Dresser - CHECK!

We officially have a dresser for the baby and it's completely assembled and in its spot in her room. To top it off, it's absolutely beautiful. Adam is a true craftsman...or at least can follow directions really well. The dogs even helped and I (per Adam) did a fairly good job of not giving any "verbal assistance." I asked at one point if I could just screw in one thing with the drill, and Adam informed me of this - "If you get to carry the baby all over the place, then I get to put all her stuff together." 'Nuff said. I was the spectator/photographer. Since I used the new camera to document the "event," I will put pictures of her dresser on here once I actually read the camera's directions and know how to do more than turn it on, use the lens, and push the "take picture" button. All I have to say is the color is cherry and it is very pretty. I'm excited to see it with the crib and...

Glider! We were in the Quad Cities today and had a little time to kill before an errand, so we stopped at Babies 'R Us (which was relatively packed) to check out gliders. As we made our way from the east side of town to the west side of town, we stopped at a few places and checked out recliners. The ones that we liked were all ridiculously expensive (say $500++) so we really weren't sure where we were going to go with that decision. So we get to BRU and I find this glider/ottoman duo that I'd seen before and liked but couldn't convince Adam of the price. So Adam sits in it, likes it, and then tries one of the smaller ones to attempt to convince me that these would be (cheaper) better - however, this one reclined AND rocked while it was in the reclining position. I take a seat in the one we liked and began convincing Adam that a recliner won't rock while reclined and this is sooo much better (the wood perfectly matches her furniture btw) when Angel #1 comes down from heaven and begins to tell us that the glider I'm sitting in is the best one here. She had gotten one of the smaller ones and if I planned on nursing, I'd be crazy to get any other one than the one I was sitting in. (yay! where did she come from!?) Thankfully, other things fell into place - it was 20% off both pieces, Adam also liked it, it matched the furniture, and the lady who mentioned that if I'm going to nurse then I need this glider set it off and we ordered it without thinking further. It should be ready in 7-14 business days and with some minor assembly, I plan to read to her in her nursery as soon as it's here. :) Then, as we're ordering it, Angel #2 comes out of nowhere and says "hey, you're buying something, use this coupon since I'm not going to use it at all!" She proceeds to pull out her flier and give us a coupon for a free umbrella stroller (if you spend over $100 - NO problem there)!! I was so excited b/c I had wanted one, didn't put one on the registry, and suddenly had on in my possession! Adam still doesn't know why we need it (quick trips in the store, planes, etc.) but it's ok. It was free so he doesn't need a real reason, right? ;-)

Then we headed off to our last errand which was to buy our first set of Bum Genius Diapers since my friend, Abbie, informed me that August was buy 6 get 1 free month! Now we have 7 diapers (and are working our way up to about 20) and I'm really excited to start using them. We will likely wait until the diaper changes decrease from the initial 10-12/day (about 1 month old) but it's going to be great. And they're super cute!! She now has the following colors (but can def use more - like I said, we're working our way up to 20): light pink, dark pink, light blue, dark blue, dark green, light yellow, and white. They are so cute and get SO little for when she's a newborn. Then they grow with her until she's potty trained and voila! They almost (if not fully) pay for themselves (and help the environment a bit too).

Needless to say, Baby's budget has taken a major hit this past week with 3 pieces of furniture, diapers, and a new camera (Adam is claiming this as a baby expense).

Other things going on with baby and mom - my fingers are now too chubby to wear my wedding ring. :( To the naked eye they don't look like sausages or anything, but the other morning it took me a whole minute to get my ring off and I decided it's time. My right hand ring is a touch bigger so it's currently sitting on my (left) ring finger. Adam finally noticed on Friday night at the ball game and started freaking out - "Where's your wedding ring?!? This one makes me look so cheap!!" (clearly it's smaller) This made me laugh so hard...I'm pretty sure he was joking - a little.

I can no longer lie on my back for more than about 30 seconds. My face gets all red and within a very short amount of time, I can no longer breathe very well. Apparently this 30lbs basketball has some influence on my insides. Ah, the days when I could sleep on my back and belly. It's worth it not to get to do that, but wow. Sure do miss it.

