7 weeks later..

7 weeks seems like no time at all, but i don't remember what life was like before jan 21. one day i'll write my side of the birth story, but that just seems like too much work right now. i already feel guilty enough blogging when i should be writing thank you notes! i'm starting to hear little grunts coming from the baby swing so i doubt i'll have much time. i'll just make a few notes of some current events...

• poppy is just now really smiling at us because she knows who we are.
• she's slept from 10p-4a for the past 2 nights. woohoo!!
• i survived my first week of work and my sister survived her first week of having poppy!
• we took poppy to the beach for her first time last sunday. she loves being outside.
• her first of many disney trips with her cousin, aunt, gi and myself (and uncle bo one day) is in 10 days! 

i remember when i was dumb and pregnant saying something like "my baby will have to get on my schedule.. i'm not going to let her dictate what i do and when i do it" BAHAH! ignorance. everything i do and everywhere i go revolves around 1. when she ate last 2. when she will eat again 3. the weather (don't want to take her out in bad weather) 4. how we slept (too tired to dress on most days) basically, it's all poppy 24/7. and i'm good with that for now. 

goals for this week: write thank you notes, upload pictures of poppy onto the computer because i haven't done that at all! 

looking back on the last 39 weeks

when i found out i was pregnant i immediately made the following statements:

• i will not pig out just because i'm pregnant. i will only gain the 25-30lbs you are supposed to gain
• i won't eat junk food. when i snack, it will be organic produce because what i eat feeds my baby
• i won't complain. it is a gift to be able to grow and carry a baby. a gift that so many aren't blessed with.

this is what my pregnancy was really like:

• i'm gonna go ahead and throw out a number here. because i need to own up to it...  64lbs. omg.
• chocolate milk, sugary cereal (like 4 bowls a day sometimes), ice dream cones, candy, cakes, pasta
• crying, whining, making jake rub my back and feet, making jake play with my hair until i fall asleep, begging a baby to hurry the heck up because i can't stand one more freaking night of near suffocation every time i roll onto my back for 2 seconds, making jake run some hot water in the tub so i can soak my feet... (poor jake!)

this is what i'll do differently next time:

• not eat everything that isn't moving. 
• know beforehand and mentally prepare that pregnancy changes EVERYTHING about your body.
• set more realistic expectations for myself
• walk more, whine less

things i'm looking forward to about not being pregnant:

• holding a wittle, bitty baby and being able to smell her little baby-scented head any time i want.
• starting weight watchers and getting back into my old clothes that i miss so much. i'm looking at you, jcrew cords. 
• watching jake be a dad. 
• sleeping on my back, shave my legs while standing up, being able to pick up something off the floor when i drop it, painting my own toenails, not wearing carpal tunnel gloves and being able to feel my fingers again
• pickle martinis, raw oysters and sushi 

things i'll miss about being pregnant:

• feeling a little butt pressed against the upper right side of my stomach, sitting on the couch watching poppy do somersaults
• the food!
• the smiles and "congrats" and well wishes you get from strangers out in public 
• being excused from having to do anything you don't want to do. "oh, you don't worry about doing that! you're pregnant... let me get that for you." :)
• having poppy all to myself

photo by caroline ziebarth 

jake has almost sworn off any more kids after dealing with me crying and pitching fits almost every night, but i owe it to poppy to have more kids so she can have what i have with my sister and brother. so buckle up, jake! these next few years are gonna be hell challenging! :)

photo by caroline ziebarth

love, michel

ginkgo biloba, please!

I have a HORRIBLE memory. Sometimes it's a good thing... like when someone says, "Remember that really stupid thing you said/did in high school?" Chances are that I don't remember. On the other hand, I never remember any funny stories or good memories, either, without the help of a friend recounting the stories to me. 

Today I was driving back to work from lunch and tossing back a few thousand  milk duds when I had a really funny flashback of middle school. I wanted to write it down so that I could hang on to one story that I remembered all on my own. So here goes... 

One Friday night, a group of my friends got together to go to a movie. I was probably 13 or so, and was into this guy named Shane. He was there that night with the group of friends to see the movie, and from what I can remember we were being little flirts (as 13 year old kids tend to be). I'm pretty sure we sat next to each other during the movie and I'm also pretty certain that we did that awkward thing where you both have your hands in the "palm up" position (because that's comfortable and natural??) on the armrest waiting for the bravest one to grab the other person's hand. Clearly, I had one hand (or both? I don't remember if the hand-holding action ever took place) free because I was scarfing down milk duds. After the movie, I remember hanging around waiting on my mom to pick my friend and me up, and I asked Shane to tie my shoe (because being a flirty teen makes you incapable of tasks you accomplished when you were 5 years old).

