Baby Swag

This weekend, I went down to Austin to visit my Aunt Lisa and my cousin, Katie. We had such a fun time hanging out, and they were so excited to get to go baby shopping with me that it filled me with excitement too. I have been a little down lately because I have been so tired from my summer job, and just feeling quite awkward and uncomfortable (it's hard work growing a baby!), but spending time with these two fun loving ladies lifted my spirits and we had so much fun!
Plus, they spoiled me rotten. Here are a few of the wonderful early shower gifts I got from Lisa (with help from KK):
If you live in Austin, you should definitely check out this really cute baby boutique called Picket Fences. It was so cute, and they had some really interesting items. For that matter, check out Inchbug.com for even cuter things. But all advertising aside, these swaddler blankets are ridiculously soft and sweet. They are made by aden + anais and they are the Swaddler set. We originally fell in love with them because of the elephants, then because of the fact that I want to rip the box open right now and sleep with them myself, haha. These blankets alone have made me decide to go with an animal theme in the room... of some sort. Don't quote me on that yet... my mind changes itself a hundred times a day. But the fat little elephants are so flippin cute, and they would be easy for a Mama to paint to put in the room somewhere....

Speaking of animals - check out this adorably sly little Fox. This is made by the company Blabla, and I am convinced that it will be Bebe's favorite lovie - I mean, I want to carry it around with me everywhere I go, so why wouldn't the baby!?

And then, by far, the sweetest and cutest of all the baby splurge purchases... TINY tiny baby bamboo socks. These socks will change your life. They are so incredibly small and so incredibly soft and I can not wait to bring my baby home from the hospital wearing these sweet little things. So, whatever outfit we choose to bring baby home in, must coordinate with the green socks! I hope they still fit at Christmas time - I can't wait to show Grandma's these sweet little socks!

Mom and I also had a lovely afternoon on Sunday. We had lunch at Le Madeline and then went to Babies R Us and spent a year there looking at every single product on the shelves (well, close, haha). I think we might have come to a conclusion on the bedding that we like, though I still want to look around a little and wait to see if it's a boy or a girl to see if that changes my mind at all. (Speaking of which, 10 days til we find out!!!) I can't wait to go and register and pick out all the sweet little things that will help take care of my sweet little Bebe. Makes my heart just melt to think about bathing, clothing and rocking this little one... and makes all these aches and pains and uncomfortableness not quite so horrible.

So, this is the beginning of week 18. Almost halfway there! And only a few more days (10) until we get to find out if it's baby Boy Dodd or Girl Dodd, haha. Don't worry, I'll post photos and let you in on the "secret". You only have 10 more days to go vote on what you think it will be! Look to your right and vote, people!!

Week 17 and the Fantastic Voyage

Here we are, in week 17, with 159 days of pregnancy to go (give or take). I just read an article about "What Summer Activities to Avoid" during pregnancy, and I am happy to report that riding my bike is now a no no (at least for the next several months). I have to say, it was never my favorite thing to do anyway, but it's nice to have an actual excuse, haha.

The past couple of weeks have left me feeling a little blue about the whole "growing a baby" thing. I had visions in my mind of what an amazingly beautiful and lively pregnant woman I would be, and now that it's here, I just feel fat and uncomfortable. And itchy, let's not leave that part out. I'm sleepy nearly all the time, but have such a hard time getting comfortable in bed that it makes the idea of going to sleep quite upsetting. I think I could sleep if I were in a zero G environment... yeah, that would be great. Anyone know where I can find a portable Zero-G that will fit roughly on my side of the bed? I was always quite sure that my hips had enough padding around them to cushion a person nearly twice my size, but as of late, I am thinking differently. Laying down, my hip digs into the bed, sitting in the office chair as I type this blog, my right hip bone is digging into the chair.

The other physical complaints are just a little too graphic for the blogosphere, so I'll just suffice to say that though I am already deeply in love with this baby, and SO very glad that God has blessed me with this little life, I do wish that it were a little more comfortable in the making. The lack of sleep and uncomfortableness are also affecting my temper and my zen like mental state (ha!).

