Crafty November 24, 2009

I think homemade things are better…always. It helps that my Mom is super talented and made things my whole life from doll clothes to my homecoming dresses.  I, on the other hand, don’t know my way around a sewing machine and really have no clue how much a yard of fabric really is.  When I took “Living Skills” in middle school I made a tote bag that the teacher wanted to keep as an example of how NOT to make a tote bag.  Seriously.

Fortunately, I can follow directions. So things I bake or cook come out right about 95% of the time.  And when I’m feeling ambitious I can make certain craft projects work.  Our dog Dutch ripped  the pillow case on my body pillow (which Patrick named “A-Pillow Creed”) I bought some needle and thread and sewed it back up. It looked like Frankenstein’s pillow. But hey, it kept the stuffing from falling out and that’s all I cared about.  See? Make it work! Rylee’s Halloween costume had little sleeves that are supposed to hang off her shoulders.. she didn’t like it. Insert GiGi with the handy needle and thread and tada!!! Sleeves that stay ON her shoulders .

There’s a point to all of this, I promise.  I’ve been looking for a French memo board for Aiden’s room for the last month. I’ve found a couple at places like Kohl’s but they aren’t at all what I was looking for.  The fabric was really old or really girly.  I spoke with my Mom a little bit about it and we had planned on putting one together when she comes down to visit. I…couldn’t wait that long and had one of those ambitious nights last night.  A trip to Michael’s and Walmart and about 7ish dollars later I produce this:

French Memo Board ala Jenn! Now… I’m celebrating and you can make fun of me all you want but I think it looks pretty good! Especially considering I ran out of staples to staple the fabric to the cork board AND I also ran out of ribbon.  So there you have my one successful craft project of the year!

Meanwhile…..

My parents are constructing Aiden a TOY BOX. They.built.a.toy.box. I’m patting myself on the back for being able to glue some ribbon on some fabric and staple it to a cork board while my parents conjure up this:

and they’re not done either! My Mom is making a cushion for the top of the box.  It does look so great though and I am excited to have it in Aiden’s room .

Then we have super talented friend Cindy who etched our Champagne flutes for our wedding:

It’s hard to tell in the picture but one says Mr. Polasek and the other says Mrs. Polasek.  She also made this beautiful blanket for Aiden:

Thank goodness I have a friend and a Mom who are so handy that they can make all these homemade goodies for my Son!

At least I know when he gets into his Kindergarten arts and crafts I will be the BEST at helping him

Best weekend of the whole 9 months November 22, 2009

This weekend started out just how I needed it to–with a massage! I’ve never had a professional massage before and it was so wonderful. You go into this dark room with relaxing music, lay on this heated table under blankets–I think I want my bedroom to be just like the room at Massage Envy.  I laid down ready for the most relaxing experience when all of a sudden the sounds of tranquil music was interrupted by …

“SO IS THIS YOUR FIRST BABY?”

I thought I was getting a relaxing massage not chatting with the hair dresser at the salon? hush lady! I’m trying to go nite nite while you rub my swollen feet. I conversed with the massage therapist for a couple of minutes to be polite then shortened my answers to one word until she got the hint .  The massage was the best thing-I wasn’t sure if I had actually fallen asleep or I was just that relaxed. When leaving the place I felt like I was in a dream world.  The best part is the other part of my birthday present from my parents is a pedicure which I will be taking advantage of next week.

Speaking of birthday presents, Patrick went ahead and gave me mine last night. It was the cutest robe and slipper set! The only problem is he told me I can’t wear it until hospital time. grrrrr. I went ahead and packed it up so I wouldn’t be tempted.

Yesterday was also our Baby Shower! The weather was horrible but we still had a good turnout. We got a lot of things that we really wanted including our crib sheet set! I was so excited to see that We spent a long time last night setting up our new stuff in Aiden’s room.  The longest part of the evening was sorting his clothes. He has SO many. Between Bryson and Charlie (Kat and Spencer’s son) we do not have to buy ANY newborn clothes.  When we are done with his room I’ll put some pictures up. I go in there sometimes with no purpose, just to look around. Its so cute in there.

