Month: January 2016

This week’s slightly squinty photo brought to you by: sunshine!

Our baby is about 15 inches long, weighs more than two pounds, and is the size of a bunch of bananas. Are those giant Costco bananas or little organic bananas? Based on the fact that I can feel her punching and kicking both sides of my belly simultaneously, I’m thinking Costco. 🙂

I’ve gained 1.7 pounds since last week, putting me up about 18 pounds overall. I’m really milking this pregnancy thing for all it’s worth and enjoying daily bagels and cream cheese during the work week, weekend pancakes, and everything Aaron bakes.

The Pioneer Woman’s sour cream pancakes are my jam. Don’t be fooled, I eat five at a time.

This week I experienced two instances of intense lower-back pain after being on my feet for long periods of time (two+ hours) that I know has to do with the weight of my belly, so I need to more conscious of taking breaks to sit down when I get into my go-go-go moods. I’ll get a burst of energy and do a bunch of stuff — for example, one evening I went to the gym, then immediately did a bunch of laundry and baked a loaf of bread — and then I’ll start feeling the pain and remember I’m pregnant and my body needs to chill the eff out for a minute!

On the exercise front, I went to the gym on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday for walking and weight-lifting. I’m still chugging through the first season of Startup and usually get through two episodes per treadmill session, which I really enjoy and look forward to!

My all-black uniform is still working for me. Even though it’s cotton, this Old Navy slub V-neck tee is really lightweight and just fine for breaking a little sweat on the treadmill. My lululemon Speed Shorts, which are my very favorite for running, have a comfy wide waistband and low rise that sits perfectly below my belly. The pair I’m wearing is a size bigger than my pre-pregnancy size, and I already had them on hand from when I gained weight while traveling. (Oh man… that is a deep reach into the archives from 2012.)

I also attended a fun Brooks Running event a few weeks ago, and they hooked me up with some much-needed items that I now wear constantly: the Uplift Crossback Sports Bra that actually fits and supports my newly larger chest (hurrah!!!), and Launch 3 neutral running shoes. (I was previously still wearing the Ghost 6s that I used to train for and run the Big Sur International Marathon, and they were wayyyy worn-out.)

Even though I just use them for walking right now, the Launch 3s remind me of my beloved Ghosts in that they feel made for me without having to break them in, but are much lighter. I plan to write more about the Brooks event soon, but for now, I just wanted to share that I’m loving these two items!

I feel really good about my fitness level going into the third trimester and will just aim to keep doing what I’m doing for as long as I can do it. I’m especially happy that I still have my “runner’s calves” even though I haven’t run in four months. 

It just goes to show that even something as low-impact as walking can be enough to keep you fit as long as you challenge yourself! I’ve decreased my speed quite a bit over the past several weeks, but I always vary the treadmill incline to get my heart pumping and legs burning.

In baby-gear news, I found crib sheets I LOVE!!! I originally ordered a few SwaddleDesigns sheets through my employer, but then noticed the company itself is currently having a 40% off sheet sale on its website, plus free shipping on orders over $50! They also have a wider selection of cute patterns, so I reordered the sheets directly from SwaddleDesigns.

As I mentioned, they are more expensive than the sheets I previously bought from Target and then returned, but they are made of such soft, lightweight flannel and have awesome reviews. I also discovered from perusing the website that SwaddleDesigns is a Seattle-based company started by a local mom in 2002, and the majority of its products are sewn right here in Seattle, so that makes me feel better about the price. Plus, the patterns are just so. darn. cute.

Elephants & Chickies
Mod Circles
Little Chickies

My friends and family know I have been quite resistant to buying pink things for our daughter, as I don’t want her whole life to be PINK!!!! from the very start, but I’m softening more and more on that front. It helps that these shades of pink are very subtle in person, and they look nice with our grey polka-dot crib skirt. (Many SwaddleDesigns sheets come a variety of other colors, too, not just pink and blue!)

