baby shower no. 2

Has it really been two weeks since I've last blogged? Yikes. I've been super busy lately, but baby is still in my belly. I have no idea how I'm going to balance everything once he's made his debut.

Grab your hot chocolate and a warm blanket and settle in. This may be a long post since I actually have the time this morning. After all, who else but us crazy Hobsons wakes up at 6 a.m. on a Saturday.

Last Sunday, some of my girlfriends threw me a brunch baby shower in Vinings the day after I turned 32 weeks--wowzer, 8 months! Brunch was a great idea, since I absolutely love breakfast foods. Those who know me well know that I eat bacon or sausage practically every morning for breakfast. My friend Sara even made a gluten-free breakfast casserole that was delicious!

My Atlanta girlfriends, gym friends, Gainesville friends and college friends showed up for the occasion.

My first shower was very elegant, and there was no time for games since I was busy opening gifts or catching up with ladies from my hometown. For my Vinings shower, my friends had some traditional baby shower games up their sleeves.

First up, thankfully after we had eaten, was the infamous "identify the melted candy bar in the diaper." I had heard of this game before, but didn't expect the candy bars to look so real when melted--except for the random sprinkling of peanuts in some of the diapers!

I was really bad at this game, only guessing one out of five candy bars. My mom, on the other hand, was the only one to guess all five correctly.

These faces are priceless!

After the diaper game, it was "guess the gift" game. Fortunately, I redeemed myself and managed to guess all the gifts by touch.

The last game involved guessing the circumference of my belly. Thankfully, we didn't use a measuring tape. Instead, the girls approximated my belly size by tearing off a section from a roll of blue streamer. Then, I went around to each girl to see who guessed closest. I'm not sure how my friends perceive me--apparently huge! Most had 5 or 6 inches extra in length, and some friends (not to be named) had more than 12 inches of extra streamer! Ha. It was a hilarious game.

After the games, it was time to open gifts. Once again, I was overwhelmed from the generosity of my friends. Here are some of the highlights!

I got a slew of super nice containers for storing homemade baby food.

A cheeky baby manual that James told me last night he has already read!

Diapers! Yippee!

A CrossFit-inspired onesie with a barbell on the front.

Santa booties! My friend Lauren thought I was due before Christmas. With my due date just a week after Christmas, who knows when this baby will make his debut. If it's after Christmas, I'll just save these for the next munchkin!

More workout apparel--we're starting him young!

An awesome designer diaper bag from the shower hostesses! Love love love it!

It was a wonderfully thoughtful shower. Baby Hobson is already so very loved!

third trimester and the nursery

Well the third trimester is finally here! I'm 28 weeks, and it's hard to believe that Dec. 31 is just around the corner.

I had my 7-month appointment earlier in the week, and luckily passed my glucose test "with flying colors," according to the nurse. I had heard about so many women failing the one-hour test that I was super paranoid. But I guess me passing just reinforces my go-to breakfast of bacon and eggs :)

I'm still CrossFitting away, and enjoying every minute of it. I average 3 or 4 trips to the gym each week. This past week, we did tababta overhead squats one day. I did light weight (45lbs), but managed to do 60 squats in the four-minute mini workout.

Notice the Pirate Pending T-shirt :)

Last week, my brother came down from Chattanooga for a few days to visit. While he was here, I convinced him to paint the nursery for me. He did a great job!

Yesterday, my parents came up with a truckload of baby furniture, and our extra bedroom was transformed from a guest room to a nursery in a few short hours.

My mom and I found this wooden table for $10 at a Hilton Head thrift shop over Labor Day weekend. After a few coats of white paint and some inexpensive knobs from Home Depot, it was completely transformed.

My mom used this baby chest for me, my sister and my brother when we were babies. Originally cream, she painted it white and added more inexpensive knobs, and voila!

My sister found this glider, a baby crib and matching changing table on Craigslist in Hilton Head. The glider is lightweight but super comfortable, and I love that it came with an ottoman.

Though my first shower isn't for two weeks, my mom went ahead and gave me my crib bedding as an early gift since we were putting together the nursery. It took me weeks of searching, but I finally settled on this bedding that was a little more sophisticated than cutesy. I loved the colors and the contemporary look of the buildings. Hopefully the wrinkles will fall out with time!

My parents also brought up one of the old twin beds that my sister and I slept in growing up. I purchased a white down comforter for it (yes, also wrinkled) and two throw pillows that feature blue, gray and yellow dots. Now, I just have to find a large colored pillow to make the throw pillows pop.

We had quite a 'fun' time putting together the changing table, which matches the crib. After my showers, I'll figure out how to best organize things.

Next item of business: working on some wall art. I'm in the middle of a few projects that I hope will look great on the walls.

Today is the hubby's 31st birthday, and we're having a couple couples over to fondue.

I'm glad you're over the mustache phase :)

And in case you're wondering, you're still a stud to me--and you've got skillz.

