32 down, 8 to go.

It's no surprise with a baby on the way life has been busy. So busy that I somehow lost a few weeks worth of weekly photos. oops. In the last post I mentioned our upcoming sonogram to check in on baby since she was measuring on the small side after our 28 week visit. We were scheduled to go at exactly 29 weeks. We went in nervous but optimistic that she was doing okay since she never. stops. moving. The minute the sonographer pulled her up on the screen she was kicking and moving just as we'd thought. Much to our surprise, we got to see her in the new 3D/4D imaging! She kept holding her face and never stopped moving her mouth....wonder where she gets it from :) Hubs even got a video of it. In addition to seeing her live and well we also got the news that she's not only healthy, but her due date would be pushed ahead a week! She was measuring a hefty 3.8ibs and 17.5 inches long (on 7/9/15). With the half a pound weight increase per week that puts her at an estimated 8.5-9ibs come birth day.

Come on, September 17th.

A week or so after the excitement of getting to see our little Culotta again, I came down with a stomach bug which landed me right back in the ER. Between the extreme morning sickness and our 20 week scare we were no stranger to the fluids and wait game. My shriveled veins couldn't take the IV and blew out the needles of the first and the blood draw which was just so fun. ha. Towards the end of our stay we were reassured once again that she was healthy and ready for her big arrival in a month or two. At then 31 weeks, her head was already in position and she was taking advantage of having her feet up to kick at both the fetal and uterine monitors. Since then I have been resting, hydrating, and working on getting together my hospital since we're only a short month out from "full term". But that's a separate post :) As for this week......

How far along? 32 weeks!

Total weight gain/loss? 28 pounds

Maternity clothes? Yep

Stretch marks? No

Sleep? I need about 12 hours a night and a nap, but thanks to baby flipping into position I'm up to pee every 45-60 minutes.

Best moment this week? Having the little boy I nanny ask if one of my boobs was another baby and coming home to a completely cleaned house courtesy of my hubba hubba hubby, go J.

Miss Anything? Restful sleep

Movement? Yes

Food cravings? Fruit, donuts, and starbucks.

Have you started to show yet? Yep

Gender prediction? It's a girl

Labor Signs? Braxton hicks every day or so

Symptoms? Insane rib pain and heartburn. Thank God for Pepcid.

Belly Button in or out? Out 

Engagement ring on or off? On

Happy or Moody most of the time? Happy! 

Looking forward to? Packing the hospital bag & setting up her nursery.

28 Weeks & July 4th

Happy 4th of July!

Hopefully everybody had a safe and happy Independence Day. I spent the morning prepping food for a picnic and wrestling a watermelon while attempting to cut it into stars. Turns out cutting said melon into 1-inch slices wasn't quite as easy as online said. After flinging it across the kitchen twice and knocking over a candle we finally had stars. After the melon fiasco, we spent the day at a close friend's house holding babies & chowing on burgers while the boys slung beers talking guns & guitars. Nothing says Independence like alcohol and showing off what's in your chamber, amiright? 

Aside from Justin's birthday next month this is our last big holiday before baby C joins the party! It's crazy to think come halloween we will have a 1 month old! We are thoroughly enjoying the 3rd trimester and counting down the days until her arrival. 

How far along? 28 weeks

Total weight gain/loss? 23 pounds (to be rechecked at our appointment on Thursday)

Maternity clothes? Yep

Stretch marks? No

Sleep? They're not kidding when they say the 3rd trimester wipes you out. Two days ago I slept 17 out of 24 hours. And I pee all. Night. Long.

Best moment this week? Seeing baby G poke a little foot up against my skin! Justin was freaked.

Miss Anything? Bending over to unload the dishwasher. I think the whole scare last week is a thing of the past. My belly feels like it's doubled overnight!

Movement? Yes

Food cravings? Mini wheats, cherries, and coke.

