Baby Pool - What's your Hunch?

I thought it would be fun to do a baby pool for everyone to guess Camden's stats. It's really neat to see what people guess. 

Luckily I didn't have to do a paper one because I remember how much of a hassle that was with Megan's for Logan. Although we did collect money for that, I remember Uncle Jon won some cash because he guessed the right date. 

Here's Camden's baby pool on a website called babyhunch.com. It'll be fun to add this to his baby book and show him all the hunches when he gets older! 

Gosh I hope that kid isn't over 9 pounds like his daddy was! I'll be just fine with a 7 pounder, hehe. So, I really hope Cousin Barbie is way off with her guess of 9lb 9oz! I told Charlie I'm gonna have some explainin' to do if that kid comes out with brown hair and hazel eyes...Mommy & Daddy are blondies with blue eyes!

I miss my rings

This is as far as my rings will go on my poor swollen fingers. Pretty sure they would have gotten stuck if I would have tried to push them any further down.

People probably look at us in public like "that married man knocked up that single chick". Thinking I'm his mistress or something, haha!

I can't wait to be able to be "married" again! 

On a better note, my nails look pretty good...thanks to the prenatals!

Classical Music

Mark loves to play classical music so that Camden can hear. He'll just turn on Pandora and place the phone near the belly. It's really relaxing, I especially love the piano. The baby actually does react to it...I think Mark turned it up too loud at first and woke him up. But he moves around as if he's dancing to it, pretty cool.

This is how Mark fell asleep one night, until a Pandora commercial woke him up since it was way louder than the music. He was in such a deep sleep that he doesn't even remember waking up or putting his phone on the nightstand.

I'm "Embarrassing"

You shoulda seen how embarrassed Mark was when we were shopping for maternity photo session outfits at the mall. Everyone kept reading my shirt and laughing, or they would say they loved my shirt. Some people were making me stop so that they could read the whole thing. He kept shaking his head and telling me to put my jacket back on. It's not like I can zip it anymore anyway so it wouldn't have mattered, ha! I enjoyed embarrassing him more than I enjoyed strangers' reactions!

Who Does Camden Look Like?

Left: Daddy
Center: Camden
Right: Mommy

He loves me

This actually really did help the swelling...ahh I was in heaven!

And the 'Baby Daddy of the Year Award' goes to....Mark A. Savage

Our Last Christmas as Two

On Monday, the 23rd, I went to my routine follow up doctor's appointment. I was in and out in 20 minutes (love that doctor's office especially after reading horror stories about my friends waiting forever to be seen by their OB). Blood pressure is normal, weight gain is normal, baby's heart rate was 150bpm. He measured my belly and said everything is right on track and there's no way to tell how much he weighs at this point since I don't get any more ultrasounds. He did feel around on my belly and told me that he can tell the baby is in the head down position which is good, although he could flip/move between now and February.

I asked him about the tightening in my belly and he said they were braxton hicks contractions. At first I couldn't tell if that was it or if the baby was just pressing up against my side. They were off and on all day and weren't really painful, just uncomfortable. They got worse when I tried to do something physical (carried laundry basket up the stairs). I haven't had many since then so I hope that's the last of them for a few weeks or so. So that was my Christmas gift from Camden, thanks son! Going back to the doctor on January 6 for the same routine appointment. I'll start going every week once I hit 36 weeks (January 18 or so)...I think that's when he will start checking to see if I'm dialated or effaced. And at that point there are only 4 weeks left, omg it's so soon! 

I felt like a total Scrooge and Grinch this year because we didn't decorate for Christmas - didn't even pull the tote out of the garage. Our roommate moved out December 1st and after that it became "operation get house organized before baby comes". I've been in nesting mode lately. Any spare time I get while I'm at home I'm either going through baby clothes, setting up things in his nursery, or cleaning and straightening up the house since it's a disaster. We had our carpets cleaned and sanitized so don't even think about wearing your shoes in our house anymore! I just know that if we had dragged out the decorations, gotten a [real] tree, and fooled around with lights and all that mess....then had to clean it all back up the first of the year...nothing would ever get done and the house wouldn't be ready for baby by February.

At least I still got to shop for our parents and nieces and nephews like we do every year. Giving gifts is the best part about Christmas. I love seeing the kids open their gifts, it's so much fun. As I watched them open their gifts this year I was imagining what next year would be like with Camden here. It will be even more fun to watch him open his gifts, he'll be 10 months which is such a cute age...and I'm sure he'll want wrapping paper and boxes more than the toys, lol. He'll be able to play with all of his cousins and the holidays will be that much better!

