considering.

{anthro sweater}

with

{gap maternity jeans}

accessorized with some cute heals and jewelry.

I've actually got some Old Navy maternity jean slacks that I'm probably going to wear instead of those skinny jeans, but we'll see. The slacks are longer and will probably look better with heels.  Another outfit option is a purple dress with yellow flats, there is also a fun red dress with blue heels, and the other is the skinny jeans above, a white fitted tee, an olive green ruffled sweater vest thinger with some tweed heels (they have the same olive green, yellow, and a bit of orange in them) or some other flats. Which one sounds good? help. 

Only 10-ish, or less, weeks left!

The Bean Birth Plan: Part 2

...continued from other post.


Perhaps it's my inner hippie, but all this serenity, daydreaming, natural, and relaxing stuff sounds just like what I want. Yes,please! It got my attention and so this past weekend the hubby and I picked up the Hypnobirthing book at our local bookstore in order to get a grasp of how it works. I read it throughout that first evening and the next morning. It was really very interesting. The book starts with a look at the history of women's laboring experiences, moves into the physiology of labor (how your body is actually reacting to labor, the stages....etc.), provides the method, and ends with information on the months after baby arrives. Those are definitely not the only topics focused on, but more of a gist. 

After reading the book and discussing it with the hubby, we are convinced this is for us. The hubby and I will be going through the training for hypnobirthing with a doula in the City. The hubby gets to learn the methods as well- he'll be my partner in crime. Our thinking right now is that it'll be one more strategy to work with as we await meeting (I labor and deliver) our baby girl. Even if I decide to get drugs and feel the hypnobirthing strategies are not working for me, we at least tried it. It can't hurt. I am excitedly anticipating our classes next month. I'll be sure to write about how it goes. 

The Bean Birth Plan: Part 1

*For some unknown reason, blogger completely and utterly jacked-up the formatting on my post. Therefore, I've taken what I'd written after the information from the Hypnobirthing website and included it in another post.

Throughout my pregnancy I have been taking mental notes on type of birthing experience I would like to have with the bean. I have read a number of books on the subject, I've spoken with my experienced friends and mom. watched movies on the subject, and just explored. Basically, I've been a sponge. Not a dirty stinky one after nearly 7 months of taking it all in, but instead a happy, organic one with a cutie design on the top. Yeah, that's me.

As we are quickly approaching our bean's birthday and the hubby and I have completed our childbirth preparation class from our hospital, it's time we come up with a serious plan. The plan is...we need more preparation! Well, that's actually only one of the things we need. I went into the childbirth prep class not really expecting anything, but at the same time hoping for some strategies/methods/skills...whathaveyou, to help me go through labor in the best way possible for me. But, we didn't really get more than 20 minutes of this in 8 hours of class. I was also really hoping the instructor would have some information or experience with women that utilized hypnobirthing. Alas, when we started off our class with  introductions and questions, (mine being about hypnobirthing), the instructor gave me a blank stare. She said she'd look into it, but she never really brought it up again throughout our two classes. Oh well.

By the time we attended our class through the hospital, I'd already done some research and found the Hypnobirthing website. After reading, I felt good about that method and decided it was something I could seriously take on. The hubby has been extremely supportive of this idea as well. Love him.

Here's a portion of the description as found on the Hypnobirthing website:

"HypnoBirthing® - The Mongan Method is as much a philosophy as it is a technique. The concept of HypnoBirthing® is not new, but rather a "rebirth" of the philosophy of birthing as it existed thousands of years ago and as it was recaptured in the work of Dr. Grantly Dick-Read, an English obstetrician, who, in the 1920s, was one of the first to forward the concept of natural birthing. The method teaches you that, in the absence of fear and tension, or special medical circumstances, severe pain does not have to be an accompaniment of labor.

You will gain an understanding of how the birthing muscles work in perfect harmony--as they were designed to--when your body is sufficiently relaxed and you trust birth. You will learn how to achieve this kind of relaxation, free of the resistance that fear creates, and you will learn to use your natural birthing instincts for a calm, serene and comfortable birth. 

When you have your baby with HypnoBirthing®, you will not be in a trance or a sleep. What you will experience is similar to the daydreaming, or focusing, that occurs when you are engrossed in a book or a movie or staring into a fire.

You will be conversant and in good spirits--totally relaxed, but fully in control. Awake throughout, you will be aware of your body's surges and your baby's progress; but because you will have trained yourself to reach complete relaxation, you will be able to determine the degree and the manner in which you will feel the surges. You will experience birthing in an atmosphere of calm relaxation, free of the fear that prevents the muscles of your body from functioning as nature intended them to. In this calm state, your body's natural relaxant, endorphins, replaces the stress hormones that constrict and cause pain."

Look for Part 2 of this post- what we've decided to do.

Hang your Heart Here

How cute are these? Just a sweet little accent for your babe's room.








Get your very own personalized hanger at lila frances on etsy.

Isn't etsy great?!

The Bean Photographs

Who doesn't love beautiful photographs?! Really? Who doesn't? Are you out there??

I'm definitely in the "love" group. They can capture so much emotion in a second and they truly reveal the moments of our lives. Even the moments we don't necessarily wish to remember.

There was never a doubt that the pregnancy of our first child would have to be captured in pictures. I'd like to think that I can show my beanette all the stages of her life even before she could see and have her feel the love that the hubby and I have felt for her since she was a thought. The hubby and I have been fairly consistent with taking our weekly bump pictures, but in my opinion, our amateurs skills do not necessarily capture the beauty of we are taking part in. I want something BEAUTIFUL of the hubby, the bean bump, and me.

