11 weeks to go......

HOLY SHIT!

11?

really?!

I am so not ready in so many ways......

I will spare you the long and growing list of things that need to be taken care of before this little one graces us with his or her presence. But it is long. and overwhelming when I think about it too much or for too long [which is all the time....]

I am feeling good in general, tired. my feet are still swelling up every day. and i can't bend over with any sort of grace. but in general, I feel good. Oh and notice the belly button sticking out just a little bit more everyday. it's going to take over my whole stomach soon i think. But really, I could definatly do without the "is it twins?" comments from the peanut gallery. I realize I am large and in charge, but GEEZE!

One thing that has been hitting hard is nesting! I can't stand everyday clutter around the house - I came home from work friday and barely got my coat off before I was tideying up the entire place because it had to be done.right.now. I want to rearrange everything in the baby's room SO bad - but we need the furniture and everything in there before I go too crazy in there! We should be picking it up here in the next couple of weeks. Very excited to see that room actually start to look like a nursery!

We have our next ultrasound on Wed. and can not wait to see this little one again!

tell me the truth

do maternity tights make a difference when you are 7mo pregnant?

You see, I have a very cute outfit on today - a dress even, and being as it is flippin freezing here, I needed to wear some tights to keep my legs warm. So I had bought a pair just one size bigger a few weeks ago. They are not working, they keep rolling down under my tummy leaving ridiculous lines you can see through the dress of course.
So is it worth spending the extra $$ on special maternity tights? Inquiring minds want to know....

yooouuu-whooo

lurkers: come out come out wherever you are!

I know I have a lot more readers than I do commenters - please don't be shy. We don't bite. (unless you are an oreo, then I might have a nibble...) I want to hear from you!

k thanks! :)

my husband rocks friday

I think I may have missed a few weeks......but rest assured he does wonderful things all the time.

Last weekend - we had a huge snow storm. It required multiple drive-way shovelings in one day just to be able to get the car out.
Mike broke his thumb on Sunday playing lacrosse - ya i know.
When the snow kept on coming this week and it took me over an hour to get home one night (regular commute is about 15min) I pulled into the driveway to my broken husband shoveling our driveway for the 495756x this week, broken thumb and all, so I would be able to make into the driveway ok!

He also started doing the laundry for us this week. He never does laundry. But he decided that he should take on that responsibility now so I wouldn't have to worry about it on the weekends. (I still have to do the folding, but that is ok with me!)

Love you!

**edited to add my wifely advice as requested by Katy Lyn!
-- say i love you every morning and every night, followed by a kiss. even if you had a bad day, this always makes me feel better. to know that at least one person is by your side everday is a truely amazing feeling.

all things adorable and overpriced

While I was TTC and since I have been pregnant I have done SO MUCH internet surfing for unique baby things -- that are not all cutsey, pastel and cartoon like.

One of the most awesome and adorable things I have found are babylegs.

These are so cute. so practical.

I have also run across Tinyprints. They make me want to create all kinds of adorable birth announcements, invitations, random other mailings. No rubber duckies or bunnies in pastel colors to be found.....

When it comes to the baby's nursery - we have the painting done and it just looks like we need more. Then I found her store on Etsy.com and these bubbles will complete our modern nursery perfectly!!

I know personalization is a big thing. I ran across this website with these incredibly unique onesies. I want this one:

These are just a few of the things that I have come to love.

What baby (or mommy) things have you come across that are unique, practical, must have!

breathe deep

I need to take about a million deep breathes or I am going to lose it.
No really, I am.
It seems like all I have been doing lately is whining about this or that, but GAWD I need to catch a break. I would love, and I mean LOOVE for something to go absolutly right. Not even as planned, just right, without a problem or glitch or hangup. This has not been a good few months for my poor little head and my raging hormones.
I am incredibly happy about plenty of things, terrfied about twice that and unclear on a solution for almost all of the things that are freaking me the fuck out right now.

