38 weeks {vote!}

baby girl and i got up early to place our votes yesterday and then my sticker found the perfect place to hang out for the rest of the day. it even gave the old man in line behind me at the grocery store a nice laugh.

let's hope this is the last bump pic as i'm well into my 38th week now and growing more and more uncomfortable by the minute.....

33.5 weeks {baby shower weekend}

we made a special trip out to the desert this past weekend to celebrate baby girl with hometown family and friends. mom and dad threw us the most adorable bash and they even surprised me with my childhood bassinet and baby blanket. i had no idea that they even still had this and the craziest thing is that i instantly recognized it. i doubt i remember it from being a baby so i must've seen it in pictures, unless i have the world's most vivid baby memory, which would be amazing.

next weekend my sister's throwing us a baby shower for local friends, which is going to be a bit overwhelming because i simply can't imagine feeling any more loved. baby girl is the luckiest little lady on the planet.

31.5 weeks {Yosemite weekend}

the husband and i just returned from our last weekend getaway before baby and it was absolutely wonderful. i'll post more pics later this week but for now here's the weekly bump picture (i also just realized that i forgot to post a pic last week but i think this week's awesomeness makes up for last week's absence).

and here are a few milestones for the little lady this week:
1. she's making it harder to get in and out of the car/bed these days
2. she is now a frequent hiccuper
3. her first guitar arrived this week (it's really more of a toy for daddy but he used her as an excuse to get it)
4. she's big enough to make her mama transition from bending over to squatting
5. and she may just be a natural soccer player (Fun fact: tiny babies inside the womb have been known to bruise and even break their mama's ribs!)

29.5 weeks {dave matthews concert}

i just realized that I forgot to post a 28.5 week update last week. i will blame it on pregnancy brain. in my opinion, the 29.5 makes up for it since it's a fun one! this was on our way to the Dave Matthews concert. my shirt says, "future DMB fanatic" with a lovely arrow pointing to the bulging belly. by the way, going to a concert pregnant is pretty awesome and this is why:

1. free pass to the front of the bathroom line: sure the line was full of drunk girls but they were really nice drunk girls that were kind enough to let me cut in line.

2. front row access! well not really, but close enough, the security guards let my husband and i walk up to the orchestra section to watch the concert from there as we were slowly making our way out. 

3. special vip dining experience: we stopped by a cocktail/listening party before the concert where they graciously setup a nice table for us to sit at since the patio was full. 

i don't pull the pregnancy card often but getting special treatment at a concert was so much fun! 

27.5 weeks {beach blanket bingo}

a friend of ours had a beach blanket bingo themed birthday party over the weekend. dressing up in 60s garb was so much fun. i'm not sure what i loved more, my super  fun polka dot dress or my handsome husband in some tiny white shorts. he's such a good sport when it comes to these dress up parties. I think I can safely say that this is baby girl's first dress up party and she had a blast.

26.5 weeks

so i finally did it. i caved and got a pair of maternity pants. here's the thing, eventually the belly will take over and those beautiful gorgeous jeans that you loved will no longer fit. even with the zipper all the way down and the belly band slapped on top. they still will not fit. therefore, trust me when i say this, maternity jeans are your friend. yes they're weird and yes the nude stretchy part that nearly wraps around your entire upper body is hideous but it's soft and comfy and brilliant!

so there it is, confessions of a stubborn pregnant woman.

hope you all had a glorious weekend. i'm personally looking forward to rockin' my new jeans at work this week.

cheers!

25.5 weeks (a late post and happy friday!)

i have to apologize for slacking on the posts lately. this 25.5 weeks post comes just a day shy of my 26.5 week mark (so expect some back to back action over the weekend). i've just been overwhelmed with life lately and i'm struggling to keep up. i guess this is going to be the pace of things from here on out so i should get used to it and just get better at juggling it all. we've been making some serious progress in the baby room ( i can not wait to share those photos with all of you) and the baby showers are in the calendar (thanks mom, sister and co-workers!) we do not have a free weekend until the baby arrives but i'm loving every second of it. i'm not one to sit around and wait so keeping me busy is the best way to keep me sane. she's also been kicking and moving a lot lately. it's pretty fun to see my belly move around -- she's definitely practicing her ballet leaps and jazz hands -- so i'm obviously already a proud mama :) 

hope you all have a gorgeous weekend!

24.5 weeks

this week has been one of the most thrilling of my professional career. some of you may or may not know but NASA just successfully landed a car-sized rover on the red planet. i still can't even believe we did it but we did and it was amazing!!!!!! i worked all weekend supporting this once-in-a-lifetime event so it's only fitting to pose for my weekly photo in the mission polo.

baby girl seems to also be enjoying this exciting time at work. she stays pretty still throughout the day (or maybe i'm just so busy that i don't notice her moving around) but she likes to tell me how much fun her day was at night when i lay down in bed to get some rest.

i should also mention that my handsome husband has been working really hard on her baby room. all the bits and pieces are coming together. i can't wait for the big reveal!

