Happy Halloween!

Our dear friends Carter and Thomas got married this weekend and their rehearsal dinner fell on Halloween night. Everyone came in costume and it was a lot of fun. Adam had the brilliant idea that he and I would dress as fat plumbers because I already had the 'big tummy' part of the costume covered. Our shirts said "Morrison Plumbing--We're #1 at Your #2."

Orange County Baby Shower

My sweet cousin Nicole threw me a gorgeous baby shower on October 25th in her backyard. My aunts, Barbara and Shelley, and my cousin Catt helped her make it so special. They thought of every detail: adorable cakes, cookies, and sweets; fun games with great prizes; a station where my very crafty guests could design boutique-quality onesies; yummy brunch foods; and lovely decorations that perfectly match the nursery colors of orange and green.
I had so much fun and received a lot of wonderful gifts! Thank you so much to everyone who came for making it a wonderful day! A big thank you to Nicole, Catt, Barbara, and Shelley for putting it all together. You did an AMAZING job!

The sweets:



The invite:



The onesies:




Growing Bellies:

San Francisco Baby Shower

My dear friend Marcella threw me a shower in San Francisco on October 11th at a fancy little nail salon called Teashi. It was so nice to see everyone in San Francisco and I had a great time catching up with the girls and getting my swollen feet rubbed and polished. Everyone spoiled Baby Morrison and I with wonderful gifts. I can't wait to put everything to use once he/she gets here!
Thank you to everyone who came and a BIG thank you to Marcella for putting it all together!

29 weeks: The Ups and Downs

I am still really enjoying being pregnant. I have already bonded with my baby that is growing inside of me and I feel like I have a little buddy with me every minute of every day. I love feeling the baby’s movements (which now make my belly visibly move and shake) and I get an overwhelming sense of happiness each time Adam talks to my belly.
Pregnancy hormones have not made me irritable (seriously--you can ask Adam), and Adam and I are more in love than we have ever been (and I didn’t think that it could get any better ☺). Sharing this experience with him and making plans for the future that will soon include our son or daughter is the best thing that has ever happened to me. These days it seems that there is rarely anything that can shake my happiness.
Notice I said “rarely”, not “never”…
There are a some things that I don’t love about being pregnant right now and they are all related to work. One of my dislikes is teaching in Temecula where the weather is blazing hot. I really can’t blame my pregnancy for this. In my opinion, the weather there is hard to bear whether you are pregnant or not. Having yard duty and leading PE for a class of first graders in that heat is enough to make anyone cry (and for the record, I have only cried about it once).
Another thing that is starting to get to me is my back pain. Adam gives me massages every day as soon as he walks in the door, but at the end of my work day, before I get home to him, I often wonder if I will be able to get up again the following morning at 5 am to spend my day getting up and down off of the floor. I spend a lot of my day crouching or sitting “criss-cross apple-sauce” (“Indian style”) with the kids on the floor and my poor aching back is suffering. I just got a referral to a chiropractor and recently read that seeing a chiropractor while pregnant not only gets your back, hips, and pelvis in alignment for a more comfortable pregnancy, but also a more comfortable birth. I am definitely going to make an appointment in the near future.
I am also suffering from a cold that I have had for almost a month and cannot get rid of! It should be no surprise to me that I am sniffling when every kid in my class is coughing and sneezing all over me or picking their nose and hugging me. I am slathering them in hand sanitizer all day, but it doesn't seem to be enough to keep the germs off of me.
But, as I said, overall I am still REALLY enjoying being pregnant. I am also REALLY looking forward to fall and winter weather this year. It is almost November--shouldn't fall weather be here already??

Here is a recent picture of my growing belly:


Here is a picture of my cousins and I. We are all pregnant at the same time! Catt is 4 months, I am 7 months, and Nicole is 8 1/2 months.

Hypnobirthing

A few weeks ago, Adam and I started attending Hypnobirthing classes. We meet once a week from 7-10 to practice relaxation techniques that will hopefully help me achieve a more comfortable, natural, intervention-free birth. Adam drags his feet each time we go, but once we get there he has a good attitude and always provides me with comic relief by whispering jokes in my ear and shooting me mischievous glances. I really like my teacher and she can't say enough good things about the hospital that I am delivering in and the doctor and doula that I chose, which is giving me extra confidence for the birth day. The literature and facts that she refers to in class I am already familiar with due to all of my summer reading, so Adam wonders why we are paying money to have someone tell us again. While the class hasn't offered any new information in that sense, I do feel like I am learning some techniques that will help me relax. In fact, some of the techniques are already working.
Part of my "homework" is to listen to a relaxation CD. Adam and I both agree that when we listen to it before we go to bed we sleep much deeper than usual. Another sign that aspects of the class are working is how much better I am doing at "silencing my mental chatter" in yoga and how much easier I am able to go into deep relaxation during yoga. (I never used to be good at this and would spend this portion of my classes thinking of all of the things I needed to add to my to-do lists.) One technique that am not so good at, however, is the visualization exercise where I am supposed to visualize different things happening to my body. I just can't seem to make that one work.
At the end of every class we do some sort of hypnotherapy or relaxation session and Adam and I have gone into the desired sub-conscious sleep-state each time. I haven't decided yet if that is because it is really working or because it is 9 o'clock at night and just past our early bedtime. I think it may have a lot to do with the time of night!