This week I'm...

Loving: That our baby shower thank you notes are in the mail! 

Disliking: How long this week has been.

Craving: Mama is really liking desert this week.

Hoping: I have a good check-up at the doctor this morning.

Reading: I'm looking forward to reading Harry Potter on my iPad, the digital versions are finally available!

Watching: We are still enthraled with Frozen Planet, it's just amazing.

Looking forward to: Taking our maternity pictures this weekend!

Hearing buzz about: I'm Ron Burgandy? Anchorman sequel is coming, yes! 

Baby Dworianyn Bump Watch: 34 Weeks

How far along? 34 weeks, 2 days
Size of the baby? A durian fruit, 18 inches, 5.0 pounds
Maternity clothes? Still in my regular clothes.
Weight gain? No change, -28 total.
Gender? Little man, Ethan!
Movement? He's moving a lot and even kept me up late one night this week because he was having a dance party in there!
Sleep? Sleeping pretty well
Food Cravings? No real cravings, but I am hungrier.
What I miss? Absolutely nothing, just getting so excited to meet our little man.
Symptoms? His crazy kicks and a growing belly.
Best moments of the week? We had an amazing baby shower this weekend and its so exciting to have baby items set-up around the house now.
What is baby doing this week? This week our little boy's lungs and central nervous system are continuing to mature. He is fattening up so he can regulate his body temperature on the outside. He can recognize and react to simple songs or talking. He's also urinating about a pint a day.

Parenting

Michael found this on a website last week and sent it to me. I thought it had some really great ideas. All things to keep in perspective as we await Ethan Michael's arrival! Borrowed from here.

• Greet your child each morning with a smile, a hug, a loving Good Morning! This is how we would all like to be greeted each day.
• Teach your child to make her own breakfast. This starts for most children at around the age of 3 or 4. Teach them progressively to brush their teeth, bathe themselves, clean up their rooms, put away clothes, wash their dishes, make lunch, wash their own clothes, sweep and clean, etc.
• Teaching these skills takes patience. Kids suck at them at first, so you have to show them about a hundred times, but let them try it, correct them, and let them make mistakes. They will gradually learn independence as you will gradually have less work to do caring for them.
• Older children can help younger children — it’s good for them to learn responsibility, it helps the younger children learn from the older ones, and it takes some of the stress off you.
• Read to them often. It’s a wonderful way to bond, to educate, to explore imaginary worlds.
• Build forts with them. Play hide and seek. Shoot each other with Nerf dart guns. Have tea together. Squeeze lemons and make lemonade. Play, often, as play is the essence of childhood. Don’t try to force them to stop playing.
• When your child asks for your attention, grant it.
• Parents need alone time, though. Set certain traditions so that you’ll have time to work on your own, or have mommy and daddy time in the evening, when your child can do things on her own.
• When your child is upset, put yourself in his shoes. Don’t just judge the behavior (yes, crying and screaming isn’t ideal), but the needs behind the behavior. Does he need a hug, or attention, or maybe he’s just tired?
• Model the behavior you want your child to learn. Don’t yell at the child because he was screaming. Don’t get angry at a child for losing his temper. Don’t get mad at a kid who wants to play video games all the time if you’re always on your laptop. Be calm, smile, be kind, go outdoors and be active.
• When a stressful time arises (and it will), learn to deal with it with a smile. Make a joke, turn it into a game, laugh … you’ll teach your child not to take things so seriously, and that life is to be enjoyed. Breathe, walk away if you’ve lost your temper, and come back when you can smile.
• Remember that your child is a gift. She won’t be a child for long, and so your time with her is fleeting. Every moment you can spend with her is a miracle, and you should savor it. Enjoy it to the fullest, and be grateful for that moment.
• Let your child share your interests. Bake cookies together. Sew together. Exercise together. Read together. Work on a website together. Write a blog together.
• Know that when you screw up as a parent, everything will be fine. Forgive yourself. Apologize. Learn from that screw up. In other words, model the behavior you’d like your child to learn whenever he screws up.
• Patiently teach your child the boundaries of behavior. There should be boundaries — what’s acceptable and what’s not. It’s not OK to do things that might harm yourself or others. We should treat each other with kindness and respect. Those aren’t things the child learns immediately, so have patience, but set the boundaries. Within those boundaries, allow lots of freedom.
• Give your child some space. Parents too often overschedule their child’s life, with classes and sports and play dates and music and clubs and the like, but it’s a constant source of stress for both child and parent to keep this schedule going. Let the child go outside and play. Free time is necessary. You don’t always have to be by her side either — she needs alone time just as much as you do.
• Exercise to cope with stress. A run in solitude is a lovely thing. Get a massage now and then.
• It helps tremendously to be a parenting team — one parent can take over when the other gets stressed. When one parent starts to lose his temper, the other should be a calming force.
• Mom and dad need a date night every week or so. Get a babysitter, or better yet, teach the older kids to babysit.
• Sing and dance together.
• Take every opportunity to teach kindness and love. It’s the best lesson.
• Kiss your child goodnight. And give thanks for another amazing day with your beautiful, unique, crazy child.