He got down on one knee and I threw my foot up on his thigh for him to tie my shoe and he suddenly got really awkward and weird. He tied my shoe and then awkwardly left. I didn't really think much of it at the time.

My friend and I got back to my house and went straight to the computer to get on AOL and instant message everyone on my buddy list like we did every. single. night. I remember I had one knee brought up to my chest in the chair while typing away, and I happened to glance down and see this sticky, brown, HUGE gross smear in the crotch of my jeans!!! I remember looking at my friend and us both freaking out wondering WHEN AND HOW I POOPED MY PANTS WITHOUT KNOWING IT! Suddenly, the lightbulb switched on and I realized that I had my box of milk duds between my legs during the movies and I must have dropped some while I was throwing them down my gullet at mach speed and being too preoccupied with the boy palm resting on the armrest in my peripheral vision. Then another lightbulb switched on (yeah, we're up to 2 lightbulbs.. try and keep up) and I realized why Shane got weird when he tied my shoe. HE THOUGHT I POOPED MY PANTS!

TEENAGE NIGHTMARE SOCIAL SUICIDE. 

Thank the LORD his name popped up on my buddy list shortly after and I explained the whole thing to him. He laughed and made that horrible situation a little better. It became a little inside joke (teenagers LOVE inside jokes) and he called me "milk duds" for the rest of the year. I'm so glad he was a nice guy and didn't make a big deal out of it! 

moral of the story: tie your own shoe. don't try to be cute and helpless. 

and, slow down when eating candy in a dark theater. you don't have to empty the box before the previews.

and, most importantly, be able to laugh at yourself. 

michel

a few favorites

i haven't been posting many pictures lately, because my camera is always out on loan for loughtide beach weddings. luckily, after a hormonal cry fit because there were 2 or 3 grains of sand on my lens, my parents are now slow to ask to borrow my camera and they are getting their own. oops.

so my canon and i are reunited and it feels so good. here are some recent photos of my favorite new things... mostly in the nursery.

poppy print from etsy

curtains from ikea 

my "football sunday" sewing project

a growing library 

free art via lilly pulitzer calendar

can't wait for a baby to sleep in there

that's my name, don't wear it out.

scentsy-ish warmer from bath and body works

a few other favorites that i'm unable to photograph..

laying in bed not able to sleep because poppy is perfecting her butterfly stroke.

going to see lion king in 3d with my momma and sister.

watching amelia pet tarantulas at her first field trip, trying to wrap my head around loving another little girl more than i love her in just 4 short months.. i can't fathom it. i'm scared my heart will just burst from growing so much.

counting down the days until disney world! (34!!)

and the slight, very slight, hints of fall here in florida.. (no, not as in pretty leaves)  just not suffocating in the heat when you walk outside for work in the mornings.. i take what i can get. and if that mean 85 degrees, it beats the heck out of 100 degrees.

- michel

a belated post. there's a theme going here...

oops... again.

Actually, I've thought over and over again that I never posted to share about the gender reveal party... here's why I haven't: My readers are also my Facebook friends. You know I'm having a girl! You know her name is Poppy James Lough. You know I am beside myself excited. To update my status on Facebook makes updating my blog seem a little redundant. But, I'll do it anyway... because I was scolded by 2 of my 6 readers this weekend at my friend's wedding.

When we cut into that cake and found out we were having a girl, I could just see Jake crunching numbers in his head.. car, wedding, college tuition, sorority dues, clothes.. etc. Luckily, while he's been crunching numbers, Cadence has been tossing tons and tons of baby girl clothes my way. My friend, Sarah Beth, has been on a little Poppy shopping spree. I'm really hoping she doesn't get in trouble with her husband! :) But I'm not dumb enough to tell her to stop! Poppy is now a proud owner of her first Lilly Pulitzer dress.  Not many fetuses the size of a banana can say that!

I'm 90% done with Poppy's nursery. I have a few more prints to order from Etsy and a rocking chair to find and paint, finish sewing the mobile and we'll be all set (see, that was my facebook status yesterday..). I was putting things away last week, and came across an old friend, Molly. She's looking a little rough around the edges. I guess anyone would after being stuffed in a box in an attic for 15+ years. I foresee a trip to the doll hospital in her future.

