Retirement Party

My mother worked in the public school system for over 30 years, first as a teacher (of a variety of grades and subjects, mostly language arts) and then as a middle school librarian. When she announced that she was retiring this June, we knew we wanted to give her a big sendoff.

After months of planning, we had a wonderful evening celebrating her long and wonderful career with her friends, family, coworkers and church members. I'd love to share some of the party details with you.

First, the invitations. I knew I wanted to go with a book theme, so of course I carried that into the invitations. I printed the party details on ivory cardstock and then matted them on actual pages cut from an old history book, and mailed them in brown kraft envelopes. I got a little punny with the invitation wording as well.





For centerpieces, I used stacks of old books, along with magnolia blossoms from my mom's huge magnolia tree.









For each place setting, we wrapped plasticware in a napkin and tied it with twine.



We were lucky that the party lined up perfectly with the blooming of the magnolia tree and mom and I's hydrangea bushes. For the food table, I used burlap table runners and a centerpiece of hydrangea blooms.





My sister commissioned this beautiful cake, decorated with the organizations Mom was involved in throughout her career.









Mom and her daughters:



And with her sisters and brother:



We had a wonderful meal of barbecue chicken (made by my dad) and sides (made by generous family members). Then my uncle, my dad and my mom's first principal said a few words about her (all of them being equal parts funny and touching). We showed a slideshow I had put together of pictures throughout her career, as well as well wishes from her coworkers. If you have a spare 17 minutes, you can take a look here:


Penny's Retirement Slideshow from Megan Wade on Vimeo.















Finally, Mom wrapped things up with some memories and parting words of her own.

It was a wonderful night to celebrate a wonderful woman, and I'm so happy with how everything turned out.

Best wishes Mom for a happy retirement!

32 Weeks

1. How far along? 32 weeks today. That means I have 8 weeks left. Less than two months! It seems like such a long time and such a short amount of time all at once. And I keep being reminded that it could be much shorter than that if she decides to come early, which of course panics me because there's SO MUCH left to be done. 

2. How big is baby? About 3.75 lbs and 17 inches long.

3. Nursery progress: she officially has a place to sleep! We picked up her crib this weekend, bought her mattress and set everything up (even though I still need to wash her bedding and iron the bedskirt). The glider is in, but we're waiting for the dresser to come in to pick them both up at once. It was fun to see the crib come together, but it just reminds me of all the stuff I still need to research/decided on/buy/set up, like: curtains, curtain rods, a rug?, light fixture, lamp, storage, artwork, the list goes on and on...

4. Pregnancy dreaming is the craziest. A small sampling of things I dreamed about, just last night: that we went on a cruise to Africa, that my friend Sara was a contestant on the Price is Right, Channing Tatum (not complaining about this one), that a pregnant coworker was suddenly having twins.

5. Adventures in childbirth class: we had our first childbirth class last night. It's a series of 5 classes, each 2.5 hours at the hospital where we'll be delivering. Last night we went over the anatomy & physiology of pregnancy, warning signs, contractions and learned some relaxation techniques. I have to say I felt pretty well educated since most of the stuff was already familiar to me. But I'm sure that will change as we get into the nitty gritty of labor and delivery, and I'm sure Lee learned a few things. He has been skeptical of this class all along (and dreading it) and he confirmed that it was just about as bad as he thought it was going to be. I have to say, the relaxation part made me feel pretty stupid and I couldn't stop laughing during the part where Lee was supposed to be caressing me and helping me relax through touch. I have a feeling the last thing I'm going to want during a painful contraction is for him to be stroking my arm. We shall see.

6. What I'm looking forward to? My first baby shower! AND my second, both in the same weekend! I can't wait to spend time with all of my favorite ladies.

30 Weeks and 31 Weeks

1. How far along? 31 weeks and 2 days

2. How big is baby? Baby center says she's measuring over 16 inches long and weighs about 3.3 lbs (as much as 4 navel oranges).

3. We had a doctor's appointment and ultrasound last week at 30 weeks. She was measuring right on track at 30w1d, 3lbs 4oz, and in the 49th percentile. The one downside? She's breech. At 30 weeks, she still has plenty of time to flip, but because she's been in the same position for the past 3 ultrasounds, she might be stubborn and decide to stay put. Our doctor talked to us about our options, but for now I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she'll do her thing on her own!