I feel Nicole Hoxie really does what I'm looking to evoke in our bump photos. After scrolling through lots and lots of the pictures on her blog, I quickly emailed her and booked our maternity and newborn sessions. We have our maternity session schedule for the end of May and I cannot wait! Once the beanette is here, she will have her very first photo session at two weeks.

How cute are these baby pictures?

I actually found Nicole through Brooke's blog 

Isn't she lovely?

I can't wait! I just need to figure out what to wear. Any suggestions?

Note to self

granny ankle + skinny jeans + flats = not a good look

Next time I'll remember the boots.

The Bean Day Care

One more thing to check off the list! This past week, the hubby and I made a decision on the child care for the beanette. I have to say, it was overall, a fairly easy process for us. I received a very good recommendation from one of my colleagues for the child care he takes his son to. At the time I was very thankful, as he got me thinking about our timeline and making a decision on this particular subject. Shortly after my conversation with that colleague, the librarian, I also found out another teacher takes her three boys to the same home day care. That made me feel good about the day care before even getting the chance to check it out for ourselves. I spoke with that colleague, a science teacher, about her experience with the day care and she could only give me positive feedback and she gushed about how wonderful it is, how flexible the provider is, and how much her boys enjoy going there. Upon hearing her recommendation, I called to make an appointment to visit the place with the hubby.

{day care notes}

Well, we made the trip after work one day and totally loved the owner of the day care and the place itself. It's a small in-home day care with two employees. She has 7 kids of varying ages; two of which are infants. That means our bean with be her third infant come November. The owner has basically devoted her entire (and spotless) home to her business. The hubby and I both got the feeling that she really loves what she does and that she does her best. She has a pretty structured day set-up for the kiddies filled with crafts, snacks, naps, and play time. She even has two professionals come in and teach a music class on Mondays and a kiddie yoga class on Fridays. How cute is that?! Kids doing yoga! The hubby and I also wanted to find someone that would be able to speak Spanish with the bean all day and Nilda (the daycare lady) is bilingual. The librarian at school actually mentioned that his little boy is learning a lot of Spanish by being with Nilda. We also found out that Nilda really caters to a teacher's schedule. score! For example, she'll  hold our spot during the summers without making us pay. woo hoo. The cherry on top of all this...she's 5 minutes from my school. Of course I'll have to drive the beanette with me in the mornings up to work, but I've asked to not have a first period so I don't start until about 9:30 most days. I have that same schedule now and I think it'll work out well with the bean.

We are just soo happy to have that taken care of.

The Bean Bump: Weeks 27/28

{Week 27}

{growing!}

Week: Welcome to Trimester numero 3!!

Bean Size: My girl, you are an eggplant, but much much cuter.
Total Weight Gain: I'm sticking to 20. But, probably closer to 25.
Maternity Clothes?: Can we call it super hot mama clothes instead? It might make me feel better about my options.
Sleep: It sucks. I wake up a lot throughout the night. Every time I turn to the other side I wake up for a few minutes and get a work out just getting into a comfortable position again.
Movement: Our little girl is going to be a dancer. Sometimes she's practicing ballroom dancing, sometimes it's tap dancing, and most often it's interpretative dancing.
What I Miss: A normal sized left foot and ankle. Yup, only one ankle and foot tends to swell. Luckily, not very much at this point and it goes back to normal over night. I call it my granny foot because it looks like one to me. The hubby points and laughs.
Status of the Button: It's in, but it's working on opening up as wide as possible. I don't like what the inside looks like and I'm happy that weird looking thing will go back after the bean arrives.
What I'm Looking Forward to: Summer! Sweet smelling baby with lots of dark curly hair (this is currently what I'm imagining on our babe). I just can't imagine her having light hair. I will be surprised if this does occur. Little feet. Hubby with a baby in pj's. He's a big fan of baby pj's. So far, they seem to be the only article of baby clothing that get him excited and oooh'ing and ahhh'ing. Cute.
Best Moment this Week: Walking the doggies in the sunlight after work every day. Finding a children's boutique that sells used gear and clothing. I bought an ADORABLE little leopard print sweater, an Ipood onesie (this is for my Apple-employed hubby- for the baby to wear, not him), and a few other pieces.
Preggers Bod-New and Exciting!..maybe: The granny ankle...not so good. Still having lots of energy and my hair looking pretty good...yes! Workin' the Zoomba...good. My arms looking kinda fatty....not good at all. I've kept using weights at the gym, but not nearly as much. I'm sad about the bad changes.
Bean Milestones: My dear little girl, you are soo talented! You can open your eyes and turn your cute head around if you notice a light shining in. I think daddy and I will have to play with a flashlight. Your bones are also almost developed. How exciting!
Food Cravings: Ananas! I can't get enough pineapple. Oh, and watermelon. I think the bean is ready for summer, too. We also love sugar. I.can't.stop.eating.sugar!
How's the Rice?: Wonderful. He's busy as a bee at work. He did such a great job of massaging my back during our childbirth prep class. I think he's got a new job.

Tid Bits: We also had our first childbirth prep class this weekend, just like our friends, Lawrence and Elizabeth. Our instructor (nurse) was really entertaining and very informative. We both felt like we got a lot of good information out of it and we're looking forward to next weeks session. We did the whole ice in the palm of your hand thing and I felt like the breathing really did make a difference in the pain. I've been looking into hypnobirthing and we are considering going through the training with a doula, but we haven't make a decision just yet. From what I've gathered, it's a lot of meditating and I feel like this is something I've had a fair amount of training in. Didn't know this about me?! Yeah, I've attended trainings, meetings, and such for transcendental meditation and other methods. I've even got a mantra just for me! I'm thinking I'll just brush-up on my skills and practice more often. Anyone ever heard of someone utilizing that technique?