Sep 06

a pretty boring LDW update

Sep 06

Hello, and hope everyone is enjoying their 3 day weekend!

my sad, clingy baby

We are doing just fine over here, with maybe just a few minor bumps in the road. For one, Molly has been not herself these past couple of days – moping around, not smiling, not eating as much (which for her is really a red flag), and very clingy to me. She was running a fever of 102 on Saturday but thankfully it broke and hasn’t gone over 99 since. I figured this was all due to teething – I can see quite a few molars coming through.

Last night we had planned a night out and since we do that so rarely and we had tickets to a comedy show, we went anyway… (does that make me awful?). My mom and Eric’s mom split babysitting duties and they both noticed that she kept pulling on her ear. So they thought maybe ear infection and suggested I take her to a walk-in medical place today. The only reason I haven’t is because she seems much better today than yesterday, and yesterday she slept in until 8:30 and then took like 4 naps, so I think she probably managed to fight off whatever was causing her issues. Anyway, if she’s not better by tomorrow I guess I’ll take her.

Literally, this is my life now – blogging about possible ear infections. Wow.

After the comedy show last night, we spent a little while hanging out at the bar where the show took place and I ran into a former coworker who I literally haven’t seen in 7 or 8 years. It was clear she had had a few drinks… she was gushing over my belly and mourning the fact that she’s in her 30s, single, and just so jealous that I’m married and pregnant. She said this several times to the point that it was uncomfortable and I didn’t know how to respond anymore. She was thrilled (but also, like, jealous! I hate you! No, I’m kidding I love you!) that I had a girl and was having a boy and that Eric and I were SUCH an adorable couple. SO LUCKY!

A noisy bar was not the place to bring up infertility and the host of other issues that have led to getting to the point I’m at now (especially since I’m quite confident she wouldn’t even remember the conversation the next day anyway), but it’s funny how people only see what’s on the surface. Yes, I am happily married, but Eric and I were on and off for 8 solid years and went through no small amount of hell to finally work it all out. And yes, we seem to have created the perfect nuclear family, but 2 years ago I wasn’t sure I would ever get to be a mom. It’s just funny how you never know what the road to happiness was like. And also funny that there are so many things I would love to change about my current situation (new house, less debt, etc), and yet there are still people out there who are jealous. It’s all a matter of perspective.

On to less introspective topics…

So you want to hear about that other baby? He’s so good! I had another growth scan at the perinatal center on Friday and he’s measuring right where he should be – currently weighing in at 2 lbs 14 oz and on track to be right around 7 lbs for delivery (which would be so amazing because then maybe everyone won’t freak out like they did with itty bitty Molly). As I believe I’ve mentioned before, I think these extra growth scans at perinatal are probably unnecessary, but the big perk is that I get to see him on their super advanced ultrasound machines.

His face! Seeing the 3D images make it so much more real.

The big decision of the week was that Molly and her brother will be sharing a room. We tried in vain to come up with another solution for Eric’s office, but alas, his gigantic desk won’t fit anywhere else and he does actually need an office to work from home, especially if this winter is as bad as they it’s going to be. Honestly, the biggest reason that I wanted to convert the office into another bedroom is because I want it clean – Eric is perfectly content to live amongst clutter, whereas for me, it drives me crazy. So when I look into his office I get super anxious and I thought having an excuse to empty it and clean would help with all of that.

We agreed that we’d leave the office an office provided he clean it and organize it prior to new baby’s arrival. The fact is, Molly’s room is quite large, and for the first few months he’ll be sleeping in the bassinet next to our bed anyway. If we decide they wake each other up too much after we move him to his crib I suppose we can revisit the issue next year, but for now, I think room sharing makes the most sense.