23.5 weeks

so here it is in all it's glory, the 23.5 week belly. these days the size of my belly most definitely depends on what i wear. needless to say this outfit below makes me look like i'm ready to pop and as comfy as it feels to hike up a skirt above the waistline, i think i'm going to refrain from doing so for the remainder of this pregnancy.

other than that, isn't my skirt adorable?! I spent a few hours at the Rachel Pally sample sale over the weekend and although she doesn't directly advertise to the mamas out there, let it be known that her line is the most friendly for the growing bellies.

have you ever been to a sample sale before? if so then you are familiar with the makeshift dressing rooms. they're basically a big draped off room with a few full body mirrors. these dressing rooms are certainly not built to accommodate the shy ones out there, which made me a bit nervous to try on clothes with this new belly of mine but as i walked into the dressing room and looked around I noticed that about half of the women in there were expecting so turns out baring the belly was actually pretty fun.

22.5 weeks

we had our 22 week appointment this past week and i must admit, it was the best one yet. we got to see the little lady in all her sonogram glory. she was sucking on her thumb, we could see her little belly forming and i felt her kick while watching her kick at the same time. it was wild and amazing. she's a whopping 1 pound 3 ounces of perfection. according to the books i'm reading, she should be at the 1 pound mark but she has managed to grab an extra 3 ounces from somewhere (i'm guessing it's all that extra frozen yogurt that she's been making me consume). 

this week also marks the first time that her daddy really got to feel her kick. the look on his face when he felt her take a few jabs was priceless. i wish i could freeze that moment forever and ever. he's going to be the best daddy and she's going to have him wrapped around her perfect tiny little pinky. 

21.5 weeks

this weekend was jam packed with adventures. on saturday we went to a wedding. i always always always cry when i see the brides dancing with their dads because it reminds me of how very special it was for me to dance with my dad but this time i cried because i know one day the little lady growing strong in my belly will get to have that moment with the love of my life on her special day. it was really too much emotion for me to endure in my hormone-filled stage but i got through it :)

and today we ventured out to the beach to meet my sister and her boyfriend to hear about their giving trip that spanned el salvador, nicaragua and costa rica. they told us stories about the people they met along the way and the children they hugged each day. i'm so insanely proud of my baby sister for living a life of giving. 

my heart is so very full from this amazing weekend. 

20.5 weeks

before i was pregnant i often wondered what i would end up craving. would it be strawberry ice cream? would it be nutella and angel food cake? would it be frozen yogurt? all very obvious choices, however, it turns out what i ended up craving is water. not the healthy kind that you're supposed to drink but the refreshing kind that you can dip your toes into.

sadly, we do not have a pool and even more sad is the fact that i've come to realize that i don't have any friends that own pools within a reasonable proximity, so this craving of mine has turned into a bit of an unattainable desire.

luckily, we live in southern california where the beaches are warm and close by, so off we went!

the second we got to the beach, i made a little belly hole in the sand and let out a great big sigh of relief.

i think this is her way of telling me that she's going to love the ocean as much as her mama.

19.5 weeks {half way there}

where have the weeks gone?! i can't believe this little mermaid inside me is nearly half way to the finish line. since i first felt her move a couple weeks ago, today was her most active day. i was even hoping her daddy could feel her for the first time (he did feel a tiny bubble) but i can't wait for those real kicks and nudges to start coming through so he can really feel her. 

the first few months of pregnancy are so nerve-wrecking and with every doctor's appointment i can feel myself holding my breath until i see that tiny heart flutter on the screen, but now that i can actually feel her inside me, this is a whole new ball game. it's like her tiny way of telling me that she's ok and that we're in this together. 

according to the books i'm reading, i'm supposed to be gaining a pound a week from here on out and judging from my eating habits this weekend, that's not going to be a tough goal to reach at all. for example, i made this insanely delicious lemonade cake on Friday and have been nibbling on it all week. and i've decided to make some firecracker cookies for the office this week -- i blame pinterest for my new baking addiction. good thing i'm on this pound a week diet because otherwise i'd be in big trouble. 

the bump

over the last few weeks "the bump" has really started to emerge. at first i was in this weird beer belly stage but now it's really starting to show its true colors. i'm fortunate enough that at 18 weeks i still fit into all my pre-pregnancy shirts and dresses. the jeans are beginning to pose a challenge but the rubber band trick is working for now and i think in the next week or two we'll be transitioning to belly bands.

i'm loving every second of this voyage so far. we find out the baby's gender this friday and then we can finally get moving on that baby nursery that i've been feverishly pinning about these last few weeks. seriously, how did these people do anything prior to pinterest?!