But on the awesome side, I actually think I am starting to look prego.
Have I mentioned lately how amazingly awesome my husband is? I promise that is not an absent Segue... I bring it up in conjunction with what my wonderful hubby did for ME this weekend. We took an impromptu Daycation. Woke up on Saturday morning, hopped in the car with an atlas, and took off. We ended up in Dublin, Texas for our first stop. We went on a tour of the Dublin Dr. Pepper bottling facility, and had a real, honest to goodness fountain Dr. Pepper - put ice in a cup, pour in some syrup, pour in carbonated water, mix and enjoy. So tastey. Don't judge me, I have been limiting my caffine intake.
Here's a photo of me outside the museum. I'm still trying to decide if the stripped shirt is super trendy, or makes me look like an overweight inmate. I'll just keep telling myself that it wouldn't be in the stores if it weren't trendy, right?
Our next stop was on our way back in the general direction of Dallas. We drove through the square in Granbury and decided to make a stop to look in some of the shops and get an ice cream cone. Drew was wonderful, and actually went in a few antique stores with me - where I found one of the insanely cute little fiesta pitchers that I have been "collecting" for a while now. And the ice cream - YUM! It started melting as soon as it was placed in my hand, but with Mama Marcie and Daddy Drew, it didn't last long.

Third stop was to Fort Worth and Sundance Square where we walked around a bit and found pizza for dinner.

We had a great day spending time together in the car on our journey, and talking with each other. Had I been a prepared mom, I would have brought a baby name book so that we could have come up with a few ideas in anticipation of finding out if this sweet little one is a boy or a girl! Our appointment to find out is July 8th, and I have had a countdown going on for a while now. We currently have 16 days left til we find out. I was pretty sure that everyone thought it was a boy, like I do, but after spending some time with family for Father's day, and hearing that several people have changed their position, I am just not sure. My sweet tooth has definitely come back, which is an old wives tale that you are having a girl.

I have felt a few kicks, here and there, but nothing too consistant yet. I am definitely excited to be able to feel him move around more often, though the first few times it happened it made me very nauseated. Imagine something swimming around inside your stomach... make you queasy? Yeah, that's how it feels at the moment.

Well, I am a television star today - channel 5 decided to come interview me and film part of the summer Art camp I am teaching at the Bath House this summer (on the one day that I woke up late and didn't have time for a shower... of course). If I can find it online, and if my hair doesn't look too awful, I'll post it on my blog. Off to watch the news - weird.

Pregnancy - Day 101

Can you believe it has already been over 100 days since this little baby's life was formed? Oh my gosh it has totally flown by. I can't even remember what all has happened in the past several months, but I know I haven't had as many moments to sit and reflect as I might have liked.
This is week 14 of Frijolito. I *think* that I have felt a little movement, but I'm going to give it a little longer before being totally convinced. It feels kind of like the twitch under my eye when I get really stressed out, haha.
Next week is my 4 month doctor's appointment. I have to wait til 19 weeks to find out the gender, so hopefully the first week in July. I can't wait! Only 5 weeks to go!

This weekend, Diane was here. We had a great time eating and shopping - seems to be our two favorite things to do together, haha. We checked out downtown McKinney - way cool! Lots of cute shops and restaurants. I will definitely go back there sometime. I did not find the two things I was looking for - an armoire and a short dresser, but I will keep looking. And if all else fails, there is always Ikea for the storage aspect of the room.

We did go to Babies R' Us and decide on a stroller.
It is a Chicco Cortina Travel System in Discovery (that's the color). Diane and I were in the store practicing taking out the car seat, folding the strollers down, wheeling them around aisles so that we could decide which one pushed easier. It was down to a Baby Trend model and this one, and this one won in my book hands down. It was much lighter, easier to fold and unfold, and seemed to be just a little better thought out. We also asked a few parents at the mall who we saw with this stroller, and it got pretty good reviews.

