Saturday, August 16, 2014

Beer, Barbecue and Baby Talk

Last weekend my parents hosted a baby shower in Iowa for us: "Beer, Barbecue and Baby Talk".  Mom wanted this shower to be as much about Bart as it was for me and the baby and it was so much fun!  Mom and Joe know how to throw one hell of a party - we learned this at our engagement party last year.  Hmm... I wonder what the occasion will be to celebrate next year!

Mom did so great with every little detail!  One thing I loved is we used some of the table decorations from our wedding.  I loved it!!!




 Those blocks say "Sweet Baby Girl".  Mom and Joe made those - cut out the blocks, sanded every single one and then decorated them.  These will go in baby girl's nursery!


 The banner at the top was also made by mom - you can't see it well in this pic - it also says "Sweet Baby Girl" and is absolutely adorable!!

 Gotta have the koozies!

We had so many family, neighbors, and family friends join us to celebrate.  I wish I would have done a better job at getting pictures of everyone.  We also had a couple of friends travel to see us, Izik & Matt, Cristie & Josh all traveled from Illinois and Carrie traveled from Waterloo.  We really appreciate you all making the trip and celebrating with us!  
 Matt, Izik, Bart, Momma & baby, Cristie & Josh
Carrie and I
 My friend of 24 years and my MOH, Crissy came to join the festivities.  
Soon to be mommy and daddy - holy moly are we ready for this???  
Maybe I should caption this "the calm before the storm"...

Mom also planned for a couple games to keep things interesting.  The first was a dressing of the baby contest.  Bart had a team of 5 guys and I had a team of 5 girls - we had 5 pieces of baby clothing (diaper, outfit, socks, hat and swaddle blanket) and had to see who could dress the baby the fastest.  I was so impressed with the guys!  The ladies barley won and to be honest, there was a little table cloth in our swaddle - the guys were fantastic.  I was very proud of Bart for his quick diapering skills - however now that I know he can change a diaper... 

The second game was a chugging beer out of a bottle contest.  There were 3 heats and then the 3 finalists did one last chug to get one champion.  This was HILARIOUS - my cheeks hurt soooo bad from laughing!! The first heat we left the nipples of the bottles very small and watched them struggle for a good 15ish minutes - mean? maybe!  but soooooo funny!!!  

Heat 1: the boys and Goober


 Izik was the winner of Heat 1!

Heat 2: the ladies - Jenn (2nd from right won this heat)


Heat 3: now this was interesting!  We have Jay, Rick and Joe (seasoned beer chuggers), Jess and Matt.  I thought for sure poor Matt and Jess would get smoked... but NOPE Matt took this one!

And the finals: Izik, Matt and Jenn.
And the winner is.... Izik!  He's kind of a celebrity around these parts, first he married us and then he won the beer out of a bottle chugging contest.  He's kind of a big deal!

It was such a fun day and so wonderful to see everyone!!  A huge thank you to Mom and Joe for throwing this awesome party and to everyone for coming to celebrate and spoil our little lady!  She officially has more clothes than I do!!

Sunday, August 10, 2014

Chicago Baby Shower

My sweet friend Courtland threw us the most adorable baby shower this past Saturday.  She put so much time and thought into every little detail and even  used our pink & gray nursery colors!  


 I'm soooo obsessed with these pink plates!  

 Good thing they were bite sized cupcakes because I had to try each kind!

I was quite excited about this as I only had a couple bibs!  
My friends are quite creative decorators!

Just having our wedding 9 months ago, I knew I had amazing and supportive friends and now with this baby, they are here to show their support again!  It's so wonderful as a lot of these ladies are mom's already and I love hearing all their advice and stories!  The biggest thing I've learned so far is every baby is different and we will have to figure out what works with our baby girl (we already know she likes drama so it should be fun ride)!  Thanks ladies for being my own personal mommy network!

Ricca, Brie, Mom, me, Courtland, Tamara, Jenn, Rachel & Cristie 
(not pictured: Jen Dakin - where the heck were ya?)

I absolutely love these ladies!  Thanks so much for making my day so special and spoiling our little peanut!  We really really appreciate all of your love and support!

Also, thanks so much to my mom for making the trip to join the shower!  Mom and Joe came up for the weekend and helped us so much around the house!  There were 2 light fixtures installed, a fixed shed floor, multiple shelves hung, curtains redone and a number of other finishing touches to make this house our home.  Thanks for everything guys!!!!

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

BUMP PICS: I can't believe it's been 30 weeks!

30 WEEKS!!  That means only 10 to go!!  Or as my husband likes to say 8-12 to go.  We have has so many changes since the last blog!  I think the most exciting part is we found out we're having a GIRL!!!  Bring on the pink and the bows and anything frilly!!!