I equal parts love and hate it when people tell me I’m looking good. I love it because I feel like a huge bellied freak and I hate it because I feel like a huge bellied freak. I wonder if they are just saying it to be nice. How can I “look good” when my puffy feet are sticking out over top of my shoes? When my stomach reaches things before the rest of me does? Patrick tells me all the time that I look great but I tell him that he doesn’t count. He’s my husband he’s obligated to tell me I look good! But the second a friend, family member or stranger tells me that I get confused and cranky.  Then its extra worse when a guest or someone I haven’t seen in awhile tells me “wow your stomach has gotten so BIG!” yeah… thats right. that’s the right thing to say.

So in conclusion, you can’t tell me I look good because I think you’re lying to me, you can’t tell me that Ive gotten big because that is offensive… and if you say nothing at all I think you are just thinking how huge I’ve gotten. You can’t win–don’t try !

Little updates November 13, 2009

Today I woke up at 4am. Not such a big deal since I’ve been waking up at 4am every day for the past month. I usually go to the bathroom and go back to bed but today I decided to stay up.  I wonder why I keep waking up at that time? I guess I better get used to these weird hours, Aiden will be here before we know it and as far as I heard a normal sleeping pattern will be a thing of the past.

Last night I went to dinner with Patrick and my Mother in Law. We talked about her births and pregnancies and what I want out of mine.  The best part was seeing Patrick’s face light up with excitement talking about the birth of his Son. He is SO cute about everything . I can’t tell you enough how the little things make the biggest difference. Patrick always does stuff for me without me asking and the active role he has in this pregnancy means the world to me.  He even wants to go to a breastfeeding class I have coming up. He also keeps reminding me that I need to pack my  hospital bag! I know he’s going to be great when the time comes too.  He told me last night that if any of the nurses are not what I want he will “run them off” .

Our Baby Shower is next Saturday and I’m so excited that he is going to be there! We are going to have more of a cookout type thing rather than a powder puff shower.  We figure we will open presents then send them men off to go play poker or football while us ladies play our shower games and do the cutesy stuff.  Him being at the shower is completely the norm for me. I have never felt ALONE in this pregnancy.. he has been with me every step of the way and us having our baby shower together is just the next step in the process if that makes sense.

This year for my birthday my Mom and Dad got me a prenatal massage! Saying I can’t wait would be the understatement of the year. I am beyond excited for that day. So much so that I booked it a whole week and a half before my actual birthday

We didn’t get to register at the hospital last week because it was our weekend with Rylee and we ran out of time. So we are going to go knock that out today. I’m a little nervous–hospitals will do that for you–even though I know I’m just filling out paperwork.  Maybe they will let me sneak in to a room and take a peek. They do offer hospital tours but only on Sundays and I work every Sunday. I will make my own tour!

I had to take off my engagement ring due to my fingers being fat and swollen . I’m glad I don’t have to remove my wedding ring just yet. I just didn’t want to run the risk of not being able to get my ring off and having to get it cut off. I’ll make due the next couple of months with just one ring.

That’s it for now, I have another doctor’s appointment on Tuesday so I’ll probably update more then–God only knows how much weight I’ve gained now. Last time I went to the Dr it was 25 pounds. I try to justify it saying that my boobs alone probabily weigh 2 pounds, Aiden weighs OVER 3 pounds ( Dr ’s words not mine!)  Extra blood and water maybe 1-2 pounds? So what’s that..6-7 pounds I can rule out? I can live with that. I did read an article about how women now a days are so worried about gaining weight during pregnancy that some over work out and under eat leaving their babies not healthy. Its such an easy thing to freak out about and I’m wondering if that cycle is becoming more normal than the women thinking its okay to gain 40+ during their pregnancy.  We shot ourselves in the foot on that one. We all know someone who just BLEW up during their pregnancy and never really got our pre baby bodies back. We all say “oh that won’t be me…” Some do, some don’t.  Honestly you don’t have to be such a calorie counting freak about it though. If I am able to work out roughly once a month and satisfy my cravings of big juicy hamburgers and a big bowl of ice cream from time to time and not transform into a giant wildebeest then you can too. Although I still have 8 weeks to full term and a lot can happen during that time so lets just stop right there before I’m eating my words as a side dish to that big juicy hamburger  ;)