Another thing I found that I like a lot is this pack n' play:
It has the regular pack n play at the bottom, plus a newborn attachment at the top so that we can use it in our room as a bassinet for the first couple of months, PLUS a changing table attachment. Not to mention that I love the color. Very gender neutral.

I also found this crib that I like a lot:
It's made by Graco and got great reviews on the Babies R Us website. It is also only $169, which for a convertible crib is outstanding. I still plan on looking around for cribs though, to make sure I find one that we really like a lot since they are so expensive!

Well, now on to shower and run a couple of errands. Funeral this afternoon for my great Aunt, Beadie.

22nd Grade

Just got a really cute email from my cousin Gillian about all the things she learned in 7th grade. I didn't realize how much they teach you about hair and fashion in school, haha. Anyway, it prompted me to think about all the things I have learned lately. So, here is a list of some of the things I have learned in 22nd (or there abouts) grade:

• If you add an extra $50 a month in Principle to your mortgage, your total amount due will ACTUALLY go down!
• Not going to Target really helps the family budget
• There is nothing about me that is good at "keeping house"
• Being pregnant is the most surreal, unusual, wonderful, horrible experience I have ever been through in my life.
• Hearing my baby's heartbeat is AMAZING
• I love my family, even if they drive me crazy sometimes
• It doesn't matter if you have friends at work. It wouldn't be called work if it didn't suck sometimes.
• I love my students, even if they drive me crazy sometimes :)
• There is much in life that is uncertain, but trusting in the promises of God will steady you enough to get through it.
  
• Always write down your user names and passwords somewhere... it's a complete pain to forget them and then try to pay a bill.
• People will tell you anything to sell you clothes at a Maternity store... including that you are "incredibly small framed with a large chest". Did they even look at me before they said "small framed"??
• iPhones are great to have, but they make horrible phones
• my husband is absolutely amazing and I love him very much
• breakfast is important
• So is midday snack, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner and midnight snack, haha
• You'll never remember everything, so make good notes and enjoy the moment while it lasts.

Well, that kept me occupied while I tried to figure out a user name and password that I forgot (hence that thing that I learned up there). But now I gotta get back to cleaning house! Diane is coming in today, and so are G and D and Lisa... looking forward to getting to see everyone, but must finish the house before I can have fun.

Welcome Second Trimester!

I suppose I had half hoped that I would wake up this morning, the first day of my second trimester, and feel absolutely alive and energetic and strong... well, I can't say that it exactly worked out like that, haha. But before you, like my co-workers today, accuse me of being "Cynical Marcie," let me just say that I do feel remarkably better than I did a few weeks ago. I still have short bouts of nausea, and I still get tired easily, but I can now eat pretty much whatever I want without it making me sick. Getting out of bed in the morning is still ridiculously hard, but I think that might be more the fault of it being the last week of school (woohoo!) and less the fault of little baby.

So, week 12 and 13... less has happened these weeks as far as my body, but this has definitely been a busy couple of weeks. Drew and I amazingly put up with it being about 85 in our house before getting someone over to "repair" our air conditioning unit. But it is "fixed" now and we are staying somewhat cool... though every time it comes on I just start visualizing throwing money away to the electricity company. But I suppose it is worth it... when Drew is hot, he turns into the Incredible Hulk, and being pregnant makes it somewhat difficult to regulate my body temperature. I am getting to the point where I am starting to feel warm all the time (I type this as I sit in my classroom that is about 55 degrees, trying not to shiver, haha). God continues to show me over and over again that He'll take care of me. All of my financial worries are usually for nothing, because I have never had a day where I had to go without a meal, and I have a beautiful roof over my head. I need to remember to thank Him more often...

