I did this last time with Baby Evan’s due date and it was fun (plus if I don’t do it again I’m afraid my friend Lareign might send me a flaming bag of poo – she really likes guessing). This time I was going to set things up fancier with some sort of website to keep track of everyone’s guesses but it seems sort of unnecessary – I mean, on a good day I get 15 comments, do I REALLY need some sort of software to tell me the 23rd is the closest day to the 24th? I might be too big for my literal britches but getting too big for my metaphorical britches is just annoying.

So here’s the deal: Leave a comment on this post guessing the date and time you think Baby Sandy will make her official appearance into the world. I’m including hour/minute this pregnancy so people can guess the same day if they want, but this isn’t Price is Right so you can be closest even if you go over. I’m also making it much! more! exciting! by offering the winner an actual prize – I recently bought some gorgeous yarn with sequins woven into it and will be knitting something pretty, like a scarf or a cowl that I will mail to the person who is closest. (That is, if you want it. You can’t really give it as a Christmas gift, because there’s very little chance I’ll even KNOW who won by Christmas, and you might think handmade knit stuff is sort of dorky so if you don’t want it you can just say so nicely and I’ll keep it for myself donate it to a charity or something.)

Here’s all the info I have that might help you make your guess:

– Her official due date is December 26th, based entirely on an early ultrasound (which is supposed to be the most accurate measure) since I didn’t have a last menstrual period to go by
– I was 4 days late with Evan (Due April 1st, born April 5th)
– He was born at 7:21 pm after about  20 hours of labor, less than 11 of which I was in the hospital
– All 3 of my mother’s babies were late
– I’ve been having contractions (practice ones, not real ones, called Braxton-Hicks) since I was about 28 weeks
– When I went into the hospital for the HORRIBLE PAIN, my contractions were mild but consistently 3 minutes apart until they made the pain stop
– But when the doctor checked I was dilated <1cm
– There’s no reason to think I will be induced for any reason since besides the (harmless to the baby) kidney stones I am in excellent health
– Anywhere between 38-42 weeks is considered normal
– I am going to do everything possible to NOT spend Christmas Day in the hospital, so if that means holding my knees together while we open gifts so be it

Any questions? I have an OB appointment today but it’s pants-on so I doubt I’ll have any new info. My follow up with the urologist (where he’s going to do something incredibly unpleasant and OMG I can’t even think about it right now) is Wednesday and if THAT changes anything I’ll update this post then too. I’m not going to close the comments but dudes, they’re timestamped, so if you guess AFTER I send out “I had the baby!” tweets/texts/Facebook updates you’re disqualified.

In the words of Little Evan: ‘Eady? GO!!

Since this was a second baby shower, I wanted it to be more like a kid-friendly tea party than a traditional guess-how-big-Mama’s-belly-is/gift bingo/grown up shower. I also wanted it to be girly but not princessy, cute but not over the top, and to involve lots and lots AND LOTS of food. I actually stumbled into a nursery rhyme theme after reading Little Evan his favorite Mother Goose book for the bazillionth time (he specifically requests the “this little piggy” and “one, two, buckle my shoe” pages because they involve being tickled at the end). “Boy,” I thought to myself, “there sure are a lot of baked goods in these nursery rhymes!”

And thus a theme was born.

I thought it would be super easy to just pick up some Mother Goose craft paper & fabric, grab a couple books from my shelf and be done with it but it turns out nursery rhymes are soooo 1900’s and not very popular anymore so I had to improvise. But it all ended up coming together really well and only involved three trips to the craft store and two to Target with a day of online shopping thrown in for fun.

(click on collages to see them bigger – I know a lot of stuff is kind of too small to read but trust me, it’s better than posting them all individually)

Decorations:

Adorable book-themed invites from Tiny Prints (free tip: ask around Twitter for discount codes – sometimes people give them to you and the invitations you thought were too expensive end up being just right.)

Baby Girl diaper cake done by the VERY talented Joanna of Raising Madison. She was a doll to work with and even made the cake fit my theme with the Farmer in the Dell animals.

Collection of geese (aka ducks I just called geese) on the mantle from Goodwill.

