Woah, bad poster!!

Sorry sorry sorry for the LATE post! Here's my 37 week pics real quick and then we'll get back to the rest...in pieces since Adam will be home soon and we're going out for our 3rd anniversary. :)



So anyway, it's obviously been crazy around here since last Thursday. Some quick updates to note:

• On Friday, the rehearsal and dinner went very well for Jason & Julie's wedding the following day. My dad & Sue and Adam's parents made it to IA just fine that night.
  
• The wedding Saturday went off without a hitch! Adam was a groomsman and I was Julie's personal attendant. I honestly thought I'd have to delegate some things b/c it was going to be a big day, but lasted much longer than I anticipated and did everything (for the most part) that needed to be done on my own. Don't get me wrong - I was grateful to be able to sit the entire night and enjoy the reception...until Jason split his pants and I had to run home to get some! Ha! Julie was BEAUTIFUL and like I said, it all went well. I'll try to post pictures but no promises on timing. :)
  
• Sunday was recovery day. Wow. I really paid for being up and around so much as I was super sore and very slow-moving. We went to the gift opening after seeing our parents off and telling them we'd call when we got home with the baby...took a few seconds before we got some major protests...ha ha!
  
• Monday was still semi-recovery day but also crazy at work. Usually Mondays for me include 2 preschool evaluations with my team but instead I packed in two more birth-3 evals and was TUCKERED out by the time the day was done. My sub for those two assignments was also there so I talked my head off that day...didn't stop me from working that night and doing things around the house. I'm really working hard to get paperwork for evals done asap after the eval so in case we decide to have a baby anytime soon, I won't have to write up the evals b/w contractions.
  
• Tuesday was the first day I really felt back to my (pregnant) self. Work went smoothly and while Adam was gone to class, I went to Walmart for a "stock up!" run, spent a million dollars, and then came home to laundry, work, and whatever else needed to be done around the house. Another long day.
  
• This morning, Adam complained that we had been up late last night and he was too tired to get out of bed. I was a little confused b/c I didn't even make it to the news/weather, so I asked him what he was talking about. Turns out by "we" he meant him and the baby. While I was out cold (go figure - see above) sleeping, it turns out he was reading to and playing with the baby. Turns out she can be very ticklish if you scratch my belly and it makes her move around quite a bit. So I don't know how long Adam was playing with her, but between poking, scratching, and reading to her, he was up late and she and I woke up with her being backwards! I think I've said before that she's head down, but usually has her back/rear to the left and limbs to the right. We woke up with back/rear to the RIGHT and limbs to the left again this morning (I remember posting about this earlier now). Ah! Baby and I do NOT care for this positioning as it's weird and foriegn to us. So finally late this morning I was sitting in an eval at a 0-3er's home and she decides she's ready to go back. Hard to concentrate when she's whipping around, limbs flailing, and making me feel like I'm going to pee my pants. I called Adam later and asked him maybe to leave her alone a little bit so she doesn't do that anymore. :) Right. Ask a daddy not to play with his daughter. I don't think so. My guess is he might try that more often just to see if he can do it. My question is this - how on God's green earth did I not wake up???
  

So that's it for now. Today, as I stated earlier, is our 3rd anniversary. It's hard to believe it's been 3 years already, just over 8 overall, and we're about to expand our family for the first time (with a human, that is). We are just the luckiest people on the planet, I think. We have a strong marriage, a smart and amazing little girl on the way (yes, I know this already), a place to call home, 2 crazy dogs, fulfilling jobs, and everything one could ever hope for. I know I feel like the luckiest person alive...I'm pretty sure Adam does too. Happy sigh. Lucky me... :) xoxo

We're full term!! 37 weeks today! :)

So we're officially considered FULL TERM! I know, I know, you're thinking that 40 weeks is full term but at 37 weeks her lungs are fully developed (for the most part) and she's just going to put on fat until she graces us with her presence. Which we positively can't wait for especially now that the nursery is 96% complete! All that needs to happen is for her butterfly appliques to be put up and it's 100% complete. :) We're waiting until Grandma Susie gets here tomorrow for that one though b/c she can see things we can't as we're rather left brained and she's very right brained.

Nothing new since yesterday on the baby front. Well, there was one thing. Last night I was sitting on the edge of the bed talking with Adam while he felt the baby kicking like a crazy monkey. She started to settle down and he took his hand off my belly...and she started kicking/pushing where his hand had been...like she was looking for him. So he puts his hand back where it had been and she kicks it a few times and settles...he takes it off (b/c he doesn't believe me) and she immediately kicks to try to find him again. Who knows if I'm right or not, but it makes me feel like they're bonding when they do that. So sweet... :)

Well, we just found out the dogs managed to find and roll in a dead possum. :( Late night baths for the fuzzy ones...and now I'm way too tired to wait for pictures to post, so those might have to be tomorrow....if I can sneak it in before the rehearsal dinner for Julie & Jason's wedding weekend, that is. So excited! :)

Hmm...THAT kind of day (22 days)

It wasn't an overly bad day. Really. But for those who are easily pessimistic, it might have been. Good thing I put on my optimistic hat before I walked out the door this morning...

