Ren Fest and Baby Shower #1

My little brother and his good friend flew in late Thursday night to spend the weekend with us and go to the Renaissance Festival near Houston. We didn't do much on Thursday other than get dinner and let the guys take it easy after their flight. Friday we spent about 5 hours in traffic before finally getting into Houston late that night. It was Halloween as well as my sweetie's twin aunts' birthday, so we headed to their bar (yes, they own a bar) for their yearly b-day bash. My sweetie's 83-year-old grandpa was there and was so pleased to see my blossoming belly. He is so excited to be a great-grandpa. He gave the baby a hello rub and laughed when we told him it was a girl, since all three of his babies were girls too.

Saturday morning we took a bit of a sleep-in and then headed to the Ren fest, all dressed up in our Ren garb. We took a few pictures, but I look so utterly horrible there is just no way on God's green earth I will post them on my blog for public viewing. I guess we should have taken the pictures shortly after arriving rather than shortly before leaving the festival because I look beat down. We had a really good time, and amazingly, I spent relatively little money even though I went with a nice little budget. I saw lots of things I liked, but nothing I was willing to spend money on. My little brother did his fair share of shopping for both of us though, trying to get his Ren Fest costume built up. Our tradition is always to buy at least one thing every year for our costume. I bought a water horn for next year so that I wouldn't have to take a camel back or carry around a water bottle. Sweetie bought a wooden ale mug.

Sunday morning was spent driving home and just plain relaxing after many, many hours in the car, and many hours on our feet the day before. Monday morning my brother and his friend flew home, and I went to work (where I finished my second manual in two days!).

Today at work I had my first baby shower. A couple of ladies put it together for me, two of which are my neighbors. I couldn't believe how generous people were. Of course we got our crib and sweet crib mattress along with a Di.aper Ge.enie, awesome Ed.die Ba.uer baby bouncer, baby clothes from my registry, baby bath items, and a handmade baby afghan from my neighbor. The baby was so excited she was dancing for an hour afterward.

In pregnancy symptom related news, I am getting quite large and loving it. One thing I am not loving, however, is when my dinner continually backs up into my mouth all night long while I'm trying to sleep. Does anyone have any helpful hints on how to prevent that? Its not heart burn, it is actual stomach contents making their way back up into my mouth because the flap between my tummy and my throat isn't closing. I usually end up getting up and forcing my dinner back up just so I can sleep. Last night I woke up choking on it. I would appreciate any advice anyone has on how to prevent that.

I have also discovered that you can get knots in the arches of your feet. Mine are collapsing for sure, and I notice that when my feet hurt the most is when my arches are touching the floor where they normally wouldn't. I spend a few minutes each night before bed giving myself a foot massage and make sure my massage therapist gives them a special once over each session. Its a great reason to keep my weekly massage appointments. :D

Apparently going to the chiropractor is a complete waste of money at this stage in my pregnancy as well. I get everything straightened out only to have it shift back around during the night. Its not a big deal, it just makes me a little stiff for about an hour in the morning until everything shifts back. The upside of that is if I get a kink in my neck or back, I know it will shift itself back into position within a few hours. I am also glad I figured out pretty quickly that I don't need to spend any more money going to the chiropractor.

I was going to take a belly picture tonight, but apparently our camera is on the fritz. The good news there is that a new camera is on our list of things to get before the baby comes. You all might just have to settle with pictures from my cell phone until we buy the camera. I will post one in the toolbar that I managed to get last week while talking to my parents on the phone.

Up next: I get to go home for the first time since we moved!!!