Here's a photo taken by Nana of all SIX of her grandkids...
Camden, Bailey, Blake, Connor, Jordan, and Lacey!

I can't wait to start traditions with our baby boy. I think we're going to do the Elf on the Shelf, who arrives Thanksgiving night. I also want to do a tradition of a Christmas Eve Box delivered on the front porch which includes Christmas pajamas for him to wear to bed and on Christmas morning of course, a DVD, books, hot chocolate, and popcorn...things like that. We'll bake cookies and make salt dough ornaments or gingerbread houses...while listening to Elvis' Christmas CD of course, ahh brings back memories of  our Christmases growing up. It's going to be a lot of fun with him! 

Maternity Photo Session

We had been scoping out different local photographers for a while. Being photographers ourselves, we were pretty picky when it came to selecting someone to take our maternity photos. We had the money saved from photo shoots that we took this fall, so we figured it was kind of like "free money" since it was our side job that would be paying for this...but we still wanted to get a good deal. 

www.kellibrewer.com

Don't you just LOVE Camden's first pair of shoes? We saw these at the store and couldn't resist!

We decided to go with Kelli Brewer Photography. We found her Facebook page through a friend of Mark's and love all the photos she posts online. Every time she posts photos from a new photo session we are always like "man, that's a nice camera" or "wow, she does good work". The photos are always so crisp and clear and the scenery and poses are great too. 

At first we had scheduled our session for December 14 at 3pm. Looking at the forecast a few days before was not pretty. They were calling for freezing rain and snow (wintry mix). We kept an eye on it and on Friday the 13th, Kelli decided we should reschedule. I was actually glad because I came down with a head cold that weekend and my face and eyes were all puffy from sneezing and sniffling so much. On December 14 at 3pm I looked out the window and it was POURING. So glad we decided to reschedule rather than trying to wing it and hope for the best.

So, we got lucky since she was available that next Saturday. Looking ahead at the forecast they were calling for temps in the 70s and sunny skies with 0% chance of precipitation. Perfect! I was glad the forecast didn't suddenly change and cause us to have to reschedule AGAIN because her only available dates were late January and I would look/feel/be even more miserable. 

So my cousin Sam came over to curl my hair that morning. I didn't want to just have it straight like I always do and I really suck at curling my own hair - well I do good on one side then the other side is total opposite. I was so excited at how warm it was outside, we had the windows open and were jamming to country music while she did my hair. I noticed the blue sky and saw a slight breeze but didn't think anything of it. 

See, look how pretty it was!

When we went to get into the car to leave it was SO WINDY! I started freaking out because my hair was messing up and I hadn't even left the driveway yet. I knew it was going to be a nightmare during the shoot because of the stupid wind. When we got to Manassas Battlefield, of course I had to pee so we went into the visitor center to wait for Kelli. As I was walking out of the bathroom, she was walking in. Noticed my belly I assume and said "are you Shannon?" haha...then we introduced ourselves and off into the windy field we went! 

I had to walk backwards most of the time so that my hair wasn't blowing into my face, specifically my lip gloss which was super annoying. I warned Kelli that I had a bad side and she tried to work around that, I am just not comfortable posing on the other side because I hate my teeth/smile on that side. I feel like I spent more time moving my bangs outta my eyes than actually posing for a picture - our photo shoot would have been finished in half the time if the wind wasn't a factor. Towards the end I just didn't care anymore, my hair was doomed and there was no fixing it. I can't wait to see how the rest of the photos turned out. Kelli is taking time off to spend it with her family for the holidays so we're being patient because we respect that! 

All in all it was a pretty cool experience - being on the other side of the lens for once. I am self conscious about my two chins and a few other areas that have grown since Camden has been around but I know it's all for a good cause and could be worse so I shouldn't complain. It was fun to pose with Mark and he said he loved looking into my eyes when she would tell us to look at each other or just be flirty. He was tickling me a lot to try to get me to laugh more, Kelli's idea...but I don't think those photos are going to turn out too nice with him tickling and me trying to get him to stop, but she might have captured a cute/playful one here and there, lol.

Kelli was super nice and outgoing during the shoot. She was asking questions which I believe will be incorporated into her posts or blog about us...smart thinking! She even gave us some yummy hot chocolate and candy afterwards! Highly recommend her as a photographer - we will probably have her do our lifestyle session in our home once Camden is here and is a few days old. I'd much rather have photos of him than my belly so I can't wait for that! 