This week is a big baby week. It is the first week of the second trimester, which a lot of moms call the "golden trimester" because of how much better you feel. All of baby's important organs are there and have started functioning, and he (remember, we're calling it a he here until we know one way or the other) is practicing breathing in and out in the amniotic fluid. I think one of the coolest things about development this week is that my sweet little one has finger prints. How cool is that? It still just baffles me every time I read something like that and then hear someone say that it isn't a baby until it's born... last time I checked, a real baby had a heart, lungs, arms, legs, brain waves, and fingerprints... so, that sounds like a real baby to me!

I think the thing I am the most excited about happening in the next few weeks is starting to feel the baby move. In the books I have read, it says you can typically start feeling the baby move between weeks 16-20. That will be simply magical to me.

I am already wearing maternity clothes, but I would really like to start LOOKING pregnant instead of just overweight, haha. I think that should start happening in the next few weeks too, so they say in "the books."

New changes in the Dodd family - Drew will be teaching Forensics next year which is pretty awesome. He gets to go to a training in San Marcos this summer, and I am sincerely wishing that I could go with him and go to all the outlets while he is in class. Maybe I can go down on the weekend. I will be teaching summer camp again through Big Thought's Thriving Minds program. I have been doing a lot of planning today and I am pretty sure it is going to be totally awesome. And, Drew's mom is coming to visit (hopefully) next week! We plan to do lots of antiquing and shopping, and hopefully I can get her input on some baby things.

Wrapping up for this week, but to the right is a poll that I would like your opinion on... do you think it is a girl or a boy? I'd also really love to know WHY you think it is one or the other, hehe.

10 weeks

Like I said in the last post, pregnancy is the most unusual thing I have ever been through in my life... it is constantly changing and evolving and growing, and I never know one day to the next how I am going to feel physically or emotionally.

Perhaps the 3-4 hours of sleep I have gotten every night this week have exaggerated my emotional state, but it seems as though every little happy thing makes me want to tear up this week. I don't mind it, but it is a very different state of being for me - a very privately emotional person.

Saturday afternoon was the 9th Annual Methodist Hospital Pink Ribbon Tea Party, hosted by my aunt Jerri. I genuinely enjoy going to this every year, sipping tea and eating fancy little treats with my grandmother and cousins. I am always so proud of my aunt for the work that she does to make the Tea happen - it is always a packed house - full of ladies in their nice clothes with their fancy hats, all wearing pinks and with smiles on their faces. This year, I wore a dress that I found with my friend, Rebecca, at Nordstrom Rack. It is fairly form fitting, and the fact that I can't really wear things like that has not fully sunk in to my brain yet :) So, below is a photo of me in my fancy dress, taken with my fancy iphone in front of my husbands anything but fancy mirror in his closet in a not very well lit room, haha. I think the look on my face is absolutely descriptive of how I have been feeling lately - confused - is this really me? Am I really having a baby? Nothing about this experience so far seems "normal," but I obviously have not been through this before, so who am I to say what's normal??


Allergies have been the theme of my 10th week. I have just barely started feeling a little better on the morning sickness front, only for that to be replaced by the most severely horrible allergies I have ever had in my life! Monday morning, I awoke to a very bad sinus headache and no clue of how to cure it. So, I called in sick and laid in bed for most of the day - which of course helped both my head in the physical sense of the headache, as well as mentally - I think I am starting to get burnt out this year and desperately need a break (good thing summer is coming up soon!)

Monday was one of my best friend's birthday, so we met Rebecca and her husband, Jeremy, at the Cheesecake Factory for dinner. As always, it was delicious, and I went home full and happy.

Tuesday, while Drew was at class, I finally got around to making a home cooked meal. I haven't cooked much since I found out I was pregnant because of the "morning" sickness. Plus the fact that I have been absolutely exhausted! Building a baby is very hard work! But I digress.... I made my wonderful husband one of his favorite meals - Caldo de Pescado (fish stew to those of you non Spanish Speaking readers). I have to say, it turned out just like I intended, thanks to Rachel Ray and a little of the cooking talents I inherited from my mother (thanks Mom!).