But now it's time to get Adam all packed up to head out of town again this week. At least this week is only a 4-day travel event, which is better than the usual M-F. My mom is coming down with her boyfriend, Lee, to take me to birthing class on Tuesday since Adam is out of town and I'd cry the whole time if I went alone. I'm really excited for her visit since she hasn't been to our house yet. But off to get some sleep for another long week ahead. Tomorrow's another all-day meeting. UGH. I'll be the giant pregnant lady against the wall STANDING b/c I really can't take it if I have to sit all day...

Maternity Pictures Today

This morning I was pleasantly surprised to wake up with Adam next to me (should we be shocked? Not really...). For whatever reason, this week of him traveling felt more like a year so to have him right there when I woke up for the day was just really nice. We got up early and got ready to go up to our friends, the Pinters, as we were meeting Steph's mom Patty who was going to take our maternity pictures. I felt a little silly walking in with almost every black/white shirt and pants that I own (that fit) but I didn't quite know what she all wanted so I thought it best to be prepared.

We did several poses and at the end had taken 50 pictures. I asked her if that was considered quite a lot and she said no...to which I said, you're going to lie to me anyway, right? And she said yup. :) I was really impressed with everything she knew/did/etc. and think we got some really amazing pictures. We did a sihloette (sp??) picture of the two of us, head/nose to head/nose and holding the belly...another with just me looking down at the belly, Adam standing behind me with arms around the belly...a big pink ribbon on the belly with our rings tied in it...heart hands together around my belly button...me lying on my back (very briefly! don't worry!!) with some blocks on my belly and Adam lying behind me...me with a button shirt open from the top of my belly down....and the last one was on a whim - Adam was set to go for his softball tournament today and Patty got the idea of getting a baseball glove, have Adam put it on, and then put the glove "catching" my belly with a thumbs up. He's behind me and doing the arm wrap-around thing again...it was quite funny. All in all, we were SO pleased with how it went and are SO excited to see them. I should be able to put them on facebook and on here when they come, but cannot duplicate them or anything like that.

It's a base/softball weekend this weekend. Our friends, Denise & Travis, got tickets for the River Bandits game last night (like the Timber Rattlers for you WI folks) so we went with them and had a great time. I *finally* got that stadium hot dog I'd been wanting from there all summer along with green cotton candy (first time for that one!) that was ok...poor Adam was gone 15 minutes trying to find me some since they sold out and had to go hit up the stash in the back. :) What a great husband. Today Adam is at his softball tourny (I think it's state, but it might be nationals too...who knows) and I'm going to go watch the next few games since the house is relatively clean and I don't have anything pressing at home.

Mental note to self - we got our new camera last night (Nikon D40) and are VERY excited about it. Adam put it together but we have yet to find time to play with it. If Adam's team doesn't make it to tomorrow's portion of the tournament, I'm pretty sure that's what we're doing all day - figuring out that camera. Gotta run! Going to be late for the games!!

32 weeks

It's been a while...again. Oh well. We've officially hit the 32 week mark and by the math, you'd think I'm 8 months along, but I think I'm at 8 months at the END of 32 weeks. So we've got until next week until we'll officially call me 8 months I guess. Technicalities.


I went to the doctor today for a checkup and things went just fine. Baby's heart rate was 144 bpm and apparently I'm measuring fine since Dr. Coleman didn't say anything when she was measuring and I was talking. Update on some things: Adam and I are to stop traveling when I reach 36 weeks. I think I'll be able to sneak in one more trip to Des Moines for work, but that's it then. Adam made noises that he won't be able to get all his stuff done (traveling for work) in the next 4 weeks to which I said too bad, make it happen. ;-) He's told his customers/accounts about his inability to travel in the last half of Sept and Oct, so it really shouldn't be a problem. Plus, he's got some guys in tech service who can go in his place for trials if absolutely necessary, so that's a nice bonus for that time being. Other than that, only a 2# weight gain since my last appt which I *think* is ok. No one at the office seemed upset by it so I'm going to go with it. It's better than those 4 & 5lb gains in recent visits.

