I didn't do too good these weeks with getting my picture taken! Oops! I have been SUPER swamped these past two weeks. I was planning my work Holiday party, trying to get ready for Christmas, and trying to get ready for the baby!! I do not think that it should be acceptable to have your baby due within a few weeks before Christmas! Yikes! This is a busy time of the year as it is... add in trying to read baby books and organize all of her stuff... and phew... that leads to one tired Mama!!
I've been struggling to get my Christmas shopping done too. I normally like to walk around and browse a whole bunch of stores and get a bunch of cool things... but this year I've been relying on Amazon more and more... thank god for free 2 day shipping!! I did attempt to go to the mall the one day to shop, but it was SUPER slow going. I was walking and then had to sit... and then I'd go to another store... and have to sit. I gave up with even trying to browse on the second level of the mall at all. I'm definitely showing a lot now!! Quite a few people (strangers) have been making conversation with me about it when I've been out and about, and I feel like every day at work someone new asks me when I'm due and when I'll stop working. As far as that goes, I'm not really sure... Half of me wants to take the week before she comes off, but then I'm worried that if she doesn't come on time that I might have to burn too much of my vacation time. Hrmm.. decisions... decisions... It would be nice to have some time off right before she comes, and one of my biggest fears is my water breaking at work!
The exciting thing that happened these last two weeks is that we finally decided on baby's name! Her name is going to be Kayla Charles! Middle name still TBD... When it came down to it, we had 3 names that we liked... Kayla, Alexis, and Courtney. I originally loved the name Mikayla and Cody also had it on his list of names that he liked too, but when I told him how much Mikayla was my favorite name, he kinda back off from it and said that it sounded too "exotic" for him. After a pause, we both pretty much said at the same time... how about just Kayla? And ever since it was a top contender for us. I've always liked the "Kay" type of names. For instance my two old dogs were Katie and Kaylee... so I guess that sound falls into my natural name "liking". I'm just glad that Cody was on board with it and liked it too. When I first liked it, I thought it was going to be a tough sell to him, but I was pleasantly surprised when I saw Mikayla as a name he liked on his baby name list. Although, at first I really thought that we were going to go with Alexis, because I really really like that name too. Cody liked Courtney a lot, because he wanted her initials to be "CC".
In other news, I have started to notice a few Braxton Hicks contractions in the last day or so. It actually woke me up on Saturday morning, but really hasn't happened since (but I guess today is only Sunday night). I was starting to worry because I hadn't really noticed any of these contractions before, so I started reading up on what they should feel like.. and I'm pretty sure that I've had some before, but they just haven't hurt. I think that I was thinking that the baby was just hanging out in a weird position before, but on Saturday I could definitely tell that it was a contraction. Cody was at work, but my sweet Cosmo was laying right by me the whole time.
I was able to finish the book "Happiest Baby on the Block" and I feel like it gave me some good ideas on how to calm her down if she gets upset. And it really made me feel like I want to hold her in a sling throughout the day when I'm up. I had thought that baby wearing would be a good idea, but after reading this book... I'm pretty much convinced that it would be a good thing to try.
I'm also about 190 pages into "What to expect in the first year". This
book has a ton of great information in it, but boy it's hard to get
through! I've been trying to read a bit every day, but it's over 650
pages long so it's taking up a ton of my time to do other stuff! And as Kayla's due date gets closer and closer I was starting to feel a bit
panicked by all of the things that I still need to get done (and learn
so that I can take care of her!!) ... so I made a list to help me feel
like I had a grasp on what I needed to do. And luckily due to Christmas time, I have 5 days off in a row so I feel like I've actually started to accomplish a few things on my list. I did get a really good jump on packing my hospital bag today. I just have a few things left to pack that I'll pack closer to the time that I need them. I also found a pediatrician that I think that I'd like to sign her up for. I've tried calling twice already, but both times I called right after they closed and then during their lunch break... so I need to call tomorrow and lock that down. That's probably the most important thing still left on my list of things to do! Everything else is a nice to have... but that NEEDS to get done! My dad gave us an early Christmas present... a BIG cabinet for our dining room. He came over the other day and helped Cody assemble it. I needed that done SO badly so that I could have a place to put some of her stuff that we got from her registry. Now we don't have a huge pile of stuff on our dining room table with no place to put it. So I feel better about that too! Cody and I also did some work in her room tonight too. I was able to organize all of the diapers that we got from our showers (we got TONS!!) and Cody was able to put away her books into the ottoman that we bought. I also went through some of the bags of miscellaneous "stuff" that I had in big bags above her closet... and I organized a bunch of that. So things are coming along and I'm happy that I'm getting things done. I really don't want a ton of little projects left after she is born to worry about, so I'm trying to knock as much out as possible before she gets here. Now, I need to get through this book and then Becky bought me a program to watch on tips on how to get the baby to sleep well/get into a routine... so I'd like to finish both of those before she comes, but that feels like a huge undertaking to me right now! Hopefully I have the time!