 

The great name debate November 8, 2009

I’ve liked the name Aiden for some time.  Actually, I dont even think Patrick knows about this, there was a character on Sex and the City a long time ago named Aiden and that’s when I was first drawn to the  name. It just sounded cool.  It was important to me to have a name that sounded good to a baby but also to an adult.  When we decided to go ahead and choose names for the baby, Patrick’s only request was that it be a Irish name. I had two that I really liked a lot, Aiden of course and Connor. Patrick really liked Aiden and once I told him it meant “Little and Fiery” we were both hooked. So our little fetus was then crowed “Aiden Patrick Polasek”. What a great name…apparently everyone else in the US agreed with us.

It seemed that since we officially chose Aiden as the name of our Son, we have been hearing the name EVERYWHERE. When people ask the name of our baby and we tell them the response is usually something like this…”OH I LOVE THAT NAME, my sister has a boy named Aiden! and her friend ALSO has a son named Aiden, there is also a boy named Aiden in his class who has a best friend, dog and a sister named Aiden as well!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

UGH

So. Do we change the name that we love based on the fact that our son will potentially share his name with 5 other Aiden’s in his class? Do we try to find a name that we may like less just to try to be a little bit more original?

What we decided was this… What child has had a hard life because his name was popular? Jennifer was the top baby name for like 8 years around the time. I thought that was pretty cool growing up, that and I never had a problem finding my name on a novelty mug or a mini license plate–big deal for a kid!  My Mom’s name is Ruby and while that is making a strong comeback now a days when she was growing up she couldn’t find her name on anything. That has to be disappointing I would think.

Besides, to us he IS Aiden. When we talk about our son we call him by that name. Family and friends reference him as Aiden. We genuinely love the name, therefore Aiden he will be.

And in class he can just go by “Aiden P”

Dreams of certain things November 5, 2009

One of the weird pregnancy symptoms I heard about at the start of my pregnancy are the weird dreams that come a long during your 9 months. I haven’t had that many but the ones that I do have are definitely ones to make me wake up and say “whhhaaa??”

Dream 1:

*Let it be known that I had this dream before finding out Aiden was a boy **

Our son was born and we had him in one of those collapsible strollers even though he was a newborn. We went to a BBQ place for dinner and I turn around and Aiden is a plastic baby doll. I gave him mouth to mouth and he turned back to a real baby.  I go back to what I was doing, turn around again and he had a plastic bag over his entire body and was dead. I gave him mouth to mouth again and he lived for about 2 seconds then died again.

Yeah that dream was NOT my favorite

Dream 2:

I was about 7 months pregnant and decided I could not wait to see him anymore. So my Mother in Law and two sisters in law, Deanna and Ashley took Aiden out via forceps so I could see him. He was a perfectly healthy baby so I put on his little ducky outfit we got him from Carter’s . He was hanging out with me for about an hour when my  Mother in Law told me it was time for him to go back in. So they positioned Aiden “down there” with his arm stretched upward to my girl parts ready for him to be “sucked back  in”.

Dream 3: Last night’s dream…

I had Aiden and we were at a family function where all eyes were on me as a Mom. I went to pick up my son and everybody in the room yelled at me to “support his head!!!!”. Then I breast fed him out in the open when my former best friend walked in the room. She asked me what all the white dots I had on my nipples were and I told her that they were dried milk–like it was a normal thing. I then changed his diaper with my Mom and she used these weird pink circular diapers. I then couldn’t find anything for him to wear when in all actuality I honestly believe Aiden has more clothes than I do!

It makes you wonder what they all mean in regards to my insecurities as a new Mom.