Our childhood teddy bears approve of their new elephant friends.

We also ordered the final piece of nursery art to hang over the crib, which should hopefully arrive well before our baby does! I’ll share what it looks like when we get it, but it’s probably exactly what you’d expect. 🙂 

Thank you so much for all your breast-pump recommendations on Instagram! It sounds like Medela is by far the preferred brand, with specific shoutouts for the Medela Swing, Medela Pump in Style, and Medela Symphony. I’m leaning toward the Medela Pump in Style Advanced with On the Go Tote, as it seems to be a comprehensive set with great portability for taking to work. It’s quite expensive, though, so I’ll double-check that model with our insurance before I buy just to make sure.

Check out this Career Woman carrying her breast pump (and zero other things) with ease and grace. While wearing heels. And being in killer shape. Surely I’ll look just like that when I go back to work. 🙂

Finally, I want to share a few links that made me get all emotional and weepy this week: 

How to Be a Mama via Scary Mommy. My friend Kim, who lost her mom several years ago, shared this on Facebook, and it’s even more heart-wrenching to read as I try to imagine becoming a mom without having my own mom there by my side. Ughhh, I am sobbing again just typing this! Anyway, go read it. It’s very sweet.

14 Raw Photos That Celebrate What Giving Birth Actually Looks Like via Redbook. This may not be for you if you’re squeamish and/or reading this at work, as some of the photos are on the graphic side, but I think they’re lovely. They represent a variety of experiences: home birth, water birth, C-section, doctor-assisted vaginal birth, etc. As I think more and more about giving birth and try to imagine what it’ll be like, it helps to remember that no matter what kind of experience you have or how painful it is, the end result is so precious and beautiful. There I go, getting all soft again!

We are planning to have our ob-gyn deliver our baby at the hospital, and I’m happy to do it however is safest for her, whether that’s a vaginal birth or C-section. I’ve thought about trying to give birth without an epidural, but I’ll most likely get one. I was complaining to Aaron this week about a teeny, tiny burn on my pinky finger, and I was like, “Yeah, I should probably get an epidural.” Ha!

Anyway, that’s all several weeks away (I hope). Bring on the third trimester!

We took this photo last weekend, just after the Seahawks’ embarrassing loss to the Panthers. I look oddly cheerful despite the tragedy that was that game!

Our baby is the size of a butternut squash this week, measuring over 14 inches long and weighing more than two pounds. WHAT?! It seems like just yesterday that she was the size of a “tart kumquat”, but that was way back in week 10! (Fun fact: Aaron wrote in a card for our first anniversary, “Thank you for being the mother to my kumquat” or something similar; I’m sure I’ll be incredibly confused when I look back on that in like 20 years.)

I’m up another pound this week, putting me at about 16 pounds gained. I went to the gym on Monday, Wednesday, and Sunday for walking and weight-lifting, and started listening to the first season of a new-to-me podcast, Startup, which chronicles the creation of a digital media company focused on producing narrative podcasts. So, yes, it’s a podcast about creating a podcast company. I don’t know how to make it sound more interesting than that, but it really is! Thank you to the commenter who suggested it, and to all the people who shared their podcast recommendations on Instagram (check out the comments on this post to see them all). It really makes the treadmill time fly by way faster than music does!

The kiddo has been kicking so hard lately that it feels like she’s trying to escape, which I’m grateful for since I recently had some feelings of panic thinking about the possibility that something could go wrong before she’s born. I know it’s unlikely, but still, a tiny seed of fear is there. Every strong kick is wonderful reassurance that she’s doing just fine.

My energy and hunger levels seemed normal this week, until I crashed hard on Thursday evening. All of a sudden I felt exhausted to the point where it reminded me of the first trimester again, and I fell asleep on the couch from 6-8:30 p.m., then had no trouble going right to bed after that. The next day, and every day since, I’ve been totally back to normal. So weird!