Weekend & Baby Shower Recap

We had a fabulous weekend. On Friday after work, we hung out with Rich, Tif and the kids. We went out to dinner and then went back to their house to hang out. Saturday we got up early, went to breakfast and then did some shopping before heading to the movie theater to meet up with Rich, Tif, Tif's parents, and Ken and Kat. We went to see Hunger Games. Tif, Sandi, Ken and I all read the books so we were really excited to see it.

I really liked the movie. I thought it kept really true to the book which rarely happens. There were a few nit picky things I could point out, but it's not worth it. I will say that Jennifer Lawrence made the movie and overall the casting was spot on, except for Peeta. If you haven't read the books yet, I would highly recommend them. They are excellent; probably my favorite series since Harry Potter.

After the movie we grabbed some lunch and headed home. We both passed out on the couch in the afternoon. We ended up meeting with everyone for dinner at a new place in Roselle, Bulldog Ale House. Rich and Tif have been telling us about it for a few weeks so we finally got to try it. We really liked it. It's a sports bar but the food was really good. After dinner we headed back to Rich and Tif's to hangout and play with the kids and we headed home when the kids needed to go to bed.

Sunday was our baby shower day! We were really excited. We had our shower at Carlucci's in Downer's Grove. Our parents hosted the shower for us. Prepare yourself for lots of pictures!

Yummy cupcakes from Flirty Cupcakes, our favorite!

Table lists for where the guests were sitting

We found these adorable animal themed diaper cakes from Etsy

Papa with Lily

Grandma and Lily

The Grandma's and their granddaughters. Oh and Lily and Makayla did not plan on wearing the same dresses but they both have great taste! They looked so cute!

Everyone was very generous, we had a lot of gifts to get through!

My mom made us this adorable blanket

Jacob and Makayla bought Ethan Scout just like theirs!

Michael's parents bought us this really cute frame with a baby picture of me, Michael and a spot for Ethan.

All done!

We got so many wonderful gifts, we are pretty much set. We only have a handful of things to get before Ethan's arrival. We have hardly anything to return either, we are really lucky. It took two cars to haul everything home. Luckily my parents were planning on coming home with us to help us. We brought everything in and showed my parents the nursery since they hadn't seen it in person yet. Then I started sorting through all of Ethan's new things to show my Mom a lot of the things she didn't get to see when we were opening gifts.

Holy baby haul!

My parents stayed for a while and then headed home. It took me about 30 seconds to start organizing and assembling everything. I spent the next 4 hours removing lots of packaging and putting things together.

Ethan's new playmats and rocker all set-up and ready!

His highchair is all ready to go too!

I see lots of naps and diaper changes happening in this corner of the living room!

We really had an amazing baby shower. We are so lucky to have such wonderful family and friends. We are going to go this weekend to get the rest of the things we need and luckily we have more than enough gift cards to pay for it all. We are also going to install his carseat and base in my car and the extra base in Michael's car.  This week I'm also going to work on washing all of his bedding that Arla and Teddy bought him so we can get his crib all set up. We will officially be ready to go!

Our week in pictures: 3/18 - 3/24

Sunday, March 18: Our first dinner out on the deck this year!

Monday, March 19: Spring has sprung, everything is blooming!

Tuesday, March 20: Porkchop not ready to get up at 5:30 in the morning.

Wednesday, March 21: Happy first full day of Spring!

Thursday, March 22: My 33 week baby bump

Friday, March 23: Jacob cleaning up his spilled water, he's very tidy!

Saturday, March 24: We received our first baby shower gift in the mail!

Let the games begin!

We are off to the movies this morning to see The Hunger Games. I am so excited, I absolutely loved the books! I can't wait to see the book come to life and see it on the big screen! I'll have a review in my weekend recap. Happy Saturday everyone!

This week I'm...

Loving: That this week is finally over; its been a long one. 

Disliking: The drama that cupcakes caused this week, #babyshowerproblems!

Craving: Nothing at the moment.
Hoping: I love the Hunger Games movie as much as I loved the book.

Reading: My Baby Book that I bought for Ethan.

