The Waiting Game

Apologies for my extremely inconsistent blogging. Sitting at home working and gestating just isn't that interesting :) Things are about to get a whole lot more exciting, though, because I am due IN THREE DAYS! 

That's not to say I'll have a baby in three days. And THAT is probably one of the most frustrating things about pregnancy so far. Although I am slightly uncomfortable (and often feel like a turtle on its back when I try to get out of bed or off the couch), I'm not really in pain and I'm not at the point where I want to scream, "GET THIS BABY OUT OF ME!" This is something I feel VERY lucky to report.

Or even what DAY it comes in!

Problem is, I am a control freak. Knowing that at any moment I can go into labor and our lives will change forever is really throwing me for a loop. I just want to know when to expect my little guy to make his debut! And, while I understand that the baby needs to stay put until he's ready to come out, I am also afraid that my parents will miss the birth because they have to head back to California on the 15th for my brother's college graduation on the 16th. My OBGYN office won't let expectant mothers go longer than 10 days overdue or else they will induce, so it's nice to know there is an end-date in sight. But with a May 7 due date, that means an induction wouldn't probably be until May 17 and my parents will miss his arrival!

I don't know why I am so convinced I will need to be induced (Joe has a feeling I will too). Maybe it's because my body has never given birth before and I don't trust it to know what it's doing? I also feel like I am going to need a C-Section (probably for the same reason. Well, that coupled with the fact that he is HUGE. His head is in the 97th percentile and his body in the 83rd!)

Part of it might also be that I haven't experienced any signs that I am going to go into labor any time soon. Last week I spent most of Monday packing and moving boxes (we move at the end of this month so I'm trying to get as much packed now as I can) and I wound up with cramps for a couple of hours that night and again the following day. At the time Joe and I were so excited - we even considered heading to the hospital, but after describing them to the doctor it doesn't sound like they were contractions. Since then, nothing to signal that things are getting ready.

My mom arrived on Saturday morning and we have been busy shopping and making freezer meals. While it's good to keep busy (it helps keep my mind off of things and it might prompt labor), I am worried my water will break in public. I really don't want some poor stranger to have to clean-up amniotic fluid in the middle of Target. But they've probably had to clean-up worse.

Hopefully my next post will be a birth announcement :) 

A Brier Babymoon!

I can't believe it, but I am over 36 weeks into this pregnancy! It's crazy how soon Joe and I will be meeting our little guy, and how much our lives will change. Over the last few weeks, it's really hit how different EVERYTHING will be. While I am so excited to be a mom, I thought it would be a good idea for Joe and I to have one last hurrah before Baby Brier arrives.

Thanks to Joe's crazy schedule (D2 really is the hardest year of dental school), we couldn't go anywhere too far or for too long. Since we didn't want to waste time driving somewhere (and because at this point there's not a whole lot I can physically do anyway), we decided just to rent a fancy hotel room in downtown Philadelphia and have a 45-hour stay-cation.

Believe it or not, it actually felt pretty darn special (despite the fact we were less than 5 miles from our apartment).

We grabbed a cab from our apartment around 4 p.m. on Friday afternoon (parking at the downtown hotels is atrocious - like $30+ a night) and made our way to our Priceline-chosen accommodations. We had never used Priceline before, but figured this was the perfect opportunity to try it out since it really didn't matter where we stayed in the city. We were pumped to score a really nice hotel for just $100 a night (we saw the rooms going for about $200 on other discount sites). Joe and I are both pretty darn frugal, so there was actual cheering and high-fiving going on when we found out our price and our digs for the weekend.

We didn't have much time in the room before we had to get ready for our 6 p.m. dinner reservations, but we did manage to confirm that we had HGTV on our GIANT television. Joe and I have been on quite the HGTV kick lately (vicarious nesting?) and have been watching episodes of House Hunters, Property Brothers, etc. on Netflix since our cable package stinks and we don't get HGTV. We flipped on the channel as we got ready. I, of course, had to take advantage of the hotel mirror and take some bump-selfies.