We got a great deal on a crib off Craigslist and my sister is letting me have a dresser… other than that, what does the kid really need? It’s so funny how nonchalant I am this time around compared to last time. I think this has a lot to do with it being a second pregnancy for sure, but also it’s because most of the stuff is ready to go since we already have Molly. (Veteran parents, who would have thought?) First-timers really do overestimate how much you need for a newborn… you know what newborns need? Diapers, boobies, and warm hugs. And I have all those things. :)

Not gonna lie, I’m pretty excited for summer to be over, because fall is by far my favorite season. Sweaters, pumpkin spice everything, falling leaves, crisp air… I love it all. Plus, in 11(ish) weeks, I’m having a baby.

Crazy town.

29 weeks!

May 08

weekend update

May 08

Apologies in advance to Facebook and Insta friends who will probably find these photos redundant.

It’s been a bit of a whirlwind week. Last Saturday, Molly, my MIL, and I accompanied Eric to a conference in Washington DC as a bit of a summer kick-off mini vacay. We could not have asked for better weather, and the hotel/convention center we stayed in was positively gorgeous. It was nice to take a little break and recharge the batteries.

On Sunday we all got to hang out since the conference didn’t kick off until the evening. We took a ferry ride over to Downtown Alexandria and walked around. Molly loved the boat.

Monday Eric was stuck conferencing all day, so my MIL and I (along with Eric’s colleague’s wife and their daughter) headed to the National Zoo in DC. Molly was such a trooper, even with being stuck in her stroller all day – thank the Lord she doesn’t mind napping in there. Her favorite part of the day BY FAR was riding the carousel.

Tuesday we went downtown to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History (did you know they have the Hope Diamond?) and then walked and walked for many hours and miles to see a few of the monuments/historical points of interest. The highlight of the day was finding amaaaaazing gluten-free pizza that’s worth a return trip all by itself.

Our last day was Wednesday – my birthday – and truly it was underwhelming. Welcome to 31, right? We had a huge and delicious breakfast, checked out of the hotel, drove the 4 hours home, and then just kind of sat around. I’m not sure what I was expecting… I guess I’ve reached a point where a birthday is just another day. But at least I wasn’t at work.

Today I had another ultrasound – all looks good, heart rate 176. Since everything went well at my morning appointment, we did make it Facebook official with this photo –

One thing really annoying that happened this weekend? KATE MIDDLETON STOLE MY GIRL’S NAME. I seriously had my heart set on Charlotte and when I heard it was a contender for her, my stomach sank, because I knew that’s the one they would choose. This is a name I fell in love with way back in 2013 when I was pregnant the first time! In other words… long before it became a princess name. Blah. And before you say, “Just use it anyway,” know that I’m dead set on not choosing any top 50 names (and come on, the popularity of Charlotte is about to explode), but I also don’t want anything too out of left field. That’s a task that’s a lot harder than it sounds! Oh, and I’d prefer to stay away from names that end in a “y” sound, because I don’t want it to be too matchy-matchy with Molly. So it’s a tough decision all around.

First world problems, right?

Any name suggestions, send them along! I know Eric wants a boy (and we have a boy name), but my gut is telling me that it’s a girl.

Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!

Apr 20

weekend update: Lilly for Target, house hunting, and finding out I’m actually (internet) famous

Apr 20

Howdy, y’all!

Sorry, I suddenly feel the need to talk more Southern now because… Lilly Pulitzer for Target? Have you guys heard about this craziness?

For all those of you living under a rock (hee hee), the Lilly Pulitzer for Target collection debuted on Sunday, and the lines outside rivaled (or surpassed) Black Friday. Racks cleared in minutes. Items up on eBay for 4 times the price the same day. It was nuts.

the line (or as some said, the yoga pants convention)

I’ll be honest: I’m not into LP. I like bright, fun summer colors and prints, and I’ve seen some stuff that’s cute, but by no means am I a brand follower. I was talking to my sister-in-law Saturday night and she mentioned that she was heading to our local Target at 6:30am to stand in line for this event. I thought that was a little nuts… but at the same time, I was intrigued, simply because I get super anxious/frantic over bargains and also things that other people are passionate about. As much as I would love to turn up my nose and sneer that I don’t care and it’s all pointless (which let’s be honest, it is)… I started getting a little excited and told her I was going to join in.