Watching: So happy Vampire Diaries was good this week, last week was pretty disappointing.
Listening to: The sound of our air conditioner turning on, in March, this is crazy!
Looking forward to: Our baby shower this weekend!
Hearing buzz about: Well surprise, surprise Whitney had cocaine in her system. 

Baby Dworianyn Bump Watch: 33 Weeks

How far along? 33 weeks, 2 days
Size of the baby? A honeydew (we're into the melons!), 17.5 inches, 4.6 pounds
Maternity clothes? Still in my regular clothes.
Weight gain? No change, -28 total.
Gender? Little man, Ethan!
Movement? He's still moving a lot, he's obviously still got plenty of room in there.
Sleep? Definitely sleepier these days. I'm out early at night and require naps on the weekends.
Food Cravings? No real cravings, but I am getting excited for Summer food!
What I miss? Absolutely nothing, just getting so excited to meet our little man.
Symptoms? I'm definitely more tired at the end of the day and I have to pee like 30 times a day.
Best moments of the week? So excited for our baby shower this weekend!
What is baby doing this week? This week our little boy is now keeping his eyes open while he's awake. He's also starting to coordinate breathing with sucking and swallowing. His bones are also hardening and his brain continues to develop rapidly and he grows smarter every day!

Wordless Wednesday: Happy 1st Day of Spring!

Weekend Recap

This weekend can be summed up in two words: Amazing Weather! It's been 80 degrees every day and we are loving it! I still can't believe this is March, but I'll take it. On Friday I had a doctor's appointment in the morning to check on Ethan. Everything is looking really good, his heartbeat was perfect and all my stats were perfect as well. I was down 2 pounds which is kind of crazy since he's gaining weight rapidly right now, but I'm not complaining. After my doctor's appointment, it was back to work for the rest of the day.

Friday night we had a big group dinner to celebrate Ken's birthday. After dinner we headed over to Tif's parent's house to have some yummy cookie cake that Tif's Mom made.

On Saturday we got up and had some breakfast. Then we headed to Michael's parents house to pick up their van to use it to pick our new patio furniture. Between the van and our Jeep we were able to get everything packed in and we brought it home. Then we unpacked everything and started hauling everything upstairs to put it on the deck.

We got everything set up pretty quickly. I just love it! We want to get a small dining table to put with the two chairs to make it easy to eat outside. But for now we can eat at the coffee table in front of the couch. After we set up up the furniture I headed out to get my hair cut and colored. After getting my hair done I came home and took a little nap. When I woke up we decided to get ready and go out for a date night. We need to get as many in as possible before Mr. Ethan comes! We went to Wildfire and had a really yummy dinner. After dinner we did some shopping in the area looking for a table for our patio set but didn't have any luck. We came home and just relaxed and watched a movie. 

Sunday we got up did a few things around the house and then went out for breakfast. After breakfast we did some shopping. Michael wanted to go to Cabela's, we hit up Target, World Market and Sur la Table. I received a gift card for Sur la Table from my boss for Christmas that I've been waiting to spend. We ended up with a lot for my gift card. We got a small 4 cup food processor since ours is broke. We also got a hand mixer, some skewers for grill season, a mini burger press, a new pair of tongs, a garlic skin peeler and a pizza cutter. 

On our way home we had some lunch and then stopped at the grocery store to stock up for the week and then we headed home. We unloaded everything and then I was pretty exhausted from running around for 5 hours so I laid down to take a nap. After I woke up we sat outside on the deck to enjoy the beautiful weather. I caught up on some of my magazines and we just relaxed. For dinner we fired up the grill and made some mini burgers. I also made one of our summer favorites, pasta salad. And since it was absolutely beautiful out, we ate outside and it was perfect. 

After dinner we just relaxed. I did some blogging for the week and we watched some tv. Discovery Channel started a new mini series called Frozen Planet. It's similar to the Planet Earth series they did a couple years back but focusing on the Arctic and Antarctic. We love stuff like that, watching all the amazing animals and how they survive.

It was a great, relaxing weekend. I'm pretty excited for next weekend. On Saturday we are going to see The Hunger Games and then next Sunday is our baby shower! I hope all of you had a great weekend too and got to enjoy the amazing weather. Have a good week everyone!

Our week in pictures: 3/11 - 3/17

Sunday, March 11: Love that we got to fire up the grill in March!

Monday, March 12: Ethan's bookcases are finally here, in place and filled.

Tuesday, March 13: Snuggly Porkchop.

Wednesday, March 14: My 32 week baby bump.

Thursday, March 15: Our chives made it through another Winter!

Friday, March 16: We celebrated Ken's birthday with dinner and then cookie cake at Tif's parent's house.

Saturday, March 17: Our new patio set all set-up on the deck