Few quick baby things to note:

• Her dresser has arrived! It came in a big, flat, square box this week, so I'm assuming that Adam has some serious assembly ahead of him as there is no way that's a dresser in that box as is. :) The crib (I finally called today since the orders were made at the same time) is set to ship in the next day or two so it should be here next week. CAN'T wait!! Then after the showers I can buy whatever else we need to decorate her room and voila! A nursery will be part of our household - officially. :)
  
• In the past week or so, I've experienced several occasions of BH contractions where I get a series of say, 3 of them, rather strong (but not painful or symmetrical), all in the span of about 10 minutes. That's kind of a lot in a short amount of time, but Dr. Coleman didn't seem worried after I told her that after a set of them, they stop and don't come back for a while. So we're good there. :)
  
• Fatigue - still hasn't really hit me like it was in the first trimester which is what I was expecting it to be like again at the end here. Maybe I need to be closer to the end for it to come back. Either way, it can wait until she gets here to come back for all I care.
  
• Getting up/rolling over: It's almost comical now. At least to Adam it is. I find that I have to scoot to the front edge of the couch or recliner now to get up b/c the belly gets in the way, or my abs don't work, or whatever other reason comes up that it just doesn't work. Fabulous.
  
• My cousin's wife, Amanda, sounds like she's getting very close to delivering their first one, a little boy. Can't wait!
  
• This was my first full week back to work. While it wasn't a traditional week due to meetings, scheduling, and the like, it was still work and it was still a whole week long. Tomorrow shouldn't be bad either but then it's the WEEKEND! Adam has a softball tourney all weekend in the Quad Cities so I'm sure we'll be spending some serious time there. Hopefully I'll get to go do fun things while he's not playing so it will be a good weekend all around.
  
• Adam had an all-around GREAT week at work where he was in Quebec and then Toronto. I'm super happy for him b/c his job is NOT easy - I don't think I could do it. I know I couldn't if I had to know a lick about chemistry (and he knows his stuff). So consider this my rousing round of applause for him. YAY!!
  

Ok ladies and gents. Off I go. Baby and I are hungry, the house needs to be straightened up before Adam gets home tomorrow so I don't have to worry about it all weekend, and then maybe a quick run to Walmart for "something" for our pictures on Saturday. We're having maternity pictures done by our friend, Steph Pinter's, mother, who is a professional photographer Saturday morning. I think maternity pictures are some of the most beautiful ones out there, and hopefully mine turn out alright. Adam (much to his chagrin) will also be participating but then going fast as lightning to his softball tourny. Later gators!

PS. Here's a picture of the Lopez family (Joe & Casey) with their
new little 19-hour old bundle of joy, little JoJo. :)

Ups and Downs

So yesterday and today have been filled with ups and downs...let's start with the downs b/c ups are more fun to end with:

Downs:

• I couldn't jump up on the tail gate of Adam's truck yesterday, in public, to sit. I tried and looked like the silly puppy that's too uncoordinated to jump on a pillow straight. Made me cry.
• Speaking of crying, I've cried twice in about 18 hours...for stuff I wouldn't ordinarily cry about. Such as not making it up on a tail gate. Or Adam asking me to not tell him the same thing 4 times (which I wondered why I was doing it as I was saying it the 4th time...). I guess the emotional button has been temporarily (hopefully) turned on. Anyone know where the "off" button is on that one?
• I woke up at 4am early Saturday morning to roll over (much more laborius now) and realized I might as well get up to use the bathroom. So I get back, stretch out, and it happens. Let me back up first - usually when I stretch like this, I point my toes and just before I get some major cramping I pull my toes toward my shins and don't get the cramp. Well, last night I didn't pull back fast enough on my right foot and before I knew what hit me, my right calf was in full on cramp mode (which of course hurt like he!!) and I could NOT make it stop to save my life. So as I'm yelling, I whack Adam awake and tell him my right leg won't let go! Help me! Pull my toes up!! It hurts it hurts! So as he's still waking up (he's a trooper and amazing while half asleep) he grabs my foot and pulls it up which gets me out of the cramp in about 4-5 seconds...but wow. That really hurt. Then Adam finally gets fully awake and thanks me for scaring the crap out of him. I in turn thank him for taking me out of my agony so quickly and give him a re-kiss goodnight. My calf was still pretty sore today and it took me a while to walk on my whole foot instead of my toes this morning. Yikes! I really really hope that doesn't happen when he's traveling next week. So I drank extra milk and water and got some bananas from the store. Potassium and fluids...hopefully it does the trick.
  

