Week 74

This past Saturday my two girlfriends Molly and Traci in Denver threw me a fabulous baby shower. I feel so lucky to have had baby showers with friends, my family and Eric's family. This baby is definitely an anticipated event and loved already!

Look at the adorable table decor. The theme was hockey pucks and baby ducks. Every person was encouraged to bring a rubber duck and they sent everyone home with hockey pucks (Ding Dongs) with a duck stamped onto each one. SO cute! They were even able to find adorable ducks with hockey outfits on to decorate with. So clever!

 
 
 
Here are some pics of some of the guests and a couple of me opening presents. I love my girlfriends in Denver. I have been here 18 months now and feel so blessed to know so many great ladies. It takes time to feel like you fit in somewhere and I'm glad to know I fit in here.

 



Present opening included a great game. Molly had asked Eric a bunch of questions relating to the baby and I was suppose to guess his response. My oh my is he a funny one. Here are a couple of the classics...

Q: What things do you have planned to help Erin during labor to make it more comfortable for her?
A: Back massage, techniques we learned at birthing class, medical marijuana

Q: What was the best piece of advice you have gotten from someone about being a new Dad?
A: Well, the book that Traci and Nate gave me, the first paragraph listed the benefits of being a dad. Things like being able to break wind in public and blaming it on the baby and tax deduction. The cons it listed were, "it wrecks your life...". I found this very interesting advice!

Q: Your favorite pregnancy feature of Erin?
A: The pregnancy fog is quite entertaining. Example of Erin's workday morning:
roll out of bed around 8:30
boot computer 8:45
eat breakfast 9:00
facebook 9:30
read friends blogs 10:00
talk to a family member 10:30
eat breakfast #2
start to work around 11:00
get distracted and go back to facebook

Of course we all know this is NOT true... ;)

Thanks Molly and Traci for planning a wonderful shower!!

And to finish off the weekly post... two pics of me at week 36. Ain't no hiding that belly anymore. The daily walks have started. Eric is done traveling. We are ready.

Baby Gaga

I clicked on the baby countdown ticker I have at the top of my blog to check out what that particular website says about baby development week to week. This is what it says about getting an epidural... I would say they are anti-epidural, what do you think?

A massive needle will be poked/jabbed into your spinal column as you're curled up in a fetal position to expose your spine - hoping they don't accidentally destroy some of your spinal nerves, which is a very real risk experienced by 20% of women.
The numbing effect of the epidural (if it works, which it might not) renders you immobile and effectively chains you to your bed, forcing you to labor and birth on your back while psychologically numbing your mind to the process at hand, inhibiting your milk let-down and interfering with the postpartum endorphin release that combats postpartum pain and depression.

I mean, really people. Be supportive of whatever a woman decides to do. It is a decision she has thought long and hard about prior to walking into that hospital. It almost made me change the ticker on my blog after I read it but it seemed too much effort to find another one and I do like the little weekly updates it gives. :-)

Week 73

For Vday we went to the Avs game. They had uniform cutouts of Avs and Nuggets players. I couldn't resist the photo op. I thought it was hysterical.
 

And sweet Eric brought home flowers in the middle of the day to surprise me. Awwww.

I invited these kids along with their Mothers to dinner one evening. We had homemade pizza and made sugar cookies. Such good kids. It was a joy to have them over.
 
 
 
I learned that our house cleans up well after little munchkins. The counters and floors are a breeze to wipe down. I see lots of kids activities here in the future. Love it.

I had a pretty good meltdown over the weekend because I cannot get comfortable when I sleep and am waking up every hour night after night. I was so frustrated and irritated and exhausted. Yes, I realize this is just the beginning of no sleep in my near future. I think the difference is I knew that would be coming with the baby and I was not planning on actual pregnancy falling into the no sleep category. Last night I finally got some long stretches of sleep thanks to a nice massage from Eric and some Tylenol. I slept past 8:30a even. Miracle.

5 weeks to go. Please make it 2 or 3.

Week 72

We saw this movie this weekend and LOVED it...

We ate this cake this weekend and LOVED it...

It is the famous Spring Fling cake from The Market on Larimer for all you locals. It is their most popular cake so we finally decided to give it a try. Its hard for me to want cake that isn't chocolate but I wanted to see why it is so popular. It is a zucchini cake with cream cheese frosting/filling and with lots of fruit. The first bite didn't do much for us but after the second bite, we couldn't stop. Its not too rich but packs a ton of unique flavor. We were already half way thru the cake when I took the picture with my phone so it's not that great of a picture AND we added a scoop of ice cream to it. They told us on a slow day they make about 60 of these cakes. We will be serving this at our house for a future event.

We hit our first and only childbirth class this weekend and feel ready? We didn't really learn that much that we haven't read about but it was fun to talk to others who are due around the same time. All the women were (discretely) totally checking out each others bellies and trying to decide if they were bigger or smaller than each other. Us women are funny people.

We hit the 34 week mark this weekend and have THIS to show for it...

Seriously, six more weeks? No. Room.

week 71

February is here and so is winter. We finally got some decent snowfall in Denver. Eric and I had to drive South about 15 miles one afternoon and it took us almost an hour with the snow and traffic. But since it is a rarity for us we couldn't complain. Its actually been kinda nice to see a winter wonderland outside this past week. And the snow should continue this week as well. I think if either of us had to commute to work we would feel differently. But for now, we can enjoy it.

My work continues to be very, very busy with countdown to maternity leave. I want to make sure all loose ends are wrapped up so no one needs to reach me during my leave. It feels good to get so many things crossed off my list that have been lingering for far too long.

Our project for the weekend - we added a light fixture to the nursery. We have friends here who added an adorable chandelier like light to their nursery and I fell in love and wanted to do the same thing. This is what we came up with. I absolutely love it. The pictures really don't do it justice. The room feels so warm and soft now.

 
 
One last project for the room includes a painting from our next door neighbor who is an artist by trade. He came over to discuss concept with us this past week. I can't wait to see what he does. I know we won't be disappointed. 

We spent Sunday afternoon/evening with Jason and Molly watching the Superbowl and eating far too much but very yummy food. It is always great to hang out with the Reynolds and to watch a good game. Go Packers!

Pregnancy update: 7 weeks to go and still crossing my fingers that it is now just 4 weeks. He is moving like crazy at certain times of the day and sleeping is rough. Braxton Hicks have started. Next Saturday is our first childbirth class at the hospital. Crazy.

February 1st

Outside temperature gauge from car at 1pm today.

This is the window closest to my new office space. Yes, that is ice on the INSIDE of the window. After sitting here for about one hour yesterday I realized that the mortar under the window sill was pretty well gone and I could see to the outside. This meant lots of cold air pouring into the loft right on me working. Nice huh? Eric is taking care of it even as I type.