Molly for Lilly: worth the trip

I went with the intention of getting flip flops, and I did. One bonus of being pregnant at the moment is that I knew none of the summer clothes would fit anyway, and Lord only knows what size I’ll be next year. So, I did manage to duck underneath the mass of clamboring women and grab the flip flops I wanted, plus score a sun hat and a really cute dress and hat for Molly. I grabbed a straw bag just because I could, then stood there for like 20 minutes debating it even though I knew I didn’t REALLY want it, I just wanted it because everyone else wanted it. I kept saying to myself, “Pretend you are alone and no one else wants this bag and Lilly Pulitzer is a mere figment of the imagination. Are you buying the bag?” The answer, of course, was no and I did finally put it back (well, actually, I handed it to the amped up woman standing next to me who saw me gesture towards the empty rack and asked in a loud voice, “DO YOU NOT WANT THE BAG?” before eagerly snatching it up for herself. I’m telling you – this whole thing was just absurd.)

Anyway. So then Sunday we went to look for a house even though we’re totally not ready to buy a house. I can’t remember if I’ve blogged about this before – I compose all these posts in my head and can never keep track of which ones actually make it to publish status and which ones stay trapped in my imagination forever.

Here’s the reality: if there was some profession where I could just look at houses day in and day out and somehow make money doing it, I swear I’d be a millionaire (and don’t say realtor, because I don’t want to sell them or deal with people… I just want to LOOK at them). I am obsessed with looking at houses. Obsessed. Some people spend all of their free time on Facebook… I spend mine on realtor.com. It’s by far the most used app on my phone. At any given moment, I could recite the specs, list prices, and quirks of every single house for sale in my town without having to think about it.

I’m not sure why this is. It might actually be related to the whole Lilly Pulitzer bandwagon thing – I don’t want to feel like I’m missing out on a bargain. But more than that I just love house hunting. In elementary school I used to check floor plan books out of the library – all the time – and read them for fun, dreaming of my future home. I was an odd child.

The truth is, our current house is in our desired town, but it’s on the way outskirts and it’s not in our desired school district. We got it for a really good price and I have every confidence that we will make a profit on the sale, especially with the upgrades we’ve done. When we bought it, there were multiple offers and it sold in 3 days flat. That just proves to me that we underpaid, and if anything, the market has gotten better since then. But there’s that pesky school district problem and Molly’s just getting older…. I don’t know. In a perfect world we would send her to private school, but I’m not sure we’ll be able to afford that. Unless they invent the “looking at houses” career, in which case I will be making more money than I know how to spend.

We’re friends with our realtor and he’s very well acquainted with my particular type of crazy, so he took us to see the house despite the fact that 1) ours isn’t on the market and is nowhere near ready to go on the market and 2) it was clearly overpriced. We arrived at the showing and there was another couple there looking at it… and during the showing (during which the homeowner followed us around and was offended when I asked if there was hardwood under the carpet, probably because there wasn’t) no fewer than 3 more couples showed up. It made me feel that familiar anxiety over wanting to get something everyone else wanted even though I didn’t even want the thing that much.

The three of us (Eric, our realtor, and me) eventually declared the house “janky” and left it to the rest of those couples to battle out. I have no doubt they’ll have multiple offers in no time. It was very telling, though. Everyone wants that school district and 4 bedrooms. When we really do find “the one,” we need to be better prepared to act quickly.

So then later on I got a really awesome message from an old friend. I’ll relay it below.

I mean, how freaking cool is that? I’m an internet sensation! (Haha, hardly). But truly, this is why I do this. Because if I can inspire and offer hope to just one person – just one – then it’s totally worth putting it all out there and potentially making a fool of myself.

Hope you’re all having a fantastic Monday. If anyone else has any Lilly for Target stories, please share, so I don’t feel like the only materialistic psychopath around here. :)