Have you started to show yet? Yep

Gender prediction? It's a girl

Labor Signs? No real signs, braxton hicks and cramping galore any time I walk or stand more than a few minutes

Belly Button in or out? Out for the count

Engagement ring on or off? On

Happy or Moody most of the time? Happy! 

Looking forward to? Our ultrasound on Thursday! We're feeling much better about baby's health since my growth spurt. She's also been moving and responding to touch more than ever. I'm selfishly excited to see her again and what all those crazy movements are.

Nursery Inspiration & yet more little Culotta drama

As the end of pregnancy is rapidly approaching we couldn't be more excited and dare I say....unprepared? Seeing as we're officially in the 3rd trimester and baby girl's room looks more like a junk closet than a nursery, that sent me into to design heaven this week. I don't know what mommas-to-be must've done 10 or 20 years ago without the help of pinterest and etsy. The running theme right now is turquoise, coral/pink, silver, and mermaids. The idea came about thanks to my mastermind quilter and crafting mother who had both boy and girl specific fabric bought within a week of us announcing pregnancy. Here's the inspiration thus far.

Mermaid mobile

Tissue tassel garland (ours would be in slightly different shades)

Sea creature pillows

Vibrant nursery

These are rough ideas for now. Her nursery will be what is considered the "den" in the apartment. Seeing as it's lacking a window and closet, we have to get creative with storage and keeping it bright since she makes her debut as gloomy fall and winter creep in. Under the sea pillows and the tassel garland are a must. Despite the lack of mermaids in the last photo, I love how they combined the colors and the pillow-filled chair. Our furniture situation resolved itself (a whole blog post in itself- I'll spare you the torture that ensued) and our couch, ottoman, and nursery recliner are finally here which means a home for fun pillows :) Among getting the apartment finished this week and gathering nursery ideas we had 2 special events to craft and bake for. The first was Father's Day which we found a BALLIN recipe for, the second was a family member's baby shower that called for some crafting.

The sweet & spicy recipe can be found Here

The "Diaper babies" tutorial can be found Here. I slightly modified the ones I made, I found that the washcloths didn't stay wrapped around the diapers tight enough so I added a safety pin to the back. Also, I couldn't find any cute baby socks in the colors shown so I opted for this pack of Gerber mittens.

In other news, we are officially 28 weeks as of today but had our 27 week appointment earlier in the week. It's so exciting to finally be down to the 2 week apart appointments. That means more measurements, hearing the heartbeat, and getting the rundown on my own health twice as often as before and I LOVE it! The night before the appointment I found myself wishing that we could see her and all of her spastic movements again. My OB and insurance only cover one ultrasound between 18 and 20 weeks, the anatomy and gender scan unless there's issues. Well, be careful what you wish for. I went in feeling confident, weight was up another pound (OB appointments are the only time this is actually a good thing...), blood pressure was a cool 100/68, and the heartbeat sounded perfect. Not to mention little missy has been so active and responsive to touch that she kicked the Dr. during the measurements. Sorry, Doc. While she was pleased with the movement and heartbeat, she was not so pleased with baby's unchanged measurements since the last appointment. So she's sending us for another ultrasound to check on her growth, amniotic fluid levels, and position. As of a month or so ago, cramping and braxton hicks start to kick in after any motion, I'm praying her low positioning and lack of growth don't mean bedrest. Who can sit all day with an unfinished nursery? Not this control freak. The night of the appointment I had a major pregnant meltdown when I didn't feel her moving which resulted in the hubs having to stay up with me poking my belly for motion and playing music for her until about 230am. Sorry darling. On top of that, I went to take my glucose test last week and ended up having to bypass it due to the fact that my allergens are in satan's nectar. Instead they'll do a fasted blood draw, send me home to eat, and redraw 2 hours later. Leave it to the littlest Culotta to turn things upside down a bit. Somehow, I know this isn't the last time she'll be this way....