It real life news

We are going to register at the hospital on Friday. It’s getting down to the wire. My Mother in Law said to me the other night ” you are going to be having a baby next month”. She’s completely right. One day I will be super stoked to meet my Son and start a family with my Husband.  The next day I will be scared of what that means–no more spontaneous date nights, no more sleeping late. No more walking around the house naked.  In the long run I’d say that the gain is more than the loss, it’s still the change of the life that I’ve gotten accustomed to that is the biggest shock.

Patrick and I made a pact the other day–sealed with a pinky–that I would never let him become “Fat Dad” if he would never let me become “Fat Mom”. Call it vain or what have you but it seems that a lot of women think  that they get into a family lifestyle and they can just let themselves go, gain weight and start shopping at stores like CATO and Dress Barn. I I had that discussion with a coworker of mine the other day.. At what age is it acceptable to get the “Mom” haircut.  I’ve always had long hair and luckily Patrick loves long hair too– I don’t see myself cutting it off. But I guess when you have 3 kids running around that you have to take care of it’s a lot easier to just chop it all off  than take the time to fix your hair.

Random thoughts I know–but that’s the sort of thing that runs through your head 2 months before Mom-dom I guess

The Miracle of Childbirth? November 4, 2009

The absolute worst thing a first time Mother-to-be can do is watch a childbirth video. Not the cutesy “Baby Story” or “Bringing Home Baby” shows that highlight all the adorable parts of newborns. No, I’m talking graphic, uncensored..BIRTH.

I don’t know how I got it into my head the other day that it was something I wanted to see. Something I took the time to search the internet and find and spend the next 12 horrifying minutes of my life viewing.  How something so disturbing was not only something I couldn’t tear my eyes away from, but something that I would be going through within the next two months!

That night, I told Patrick he is to stay by my head at all times. Some things need to remain a mystery–what it looks like to see our son squeeze himself out of my body is something that will FOREVER be unknown to him.

It also made me wonder how Millions upon Millions of Trillions of Women have all done this before me? Did they have the same “HOW IN THE HELL AM I GOING TO DO THIS” moment that I did?

Milestones… October 25, 2009

How far along? 30 weeks tomorrow, 10 weeks to go–Crazy

Total weight gain/loss: 20 pounds –Sad face.

Stretch marks? two on the bottom left side of my belly that Patrick said looks like the number “4″

Sleep: I can nap like a champ but I wake up every 2 hours or so at night time.

Best moment this week: Watching Aiden moving around my tummy. It is the most memorizing thing! Plus, setting up and decorating Aiden’s room some more.

Gender: Boy

Belly Button in or out? In still but stretched flat

What I’m looking forward to: Our Baby Party on November 21st and starting my 8th month in 2 weeks!

Aiden’s room October 22, 2009

Here are some shots of Aiden’s room and how it’s looking so far.

We are still planning on painting the room but need approval from our landlady first. The most amazing thing is that we have not had to buy a thing for our son yet. The crib came from Jodie’s sister, the changing table, glider and shelf/blanket holder was from a friend of Christine’s. We were lucky enough to just have this stuff given to us. It was all in immaculate condition–bonus! The canoe shelf in the corner was also given to us by Christine. Patrick repainted it a pretty light blue and white. All the clothes you see on the bottom of the changing table are from Ashley’s son Bryson who has outgrown them. The crazy thing is what you see there are ONLY newborn clothes. We still have 2 boxes worth of 3-6 month and up clothes we got from Christine!  We did of course have to buy one thing…

Ah Its so cute I can’t take it We got it from the Carter’s outlet which is AMAZING. Everything there is under $20 I swear.  It’s all such cute stuff too. So far this is my favorite outfit of his..we keep it in his crib. My favorite toy of his so far is …

This little cutie is a blue seahorse my Mom bought Aiden. When you push the tummy in it glows and plays a song. It’s the cutest thing.. He also resides in Aiden’s crib.

I will post more pictures after we paint and get more stuff set up. I can’t wait to see the finished product!