4. What we've been up to: I helped decorate for and direct a wedding last weekend -- between that and mom's retirement party earlier in June, they've kept me super busy. Once the wedding was over, we took a few days to relax at the beach and the river, which was much needed! Now that we're back home with those things behind us, it feels really nice to have nothing on my to-do list that isn't baby related (even though that baby to-do list is very long!). Maybe I'll even get around to writing you a few blog posts beyond my weekly check-ins :)

5. How I've been feeling: really big all of a sudden. I keep bumping my belly into things and being surprised that it's there. But other than that I can't complain too much. I started having some back pain last week that was a bit worrisome but I think a few days of rest have cleared it up.

6. What I'm looking forward to: picking the crib up from Pottery Barn and getting it set up this weekend!

29 Weeks

I don't really have anything exciting to talk about this week, so I'm going to revert back to the standard 15-question blog post format and answer all of them for you this week!

1. How far along? 29 weeks today.

2. How big is baby? This week she's a butternut squash, weighing in at 2.5 lbs and measuring 15 inches.

3. Weight gain? Somewhere around 11 lbs so far. I've been gaining a little quicker than I'd like these past two weeks, so I'm hoping to curb that a little by watching what I'm eating a bit more and upping my exercise.

4. Stretch marks? Oy vey. I noticed the beginnings of a pair of stretch marks on the left side of my belly several weeks ago and it's only getting worse. I'm still using Burt's Bees belly butter but I don't think it's doing any good. I'm trying not to stress out about it because let's face it, it's not like I was the bikini-wearing or stomach-baring type before I got pregnant, but they're still ugly and disappointing.

5. Maternity clothes? All maternity, all of the time. I bought two dresses at Target this weekend, so hopefully I'm set for most or all of the events I have coming up.

6. Sleep? Still ok, which I'm thankful for. Getting up at least once, if not more, to go to the bathroom but I'm usually able to fall back asleep pretty quickly. I got a new, comfy pillow case for my snoogle so that's been nice (the snoogle has been a godsend). Last week was the first time though that the baby kicked so hard it woke me up in the middle of the night. Calm down in there, little lady! Don't you know it's sleeping time?

7. Best moment last week? Mom's retirement party on Saturday, which turned out great. I'll post about that soon.

8. Cravings? I don't think I've really had any specific cravings. I just crave food, all of the time.

9. Symptoms? This is the first week I've really noticed that everything is getting just a little bit harder. Getting out of bed, getting off the couch, bending over, walking up a flight of stairs -- it all requires a little bit more effort (and usually a grunt or two). And yesterday for the first time my feet were really swollen by the end of the day, which kind of freaked me out. I know it's totally normal, but I've still got a ways to go (in this long hot summer) so it feels too early to be swelling already. I went for a walk though and my feet were much better afterwards. I'm trying to be more conscious about exercising, not sitting at my desk for long stretches without getting up and walking around, and drinking plenty of water.

10. Exercise? Lee and I had gotten into a really good routine of walking every night, but slipped back a little last week. Trying to be even more consistent now that I'm freaked out about swelling. And I went to water aerobics at the Y tonight, so I'm hoping to start doing that once a week or so.

11. Gender? Girl. Duh.

12. Movement? Definitely consistent and all throughout the day. Every once in a while she'll give me a wallop that startles me it's so strong (and you can see my belly move from the outside).

13. Belly button? Getting shallower by the day.

14. What I miss? Deli meat. What I wouldn't give for a nice, cold Jersey Mike's sub!

15. What I'm looking forward to? Our 30 week appointment next week where we'll get to peek at her again.

28 Weeks

1. How far along? 28 weeks today.

2. How big? The size of an eggplant. 2 1/4 lbs and just under 15 inches.

3. Baby gear: We were able to order our crib from Pottery Barn Kids earlier than expected, although it still won't be here until July. Thanks Mom and Dad for taking care of the crib for us! Also, we are now officially registered at Babies R Us, Target and Pottery Barn Kids, although we're still only halfway registered at Babies R Us and need to go back and finish up there. And I'm sure I'll change everything on all three registries at least five times.