I had 6 kids scheduled today (birth-3 day) which is a pretty full schedule when you're doing home visits. I make it to my first one (which I'm tag-teaming with my *teacher* from last week) and it went surprisingly well. The little guy's making improvements and the teacher was easy to work with. So I'm on my way to the second visit which is a good 15 miles away and I'm RIGHT on time. I'm about half way there when I heard this loud thud in the back right rear well. I looked in my rear view mirror b/c I swear I hadn't hit anything and confirmed it with a clear road behind me. Just as I was about to clear it from my mind, I heard the tell-tale thump thump thump...and KNEW my right rear tire had just gone flat. I pulled over and sure enough. Flat. So I called for someone to come change my tire to the spare b/c our insurance has road-side assistance and clearly I'm not changing my tire 9 months pregnant. So the guy gets there 22 minutes later and after some figuring informs me that my spare is no good and *might* get me to the next town (either Muscatine or Wilton, 5 miles or so each way) but likely not b/c the place we bought it from put a bad spare in the spare spot!! So he had to go get another truck and FLATBED tow me back to Muscatine where we finally decided to buy the 4 tires we've been needing for the Highlander, just a lot sooner than we had hoped. Sigh. Missed 2 kids, one of which was an evaluation that mom took off of work for. :-( Not like it was something I could control so much to Adam's relief, I didn't get too worked up about it. He was worried if I got upset it would be bad for the baby and I. No worries there! :)

I finally got back to the office after dropping Adam off at work and proceed to my next 3 visits without further incident. Then I get home, let the dogs out to run amok, and within a half hour Jessie's at the front door (for the 3rd time going in and out) and holding her back left foot up as high as she could, looking sad and hurt. Sure enough, she'd done something to her foot. I couldn't immediately pinpoint the injury but after poking everywhere and moving it all over the place without a squeal or pull back, I figured she'd likely just walk it off especially since she was running ok on it. Sure enough, 2 hours later and she's fine. The vet thought she might have been stung by something but by the time I got the benedryl home, she didn't need it anymore. Whew. Huge bill #1983 for September averted. :)

As for baby, I'm really glad I only have a few more Wednesdays of birth-3 left. I usually end up on the floor with the kids even though I start out on a chair/couch. This results in a pretty sore bod by the time I get home and my trip to Walmart (we were out of water - we fill jugs since I'm nervous about our water even though it's fine) was brutal. Thankfully I'm sitting in my glider blogging while Adam puts together the baby's last shelving unit. I positively can't WAIT to see what the little fabric boxes look like in it. They are purple with butterflies - go figure - with the center one being pink to match. :) I'll post pictures later of the FINISHED nursery!! All her things have shipped (decorations and diaper bag) and will hopefully be here tomorrow when I get home from work! :)

Adam will be done in a few minutes and then it's time to head downstairs for some ice cream and hot fudge sauce. I bought more at Walmart when I was there earlier. Uh oh.......

One Step Closer (23 days)

I feel like I'm one step closer across environments in terms of getting ready for the baby's arrival. It's a good feeling...until I think of what is left to be done. :) But thinking positively here. At my elementary school I realized that I'm 90% of the way done with my current IEPs with just a few meetings to take care of on Thursday and then I'm on to bigger and better things - like my other school and 0-3 program (which is suddenly exploding!). Whew! On the home front, all baby laundry is done; just needs folding to be finished, packing away bigger clothes, and organizing current clothes. The finishing touches for the nursery were shipped this afternoon and will hopefully be here by Friday (although Thursday would be better, of course). Things are moving in the right direction. Excellent.

I'm not sure if I mentioned this earlier, but I bought a doll for us to "hold" and put in the baby's equipment (ie. swing, chair, crib). Reasoning - to get the dogs ready for a little person who they are not allowed to nibble, lick like crazy (a few kisses are fine), or be overly jealous of. They are doing well...they get very excited when we go pick it up and after a minute or so they could care less and run off to do their own thing again. I was fortunate enough to find a doll that wasn't creepy and actually moved/cried a little. We shall see. Once the nursery is set up, I plan to work with them more. Hope it continues to go well!

As for the baby, things continue to go well. I am still sleeping well for the most part and know it's not going to last once she gets here. :) But I'll take it now! She's been moving lots and actually was quite active while Adam was reading to her last night before bed. We can't wait to meet her...

