Pregnancy: Weeks 26 & 27

My Stats:
 *Weight gained: 17 lbs
 *Waistline is about 39 inches. 

The Monster's Stats:
*Our little Goliath weighs roughly 2 lbs
*No longer are we measuring from crown to rump.  Oh no no, we are a big boy now and we get measured from head to toe-- which is about 15 inches.  They grow up so fast.  He'll be driving before we know it.
*He is starting to have distinct sleeping cycles-- which if this is any indication of what he'll be like when he is birthed, he likes the night life, baby.  He has also started to open his eyes. I wonder if seeing the same thing over and over again is boring;  "Oooo, amniotic fluid.. again.  Woot wooot".  I wish I could at least give him a magazine to flip through.

Pregnancy Fun Facts:
Move over second trimester, the third tri (or as I like to call it, three squared) is here to stay-- at least till baby comes out.

Concentrating is kind of hard.  I'll start telling a story and then I'll loose my train of...
:::blank stare:::
Uhh, what was I saying?

I am in hardcore nesting mode. I want to paint and organize everything in my house (which is good considering all the work that needs to be done).

Energy Levels/Sleep:
Last week I had a problem with night sweats.  I had the AC blasting, a fan blowing on me, and my lightest PJ's on and I kept waking up dripping sweat.  The little guy also keeps me awake with kicking, but I think I have figured out around 1:30 am he chills the eff out and goes to sleep.  I have to say, I do have a lot of energy for as little sleep as I have been getting.

Cravings:
Chocolate milk-- I cannot get enough of it.  Especially Wawa's delicious bottles of happiness that only cost $1.15.  It doesn't help there is a Wawa less then a mile from my office.  That I have to pass on the way home.  The midnight crew may or may not know me by name.

Mood Swings:
Finally made it through a week without bursting into tears.  Booyaaaah.

Other Stuff:
Your self image is a verrrry tricky thing when you are pregnant.  One day I love rocking my bump in anything I wear, and the next day I feel like an amorphous blob.  I don't feel fat, I just don't feel... cute.

I was having a discussion with a friend of mine, who is also pregnant, about the weight gain.  Although I am obviously supposed to be gaining weight, as someone who has struggled with their weight for a good portion of  their life, sometimes it is a little hard to step on that scale and see a number that you promised yourself you would never go back to.  I mean I am a rational person who knows that this comes a long with pregnancy, but there is still that tiny voice in the back that goes "AHHHHHHHH!!" every time I step on a scale.

I promise you guys that I'm not saying this to fish for compliments-- I'm not looking for the "OMG you look sooooo cute" to boost my ego-- I'm just trying to talk about the stuff that I am experiencing that I haven't read on other blogs.  Maybe the cheese stands alone, maybe there are other women out there going "yeah, I totally get you".  I don't know.  This is just me.

Anyway, I think we have our list of names narrowed down to four, and I have my very clear front runner.  My father wants us to name him Ebenezer.  Sorry Daddy-O, that ain't happening. ;)

Always & Forever,
  ME

Operation: Baby is Coming

You guys, my house is like a construction zone.

Since we have t-minus 3 months till this little guy is born, I am implementing Operation: Baby Drop.

What is Operation: Baby Drop?  It is a list of all the things JEGs and I would like to have accomplished in the house before this little bambino turns our world upside down.  I'll even give you the room-by-room play.

Living Room

•  replace subfloor
•  carpet installed

Kitchen

What, you don't have lamps on your kitchen table?  Weirdo.

•  remove living room furniture so we can eat at the table again
•  add in office area to unused nook (see below)
•  Bonus Points:  Prime and paint? (hardy har har)

Baby's Room

•  paint
• decorate
• add furniture
• get my dresser out of there and into the master bedroom
• remove all the crumbling plaster in the closet and replace it with drywall
• install Closet Maid (so help me jeebus, Closet Maid if you leave another ad in my comment section, I will be contacting you about giving me free stuff)

•  fix the gap between the baseboards and floor.  I just imagine creepy crawlers coming out in the winter.  Ew. 

Guest Room

•   ... I don't even want to talk about it.  *le sigh*

Hallway

• I was able to repaint the hallway, but I would love to have the woodwork repainted as well

Master Bedroom

•  figure out if we are constructing a brand new closet, or hanging some bars  and a sheet in that cubby where the dresser is now.

