Cards for Mother's Day

Sometimes I put off getting cards until the last minute and am stuck with whatever I can find quickly.  I really hate to do that as I much more prefer browsing the awesome shops on Etsy for something cute or witty or fun.  They are just a bit more unique and less of the same old.  For Mother's Day this year I am on it and just purchased cards. These were my favorites (and two of them are the cards my mom and MIL will receive)...

spring floral letterpress from Minna So

Mom you rock from SteelPetalPress

favorite mom by Author's Plaid Pants

mother's day flowers by JoyInspiration

you're amazing by doodlelove

Badass Mother by BSandRS

Mother's Day is just around the corner!  Now that the cards are taken care of I need to figure out the gifts...

30 weeks

Oh my gosh.  How has 30 weeks come up so quickly!  Am I really 30 weeks pregnant?! Geesh!!

The last five weeks have been pretty great.  The second trimester transitioned to the third quite smoothly.  Sure, I am feeling quite a bit more tired these days but overall I feel really good.  Sometimes I catch a glimpse in mirror and think "seriously how is that me!"  Sometimes I feel enormous and sometimes I feel really good... the outfit makes a big difference as does the angle of the view.

I have a very very active baby.  There is some serious soccer and karate practice that does on in there.  But as I approached the 30 week mark the movement started to be a little more like a yogi-to-be.  The movement is comforting as I take it as a sign that all is going well in there.  When the little one must hitting a growth spurt the movement can slow down, so on those days I gently squeeze/rub my belly to see if it will make him/her wake up... which it does! :) 

There was also a point in the past couple of weeks where I had a few "oh my gosh there is a little person inside me!" type of moments.  In the early months it still felt conceptual.  Now I can feel little feet pushing back on my hand as it stretches out.  Dan had his 'omg' moment when he added a couple cloth diapers to his amazon order.  I look around our place and realize just how quickly we will be a totally different family.  It is exciting and bizarre to see this transition in motion.

I still haven't had any aversions other than my usual dislikes.  And I think overall I have been eating pretty normally.  This last week I did get a little addicted to oreos and have had a major sweet tooth. 

I have also still been able to work out and keep pretty active.  This past weekend I welcomed week 30 with running a 5k with my husband.  One of my goals at the start of the pregnancy was to run a race and I was a little worried that due to timing with the midwest seasons that I might not be able to fit this in.  But I am still feeling pretty good so went for it.  I am glad that Dan ran it with me and that we were running a low key neighborhood race instead of one of the crazy busy ones.  It was an awesome little run and Dan kept me giggling through most of it.  My goal for the next 10 weeks is to make sure I am doing prenatal yoga. 

Now that we only have 10 weeks to go we really need to get moving on setting up that nursery and buying at least the minimum of baby gear!

{top image - 30 weeks; second row left to right - 15, 20, and 25 weeks}

A Brunch Club Celebration for Baby

Guys, I have some the most talented and cutest women for friends.  I feel very lucky to call my brunch club girls friends... and to think, we all met through blogging!  This past weekend these girls turned our April brunch into a celebration for Baby U.  It was so sweet and I went home feeling very special indeed.

It was a community event with everyone (but me- for shame!) contributing.  I loved that as community is such an important element in life.  Did I mention these girls are talented?  Colleen was the fantastic hostess opening up her home and making a delicious brunch (totally had to have two of the yummy ham and cheese sandwiches).  Tina shared her mad paper skills by whipping up the cutest place cards and finding the perfect wrapping paper to fit in with the style I am planning for the nursery.  Natalie made these delicious pear muffins (hopefully she shares this recipe...).  Devon brought herbs (love) for favors in completely cute packaging.  Ami was the photographer taking beautiful photos for us.

{Photos taken by Ami}

See what I mean about talented?

How can you not feel warm and fuzzy when people are messaging back and forth on completely personalized gifts, running around town for the perfect paper, taking up time on their weekends to prepare a delicious meal just to celebrate your baby?  I feel lucky to have such amazing women in my life.

Cloth Diapers, totStuff, & a Giveaway

Early on in this pregnancy, actually before even getting pregnant, we had decided to go the cloth diaper route.  I am ridiculously excited to use the cute diapers and to next year at this time have a little one crawling around with a fluffy cloth diaper bum, a simple onesie, and babylegs!

I am over on totStuff, the tottini blog, sharing the factors that we discussed to decide on cloth over disposable.  And there is a cloth diaper giveaway involved - even if you aren't in the market for cloth diapers it would make a great gift!  So head over and check it out.

Weekend Snippets

Weekends go too fast.  Always.  This weekend we were busy...

• eating our way through our CSA box (radish butter and swiss chard quiche were yummy)
• painting the baby room and registering for the birth class at our hospital
• a little spring planting - lettuce, radishes, and herbs for this year's spring crops (cutting back from last year)
• making muffins (blueberry almond) to freeze for the week ahead

 I am so glad that there is finally an android instagram app. Finding it to be much more fun than the usual camera phone - my username is inthisinstance.  All the above photos except for the last are instagram. 

The last one is a self portrait using my favorite camera for my weekly bump pic (29 weeks!)... that bump is starting to occupy my weekend to do lists.