How did we get here?

"Here" being the place where I sat writing thank-you cards the other night (to all the Texas shower gift givers - they were so freaking awesome) and just watched baby boy move and dance around, not-yet-taught-skin swelling, sinking, and popping with punches from him...

So I arrived in Texas (after a bleeping alarm at 3:30am for a 6:30 flight and after spilling green tea latte on some poor helpless airline passenger) to the cutest and comfiest sleep shirt from my mom:

She'd found it at a thrift store - SO meant to be mine, no??

We had stopped for lunch at Olive Garden (ha - "Italian" food to those Texans, but to a girl from the north east??) and after a two hour drive, we settled in at the house to catch up on some Grey's Anatomy (love that mom's a fan).  I couldn't believe - after waking up at 2:30 central time, I made it until 10oclock that night!



Friday my mom and I left the house on a MISSION: maternity clothes (mostly bottoms, I only had one pair of jeans, no non-work shorts or capris!) and new bras (I think I was wearing the wrong size for even pre-pregnancy...)

OH.  MY...  GAWD did I hit the jackpot... I found bras - 2 for $8.50 and 2 for $10 and change.  THAT'S FOUR BRAS for under $20... GOOD bras! (I mean, they're not nursing or anything but compared to wearing the wrong size with bigger-than-normal boobs for 5 months - it was PURE HEAVEN...)

I was SO tempted to try these suckers on...

(and no - these were not a gag gift, can you believe these were in the regular intimates section?!)

And then the mother load.

Motherhood Maternity there had this section called "As-Is" where everything was clearance, and marked for an additional 25-90% off.   That's right, up to 90% OFF. (the manager told me that corporate had no idea WHY they had this section, they weren't supposed to... well here's to corporate's screw up!)

Without going into the boring details (like how the sales woman who was helping me had to use up TWO dressing rooms to hang up all my try-ons) here's the low down:

I got almost $400 worth of clothing for.... drumroll please...

$95.42

For this paltry sum I got:

white capris, grey cropped dress pants, 3 pairs of black capris (from work-dressy to casual), 1 pair of teal jeans, 2 long sleeved cotton shirts, one sheer sleeveless shirt, a solid white dress shirt originally marked for $78 that when all was said and done - I got for $6, a nursing tankini for $3, two swimsuit bottoms, and probably more that I'm not thinking of right now....

in otherwords, I got a SH*T TON of clothes... I had to stop my mom - she kept looking through the racks as I was checking out!

Mission: ACCOMPLISHED!

We also bought thank-you gifts for the shower hostesses the next day, and with a good day of shopping under the belt, we settled down for (another) early night - passed out on the couch by 10:30...

Saturday morning was the shower!  And this Northeast girl was all about the high-60s-weather - sun dress and sandals! So I thought it was quite comical when I spotted a woman who left the shower at one point bundled up into a PARKA... oh relativity...

To sum it up, it was awesome, the gifts were great and I got all the baby clothes packed into a carry-on to bring home - the rest will come with Grandma when she arrives for two weeks in July!

There were some larger items (a travel boppy, the boxed teddy bear you see above, some car accessories like the sunshades and large mirror, and some BFing paraphernalia) that definitely have to wait until July to make the trip... my mom's flying Southwest Airlines and they don't charge for checked bags, so we are loading her up!

Also, the hostesses got me the portable swing I registered for, and had it delivered directly to my house (as did a few other guests) so I had some gifts waiting for me at home too..

I can't even begin to imagine these outfits with my baby boy in them, it seems so surreal - I know I keep using that word through the past few months, but it is SO surreal... even when I watch him kick and squirm...

The rest of the trip was just bliss:
...sitting in the warm Texas sun with family friends (whose daughter used to babysit ME when I was a baby!)
...more shopping (where I found THREE MORE bras for around $5 each, bringing my grand total to 7 for under $30!)
...gazing at mini polo onesies and tiny little boat shoes
...crib-shopping with my mom (which was just awesome to do because, hello - with me in NJ and her in TX the whole shopping-together-thing is not very frequent, and it was so great to be able to do baby shopping with her...)
...enjoying Mexican food at our favorite watering hole (they've been informed to have the frozen margaritas ready and waiting!)

So that's it - the Grand Texas post (or a short version of an epic week...)

it's been back to real life: E working his butt off on the bathroom remodel, putting in his blood, sweat and tears (literally - he put the drill into his finger last night and dripped blood on the hardwood floor on his way to my infirmary... lol I can laugh, he's fine now...)

We finished our registry this past weekend, picked out The Crib (I thought this would be so hard!) and The Stroller (E needed to get hands-on testing done!) and are ready to start counting down the days - tomorrow we hit double digits!!!!!