So yeah.. not too much, right?   We can totally get this all done in less then three months, right guys?

..guys? 

Always & Forever,
  ME

Mood Board: Baby's Room

Since announcing my pregnancy, one of the biggest questions I have been asked is how I plan to decorate the baby's room. A lot of people have asked if I will keep with the Dr. Seuss theme from the previous owner's nursery:

Here is the thing:  we aren't going to use that room for the nursery-- we actually plan to put the baby in our walk-in closet.  We talked about it, and we need that bigger room for storage/guest room more then we need a walk-in closet.  Although it saddens my heart to not have that beautiful closet anymore, you sacrifice for family ;)

With that being said, I created a mood board for the little monster's room:

1. I am going with my signature bold color palette.  This is a little room, so I need to make an big impact in small ways!  The walls will go light and neutral with Valspar's Cincinnatian Hotel Hannford.  I would like to pop in bold colors like teal, green and orange with my accessories and fabrics.

2. This bedding has become my inspiration for the room.  I love the modern, simplistic and gender neutral look-- I also have a thing for owls (maybe because it was my high school mascot).  However, it's cah-ray-zee expensive, and not available at Target, or Babies R Us.  To be honest, I didn't want to get a whole set anyway-- I don't love the matchy-matchy look and I will never use the blanket.

3. Since the walls are neutral, I thought a great way to bring some major and not-so-permanent impact into the room was through this fantastic wall art.  The tree mimics the pattern in the bedding, and how much do you love that tire swing?  Doesn't it just scream 'little boy's room'?  Also, since the tree is nearly 6 ft tall, it could totally double as a growth chart. 

4.  I am obsessed with Jenny Lind cribs, and I love the dark cherry finish.  This is a small room, and one of those big honkin' convertible cribs (like the one the previous owners had) would be waaay too much for this itty bitty room.

5. If I can't have an owl in my bedding, dammit, I am going to have an owl lamp.  This little guy from Target is such a fantastic price, I cannot pass it up!  I am not in love with the black shade, but that can easily be switched out.  I also think this could be switched up and placed in another room down the road.  How fun and whimsical would it look sitting in an office or guest room??

6.  I am slightly on the fence about these curtains.  On one hand, the clearly continue the theme of the room, but on the other hand, I don't know if they start toeing the line of getting too "themey", you know?  I got back and forth about just having sheers instead.  Thoughts?  And yes, they are totally the same curtains Sarah Richardson used in her nursery.

Alright, I've got under 100 days.  I should probably get cracking!

Always & Forever,

  ME

Off-line shopping

I love to window shop online, but I rarely ever make purchases.  Depending on the store/ item of clothing/ cut of the garment I can run between 3 different sizes and making returns is a pain in the asssss.

I have been on the lookout for a birthday dress.  I wanted something cute that I would wear casually during the day, and then dress up at night for my birthday dinner.  Oh yeah... and apparently now I need to accommodate a baby bump.

That's when I found this on Frugal Fashionista, and I was smitten:

I zoned right in on the Jetty Dress and was all "miiiinnneeeeee".  I loved the draping and the slight bubble skirt added a little extra fun.  Plus, I die for that blue.  It was pretty much exactly what I wanted, and I already owned similar pieces shown above that I could accessorize with.

I didn't love the price of $79.50 but let's be honest, that's pretty cheap for JCrew.  I  mentioned it to JEGs and he said that he would order it for me as part of my birthday present.  Yaaaaaay husband! :)

Then, we saw this:

 Whomp whomp. :-/

A little later in the week, I had a couple extra minutes before a doctors appointment, so I popped into a local JCrew store.  I thought the chances were slim that it would be there, but it was worth a shot, right? 
I browsed around for a little bit and didn't see anything, so I asked a sales rep.  She clickity-clacked away at the computer and said "Oh yeah, it's in our clearance section".

Not only did they have it in my size, but it was also on sale for $49.99.  If you include the cost of shipping ($12.50 per the site), I saved $42 (nearly half!) and got exactly what I wanted by stopping in the store on a whim.

one day that belt will be around my waist again, and not tucked under my boobs

Sometimes it pays to shop off-line.

Always & Forever,
  ME

Pregnancy: Weeks 24 & 25

My Stats:

 *Weight gain is about 12 pounds

 * Waistline is 38 inches (an inch and a half more then last time)

The Monster's Stats:

 * He gained a quarter of a pound in a week and now weights about 1.5 lbs.