The weekly update and baby bump are what's to come this week. Happy 4th of July!

A glimpse at our wedding & 26 Week bump update

Where has the time gone?! They're not kidding when they say that your wedding day flies by. Time has only sped up since then. June 6th and the week leading up to it were such a whirlwind followed by a relaxing yet quick honeymoon.

We started the wedding week off by finalizing some details and getting together the almighty timeline. Between Tuesday and Friday all of our out of town family and friends made it safely to Pittsburgh. Thursday morning my mom, maid of honor and myself headed to the nail salon to get our toes and nails all purty for the big day. We spent the night with Justin's side of the family eating tacos and listing to live guitar music on the deck then we all headed to the rink to watch the first of his roller hockey games. Go purple team! Friday was absolutely bonkers with rental chair pick ups, the rehearsal and dinner, and continuing to move our stuff into the apartment.

Fast forward to the big day which started bright and early at 6am. My girls began showing up at 6:30 to get their hair done by our awesome friend (shout-out to Alex for getting up so early and having 6 ladies hair done by 10:30 and to Elise for supplying the starbucks). The morning was filled with mimosas, lots of laughs, and even more hair spray. Our hectic schedule leading up to the big day must've held off the nerves because the moment we zipped on my dress I was ready to pass out and cry simultaneously. Nothing can prepare you for the moment you realize that you will no longer have your last name, live in your parent's house, and only be responsible for yourself. As scary as it was I could not have been more excited to take that leap and trust in my now husband to now take care of those changes and take care of our family. Plus he's kind of a hottie. What? I can say that now :)

Cute drinks and beautiful letters to the bride book courtesy of my best friend and maid of honor, Elise.

Seeing him at the end of the aisle looking dapper as ever and FINALLY getting to kiss my husband was the best feeling! There's plenty more pictures to come but they won't be posted until the photographer sends us her copies.

Post ceremony we went on to our picnic reception nestled in a wooded area of the park. We had a great time celebrating our first moments as Mr. and Mrs. with loved ones. The boys drank beers and tossed around the cornhole sacks while the rest of us pigged out on brisket under the tent. After a few hours & a change into comfy clothes we jetted off to the Outer Banks for a week. We spent the night at a hotel in Maryland and drove the rest of the way on Sunday. Everything was great, beach chairs in tow we continued our journey south. Everything was perfect. Except this part. About and hour into our trip (and 20 miles into the insane 8 lane DC highway) we heard a clunk. Was that something on the road? The transmission? The car had just had work done and should be in tip top shape. Oh no, nothing that complicated. With a loud "shit" Justin shrieked "We're on E. Like way below E!". How had we forgotten this?! We pulled into the hotel Saturday night with less than a quarter tank of gas and both managed to forget come sunrise. If you've ever ran out of gas before, you know what  the chugs of doom are. Not only were we out of gas on the highway, but out of gas on the 8 lane-no shoulder-highway in traffic, stuck in the dead middle. Justin started cutting over to the rapidly approaching exit, the only exit that had no gas stations listed ahead. We officially ran out of gas as we coasted up the winding exit, it felt like an eternity until we'd reached the top. It's no coincidence that as we coasted around the last bend we spotted a Shell gas station. Thank God there was a shoulder again because we coasted over it a solid 800 feet into the pump. What a way to start our first adventure as husband and wife. The rest of the trip went a little something like this.

The perfect ending to a perfect week. Right before we came home to a week straight of rain and thunderstorms. And just like that the honeymoon was over and back to the real world we went. Which included getting ready for our little  lady.

Black Liz Lange maternity shorts

How far along? 26 weeks

Total weight gain/loss? 22 pounds

Maternity clothes? Yep, wearing my elastic waisted pants in the picture

Stretch marks? No

Sleep? Our daughter has declared bedtime a party every time I lay down. Between that, peeing 900 times, and adjusting to a snoring-kung fu fighting-sleep talking-husband sleep has been a little sketchy.

