Birthdays & 3rd Trimesters

March is full of birthdays in my family.  It starts with my nephew on the 10th who turned 3 this year.  I still remember when he was born and we went to meet him in the hospital!  Then, it's my Uncle's birthday on the 12th.  We won't talk about his age- I don't really know it anyway, but he's my Dad's youngest brother.  Next up is my little brother's birthday on the 13th.  I can't believe he turned 17 this year and is a Junior in highschool already.  It seems like just yesterday I rolled my eyes as my parents decided to adopt again and brought his adorable baby chub home.  He was such a super cute baby and now he's almost a man and is debating his future post highschool.  Craziness.  And of course we know whose birthday is next.  MINE!  I'm a March 14th baby and spent it this year turning 30 for the 2nd time. :P  I'm feeling old this year, but I don't know if it's just because I'm later in pregnancy and starting to feel the fatigue from that again or if the number freaks me out a little bit.  The 15th was my late grandmother's (paternal) birthday may she rest in peace and on the 25th a very special little girl I know will turn two.  That's right.  Miss Mariela's birthday is fast approaching and of course I've pretty much planned her entire birthday out already.  I wanted to be prepared in case I wasn't feeling well this late in pregnancy and she won't be disappointed.

Due to her utter and complete obsession with one purple and green dinosaur, she will be having a Barney themed birthday party and this year we cut the guest list by a third and just invited immediate family only and one close family friend and her daughter.  There might even be a visit from said purple dino for the kids to enjoy!  My nephews also love Barney, so we rented a costume and I'm hoping they won't be scared of him.  We're going to decorate sugar cookies to go along with the Barney song, "The Cookie Song", and of course I'm making M's cake again this year.  This is my inspiration, but I don't think I'll be covering the whole thing in fondant as M LOVES frosting, but hates cake and I want her to be able to enjoy it, too.  I made the fondant and dyed it 6 different colors for the decorations last weekend and I hope to make the Barney topper this weekend.  Here's hoping I have some artistic skills as I couldn't find a Barney cake topper to buy anywhere that wasn't less than $30 (on Etsy or Ebay).  Apparently, Barney cake toppers are from the early 90s and are collector items now.  Who knew?!   I also created her invitations myself in Photoshop and am making her birthday banner.  I'm also thrilled that my brother (her Godfather) is once again able to fly up to be with us for her birthday party and he is also bringing M's Great Grammie to the party to be with us.  She is one lucky little gal.

Pictures and a run down of the party to come after it's over and I've had a chance to recoup. ;)

In other news I've finally reached the third trimester with Baby 2.0.  I certainly am feeling it more this time around already.  It's been in the 70s the past few days and just a glimpse of my favorite season has me nervous on how I'll manage when the nights aren't cooler and the days are warmer.  Thank God we have central A/C!  I also tire a lot easier and get out of breathe if I try to do too much at a time.  I had an OB appointment yesterday and the baby is doing well.  We're still Team Green (Mean!) and don't know the baby's sex.  We have a girl name picked out for sure, but are still struggling with a boy option.  Murphy's Law it'll end up being a baby boy since we aren't 100% on a boy name. :)  The baby is measuring right on track and had a heartbeat in the 140s yesterday.  I failed the 1 hour gestational diabetes test and have to take the 3 hour test again this pregnancy.  I was really hoping to avoid it as it's pretty boring to sit in the lab for three hours AND I felt like crap after the last one I had to do.  The goop you drink is just disgusting to me.  It's the best for the baby, though, so I'll get through it. 

I've been having dreams of labor and delivery and A.R. telling me the sex of the baby and it makes me so eager to meet this little one and introduce him/her to M.  She's going to be a great big sister.  I just know it.  She's super protective of my stomach and won't let A.R. touch it.  She swats his hand away if he tries to rub my belly to feel the baby or give it kisses when she sees him.  Then, she admonishes him by saying, "NO! No, Papi!" and rubs my belly herself before running off to play again.  We've completed two out of our five hypnobirthing classes and we both are completely intrigued by the method.  I've been listening to my practice CDs every night and even spoke with my OB's office about it yesterday and got their support which was great to hear.  I look forward to the last three classes and what's to come.  I feel so relaxed after we leave them with the mini hypnosis sections we do in class, so I can totally see it helping me during labor itself.  It's also great to have such a supportive husband as he was pretty standoff-ish about it at first- I thought it might be too "crunchy" for him.  After watching several hypnobirths and comparing them to our experience when M was born, he said he'd do anything I asked to see me labor like the hypno mothers vs the Pitocin induced crazy time I had while waiting for an epidural with M.  Thanks, Babe!  You truly are my one and only and I can't wait to meet our new little baby.

Some upcoming posts to look forward to:
~M's new big girl room in pictures! (She's all moved in!)
~M's birthday party & 2 year photos
~Some photography posts (a new PT hobby of mine)