I found the adorable customizable pennants and gift tags in hedgehogstudio’s shop on Etsy for only $5. I used the pennants (printed in 2 different sizes) to make “Welcome!” banners and one over the mantle that says “Rock-a-bye Baby”. I used the gift tags as book marks for the nursery rhyme books I passed out as favors – an INCREDIBLY lucky find in the $1 bin at Target.

My original plan to just scan in pictures of each nursery rhyme from vintage books was cut short when I realized that probably broke about a zillion copyright laws and after a few minutes of trying to find public domain images I was ready to give up. Luckily, Etsy saved the day again with 20 2×2 vintage nursery rhyme illustrations for only $2.50. I cut them out & glued them to ribbon to hang behind the food table and attached the ones that matched the food to the food labels.

The tablecloths are all fabric ordered from Fabric.com.

The sparkly butterflies were in the 80% off Halloween clearance at Michael’s.

Yarn wreath made by me: it’s yarn scraps wrapped around a styrofoam form. Easiest thing ever – but REALLY time consuming to wrap all that yarn.

The blessing tree was an idea I saw mentioned on Ohdeedoh a few weeks ago and stuck with me – I used the same small book of craft paper (called Nana’s Nursery, bought at Joann’s) for the hanging tags on the tree as for the food labels and the backing on the nursery rhymes I scattered around as decorations.

The books on the mantel are a combination of my own from when I was a kid, my mom’s from when SHE was a kid, a few I found at Goodwill and one special moving-picture book I bought especially for Baby Sandy.

The children loved the coloring book pages I found online and printed out, along with my box of 200 crayons. Many of them took their beautiful creations home as souvenirs.

And I just can’t go without pointing out the tea and the plates/napkins are in (a tisket a tasket) green and yellow baskets. MY THEME WAS SO COHESIVE.

Food:

Menu:

Little Jack Horner Thumb Print Cookies (declared the most delicious thumb print cookies ever by all my guests & made by E so obviously not super hard – I think the secret was we used boysenberry jam because I couldn’t find plum – recipe here)

Little Boy Blueberry Muffins (recipe from Tasty Kitchen – also made by E & his dad and also DELICIOUS)

Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater Pumpkin Cookies (recipe from Amy @ A Good Life)

That’s What Little Girls Are Made of Sugar Cookies (bought the nursery rhyme cookie cutters on Ebay)

This Little Piggy Had Roast Beef Sandwiches

This Little Piggy Had None Cucumber Tea Sandwiches

Humpty Dumpty Deviled Eggs

Mary Mary Quite Contrary Garden Veggies

Jack and Jill Went Up The Hill To Fetch a Pail of Watermelon & Fruit

Peter Piper Pickled Peppers

Three Blind Mice Cheese and Crackers

Jack-a-dandy Sugar Candy (aka Smarties & Starlight mints)

Polly Put The Kettle On Tea

Punch and Judy Party Punch

And, because I am AWESOMELY AWESOME, I found a nursery rhyme that included wine: one of the middle verses of Old Mother Hubbard.

Erin (Wedding Erin for those who know what I mean) made this entire cake from scratch – the cake, the frosting, the fondant and the decorations. One layer was strawberry and the other was vanilla that she made with a no-crap actual vanilla bean. It was DELICIOUS. I’ve stuffed myself with cake every day since the shower and we STILL have some left over. I’m totally blaming Erin when my doctor announces I’ve gained 15 pounds at my next appointment.

Friends (really the very best friends anyone could ask for):

More than half the photos (and all the good ones) taken by Erin of Open Shutter Photography. She’s not only my BFF, she’s INCREDIBLY talented with both her camera and Photoshop and can make even a 35 week pregnant Sasquatch look pretty adorable. (You can like her on Facebook here)

Exhibit A:

Headband from TwentyFiveDesign, sweater is at Target RIGHT NOW (not even maternity)

Thank you again bunches and bunches and bunches to The Erins, my in-laws, and my friends who came. I hope you all had as much fun as I did. Oh and if you ever want to pay me gobs of money (or let me SPEND gobs of your money) to plan a party, just let me know. I’m available.

If you’ve read all the way to the end of this, you deserve a piece of cake. Come over and I will TOTALLY give you one right now.