 Ultrasound pics from our 20 week appointment.  I wonder who our peanut will look like! 
PS. We have the "its a girl" pic too but I didn't want to gross anyone out :-)
We can't decide if she is waiving hi, saying STOP TAKING MY PICTURE, or my personal preference is she is singing STOP collaborate and listen... Either way that little hand is just adorable!

I stayed kickboxing through the month of June which was 26 weeks.  I really wanted to make it through June, the thought of leaving my kb girls and not having that constant exercise scared the crap out of me!  However, by the time I stopped it just wasn't worth it anymore.  I was barley able to move, my back hurt so bad I was seeing a chiropractor to feel better then go to another class and have to go right back.  I'm so glad I did it but I'm secretly happy to be on break until after baby girl is here!

We also moved to the suburbs!  We live in a fantastic house in Arlington Heights.  I have a garage and room for all of us and a washer and dryer and a back yard - it's heaven!  It also cut my commute time to work down to like 25ish minutes which will be SUPER helpful once the baby is here.  Bart and I have mixed feelings about leaving the city but we're a quick train ride/drive away and this is a much better place to raise our daughter (EEKS!!) The house is coming along, I have some pictures but don't want to post until I have the decorations hung up so stay tuned!

We moved when I was 27 weeks pregnant and I'll admit, it wasn't so easy.  I took a lot of time to pack and organize and go through everything.  I did put my 2 sizes of pre-pregnancy clothes in multiple bins based on season so they will be easily accessible when I need them.  My husband was great, he tried very hard not to let me lift anything as by the end of the day I could barley walk.  Our friend James also came to help us move and unpack and let me tell you - that guy was a GODSEND!!  Cannot thank him enough for all of his help!

Here are some bump picks since my last blog post - keep in mind this is over week 17 to week 30.




 At 23 weeks, we went to Iowa to visit the family - here is a pic of the cousins.
 My sister in law is also preggers and due the EXACT SAME DAY.  Here is the two of us, both at 23 weeks, both having a girl!  I can't wait to meet my baby niece!!!
 Tabby loves to snuggle with her sister.  Its actually pretty funny because Tabby will lay on my belly and purr and purr and the baby will kick her,Tabby's eyes will get really big like WHAT THE HECK IS IN THERE! 



 This is from the 4th of July so I was 27 weeks pregnant here, this was also after an entire day of unpacking.

 Momma was too tired to get ready this day - pony tail, glasses and something comfy!
30 Weeks!

At 28 weeks I had my glucose test.  They sent me home a couple visits before with this orange drink and directions, fast for 2 hours, drink the drink within 5 minutes and then you have to have your blood drawn within an hour so plan accordingly.  This was tricky as traffic was terrible!  But I passed the test and all is great.  The doctor did mention that I am retaining a lot of fluid and have quite a bit of swelling.  My ankles are not recognizable and I feel like the marshmallow man.  I will tell you my least favorite things to hear are "oh you have so much longer to go" and "it gets so much worse" please moms - don't say this to a pregnant woman.  I know it's going to get worse, I know I still have 10 weeks but please stop reminding me.

Another thing I'm so not used to is how tired and exhausted I am.  I remember when I was like 9-10 weeks pregnant I couldn't keep my eyes open at about 3pm ever day and I feel like I'm right back there.  There has been a couple nights in the last week where I've gotten home from work and taken like an 1.5 - 2 hour nap! It also may be because at night, getting up to pee 2-3 times doesn't help but hey I'll take what I can get!

I did try prenatal yoga and let me tell you it felt amazing!  You just feel all stretched out and loose and amazing.  The weird part was I was the only one in class with the instructor and apparently you do a lot of kegels during class.  So there were parts we're both just staring at each other, doing some kegels.  WEIRD!  At one point she asked how I do my kegels - UMMMM ARE THERE MULTIPLE WAYS!?!?!?!  So I decided this will be a much better thing for later in the pregnancy, in a few weeks I think I'll go back but for now I'll just do any kegels on my own thank you very much!

The next few weeks are going to be extremely busy - we're taking a trip to Missouri with the family, my sweet friend Courtland is throwing me a shower in Chicago and my parents are throwing us a BabyQ in Dubuque.  We will also be taking 4, yes 4 classes to prepare ourselves.  I know people have different opinions on this - I've heard "waste of money" from multiple people but you know what?  We're first time parents, we are both people who like to do research and take training to further our knowledge and if it makes us comfortable - that's what we're going to do! 

 I'll do my best to keep up with the blogging but bare with me as I may be taking a nap instead :-).  