 * He is about 8.5 inches from crown to rump

 * His skin had taken on a pinkish hue now that's he is fattening up.  And like a good Italian mother, I plan on keeping him fat by eating all the marinara sauce I can.

 * He is learning to distinguish between right side up and upside down.  However, that does not stop him from continuing to kick the ever lovin' crap out of me.

 * This week, we have entered the world of the eggplant on the Fruit-O-Meter

Pregnancy Fun Facts:

  I think I am finally starting to look pregnant, and not just chunky.  My belly has started to take on a rounder shape.

  Sitting lady-like is not an option anymore; I cannot cross my leg over my knee.  Actually, just keeping my legs closed is work.

  Remember last week when I talked about gas bubbles that made me bail on my friends birthday party?  Yeah, that's not what I had;  I had kidney stones.  Lorda mighty, I would not wish that pain on anyone.  On May 31st, I began to feel a little pain in my back and side around 9:00 pm.  Thinking it was gas bubbles again, I took some Tums and drank some soda to help myself burp.  When I got out of work around 11:30 the pain wasn't any better.  I decided that if it still hurt when I got home, I would wake up JEGs and have him take me to the hospital.

Well, I didn't quite make it home.  About half way there, I pulled into the first hospital I could find.   I called JEGs and he met me there as soon as he could.  Unfortunately, they did not have a Maternity Ward or OBGYN on staff, so there wasn't much they could do for me.  They shot me in the ass with morphine and sent me off to my OB at my hospital.  JEGs and I arrived at around 2 am, and they admitted me right away.

We spent the next 20some hours in the hospital monitoring the little monster and shooting me up with morphine whenever the pain came on, hoping I would pass the stone.  After I was morphine free for a couple hours with no pain, they released me with a prescription for Percocet and strict orders to drink A LOT of water.  The next week was filled with me spontaneously collapsing in pain and reaching for a perc until I finally passed the stone on June 7th.

The cause of my kidney stones?  Other then the fact that they are common in pregnant woman, it seems it was due to two days in a row spending hours in a 120+ degree helicopter (dehydration) and the calcium build up from the excessive amount of Tums I had been taking because I thought I had gas bubbles.  Oh the irony.

Energy Levels/ Sleep:

 Once I was able to pass the stone, I finally felt like I was back to my old self.  I finally had energy to get work done around the house and spend time with people.  Sleep is a little spotty.  There are some nights I can get my REM sleep on, and other nights where I will wake up at 3 am because the lil guy is kicking boxing my spleen.

Mood Swings:

  I cried in the Giant today because I couldn't remember if JEGs liked the bologna with the red writing or blue writing on the package.  Let's just leave it at that.

Other Stuff:

  We took another pass at Babies R Us a couple weekends ago.  We zapped a high chair, a swing and a bassinet and walked out feeling victorious.  I have been slowly but surely adding things to the list as I go online as well.  I still have not ventured into the Infant Care section yet-- I just don't think I'm ready yet.

Always & Forever,

  ME

The big three-Oooooo

Hi.  It's my birthday today.  I am turning 30.

In my 30 before 30 list (which I will update later this week), I had planned to spend the last weekend of my 20s like a rock star.  Then I got knocked up, and that idea went out the window. 

I did, however, have a lovely weekend.  Friday, JEGs and I headed out to a local tavern to watch my chiropractor's band, Dr. Ben's Backbone Blues play and snack on some munchies

Saturday afternoon I wanted to walk around a section of Philadelphia called Manayunk.  They have a main street that is filled with fun little shops and restaurants.  Years ago, JEGs and I stumbled upon an architectural salvage store that we fell in love with.  I wanted to go back and get something pretty for the house.  However, we walked the entire length of Main Street and did not find the store.  ( I found out this morning they actually closed down in February 2010.  Whomp whomp).

We did, however, have a delicious lunch at the Manayunk Tavern.  If you are ever there for lunch, JEGs highly recommends the Tavern burger. 

On our way back to the car, we popped into a store with matted photos of  Philadelphia.  JEGs purchased me this great aerial photo of the Ben Franklin Bridge in 1929.  I cannot wait to frame it and hang it in a collage.

In the evening we headed over to my friend Connie's house for a small dinner with her and her boyfriend.  While we were there, she suckered JEGs into drinking some strange Korean rice punch.

those are actual grains of rice at the bottom

He is far braver then I.  He actually drank about 3/4 of it, but when he got to the rice at the bottom, he couldn't finish it.