No - I haven't been studying. No I don't care. No I probably won't be able to retake step 1 before the baby is born. I am fine with it - really it's the last thing on my mind at the moment.
There is this avalanche of student loan debt that is about to fall straight on my head in about a month and it is making me very very nervous. scared. panic.
A little person that is soon to arrive and I feel unprepared (but you knew that) without a clear path on how to get prepared.
Mike broke his thumb this weekend - on his right hand - since of course he is right handed. Ouch.
My job is annoying me, because I don't get a paid maternity leave and they are making me feel like I have to be back ASAP. There has been talk about working from home, but at the moment that is all there is. and damn it I want to work from home since daycare is going to cost me my right damn arm.
The doctor told me last week that I need to eat less. and then today they told me that I "just passed" my GTT. and I should probably eat less. ok thanks, call the pregnant lady fat.
If one more thing gets added to my schedule between now and July I might need to clone myself. I am excited for all of these things, but man!

so, I need some deep breathes (a massage....) and some good luck. period. end of story.

you know that place....

where uncertainty meets reality? (or where your boobs meet your stomach....*) I am there!

I feel like there is so much in limbo in my life right now yet so many things moving forward full steam ahead that eventually all of these things are going to collide and become real!

• 14wks until the baby is due (yay!) and lots of things left to do (i promise i won't list them all!) to prepare.....
• our living situation is forever uncertain just based on the fact that any time someone could buy it. while i know things will get taken care of in this sense, it still makes a girl uneasy - especially since the solution to easy my fears was shot down.
• waiting to find out if i got accepted into the masters program i really want.
• hoping my job gets better and can keep me more entertained during the day.
• husband starts school in a few weeks, our schedules will definatly be changing.
• an overwhelming number of financial concerns - all that i am certain will be handled well but good lord they all have to come at one time huh?
• really just wondering what kind of mom i will be when i feel like i know nothing about raising a child besides the basics! but i do have my dr. seuss voice ready so there is that....

I know i need to take a deep breathe and chill out but it is hard for me. I am a planner. I want to know things will work out just like I see them in my head and most of these things I have no control over at all. I need organization, order, excel spreadsheets.

The excitement over the baby is starting to build though and the idea that this little acrobat inside of me will be on the outside sooner than later, that is scary! ( i mean how will it get out here? i know my belly button can't expand that much right?!** ) I want to know if it is a boy or a girl - most of you seem to think girl! Husband thinks girl, I do some days. Some days I think alien***. We have another appt on Thursday - GTT test - I think everything will be fine as long as I can still have my oreos!

*ya, i discovered this surprise while changing the other day. my boobs have never touched anything other than fabric before - i was quite unsure how to handle this!

**I know the baby doesn't come out of my belly button, but I can't bring myself to think about where it ACTUALLY comes out of yet....

***I also know I am not carrying an alien, but the way this munchkin moves you would like there are about 6 arms and 8 legs sometimes!

Year in Review

So I couldn't reflect on this past year without lots of pictures to illustrate.

Let's Begin....

At the beginning of the year I started this little blog and got hooked on the internet connections it led to! I was also incredibly uncertain of my future and what to do with it.

Oh ya, and they got engaged - They are getting married this year a few days before our anniversary and 2wks before the little one is due, it should be interesting!

We celebrated our first anniversary along with easter.

Apparently easter is a big holiday for us and we didn't know it!

They both had birthdays and both were very much fun!

I am very excited to join in on the April birthday craziness :)

My mom graduated from college! That was a great day. Probably the only great day that May, June and July had to offer....

Mr. Bell left for Korea in June..... we had a fun night out before he left and we miss him!!

We took a very last minute and spur of the moment trip to Disney in July. It was well deserved and very much fun. This was the end of July's happiness pretty much since all of that other stuff happened this month.

This happened in August. It was the best thing that happened to me all summer and while it was planned it was just as unexpected!

Mom & Gordon got married in September! It was beautiful and lots of fun. Even when the power went out.

We had lots of fall time adventures because the weather cooperated nicely! Life settled down a little bit and we found some answers to a lot of unanswered questions.
We moved and then me and the sisters went to see a great show! It was a wonderful girls night out.
They finally got engaged :) I love you guys even if you are going to make me trek my newborn down to the holler for the wedding.

and finally it was Christmas time!!!

and then New Years Eve - lots of fun with some great friends. It was the perfect way to end a very crazy and unpredictable year.

we are only 9 days apart, yet look at the difference in those bellies!!


For all the things that went wrong this year, twice as many went right. It definatly did not start out or end like I expected and that is perfectly ok. The things that I have learned and that I have experienced have definatly made me a stronger and better person. But I definatly could not have made it without all of the wonderful people in my life that shared all of the sadness, happiness and uncertainty with me. Thank you for that, and I can't wait to see what 2009 has in store.