Baby Ninja Pants

Oh, hi.
Sorry I've been MIA. I am in this weird place where I feel like I have too much to say, so therefore, I can't possibly organize my thoughts enough to post daily blurbs here, because I'm not sure any of it would make sense. Does that make any sense? Probably not.
Anyway, this is still my happy place and I miss it, so hopefully, I'll be back on the regular at some point. I just don't want to make any promises that I can't fulfill. I still love reading your blogs, though. For now, pinning stuff I like on Pinterest is about all I can handle, so if you'd like to follow me there, that would be awesome.
In the meantime, I'm 34 weeks today and feeling HUGE. We went to our first childbirth class at my yoga studio yesterday and C learned how to help me cope with labor pains by massaging my back, squeezing my hips and rubbing my feet. Pretty sweet.
Here's one promise, actually: for anyone planning on taking this journey somewhere down the line, I'll try to share some of the stuff I've learned from excessive and most likely unnecessary research. At some point in the next few weeks and most definitely when I'm on the other side.
One thing you should know - no matter how sane and grounded you think you are, at some point, you will OBSESS over something totally silly and inconsequential, like whether it looks ridiculous that your changing table is a different shade of wood than your crib, all the while understanding in your head that cribs and changing tables aren't even (arguably) necessary in the beginning, or ever.
And, you will convince yourself that your baby NEEDS ninja pants. Seriously. I've gone over the edge.


*Sckoon Organics, on sale at Zulily until Wednesday.

Happy Birthday To Me

If you would have told me a few years ago that my favorite birthday present would one day be a Snoogle, I would have kicked you in your face. But you guys, I actually feel well-rested for the first time in a few months. (Thanks, Mom.)
Anyway, here's a collection of blurry bump photos from the last several weeks. If I wasn't such an amateur, I'd use a real camera, wear the same outfit and pose in the same place every week, and then it wouldn't look like I was bigger at weeks 17 and 25 than I am now, at 27 weeks. But who has time for that stuff, besides those people who pin beautiful stuff on Pinterest every day?

Ps. It's also National Cupcake Day, so indulge. I mean, it's a national holiday.

I'm sorry to post this so late in the day, but I figured just in case any of you stop by here before midnight, that's when Abby is closing up her Etsy shop of beautiful prints —for good.  They're all so dreamy, shot with vintage film cameras, but I had to scoop up this one, because the old Beetle was my dream car as well, and that wet street, covered in fresh dew and lined the cherry blossoms just reminds me of home somehow.
Abby is taking some time off to spend time with her new baby and work on new projects. If you buy a photo tonight, you get 40 percent off with this coupon code: Shopclosing40. Could make for some really sweet gifts, too.
Enjoy. 

Things I've Learned, 26 weeks In ...

Source: webtraj.com via Amanda on Pinterest

1. People are nicer to you when you're pregnant. Like, everyone. Girl at coffee shop, people on the train, mother and mother-in-law, who don't let you wash a single dish and hardly allow you to cook anything on Thanksgiving, even though it's at your house, and husband, who cooks and cleans and takes out the garbage and has coffee ready for you in a thermos when you wake up.

2. Women really do like telling you their horrible and traumatic birth stories. They also love telling you to enjoy sleeping and doing fun things now, because your life is going to change. That might be true (at least the sleeping part) but shut up.

3. Pregnancy really becomes so much more fun in the second trimester, when you don't feel like crap and you're finally showing. Maybe I'm just vain, but I was so happy to have a round, obvious belly as opposed to being all boobs and muffin top the first four months.

4. Picking names is hard, especially when you're not that person that has had baby names picked out since she was 12.

5. Daycare is so f-ing expensive, it makes me want to throw myself on my hands and knees, screaming and crying and kicking the floor, like that 2-year-old I saw at Starbucks this morning, who threw a serious tantrum after his mom denied him a sip of her Caramel Macchiato. Not gonna lie, he made me rethink this whole thing for a few seconds.

6. Sometimes it seems like there is just so much to research and think about beforehand —maternity leave, ever-growing and changing list of baby stuff, childcare, breastfeeding equipment, picking a pediatrician, signing up for childbirth classes, trying to find a weekend to escape with husband before "our lives will change."

7. And then there's all the other stuff that can keep you up at night, especially if you simply cannot learn to sleep on your side — will the cat hate the baby, is it really impractical to cloth diaper when we share a washer/dryer with our upstairs neighbors, how will I deal with the inevitable cabin fever now that I'm working from home, do I really need that many blankets and toys and contraptions that seem to serve the same functions (swings, bouncers, vibrating chairs, bobby nursing pillow and newborn lounger, etc.)?

8. Mostly, I've learned that I'm totally clueless about all of this, but I'm told all first-time parents are, unless you were a nanny or worked in a nursery before having a baby and then, I don't care what you say, you have a leg up on me, since the last time I even changed a diaper, I was 9, and it was only pee.

Lately...

 

  

Is it me or are the weeks going by way too fast lately? I feel like I blinked and Thanksgiving is just days away. Where to begin. The last month has been filled with yummy breakfasts of chocolate-stuffed french toast with ricotta, an amazing wedding weekend in Alabama of one of my oldest, bestest friends (that's me looking unnaturally pale in my sari - thanks, Instagram filters!), a much-needed weekend spent recuperating on the couch from said wedding, checking up on C as he attempted to sand down and repaint his childhood dresser, trying to de-clutter the bedroom, and capturing the moment when two old friends' daughters met for the first time and gave each other kisses. I die from the cuteness.
Finally, that's my belly in the last two photos. There's a baby in it.
I know, I'm still in disbelief sometimes, but really happy. And not going to lie — a little nervous.  I'm 23 weeks, baby is the size of a large mango, and has started kicking pretty hard. We'll find out whether we're having a boy or girl somewhere around March 13, but for now, I've become completely, disturbingly obsessed with figuring out What We Need. I've done more research on cloth diapering, strollers, baby carriers and co-sleepers than I'm ready to admit right now, so I'll probably be soliciting your advice pretty soon.

ps. C took that top photo Sunday outside our apartment. The sky was insane.

Vote

"Come, come my conservative friend, wipe the dew off your spectacles and see the world is moving."

—Elizabeth Cady Stanton, (1815-1902) who spent much of her life fighting for for women's suffrage. 


From a 2008 collaboration between Chandler O'Leary of Anagram Press and Jessica Spring of Springtide Press; printed on an antique Vandercook Universal One press. 

Happy Weekend

Happy Friday, guys. I'm feeling under the weather, and really need this week to be over.
We moved my desk to the back porch to do some renovating in the guest bedroom and it has quickly become my happy place. It gets so much light, and since it's in the back of the apartment —away from the street — it's almost serene. (As serene as you can get around here.) Our landlord is also replacing all the porch windows this week, so it should be much warmer in the winter months. As you can tell, the monster loves it too.
I've also been on somewhat of a shopping spree (fo mahself!) and I need to stop. So far, I bought these (which really came in handy over the last month) and these (I've been eyeing the snow boots since last winter and finally ordered them), and the ASOS sweater I had my sights on the other day, plus some really cute Etsy finds I'll try to blog about next week.

I also need some comfy flats and now that I no longer have a dress code, I'm wondering if I should buy these Toms. Thoughts?