If you’ve ever read my blog before, you might have noticed I sort of like planning and organizing small intimate casual parties for my kid or my friends.

So I decided to follow in the footsteps of my friend Audrey and throw a Baby Celebration Party for Baby Girl. Not a shower, because throwing yourself a party where you basically say “OH HAI, BRING ME PRESENTS” is unnecessary and kind of rude for a second baby (in my opinion), but I still wanted my daughter to know her pending arrival was just as exciting and celebration-worthy as her brother’s.

Of course, being 35 weeks pregnant AND the mother of a toddler is fairly exhausting. And the morning of the shower I woke up feeling like death warmed over. Really, seriously, painfully awful (in pregnancy related ways, not in contagious diseases sort of ways) and after rolling sugar cookie dough for only a few minutes I was almost in tears thinking about how much I still had to do before my guests showed up.

THANK GOD my in-laws and two of my very best friends Erin (from the wedding) and Erin (who wrote a guest post for me here and let me post pictures of her kid here) were staying with us for the party, because they – along with my amazing husband – did ALL the work for me. Even the night before the shower when I was still planning to do it myself they helped out stringing pennants and gluing craft paper. And of course Wedding Erin spent a ZILLION HOURS on an amazing – and incredibly delicious – custom themed cake. I, on the other hand, mostly sat in a chair and pointed at things.

(As a side note, I now know E is not only capable of following recipe instructions without my standing over his shoulder, but he can BAKE LIKE A MOFO. The thumb print cookies he made were ridiculously tasty – not a single one left over. He may live to regret letting that slip.)

It was especially nice of my in-laws and The Erins to help after I didn’t have blankets, pillows, food for breakfast or time to clean my rather disgusting bathroom before they got here. I’m not sure there was ever a time I was LESS prepared to have house(or any kind of)guests in my life. I used to be the hostess who not only had guest towels that coordinated with each room’s decor, but little baskets of toiletries, soaps, toothbrushes and tea waiting for them just in case they forgot or needed them. This time I barely got up off the couch to say “Hey thanks for coming!” I didn’t even manage to sort of clean up the new master bedroom before my party guests came over even though I KNEW I would end up giving a tour. So all my friends saw my literal dirty laundry.

As as far as having the new nursery done before the shower? AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

So in the end everything was awesomely awesome and I am really glad I decided to shower myself, even if it was a little overwhelming.

Of course, 50% of the reason I even HAD the party was so I could show pictures of my cute theme and decorations here on the blog. I promise to have those up soon. It will be TOTALLY WORTH coming back to check them out. That is, if you like that sort of thing. I apologize in advance for about a gazillion pictures if you don’t.

Less than 6 weeks to go, only 2 more pants-on checkups left at my OB office and then we start the Great Contraction Watch of 2010. I was going to say Cervix Watch but that seemed too…graphic. You’re welcome.

(Also, in case you’ve been holding your breath, I’ll put up a “guess the birth date” post right after Thanksgiving and offer some sort of prize for the person who gets it right. Nothing fancy – probably a knitting project, but better than last time when no one got anything. I may do a sub category for birth weight/length but that seems like a lot to keep track of and as far as I know WordPress doesn’t have a plug-in to do it for me yet.)

I went to my appointment today expecting a lecture on my weight and had already planned out my whiny blog post in advance…but instead I got a doctor who looked at my chart, did the math and said “35 pounds! Right on target.”

Which one is the blank-stare-blinky emoticon? I need about two dozen of those.

Honestly, 35 pounds SOUNDS like a lot. I was hoping to keep it closer to 25 this time. It also feels like a lot – just ask my pelvis and my sciatic nerve, which cry a little every time I have to trek down to the basement for yet another half-gallon of milk for the thirstiest toddler on the planet. But despite once again being on the high end of the suggested weight gain scale, I am still having an extremely healthy pregnancy. Excellent blood pressure, no gestational diabetes, no preeclampsia, no warnings about gigantic babies that cannot possibly fit through my tiny delicate lady parts. And for the record, all my pre-pregnancy underwear still fits, as do my pre-pregnancy pants – if I don’t try to zip them. I’m still going to Stroller Strides at least twice a week, I am capable of buying ice cream/candy/cookies and not eating ALL OF IT within seconds, and I haven’t scarfed down more than 1 cheeseburger in a sitting the whole 8 months. MY WILLPOWER, LET ME SHOW YOU IT.