I’m nearing the end of the easy-peasy second trimester (does the third trimester start with week 27 or 28? I’m finding conflicting info), so I’m sure I’ll start feeling exhausted more frequently as the baby’s growth kicks into even higher gear.

As for the nursery, WE NOW HAVE CURTAINS! I spent Saturday buying — no joke — six sets of curtains between Target and Bed, Bath & Beyond, then taking them all home to hang and decide. This was after already purchasing and then returning four previous pairs of curtains. Poor Aaron stopped caring long, long ago.

Anyway, I finally found a pair I liked, then spent two hours using three different methods (dryer, iron, steamer) getting all the wrinkles out, and then ta-da!!! We have us some motherf***ing curtains! (Can you tell I was getting frustrated with this search?) They are these turquoise-y, ocean-y blue ones from BB&B.

I’m sure you’re all like, “Whatever, they’re just curtains.” And they are. But finding the right combo of color, texture, and room-darkening quality was stupid-difficult. We initially wanted blackout curtains, but these darken the room quite well (with the blinds closed; they’re open in this pic) and our baby can just DEAL WITH IT. Gosh, I’m already such a good mom.

Now that those are done, I’ve returned the crib sheets we bought, because what else would I obsess over if I had all of our textile needs figured out? I irrationally began hating the sheets and all the various bright colors, and they just weren’t as soft as I’d like. I’m now eyeing some higher-quality sheets that are also more expensive, but I do get a discount on them through my employer. All the reviews I’ve read say they’re well worth the cost. We shall see… must obsess some more first.

We are lucky to have two big closets in the nursery, and between the two closets is a narrow section of wall that would be perfect for a series of vertical bookshelves like this:

I found this pic on Pinterest, but here is the original blog post on Joy Ever After. Go look at that beautiful nursery and pretend it’s ours, mmmkay?

Anyway, it looks like they used $4 spice racks from Ikea for the shelves, so that is totally doable! We already have a few classic children’s books and I’m sure we’ll soon get many more, so I’m very excited about this project. In fact, we just got Giraffes Can’t Dance from Ali and her husband Brian today! If you read Ali’s blog at all, you know she is obsessed with giraffes and this couldn’t be more perfect coming from her.

Thank you, sweet friend! #freshfromthegym #wokeuplikethis

Speaking of gifts, Aaron’s dad and stepmom gave us some adorable decor they found at Hobby Lobby this week. My favorite item — the one that made me cry in the middle of a restaurant — is this:

The perfect sentiment for our little girl. Thank you, Dwight and Maggie. 🙂

It’s not so much gifts themselves that make me cry; it’s the thought of people we love taking the time to pick out things especially for our daughter. I just get so overwhelmed by the amount of love that is already so evident for her. I don’t know how my tender heart will even handle life when she actually arrives!

Eh-hem… get it together, Devon. In other news, I found an awesome maternity dress that will work for both my baby shower and my friend’s wedding in April! I’ve struggled with finding flattering dresses, as that body-hugging silhouette that looks so cute on some pregnant women just hasn’t worked for me based on the dresses I’ve tried. This maxi dress, on the other hand, is flowy and soft and all those good things. I think it’ll also work well post-birth since it has a nursing-friendly neckline and will skim nicely over the remains of my belly. And it feels like wearing pajamas, but looks dressed-up — my fave.

Since my call for podcast recommendations worked so well last week, I’ll end this week’s post with a few more questions for parents:

1. Where did you mount your baby-monitor camera so that you can see into the crib but not have the cord hanging within reach of it? We’re struggling with this. Maybe we’ll just have to hang it close to the crib, but thoroughly secure the cord to the wall so she can’t strangle herself with it?

2. What is the best breast pump for a working mom? We checked with our insurance company and they’ll reimburse us for any model, so we just need to decide! I’d love to hear your recommendations for the best model in terms of ease of use, cleaning, and portability.

