Week 30 and Thanksgiving Break!

We hit the thirty-week mark over Thanksgiving break!

Before we left, I quickly snapped a few photos of our Thanksgiving décor including the embroidered bread cover from my mom, our new apothecary jars (Andrew is a big fan of the easy access to candy), and the S'mores Thanksgiving ornaments from my mom.

For Thanksgiving this year, we drove out to Indiana to visit with my family for a week.  It was a long, back-straining 10-hour drive for me and Baby Girl.  She just couldn’t find a comfortable spot and moved around the entire tire.  And my back began protesting at about the seven-hour mark.  I brought along a heated back wrap that I wore and I think it helped but the ride was just TOO LONG for a pregnant woman, I’ve decided.

It was fun to be with Mom and Dad for the holidays.  Everyone was able to make it into town except for Sarah’s family and we missed them TREMENDOUSLY.  I was convinced they were going to show up and surprise us all up until we got Instagram photos of them the night before in New Mexico.  Curt and Vanessa are already in West Lafayette while Curt gets his MBA.  Lisa is living with Mom and Dad right now as she gets settled in her teaching job.  Cole and Emily made it into town from Murfreesboro about fifteen minutes after we did late Friday night.  And Kyle and Ashley’s family drove up from Florida late Thanksgiving night.

Andrew found us cheap tickets to the Notre Dame vs. BYU football game in South Bend the day after we arrived.  We met our friends, Dan and Alicia Ditto, up there and had a great time catching up with them and walking around the campus. 

Notre Dame is a great campus to visit!  They have a little brochure that they pass out with all of their tailgating activities and we were able to tour some of the most popular spots, listen to a group of bagpipers, see the team on their way in to the stadium, listen to the marching band, etc. at different locations around campus.  We had a great time!

The game was freezing cold!  Andrew and I wore long johns and bundled up in all of our heavy duty gear to combat the 9-degree weather complete with blowing snow.  It helped that they packed us into the stands tightly.  We had grabbed several blankets from my parents’ house and wrapped up in those as well which turned out to be the difference-maker between enjoying the game and freezing our butts off.

The game was frustrating with BYU losing 13-23.  The offensive play-calling had me hollering for Robert Anae’s job (what game this season hasn’t?!)  But the Notre Dame fans were very gracious and friendly both at the stadium and around town.  So we had a great time despite it all.

It was awesome to be in the house with four preggos.  There was a lot of baby talk as we compared symptoms, shared birth plans, talked baby gear, etc.  Vanessa wasn’t getting a lot of consistent movement from her little baby at that point (she felt the baby move for the first time the day of our baby shower) but Emily and I have little movers & shakers on our hands and it was fun for me to see that our babies were usually active around the same times.

Andrew took me shopping for maternity clothes during the week.  Up to this point I had resisted because I wanted to wait until I really needed to spend the money.  Here are my tricks to getting by without maternity clothes until week 30:

·         Knit leggings—I had a ton of these from last winter and they are working great.  I gave up on jeans altogether about 8 weeks ago.

·         Belly Bandz—I have four of these and they elongate my normal shirts so I wear them all the time.

·         Wonder Tees from Downeast Basics—I love that these shirts are so stretchy and so long.  I had these pre-pregnancy and I am so happy that I can still wear them.  The white ones are a little thin so I have to layer a tank top underneath but the black and beige ones are perfect!

·         Sperrys—Andrew bought me a pair of gold top-siders this summer and they are my most comfy, slip-on shoes!  And so far, my feet haven’t gotten too wide for them.  Hopefully, my feet don’t grow!!!!

·         Long cardigans—these are the perfect layering item and they give my shapely shape a little more definition.

·         Maxi dresses—I really stocked up on these before I knew I was expecting hoping that I could wear them for the first half of my pregnancy without anyone getting suspicious.  As it is, I don’t think I will have to buy any new dresses for my pregnancy.

I had bought two maternity t-shirts from H&M on a trip to DC this summer and one of my co-workers had given me a brand-new maternity top that her daughter had never worn (it still had the tags on it!) and so those were also in rotation as well.  But after our little shopping spree, I have plenty of sweaters and tops to see me through the last quarter (!) of my pregnancy.

And while I am at it, let me just brag on how great my husband is.  I love him so much!  I know it was hard for him to be away from his family for the holidays—especially since we won’t be seeing them when they all get together for Christmas.  But he has been such a trooper and so happy just to be with OUR FAMILY as he likes to say. 

He was always willing to go pick up Pooma and bring her over to the house, sit down and play with nieces and nephews (LEGOS, read books, etc.), stay up late to determine the Texas Hold ‘Em Champion, and after the pregnant wives turned in, he was game for a few rounds of old school Nintendo 64.  One morning, my mom woke up and he had gotten all of the bread ready for her turkey dressing sometime during the night.  I am glad that he is my husband and that we are a forever family, but this vacation made me realize how thankful I am that he is part of my family’s forever as well.

 

We had a great Thanksgiving holiday.  It’s so nice to be surrounded by family and watch football and eat such good food!  Andrew made a homemade pumpkin pie with real pumpkin that was the first dessert to go.  I was rather proud of him for that accomplishment.  He said he couldn’t have done it without Mom’s pie crust so thanks for making the crust, Mom!  He also made his family’s holiday Jell-O and I made Pooma’s baked corn casserole and a cranberry relish that is an awesome recipe but for some reason, it didn’t quite turn out. 

Such good food but no room in my shrinking tummy to pack it in so I did end up throwing up after dinner.  TMI and really sad!  But generally my nausea has subsided and I only have trouble about once or twice a week now.  And I am getting better about staying up later without getting sick.  Hallelujah.

We missed Grandma Martin who was recovering from a bronchoscopy and Sarah’s family as they were in New Mexico.

The next day was the big baby shower for “The Quads” as we are calling these four cousins.  It started out as “The Triplets” (especially since they were all girls) but we had to upgrade the name with Curt and Vanessa’s announcement.  We had a fairy tale theme and Mom, Lisa, Aunt Jenny, and Emily’s mom, Judy, did all of the work.  It was so much fun!  It felt like Christmas with all of the fun gifts that we received.  We were overwhelmed by the generosity of so many and so many at once especially.  I know it isn’t cheap to buy for four!

Our gift to the other girl cousins was matching newborn bracelets that I fell in love with on Pinterest.  I contacted the seller and she made three and shipped them to me very quickly.  I think they are darling but, unfortunately, we didn't get a photo of the bracelets together. 

After the baby shower, the four of us moms-to-be went downtown for a maternity photo shoot.  Emily’s sister, Cathy, took the photos and Vanessa posed us.  We had a blast!  I am so glad that we captured this moment in time with all of us pregnant together.  We stopped at a café for hot cocoa afterwards to just relax together.

(As soon as the photos are edited by Vanessa, I will post them.  I tried to coax one or two out of here a little early to no avail!) 

All in all, it was a terrific visit! We were so happy to be in Indiana and to have such a nice, long visit.  It is such a blessing when we can all get together like that!