So why have I gained just as many pounds as last time, when I DID eat ice cream and cheeseburgers like they were the last food on the planet and barely moved from the couch after my 4th month? Is this just how much fat my body needs to grow a baby? Is this one going to be bigger? Is this weight going to be just as hard to lose or will it magically burn away with the breastfeeding like so many people claim? That last one would be AWESOME. The potentially larger baby, not so much (my lady parts might be made for birthin’ the babies but I’d like it if they weren’t torn to shreds in the process)(You’re welcome again).

Tell me mamas, am I fooling myself? Is my butt really that much bigger than I’m seeing in my mirror?

I’ve gotten to the point in pregnancy when people start saying “Oh, you don’t have long now!” both because I am visibly huge and also because it feels – even to other people – like I’ve been pregnant FOREVER. I was pregnant when it was cold in the spring, pregnant when it was hot in the summer, pregnant during the beautiful fall colors and now it is cold again and I am STILL PREGNANT. It depresses me a little to have to say “Yes, well, 6 weeks isn’t that long” even though it feels like the longest amount of time it’s ever taken anyone to finish doing anything ever.

Of course, then I go to the mall and see the Christmas decorations and turn on the radio and hear Christmas music and think about the fact that I only have 6 weeks to finish all these knitting projects and OMG IT’S SO SO SOON! I NEED MORE TIME! I CANNOT POSSIBLY HAVE ANOTHER BABY!

Despite my mixed feelings, I am quickly nearly the point where my personal level of physical discomfort is greater than my fear of keeping an infant alive. Besides the kicked in the crotch pelvic pain, I have horrible sciatic nerve pain in my left leg – which seems like a total “DUH”, considering that’s the hip I’m constantly carrying a toddler around on. The doctor gave me a ridiculous pamphlet on stretches that are supposed to help (stand with your back against a wall! sit in the butterfly position! try the cat-cow pose from yoga!) but considering I’ve been doing ALL OF THOSE several times a day for the last 8 months I think my only hope at this point is a daily Tylenol or two and lots of lying down.

Of course, lying down just makes my heartburn worse, although I’m not sure it could get any MORE worse (more worse?? really, Suzanne?) than it is right now. It’s gotten to the point where I’m not even that interested in food, because I know it’s going to hurt so much later. Plus I have this terrible taste in my mouth that I can’t get rid of. I’ve never experienced anything like it before (while pregnant or not pregnant) but it’s totally gross. At first I thought it was an aftertaste from an artificial sweetener in something I was eating or drinking but I tried switching to water & full fat/real sugar food and it doesn’t help. I tried Googling it but the internet is torn between suggesting I just brush my teeth more and a horrible, birth-defect causing mineral deficiency and suggesting I should be eating more marmite and tahini. I don’t even know what marmite is. I’m going to mention it at next week’s OB checkup but I’m guessing it’s just another of those annoying, unimportant symptoms that will go away immediately after giving birth thanks to the mommy amnesia.

Wait, what was I talking about?

I guess the good news is my hemorrhoids aren’t nearly as bad as last time. Knock on wood.

Advice appreciated.

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And for my very last giveaway of Giveaway Week, the winner of the $25 credit to Becca’s Hugs & Kisses Designs shop is…

#2 Katherine from the lovely blog The Flowers in Her Hair! Katherine, I sent Becca an email so hopefully she can set you up ASAP and you can start TRYING to pick out something to buy. Good luck choosing though, what with the beautiful fabric items AND the prints!

And to all my readers, thank you so much for your participation and your patience with my giveaways. I know some people get totally bored and hate entering and some people LOVE the chance to win free stuff, but it is just so fun to work with great handmade shops I can’t resist. I tried to make them as easy and requirement free as possible, but hopefully you found some new Twitter friends, blogs to read, and places to do your Christmas shopping.

xoxo

Suzanne