seven eighths

20 Weeks

25 Weeks

30 weeks

35 Weeks - December 24, 2011

Baby fruit size: Honeydew melon. Really? They must be referring to some county fair record-breaking honeydew melon.

Milestones: Baby has settled into a head-down position and is getting pretty cramped. His digestive system is ready to handle breast milk and his immune system is prepared to protect him from infection. He's accumulating body fat and should go from his current 15% to 30% by birth. His eyes close during sleep and are open while awake and he can sense night and day.

Sex: Boy. Confirmed once again at my 32 week ultrasound.

Sleep: It's getting bad. When I sleep on my side, I get pains under my ribs and when I sleep on my back, it feels like someone is sitting on my stomach. Add acid reflux on top of that and I now expect to wake up and stay awake for a couple hours each night and forget what it feels like to get a full night's sleep.

Stretch marks: Still nothing, although I just read some women get them after delivering when their skin contracts very quickly. I'm not out of the woods yet.

Weight: My total weight gain is 16 pounds, although I know I've lost a lot of muscle weight in the past few months, so I think that's a bit misleading. Based on the most recent estimate from my OB, "little" Eddie is most likely 6+ pounds of that at this point. I'm preparing for an 8 or 9 pounder.

Food cravings: CHIPOTLE. (Several times a week. They know my name, they know Ed's name and they know the baby's name.) Butter. Grilled cheese. Orange juice. Hot chocolate with whipped cream. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

Food aversions: Nothing.

Other symptoms: As the picture above clearly shows, I have an outie now. My belly is feeling very full, heavy and hard, making it a workout to bend over to put on pants and shoes. Puffy, dry and red eyes. Bruised feeling in my pubic bone which hopefully means that his head is moving lower. CRAZY dreams, like the one the other night where I had quadruplets. Probably means I should lay off this until after the baby is born.

Movement: I feel him squirming and shifting regularly throughout the day, especially early morning, late afternoon and late at night. Finally felt hiccups for the first time a couple days ago and it was just as bizarre as everyone says.

Best moments: Falling asleep during a pedicure. Wonderful showers in Cincinnati and Chicago. Quite a few foot rubs from Ed. Ed's last day of work travel before the baby. Meeting Mike Wilbon in the elevator and discussing Eddie's potential NBA career. My only regret is that I didn't start our conversation with "Pardon the interruption..."

What I miss: Being able to sit and lie down comfortably. SLEEP.

What I'm looking forward to: Last day of work before maternity leave. Staying in and spending New Year's Eve in my pajamas on the couch with Ed. Seeing Eddie's face for the first time.

Reading: Your Pregnancy Week by Week, What to Expect When You're Expecting and Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child

365 Project - Week 43

December 14 - Collection

December 15 - Pregnant, stubborn & a little ghetto. Or, what happens when you refuse to buy maternity pants.

December 16 - Looking forward to the winter solstice

December 17 - In the words of Ed, we're now Street Legal

December 18 - DIY 5-ways. Thanks, Mom.

December 19 - The view has certainly changed.

December 20 - Eddie's -1 Christmas

Pregnancy Dialogues #4

After waking up from a particularly long and deep football nap together this past Sunday...

Ed: So what will Eddie be doing when we take naps like this? Is there some sort of container we put him in next to us on the floor?

Terese, silent for a moment while trying to gauge whether he's serious or joking.

Terese, recovering: Well, I don't think we can both fall asleep like this if he's awake. We'll have to nap when he does.

Ed: Oh.

This is going to be baptism by fire, you guys.

30 for 30 - a progress report

What have I learned in the last 10 months? That I clearly spend too much time organizing things at home and not enough out exploring Chicago.

I. Ed, Friends and Family

1. Plan one date or activity a week to do with Ed outside our normal routine -This month we celebrated Thanksgiving in Ohio, had a final pre-baby dinner with friends at Roka Akor, took breastfeeding and CPR classes at the hospital and had an embarrassing number of Chipotle/movie nights on the couch.
   
2. Procreate - 1 MONTH!!
   
3. Have a 4 am girls-only dance party
4. Call my grandpa more often
5. Babysit our godchildren – Ryder (+ Ava), Maddie and Liam

Bonus: Send 1-2 handwritten non-birthday notes a month to friends and family

II. Work and Hobbies

1. Work on photography – take more photos, read Understanding Exposure and take the Intermediate Digital Photography class at the Chicago Photography Center
2. Complete the 365 photo project
3. Learn Lightroom
4. Take One to One classes at Apple
5. Redesign blog
6. Complete current event planning job with Sharon and discuss future ones
7. Read Creative, Inc.

Bonus 1: Buy and learn InDesign
Bonus 2: Set up Etsy shop

III. Travel

1. Travel to Argentina
2. Visit my friend Maria in Charlotte, NC - revised to visit Betsy in New York.
3. Take long weekend trips to new U.S. cities (Seattle, Portland, Palm Springs, New Orleans, Jackson Hole, Charleston)

Bonus: Take a race-based running trip with Ed’s family

IV. Home

1. Buy a house
2. Switch from chemical to non-toxic cleaners (yes, including Windex)

Bonus 1: Clean out makeup and toiletries and buy new where necessary
Bonus 2: Host a holiday or annual party that becomes a new tradition

V. Food and Cooking

1. Organize recipe binder
2. Go to the Green City Market early on a Saturday and buy food to make dinner
3. Eat at Alinea
4. Cook at home 1-2 times a week (including 1 new recipe)

Bonus: Try new restaurants that allow us to explore Chicago’s neighborhoods and ethnic cuisine

VI. Health and Fitness

1. Take regular yoga classes
2. Run at least 2 half marathons
3. Ride my bike more, including riding the North Branch bike trail

Bonus: Break previous Shamrock Shuffle record (36:20)

VII. Chicago

1. Go on Frank Lloyd Wright tour in Oak Park, IL
2. Spy on Rick Bayless's garden
3. Visit at least 6 Chicago museums and cultural institutions (MCA, Art Institute, Field Museum, CSO, Lyric Opera, Chicago History Museum...)

