Happy Birthday Bizzy Bone!

Bizzy on the day we brought him home and Bizzy today

Today is Bizzy Bone's 6th birthday. I can't believe he's 6, it seems like just yesterday we were bringing home a tiny, little 8-week old, 3 pound puppy from the breeder. I can still remember the day so clearly. We drove several hours to Frostburg, MD and when we arrived at the breeder's house she let us in and Bizzy and his brother were chasing each other around the living room. She picked him (after somehow managing to catch him), handed him to me and I instantly fell in love.

On the drive home, Bizzy laid on my lap, on a fleece Nationals blanket (which is still in

Newborn baby Bizzy Bone

his crate today) and slept pretty much the whole way. At one point we stopped to get food (at Chick Fil A of course) and when Jon went inside I took Bizzy over to a little grassy area to try and get him to go to the bathroom. When I put him down on the ground he immediately started crying and climbed onto my shoe so I picked him back up and we got back into the car. He managed to make it the whole way home until we got to the light right before you turned into our apartment complex and then he peed on my lap.

Nap Time

Those first few nights were rough. We tried to crate train him but every night when we would put him in his crate for bed he would start crying and it broke my heart to hear. He ended up sleeping in bed with us for the first week or so which meant I got absolutely no sleep because I was so afraid I'd roll over on him in the middle of the night. Even as a puppy he had me in the palm of his hand (paw?).

I really don't know what I would have done without Bizzy these past few years. Whenever I'm sad he comes and sits with me or lays in bed with me and there's something about feeling that little warm, furry body next to me that's just so comforting. But I also feel like after everything we've been through I've become so incredibly paranoid about something happening to Bizzy. We've already lost so much, I don't think I could handle losing him.

Having gotten used to being the center of attention for the past 6 years, I'm sure the baby's arrival is going to be quite an adjustment for Bizzy. I worry  about him feeling left out or thinking we don't love him anymore and it makes me sad to think about him feeling that way. I hope he knows he will always be our furry firstborn and that just because we have a new baby it doesn't mean we love him any less.

Enjoying a birthday pumpkin cookie

29 week picture to come tomorrow. I just got in from San Francisco and after 5 hours on a plane I'm really not in any shape to get in front of a camera right now.

Third Trimester

28w - Looking a little rough after a long, stressful day at work

It's been a busy week at work tying up lots of loose ends for a conference that I fly to San Francisco for tomorrow. This will be my last work trip for a while and my last conference for the year. After this things will slow down at work significantly which means I will have a lot more time to focus on crossing items off my Baby To Do list and I won't have the added stress of planning a conference on top of the stress of planning for the baby.

I've been dealing with pretty bad back pain (which should make this five hour flight to San Fran a ton of fun) for the last two weeks or so. Acuouncture seems to help a little bit and I had a half-hour massage after my acupuncture treatment yesterday that also helped provide some relief. After my trip I will probably make a visit to my chiropractor or try physical therapy and see if either of those help. It's incredibly uncomfortable, but I really hate to complain because I know back pain is a small price to pay for a healthy baby.  

I can't believe I am now in my third trimester. After everything we've been through, I still have a hard time believing sometimes that I've actually made it this far and that in another 12 weeks (or possibly less), Baby Liles will be here. At the beginning of this pregnancy twelve weeks seemed like an eternity but now it feels like no time at all. 

Our Newest Addition

I am pleased to introduce the newest member of our family - Terrance (the Terrain)!

I'm In Love...

27w

...With the nursery paint (and with Handyman Juan)! Today while we were at work, Juan was here

painting the nursery and I couldn't wait for the work day to be over so I could get home and check it out. It came out SO awesome!! I was going to attempt to do the stripes myself this weekend, but then Juan offered to do them so I decided to take him up on his offer so that I could free myself up for one of the other million things I need to get done.

I love the paint colors. I was a little worried the blue would be too dark but I think it looks so good with the white crown molding, baseboards and trim. Also the room gets a lot of light from the bay window so that brightens it up a bit. The blue is Dockside blue and the navy is Naval, both from Sherwin Williams Pottery Barn collection. The white used for the stripes is Cool Gray by Valspar. It looks white, but has a slight gray tone to it.

We still have a ways to go until the room is done but the paint is

definitely a huge step in the right direction. I ordered a rug which will hopefully get here within the next week and I've also been ordering some prints from Etsy so I can start getting stuff up on the walls. I have a fun little DIY project planned for something to hang on the accent wall, above the crib. I think the curtains and crib are supposed to be coming at the end of this month and the glider should be here at the beginning of December. So we're slowly making progress.

Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day

Today is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day. Please light a candle tonight at 7pm for our angels.

An interesting article about this special day from the NY Times. And another one that seems very relevant today.

26w Bump Picture

As promised, here is my 26w (actually 26w1d) bump picture. Jon woke up early today so I had him take my picture before I left for work and the rain did a number on my hair (although my bangs were being difficult this morning so they were struggling before I even went out in the rain).  I feel like this shirt makes my butt look really big, or maybe it was the munchkins I just ate from Dunkin' Doughnuts that are making my butt look big?

Pediatrician Tours and Closet Doors

I wanted to include crown molding in the title of this post but then it wouldn't have rhymed so nicely.