Best moment this week? Little woman has started responding to our pokes with kicks

Miss Anything? Longing for a cold Corona with lime and mounds of mexican food. Also, a day without tremendous rib pain.

Movement? Yes

Food cravings? Anything extremely spicy or extremely sweet. And it's the week of my glucose test. Good timing.

Have you started to show yet? Oh yes

Gender prediction? It's a girl

Labor Signs? No

Belly Button in or out? Somewhere between my last post and the first day at the beach it officially popped out

Engagement ring on or off? On

Happy or Moody most of the time? Happy! 

Looking forward to? Registering at target for the baby shower and switching our  junk room back into the baby nursery.

The dreaded glucose test week has arrived. Thursday morning bright and early at 7am I finally get to taste the supposed nectar of satan. I've heard a mix of reviews, most hate it and some love it. As for the blog, we're finally settled into our apartment so the weekly updates are back as well as our house tour before/after and nursery some ideas. It's going to be a busy blogging summer folks, get ready.

22 Weeks & Memorial Day Weekend

Happy Memorial Day, friends! We spent the day hanging out and eating BBQ sauce smothered food with my family. We are so appreciative of our friends and family members who serve our country and all of those who have lost their lives protecting us. As I drove home today, passing flag after flag and car lined streets all happily celebrating, it was humbling to stop and remember those loved ones grieving their soldiers. Our thoughts and prayers go out to you!

A little bit of how our holiday weekend went. 

This photo was pre-sunburn. A little too much sun....and icing.

While it was nice to finally relax, Justin and I have been pulling our hair out trying to get everything done with the wedding countdown just under 2 weeks. Last weekend we were officially allowed to start moving things into the apartment. Justin was stuck on a lovely 9 hour Saturday shift so my parents and soon to be in laws helped move everything in. We were so fortunate to get an early wedding gift with about 1/3 the items on our registry from our family so we were able to set up our home even more :) Sunday night we took a break from the madness and headed to a live action sports show, Nitro Circus. In short, it's a bunch of grown men and women plummeting their bodies down ramps and over jumps on everything from motocross bikes to recliners on wheels. Justin was just a little bit excited as the show was starting, obviously.  

A few days after the show we received yet another extremely generous wedding gift from family members which turned out to be our living room furniture and almost all of our new "home" decor. We absolutely do not feel worthy of all of the love and help we've received as we move into the next phase of life but we are so blessed by it! We need a few more days to get the apartment together but mark my words, there will be house tour. Although it may be a few days late (like the weekly update) and it may skip a week entirely (like we skipped week 21).....oops.

Here's to yet another fat girl picture. Soak it up, twigs ladies.

Dress is last season from Nordstrom. Similar found Here and Here

How far along? 22 weeks. Finally wearing something other than Nike Pros and a tshirt.

Total weight gain/loss? 16 pounds!

Maternity clothes? Yep

Stretch marks? No

Sleep? Still good but I need at least 10 hours after a long day. Say what.

Best moment this week? Finally getting to set up our place where baby girl will spend her first years and watching her do the wave in my belly every time I lay down.

Miss Anything? Mountain biking with my man. Cold beer on a Friday night (& the radio up).

Movement? Yep

Food cravings? Anything spicy or carb loaded, pickles, and chinese takeout. Additionally, the egg bacon bagel obsession has returned.

Have you started to show yet? See photo above

Gender prediction? It's a girl.

Labor Signs? No

Belly Button in or out? I have become more obsessed with my belly button than the children I watch are obsessed with The Belly Button Book. My poor button is stuck in the strange flat stage where it can't decide if it's an innie or outie. Sigh, only time will tell.

Engagement ring on or off? On

Happy or Moody most of the time? Happy! 

Looking forward to? Letting the bump get some more sun this week as the weather calls for 80's and sunny!

I hope you all had a fun, safe weekend. Cheers!