I thought I could walk the 7 blocks to dinner, but after 1 block we realized that was absolutely not going to happen. Between my giant belly and new shoes it was just silly to try, so we hailed a cab and it took us the rest of the way. We chowed down on delicious brick-oven pizza at a restaurant called Stella Rossa. Joe enjoyed a very generous glass of wine, while I enjoyed a Shirley Temple.

After dinner, we grabbed some gelato and then headed to The Walnut Street Theater for a performance of Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None. I was able to score some decently priced orchestra seats and we sat closer than we've ever been to a stage. Being able to see the actors' faces and expressions was quite a nice change, especially after our nosebleed-seat viewing of The Phantom of the Opera last year (Joe had trouble following the story because, no lie, he couldn't tell which guy on stage had the mask on his face). 

We were really excited to see a play at The Walnut Street Theater because it is the oldest continuously operating playhouse in the United States! And ever since I was in an Agatha Christie-inspired murder mystery play in high school, I've been eager to see this particular show. While we both really enjoyed it, I was legitimately disappointed that most of the deaths took place offstage. But that's just because I am a weirdo and the kind of person who actually wrote her college thesis on slasher movies.

After the play, we headed back to the hotel for some HGTV and then sleep interrupted by frequent trips to the bathroom (seriously - a top 3 complaint of pregnancy so far).

The next morning, we decided to go shopping in the Rittenhouse Square area which was right by our hotel. We also decided that it was way past time for Joe to get a new cell phone (he was still rocking the iPhone 4 and had recently taken it apart and replaced the battery because it kept dying when there was like 30% left) and so we spent a good hour or so at the AT&T store and then at the Apple store getting him upgraded. Mr. Frugality shocked me by deciding to go with the iPhone 6 - he has never had the current version of a cell phone before. He loves it.

After shopping until I was about ready to drop (which was, frankly, not that long), we went back to the room and watched an episode of Family Guy that was inspired by And Then There Were None. It was really fun to watch since we had just seen the play. Of course, more HGTV followed. And I napped.

In the hotel lobby after dinner

That night we went to a fancy steakhouse called Barclay Prime. The restaurant had a retro, Mad Men-esque vibe to it and the prices were a bit ridiculous. However, the steaks may have been some of the best Joe and I have ever had (the baby enjoyed the meal too. I couldn't believe how active he was after I ate it!). Not to mention the truffle mac 'n' cheese... We would love to go back but we'll probably only spring for it once more while we are living in Philly. And the next time I really want to be able to have wine! My Shirley Temples were good, but Joe's wine was making me salivate like Pavlov's dog.

It was a fantastic end to a fantastic babymoon!

XO - Kate

Pre-Baby Getaway to Georgia

A couple of weeks ago, I got a break from this bitterly cold Philadelphia winter and took a trip down to Georgia with my mom. She thought it would be fun for us to have one last mother-daughter trip before the baby comes, and I was excited to spend time with her and to go to Atlanta and Savannah for the first time.

The start of the trip was all about zombies. My parents had visited Georgia and South Carolina over the summer and while they were in Atlanta they went on a tour of filming sites from The Walking Dead. Since my brother Brian and I are huge fans of the show, my mom thought it would be fun to start our own trip with one of these tours. Brian flew over from Dallas for the weekend and on Saturday the three of us drove down to Senoia - the little town that served as Woodbury.

(*Note* If you are not caught-up to Season 5, Episode 11 of The Walking Dead you may want to skip down several pictures and paragraphs. I'll do my best to keep things as spoiler-free as possible, though.)

Senioa-turned-Woodbury for the show. It crazy how similar it looks in real life!

Before our tour, we stopped at The Woodbury Shoppe. This store is 100% dedicated to The Walking Dead and has a ton of licensed merchandise and even a tiny museum in the basement. We bought a few things (including this sweet onesie for Baby Brier) and took some fun pics in the museum.

