1st party for MM!

Yesterday some of my Montreal girlfriends hosted a surprise baby shower for me and MM! It's only fitting that these fabulous women were there to usher in an undoubtedly fabulous woman of the future, MM, herself!

Some highlights:

Rachel made an owl banner to welcome the baby and bought is 'Rockabye Baby' Radiohead lullaby's for kids CD. It's amazing, they take your favourite bands (a gift for the parents indeed!) and turn their songs into baby friendly relaxing songs sounding a bit like the lullaby's they listen to anyway! But you won't be singing "twinkle twinkle little star" when you hear it! Check it out here
Jess bought MM the changing table top thing we registered for since we won't be getting a change table, but will just plop it on her dresser. LOVE the practicality and how it'll save us a ton of space!

Nikita got MM her first pair of cloth diapers! You buy about 12-15 to start with and add more if need be. But you buy them individually, so now we've gotten started. I'm so happy she appreciated both the cloth diapers and that the company is based in Montreal as much as me :)

Jamie got MM an amazing diaper cake for the first month when we're abandoning our convictions and using disposable diapers (I've heard 10 diaper changes a day... eeek!) and inside put my favourite Bath and Body Works lotion (for me!), diaper cream, and some baby lotion/bubble bath, plus she hosted the amazing shower and planned so many fun games!

Amanda and Andrea both got MM some A.D.O.R.A.B.L.E clothes from Zara and Old Navy! The first "real clothes" MM has, since she has a lot of onsies and pjs but until now no dresses or pants. The squeals in the room were inhuman when we saw how cute they were!

Also, everyone got a favour for coming, Amanda's homemade granola in a jar with fabric that matches MM's future bedroom (and I got to keep the extra 2 yards of fabric, score!)

Surly many more great parties with 'the girls'
(yes, this can soon include my daughter!!) are to come :)
thank-you!

progress

I have made a lot of this today: in regards to sleep (a nap was had! thank you GOD), in regards to being more prepared to be a mom, and a stylin' prego!

I was a disaster this morning. Poor Brad. A pure disaster. There was nothing he could do, my stomach was still aching and I was a zombie... extremely little sleep but the baby was kicking away and my stomach was too painful to relax. I decided I needed to get out of the house. So I headed to Old Navy because they had an e-coupon for 20% off your whole purchase until the 22nd, and I needed to prego summer bottoms: skirts and shorts.

Done and done, I got great deals on 2 skirts and 2 pairs of shorts. Which is kind of important since I'm leaving for Africa in 7 days and only had long pants to pack until today (not ideal for the 40 degree weather we're anticipating!!)

Then I came home and SLEPT! What a wonderful 2 hours. I didn't think it was possible since my stomach was still hurting a lot, but the extreme fatigue won over the dull pain, and I awoke a new person. Then, inspired by my friend Rachel's new wedding registry, I registered for my upcoming baby shower.

This was brutal until I remembered Rachel's use of www.myregistry.com
A brilliant idea - it's an online registry, much like Toys-aren't-us (which had less than HALF of the things on my list in stock) but it covers many stores, including Amazon.com
So you can have things on your list from places like Target, Ikea, online sites, etc, and buyers can just buy them online, or go to the stores if there's one close and get your goods.

I was so set on this one stroller and then was really frustrated when Toys-r-us didn't have it. Along with most other things I was "set on". But you better believe it's available on www.myregistry.com!

Also feeling slightly better though the tummy achy feeling is still there. I'll be sure to mention it to the doc tomorrow when WE FIND OUT MM'S GENDER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In Other News: GO HABS!

people i miss.

lately as you know, I've been functioning at a highly REDUCED pace of life. Apart from work and sleep, I do next to nothing. When with work, I'm struggling to keep my head above water. The other day I had a full day on campus (not unusual but hard these days) and had 2 naps in the process. If I had a spare hour in between appointments, I would race in time for a 30 minute nap before heading back. I would normally see this as a waste of time and not worth the effort, but I'm THAT tired. And falling asleep on the metro is both scary and embarrassing - and I've done that twice.

I often say to Brad, "I miss being ME". He's been gracious to assure me that he loves me and that it's just a season and blah blah blah, but the reality is, I want to pick up the phone and call Missy and Catherine and just talk for hours. I want to meet Rachel for an early breakfast before 9am at Quoi De Neuf (when it's half price and just as glorious!). I want to hang out with Jamie for longer than an hour in the evenings, also meaning I want my bedtime to stretch later than 9pm. I want to have tea with Lydia and Jess again. I want to take Loni's kids swimming at the local pool and teach them how to swim like I was doing pre-prego, but that requires a level of energy that just doesn't exist right now. Ahhh... I am falling more in love with my baby every day, but I do miss my friends.

I keep being told that the energy levels will increase in the 2nd trimester, and I really hope it's true. The nausea is subsiding a bit so maybe it's a sign that the fatigue will too. Compared to many of my friends, my pregnancy hasn't been that difficult, it just seems like it I guess because most of my friends are able-bodied 23 year-olds who act like 23-year-olds... staying up late, meeting friends, having fun. I guess I just want to be ME again, but maybe the new me is more tired and I just have to figure out how to make that work with my relationships.

Then I remember, if the worst I'm feeling it tired and a bit nauseous to experience the joy and miracle of having a baby and starting a family - it's so worth it. It is. I just have forgotten that a few times lately and I need to remember it :)

PROS to being pregs this month:

- Baby would be born in August: before the insane month of September (for us, it's easily the busiest month for work)
- Brad wouldn't have much work to do so he could be around with the new baby a lot before September
- I would have a clear cut/dry year for maternity leave (our heaviest months for work are Sept-June, so I could take mat leave at the beginning of that phase)
- I could be in Rachel Cheng's wedding, my dear friend, as it's currently scheduled when I'll be in North Africa (baby permitting)

CONS to being pregs this month:
- Baby would be born in August: and would be the youngest in their class (equivalent to a December baby in other provinces as the cut off date in Montreal is Sept 20)
- Brad would go to North Africa for 3 weeks instead of us both going for 6 weeks
- We wouldn't go to France at all
- Meaning I may also not go to North Africa this December for the set up trip we've planned