Gemma: 9 months

Another month, another time you get to hear me say "Where did my little baby go?"  I was recently looking through some old photos of Gemma and I can't believe how much she has changed!  I used to see a little bit of me in her (mostly in the mouth/smile), but I only see Jeff in her these days.  She is the spitting image of her daddy.  She definitely has her mama's personality though.  Here's why:

-She loves to sing.  Whenever I sing the "If all the raindrops" song, she skips ahead to the "ah ah ah ah ah ah" part! Love it.

-She loves to dance. (Just to be clear here, I do not dance. HOWEVER, I have been known to dance around like a fool to make my baby smile.)  It's pretty darn cute now that she can stand on her own.

-She is learning baby sign.  She has mastered "fan" and "milk" along with "hi" and "bye," and we're working on "apple," "hot," "eat," " night-night" and "dog."  She also likes to clap.

-I know a lot of people might not believe this, but she is beginning to TALK. Yes, real words.  She says "mama" and "daddy" in context.  And, her cousin, Miles, taught her "cracker."  She calls almost all of her snacks a cracker. Cheerios, bread, an actual cracker, you name it. :)

-Has regressed in regard to her sleeping habits.  Ever since we went to Florida (which I think is a total coincidence) she has been up every 1-2 hours.  I'm exhausted.  Whenever I go into her room, she is standing up in her crib.  I curse the day she learned to stand! (Not really.)

-Gemma standing on her own for about 30 seconds at a time. 

-She finally learned how to crawl forward, and has been doing it for quite a while. I honestly probably didn't even know it, because she wants to be walked around the house constantly.

-Loves to take the stairs! When you hold onto her arms, she walks up the stairs, actually swinging her leg up to each step and pushing off.

-Loves to eat anything and everything. Especially loves meat. Yes, MEAT. Hamburger, chicken, ham.

-Our favorite game is to chase Harper around the house.  Harper is way too fast for us, but its a fun game anyway.  Gemma laughs and squeals, and I mostly just run out of breath. :)

-Has learned to jump on her bed already. I came in to get her up this morning, and she was so excited to see me, she started jumping while holding onto her crib railing.

-Is getting two more teeth. When these come through, that will be 10 for her!

As exhausting as this stage of her life has been, it has been so much fun to see the new things she is learning.  I love seeing her little personality coming out!

We had her 9 month well baby check up yesterday, and I was surprised that there are no shots! And to think that I was dreading the appointment all week for nothing. (Well, not nothing. We waited over an hour. Not fun when your baby has already missed her nap to stay up for the appointment.)  At any rate, her are Gemma's stats:

18 pounds 4 ounces (58%)
28 inches long/2 feet 4 inches (77%)

And for some reason, they didn't give me her head stats! Guess I'll have to call in for those, so I can keep the baby book up-to-date.

What would be a monthly update without a couple of photos?

Ha! Gemma didn't like the Santa at our late extended family Christmas in February.

Gemma on her very first Valentine's Day. Her dress was her gift. :)

Taste Test

As I've mentioned before, Gemma has been eating non-baby food solids for quite some time now.  She first discovered Plum Organics puffs at Christmas when she tried some of her cousin's.  They're not sugary and have a subtle flavor.  Gemma also likes Cheerios, so Jeff's parents decided to put them to the test.  See which she prefers in the videos below.

Plum Organics (these are strawberry and beet) wins!

Gemma: 8 months

I know I say this every month, but it feels like I was just posting about Gemma's 7 month birthday.  The days are going by too fast! During the winter months, I suppose that's okay.

I lament to Jeff almost every day that Gemma isn't my little baby anymore. She is my BIG baby. I'm amazed by how quickly she learns these days.  She is so much fun and I'm really enjoying this stage of her life, but I do miss the days of when she was my little babe all nestled up in the bassinet in our bedroom.

Here are somethings Gemma is up to these days:

-Is on the go constantly. She does not crawl in the traditional sense, and I don't think she will.  She tries to stand all of the time instead.  She puts herself in the downward dog pose and moves her feet until she is where she wants to be and then plops herself into sitting position.