Big Day, Backwards Baby (25 days)

It was a big day today! I left the house at 8:30am to go get Julie (who's getting married this coming Saturday!!) and we were headed to the Quad Cities for last minute baby and wedding stuff. No small events coming our way. I had a full sheet of paper with a list the size of a small bus of things that we needed to either finish the nursery or have an infant in the house should she come in the next week or two (unlikely, but possible). We were SUPER successful and I even found 2 dresses for the wedding weekend (ok, Julie found them, I took them home). :) She found most of what she wanted and whatever I didn't get, I ordered online when I got home , which was mainly nursery decorations. The only thing I didn't get was the pack-n-play b/c I have a coupon that wasn't good for another week (thank you, Linsmeier cousins!) and I plan to use it so I can get my (almost) $20 off! :) Needless to say, by the time we got home, Julie & I were both tuckered out. I'm not sure what she did with the rest of her day, but I was so excited about everything that I continued with the unpacking of things and figuring out such contraptions as how to use the BabyBjorn, take more tags off of clothes (for over an hour this time!!), and the Itzbeen timer so that when we're too tired to remember when she slept/ate/poo'd last, we can use this handy timer to check things out - even which side I last nursed her on. I call that a beautiful thing. It even has a light in it so you can see in the dark when you're walking to the nursery. Awesome.

Today I woke up with something new...a backwards baby. I'd say about 95% of the time, the baby (who's always head down now) usually has her back to the left, butt up high, and limbs to the right (hence all the trying to crawl out my right side). Well, when I woke up this morning, she was back to the RIGHT and limbs to the LEFT. She did NOT seem to care for this and tried her best to get back to where she likes all day. She'd get her back up against my belly button and then seem to slip right back to where she didn't want to be. This continued all day long and as soon as I sat down to write this post, I got very confused b/c she was back to her normal position and I thought I was wrong the whole day...but then I remembered her trying to crawl out my right side all the time and I realized she was back to her normal "spot." We both like her there better, so now we're going to go fold one last load of mommy/daddy laundry before we collapse into bed. It's been a very big, great, backwards day. :)

The Travel System (25 days)

(I meant to post this Saturday but never got around to uploading the pictures until today...) Here it is! The beautiful travel system! The first thing Adam did when he got home yesterday was to carry it into the house in preparation to put it together. He was nervous that it was the "ugly" red that we had seen on one we liked in a different store - until we opened it and it was PERFECT. Adam put it together without much difficulty although we (he) may have had a scare when the car seat didn't fit snugly in the stroller...until I informed him that you have to have the "baby cup holder" ON the front to keep the fit snug and secure. :) He was proud of himself, as was I, and it's great. Jessie even tried to *cautiously* get in the box once but was pretty freaked out once she was in there. Anyway, we love it! And then I ordered our diaper bag (back pack style) from Lands' End complete with the Schmidt monogram and it, too, is red and black to match the travel system. Adam thought that might be too much matching, but when he said he really didn't have that strong of an opinion about it, I did not order the cute baby blue with pink trim one, I ordered the red/black one so we'd be one rockin', matchin' family. :) Come on, you know me well enough by now to know I like things a certain way. (OCD, ahem, minor OCD)


So this morning Adam left for golf at 5:45am (this guy really likes his golf) as he was traveling with work buddies to Aledo, IL for golf this morning. Needless to say, I didn't get to sleep much after that. No clue why. I wasn't uncomfortable by any means - quite the opposite in fact. The baby was quiet and not bothering me. But finally with Maddie whining in the background (she heard me stirring and thought it was time to get up) I got up by 7am. Dang. I know my days are numbered and I try to take advantage, and bam. Up at 7am. I think part of it is that I'm excited for the baby shower today and the last, giant, pending baby shopping spree tomorrow. SOOOO excited for it all!! :)

Well that was scary (27 days)

Ok, let's back up. The past day or two, I've had some odd sensations/feelings on and off but really didn't think too much of them because I could usually equate them with BHCs. Symptoms included a pretty hard BHC (not painful), increased heart rate, wiggly baby, and a feeling of pressure in my face - sort of like feeling flushed but much more. Fastforward to this morning. I went to work to get some things done before a meeting and then went into the meeting...only to start feeling rather odd again soon after it started. I didn't think anything of it until I realized that I was feeling these symptoms for longer than I had been the past few days. So I checked my heart rate and it was up to almost 100bpm just sitting there! Usually mine is around 60bpm so that was pretty high for a non-stressful meeting...and after several checks it was almost an hour before it calmed down. So after asking a few friends if these things were normal, they all recommended I call the doctor. So just before the SLP clan and I leave the Muscatine office for the Bettendorf office, I called but was told the nurse would call me back. She didn't call back until we were almost there (40 minutes away) and I hadn't driven b/c I was convinced I was overreacting and wouldn't need to go in. Of course - nurse says get your @$$ in here. I told her I couldn't b/c I was in the QCs and couldn't get back until somewhere b/w 4-5pm. She sounded rather worried so I started to get a little more anxious...so after some hemming, hawing, and brainstorming, I borrowed a friend's car and drove right back to Muscatine after I ate lunch there.

