I Swear I'm NOT on Drugs!

Since I have been pregnant, I have had some insanely crazy and vivid dreams. A lot of them I can't remember, a lot of them I choose to forget, and some I just have to share with others. The one I had last night is hilarious, so I wanted to share!! Just so everyone knows, the only drugs I am taking are prenatal vitamins....

I was walking through this wooded area, and there were a bunch of squirrels. One squirrel, in particular, decided to follow me. Everywhere. I. Went. He was scaring the crap out of me, trying to jump on me and bite me. I kept telling the squirrel to "get off!" and to "leave me alone!", but he wouldn't listen. He ended up jumping at me and biting me on the hand. I started to scream because he wouldn't let go and (this is where it gets really strange), I got stopped by a cop. A squirrel cop. That's right - a squirrel in a cop uniform, cop hat, with badge, gun - the whole deal. He told me that I needed to stop being mean to the squirrels and he wrote me a ticket for yelling at the squirrel who bit me and made me bleed. In shock, I took my ticket and continued on my way. The squirrel who bit me continued to follow and taunt me because I got in trouble and had to be nice to him.

End of dream. WTH?!?! :) Just thought I would share that with you!

Best Invention (at least for the time being!!)

Pillows. Oh, my soft, comfy, cuddly friends... how I love you so! You seem to be multiplying every single night in my bed and it's wonderful. Well, wonderful to me, at least! I'm not so sure that Vahe thinks it's so wonderful, now that our king size bed is no longer big enough for the 7 of us! I started out with two of you under my head. Then, to ease my back discomfort, I added a body pillow, which is awesome. Then, as my little guy continued to grow, my discomfort grew too. So, I added another one of you underneath my back. Well, now that I only have a few more weeks to go, they (the doctors) don't recommend sleeping on your back, they recommend that you sleep on your side - preferably the left. I start out sleeping that way, but it never fails that I wake up on my back. So, what does that call for? Another pillow! That's right! There are now FIVE of you in my bed to keep me comfy and to keep me rolled over on my side. It's great. While it takes me 15 minutes just to get situated at night with all of you, it's well worth it. So, thank you pillows, for just being you. I love you.

Blame It On the Hormones!!

Happy Monday, everyone! So, the hormones made me do it - I chopped my hair! I was trying to let it grow for a couple of reasons - 1) because I haven't had it long in a long time and I wanted something different and 2) I wanted to be able to put it in a ponytail when the baby gets here. But, I was in that "in between" BLAH phase, and I just had enough! I couldn't take it anymore so I called on Thursday to set up an appointment and cut it on Friday! It is so much easier to fix in the morning and it actually has a style now! :)

Other baby news - we went to our all-day birthing class on Saturday. It was excrutiatingly painful for the first half of the day, but not as bad after lunch. We heard a lot of the same stuff I've already read in books, but there was also a lot of good information to be learned. Vahe was a trooper and didn't complain too much - I actually think I complained more. I was so uncomfortable! We mastered the breathing techniques that he'll supposedly coach me through during delivery. That is, if all that stuff doesn't go right out the window that day of!

I'm now in the home stretch. It's crazy to think that in 31 days (or less), I'll be a mommy. I am so excited, nervous, anxious, thrilled.... everything all rolled up into one. I can't wait to meet Sweet Pea in person, but I'm not going to lie - I'm starting to get nervous about the actual labor. I'll put my big girl pants on, though, and tackle labor head on!! LOL

Have a great week!!

Love

Lauren

Showered with Love :)

This past Saturday (also Valentine's Day) was my baby shower!! I have been anxiously awaiting this day for a while now. I was so excited to have my family and friends in the same room for our little Sweet Pea. It was absolutely perfect! My mom planned a beautiful and extremely creative shower and was put together with the help of my aunts from Chicago and Alissa. The decorations were awesome - everything matched the them of primary colors. The food was incredible - Italian beef from Chicago, potato salad, inside-out ravioli, watergate salad, tons of appetizers, an amazing cake that matched the invitation to a tee from Chicago, homemade sugar cookies cut out and decorated like onesies, bottles, hats, duckies and more. My mom also created a fun candy bar for Valentine's Day with chinese take-out boxes for people to take candy home for themselve, kids, etc. To top it all off, mom also made candy bars to match the theme as well!! They were soooo cute. :) The day was just perfect.