-Wants to walk around the house all the time (with our assistance).  Her go to spot is the front door where Harper's bells hang. (Harper is bell trained).

-New favorite song is "I'm a Little Teapot."  I have to admit I felt a bit like a square when my friends' kids are singing the latest songs on the radio, but oh well. So be it. I am a square. :)

-Is a little piggy.  She is eating almost anything that is safe for her.  She loves crackers, puffs, Cheerios, chicken, green beans, carrots, pear, apple, pretty much anything under the sun.

-All 8 of her teeth are fully through, and I'm pretty sure she's working on a 9th.

-Loves to brush her teeth.

-Loves other babies.  We started baby sign class at ECFE the other week, and when we arrived and she saw the other kids, she flapped her legs and arms and had a huge smile on her face.

-Still cries (and by cries, I mean wails) when she sees/hears my dad.  The only thing we can think of is that he is probably the loudest, most boisterous person she will ever be exposed to in her life. Maybe its his mustache? Not a clue...poor Grandpa.  He says it doesn't bother him, but I'm sure its getting to him. He says to her, "Be nice to grandpa.  When you're bigger, I'll take you to Daves (the local grocery store...for candy)!"

-Sleeping 4 hours a night still. Sometimes I'm in such a daze, I really don't know what I'm doing in the middle of the night.  One night last week, I got up because I heard Gemma crying.  When I got halfway to her room, she was calming down, so I went back to bed.  A little while later, Jeff said to me "does she need to eat?" I totally thought I had already gone in there, so I was waiting for Jeff to go get her and rock her! Poor kiddo.

-We moved her mattress down a notch now as she is pulling herself up on the bars.

Gemma's first yoga move: downward dog.  She needs to work on her technique a bit!

One of my favorites from our kiddo photo shoot with Christy.

Gemma: 7 months

The time is passing so quickly and it doesn't even seem like that much has happened in the last month.  I'm a little late in posting this (what's new?), but better late than never!

Gemma is really the joy in our lives.  We love having her with us pretty much 24-7.  (Not to say that we don't have our moments when we'd love to give her to someone else! ;) ) Last week, she was babysat by my mom two days in a row as I had some business to take care of, and as silly as it sounds, we missed her!  Jeff, who works full-time from his home office, even said he missed her that week.  Okay. So enough gushing about how much we love her....I know everyone loves their babies, so I'm sure I'm not saying anything new here.  Here's what our baby G is up to these days:

-She is still scooting backwards and doesn't really seem to care too much about crawling forward.  She has now learned to scoot on her butt, too.  Girl can get where she wants to go without crawling!  I'm guessing she might skip it and move to walking sooner, but we'll see. Although her balance isn't great, she loves to be walked around the house.

-After an allergic reaction to pears (we think), she is back on the solids bandwagon.  She's started eating organic puffs and little pieces of our food, too.  I'm thinking to just try mostly feeding her pieces of food rather than get too involved in baby food.  In fact, she has already eaten whole peas, broccoli, pieces of bread and muffin, wait for it...cookie! (Gah. My mother. :) ) I don't intend to wean her from breastfeeding, but think this might be a good alternative especially since....

-Girl has 6 teeth and is working on 2 more!  Four bottom front teeth are the most prominent, and her two front teeth have shot through a bit, too.  She's currently working on the two to the sides of her front teeth, which may be why...

-She still doesn't sleep more than 3-4 hours at a time during the night.  I've had people ask me if I'm not sick and tired of getting up all the time, and the truth is, yes. It would be great to get a full 6 hours or so of uninterrupted sleep; however, its become my new norm. So, we'll go with it for now! I'll never get those precious moments when its just her and I bonding in the middle of the night back, so I'm not going to complain TOO much about it.

-She is learning to love new songs that I sing her.  If You're Happy and You Know It and Pat a Cake are still favorites, but she also now enjoys "If All of the Raindrops" and "Shake Your Sillies Out." (I'm not sure if those are the proper names for those songs, but you get the gist.)