I wasn't too worried until I was about 1/2 way back to Muscatine when I realized hey, if something's wrong with me (I was thinking high blood pressure, preeclampsia, etc), they might tell me they have to take her now and that would be it! And Adam is either going to be in an airport or midflight on his last business trip before she gets here!! Then I started to think about who I would ask to be there instead...and couldn't think of ANYONE who was A) less than 45 minutes away, B) less than 5.5 HOURS away, or C) anyone who wasn't obligated to small children that could make it! I'd be totally alone!! So needless to say I tried to quash those thoughts but it was too late and I was a sobbing mess for a while on Hwy 61 into Muscatine. I managed to get ahold of myself and have white eyes instead of red ones by the time I got to the doctor's.

THEN, I walk up to the front desk and the girl (Shannon) asks me if I want to just have a seat until the nurse comes to get me. I'm cool with that b/c that's what I expected. Nope. The other receptionist hands her a paper and says 'wait, no, send her to the lab first.' I look at the order and it says EKG on it. Now I'm not an idiot but at the time I'm drawing a blank (my mom would not be proud since she does these) on what the hell an EKG is. I look at it blankly and finally figure I need to ask what the hell this is and why they ordered it. Finally got an answer - they're worried about tachycardia (sp? some heart issue) so this EKG thing will check my heart and make sure it's ok. Well, THEN I get even more worried b/c a healthy heart is pretty important for labor, so if there's something wrong there, what am I going to do later when I'm actually IN labor!!??? (BTW, it NEVER crossed my mind that I was in or going into labor today. No feelings like that AT all.) So I go down to the lab to wait (1/2 hour!!) and Adam finally gets off his 1st flight and calls me. I explain where I am and he's relatively calm and I lose it and start crying again. It was more nerve wracking that he was far away, had no way to get here faster, and like I said before, I had no idea who I could call that would be right in Muscatine and could be with me if they had to take her right away. So he calms me down and I promise to call/text him the minute I find anything out. Also, my saving grace SLPs at the meeting I was supposed to be at were keeping me busy with texting updates/questions (thank you girls!) until the lady finally called me in.

(this is getting long, sorry!) So the lab tech calls me in and tells me to wear a gown and undress on top. She gets back and tells me to lie on my back for the EKG. I looked at her and asked if I was going to be there long or could I lie on my side? She looks at ME like I'M nuts and says why?? I replied that I wouldn't be able to BREATHE very well after about a minute or two if I'm flat on my back b/c of the weight of uterus/baby on my arteries and she just thought I was nuts. I said listen, put it where you have to and then I'm lying on my side. Deal? Good. So she does her thing in about 2 minutes and tells me all looks well. Woo hoo! Hurdle #1 done and cleared like a champ. Go my heart!

I was able to at least call Adam and tell him that we were good to go on that hurdle before he boarded his second/last plane with promises of calling in the next 10 minutes if anything came up. I was sad when I stepped on the scale and it was huge, but honestly it was pretty far from my mind at that point. I get in the room and after good blood pressure, Dr. Coleman comes in. Turns out that since I'm there, we're going to forgo my (next Monday) procedures and do them today! I panicked a little b/c I had wanted Adam there but he said to go ahead if I was ok with it. So I figured if she was checking things out, she might as well just do it all and then I could skip Monday's appt (glad I did this). I can now add Strep B test and first dialation/effacement check to my list of things "accomplished" for this pregnancy.

Results: EKG - fine. BP - fine. Feelings of being flushed/pressure in my face - likely hormone surges from the BHCs and blood pumping b/c my uterus now pumps 500mL of blood every minute (woah). No extra protiens in my urine (routine check). Higher heart rate earlier - I'm not sure b/c she didn't give me an answer for it b/c I didn't ask further. Dialation - none/0. Effacement - 50%!!! Woah, we have a little progress, ladies and gentlemen! (For those of you that don't know, that means my cervix is 50% of the way thinned out and that the baby has moved down a little bit...pretty sure that's what that means.) So it was a good visit as nothing was really wrong and I got to find out I'm 50% effaced. Whew!!

Sorry for the long post. It was rather traumatic to go through at the time without Adam there, but in 1.5 short hours he will be close enough to be there any time should she be ready to come. Tonight entails returning the vehicle to a coworker who will drop it off for me in the QCs tomorrow (I work with the nicest people), relaxing, and spending time with Adam before his weekend of golf and my Muscatine baby shower tomorrow (so looking forward to that, btw!). Sigh. Thanks to God for keeping us healthy. :)

36 weeks...