I yelled at Mark once I saw our sneak peek photo because his sleeve wasn't buttoned but hopefully y'all didn't even notice that til I pointed it out. I love that outfit on him though, don't you think the sweater vest is a good look? Can't wait to show these to Camden when he gets older because I remember looking back at pictures when my mom was pregnant with me and thinking how cool it was to see. 

I will be sure to post the link to our gallery/blog once she sends it to us, or if she posts any other sneak peeks I'll share them too! 

Oh the joys...

Notice how I said joys? It's because I'm not trying to complain, I just want to share all of my wonderful pregnancy symptoms with you.

Getting Dressed
It's no longer easy to put socks, shoes, undies, or pants on. I find myself trying to stand but can't bend, then I try to sit but can't reach...it's not a pretty sight! And to make things worse I'm going through more than one pair of panties a day these days, I'm sure you can guess why. Can't even sneeze without having to cross my legs just in case! Hate to say it but it's time to break out the panty liners, haha sorry TMI. I feel like an old lady! It's cold out and my feet probably should have socks on them but I just don't have the energy to put them on - besides, my sneakers don't fit anymore anyway. I mean, for goodness sake, it took this chick almost 3 minutes to tell us how to put on shoes!

Charlie Horses
Which apparently is spelled Charley, but I never knew that until googling. I like Charlie better though. Anyway, I've had about 3 of these since the third trimester started. They usually occur in the middle of the night or in the morning when I'm stretching. Holy cow (or horse) these cramps are so painful. I can't help but yell when I get them. Mark thinks someone is murdering me, haha. I can barely reach to rub it and hope that the muscle isn't sore afterwards. Last time it stayed sore for days and it even became difficult to walk because of it!

Shaving
It's a workout these days and you'd think since it was winter I could get away with going weeks without shaving but my skin is so dry and itchy that it feels terrible if I don't shave often. Plus, I'm not so sure Mark appreciates an ape for a wife. It's impossible to do standing in the shower (belly gets in the way) so I have to sit on the edge of the tub (painful even with a towel under booty). I haven't gotten to the point where I want/need him to shave me yet but I've heard it's common and some of my friends had their baby daddy shave for them. I'd be scared he'd cut me though!

Balance
So I'll just be standing there and randomly almost fall over. I almost knocked over my mom's brand new flat screen TV on Thanksgiving, it was so close! And when I'm walking I don't think there's such thing as a straight line, I am so clumsy and keep bumping into random things even though I know they're there! I probably underestimate the size of this belly...it sure gets in the way of everything lately!

Stiff Fingers
It started a couple weeks ago (probably right around 30 weeks, beginning of December). I would wake up in the middle of the night to pee and notice that the joints in my fingers felt super stiff. It would hurt to bend them and it was even difficult to grab toilet paper or pull up my pants. I got terrified since arthritis runs on both sides of the family but when I googled I found that it's common and could just be because of swelling/water retention or it could be carpal tunnel - I'm going to mention it to the doctor during my next appointment. Hopefully it doesn't stick around after the baby is here like some ladies posted in that forum. I was pleased to see that everyone else's pain was also worse at night and when they first woke up. I thought it was weird that mine gradually got better throughout the day but I see that it's normal so that makes me feel better. Maybe I just type too much and need to go on bed rest and not work again til the spring.

Swollen Legs
You all know that my ankles and feet have been swollen off and on since about week 21. My hands/fingers swell a little, but only enough to where my rings don't fit comfortably but I could still force them on if I wanted to, I think. I never would have expected my legs/calves/shins to be swollen though. I feel like they're tree trunks, it's terrible...not to mention SUPER ugly!

Back and Hip Pain
So they tell us not to sleep on our backs because there's an artery that can be blocked or something if you lay flat. So I got the snoogle and have been sleeping on my sides, yes both because I have to alternate since my hips start hurting once I've been laying too long. Basically, every time I get up to pee I switch sides. I can always tell which side I was on because that hip and ear (I think I need a softer pillow) is hurting. If both hips hurt and I'm just not comfortable on my side, I'll lay on my back but not flat, I will pile up the pillows and hope to get comfy that way. It's the fun stuff that comes along with pregnancy and I know these pains are normal/common but sheesh I just wanna sleep comfortably, is that too much to ask!?

