Baby Jorts

I received this email from Target:



Apparently, they are trying harder than ever to compete with Wal-Mart by letting as young an audience as possible know that it's okay to wear jean shorts.

Eight Months

Wow, I can't believe we're here already! She will be here in no time...I just hope we are prepared. As I am getting closer to the end of this adventure, I started to reflect back on the milestones and the things I've learned...

At 12 weeks I started showing (well, at least to me...I knew that wasn't all just holiday eating that was forcing me into larger and more elasticized pants!).

At 22 weeks I started feeling her kicking inside me. What a weird sensation. It definitely feels just like there's a small animal squirming around inside you.

Now that I'm 32 weeks, I just can't believe I'm already at this point. It's been a really great experience (true, I have been lucky not to have any real complications or sickness or anything). Now we're just eager for the next step. I mean, I think we are. Yes...yes, we are.

I guess the biggest thing about being pregnant (besides your uterus, natch) are all of the sacrifices you make. This cannot be taken too seriously...you have no idea! Of course there is giving up alcohol and any other bad-for-you things that you do. But you also lose your waist and your mind. You forego an intimate knowledge of your feet or the condition of your pedicure. You also must graciously alter your diet for the benefit of the baby. I selflessly increased my calcium intake just for her. This involved many bowls of queso at Los Tres and countless quarts of ice cream. All for you, baby. Just today, I have loaded myself up on antioxidants by helping myself to the blueberry coffee cake that a coworker brought in. Just be prepared all you potential moms out there.

You should also be warned about all of the pregnancy literature and theories out there. I would definitely advise taking in this information with a mound of salt (except that it will inevitably make your feet and ankles swell). The raising of babies is such a careful art that it changes constantly. What was best for baby yesterday is now surely the thing that could lead to their harm today. My best example of this is when Troy and I attended our Baby Care Basics course last week. We were told that swaddling is bad and can lead to SIDs and our teacher refused to show us how to properly swaddle our fake baby. When I later posted this on Facebook, it caused a little bit of a ruckus. You don't have to tell me, people. I know lots of babies who loved being swaddled and made it out okay. Just know as a new or soon-to-be parent that people have been having babies long before sleep positioners, swaddling, pacis, bumpers and all that other stuff. Babies are pretty resilient and I hope ours will be (and that I will be able to accept this fact once she's out). I'm not sure if this is advice to my readers or just a pep talk to myself but I hope we all feel better now.

I think it's time for more coffee cake! Baby needs some blueberries.

All Kinds of Showers

We have finally been getting some much-needed rain here. It went from being totally dry to torrential downpours. Nothing like easing into things. Yesterday it rained cats & dogs. Really, I saw some guy step in a poodle. Get it? Poodle??(Bah-dum-ching!) The saddest part about that joke is that I stole it from a guy on the radio. Anywho...at least it's been great for the yard. Here's a pic of the front yard that doesn't even do it justice since everything is now blooming like crazy:


The other kind of shower was a baby shower that one of my oldest & dearest neighbors threw for me last weekend. I say oldest because she has lived across the street from my parents for about 30 years now. I can't believe it's been that long!

It was a really nice shower with some friends, family and family friends. We got all kinds of great things for Baby Girl (or BB as my Mom calls her for Baby Benton) and it was awesome getting to see everyone!





Very yummy spread and the cake was pink lemonade from Dewey's Bakery. So cute! But maybe that explains this spread:

So I know you're sick of my lamenting about how big I am and how other people love to point out that fact. Well, too bad. I just had to share my latest little episode with you so bear with me. ;)

Yesterday I went to the mall on my lunch break. They have combined our Motherhood Maternity and A Pea In the Pod stores to create one store, Destination Maternity. I thought I'd check it out and see if they were maybe having a grand opening sale (they weren't). I have been on the hunt for a cute (and cheap) maternity dress that I could wear to work and on the weekends. My main requirement is that the thing have short sleeves. Apparently this is too much to ask. I just want to know...who are these pregnant ladies prancing around in strapless bras?? There is no way my girls would be supported and my heavy-duty nursing bras just won't look cute under a little summer sundress with spaghetti straps.

But I digress...I found what appeared to be a cute green, black and white dress with cap sleeves that was $35. Perfect! I took it home and tried it on last night. When I came downstairs to show Troy, he took one look at me and started laughing. So I did an about-face to go back up and he sputtered, "No, no...I'm sorry! But, seriously, that is just...ridiculous. You can't wear that." It seems that the green polka dots over my chest weren't doing anything but making things look larger and the floral patterned skirt was doing a pitiful job at camouflaging my belly. Oh well...it was worth a shot. But this attempt had me very frustrated. I was started to get on board with my friend Shay's philosophy that us pregnant ladies need a self-esteem boost, even if that means buying nicer and more expensive maternity wear. For her first pregnancy, she got by on Target & JCPenney. I have been doing the same (except with a heavy dose of Old Navy). But maybe nicer clothes is just what I need. I mean, after all, it's not like I'm only going to be in this stuff for 2 more months. I'm realistic enough to know that I'll probably be in maternity wear for a month or two after the baby comes out. And as I expand, it seems that buying bigger pants is going to be easier than shedding a few pounds.

So what did I do? I went to JCPenney and bought an outfit on clearance. Some habits are hard to break...

Babymoon

Well, here we are folks...30 weeks. I can't believe it's here already and that I'm 3/4 of the way through this pregnancy. As you can see, I am looking rather ripe these days.


(So, I realize my belly looks oddly squared off in this picture. Again, I think this shirt was doing weird things.)

That picture does absolutely nothing for my boobs. I swear they're not that saggy...that shirt just has a drape-y front. But you can see that Baby Girl is getting bigger (about 3 lbs now) and poking out more. She kicks and bounces around a lot, especially after I eat.

Things around the Benton household have been rather uneventful. Not that we've not been busy, but we've not really done anything exciting or gone anywhere in ages. So that's why it was so nice to get out of town last weekend. Troy's cousin was graduating from the College of Charleston so we decided to make the trip and have that be our little "babymoon." It was so nice! I had forgotten how refreshing just a long weekend could be and it was nice to go somewhere besides just Greensboro or Goldsboro and really get out of town.

Troy had never been to Charleston and I think he was pretty smitten with the town. Course, I think that may have something to do with all the cute college girls running around, especially when he's sitting next to a swollen something in a large pink sundress. Anywho...it was a great weekend and we basically ate and walked around which was perfect. Here are some of the highlights:









I had to have some shrimp & grits while we were there!



And no trip to the Battery would be complete without seeing the Piggly Wiggly house.



In case you're not familiar, this is the house of the owner of the Piggly Wiggly grocery store chain. There are two large stone pigs at the base of his front stairs that they often dress up for the holiday or season. Guess they'd already tossed their cap from graduation.

So that was probably our last trip as just a couple. Hard to imagine! The next time we go on vacation, it'll likely be with loads of baby gear and it'll take 3 hours to pack and leave the house and then we'll have to stop every 30 minutes. We can't wait. :)