Ups:

• Our friends had their baby, Joe III, yesterday!! I posted about it but it was still super great b/c we got to meet him today when he was about 19 hours old. Casey looked amazing for having just given birth and we were amazed to hear that Joe (who recently graduated with his RN degree) got to deliver his son. They were so happy and we left with light hearts and smiles and can't wait for it to be our turn - once she's done "baking," that is.
  
• I made a ton of Amish Friendship Bread this afternoon/evening which went right to the freezer for when we have visitors and helpers once the baby gets here. Even better - the kitchen is relatively clean afterwards. :)
  
• I had my first ever prenatal massage today. It was a mother's day gift from Adam and the baby and I plan to get the pedicure that went with it Monday (they couldn't squeeze them both in on short notice and I was too excited to wait). The only thing I was sad about was that they didn't have the kind of table where there is a belly hole and I could actually lie on my stomach. But a massage that lasted just over an hour on my sides was JUST fine and felt so good. The baby was quiet during the whole thing except for one foot or fist that went across almost 1/2 my belly. SO relaxing. :)
  
• I'm starting to get less hungry now. Well, quantity wise. I ate a bunch of take-out food the past day and a half so we've been back on the healthy bandwagon since supper tonight and it's going to last several days if not at least a week. We can't be eating like that and still have a decent preggo bod. :)
  
• I'm finally going to bed now. Instead of waiting awake for Adam to get home from his bachelor party outing with Jason and the boys (Jason's wedding is at the end of Sept if you don't know), I'm going to wait in bed, asleep. :) And I can't believe it but I think 8 of them piled in to our 7-seater Highlander...which really should only fit about 6 adults. Must look like a clown car when they all get out...g'night....zzzzzzzzz...
  

100th post! 10, 20, 30 week comparisons

Wow, can you believe this is my 100th post? Sheesh, makes me feel like I'm on the computer too much...

One thing I need to quick mention is that the next baby in the baby succession has arrived!! Our Muscatine/GPC friends, Casey & Joe Lopez, just welcomed their little boy, JoJo, into the world about three hours ago. He was 19" long and 7.5lbs I believe. Congrats to the Lopez family!!

Secondly, I wanted to do this post as my friend, Abbie, did this once and it was pretty neat to see her progression every 10 weeks of her pregnancy. Her pictures were of a flat tummy, almost flat tummy, and then basketball under her shirt, but mine are a little different than that since my belly started going out "just a bit" sooner. :)

10 weeks

20 weeks

30 weeks

Woah! What a difference!! Let's just hope that it goes like everyone says it will and we return to the pre-10 week picture in a reasonable amount of time postpartum... ;-)

31 weeks down, 9 to go...woah.

So today marks the 31st week of pregnancy with this little kickmonster. :) I hope and pray that she keeps her sleep schedule as my schedule changes back into the swing of things at work...as in gets up with us/me either just as we're waking up in bed (usually when Adam puts his hand on my belly), kicks a bit before sleeping the morning away, wakes up for lunch either to remind me it's lunch time (FEED ME!) or that I ate too much (I'm squished in here!) for a few hours, then sleep, then intermittent sleep/wake until night time when she gets real active b/w 9-10pm and tuckers herself out just in time for us to crawl in bed at 10pm. She gives Adam a kick goodnight and then doesn't wake me up all night long. See why we beg the medical staff we see that she keeps the same schedule? Will we get as lucky as my mom did with her first 2 children who slept 22 and 20 hours a day? I might be able to handle that...my mom informed me last night that I slept through the night at 2 weeks old. Wishin', and hopin', and prayin', and plannin'...

Let's see, anything new about this week? Per babycenter.com, Baby should be around 3.3lbs and 16" long. My guess is she might weigh slightly more than that, but I'm stickin' to it that my doc said I'm on track for a 7lbs baby. I'd even take an 8lbs-er than the 9 & 10+ lbs babies my mother had...although she went 2-3 weeks late with 3/4 of them, so maybe she would have had lighter babies if she had been induced earlier. As for me, my last doctor's appt (a week ago?) I think I was up 28 lbs. I hope that wasn't from the earlier doc appt. Anyway, I'm heavy. And slowing down on the eating I think b/c it feels better to not be hungry than to be super full for hours on end. If that makes sense.

