New Moms, I need your help!!!

I have a couple of questions I need answered from new moms. Seriously friends, I NEED you to help me out with these, especially number 1.

1. Living out of state, everyone in our family wants to know when they should come out to meet the new baby. Should they come around the due date, right after the baby is born, or wait until after we have a routine down with baby and are not stressed with the whole, "we just brought home a new baby and are trying to entertain people at the same time" thing? What did you prefer when you first had your baby?

2. What do you wish you had with you during your hospital stay/ what did you love having with you during your hospital stay? Do I really need slippers, what type of clothes should I bring, am I really going to watch DVD's?

3. Any other advice? I know people say that everyone gives you unsolicited advice when you are pregnant, but I really haven't received any and I am really freaking out about everything now that I have less than 3 weeks left.

36 Weeks

Fall has finally arrived, and just in time for company! I had another busy week with the final installment of my weekend class wrapping up Saturday afternoon. Now I just have to get working on these papers and try to get them done before the baby comes.

 Josh and Lola enjoying the 60's on the balcony

My good friend Angelica and her boyfriend Jon were in town for the night on Saturday and I was sooooo excited to see her! She is our first friend to come visit and I loved having her here even though it was for such a short amount of time. We had dinner at Whiskey Kitchen and showed them around town Sunday morning before she had to jet off back to PHX. We had a little photo shoot on the terrace at our place, and this is the only shot I have of us. Hopefully Jon got some better pics with his pro self-timer skills.

 Jon, Angelica, Riley, Me and Josh

(Standing next to little Angelica you can really see how big this belly is!)

Less than 4 weeks to go...I don't think I can grow anymore!

This is becoming a habit

As I sit down to write this blog I am thinking it is going to look very similar to other posts. It seems all I can post lately is what I did over the weekend, baby bump pictures, or updates from my appointments. Well, I am stickin gwith my pattern for this post.

This weekend was crazy, like usual. Friday night Josh and I tried Pie in the Sky Pizza right by Vanderbilt. It was good, and really cute. We sat on the patio and while we were there a couple came with about 10 other people and were married! She wore a short strapless white dress and a flower in her hair, he wore jeans and an untucked white button up shirt. They brought 3 centerpieces, set them on the table, took their wedding license out of a manila folder signed it and then order pitchers of beer and pizza pies. I told Josh I thought they must have had their first date their or something. Why else would you get married at a pizza place?

On Saturday we attended "New Beginnings: Childbirth Preparation Crach Course" from 8:30-4:30! I didn't learn anything new about birth, but I did like learning about standard practices at Vanderbilt. I think it was very informative for daddy though, and he even got to try on the "empathy belly". He said it wasn't bad, but try carrying that around all day every day!

On Sunday morning we attempted to go to Pancake Pantry for the 5 millionth time, but the line was even crazier than normal so we went to Frothy Monkey instead. It is a trendy coffee shop in the 12 South neighborhood. I am going to take my sister here when she comes next month (only 4 more weeks, Chels!)

*I wrote the post like 3 days ago and forgot to post it...I will update with new baby bump (bulge) pictures soon, I promise!

Keeps growing and growing and growing....

34 weeks.

My stomach hurts from the stretching and I have forgotten what it looked like before. Sounds weird, but I cannot remember what my belly button looked like or how my clothes looked when they weren't being stretched over this giant bump.

On Thursday we met the sweetest family who provide in home child care, we also had an appointment and the baby is measuring right on track, like normal. We met with another one of the primary midwives this week, I really liked her. She was young and had a really cute dress. She spent a lot of time answering questions and acted interested when I told her stories that she probably didn't have time to hear. I told her how everyone always asks me why I have a midwife and not an OB, and how every time I say "midwife" people look at me confused and say, "are you having the baby at home, in the tub?" We giggled, because no I am not having my baby at home, she will be born at Vanderbilt Medical Center. Also, while they fully support natural birth, if I decide I want an epidural I can get one! I decided to go with the Vanderbilt Midwives instead of an OB because my beliefs on birthing follow closely with their philosophy:

"Pregnancy is a natural process. Everyone deserves a safe and satisfying birth experience. In most cases, birth can occur with very little intervention. With education and good communication between the family and the provider, our clients can make decisions about their care. We facilitate, not dictate the process, intervening only when indicated."

I am not a hippy, nor do I look down on women who choose OBs. Like most decisions, it really is just a matter of personal preference.

Weekend Happenings

Warning: the following post is a random compilation of this weekends happenings. It is all unrelated and disjointed but I am too tired to creatively tie it all together or do separate posts. Deal with it. : )

This weekend was one of those rare occasions where I found balance in recreational activities and chores. Chores including housework, shopping, and homework (blah).

Aside from finishing the third disk of Dexter Season 4, Josh and I took advantage of the nice weather and tried a restaurant that we had yet to experience. Taco Mamacita is in the Edgehill neighborhood, has a huge patio and the margaritas looked so good (no I did not have one, or even try Josh's). Also, there is a super cute baby store next door called Tweed, which I will be visiting the next chance I get!

We spent Saturday running errands, watching college football and eating wings.

Belly shot thrown in for no good reason.

Sunday morning I met with some friends and classmates to work on homework. Of course we were distracted by baby stuff and spent a good hour going over alternatives to the name we have picked for baby. Josh and I settled on name early on simply because it was the first name we agreed on and it just seemed to work. But, I do not particularly love it. The problem is that Josh only likes one other name that I am not a fan of and the names I love he will not even consider. I am also extremely picky about names. Not just the sound of the name, but also the aesthetics. I want a name that is visually balanced when written or typed. For instance I would never spell her name Rylie or Rylee because there is more going on on the left side than the right and it bugs me. The Y needs to go at the end! Is that crazy? 

So it looks like this is still her name:

Riley Jo Chapa

(Notice the balance of letters)

After a homework, baby talk and breakfast at Frothy Monkey, Josh and I took a drive through Percy Warner park with the windows down and the sunroof open, and talked about all the fun things that will come with having Riley here, outside of the womb.  

We finished off the drive with a stop at Whole Foods where we bought and devoured mini cupcakes and chocolate covered cheesecake bites. It was a sweet end to a great weekend.