Feel free to leave a blog comment, shoutout on Instagram, or email me at devonpass@gmail.com if you have brilliant answers to one or both of these questions. Thanks in advance!

It was too sunny (!!) last weekend to take a photo in our usual spot, so we had to scramble to find another spot out of direct sunlight since we were on our way to see The Revenant with Aaron’s parents (which was awesome!). We snapped this photo really quickly, but it’s one of my favorites so far. I think I’m looking reallyyyy pregnant, but I know I still have 15-ish weeks to go and that belly is only going to get bigger!

Here’s a look back on how much it’s grown since the first photo at 9 weeks:

I barely even recognize myself from that first photo! I remember I felt a bit chubby when I got pregnant, as I weighed about 5 pounds more than the weight that feels like my fittest, and now I can’t believe how dang skinny I was! Leave it to pregnancy (or any kind of weight gain, really) to make you appreciate what you used to look like when you somehow couldn’t appreciate it at the time.

That said, I don’t miss my pre-pregnancy body at all right now. 99% of the time, I feel more confident about my pregnant body than I did about my non-pregnant body! The other 1% of the time is when I try on unflattering clothes or haven’t exercised in a few days and am just feeling blah in general.

I’ve done great with exercise this week and actually met my goal of going to the gym on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday! I walked for at least 45 minutes on the treadmill each day, and also lifted weights Tues/Thurs/Sat. I’ve officially transitioned to wearing my one pair of Lululemon shorts that still fits (as the waistband hits below my belly) and comfy maternity tees for the gym, as my old workout clothes are too tight and I have no desire to buy maternity-specific workout clothes at the moment.

It works! Even though I walk at a pretty slow pace, I make it sort of a hike with the incline feature and get a good sweat going, so it’s nice to wear shorts.

I got too bored with this season of Serial — sigh, I tried — so I’ve gone back to my old standby, This American Life. Any other suggestions for good podcasts to pass the treadmill time?

My pregnancy app tells me the baby is about 13.5 inches long and weighs about 1.5 pounds this week. That sounds huge! She is still kicking away, especially after I eat during the day at work and after dinner. Aaron and I can now see my belly move in addition to feeling it, and it really freaks me out when I have a plate or something resting on my belly and she kicks it! 

My weekly at-home weigh-in showed I gained two pounds since last week, which puts me up about 15 pounds total. Remember when I was worried that I wasn’t gaining enough weight?? Ha! Aaron is still eating Paleo and quickly dropping the (very few) pounds he gained over the holidays, so we are likely going to be the same weight within the next few weeks… and then I’ll easily surpass him. Bring it on!

My belly is getting in the way more and more, like when I go to pick up something I’ve dropped (gotta bend at the knees), shave my legs or tie my shoes. The struggle is real.

A few random bodily changes I haven’t mentioned before: I’ve had a faint linea nigra below my belly button for several weeks now. It’s so subtle that at first I thought it was an indent from my clothes, but it’s definitely darker skin pigmentation that’s here to stay for awhile! This is not something I care about in the slightest.

On the other hand, my belly button has slowly become more and more shallow, and Aaron is convinced it’s about to pop out. This, I care about! I mean, if it happens, there’s nothing I can do about it, but I’m not excited about the idea of it poking out through my clothes. I’ve heard some pregnant women use stick-on patches to flatten their belly buttons, but I’ll just cross that bridge when I come to it. Maybe it won’t actually bother me?

My sleep quality is still awesome, and I’m clinging to it like the last lifeboat from the Titanic. Aaron and I have long been going to sleep around 9:15 p.m., but lately we’re conking out between 8:00 and 8:30. I LOVE SLEEPING SO MUCH and I’m trying to enjoy it as much as possible before the baby comes! Even when she does sleep in those early days and weeks, I imagine I’ll be hovering over her watching her breathe, because otherwise how will I know she’s OK?? 🙂

We didn’t make any notable baby purchases this week, but our friends Hallie and Patrick gave us their infant bouncer and Rock ‘n Play since their littlest one is now done with them. Thank you, friends!! They also gave us the sweetest little outfit:

I’m dying of the cuteness!!! The tiny hearts!

