Mailbox Monday (100)

I've officially made it to my 100th Mailbox Monday post! I wasn't sure I would get to it before the baby arrived, but it's managed to stay in so far. Good timing on the baby's part, especially since in its honor this week is full of books for the baby-to-be.
Gifted
On the Night You Were Born by Nancy Tillman
This, like the next two, with both given to me at my work baby shower. Till now, I've never actually read this book, but I know it's a pretty popular. Looking through the book from the story to the illustrations, it's easy to see why.

Disney Bedtime Stories
This one definitely spans the Disney universe, from classic characters with stories on Mickey, Donald, and Winnie the Pooh, to the movies that came out when I was growing up like Aladdin, The Lion King, and Toy Story, to the classic movies with stories from Bambi, Cinderella, and Peter Pan, and even to more recent favorites like Monster Inc, Finding Nemo, and Cars. Maybe not one to read in one sitting, but I'm guessing eventually we'll read through them all.

Noisy Farm
As much as I may want to look down on books like this since they don't really tell a story, I can accept how much fun they are for a tiny person. Especially since not only does this one make noises, but also lets you pet all the animals.

From Goodreads
KeeKee's Big Adventures in Athens, Greece by Shannon Jones
Yes, even my goodreads win this week is a children's book! This is is pretty adorable book about a cat who travels to Greece and visits the sights. Considering Greece is the country on the top of our travel list this is a pretty prefect one for us. There's actually two other books in this series where KeeKee travels to Paris and Rome, and given how cute this one is it may be worth picking the others up as well.

What did you find in your mailbox this week?

Good-bye to the Mennyms

Mennyms Alive by Sylvia Waugh
Published: October 1, 1997 by Greenwillow Books
Series: Mennyms Alive
I read this series over and over throughout middle and high school, but it wasn't till I was in college that I even knew this final book existed. I still remember my sophomore year of college when my mom it for me for my birthday. I was so excited that I could finally finish this series.

I know I mentioned in my post about the last Mennyms book that it was different from all the rest. While that is still true, this 5th and final book, while similar to the 4th, is once again completely different. Without giving too much away the Mennyms are in a completely different place and dealing with issues they've never thought about before. Plus like the book preceding this isn't entirely told from the Mennyms perspective.

One reason I never even thought to look for this book earlier is that the 4th book feels so final. Yes, it ends on a bit of a cliffhanger, but one that makes sense. Instead this one not only feels final but wraps up all the loose ends. I would still love another book on the Mennyms to check in with them and see what they're up to now, except in a way that would kind of defeat this purpose of its ending.

I'm so glad I took the time to reread this favorite series of mine, and it gets me excited about rereading some of my other favorites. There's the obvious choices, at least to me, of the Betsty-Tacy Series, The Little House series, or Anne of Green Gables, but there's a few slightly less obvious ones like the Alanna Series, The Indian in the Cupboard series, or The Face on the Milk Carton series. So I guess you'll just have to wait and see which one I turn to next!

5/5

Today I'm linking up with Blonde Undercover Blonde for Book Club Friday!

Thanksgiving Traditions

Growing up football on Thanksgiving was never really part of our tradition. I knew games were on, and I remember my uncle mainly sitting down to watch them, but I never really gave them much thought. I couldn't have even told you that certain teams played ever year let alone who those teams were.

Except the more time I've spent with the boy as a couple, the more football has become a part of my life, so much so that I now know Dallas and Detroit are the teams that play every year on Thanksgiving.

But there's more than just NFL on each year, there's also college teams. Until recently you always expected to see Texas A&M and Texas play each other, but no longer since they're aren't in the same conference. LSU didn't officially play on Thanksgiving, but normally the day after against Arkansas. Except this has changed as well.

This year for the first time LSU will be playing Texas A&M on Thanksgiving for the start of a new tradition. So on top of enjoying a delicious meal of my favorites today (stuffing and pumpkin pie mainly, which so aren't gestational diabetes friendly, except I'm giving myself a pass this day), you can count on the fact that we'll also be cheering on the Tigers.

Speaking of that whole pregnancy thing, it does make dressing for games a bit difficult. I'm pretty sure I only have one single purple top that fits (although I do have the dress I wore to my baby shower as well).
The boy on the other hand doesn't have this problem, especially when he's wearing his Dockers® Game Day Khakis like in the photo above. You can't quite tell in the photo, but the back pocket is embroidered with a purple LSU, and inside the waistband it says Geaux Tigers again in purple. So while the boy may not look like he's showing his team spirit (with his expression or clothing), I promise you there's a tiger fan inside!

Do you make football a part of your Thanksgiving tradition each year?

Disclosure: Dockers® provided the boy's Dockers® Game Day Khakis. All opinions expressed are my own.

38 Weeks Bumpdate

How Far Along: 38 Weeks

Size of the Baby: A leek

Maternity Clothes: I'm still rotating the same basic clothes. They are at least enough to get through a week, and honestly I don't think anyone would expect anything else at this point.

Nursery: Well the boy went to hang up the shelves I bought at Ikea this past weekend, and turns out, there wasn't hardware included. So we'll need to go to Home Depot before the shelves go up. In more successful news, I did use the completion discounts on my registry this past weekend, and once that arrives I'll basically the last few necessities

Stretch Marks: Crazy as it may sound, still none!

Sleep: You know how you also hear stories of women who can't sleep late in their pregnancy because they can't get comfortable or they have to get up to go to the bathroom? Well that's not me. But those people also say it helps train them to needing to wake up every two hours or so, which also unfortunately isn't me. So basically I'm going to go from sleeping 8-ish hours a night to, well practically nothing at night, which may not be the best way to do it.

