Hearts and Converse

Southern California is having a heat wave.
We escaped the hot temps by heading indoors to pretend city.  We go here way too much, but it's such a great place for Jillian to learn, socialize, and play. 

I am back, finally

So what's been going on?

I got a promotion at work. I am moving departments, but am still planning and overseeing events. It's a great move. I am going to be aquiring a new skill set that will include marketing, and speaker management. I am so excited. Plus the major perk is that I have more flexibility with my schedule, which means less travel and more chances for me to work from home.

Speaking of travel, I had my first business trip to NYC last week. I took the red eye out of LAX on Easter and went straight into the office Monday morning. I was more upset then Jillian was, that's for sure. I suspect she had no clue that I was even gone, plus she got some major bonding time with daddy.

For mother's day we are flying to Vegas. Not exactly the ideal place for a baby, but it's my favorite city, and I might as well start her young. :) We are staying at the Mandalay Bay and doing some fun things. Mandalay Bay has a beach with wave pool, plus we are seeing the Cirque de Soleil show: Love @ The Mirage. Tim and Jillian will fly home after two days, and I will continue working the rest of the week and return home on Saturday. Business trip #2 will soon be another big accomplishment.

Posts will become more consistent from here on out...

Now what???

No one likes to spend an afternoon dealing with this:

Of all places for my car to break down, it happened right in front of Babies R Us. I thought to myself, THANK GOODNESS, I could at least use their mother's lounge in case Jillian awoke and got hungry. Lucky for me, she slept through the whole thing. I broke down at 11 am, and by 11:45 am the tow truck guy was there.

Tim and I were considering a larger car before Jillian even arrived, and this incident above just solidified our decision. We need a practical, RELIABLE car now that we have Jillian. Our desired car would be small crossover SUV like the Honda CRV, Toyota Rav4, or Acura RDX. We are clueless when it comes to SUV's. Lucky for us we are in no hurry. Any suggestions from my blog friends would be appreciated. What kind of car do you mom's drive? Are they roomy enough? What do you like about your car?

Do tell.

At the moment Happiness Is....

1) Lunches with friends. Lunches are easy for Jillian and I. We get the mornings to hang out around the house. After a quick nap and a feeding, we are off. Then its gossip sessions with the girls....

2) Hand Lotion. I lather on hand lotion ALL day long. I have a bottle on my coffee table and in each bathroom. There is also one next to the kitchen sink. Having a baby means washing your hands all the time...My cuticles have seen better days.

3) Kuerig Mini Plus. Making coffee has never been so easy. Literally, it takes 2 minutes to brew my own individual cup. No more wasting coffee after making a pot too large, and no more runs to starbucks.

4) Little Lamb Swing by Fisher Price. This swing is the cadillac of swings. Jillian loves to be in this swing, and it allows me to get things done around the house. It's a win win.

5) The Halo Sack. Jillian can't sleep without it.

6) Nook Color. Tim uses it for video games and I purchased my first book on it today. I am reading Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. It's pretty awesome.

7) Words with Friends. I play this game while I pump. You know me and pumping....I am doing it ALL the time, so it keeps me distracted for the 20 minutes.

8) Slow cooking. Last week alone, I cooked 5 meals on this thing. It's crazy easy, and most of the meals are healthy.

Update

Why helloo......bad blogger here, yep I am guilty!! First and foremost: there is no baby yet! She is still very comfortable where she is at.

I had my 40 week appointment this week and brought Tim. I thought for sure we would talk induction and I wanted Tim present for that. She did her normal check, and to our surprise I am 3 com dilated and still 60 % effaced. She didn't want to discuss induction with us, because she is certain the baby is going to come in the next week, but just to appease me, we scheduled one for December 10th.

I am so anxious!! I really am.

I also have this suspicion that she could come tomorrow on my actual due date!
I have been feeling contractions ---- but trying to figure out if they should be taken seriously is hard. I feel them mostly in my back when they start, and then they move to my pelvic area. They aren't strong, just uncomfortable. Currently I am writing this entry, watching the Housewives of Beverly Hills and doing laundry. If I am having contractions I would much rather do it here than in the hospital :)

In other news, I have been a terrible blogger. I didn't even get to share my black Friday shopping stories with you guys which are insane!! I hit up Walmart at midnight, Kohls at 3:30 am and Target at 4 am. Will I ever do it again ----- PROBABLY NOT. I don't want to say never, but I can see why it gets all the hype especially if you are shopping for kids toys or electronics. I think then it would be worth it.

Quick Updates 11/11/10

• As of Wednesday, I am currently 1 cm dialted and 50% effaced. I know this is no indication of when baby girl will be here, but I am glad to see my body is preparing for labor. Tim and I are a buzz of emotions! Bags are ready - check. Car seat is installed - check. My nesting instincts went hog wild when I heard of this news, and I finally finished putting the final touches on our new entry way bookshelf. I have a few more things I want to do around the house, but most of all I want to enjoy these last few weeks with Tim.
  
• My heartburn is a bitch. Enough said.
  
• My last day of work is tomorrow - maternity paperwork has been filed with disability/FMLA, and HR is aware of my departure. I had to prepare a list of outstanding projects, but the list was short, since all my events ended this week. I feel great about leaving with very little to pass on to my already busy team.
• I am meeting up with my MIL next week to steal a ton of her home cooking recipes. My MIL is the best cook I know, and I am eager to get my hands on her recipes. She even made me the cutest homemade apron, to get me into the cooking spirit. XO
  

Weight Gain and Pregnancy

This chart had a very informative breakdown of how your extra weight is distributed during pregnancy. note: it does not say anything about why I gained about 5 pounds in my ass.

I blame science for leaving that out.

The hairstyle on the pregnant mom below also needs some updating.

Scattered Thoughts....

This week has been rough. I am not ready to go into the actual details of the situation, but one of my close family members is in the hospital. It's hard to be so far away from family in times like these....

So Tim and I have been trying to stay busy. Last weekend we went to the pumpkin patch in hopes of bringing home that perfect pumpkin for our mantle. The end result was this (sorry about the bad picture quality):




I also worked on a DIY project that I spotted on Spearmint Baby via Life Sweet Life. Check out Sarah's blog on how to create your own closet dividers. Just like Sarah, I didn't want to pay for these, so I attempted to create them myself by following Sarah's step by step tutorial. I spent $4.50 for this entire project, and it was so easy to do.




The nursery is still a work in progress. There really is hardly anything left to do, but I don't want to post pictures until everything is completely done. We are getting the carpets and the fabric rocking chair professionally cleaned next week. Don't even get me started on telling you what happened last Sunday night. Let's just say there is a huge beer stain right next to her crib from a certain someone....

The Grove/Farmer's Market/Mesa

I had to get up earlier than normal on Saturday. My parents were heading down to LA for the night. They were seeing the Eagles in concert at the Hollywood Bowl. They didn't have plans during the day, so I took advantage of their time and met them at the Grove and the Farmers Market for lunch. It was so much fun! We circled the farmers market until our taste buds told us to stop. Basically we ate a ton of food! The weather was incredible, and we spent the later half of the afternoon window shopping/people watching. My mom dragged me into SAKS to look at all the high end designer clothing, and my dad waited patiently while we would sneak into stores and do some quick shopping.

My parents splurged and bought me a top from Anthropologie, the one I blogged about last Thursday. It was really sweet of them. They said it was an early anniversary present.

Then on Saturday night, Tim and I met up with friends for dinner and drinks at Mesa. We had a great time catching up with Megan and we met her boyfriend, Jason. We finished the night hanging out at John and Lisa's and then headed home.