a perfect balance of hot and busy | weekend recap

Just like that, we're 1/3 of the way through August! 

This weekend was HOT so we spent most of our time inside, but we did take advantage of the cooler morning and evening temperatures and did a few things!

We checked out our city's newest dog park nestled under the interchange of two major highways:

I worked on some Etsy projects and finished a few REALLY CUTE camera straps! Check them and my other stock out here!

fox print scarf camera strap

pink lace scarf camera strap

We made a date night out of Saturday and tried out Bishop Art's new Dallas Grilled Cheese Co. and ended the night with pie (duh):

...and we did a little shopping!

I started out Friday by spilling 1/2 of a bottle of water in my purse and even though I'm about to be using a diaper bag pretty much 24/7, I figured it was the perfect excuse to pick up this little pretty for just around $25:

striped bag

While browsing Aldo's site, I stumbled on these and haven't been able to stop thinking about them. Mark's lucky they don't have my size left!

fringe booties

We also had some returns at GAP (We ordered Mark some clothes and he changed his mind on 4 of the 5 items) and ended up spending the amount we returned plus about 90% because they were doing 40% off the entire purchase AND it was tax-free weekend in Texas. I told him he better not be saying he needs new clothes any time soon!

Also, thanks a lot to Old Navy and other stores for finally coming out with their new season of clothes....I'm sure my husband would love me to buy more maternity clothes with barely 3 weeks to go before my due date. I mean, how irresistible is this floral number?!

floral dress

Plus I LOVE this print and color. Perfect fall dress! With those booties, no? UGH!

'get figgy with it' dress

And, of course, my favorite and most comfy dress ever is on sale even more at $10 with an additional 35% off. Awesome.

It's been a hard summer of little shopping but I guess it will be worth it in the end! 

Anyone beat the heat and find good deals this weekend?

Happy Monday!

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(linking up with these ladies!)

B loved Boston, Life of Meg, and A Cute Angle.

5 things you do while on bed rest

Thank y'all for all of the kind words and thoughts about my quick hospital visit yesterday! Things are not as scary as they sound and I'm doing fine, just on pins and needles as a first time mom not knowing what to expect! The good news is that I almost "to term" and this baby should be nice and healthy if he came at any point (not that he will be early!). I just need to power through these next few weeks!

So I was put on bed rest yesterday and it was pretty boring. Not to say that I was bored, because I rarely have the excuse to do nothing, but still. 

Here's 5 things that you do while on bed rest:

one.

Drink lots and lots of water and grunt and moan while pulling yourself off the bed over and over to go to the bathroom. Repeat about 15 times. 

two. 

Google everything and freak yourself out with birth stories and videos and read all of the forums filled with questions you would have never thought to ask like "what's tachycardia" and "can you wear your wedding rings after giving birth?"

three. 

Talk to and take pictures of your weirdo dog. Torment her so she ends up leaving every room you walk into.

four.

Freak out when you see your FAVORITE MOVIE EVER on Netflix and binge watch it for the rest of the day.

five.

Innocently search some of your go-to online shops and then impulse buy things you don't need (or do you? definitely needed these "recovery" pants for mama) because they have an extra 25% off.

ikat print onesie

rad like dad

skinny jeans

high tops

And that, my friends, is how it's done! Happy Thursday!

36 week bumpdate | the one with the dramatic hospital visit (yes, again!)

Sorry guys, this was the best I could do for my bump date picture this week!

Yesterday started out like any other day...I got up, had some slight contractions and normal discomfort for this time in my pregnancy, and went to work. I noticed that the tightening and slight pain wasn't really going away and I just had an overall icky feeling so I started writing down each time when I felt the 'pain' start  around 11:30 (ladies-it just felt like mild/moderate period cramping. guys-ignore this part). By lunch, I noticed there was a pattern and they were coming roughly every 10 minutes. After lunch, they seemed to pick up to every 7 minutes. I thought NO WAY could I be in labor, that just doesn't happen in my family. Anyway, I went through the afternoon jotting down the time and they just didn't let up. At 3:15 I finally called my doctor and asked what they wanted me to do. Of course, they brought me in for an NST.

