Baby Shower

Jean and Marie planned a fabulous baby shower for me at Jean's house yesterday afternoon.  We had a tea party with homemade scones, chocolate biscuit cake, brownies, and all sorts of delicious goodies.

We played a game of guessing the flavor of the baby foods- yuck!  And, everyone decorated bibs and onesies for baby.

I received really thoughtful gifts- here's an apron for baby to help mom do some baking!

Amy and Alisha were very crafty!  Amy made the cake and Alisha made the bike.

It was so thoughtful of everyone to include the American tradition of a baby shower for me.  I also received a really nice message from my mom that Marie read during the shower, and we Skyped with Margo and Freya.  Baby is very lucky to have such wonderful family and friends on two continents!

34 Weeks

I hit 34 weeks yesterday! On Thursday I had a doctor appointment, and all continues to look great. Baby is estimated to weigh over 5 pounds and the length measurements continue to be ahead of schedule! If baby keeps gaining weight at the 1/2 to 3/4 pound per week that the books say he/she will, I think we're in for a pretty good sized baby! Definitely something to be thankful for.

We also had a hospital tour on Thursday. The midwife who gave the tour demonstrated some handling of a 2 day old baby, emphasising the fact that babies are not as fragile as some people think they are. I think it especially surprised Paul and reassured him the baby won't break!

Later today I have my baby shower! This is something that is not usually done here (no wedding showers either), but my friend Jean was very thoughtful to embrace my American traditions and throw a shower for me!

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33 Weeks!

Here's bump at 33 weeks! It seems smaller in the photo than it does in person! I actually finished up work last week- the sleeplessness due to back pain and overall back pain I was getting with work were just too much. So, I'm trying to get in some naps during the day and taking it easy- the tv series Downton Abbey has become a new favourite! Baby's room is nearly finished- just a shelf for Paul to put up- then I'll get some photos posted!

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Birthday Weekend in Louisburgh

On Friday we headed to Louisburgh to spend the weekend with Paul's parents.  After dinner on Friday night I went with Paul to the pier where he fishes when he's down there.  He caught the first mackerel of the year!

Saturday was the annual Louisburgh Horse Show.  We had a look around for awhile, but unfortunately the weather wasn't great- rainy and cool, so we didn't stay for too long.  It featured show ponies, horse jumping, a dog show, a sheep show, and some old-style games and re-enactments.  Paul and I entered a sugan (hand spun grass rope) competition.  Ours is number 5.  We haven't gotten any phone calls that we won, surprise, surprise!

And, on Saturday, we celebrated my birthday!

On the way back to Dublin on Sunday we stopped in Castlebar to watch Mayo play Leitrim in Gaelic Football.  It was a beautiful, sunny afternoon, and Mayo won handily.  I took today off of work to get an extra day of rest, as my sleeping at night is getting worse.  Upper back pain kicks in between 2 and 3am, and I just don't get much rest after that.  I got a nice nap in on the way back yesterday, so that was a help!

31 Weeks

Here I am at 31 weeks on my last day as a 31 year old!


I had a doctor's appointment yesterday, and baby continues to look great. He/she weighs approximately 3 lbs 10 oz, is in the head down position, and has a good, strong heartbeat. Yesterday was the first time I've actually heard the heartbeat. My doctor does a quick ultrasound at each visit, so I've seen the heartbeat a lot, but yesterday she switched the settings and turned the sound on on the ultrasound machine. What an amazing sound!

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30 Weeks

The past few weeks have flown by, as we've been quite busy! We spent the first weekend in June in Louisburgh with Paul's family for the bank holiday weekend. The weather wasn't great, but we got one walk on the beach!



Our weekly prenatal classes have started on Tuesday evenings, I'm doing yoga on Wednesday evenings, and I've had two physio appointments to try to help with my upper back pain at night. I got a few fairly good night's sleep after the second appointment, so fingers crossed it keeps up!

Paul got his office cleared out and relocated to a corner of the dining room, so we've been cleaning, shopping for, and assembling furniture for baby's room. I took the afternoon off of work on Monday and we made a trip to Ikea to get the crib, chest of drawers, and lots of other little things. Paul got the drawers put together and I have all the clothes we have so far washed and put away. It's so much fun and amazing how small some of the clothes are!

I'm in Northern Ireland this weekend visiting Paul's sister, Marie, and her husband, Brian. Marie and I are going shopping later today to tick off the last of the items on the to get for baby list. I'm taking advantage of the greater variety at cheaper prices that can be found up here. I'm trying to get everything done fairly early, because the bigger I'm getting, the harder I'm finding it to do much after work in the evenings. 6 weeks of work left until my maternity leave starts!

I have another doctor appointment on Thursday, so will hope to give a quick update again after that!

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Car Boot Sale and Projects

Last weekend, I finished sorting and organising the last two rooms in the house (except for office/future baby room, which is Paul's responsibility!), and we had quite a bit of stuff to get rid of. We decided we'd try to make a bit of money, so this morning we sold our wares at a 'car boot sale'. It's the Irish/British version of a garage sale, except you don't have to clean out your garage! You go to an organised location, pay a fee in, then set up tables or racks and sell stuff from your car. We did fairly well- made just over €50 profit. It's €50 we didn't have yesterday and always helpful when getting ready for baby! Here's Paul this morning.




I'm rather proud of my yesterday afternoon project. It might not look like much, but those tiles were nearly black from dirt. We had never washed them before in the nearly three years we've been living here! Is it too early to be nesting?!?


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