Sweet Pea was spoiled rotten. He got so much great stuff and we are definitely much more prepared for his arrival now. I never thought I would get so excited about diapers, but I was thrilled! The nursery is now coming together and it's beautiful. I love the nursery! I go in there about ten times a day and just think "wow, there will be a little guy in here soon". I can't wait! After the shower, and after everyone had left, I went upstairs to try to put some things away. I was so exhausted, I fell asleep in the glider holding the teddy bear Sweet Pea had gotten as a gift. I have a feeling I'll be falling asleep a lot in that chair! :)

I can't thank my family and friends enough for making my shower such a special day for me. My mom went above and beyond and created this pefect day for me. I love her so much. I can only hope that I am half as good of a mom to Sweet Pea as she has been to me all of my life. :) And, I have to thank her for her creativity and paying attention to the little details when throwing a party, because I definitely inherited that from her! And, I also have to thank my aunts for everything they did over the weekend. They, too, did so much for us and I am so grateful for it.

I can't wait for Sweet Pea's arrival. If there was this much love for him at a shower, I can only imagine how much love there will be for him when he gets here!!!

Love,
Lauren

Dear Sweet Pea,

Dear Sweet Pea,

Please stop doing this on my bladder. Pretty please. With lots of sugar on top.

Love,
Mommy

3rd Time is a Charm!

For those of you who have been following the saga of the 3D ultrasound, I have great news!! Our little guy pulled through in a pressure situation and allowed us to get a pretty good look at his adorable face! It was our 3rd and final attempt at having this done, so we were really hoping to get a good look at him. He was a little shy at first, but opened up pretty quickly (thanks to the PB&J sandwich and orange juice I had for lunch) We saw him smile, frown, sucking his thumb and opening/closing his mouth. It was so cool to watch! He was sucking his left thumb, so it'll be interesting to see if he's a lefty. Vahe said that's a great thing, because it raises his chances of playing in the major league! hahaha. We got to see and hear his heartbeat again, which never gets old. I absolutely love that sound! The tech said that he definitely has some hair - which isn't much of a shocker! But, we were both so thrilled to see him and it just makes us even more excited to see him in person!

The first picture is of him smiling - my favorite! :)

The second picture is of him sucking his thumb.

The third picture is of him resting peacefully.

The fourth picture is of him frowning. :( He was tired of the tech pushing him around! haha

We also got our nursery furniture a few days ago. It's so beautiful - I love it! I go into the nursery like 10 times every day just to look at it. I can't wait until it's finished! It's getting there, we just need to get all of the accessories so that we can put the finishing touches on it. It's so cute!

I hope you all have a great week! I am soon entering week 34 - which is crazy! I'll post an updated belly pic later!

Love,

Lauren

Camera Shy :)

Happy Monday, everyone! I hope if you watched the entire Super Bowl you're not dragging too much this morning. Vahe and I stayed up for the game, and I'm pretty tired! But, I'm getting used to being tired. LOL

Last week I posted about Sweet Pea being stubborn - that we went for our 3D ultrasound and he wouldn't move for the tech to get any good pictures. So, since we have already paid for it, they let us go back on Saturday for a second try. Well, this time, I ate a sugary lunch - peanut butter and marshmallow fluff sandwich and washed it down with a caramel latte from Starbucks. Seems a little selfish to hype our baby up on sugar and caffeine before you go in, but dang it, I wanted to see him! So, he was moving like crazy - kicking, punching - perfect. Or so I thought. I layed on the table, and she started the ultrasound again. He was moving alright - everything BUT the one thing we wanted to see - his face!!! He was snuggled up behind my hip bone all warm and cozy and wouldn't come out to play for anything!! What a bummer. He is either really super stubborn or just extremely cozy and camera shy. Not sure which one it is. So.... we are going back for a third try on Sunday. It's not that it's that important at this point, it's more that we've paid for it and would love to see him and get the pictures that we paid for. I can't imagine we will go back after this try though. It's either 3 times a charm or he just wants us to be surprised when he makes his appearance in a few weeks. :)

I'll keep you all posted on how everything goes. Have a great week!

Love,
Lauren

P.S. - This is my Week 32 picture. This boy is GROWING!!!! :)