Thursday was a good day, except again for those absolutely HORRIBLE allergies poking in where they do not belong. I really have amazing students this year. They are genuine and wonderful, and I have been very blessed to be able to call them mine - even if just for this year. My yearbook class specifically has been absolutely wonderful this year, and so we scheduled a field trip to our publishing plant to see how Yearbooks are printed and bound. It's really an intriguing process, and at the end of the tour, Mickey, our sales rep, came in to say hi and brought us the very first finished yearbook. It is absolutely the most amazing yearbook I have ever seen! I am SO proud! We weren't expecting to get to see it so soon, so it was really a great surprise.

Another new thing that has developed this week is this sense of worry... am I eating well enough to keep my baby healthy? Did I drink too much caffine this week? Is this benedryl ok to take? How about a Tylenol? I don't feel sick anymore, and therefore, don't feel pregnant - morning sickness is really the only symptom I have had up to this point, so it is the thing I associate with FEELING pregnant. I know that is silly, but it really has crossed my mind a few times.

But the most exciting thing is that my little Frijolito is the size of a lime this week! He (I think the baby is a boy... don't know why) is growing so fast! In just a few short months I will have a sweet little baby to snuggle in my arms and I get so overwhelmed and excited just thinking about it. And then I think "oh my gosh, it will be November, and it will be cold! How will I make sure he stays warm in the crib at night? How will I make sure he is warm in the car on the way home from the hospital??" Why are these silly little worries plaguing my mind?! This baby is totally in God's hands, and has been since before he was conceived. Just gotta keep reminding myself of that :)

Ok, just a couple more things and I swear I'll end this post, haha. I know it is the length of a short novel already.

What do you think about the name Elliott Benjamin for a boy?

Also, I found this amazing website this week with the most beautiful stories about birth and adoption, and seeing the little one for the first time. You should check it out!

http://www.designmom.com/?s=thoughts+on+pregnancy

I highly recommend reading "Birth Story Once Removed" and "Is that my Uterus in that Taurus?". Both made me laugh til I cried and cry again til I laughed.

Doctor's appointment on Monday - expect another update! One and a half more weeks til the end of the 1st trimester, YAY!

Week 7

Being pregnant is... well, different than anything I have ever experienced in my entire life. Never in the past would I have EVER been ok with being sick every day and tossing my cookies regularly. But I have to say, all I have to do is think "oh my gosh, I'm having a BABY!" and then I get this little butterflies in my stomach and it doesn't matter if I can't keep anything down. It is amazing how one little word on a stick that I peed on could change my life so drastically. Sometimes, I will be working on a project at school, or being busy doing something and I will temporarily forget that I am "with child" (haha), then something will happen - I'll start feeling yucky, get a bit of a cramp, or someone will call me "Mama", and I'll get this crazy electric shock feeling and smile, get nervous and feel like I am going to tear up all at the same time!

That brings me to my next topic... Pregnancy hormones. They are seriously intense and flat out crazy! Weird things have started to change - like my hair. My hair has been straighter than anything my entire life, and now all of the sudden it has a bit of natural curl to it. I love this! I can scrunch my hair and be ready to walk out the door in half the time it usually takes! The tearfulness is also something I will have to get used to. I am not normally very open with too many of my emotions, and these days when I feel any sort of intense emotion, I am tearing up! Not actually crying, mind you... just eyes watery kind of tearing up. Oh, and the weight gain thing. This part is really starting to get to me. Before you judge me, I know... it's for a good reason! But my goodness, I can't button my jeans!!! I have made many a promise to myself in my pre-pregnancy days to never ever buy a bigger size pair of jeans than I am in right now, and now as Mama Marcie, I can not even button these that I vowed for so long to fit into for the rest of my life! I guess it shouldn't bother me too much, but it does make me need a bit more affirmation that I normally need (Drew, hope you are reading this :) )

Today: Doctor's appointment and sonogram... hopefully I will get to hear the heartbeat today! I'll post another sonogram photo soon! :)