Connie made us a fabulous meal of chicken fettuccine alfredo, as well and a yummy french vanilla birthday cake!

She even took the time to dye it purple because it's my favorite color <3.

I took the day off work today and spent a good chunk of the day getting some coats of primer on the walls of the little monster's room (more on that to come!)  Tonight, JEGs is taking me out to dinner to The Farmer's Daughter, which is the new restaurant at our wedding venue.  I may partake in a glass of wine, to which I am uber excited about.

So, not quite the rock star weekend I had originally hoped for, but a nice weekend none-the-less.

Next year, however, it is ON. 

Always & Forever,
  The birthday girl.

About Us

Hi, I'm Amy, and this is my husband JEGs.  We are kind of a big deal.

Ok, so maybe only in our little corner of the blog world, but that counts for something, right?  We are just two crazy 30-somethings who are totally smitten with each other and taking on the world together.  And by 'taking on the world together' I totally mean 'paying bills and redecorating'.  I like to think big.

Since starting this blog in May 2008, I've moved from grubbing off my parents, to sharing a 900 sq ft apartment with JEGs, to homeowner.  In April 2011, we made settlement on a 90 year old twin that we fondly refer to as Falconhead Cottage.

I have also gone from girlfriend to wife and now-- mother!  We were married in July 2010, and gave birth to our little monster, Hunter, on October 1, 2011. Three and a half years later we welcomed our daughter, Tessa, into the world on March 26, 2015.

I renamed this blog from Lizzie In Progress to Life That is Good after hearing a song from the television show Nashville.  It reminded me that I should concentrate on the blessings that I have been given instead of focusing on the things I don't have.  I need to stop and enjoy the simple things in my life and love the people around me.  In short, at the end of the day, I want a life that is good.

Trash the Dress

What started out as a joke, turned into an awesome afternoon of eight brides running around the streets of Manayunk in their wedding dresses.

While I was planning our wedding, I spent a lot of time on The Knot message boards, and became friendly with some of the local girls.  Even after we all got hitched, we kept in touch.  One evening we were discussing the trend of "Trash the Dress" sessions (also known as "Rock the Frock") where a bride will wear her dress after her wedding for more non-traditional pictures without worrying about having to keep it clean and pristine.   We expressed interest in doing this some day because, let's be honest, we all paid good money for those gowns and it would be nice to get a little more use out of them. 

The only problem is, these session can be a little expensive.  That's when someone came up with the idea of maybe if we did a big group, we could get a discounted price-- and this is how our Group TTD session was born. 

We contacted Rich LaVigne, a local wedding photographer, and asked if he would be interested.  He jumped at the chance and gave us an amazing deal

Our love for Rich runs deep

One Saturday afternoon, eight of us squeezed into our wedding gowns and ran amuck in the streets of Manayunk. 

Now we had started to plan this in January and I was so excited about it.  However, a week before the shoot, I found out I was five months pregnant.  Not one to be deterred by a silly thing like a baby bump, I notified the photographer, and rocked that frock as hard as I could.

We had the idea to have a shot of us fighting for a bouquet, so before I left the house, I snagged some blooms off of the rhododendron bush in our front yard

..and we pretty much ripped it to pieces.

It took some work, but here is proof that even at five months preggers, I got that dress zipped.

Isn't Diana stunningly gorgeous?  I swear, the girl did not take a bad photo all day. 

Hard. Core. DIVAS.

I adore this picture of Heather.  She looks so beautiful and ethereal.

We got a lot of looks as we were walking through the streets.  I guess it's not a common occurrence...

This picture captures Cassie perfectly:  the All-American girl. 

As we were waiting around for some of the girls to get individual pictures done I nudged Rich's wife, Anne, and told her to snap this picture of Hilary because it encompassed her perfectly.  I loved her hair pulled back with the aviators and the relaxed pose. 

Thumbin' for a ride in a wedding dress.  That's how I roll.

Left to Right:  Jen, Heather, Cassie, Melinda, Jennifer, Hilary, Diana, Me.

I had such a hard time choosing pictures for this post-- I probably could have doubled the amount!  Rich and Anne were so much fun to work with and made us feel so comfortable in front of the camera.  I cannot thank them enough for giving us this opportunity!

Always & Forever,

  ME