The cast has even signed the walls of the museum and there are signatures everywhere! Here's just a little glimpse:

Daryl, Beth, Maggie & Eugene

Our tour guide

After we finished at The Woodbury Shoppe it was time for the tour! The tour company is called Atlanta Movie Tours and they take you around in a shuttle to a bunch of filming sites. Sometimes you just drive past different locations, but other times you get out of the shuttle and explore where certain scenes were filmed.

Our guide is actually a semi-regular zombie extra on the show. He's been a zombie 11 times and has been killed 6 or 7 times. He had a ton of amazing behind-the-scenes stories and it really added not just to the tour, but to my viewing of the show from now on.

For example, the contacts that the zombies wear to make them look dead are incredibly difficult to see out of. He compared it to trying to see through a fish tank full of skim milk. Because of this, it's hard for the zombie actors to know exactly when they'll be killed or hit by one of the characters. Although it's a very physical show, he said that the number one "injury" on-set is eye infections thanks to these contacts.

Here are a bunch of pics:

Remember how The Governor would host those Woodbury zombie fights?

Here's where they shot those scenes! 

My mom, Brian, our guide and me!

Remember the apartment from the Season 3 episode Clear?

We got to see that too! Well, basically. The set people from The Walking Dead totally restored the apartment once they were done, but the mayor of this little town thought it would be a cool tourist attraction so they painstakingly re-painted it to be as similar as possible to the show. Check it out:

Remember the scene where Rick and The Governor met in the barn for negotiations (and some whiskey)?

Here it is! (They built a platform to make the floor seem all on one level for filming).

There were lots of other fun things to see, but this post is already pic-heavy and I have one more thing I want to be sure to show you.

Right next to Senioa (a.k.a. Woodbury) is where they built the new Alexandria set! (When I say right next to I mean it - you can see this from Main Street). Those of you who are caught up got your first glance during last Sunday's episode. I've read the comics, so this was much more exciting for Brian and me to see (he's read them as well) since we have an idea of how Alexandria will shape the plot moving forward.

To try to ward off as many looky-loos as possible, there are signs up around the development that make it look like they are just building new homes in the area. Um... no. Definitely a Walking Dead set :) There are also a ton of "road closed" and "no trespassing" signs. Here are some pics:

The trickster sign

We all really enjoyed the tour and I definitely recommend Atlanta Movie Tours if you are ever in the area.

The next day, Brian flew back to Dallas and my mom and I headed to Savannah in our rental car. Savannah was such a charming city! It reminded me of Philadelphia because of all the old buildings and cobblestone streets, but it was much quieter, smaller and relaxed (some of that may have been due to the fact that it was February). Given that it is often proclaimed to be the most haunted city in America, the first thing on our agenda was to go on a ghost tour that night.

In the basement of The Pirate's House

Since I've already posted so many pics I'll save you from the (many) pictures I took on the ghost tour. We heard a bunch of cool stories about the city as we rode in a trolly and we got out at two stops: The Pirate's House and The Sorrel Weed House. I'll let you check out those links if you are curious about the significance of those places.

One thing I do want to say is how creepy this tour was. I've been on many ghost tours in the past and have caught what looked like orbs in a few of my pictures, but this was TOTALLY different.

(I guess I should also state that yes, I do believe in ghosts. I even had a couple of experiences as a kid...)

Orbs were flying EVERYWHERE in both the Pirate's House and Sorrel Weed House basements. And it didn't take looking at a picture to see them, you could see them on the screen as you were actually taking the photo.

At the Sorrel Weed House they had night-vision cameras set-up and we could watch all the orbs flying around the room. Yes, some "orbs" are actually dust particles. But the shape and size and movement of many of these orbs were way different than anything I've ever seen. The creepiest part was when my mom and I were watching through a girl's camera phone as she was taking pictures (it was a Samsung with a huge screen) and a GIANT orb came shooting across the room.We ran out of the basement at that point... especially since the guide had just said how spirits are attracted to pregnant women. EEEK!