Should I be freaking out? I'm not....yet. But for some reason I feel like I'm supposed to be nervous with the pending birth and having a DAUGHTER in our house. I just made a list of things that MUST be purchased before she gets here and plan to run that GIANT errand on Sunday. Once we have those things, the only thing holding me back from wishing she was here tomorrow is work/leave prep. Everyone that I say that to says that work will get done either by me or my subs so that's reassuring. I'm just thankful that I'm (relatively) covered for it and by very qualified people.

Speaking of LESS qualified people, one of my teachers yesterday just about made my blood boil for the first time in some time. To make a long story short, this woman never had kids (not by choice, unfortunately) but she has no clue about leave/pregnancy. She decided to "take matters into her own hands" and try to dictate when I will get my paperwork done and wants me to basically do non-timeline things before I leave so that my sub won't have to do it (who I swear this teacher thinks is inadequate even though she does 0-3 in IL)...so she went to my supervisor and made a ridiculous request who then passed it on to the next supervisor who is "going to take care of it" (meaning tell her she's out of line and the request is crazy). Ha. Bet any money she puts a peace offering (0-3 gift) on my desk within a week. Ok, enough vent about that!

So back to fun stuff - we're down to 28 days until my due date. Holy mother of all that is good and scary! 28 days! 4 weeks!! Two of my friends didn't know it at the time but at this point they were only TWO weeks out! Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. Adam wants her to come this weekend I swear...he can't wait. It was the best day - I'm sure most of you saw this if you have watched ANY news in the past few days, but there was a dad who took his little girl (4 y/o-ish) to a baseball game in Jersey...caught a foul ball, handed it to her, and she promptly threw it back to the player from an upper deck! Cute dad hugged his daughter and it was adorable. Needless to say, it really got Adam and now he's even MORE eager for this little munchkin to get here. :)

I'm starting to feel some "twinges" real low in the past few days. I really think it's just the baby moving lower or just around and hitting nerves, but I can't help but wonder if things are slowly starting to progress...like I said yesterday, we'll find out Monday for sure! Today, I had a big conference to sit at and the baby was relatively quiet all morning until about 10am...and then the acrobatics started. She put on QUITE the show for my table of fellow SLPs and an OT and for about 10 minutes everyone was staring at my very mobile belly rather than pay attention to the speaker...oh wait, that was most of the day. :) She's been on and off with her acrobatics all day and in the past two days I've been able to grab little limbs before she pulls them back in! It's really fun and I hope I don't squeeze her too hard...she keeps coming back for more though so either she hasn't made those connections yet in her little brain or she doesn't mind it.

Ok, off to Julie's (we're GPC travel widows this week) for popcorn and Project Runway. Enjoy the HUGE belly pics!

Updates

I decided I need to actually update this thing with words instead of just pictures. This is the first time in quite some time I've found SOME time! :) Go figure, Adam is on a business trip, therefore I have time. :) He's actually on his LAST business trip until the baby gets here, so we are forbidden to go into labor until Friday night or after. Fine by me! I finally made a list of all necessary IEPs and other paperwork that needs to be done before Baby Schmidt makes her real-life appearance and while it's a lot, it's quite do-able pending she is at least close to her due date and not super early. I've got several dismissals that can/will happen which is always a good thing - it means the kids have been successful and are ready to be done with speech! Love those!

Alright, updates and questions I've had and had answered the past week or so.

1. I've been having some pretty hard Braxton Hicks contractions (BHCs) the past few days. They are not painful and still asymmetrical so those are good signs that nothing major is going to happen any time soon (meaning tomorrow). Ideally we'll wait until 37 weeks (a week from tomorrow) and then she can come anytime since that's considered full-term. However, if she comes anytime really, she'll be fine. She's just getting fat now and building lung strength. The BHCs are a little uncomfortable (would almost consider it a hurt, but not really) when I get them right after getting up to go get a student. It seems like this happens frequently at my elementary schools on T/TH mornings. Enough about those.
   
2. Holy dropping baby! I got even more comments on the baby dropping and looking lower today. This seems to happen mainly on Wednesdays as I swear she knows the one day of the week when I will be up and down off the floor all day. Thankfully, 2 of my 5 canceled today for one reason or another so the day was not too bad. LONG (10 hrs) but not bad physically. But now next week and the week after are packed.
   
3. Monday is the day we see if I've made any progress thus far. My 36-week appt (which SHOULD be tomorrow, but Adam's out of town and I want him there for this one) is scheduled for Monday. While there, I will get a Strep-B (I think that's what it's called) test to make sure I'm not a carrier and could give it to the baby during delivery and then be checked for dilation and effacement (thinning of my cervix). Usually not much is going on and I could be dilated maybe 2cm which really doesn't mean much. I've had a few friends walk around for a week or two there but it could be even longer. I'm pretty excited about that appt (even if it is uncomfortable) just to see where things are. Maybe the doctor will tell me exactly how much time I have left for paperwork...ha. Wishful thinking.
   