Saturday, April 19, 2014

Experiencing Pregnancy - 16 Weeks and Counting

Hello all!  Time sure flies when you’re having fun!  So an update on what’s all going on with us… Bart started his new job at Ulta.  He is a Project Manager for their Sales Operations department.  In true Bart fashion, he has been busy meeting with every single person he can get a hold of and already making starting trends like “Tie Tuesday”.  Doing what he does best, he is building relationships and already making a name for himself.  Couldn't be more proud of that man!  We are preparing to leave on 4/22 for our trip to Paris and Poland, I had a brief moment of panic last weekend when I realize we were going for 12 days and I don’t even own 12 maternity shirts! For me, work is really busy – no time to relax much there, I’m still teaching kickboxing and trying to get in any exercise I can before collapsing at the end of the day.  Getting used to all the changes in our life is something you would think I’d be good at by now since I love living in a constant state of change but for now we will just take it all one day at a time J. 

Here are some pics over the past month of my growing bump (sorry for the terrible selfie quality):

 Top: Kohl's  Jeans: Gap

 I had to change up my workout clothing.  A good tip I got was not to stretch your current tops over your belly b/c when you're not pregnant all of you workout clothes will be too big.  I got this top from Old Navy for pretty cheap.  These workout bottoms are from Gap Maternity section.

 Top: Motherhood Maternity   Jeans: Motherhood Maternity


 Top: Target (not maternity boyfriend sweater)  Pants: Motherhood Maternity

I thought I would share some of the things I've learned so far in this pregnancy.  NOTE: ALL PREGNANCIES ARE DIFFERENT; do not think that just because I had this experience that you will.

Your Body is No Longer Yours: I fully believe that in your late 20’s/early 30’s you start to feel comfortable in your own body.  I was to a weight/muscle mass I was happy with and felt like I had things under control.  Now, I don’t even recognize this body.  There are things changing and shifting and everything is just different.  Let’s further explore some of these changing shifting differences…
~        Fat… everywhere: Your body like collects fat in random places.  My thighs now touch… awesome!  Also, I now have back fat – I’ve never ever had back fat in my entire life but now… oh it’s there by the handfuls!
~        Hyper-aware of EVERYTHING:  With my experiences so far with this pregnancy, I have no idea when to freak out over a pain or know when it’s “normal.”  But you suddenly realize every single thing that is going on.  For example, there is round ligament pain which you feel sometimes when you twist or move a certain way or just when your uterus decides to grow.  There is also a medical term that I learned… wait for it… Lightening Crotch!  I swear to you – Google it!  It means different things at different stages of your pregnancy.
~        What is a bowel movement again?  PS. Enjoy going to the bathroom whenever you want because this situation gets much much much more difficult when pregnant.  I won’t go into gross details just expect the worst and hopefully you’re pleasantly surprised. Best kept secret… Colace!
~        Pregnancy Gingivitis: YEP!  It’s a thing!  I went to the dentist and luckily I had a very mild case (the fact I haven’t been to the dentist in a year didn’t help) but ladies – GO TO THE DENTIST!  They showed me videos with severe cases and no one wants bloody gums!

Unexpected Unexplained Crying: So I’m not very emotional, everyone knows that.  I found myself in a very odd situation a few weeks ago.  I was watching Real Housewives of New York and the skinny tall model crossed the finish line of some mud run / warrior dash type race and I burst into tears.  I was so happy for her accomplishment I was overwhelmed with compassion and joy.  I shared this story with my co-worker who went home to watch the episode – she came to work the next day and said “Monica I have no idea what you were crying over, there was not a sappy moment in entire episode”. 

Comparing myself to others:  I happen to be in a position where I know 5 people that are due within 1 month before or after me, and I have a LOT of friends who have recently had children.  What this does for me is gives me an endless supply of people to ask really random questions to and get lots and lots of information.  The hard part is not to compare myself to others.  I learned that everyone gains weight differently; I was in maternity pants at like 12 weeks where I know people further along than me still in their regular pants.  People feel things at different times, I have no idea what I’m looking for – is that gas or a kid moving around?  I love my friends and I love asking them about every little thing going on, it’s just good for us all to remember that we don’t have to be the same.

Husbands don’t have to change… right away: I had this conversation with my friend Courtland and I think it’s the best advice I’ve gotten so far.  My body is changing, I’ve changed a lot of my lifestyle – food, alcohol, workout intensity, My mind in on this peanut 24/7.  It’s a little different for husbands.  They get to hear us talk (or whine) about how we’re feeling.  They feel empathy.  They understand the financial changes and even location changes that may have to happen before this peanut arrives.  But I would go as far as to say they really don’t get it quite yet.  I think when our bundle of joy is crying or pooping or needing daddy, husbands step right up to the plate but before then, it’s hard for them to imagine.  I try to remember this and give Bart a break when he says or does something not so smart but man sometimes it’s hard to remember!

Well that's all my thoughts for now.  I'll catch you all up again after our trip to Paris and Poland. Paris has always been a bucket list thing for me and I'm soooo excited that I get to go there with my husband and we will get to show peanut the first time we traveled out of country.  I'm also excited to visit Poland and meet some of my extended family and see where Bartosz grew up.

Thanks everyone for your support - I love you all!