Nightmares

My dreams have been super crazy since I got pregnant. As if they weren't weird enough normally, they're even more strange and I'm always shocked when I wake up. I feel like they're more vivid.

But what's freaking me out is that I've now had two dreams about someone trying to take Kitty away. The first time, I woke up with tears in my eyes and streaming down my face and I was disturbed about it all morning. It happened again last night and I woke up with him snuggling up to my chest.

Of all the crazy dreams I've had, these are probably the most upsetting to me. I'm always crying and trying to grab at him. Every time I see him in my dream, I burst into tears and run to him to say goodbye and beg for him to not be taken away.

I used to be really into interpreting dreams in high school and I had all these books that would analyze symbols in your dream. I almost don't even want to look this one up because it's so sad. Maybe it's because I'm worried about him and the new baby? He's my first "baby" and he's so spoiled. I do worry that he won't get along with the baby or he'll feel like he's being replaced. But does that have to cause scary nightmares?

Love you, Kitty. You'll always be my baby.Horrible pic from Hubby's cell phone from a long time ago, but so cute. He's a mommy's boy.

Nursery Bedding

This was a huge decision! You know me...everything home decor-related must be the right decision and must match perfectly. I don't want to make the wrong choice or get sick of the design so this has been hours and hours of research, thinking, and coming up with ideas. (Yes, I'm crazy.)

After much contemplation, we narrowed it down to our favorite two designs that were complete opposites.

Okie Dokie Animal Circles
I love that this one is fun, colorful and modern. It's so unique! I had a great idea to do some wall decals or painting with the animals on the bedding.

Bacati Stripes & Plaids
I'm really into the preppy boy stuff. I love the colors, the simple patterns, and it's boyish without being too sporty. This is also a great alternative to the Land of Nod plaid collection which is almost double the price, but very similar in color.We ordered both sets to see how they looked in person. Even after a week of them sitting in the kitchen, I was still torn! I spent hours up at night trying to picture how each one would look and how I would accessorize.

Drum roll, please...

In the end, the Bacati stripes set was much softer than the Okie Dokie set. It's SO cute, but I don't think it would be good to have a newborn on scratchy linens.

Here's a close-up of the blanket...
And the bumper...
Now that this *major* decision is made, I picked out paint samples and we tried them out last night. I think we made our decision, so we'll see how it looks once we start painting soon!

Week 23 Update

Baby's the size of a papaya!
Watch what you say -- baby is now able to hear outside noise from down in the womb. Studies show that baby finds gentle music and your own voice most soothing. Nipples are starting to sprout, and that little face is fully formed. And, baby's starting to settle into sleep cycles, snoozing about 12 to 14 hours a day. It shouldn't be hard to figure out when -- just pay attention to those kicks as they start and stop.

The bump is really started to stick out! Here's me on Saturday (the first sunny day in a long time) before I met up with Kristina & Diana.We had our 23 week doctor appointment on Tuesday. The nurse started by weighing me like always, but it was a new nurse being trained. She didn't have the scale set right so it said I weighed the same amount that I did a couple months ago. I thought that was strange, so I had her re-check and it was off. I'm up about 12 pounds now...a little scary! I've never weighed this much! At the appointment, the doctor measured my belly and said I'm right at 23 weeks which was perfect. I begged for an ultrasound, but the room was filled and we would have had to wait. She used the doppler to check for a heartbeat and everything sounded good. I go back in a few weeks for my glucose test and she promised I'd get an ultrasound.

Food this week sucked. I don't like canned pears anymore. I've been bringing them as a morning snack sometimes and I just decided that they look gross. I also warmed up my lunch as I do every day, but on Wednesday I decided that my Smart Ones orange chicken was disgusting too. That used to be one of my favorites! Luckily, I had some leftovers from Monday and my boss gave me a brownie to fill me up. Then on Friday, I discovered that cranberry juice is not so good anymore. I used to drink a little bottle almost every morning, but ew...I can't handle it now.

What do I want? Pretty much nothing except for the Trader Joe's ravioli and a Chipotle burrito. I don't ever feel like eating anything and just scrounge around looking for something that I can swallow without spitting it out.

On Friday, I got sick. Again. The same thing I had a month ago. So I ran over to the doctor to get some meds that will hopefully be a little stronger than Sudafed. I can't take another week and a half of not being able to breathe and coughing every 2 minutes!

On a good note, we've been making a lot of progress on the house and planning for the baby's room. That's an upcoming post!