4. Let's see, what else. The baby's been moving quite a bit lately although she does so in spurts. For example, Monday's sunrise brought with it a very wiggly little baby who does not like to be lightly squished on either side while trying to be full length in my belly. Tuesday brought a little more laid back baby, and then this morning, I wanted her to wake up again. So we cranked up the radio, sang along, and rubbed around the belly until she started to move a little. She then slept the rest of the morning (after "helping" out with the first 0-3 kiddo) and then woke up around lunch time to tell me we were grossly overdue to eat. She never stopped until just a little bit ago after supper. Whew! Funny 0-3 story later...
5. So I'm pretty sure we've got a baptism date set. We're likely going to have her baptism the Sunday of Thanksgiving, and that way those who would attend can do the Thanksgiving thing all the way up until Saturday at home in WI if they want, and then caravan down for the baptism on Sunday 10:45am. 99% sure about this.
   
6. Heavy me. So I'm not necessarily feeling "fat" like I thought I would feel towards the end of a pregnancy, but I AM feeling rather huge in terms of just the belly alone. For example, Sunday in church, it sort of hurt to kneel as in the pressure on my knees was more than I am used to. I later sat on one of our kitchen chairs (not padded) and had to get up within 5 minutes b/c I swear my butt bones (for lack of technical terms) were going to poke right through my cheeks! Ow! And then there's rolling over...ha! So anyway, I'm feeling pretty heavy and couldn't IMAGINE being 30lbs+ heavier than I normally am on a regular basis. Maybe I wouldn't notice if it was regular. Which it WON'T be after this growing munchkin is OUT. :)
   

Sorry this is turning into the world's longest post, but it's an update/catch up one so that's how it goes. My funny 0-3 story...today I had a little 2 y/o who kept trying to sit on my lap, would bounce off the belly, try again, bounce off, and this went on for about 3-4 tries. I just laughed. Hilarious. Cute little kid...had no clue what was going on. Her mom tried telling her "there's a baby in there!" and the little girl just turned, looked at my belly like "get outta my way!" and tried again...bounce...

In other non-baby news, my close friend from grad school, Meg, is ENGAGED!! Congrats to her & Trey and I'm so excited!! She's marrying someone I haven't met but from descriptions, I think she's found a VERY good match. Woo hoo!

Ok, finally, here are some pictures of an updated (but NOT finished) nursery. On Sunday, the plan is to send Adam golfing (ok, he already told me he was going so I'm just taking advantage of the situation) and then go buy whatever is left to finish up decorating the baby's nursery. Don't tell him that's my plan - we're using last-minute shopping for Julie's wedding next weekend as our excuse. ;) Likely he'll read this Sunday night after it's too late...Bwah ha ha ha ha! This is where I'm the best mommy ever. And will be reprimanded later as NOT best WIFE ever. :) Than he should come with me instead of golfing. Cunning, no? :) Anyway, enjoy the pictures and sometime in the next few days we'll post the 36-week belly pictures. Can you believe that? I think that officially makes me 9 months pregnant. Wow...she's almost here...

Don't mind the tubs of stuff...she got SO many clothes for her WI shower!

Crib & newly put together Little Lamb chair (it's even got little ears!)

View from the Little Lamb chair area

Close-up of the crib which will be sans-toys once she's in it.

Some of her new toys and books. We're still debating on
painting part of or the whole bookshelf purple...

Shower Pictures...finally. Worst. Poster. Ever. (occasionally)

Here are pictures from my baby shower two weekends ago - finally!! I would like to say that I'm going to post updated nursery pictures too (see FB since they're there already) tonight, but who knows. I will try! More soon...

Here I am with my "Mommy-to-be" wine glass...punch this time, wine next time! :)

Playing the "string game" where everyone cuts a string as big around as they think my belly is...Ellen Schmidt was the winner! Here, Grandma (to be) Sherri tries it out.

Emma Schmidt having fun under the table...

Here I am, very excited about receiving Baby's bedding!

Great Grandmas Schmidt & Skwor thinking about what this could be...(the diaper game).

Me and my BEAUTIFUL cake, says "Welcome, Baby Schmidt" on top. My stepmom, Susie's, business partner made it...clearly she was a baker in her previous life. :)

The diaper wreath that Godmother/Auntie Steph made!

Me & Trina, long-time friend.

Steph & I

The Grandmas-to-be, Susie, (me), Jackie, and Sherri

35 weeks down, 35 days to go!