The nursery curtains that arrived last week are too bright/bold in person, so I’ve ordered them in two other colors and hopefully one of them will work. Once we have the curtains figured out, all we have left in terms of decor is to fill the empty wall space above the crib! We have a good idea of what we want, but need to figure out the right color to go with the curtains, which will be the main color of the room since we’re not painting. Here’s the current (slightly messy) state of the nursery:

Lastly, I got invited to my baby shower this week! My mother-in-law put together the sweetest invitations along with our friend Katie, who also created those custom grandparent Christmas ornaments for us.

My terrible photo doesn’t do it justice, but how cute is that hand-drawn bike and trailer?? Love.

The rest of January is going to be really uneventful and low-key, but we have our babymoon and baby shower to look forward to in February, and then I feel like our baby’s arrival will be just around the corner. I can’t think about it too much or I’ll start to cry from a combination of excitement/terror.

I never know how to end these updates, so… until next week! 🙂

I’m officially six months pregnant! That feels nice and far along.

We had a monthly checkup with our ob-gyn this week, where I had my official weigh-in (13 pounds gained so far) and did my glucose tolerance test to check for gestational diabetes.

I drank this ultra-sugary drink, then gave a blood sample an hour later. I’ve read that some women think this drink is really gross, but I loved it! It reminded me of a flat orange soda — delicious. I could have had another one! I don’t know what that says about me…

I passed the test and don’t have gestational diabetes — hurrah! That wasn’t even my most nerve-wracking test this week, though.

Last year, during my regular annual exam, my doctor found a lump in my breast that she said I should get checked out. So six months ago, just before I got pregnant, I had an ultrasound that showed the lump was most likely a benign fibroadenoma — a very common, harmless thing. I was given the option to have it biopsied just to make sure, or to wait and have another ultrasound in six months to make sure it didn’t grow or change. I opted to wait.

I questioned that decision a few times over the past six months, as I would go back and forth between thinking, “It’s probably fine!” and, “Oh no, what if it’s not fine?” I wished I had just had it biopsied before getting pregnant, because obviously if it turned out to be something bad, it would be a lot worse to deal with while pregnant. But the doctor who had identified it as a fibroadenoma sounded very convinced it was nothing to worry about, so I just tried to calm down and believe it was fine.

Anyway, I had my follow-up ultrasound on the same day as the ob-gyn appointment, and it showed the lump had grown. The doctor said this was completely expected due to my pregnancy — everything has grown! — but I would need to have it biopsied anyway.

So, I had a needle biopsy done to collect three samples of tissue. The area was completely numb, so I didn’t feel anything during the procedure, but it didn’t feel too awesome later that day or the day after. My chest is already tender a lot of the time anyway, so it didn’t make too much of a difference. There is some lovely bruising, though!

I got the biopsy results the following day and it turns out the lump is benign and nothing to worry about, thank goodness. The next step is to have another ultrasound in a year just to check on it. I am so, so, so relieved!

I debated whether or not to share this experience here, but maybe some of you haven’t had your breasts checked in a while — whether you need a manual exam from your doctor, or you’re due for a mammogram — and this will remind you to make an appointment. Do it now, do it now, do it now! It’s always better to know what’s going on with those things, y’know?

As long as I’m talking about boobs, I’ll point you to the bra that has kept me as comfortable as possible during pregnancy: the Simply Perfect by Warner’s Super Soft Wireless Contour Bra. It’s only $16.99 at Target! In my seventh week of pregnancy, I spent a looong time at Target trying on tons of different bras before I found this one, which gave me plenty of support and shape without an uncomfortable underwire. I’ve been wearing it ever since, and I just bought the navy one, too. (Why don’t they make it in black?? So strange.)