Bonus: Go to Gospel Brunch at the House of Blues

VIII. Organization

1. Purchase and fill photo albums for 2008; create photo books for 2009-2011 - 2008 is complete and I'm working my way through 2009 and 2010.
   

Bonus: Organize and donate/throw out grad school and old teaching materials
Bonus: Clean out Yahoo email account and unsubscribe from unnecessary emails - almost done!
Bonus: Clean out the six plastic tubs at my parents’ house that are full of grade school through high school papers and mementos

IX. Giving & Volunteering

1. Come up with a charitable giving plan for 2011
2. Volunteer for Girls on the Run

Bonus: Serve food on Thanksgiving at a food pantry or soup kitchen

365 Project - Week 42

December 7 - Oh, the irony of reading this while awake at 3 am with pregnancy insomnia

December 8 - DSLR Christmas tree

December 9 - Neighbors

December 10 - A crazy Saturday night these days: staying awake for Weekend Update

December 11 - iPhone Christmas tree

December 12

December 13 - Like spray painting, glittering also requires strategic timing

floorplan II

Most of the big things I chose for the nursery (rug, crib, sofa, bookcases, dresser) were purchased online. Because I am absolutely, positively a visual learner, I had to see how they all would look in the room before I could pull the trigger. So I unearthed some graph paper from my newly organized paper/craft/office supply closet (NESTING!) and sketched it all out.

What can I say, I'm a creature of habit.

Here's the empty room to jog your memory. The sofa is being delivered on Friday and I'm still excitedly waiting (definitely not nagging) for the dresser to be assembled. Once that all happens, the rest of the nursery should come together quickly. It better, because my little homeslice is scheduled to arrive in just 45 days!

365 Project - Week 41

November 30 - Winter #1

December 1 - NBC Tower




December 2 - Winter #2




December 3 - 1 for me and 1/2 for Eddie




December 4 - Babyland

December 5 - Ed is looking forward to getting an early start on his son's hip hop education

December 6 - Pretty notes

inspired by campaign chests

Oh man, am I ever kicking myself for not acknowledging campaign style furniture a bit sooner. Because how perfect would these chests be in a boy's nursery? I just love how strong and masculine they look.

Sources: {1}, {2}, {3}, {4}, {5}

Of course as quickly as I fell in love, I also quickly realized I was too late to the game. Countless bloggers' pronouncements of finding crazy deals on old chests on Craigslist and at garage sales were a thing of the past. I even set up alerts on Craigslist for a couple months that produced absolutely nothing.

I briefly considered DIYing something myself...

...but soon decided it was best to move on. I couldn't forget about that brass hardware, though. So that's how I ended up taking on my first (albeit minor) IKEA hack. Little Eddie's dresser/changing table will be this

with the plain knobs swapped out for these drawer pulls.

And now Ed is in charge of putting it all together. But seeing as he is finishing up his last 2 weeks of major pre-baby work travel and we don't own a drill, I can pretty much guarantee he'll be throwing some cash at a maintenance guy in our building who has access to power tools and a higher tolerance for Allen wrench assembly.

So while there is no "after" reveal right now, I do have this very lame MS Paint mock-up I did to help visualize my plan prior to ordering the hardware:

One of these days I'll come home to a completed dresser, I just know it.

365 Project - Week 40

November 23 - Road trip back to Ohio.




November 24 - Liam's 1st Thanksgiving and 5th tooth. Don't mess with him.




November 25 - Black Friday shopping really isn't so bad.




November 26 - Testing out Cousin Eddie's new hat.




November 27 - Back to the city.




November 28 - New rug!

November 29 - 8 weeks left and I'm running out of things to organize.

white slipcovered sleeper sofas...

...are not so easy to find. Surprised?

Since the nursery will double as a guest room, we needed a sleeping solution that would fit into the not-so-big space already bursting with baby gear. From the moment I laid eyes on the picture below, I was set on a white sofa.

Easy enough, right? Sure, but add in the requirements of a pull-out bed and slipcover (the only way I could ever see managing white upholstery with a baby) and your options quickly become limited. An exhaustive search produced these 5 results:

1

2





3





4



5

After stopping by all the stores to see them in person, Ed and I agreed that 1, 2 and 3 were more cottagey and shabby chic than we were going for. Ultimately, we decided on 5 - the Metro from Room & Board. Specifically, the 75", 2 cushion, full sleeper sofa. It even came with an unanticipated bonus. The sofa itself didn't have to be white, so we were able to choose a different fabric that will hopefully help transition it down the road from the nursery to another part of the house.

So the sofa will look like this...

...and be slipcovered in this bright white fabric.

And now we wait patiently for the expected Christmas Eve delivery date!

(Of the sofa, hopefully NOT the baby!)