Also, I need to tell you about Rockabye Baby. These CD’s have been around a couple of years and I always thought that they were cool but haven’t had a reason to get them. They are currentish songs made into lullabies for your baby. They have artists like No Doubt, Bob Marley and Queen. I just burned a whole mix of them on my IPOD and play them sometimes in the car.  They are great

oh God… October 13, 2009

My Mom gave me a couple of bras when we saw her last as I only had ONE that fit me and it didn’t even fit me well. I didn’t look at the size I just tried it on and found out that it held my boobies so I was satisfied.

That was two weeks ago.

Last night Patrick saw one of said new bras on the floor in our room and asked me what size it was. I told him I didn’t know.. he looked.

38 DD.

I went from perfect 36 C ’s to a 38 DOUBLE FREAKIN D.

I feel like the Venus of Willendorf for goodness sakes

Here I am in my Third Trimester… October 11, 2009

I can’t believe I’m on the last leg of the pregnancy race. It’s all gone by so fast. It’s hard to imagine my little fish out of my belly and into my arms in three months or less. It’s also going to be weird to not feel his little kicks and pushes everyday. However the weirdest missing pregnancy element of all will be lack of belly stares.

It’s funny how peoples eyes go directly to your stomach the minute you start to REALLY show. When there is no denying the pregnancy.  It’s also funny how men react so awkwardly to the whole concept. I spoke with the Area Director of my company the other day and he asked me “How my health was”..not how is the baby, no how are you feeling.. It was just funny phrasing I guess.   This is the same guy who asked my direct boss if I could work full time “In my condition”, like I was dying.

I had my Glucose screening the other day which really wasn’t as bad as I have heard. I downed a Sunkist type drink as fast as possible, per nurses orders then had my usual Doctor’s appointment. After that I still had about 30 minutes to spare so I visited with my Mother-in-Law and headed back. I was also able to schedule out my Doctor’s appointments for the rest of the year. I have another appointment on Oct 29th and after that my appointments move from every 4 weeks to every 2 weeks.. then every week…then it’s baby time!

I also had an ultrasound this week. The last ultrasound they were unable to find all four chambers of Aiden’s heart and they couldn’t fully see his face, so I had to come back . It was pretty cool to see how much he’s grown in the last month.  From what I could see on the screen he has big old chubby cheeks, my nose and HUGE eyes He looked pretty cute to me although his face pictures the ultrasound tech printed out told a different story…

Look at that huge noggin!

I hope that was just a close up because pushing that cranium out will not be a pleasant experience for me. Let it be known that I will love my son, big head or not

We also got this picture out of the ultrasound..

How cute is that? His little feeties . My Mom swears that he has our families feet–although I think they look like regular old feet and toes to me.

Aiden has been extremely active lately with the kicks and pushes. I felt him on both sides of my tummy the other day so I think hes stretched out across my tummy jumping around. My sister in law, Brittany gave us a fetal heart monitor when we saw them in VA a couple weeks ago, so when Aiden is most active I throw on the headphones and listen to his heart beat.

Let it be known that over the past 3 weeks my feet have started to resemble clubs.. like the kind Cavemen used to carry around. There is no separating my calves, ankles and feet. They all kind of just merge together in what my husband so lovingly calls “fankles”.  Thanks Honey.  Luckily it only happens at the end of the day when I’m at home and nobody can see them.  The other night Patrick walked in on me crying the living room due to the hugeness of my fankles. He came over and rubbed my back as I wailed about how I didn’t know how he could stand to look at me and my hideous feet. I could hear him holding back his laughter–and for that I love him.

Will update again soon with pictures from Aiden’s room and my professing of love for the Carter’s outlet.

Side note: Google Chrome has an automatic spell check and they keep telling me Aiden is spelled wrong. I’m not changing my son’s name for you Google Chrome! I’m not ! You can go elsewhere with your smug little squiggly red line! IE likes it so suck on that! –yeah my emotions have taken over.. I need a nap and a chicken sandwich.