This past weekend we went on our first pediatrician's office tour. I actually almost ended up canceling the appointment because when I scheduled it I was told a nurse would do the tour and we wouldn't even get to meet with a doctor which I thought was kind of silly but we decided to go after all and I'm really glad we did. Things started out a little rocky when we first got there and the door to the office was locked and there was no one to be found (strike one).  Luckily, I had to go to the bathroom (what's new) and in our effort to find the ladies room we ran into a nurse who must have noticed my bump and put two and two together. She said they don't normally do tours on the first Saturday of the month (strike two - made me question their organization and communication since the receptionist clearly had scheduled me for a tour on the first Saturday of the month) but she would be happy to show us around  (her efforts were quickly redeeming the practice). So she took us into the waiting area and started to go over some information with us when several other couples started to show up. Apparently I wasn't the only one who spoke to that receptionist who didn't seem to know not to schedule tours on the first Saturday of the month. At this point our luck really turned around because the nurse handed the tour over to one of the doctors to lead the tour and info session. So we ended up getting to meet one of the doctors after all and we really liked him (Jon especially liked him because they got to talking baseball). The offices were fairly new and seemed very clean and modern and the practice is only about 5 miles from our house so it's very convenient. And although it wouldn't be a deal breaker if they didn't, they do have privileges at the hospital where I am going to deliver so that's another added bonus. We're going to keep the 4 other pediatric consults that we currently have scheduled but at least I can take comfort in knowing that if none of those seem like a good fit, we've already found a really great option.

Also over the weekend we had a visit from our favorite handyman (who I told Jon I want to

adopt even though he's like a 50 year old man) who spent some time in the house installing closet doors in our room, the office/guest room and the nursery. Among all the other weird things this house had going for it when we bought it, none of the closets had doors and we've just had so many other projects around the house that we haven't gotten around to adding them until now. It's so nice to finally be able to close the doors and not have to see all the clutter going on inside the closet and for some reason, I feel like the doors make the seating area part of our bedroom feel larger. We also had crown molding installed in the nursery and it looks awesome. It's amazing what a big difference crown molding can make in a room.  I think the crisp, white of the molding and the closet doors will look great with the blue-grey walls (I finally decided on a paint color so hopefully our handyman will be able to come back soon and paint the walls).

I am also proud to announce that I finally went back to prenatal yoga. The last time I went there was a substitute teacher because the regular teacher was away on a yoga retreat. I thought the sub was tough but compared to the regular teacher, she took it easy on us. I was so sore on Monday I could barely walk! But I did manage to drag myself back on Wednesday evening and plan to continue to go regularly. I really like the teacher a lot. She is actually a doula so throughout the class she shares tips to help with labor and delivery and also gives us a heads up on certain things we can expect to experience - like last night she told us about the "ring of fire" and the thought of a natural delivery that I'd had for about 5 minutes earlier that evening quickly went out the window. 

I will be back tomorrow with my 26w bump picture, not a huge fan of my hair or outfit today.

Progress

25w - Having a bad hair day

I've gotten a lot accomplished over the past few weeks and it's nice to feel like I'm finally making some progress with Baby Liles preparation (even if there is still a ton of stuff that's left to be done).  So far, we've taken care of the following:

-Removed the old, nasty shelving from the closet in the nursery and primed and painted the inside of the closet.  Also spackled and sanded the hundreds of nail holes that were all over the walls.  A huge thank you to Tim on this one for helping Jon find his inner handyman.  
-Purchased closet doors which will be installed this weekend.
-Ordered all the nursery furniture.  Yesterday the dresser/changing table was delivered and it looks great.
-I did some pediatrician research and based off of recommendations from our OB, family friends and the DC Urban Mom message boards we currently have consults scheduled with 5 different practices.  I know 5 is probably a little excessive but you know me, and that's how I roll.
-Completed the registries, although I'm still adding stuff here and there.

And just because I love a good list, here is the list of what we still have left to do:

-Install the closet organization system in the nursery closet.  I am really excited about this one because just like I love a good list, I also really enjoy a nicely organized closet.
-Make a trip to Blinds to Go to look at our options for some sort of cordless blinds/shades.
-Paint the nursery.  This is a tough one because I am having a really hard time choosing a color.  I have lost count of how many paint samples I've been through at this point.  I want a blue-gray that is not too blue, but not too gray.  And I also don't want it to be too baby-ish looking because I want it to be something he can grow into.  Having the dresser actually helps because I found that some of the lighter colors didn't contrast enough with the furniture.  I'm now leaning towards the color on the bottom right.  I think the furniture will pop nicely against it.  The blue and white stripes are for the accent wall.
-Purchase crown molding and have it installed in the nursery.

-Take down the curtain rods that are currently hung in the room and spackle and sand the nail holes. Then, either re-hang those rods at a higher height, or hang some new rods in preparation for the curtains that have already been ordered.

-Purchase a drum shade and figure out how to add it to the ceiling fan (like this).

-Order a rug, which I already have picked out but has been out of stock for the past month.
-Order breast pump through my insurance company.  I think I can do that starting at 26 weeks so I will have to wait until next week for that one.
-Possibly schedule a 3D ultrasound.  This is not something I was originally planning on doing but then my OB told me my next ultrasound wouldn't be until 36w and I decided that was way to long to wait to see the baby again.
-We're going to look at cars this weekend!  My little two-door Accord has served me well but it's just not going to cut it as a family car.  I have a hard enough time getting Bizzy strapped into his harness in the back seat so I know a car seat would be way more difficult.

-Get my TDAP vaccination and have Jon check to make sure he has had his.

I think once the room gets painted and we can start moving things in and decorating the walls I will feel a little bit better about where we are in the process. Also, having a daycare solution would really be a HUGE weight off my shoulders but I don't anticipate that happening anytime soon.

On a serious note, October is National Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month.  You can find more info at www.October15th.com.  October 15th, in particular is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day.  On that day, everyone is invited to light a candle at 7pm in all time zones, all over the world and keep it burning for at least one hour in order to create a continuous wave of light over the entire world.