This is my mantra today (see subject heading). I'm feeling slightly less stressed about work today but I know that will come crawling back quickly here if I don't get some serious reports/IEPs/etc done soon. Maybe (wishful thinking here) one of our E&Es will cancel/no show Monday...but I'm not thinking about work right now. :)

Sorry for the delay in all the posts and pictures. To sum up the rest of our weekend (since this is the only way I'll write about it), we had a wonderful time with everyone and were sad when the (too short) long weekend was over. Fast-forward to today!

Well, last night. I lied. Last night I did some major work on the nursery and unpacking more of the baby's things from the shower. I completed the crib (thanks to Mel & Nick for the crib pad - last needed touch!) which looks beautiful. The bumper is a little high but I figured it could look a little off so long as we don't have to bend over as far to get our little peanut out at this point. We'll move it down when she gets bigger and we need to keep her from escaping. ;-) Overall, I made some serious headway which was nice. I also wrote in her baby book which was SUPER fun and was able to look through it without crying for the first time.

Adam has forbidden me from having the baby next week as it's his last trip for work until she gets here. I could be considered mildly-not concerned whereas I believe he's moderately concerned (conservatively speaking). Who knows. I don't know what it feels like when she's getting close. I have my 36 week appt scheduled for Sept 21st which is really 36w4d, but that's ok. I want Adam at that one for all the checking they're going to do as I don't know how it's going to feel even though I've been told it's not that bad. Maybe we'll get a better report by then - as in I'm mildly dialated with a little effacement happening which would mean things were progressing in a timely manner vs. baby staying in for the long haul and needing an impending induction.

Stats:
Baby: almost 19" and ~5.25 lbs.
Mom: we'll just say slightly over 30lbs since A) I really have no idea and B) I really don't care anymore. I'm not going crazy with the food, I keep being told I'm not ballooning in my face (which I'm not sure if I agree with completely), and I'm eating healthy. Doesn't matter much at this point anyway. :)

Apology #2: I just posted a ton of pictures on Facebook so the thought of sitting in front of this computer with sausage fingers (it's hot and I'm too lazy/cheap to close all the windows and turn the a/c on...for now) is more than I can bear. I need to get up and move around! SO the apology is this - I'm sorry I didn't post pictures with this post. I'm happy to be getting my mini-pedi tomorrow night after a LONG afternoon meeting tomorrow since I can't reach my toes as easily anymore. I will post tons of pictures Saturday while Adam is off golfing, working, and doing other manly things on Saturday. I'm 99% sure that will happen. :)

Any and all fingers crossed that next week baby (at least until Friday night) and I just keep growing would be much appreciated!

Labor Day Weekend, Installment 1

We had a really nice weekend in WI this past weekend. However, after a long day at work, large grocery shopping trip, trying to get our main living areas under some sort of control, among other odds and ends, I'm too tired to go put pictures on the PC and post them. So my laptop will have to do on the couch while I wait with all of Adam's girls for him to get home from class. Hence, installment 1. :)

Friday:

• Went to the doctor with Adam for my 34-wk checkup. All was fine...I only gained ONE pound in 2 weeks!! Yay for that slowing finally! So I pull up my shirt so the doctor can do her measuring and heartbeat checking and the first thing she says is "When did you start getting these bumps?" She was referring to the blemish-like bumps on the very top of my belly in a small, half-palm sized area. I informed her that I thought it was just blemish-like things that were a result of my lotion...she informed me that she was pretty sure they were PUPPPS. A pregnancy skin condition. Coincidentally, I had read about this online an hour before and found that only 1% of preggo women get this and the only solution is delivery. They don't itch (like real PUPPPS) but I bought benedryl cream anyway. No itching. No spreading. I think it's blemishes. I don't like being a statistic. :)
  
• We FINALLY get on the road late at 5:17pm to go to WI. I drove the second leg and was doing alright until just after Madison. I figured I would need to stop more to walk and things on such a long ride, and apparently my body was telling me it was time to stop NOW. Adam was dozing off and all of a sudden I started to feel really weird...not lightheaded, but not all there at the moment. I woke him up all the way and he kept me alert for the next few miles until we stopped at a gas station (we're two birds with one stone kind of people). Adam got gas while I used the restroom and got some ice for the powerade we had in the truck. He then walked with me for a while and I felt like I could go FOR-EH-VER. But we don't like being on the road so we walked fast and got back on the road without further incident. Still weird though...
• Got to bed late but made it safe.
  

Saturday:

• Adam got up early (which means so did I b/c once I'm up I'm up) to go golfing with his dad. I got ready to head to my shower with Sherri (MIL) after running a quick errand in town. This is the first time I make someone in our family 15 minutes late this weekend.
  
• The baby shower was SO great! Words cannot express...the food was awesome (guilty - I LOVE broasted chicken), it was great to see family I haven't seen in a while, and our little girl is SO lucky and spoiled. She got so many things for her nursery, clothing, toys, etc. We feel so blessed.
  