A Non-Stress Test is kind of the first step to determining what is going on with a woman that may be in labor. They strap on two monitors to your belly to monitor the baby's heart rate and the mama's contractions. I had actually been monitored once before about two weeks ago for some contractions but they weren't near as regular and didn't really show up on the paper. Hence my 'irritable uterus' diagnosis. 

Anyway, they hooked me up at the doctor for 20 minutes and it was determined that I was having contractions. The bottom line on that sheet shows the hills and valleys of contractions and rest.

From there, I was nervously led to labor and delivery at my hospital, which is connected to my doctor's office.

They decided to monitor me for 2 more hours and check me at the end. If I was having more than 6 contractions in an hour, they would give me a shot of terbutaline in an attempt to relax my uterus and stop the contractions.

After about 30 minutes of being hooked up to the monitors and drinking water, my contractions had increased and were happening every 5 minutes or less. On their much more sensitive machine, the contractions read as smooth ups and downs with specific starts and stops. They had me press a button every time I felt one. So, I got the terbutaline shot and was told to wait!

Luckily, the shot stopped my contractions (for now), I wasn't progressing at all labor-wise and I was able to go home around 8pm with strict orders for bed rest the next day (today). 

I'm ready to meet this baby but not quite ready to meet him RIGHT NOW and definitely not until Mark gets back from his business trip! It was a dramatic afternoon and evening but I'm glad I was sent home and also feel a little bit better about 'real' labor because I feel like I kind of got to take a test run of the hospital and nurses (who were great). I'm just convinced this baby loves the hospital! So, cheers to 36 weeks!

How far along:  thirty-SIX weeks!!!

Size of babe: a HONEYDEW! 

Gender: Mr. Man! His full initials were revealed here!

Husband: He's traveling for work this week and he was so unsure of whether it was too close to baby's due date to do so. Just the fact that he's worried about it freaks me out; that we could be so close! I assured him I didn't know anyone in my family that gave birth a month early and he's fine to travel, this will just be his last trip for a while. Every day he says 'don't have that baby yet!' hahaha!

Maternity Clothes: I actually bought and wore a non-maternity dress this week! PLUS it was a size small! It was labeled as a medium and I didn't notice it was a small until I got home. It is nice and stretchy though and I love it! I hope I don't stretch it out too much so I can wear it post baby! I only took one picture in it, during my daily bathroom pictures to measure my belly so please forgive me!

I also picked up these non-maternity shorts last week and I've worn them a bunch already. They are comfortable but also super cute so I can wear them in public. It's like I'm cheating! 

Loving: Watermelon slushes (STILL!), steak, potatoes, pizza, water, and climbing into bed every day after work! 

Loathing: The pain that comes from my ab muscles (what little there were) separating, acid reflux, people asking me if I have "just a few more days" left, annoying store employees that won't leave me alone and then ring up my items for the wrong amount but I'm so flustered and want to escape their weird glares that I leave without noticing so then I have to go back and have them give me a refund. phew. I think the whole 'cranky pregnant woman' is starting to emerge...

Movement: Nothing new here! All the punches, kicks, rolls, slithers, hiccups, and dance karate moves there are....all in my belly. 

Symptoms: Waddles, acid reflux, huffing and puffing, contractions, lethargy, small bits of energy, not feeling like eating, feeling ravenous every 2 hours....pretty much any pregnancy symptom = me. I think my luck of not constantly having to go to the bathroom has run out, too.

Best Part of the Week: Scoring lots of fun things including my new favorite shoes for baby at the JBF sale on Thursday! I'm pretty sure consignment sales are my new favorite thing ever. 