Somehow, you always end up on top. Guess that's why your nickname is the Golden Child. Love you!

4-month milestone

Today marks 4 months of pregnancy for me. In some ways, time has flown by, but in other ways, I feel like the end of the year is still so far away.

Monday, I had another doctor's appointment, which was fairly quick, but went well. Baby Hobson's heartbeat was 152, and I seem to be on track--whatever that means :) I just scheduled my next ultrasound for 19.5 weeks in mid August. Can't wait to find out if it's a boy or a girl!

I figure it's about time to post belly bump photos, so here I am at 16 weeks. Note: I took this picture this morning before heading to the gym, but by tonight, I'll probably be several inches thicker. You can already see a little bump. At this point, I feel like I'm thickening up throughout my whole core, not just my lower stomach. I guess everyone grows differently!

After yet another workout hiatus for 4 or 5 days last week, this week I've been much more diligent. And honestly, traffic has been better and I haven't had any other weeknight obligations.

Sunday I walked with a friend for 45 minutes or so. Nothing intense, but it was good to be moving after several days of inactivity.

Monday, I had a softball game at 5:30pm. Surprisingly, it wasn't as hot Monday as it was midweek. I think I was 3 for 4, and our team Nielsen Nasty won by 12 runs! Finally, we're on a winning streak. Teammates keep asking how long I'll play, and at this point I'm not sure, but I think I can definitely finish out the last two games of July. The season goes all the way through September, so I have no hopes of playing the entire season. For those of you balking (pun intended) at me still playing softball, have no fear: I play outfield, so there's no worry of unpredictable grounders bouncing off stray rocks hitting me in the belly. Honestly, with the teams we've been playing lately, I'm lucky to get two balls a game hit to me. And I'm also careful, even though it may not always appear that way. When I'm a runner on first or third, I angle my backside toward the batter, just in case a line drive were to come my way. I've got plenty of padding for deflection back there! A couple teammates have questioned whether playing is too much physically. I simply tell them that softball is nothing compared to CrossFit, and I'm still doing that!

Tuesday, I finally made it back into the gym after almost a week! Aware of the record heat index, I chose to attend the 7pm class instead of 5pm. Plus, I went home after work and whipped up a big batch of German Rouladen for dinner that night. Such a great treat for a weeknight. I normally only make it on weekends since from start to finish it takes close to 4 hours. But I digress. Back to my CrossFit workout. The class was only me and Big Matt, so I didn't have to worry about how slow I'd be compared to our awesome female members :) Without further ado, let me introduce Juicy.

Juicy
12-24-36 Reps:
Weighted Step-Ups 25lb dumbells onto 20" box
Med Ball Throws using 14lb wallball

Rest 3 minutes:
4 Rounds:
20 Weighted Situps (under dumbbells)
80 Single Unders
20 KB Swings 35lbs

Normally, this first part of Juicy kicks me in the booty--literally. My glutes are usually sore for days. The Rx'd version calls for step ups on a 24" box, but I scaled to a 20". I knew those extra 4 inches would extend my workout exponentially. Basically, you just hold the 25lb dumbells by your sides and step up onto the box with both feet, then step down, and repeat. I tried to alternate legs so I didn't overwork one side of my body. Med ball throws are pretty much a push press with med ball. So instead of squatting to below parallel like a wallball, you dip a few inches and throw the ball up to the target. Despite the 20" box, this workout was still hard. My forearms pulsed from gripping the dumbells as I tried not to focus on my time. In the end, I finished about a minute less than my normal time on a 24" box. Of course, that doesn't say much because I've never been good at this workout :) In many CrossFit workouts, the rep scheme decreases throughout the workout, so even though you're tired, you have less to do each round. But with Juicy, your reps increase each round as you're getting more tired!

The second part wasn't bad at all, especially because I situated myself in front of our industrial fan. Hey--I've got an excuse now! I got through the first round without resting on KB swings, but had to split them up 11 and 9 for the remaining three, as my grip was almost gone. Still, I think I only finished a minute or so later than my normal time on this workout--though that was with 20 double unders instead of single unders. And we all know those are a huge weakness for me.

Thursday, I went back to CFA for the Endurance WOD.

5 Rounds:
1 Min Rowing
1 Min Plank

3 Rounds:
1 Min Running
1 Min Slamballs

2 rounds:
1 min of GHD sit-ups (I only went a little lower than parallel to the ground)
Rest 1 min
1 min of plate push sit-ups (only used a 10lb bumper plate)
Rest 1 min
20 minutes of yoga

Saturday (this morning) I'm heading up to the gym for this workout:

TEAM WOD (All 4 people working at the same time!)
Team Row 2,000M
400 Box Step Ups with barbell 65/45
300 Power Cleans 135/85
200 Toes To Bar
100 1-arm kb swings 55/35
50 Pistols or Deck Squats 

I've missed the last several Saturday morning workouts, and they're my favorite. I love knocking out a workout and then having the rest of the day to do whatever.