I know, I know... I sound like a crazy person. Joe doesn't believe in ghosts. But whatever :) He was intrigued by the fact they showed up through the screen and not just in the actual pics (so it wasn't a camera glare or something).

Besides the ghost tour, the rest of our Savannah stay was pretty low-key. We did some shopping and explored an old fort, cemetery, and house, but I wasn't up for too much more. Walking tours were out of the question thanks to the fact that I am pregnant and easily tired (not to mention the frequent trips to the bathroom). It was still a ton of fun, though, and a great opportunity to spend time with my mom before the baby comes.

Speaking of the baby, we found a store called Once Upon a Child in Savannah and bought him a TON of clothes. They sell gently-used clothes for babies and kids there (plus shoes, gear and other necessities) and were having a onesie sale where you could buy 10 onesies for $10. I bought 40. Plus some other stuff. On our way back to Atlanta the next day, we stopped by another location and they were having an even better sale - ANYTHING on clearance (and there was a lot) was buy 10 for $10. I think this kid got at least another 50 articles of clothing. He is certainly going to be well (and cheaply!) dressed :) Luckily I had brought an extra suitcase since I knew my mom and I would be shopping (though I never imagined I would be stuffing the whole thing full of baby clothes)!

That about wraps things up! And just in time. Tomorrow morning I am leaving for ANOTHER trip - this time to Missouri to visit some of Joe's family. It'll be great for his mom to have a chance to see me pregnant, and we are going to have a baby shower. Poor Joe can't miss school to make the trip, but his step-brother is actually going to fly out for the weekend to keep him company. So we'll both have fun weekends :)

XO - Kate

A Fresh Start

The first blog post is typically the hardest, but I've been blogging over at Diary of a Dental School Wife for the past 2.5 years, so this time doesn't seem too tough. Instead of launching a blog, I'm just moving things from there to here. Easy peasy.

So why even do it?

Well, when I first created Diary of a Dental School Wife in 2012, Joe was days away from finding out if he was going to be accepted to dental school. The path had already been so long and the path ahead seemed even more daunting. I felt like I would be a dental school wife FOREVER. Plus, until that time I never had a blog last more than a couple of months... why on earth would I expect to blog long enough to outlive the title of "dental school wife"?

But now that we are almost halfway through dental school and we have a baby arriving in 10ish weeks (!!!), I feel like it's the right time to make the move and to start fresh with a new blog. After all, before I know it I will be a "dentist's wife" rather than a "dental school wife" and dental school will be a thing of the past. Plus, I don't often write about dental-related things, and I expect that with the new baby my posts will officially be filled with typical mommy blogger stuff - baby pics, crafts, and exhausted rants on the classic topic "why won't he sleep?!"

For now, I'm going with the title Brushing Up on the Briers. Still a nod to dentistry, but not one with an expiration date. I have learned my lesson, though, and the URL for this blog will be katebrier.blogspot.com. Never again do I want to have to abandon a blog and followers because I've decided the title and web address needs an update.

I'm not an Internet expert, but I'm pretty sure that if you were a Google+ follower over at Diary of a Dental School Wife you will automatically be a follower of Brushing Up on the Briers. HOWEVER, for those of you who followed me with Bloglovin', you'll need to follow this new blog. You can do so easily by CLICKING HERE.

Haven't followed me before? I recommend Bloglovin' - it's a great way to have a central location where you can see new posts from all of your favorite blogs. I love it.

I'm hoping that with the new blog and the baby coming oh-so-soon that I'll be more consistent with writing than I have been lately. To be frank, my life since getting pregnant has been INCREDIBLY boring and I'm trying to bask in the boredom as much as I can since I probably won't have that opportunity for the next 20 years or so ;)

Looking forward to sharing this new adventure with you!

XO - Kate