Worst Part of the Week: Other than last night, nothing super horrible stands out, just dealing with a couple painful contractions here and there, battling sleepless nights and acid reflux. None of those things are my favorite!

Missing Most: Normal sleep patterns. I seem to have gotten myself into the vicious sleep cycle of sleeping poorly one night to sleeping like a rock the next night and then it starts all over again. This bump is getting just a little bit painful and night time is the worst!

Can't wait for: We have a sonogram this week!!! We haven't seen this little munchkin since he was just 20 weeks so I'm SOOO excited to see an almost-fully developed baby and find out how big he is, how far along I am, where he's positioned, and maybe the chance of seeing his face and features! And OF COURSE I'll be sure to share pictures if we get any! :)

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baby's closet | a work in progress

Since the day we found out we were expecting, this little munchkin has been spoiled. Between friends, family (rarely a visit with my mother goes by that she doesn't give me something for baby B), and this mama's shopping luck, this kid is going to be well dressed!

I've had TONS of luck shopping JBF sales (just two under my belt so far) and scoring on two GAP sales. JBF is great if you need anything for a baby/child because they have it all. If you're on a super tight budget, you can find some amazing steals. If you're like me and you like good deals but you're picky, you can still find some great stuff! Between my different trips to JBF and online GAP sales, I average about $3 a piece for baby's clothes (and he has the closet to prove it). 

These were my latest steal at the last JBF sale and they just might be my favorite purchase ever (I want them in every size now):

For now, they sit proudly on his dresser just waiting for him to come home!

It's been a constant struggle to figure out how to organize a baby's closet so I tweak it a little pretty much every day. I picked up some baby laundry detergent and washed everything without tags on it and so now it's the time to really get organized! Here's baby's closet (still a work in progress)

We bought the house with the ClosetMaid shelving in it and it works for now so we are staying with it! I desperately wanted to paint the closet when we redid the room but didn't get around to it. Maybe one day? For now, the floor holds a bin of clothes from 9 months and up and another bin with blankets, sheets, etc. that we don't need in immediate reach (there is a basket in his room with blankets we'll be using more often). I picked up the gold chevron baskets at Ross and one will hold dirty clothes and the other holds bibs (how do we have so many bibs already?!)

I've hung up most of his clothes with the exception of lounge pants, solid onesies, and sleepers. These are his newborn up to 9 months clothes. Like I said, spoiled!

I wasn't sure if I needed or wanted month dividers for the clothes but I found myself constantly looking through them trying to determine a size so I finally dug through my craft bin and whipped these up in about 15 minutes this weekend. They are nothing special, just striped paper glued to yellow cardstock and I measured the rod and made a little template for the hole. I divided up the clothes by month and then wrote it on there!

I didn't feel like making a set for every stage so I wrote some of the larger sizes (not yet in the closet) on the back of the dividers for the smallest sizes so I can just switch them around once I change up his closet. Super easy and it totally works for me!

We've also got stacks (on stacks, on stacks....top shelf of diapers not pictured) of diapers thanks to my major score during the Target baby sale! I'm hoping that saved me lots of money!

And see that stuff in the corner? That's my 75% packed hospital bag!!! Yikes! I can't believe I'm already at this point!

So that's the closet and the state of baby B's clothes today. I'm sure it will change a ton and there will be much more need for organization soon, but this works for now! We just can't wait to add a baby to the mix!

our weekend in pictures

Not much to say about this weekend other than it was another great relaxing weekend with no plans and it happened to mark the ONE MONTH countdown until baby time!!! Mark and I did lots of laying around, lots of normal house maintenance, lots of swimming at my parent's house and disc-golfing across the metroplex. We also watched the Arsenal game as a family (I think I caught the kickoff before I fell back asleep - blame it on the donut coma) and I treated myself to some 'me' time in my new favorite shorts ever. I love this kind of weekend!

Have a great Monday!

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(linking up with these ladies!)

B loved Boston, Life of Meg, and A Cute Angle.