Jane Austen and Star Wars baby shower weekend!

I had so much fun this weekend. SO much fun. Be warned, this post may get kind of photo-heavy.

We started out with the Jane Austen festival on Saturday. I managed to get my costume finished in time for the festival thanks to my awesome mom coming to the rescue when my sewing machine conked out. (And doing some of the sewing for me, because I'm a sewing noob and had a hard time with the arm holes.) I couldn't get together with DH's cousin so that she could do my hair, so I wore a bonnet and just pinned it all up underneath. We didn't stay at the festival very long because it was hot, but it was a lot of fun to dress up anyhow. (Note to other pregnant ladies: Gold Bond chafing stick is AWESOME if you're in a dress and your thighs rub together. Kid you not, it spared me so much discomfort.) Several of DH's cousins dressed up, too, and we were a cute little group, if I do say so myself.

Guess which one is me? ;)

That night, a bunch of DH's family got together and did a baby shower for me and Wee Laddie. It was Star Wars themed, and I was SO impressed at how cool it was! I didn't know a baby shower could be so much fun. They had a big sheet up on the wall that said "may the force be with you" and they had people write advice on a chalkboard and take pictures in front. Some of the pictures were really cute!

It seems like most of the pictures of me are either blinking or with my mouth open...super attractive, right? I got some seriously cool gifts, including a Kate Spade diaper bag and a Star Wars mobile that DH's uncle made. LOVE it. We also got some really, really adorable baby clothes from Janie & Jack, which is more along the boutique baby clothing line. I love anything with smocking on it, and we got some of the cutest overalls you've ever seen. We also got some teething toys, books, bath supplies, teensy shoes, and my MIL and FIL got us a great car seat/jogging stroller. I didn't even know I wanted a jogging stroller until I had one!

I'm really blessed to have married into such an enthusiastic, loving family. They're not without their issues (what family is?) but they're excited about our little boy and they've always treated me like I had been there all along. It's kind of wonderful. :)

Ooooh, pretty!

You know, I genuinely think that some of the best friends I've had were created through online interactions. Some of the women that I've met through The Bump have been solid, loyal, and supportive in ways that "real life" friends never have been. And a good example of that is my beautiful, shiny new blog layout. Thank you so, SO much to Brianna over at Counting Blessings. She was helping me fix some issues with my blog header and ended up giving me a completely new layout. It's gorgeous, and I am SO thankful. Friends like you are hard to come by, sweets. You're an incredible lady.

I'll be four weeks pregnant as of tomorrow! How cool to be reaching that mark again. It was fun telling DH's parents. We just segued it into conversation and let them figure it out...pretty funny. I wish I had been able to film it. MIL told me that she wanted to get the baby a stuffed animal to take pictures with on each monthly birthday, so we ended up going to Build A Bear and making a stuffed bunny. It's the cutest little thing! Long, floppy ears, pink nose, and a little heartbeat that we put inside. We decided to get it a little UK tee shirt (in case we have a boy) and blue and white ear ribbons (in case we have a girl). It was a lot of fun. We also told DH's grandmother. She hugged me and said, "Well, I guess now I can give you those maternity jeans I have for you in my closet!" She had gotten them when I was pregnant with Finley but never got a chance to give them to me. They're full panel blue jeans and I can't wait to need them!

I'm so surprised at how calm I am this pregnancy. I was so paranoid the first time. I stressed about everything I ate, drank, and did. But this time, I guess I realize that being super cautious can't promise you that nothing will go wrong. So I'm just going to live my life and enjoy every single second of it. I'm amazed at how much nausea I've already got, and I'm still stunned at how dark my HPT was. Another friend got her BFP and tested on 10DPO as well, and hers was a lot fainter than mine. For now, I'm having a lot of fun teasing my MIL that it's probably twins. I actually am at a "high risk" for twins because they run so heavily in my family. I get to have an early ultrasound to check for multiples, and it's scheduled for February 9th. Yay! I am feeling very relaxed and peaceful and excited, if not nauseous and sore and incredibly a little grumpy at times. Today, I am pregnant, and I LOVE my baby!

I just couldn't wait!

I put up my Christmas tree on Sunday night. I just couldn't wait anymore. This is the first year that I've really felt we would be able to decorate properly for Christmas, and I am going all-out. I need to find a tree skirt because it looks silly without one, and I want to get some stockings. I'll try to talk DH into letting me get lights to put in the front window, too. (I couldn've sworn we already had some, because the dinky tree we put up last year wasn't pre-lit, but I can't find them anywhere!) I had told myself that I would wait until after Thanksgiving to put up the tree, but at least I waited until the week of Thanksgiving, right?

That's my tree, in all it's late-night glory. I LOVE my star...it's glittery during the day and all warm and glowy in the dark. (And it was only 7 bucks.)

I'm feeling some serious Thanksgiving anxiety. I'm going to be in a house with 20 people, several of which I've never met before. They're the relatives of my SIL-to-be, and I'm not exactly her biggest fan, so I get the feeling I won't like her family much more, either. She and her sisters are all tall, very thin, and model-like, so I am feeling a LOT of (self-imposed) pressure to look as good as I'm humanly capable of looking. I'm already agonizing over how I'm going to do my hair and makeup, and what I'm going to wear. I liked it better when I was the only girl in the family; everyone thought I was pretty and wonderful. And now there's someone prettier and more interesting than me, and I feel like I'm off in the corner somewhere going, "I'm interesting too, guys. Hey. Hey guys? I'm over here."

Thinking of Finley a lot today. We would've been announcing the gender to the family at Thanksgiving. I woudl've known by now whether or not we were having a boy or a girl. Miscarriage is such a sucky thing...the pain of it never goes away. I'm really hoping this cycle is "the one"...the closer I get to a 2013 due date, the more depressed I am.

Oh well. I probably won't update again until after Turkey day, so, Happy Thanksgiving! Hope it's a wonderful one!