Also, football season is in full swing! yay for Saturdays! boo for Sundays!  i just can't get into pro football. Instead of griping and whining every Sunday afternoon, I have decided to turn Sunday afternoons into crafting opportunities. This Sunday I will make...

Source: completely-coastal.com via Claire on Pinterest

...that's if i can get my act together and get to pensacola to buy burlap fabric.

if not..

Source: neststudio.typepad.com via Michel on Pinterest

tata for now,

 michel

you might be a bad blogger if...

..If blogger had to send you an email with your password, because you forgot it.

...If you are in your 2nd trimester of your first pregnancy and haven't blogged about it.

...If your occasional facebook wall post from your mom says "blog" and you still don't.

...If you are the photographer for the family business. Beach wedding season kicked my butt.
sorry for the lack of posting, ya'll! but, i'm back!

      Today I go to the doctor to find out what I'm having. My appointment is in 2 hours, but I won't know what I'm having until tonight. Why? Because I'm a trend-loving dummy. I've jumped on the gender reveal party wagon and I want off! I remembered this little bit of information about myself (that I hate surprises) AFTER I suggested this party and invited people. I know that tonight I will be so glad that we did this, but all day today I will need to be distracted. My sister is the only person (ONLY PERSON, Cadence!!!) that will know what I'm having, as she is the little blue or pink cake baker. My in-laws, mom's parents, and my friend and her family are coming into town for the reveal! even my brother is coming. Considering this is not a major holiday, baby Lough should be very honored by uncle Bo's attendance.
     They say that a mother always knows if she is having a boy or girl by intuition... pfft. I haven't the slightest. I guess if I HAD to guess one, I would probably guess I'm having a boy. This makes me cry. Not that I wouldn't LOVE that little boy to death. I would. That's the problem... I'm scared that if I have a boy, after the first few years he'll be all into boy stuff and he won't want to play with his mom. I don't know anything about boy stuff. My sister and I made Bo play dress up and pretty, pretty princess. It also scares me that one day my son will grow up, move away and marry a girl and be apart of her family. How do you even pretend to like the girl who steals your baby? That is my fear of the blue cake. That is why I cried in bed last night when Jake asked what my reaction would be if the cake is blue. Too much love for someone who would grow up to not need you.

A girl loves her mama. Mine is my best friend. My fear of a pink cake is the dreaded teenage years.  I don't know if I can handle the responsibility raising a girl with high morale. I feel there would be lots o' wine involved. on my part, of course. :)

Either way, I feel like tonight I will really meet the little person growing inside me. I will be able to picture our little family. I'll know whose name I'll need to stitch on a christmas stocking. I'll know what little prizes to buy for the little squirt. Most importantly, I'll know what kinds of things I need to be pinning on pinterest! :)

xo, michel

*ps. sorry for any misspellings, grammar, or punctuation. i'm running behind for this doctor appointment and there is no time to edit!

whale of a tale

i dream about whales regularly. by regularly, i mean every 2 months or so. that doesn't seem often, but those dreams are so vivid and real that i never forget any part of them. with other dreams i wake up trying to remember what it was i dreamt of so i can tell jake. 

i had a whale dream last night. 

Source: tineye.com via Emily on Pinterest

i was on a boat and the whale was far off in the distance when he noticed me. he came closer and closer, showing off his tail every time he swam nearer. he appeared to be almost smiling. 

Source: breath-of-sunshine.tumblr.com via Jorge on Pinterest

then he tried to rock the boat making waves with his tail. i ran down into the boat and watched him through a porthole. he found me and starting trying to bite through the glass. his smile went away and he seemed to be snarling...

Source: weheartit.com via Joe on Pinterest

then i woke up and googled whale dreams interpretation.

To see a whale in your dream, represents your intuition and awareness. You are in tuned with your sense of spirituality. Alternatively, a whale symbolizes a relationship or business project that may be too big to handle. You are feeling overwhelmed. The dream may also be a pun on "wailing" and a desire to cry out about something.

Dreaming about a whale signifies power and strength. Everything being foretold by the dream is positive. Expect a good turn of events coming your way. Enjoy your business and love life with full confidence after dreaming about whales.

To dream of seeing a whale approaching a ship, interpret that you will have a struggle between duties, and will be threatened with loss of property.

If the whale is demolished, you will happily decide between right and inclination, and will encounter pleasing successes.

If you see a whale overturn a ship, you will be thrown into a whirlpool of disasters.