-Gemma is getting very good at playing independently for decent chunks of time.  Every once in a while, she will whine when I walk away, but she quickly recovers when I tell her I'm still there. :)A

-Her brain is a little sponge right now. In the last couple of days she learned to wave "hi" and "bye." She is also clucking her tongue now.  I am loving this age!

Here are a couple of photos of our little chunk at the beginning of her 7th month.

Our first Christmas traditions

Being a new family of three, I've been thinking about our own family Christmas traditions I want to create. It's difficult to think of them now since Gemma can't get very involved in them.  I figure the traditions will build slowly over the  years, and I'm excited to dream up new ideas every year.  

Jeff and I started our own little tradition of opening our gifts to each other on Christmas Eve day, as we usually have plans with our extended families that evening and on Christmas Day.  I also began making apple dumplings for breakfast that morning and that tradition continued this year.  They looked picture perfect this year, and I was prepared to take a picture and post it here along with the recipe....until Jeff had to do some work quickly (even though he had the day off), and I put them back in the still warm (apparently too warm) oven. They soon were too dark to be called picture perfect anymore, but they, thankfully, were still good enough to eat!

At any rate, you'll have to trust me that these are fantastic and easy, albeit pretty unhealthy.  Hey, its Christmas, right?  The recipe is from my mom, and I'm not sure where she got it from. 

1/2 cup butter

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup orange juice

1 tube of crescent rolls

2 apples, peeled and quartered

Melt the butter, orange juice and brown sugar together on stove top. Let simmer for a few minutes on low.  Wrap each apple piece with a crescent roll and place in a baking dish.  Pour sauce over apples and bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.  (I sometimes half the sauce portion of this recipe to make it a little healthier, and its just as good.)

One new tradition we added this year was taking Gemma to see Santa Claus at the mall.  We chose a mid-week lunchtime to try to beat the crowds, and we were pleasantly surprised that no one was there at all!  I expected Gemma to cry immediately upon being placed on Santa's lap because she has become afraid of men the past couple of months.  (Mostly just white men...hehe. Really. She is not afraid of Jeff's dad or brother, but cries at the sight of my dad, brother, her godfather, and my brother-in-law.) Anyway, Gemma lasted a good 5 minutes with Santa before the water works started.  We were really proud of her!

Hey, hey! All is good!

Wait a minute! Who the heck are you?

And, we're done.

Again, I'm so excited to add more traditions as the years go on and our family grows. (And, no, I'm not making an announcement...just that we do plan to have more children in the future.) I can't wait to create these memories with my loved ones.

Gemma's 6 months old!

Holy moly! Where did the time go?  I haven't written about all of the fun things Gemma is doing.  She was 6 months old last week, but we had her 6 month appointment today.  I was surprised to learn that she has two more teeth just barely peeking out on the bottom!  I didn't really pay much attention to the bottom since I already knew she had two and knew that the next ones to come are usually the top. (She is also getting 4 up there, but they are not through yet.) Gemma had a big growth spurt at her 4 month appointment and was in the 90th percentile for height.  She has since tapered off, which the doctor says is normal.

Here are her stats:
weight: 16 pounds 8 oz. (62%)
height: 26 inches (61%)
head: 16.25 inches (19%)


And here are the fun things she's up to:

-blowing raspberries
-starting to get her top teeth
-sitting up all on her own
-not crawling yet, but scoots backward and pushes up on all fours
-eating solids here and there. We need to be more consistent, but I'm not big into pushing solids. She's eaten everything like a champ so far! We've done squash, carrots, pears, rice cereal, and bananas.  I think she may have had a reaction to the pears, though. Poor girl got a rash!
-loves her jumperoo and exersaucer
-loves paper or anything that crinkles
-loves touch and feel books
-we moved her into her convertible carseat because she outgrew the infant seat lengthwise.
-loves Harper and tries to "pet" her much to Harper's dismay.
-talks (ie screams) constantly. (Unless there are new people around.)
-loves to watch me cook and bake
-loves the songs "Pat a Cake" and "If You're Happy and You Know It"
-is now wearing 6-12 or 6-9 month clothing, mostly because she is too long for 3-6.
-swats at everything. Don't let her fool you! You will think she's being all sweet and touching your face gently, but you'll end up with a scratch or a smack in the face! :) Stinker!
-still waking up twice a night. Usually at 2 and 5. (Yes, I count 5 as night!) Although, on her 6 month birthday she slept through the night, which was a godsend for me because I was up the entire night with food poisoning. (I've never had it before and I would gladly go through natural childbirth again rather than have it again.) Some friends have suggested not feeding her and letting her cry, but I don't have the heart to do it. I'm not at my breaking point yet! :)

Gemma in her Christmas dress reject.  I really liked this one, but found one that looked better on her complexion!

Gemma today after her shots at the doctor.  She recovered pretty quickly!

I can't believe it has been about three months since my maternity leave technically ended, and I have not regretted my decision to stay at home for a moment. I don't think I've ever been happier. (Not to say that there are not challenging days!)  I feel so blessed to be able to stay home with Gemma.

I'm looking forward to watching her grow, change, and witness all of the new things she'll be doing in the next months.  Walking, talking, etc.  We're taking a baby sign class through ECFE starting in January, so it'll be fun to see if she picks up on that!

Photo Friday

I got my hair cut! I lopped off about 7 inches or so.  I don't intend to keep it short, but I just couldn't stand to be losing so much anymore. (Lovely post-pregnancy hormones.)  I know I'll still keep losing the same amount, but at least I'll find short pieces all over the place instead of long ones!

I had to share this cute one of Gemma in her snowsuit.  She looks like a little pink marshmallow.  She'll be needing a new one soon along with upgrading to her convertible car seat.  She's only about an inch away from outgrowing the infant one.  (Not sure how we got a tall baby!)

This is a newer thing Gemma has been doing.  She's all about sticking her tongue out. Constantly. I love that little weirdo.

Loved this verse.  I was getting a heat massage (or something weird in a time capsule sort of thing) at Body Beautiful the other day and as I was waiting, I read some daily verses. This date is my hubby's birthday.  I thought it was a pretty fitting reminder for him, so I snapped it with my phone and sent it to him. :)

This isn't a photo, but I wanted to share it anyway. :) Gemma has been using this jumperoo for a while now and loves it.  We borrowed it from our friends and are so glad we did!  (Along with a lot of other bigger toys that I said I never wanted! wink wink.)

Halloween 2011

Gemma's first Halloween was pretty uneventful.  I knew we would just stay home and hand out candy since she is too young to eat candy and it would most likely be to cold to take her around the neighborhood anyway.

Even though we weren't planning to go out trick or treating, I wanted Gemma be in costume when we answered the door for our trick or treaters.  I originally had intended to make her costume out of a long-sleeved onesie I had dyed. (I was going for mustard yellow, but it turned out bright yellow instead.) I was going to hand stitch some black fabric of some sort into stripes, put some black leggings on her, add some wings we had on hand, and call her a bumble bee.

Enter my sister and her ebay shopping. She sent me a link to the cutest baby Halloween costume. A koi fish.  My father-in-law loves koi ponds, so I couldn't resist. (He and Jeff even bought about 100 gold fish a few summers ago and put them in the pond behind our house to see if they would survive. We saw some pretty big buggers out there this fall!!)  I decided to put in the minimum bid on the outfit and figured if I won, great, and if I didn't, we would have a bumblebee! (Might I add that Jeff was "disgusted" to find that I had bid completely wrong because I didn't wait until the last minute.)  Well, I won the auction. Guess I showed him!

We don't get many trick or treaters since we live in a newish, small development, but we had a great time anyway.  Our new neighbors and friends, Sarah and Adelyn, came trick or treating and Gemma and I decided to walk around to a few houses with them, too. Next year, we'll probably go around the entire neighborhood with them!