4. Movement: I stayed with my sister this weekend and was hoping she'd get to feel Ava. She was moving and shaking all morning, but when Erin tried to feel her she got shy. Erin started talking to her, saying "this is your aunt Erin and you're going to love coming to my house and riding the golf cart" and all of a sudden Ava gave her a big kick! It was awesome.

5. Maternity clothes: definitely in maternity bottoms all of the time, although I am still able to wear some non-maternity tops and dresses. I ordered a new crop of shirts from Old Navy/Gap that arrived today but they're mostly t-shirts and casual tops. I have several events coming up (Mom's retirement party, wedding events, baby showers) that I need to find some more dressy outfits for, so I'm on the hunt for that.

6. Ava's first personalized outfit, thanks to her aunt Brittany!

27 Weeks

1. How far along? 27 weeks. Officially in the 3rd trimester!

2. How big? The size of a head of cauliflower -- 14.5 inches and 2 lbs. Although we certainly hope she stays put for a long while, if she were born today she has a good chance of survival at this point.

3. We had a productive weekend on the baby front. On Saturday afternoon/evening we:

- Ordered our glider and dresser from Smart Momma in Raleigh. They'll be in in about 4-6 weeks.
- Went to Pottery Barn Kids to look at the crib I had in mind and decided to go for it. (It won't be available for order until July, but should only take a week or so to come in once it becomes available. Fingers crossed that this is true.)
- Bought Lee some clothes. (Not baby related but much needed.)
- Did a little maternity shopping at Gap.
- Went to Jared to have my rings cleaned, inspected and sized up in preparation for summer/pregnancy swelling.
- Started our registry at Babies R Us. I say started because we were exhausted and drained and only made it halfway through (and I'm sure I'll go back and change half of what I did register for).
- Had a delicious dinner at PF Chang's.

4. Although we had a great weekend, I had my glucose tolerance test hanging over my head all weekend. I found out on Thursday that I failed the 1-hour glucose test that checks for gestational diabetes and would have to take the 3-hour test. All weekend I couldn't stop myself from thinking about the strict diet, finger pricks and all of the other things that come along with a gestational diabetes diagnosis. I had to report to the hospital at 7am Monday morning, drink another round of sugary Glucola (on an empty stomach) and proceed to have my blood drawn every hour for the next 3 hours. But thankfully, I passed! I was stuck in a meeting when the nurse at my doctor's office called with the results. I can't tell you how happy I was to check my voicemail and hear: "You are NOT diabetic, you passed all of your glucose levels, so life is rich and full." That was such a weight off my shoulders and I definitely did a little happy dance.

5. I came home from work today to a package -- Ava's baby bedding! I took it up to her room, sat on the floor and opened it. And it's perfect! I can't wait to be able to start putting things together in there.

26 Weeks, and Baby Girl has a name!

1. How far along? 26 weeks, 2 days

2. How big? The size of a head of lettuce -- 14 inches and almost 2 lbs

3. We had a doctor's appointment today and got to see our girl on screen (Lee made sure to confirm that she is in fact still a girl). The sight of her precious profile will never get old. She even had the hiccups during the ultrasound! Her heart rate was a healthy 149bmp and she's measuring in the 43rd percentile, so pretty much right on track.

4. And, our sweet girl officially has a name:

Ava is a name we both immediately loved. We had second thoughts at one point because we found out it's been popular in recent years (we had no idea, as we don't know any other Ava's) but we had already started calling her that and nothing else seemed to be able to change that. Our original middle name was Claire, which is my middle name, but it's also become really popular recently and we decided if we were going to go with Ava we wanted a less common middle name. Pearce is a name from my mom's family (my grandfather's middle name) that I've always loved. So Ava Pearce Wade it is!

5. I've made lots of progress this week on the nursery as well. Ok, not really. It's still a blank room with just board and batten and gray paint. But I've made lots of virtual progress and that counts, right? I ordered her bedding (!) and put together this mood board for what I want to do.

Nothing is set in stone yet (except the bedding) but I'm excited to finally have a plan and be able to get moving. I'm 80% sold on my furniture choices and am hoping we'll be able to order the dresser and glider this weekend (the crib won't be available for order from Pottery Barn Kids until July). 

So, what do you think?