• I asked Steph (my MOH) to be our little girl's Godmother. I feel like she was very pleased with that favor and we're very excited for her to take on that role once the baby gets here.
  
• Adam went golfing again in the afternoon while we did the whole baby shower thing and then met us (Sherri & I) up in Door County at Adam's aunt & uncle's camper for dinner and a campfire. It was a really nice day save for the VERY foggy, long ride home. :)
  

Ok, that's enough post for one night. More tomorrow (hopefully). :)

34 weeks (quick post)

We're just about to head out to WI but I wanted to quick put on my 34 week pictures (a day late). Enjoy! More when we get back about WI and the baby shower! :)

Other pregnancy things up 'til now

So below you'll find the nursery furniture post but I didn't want to put that post with other stuff, so I just separated them out. This one might get long unless I tucker out, in which case I'll post more things with the 34 week pictures tomorrow. (Woah - 34 weeks)

I've had a few more symptoms pop up and while they are not always consistent, they're worth noting.

• I can feel more pressure "there." This typically happens after having a rather physical day (ie. house work, weeding, moving things around the house, etc) or after sitting at my desk for a long period of time, which is unusual in my job, but right now I'm still organizing, emailing teachers, etc. in an effort to get ready for kids to really get started. It's more of an ache, I suppose, but it's a hard sensation to describe. It doesn't necessarily hurt, but it's an uncomfortable pressure. It goes away within about 3-5 steps but it's quite the waddle until my body "works itself out."
  
• Not a symptom, but the doctor's office called me Monday and said they were giving out flu shots to preggo people so I ran there after work and got poked. I was fine until just before I went to bed...started to feel a little icky...but nothing too terrible.
  
• Monday night, after eating dinner at 6ish (not abnormal) and not having any snacks or excessive amount of liquid right before bed, I was feeling like I had something stuck WAY up high in my throat and no matter what I did (multiple swallows, sips of water, etc) nothing helped. So not only did I feel icky from the flu shot, now I couldn't manage b/c I'm assuming I was having some serious reflux. :( Boo. So after we crawled in bed, Adam was a sweetheart and ran upstairs to the guest bedroom to grab me 800 pillows. After building a pillow fort all around me including being propped up high, I actually got to sleep within a half hour. Then a few hours later, as I was attempting to roll over (now a tremendous feat) and trying to semi-stay on my side of the bed so as not to wake Adam, I accidentally stabbed him in the eye with my finger. :( Needless to say he was WIDE awake instantly but was so nice about it and told me it was ok even though I was almost in tears I felt so bad. I slept well the rest of the night after I got over almost stabbing his brains out so that was good.
• Today a coworker asked me if the baby had dropped. Finally! Someone else who's had kids to validate what I've been wondering for a few days now. I think I posted this suspicion on Sunday when I realized I could make it through almost an entire song in church without stopping singing to huff and puff in the middle of each verse. The odd thing is that I would have thought that the bottom of my belly would be more uncomfortable due to the added pressure and/or stretching. This is not the case, however - I am more uncomfortable on the very top of my belly which feels like it's being pulled down (which it is, duh). But still, one step closer - dropping is a good sign!
  
• The past few days, Baby has been having some serious kicks and pushes that occasionally make me catch my breath b/c they hurt ever so briefly, but are quite powerful. Since they are so quick, it registers as a quick hurt but is typically gone quickly.
  
• Lastly, the baby woke up early today and was doing some of those giant pushes...and Adam put his hand on my belly and she calmed down. As soon as he took his hand away, she got a little crazy again...more Daddy's hand, less crazy baby. Finally I had to get out of bed and she seemed to be ok with that.
  

Ok, I think I ran out of steam for the night...and it's only 9:15pm. Hope you enjoy the nursery furniture post below...

The Nursery Furniture Post

Ok ok!! Several of you have been asking for some time now (and I mean a few days) for nursery pictures. Since the furniture is all here and constructed (as of Monday night), I've decided it's finally time to do just that. We might still be debating on another dresser, but I think we're going to play that by ear for now after August was a big "hit" to the baby account. :) Keep in mind that these are more FURNITURE pictures than actual nursery pictures...we have zero decorations or anything and have not removed the giant boxes from her room b/c the trash doesn't come again until next week. Let us know what you think!

Getting the glider out for some construction, with the help of Maddie & Jessie

Adam relaxing after some minor assembly.

Practicing using our reclining glider & ottoman...
reading "Goodnight Moon" before bed.

Dresser parts - out and accounted for. Time to assemble.

Getting there....

Drawer #2 in progress...

Taa daa!! A dresser, complete with fuzzy puppies posing. :)

Can we help?? (M & J like to be involved)

Three sides assembled...a bit more to go.

All we need is a mattress and bedding...mattress only for now.

Adam's girls posing in front of his masterpiece - our daughter's crib. Sooo happy!
xoxox