Based on the reviews, it looks like lots of other women also love it, so give it a shot if you’re looking for a super-comfy bra, pregnant or not!

On the clothing front, shopping for maternity clothes is much less fun now that my belly is seriously bumping. I feel like all of my cold-weather clothes are drab shades of grey and black and white, so I’ve been hoping to find some things with color, but everything I’ve tried over the past few weeks has just looked odd and unflattering. I guess the things I already have are the most flattering, so I’ll just stick with them?

This was the best I looked after trying on a bunch of stuff, but I was already wearing this outfit (with a long sweater on top for work), so I made zero progress. I do love these A Pea in the Pod basic tanks, A Pea in the Pod leggings and BP. Trolley booties, though. I own more than one color of each of these items, naturally, and they are pretty much the basis of every outfit I wear.

We did make a little progress on the nursery this week, though! The crib bedding I ordered arrived, and it looks just as cute as I had hoped.

Clockwise from top left:

Circo ‘Balloon Ride’ Fitted Crib Sheet
Circo ‘Sweet Kitty’ Heart Fitted Crib Sheet
Circo ‘Snooz’n Safari’ Fitted Crib Sheet
TL Care Dot Crib Skirt (returned)
Circo Dot Crib Skirt

I figure we’ll be cycling through fitted sheets on a fairly regular basis thanks to the various messes babies make, and I like the idea of having a selection of different prints that coordinate with one neutral crib skirt. Target also carries a bunch of other adorable prints by the same brand, so we can always add to our collection if we need more! I ordered two similar crib skirts because the reviews were a little iffy on how the Circo version hangs, but I ironed out all the crazy wrinkles and it looks fine.

We also just got the curtains I ordered, but haven’t hung them yet. If they work, I’ll post an updated nursery picture showing the bedding and curtains next week!

What else? Oh, I did a prenatal yoga DVD this week! My mom got it for me, as she is super into yoga, and it provided a nice, relaxing whole-body stretch. I should do it at least once a week to stay limber-ish.

Aside from that, I only got out for one walk this week — but it was a lovely one.

I live for sunny weekend days when I can spend an hour or two outside and at least pretend it’s not the dead of winter, although the frosty ground and icy sidewalk do a great job of reminding me that spring is still several months away. I can’t wait until it stays light enough for me to walk outside after work! I haven’t been to the gym yet in 2016 because I’m afraid it’ll be packed, but I really should get back on the treadmill this week. I’ll fight for it if I have to! I’m seriously behind on Serial due to my laziness.

One last thing I’ll note, as I write this on the last day of week 24, is that I’m feeling a resurgence of intense hunger and exhaustion. The baby is kicking away every day and growing like crazy, so this is no surprise, but I feel like it marks the beginning of the end of my super-easy phase of pregnancy. Plus, everything I’m reading in my pregnancy app is basically like, “Shit’s about to get a whole lot worse.”

For example, here are some things I do not currently have, but apparently can look forward to in the coming weeks: itchy belly, swelling, headaches, gas, hemorrhoids, restless leg syndrome, Braxton Hicks contractions, dizziness, nasal congestion, increasing immobility… the list goes on. Wheeee!

In the meantime, I’ll continue to be grateful for every day that I feel good, and just try to keep moving so that I can continue feeling good for longer!

Happy New Year!!! 

We had a really low-key week and New Year’s Eve in particular, which was nice and relaxing. We’ve become obsessed with The Great British Bake-Off (aired in the U.S. as The Great British Baking Show because apparently Pillsbury has the term “bake-off” trademarked), and have been binge-watching episodes of it at every opportunity. You can watch it online at PBS.com, and at least one season is on Netflix, so get it in your life!

Despite watching endless episodes of people baking scrumptious treats, this hasn’t caused a huge surge in our consumption of baked goods. Aaron is back to eating Paleo after having indulged in all the same delicious things I’ve been eating while pregnant, so he hasn’t been baking much anymore. So far I’ve only made an effort to get my hands on some French macarons after watching the bakers take on a macaron challenge.