Tonight Adam and I took the dogs for a walk on the riverfront. He decided about 1/3 of the way through that we were going to pick up the pace...and I could almost not keep up with him! I was doing my best waddle and thought I was doing alright...but we slowed down just a bit so I could keep up. Thinking back on it, I could breathe a lot better on this walk (about 2.5 miles through bugs, so it was fast) but I think it's too early for her to have dropped yet and I was walking way to comfortably for her to be much lower. Who knows. It was a nice walk despite the awful tiny bugs, so I'll take it. :)

PS. I'm on the losing end of a battle between the baby and my innie belly button. It's not popped out or anything, but little parts/folds are slowly sticking out further and further. While it's still flush with the rest of my tummy, I don't know if this will last much longer...please pray for my belly button! :)

1st Birthing Class Last Night

Last night was our first birthing class. We walked in and it was SO quiet...I think there ended up being 7 moms in there with coaches, husbands, or boyfriends. I was quite shocked at one point when this teeny little person walked in with her boyfriend and I had to wonder if they were able to drive themselves to the class. Anyway, the class focused on fetal development (which I really knew most of), what we all expected out of the class, and how to tell when you're in real labor vs. the braxton hicks contractions I/we get regularly on a daily basis. So we end the class with a "relaxation" exercise which involved all of us (moms and coaches) lying on the floor (SO comfy, right? those two pillows we brought did next to nothing for comfort) and listening to relaxing music (which we just so happened to have at our wedding! Canon in D if I remember correctly) while the nurse talked us through relaxing ourselves. Here's why I could NOT relax during the relaxation exercise:

1. Adam kept trying to flip my lip (annoying thing we do to each other to make the other one laugh) while I was lying there.
2. Baby was kicking and kicking and then strreeeeeettttcccchhhiinnnnngggg out bigger than I think she ever has since the belly was just lying/hanging there and not supported by anything. She even made me suck in my breath b/c it was both unexpected and kinda uncomfortable! But not terrible.
   
3. Adam kept whispering junk to me just when I was about to start relaxing.
4. The cardiolgy team was called to the ER stat over the intercom. Self-explanatory. :(
   
5. Couldn't stop smiling b/c it was our wedding music.
6. Kept thinking about how some of this might be bogus when it came time to do the actual labor/delivery bit. But if I focus on it, I WILL do it. It's just hard to do when nothing's happening.
   

So we get to leave and before we're even out the door, Mr. Craving (aka. Adam) asks me, no, wait, tells me that he wants to stop at Taco Bell since he didn't eat supper as he ate a super late lunch that day. So we stop and make it through the drive through in record time (the TB here really sucks for time of service). We make it to the end of the night, and all of a sudden I hear Adam whispering in Maddie's ear (this is the dog, mind you) to breathe in through her nose, breathe out through her mouth...I almost die laughing when I realize he's practicing his "coaching" skills on the dog. Nice. At least he's practicing I suppose. And the nurse told the coaches that if we're pretty sure I'm going in to real labor, DON'T feed me. She explained why (my body won't digest it b/c it's focusing on L&D which can lead to some icky results) but still - try not feeding me when I'm hungry, pregnant or not. It DOESN'T go so well, usually. That might be one of the harder parts of labor for me!

Another thing we learned last night is that the baby will likely calm to Adam's voice rather immediately after birth, so start talking to her! We're starting tonight where he's going to read to her and actually, while she hears me all the time, I'm going to start reading to her daily too. I know, some of you are probably thinking, "what?? She hasn't already??" but nope, no formal reading to her yet. I have the old bible stories that my parents used to read to us when we were little, and I plan to read those to her now and when she gets here (which reminds me I need to go on Amazon to see if I can find the missing volumes). They smell like my childhood and I love them dearly. Yay for making Baby's brain synapses go bonkers and grow!

I best go make dinner since Adam will be home soon and likely starving. Oh, and btw, one of my (and Baby's, I'm convinced) new favorite things to do is to wait until the baby is doing big, slow movements across my belly and telling Adam to come feel her b/c she's kicking so much at the moment...and then she does a big, sweeping push against his hand and he freaks out b/c it feels weird to him. Ha ha! And I have to experience that weird feeling all the time! If you didn't read about the u/s yesterday, check out below. 31 weeks tomorrow! Down to single digit weeks until she's here!! :)