3am Cravings
It only started a few weeks ago. It's super hot in our bedroom (heat rises and we're all the way on the third floor) so I wake up thirsty and hot and all I want is ice cold water. Sometimes when I try to fall back asleep it doesn't happen...so then I lay there and my stomach starts growling. In my defense, baby is taking all my nutrients AND it's been like hours since dinner. So then I decide to go see what's in the fridge or pantry. I usually gulp a huge glass of milk, nothing better than milk at 3am, ahh! And if I want a snack I'll get a granola bar or something like that, just to take the hunger pains away.

Weight Gain
So far I have gained 27 pounds (I am now 32w5d). The doctor says everything is on track and measuring normal. He can't tell how big the baby is yet but he measures the outside of my belly and says it looks great. I asked him about my weight gain because he has a record on my chart and he said nothing to worry about so I guess that's normal. I'm just hoping it doesn't double in the next 8 weeks and then I'm 50 pounds heavier than I was in May...yikes, that just sounds ugly! Oh and in addition to my feet growing a full shoe size, my nose now looks bigger/wider. Apparently it's common, no me gusta!

Tailbone Pain
I think I told you already that I had to break down and ended up buying the donut pillow thing. It helped a little at first but today is really bad and it isn't doing its job! I feel like I fell on the ice and broke my tailbone. Some women actually do break their tailbones during labor, please don't let me be one of them! This pain is no joke!

Again, these are NOT complaints. I'm happy that my baby boy is healthy and I only have a few more weeks of this pregnancy stuff. I would take these pains any day if it meant having a healthy baby. So blessed we have come this far and can't wait to meet our little miracle!

31 Week Hiccups

I felt his first hiccups when I was 31w1d. It was a really cool feeling. I knew what they felt like because I had felt them from the outside before on my sister's belly when her baby would have the hiccups every evening. You can tell they're not kicks or punches because they're just constant little jolts one after the other. Camden's are random - sometimes he gets them once a day, sometimes never, sometimes more than once a day.

Kinda cool to think that he has all 5 of his senses already. So he's hearing noises, seeing lights, tasting, feeling around, and smelling (oh gosh it mustn't smell that great in there). 

Camden got to enjoy a yummy dinner for Momma's birthday on 12/19...bang bang shrimp, mmm! Thanks to the baby daddy for taking us there!

P.S. Don't make fun of my ugly pineapple! :P

Work Baby Shower

My coworkers threw me a shower at work last week. They treated Camden well and showered him with tons of awesome gifts and gift cards. Here are some photos from the shower...grr, I can't get them to stay in order so they're all mixed up. 

Some of the planners, Linda, Subrenia & Laura...joined by Nurse Abraham and Lee!

Anne, Henrietta, Lewis & Annette

What's Sarah pointing at? 

Thanks for writing down what Camden got, Auntie Laura!

Subway sandwiches and cucumbers & ranch, my fav! 

Time for the games...Laura was too shy to yell out the answers.

I probably would have won if I played.

Claudia, me, and my two chins.

Dessert table!

Tons of gifts, wow!

Mmm pasta salad!

JaNene is never shy :) 

A better shot of Auntie Claudia and Momma.

From Ryan and Alissa...cutest little outfit ever!

Belly with cupcakes.

Yay we got the rock 'n sleeper!

Put your game face on!

I still have never heard some of these rhymes before.

This will come in handy in the living room.

Unwrapping...

Handmade hat from Pat in Packers colors :)

These are from Auntie Ashley. Love the green dinosaur outfit. That truck one might be his "come home from the hospital" outfit.

Admiral O'Toole, Adel, Rosilyn, Ryan, Christina, and Anne :)

Handmade hat and booties from Judge Chen and his wife, Lisa.

They only made me cut the first slice, it was all for show. 

With the most answers, Ryan and Phillip were the winners of the ABC game.

Auntie Claudia got this awesome cake for Camden!

Judge Chen, super nice guy!

Love that bag! And the dishwasher thing will come in handy.

Gift table!

I <3 JaNene!

Georgetown Cupcakes

It's not a party without chips & salsa.

Aww look at the little crabs...this is from Ms. Charlotte. 

Can't handle the cuteness of those jeans! 

Monster outfit from Rosilyn.

More goodies from Ryan and Alissa!

So serious & quiet!

Super soft outfit from Judge Newman, love it!

A few judges and their secretaries pitched in and got us the swing, yay!

Love the orange!

Overkill!

Mmm chocolate sprinkles!

Judge Newman won the nursery rhyme game - she got ALL of them right!

Looks super comfy!

They wanted me to pose by the cake and cupcakes...I would have rather eaten them instead.