So good! Aside from that craving, I’ve been trying to dial back my treat consumption after a seriously sugary holiday season. My blood test to check for gestational diabetes is this coming week, so… yeah. We’ll see how that goes!

I did a much better job of staying active this week. I walked three miles on the treadmill on Tuesday and got all caught up on Serial. Then, it was so beautiful out for the rest of the week that I did all of my walking outside. Aaron and I went for a five-mile walk together on Thursday (New Year’s Eve, which I took off from work), and I did a solo four-mile walk on Friday (New Year’s Day) and a three-mile walk on Sunday.

Look how pretty! This was from my New Year’s Day morning walk. I did one of my usual running routes and really enjoyed walking it since I was able to take my time and appreciate the beautiful day — even though it was a frigid 28 degrees. Luckily, the route has plenty of hills to keep me warm!

This is truly an “I woke up like this” photo. I try to wear makeup, fix my hair, and look nice for my official weekly photos, so here’s what the opposite end of the spectrum looks like. 🙂

On a related note, one unexpected perk of pregnancy — at least in the second trimester — has been super-clear skin. Before being pregnant, I’d usually have a few minor pimples at any given time. Then my skin noticeably worsened during the first trimester and I had plenty of acne on my face, neck and chest. The worst was when I had two of those horribly painful deep pimples — you know the kind I’m talking about — on my face at the same time. But since the start of the second trimester, I’ve noticed my skin has been incredibly clear. Not perfect, for sure, but about as close as I could hope for! Thanks for that, kid.

I’m still feeling really good, have plenty of energy, and am getting great sleep. The only thing I could complain about is ongoing chest soreness/tenderness, but that’s just part of the gig and I anticipate it being so much worse when I start breastfeeding. So, I’ll just save those complaints for later. 🙂

I will say that I don’t know how naturally well-endowed ladies deal with the, uhhh, growth that happens during pregnancy, because I’m finding it quite annoying and didn’t realize how nice I had it in life as a naturally smaller-chested lady. I ordered some new bras online that are good for both maternity and nursing, so hopefully those will get me comfortably through the end of pregnancy and transition well into my next role as a 24-hour milk machine.

On the nursery front, we finally found crib sheets we like! I ordered fitted crib sheets in three different prints that seem to coordinate well with one cute crib skirt, so I’ll have to see if they really look good together when they arrive. 

We also attempted to shop for curtains this weekend and brought home a set that perfectly matched the sheets, but looked pretty crappy once we hung them. I’ve ordered another set that I hope will coordinate well with the sheets rather than match them perfectly, so we’ll see. 

I really don’t love decorating and don’t think I’m very good at it, so I’m not aiming for Pinterest perfection; I’m more aiming for a passably cute nursery that’s functional and makes me happy to spend time in it. With a crying baby. Being a milk machine.

I’ll end this update with a cute photo of a very small sample of the items Aaron has been bringing home on a frequent basis.

He looooves picking out clothes and hats and all sorts of things for our kiddo. He’ll hit sale sections of stores on his lunch break or check online for good deals and come home with the cutest stuff. I keep telling him to hold off until after our baby shower in February, but hey, I can’t fault him for being so involved and so excited to be a dad. In fact, it just makes me look forward to seeing him with our baby so much more, knowing he’s going to be the best father.

OK, now I’ll actually end this update with a little story. Aaron went to bed well before midnight on New Year’s Eve, and I tried to stay up but passed out on the couch before waking up at around 11:40. That gave me just enough time to wash my face, brush my teeth, and crawl into bed at exactly midnight, when I woke him up for a quick kiss before settling in to sleep.

As I lay there listening to the fireworks going off outside, I could feel our daughter kicking inside me, and it brought me to tears thinking about how exciting this year will be for our little family. Life will definitely never be the same again, but in the very best way.