Movement: Still all the time. Its little feet keep poking me on my right side and I keep pushing them back inside.

Cravings: Definitely can't wait to eat my pumpkin pie tomorrow!

Symptoms: A few times this past week my early morning leg cramps came back. They weren't nearly as bad as they had been a few months ago, but still, I thought I was done with them.

What I Miss: Definitely seeing everyone's Starbucks red cups I feel like I'm missing out on all the holiday drinks. Plus I can't want to try the chestnut praline latte.

Looking Forward To: I think finally we'll buy a new car this weekend to take advantage of the Black Friday deals. I also plan on washing the newborn and 0-3 month clothing, as well as the sheets this weekend, and once that's done I can add an outfit or two to my hospital bag which means that will basically be packed. Good thing since there's clearly not too much longer left!

6 Weeks ~ 7 Weeks ~ 8 Weeks

9 Weeks ~ 10 Weeks ~ 11 Weeks

12 Weeks ~ 13 Weeks ~ 14 Weeks

15 Weeks ~ 16 Weeks ~ 17 Weeks

18 Weeks ~ 19 Weeks ~ 20 Weeks

21 Weeks ~ 22 Weeks ~ 23 Weeks

24 Weeks ~ 25 Weeks ~ 26 Weeks

27 Weeks ~ 28 Weeks ~ 29 Weeks

30 Weeks ~ 31 Weeks ~ 32 Weeks

33 Weeks ~ 34 Weeks ~ 35 Weeks

36 Weeks ~ 37 Weeks

A Day in the Life...11/19/14

I've always loved reading Day in the Life posts and always have wanted to write on myself. (It's even on my 101 in 1001 list!) I really wanted to get one written before the baby arrives since I know life is about to change drastically and I'll look back on these days and wonder just what I did with all my time. But it wasn't till reading DIL posts by Amber, Amber, Nora that I finally felt inspired enough to make it happen myself. So here it is, a DIL of me, on November 19, 2014 at 37 weeks pregnant.

6:24AM - My alarm goes off and I hit snooze, then hit it again, and again...
7:15AM - The boy calls to tell me he just witnessed an accident around the corner from my work so I really need to get up and leave now, plus take a slightly different route than normal. Although honestly at this point I should be getting at out bed anyways.
7:25AM - Ten minutes later, I'm dressed and ready to go. As you can tell, I'm really not a morning person, and basically stay in bed till the last second possible to then get dressed as quickly as possible.
7:30AM - I throw a pumpkin English muffin in the toaster and start unloading the dishwasher while I'm waiting to finish. I never actually used to bother with breakfast, but once pregnant I realized I was so hungry I needed to. Then of course after getting gestational diabetes had to change up my routine from salted caramel or caramel apple granola bars to a healthier, but much more boring English muffin.
7:45AM - I knew it was cold outside, but didn't realize quite how cold till I saw all the frost on the grass. I realize this may not be that bad considering where you live, but for Louisiana in November, this is kind of crazy.

8:00AM - I'm at work ready to start the day.
9:33AM - I test my blood sugar two hours after eating. At 95, it's right on target. I was initially testing about 4 times a day, but as my results have stayed pretty consistent my doctor told me I was fine to cut back on it a little.
10:30AM - I snack on a handful of nuts because I'm hungry, but also since eating small snacks hopefully means I'll eat less at meals and keep my blood sugar down.

11:30AM - Wednesdays are my current doctor appointment day, so I'm sitting in the waiting room reading, although thankfully not for very long.
11:45AM - I actually think ultrasounds are kind of creepy, which is why till now I haven't shared any photos. But since this is my DIL post, and I did have an ultrasound this day, here's a glimpse of the baby-to-be.
12:00PM - I'm back to waiting, this time for the doctor, but keep myself busy reading about Kate and her pregnancy.
12:20PM - I grab a Subway sandwich in the lobby at the doctor's office and eat it while driving back to work.
3:00PM - Hungry again, so I munch of a few pieces of seaweed snack.

5:00PM - I head home for the day. Once home I'll work out, which basically just consists of some squats, pelvic thrusts, and leg lifts. I really only started doing this once I picked up gestational diabetes to keep my sugars down a little more, plus these exercises are supposed to be good for delivery too. Once finished I jump in the shower to clean up a bit.
6:20PM - I'm on my computer looking at my current blog stats, updating goodreads, and other general blogging stuff.
6:40PM - The boy and I have some pasta with his homemade arugula pesto along with a few pieces of rotisserie chicken.

7:00PM - I'm in bed watching this weeks episode of Survivor. The boy and I can't agree on tv shows, so most nights he's in the living room watching what he wants to watch and I'm in the bedroom watching what I want to watch.

8:00PM - I'm back on my computer, this time writing a review of Linger by Maggie Stiefvater.
9:00PM - Back in bed, to watch an episode of Nashville.
10:00PM - I make a cup of Sleepytime teat to drink on the couch while reading my current book (The Happiest Baby on the Block). Tea is pretty much the only think I use my Keurig for now since I cut out coffee early in my pregnancy, then had to cut out hot chocolate and apple cider when the whole gestational diabetes came along. But at least in a few weeks it should be back to normal use!

10:30 - Since I missed Top Chef when it aired at the same time as Nashville, I'm watching the repeat now.

11:30 - I'm off to bed, ready to start the whole thing again in a few hours.

Obviously I realize that I don't lead the most exciting of lives, but really, do most people on an average day? Except this is my current normal, and I'm happy to have it all written out, especially since someday not too long I'll likely look back with envy at all the time I used to spend on my computer or watching tv.

How often do you spend with downtime in the evenings? Or what are your thoughts on DIL posts?