It was a pretty nice day! Harper was a pumpkin for about 10 minutes. Her costume from 2 years ago doesn't quite fit anymore!

Handing out candy put this baby right to sleep!

Gemma Two Months

Gemma had her two month appointment this past Wednesday (8/3/2011).  I had been dreading this appointment since we set it up a month prior.  It was my first time witnessing her getting shots. :(  She got three in her chubby, little thighs and she took one orally.  To my surprise, she only screamed for about 15 seconds.  And an even greater surprise, I didn't cry at all! (I think I was a little prepared because my 4 year-old niece accidentally stepped on Gemma a few days earlier, so I heard just how hard my little G can cry.)

Gemma is growing up so fast. Here are some of things she's been doing lately:

-smiling a ton!

-holding her head up.

-blowing bubbles.

-loves to watch ceiling fans.

-is a total chatterbox!

-almost turning over.

-sleeping a little bit longer between feedings--4 hours or so.

Gemma is 22.5" long (57%), 10 lbs. 4 oz. (36%), and her noggin is 15" (34%)

We are enjoying being parents so much and just adore our little girl.  I even said to Jeff the other day that we should maybe just have one child because I'm not sure we can make another that will even compare to her! haha.  I know that's not really true.  It's just a testament to how enamored we are with Gemma.

Catching Up

My, oh my! Has it really been a month since I last posted? I can't believe how quickly time is going!  Summer always seems to fly though, while winter drags on, doesn't it?

We've been having a great summer and are loving being parents. Here are a few things we've been up to the last month or so.

-Gemma got her first sunburn. It was horrible on me, but she took it like a champ!  I swear she was covered up and kept in the shade while at Jeff's volleyball tournament, but apparently there were a few minutes she managed to burn. :(

-Gemma turned 1 month old.

Gemma is 21" long and weighs 8 pounds 2 oz.

-We visited our friends, Matt and Katie, who had a little boy, Gavin, a month and a day after Gemma was born.

Katie, Gemma, Gavin, and I

-We had a birthday celebration for my dad and my nephew, Thomas, on the 4th of July. 

Thomas LOVES reptiles.  Here's his latest catch.

-My niece, Kaitlin, came and stayed with us for about a week. We were on the go pretty much the entire time she was here. Shopping, a college tour (!), coffee, volleyball, and a couple of walks were the things that kept us busy. Oh, and of course we made pot stickers! Our favorite. We even managed to save a few so that she could bring some home.

I can't believe how pretty she is! And growing up way too fast!

It's hard to see here, but she's visiting my alma mater, Bethany Lutheran College! Thanks to Sarah for the tour!

-I started back on my organ rotation.  Church starts a half hour earlier in the summer.  Man, is it hard to get going that early in the morning and get a baby ready to go, too.  Gemma loves it,though!

-Grandma Lorraine and Grandma Linna both babysat for a few hours. (On different occasions.)

-Harper learned a new trick.  She stands up and won't sit back down until you tell her she can.  It's pretty amazing how long she can hold her pose!

Ugh. She looks pretty mangy.  She got a nice summer buzz shortly after this photo was taken.

I'm making it a goal of mine to get a little bit better at blogging.  Jeff is moving all of our pictures to a shared drive in the house, so I don't have to wait until he is off of his computer to access all of our photos.  Here's to good intentions! :)

2 weeks

Gemma turned 2 weeks old last Sunday and we had her 2 week well baby check-up appointment on Monday. It went well, but I certainly have some things to learn about taking a baby places!  I had fed her a "snack" before we left hoping that would get us through the appointment.  Not so.  The doctor was running late as usual and they gave me a bunch of paperwork to fill out while I waited. Gemma must've been pretty hungry because she wailed and I've never heard her do that before!  So, I covered up with a receiving blanket and started to feed her. Then, she promptly (and loudly!) filled her pants.  About a minute later the nurse called her name.  Oi!  The nurse graciously gave us a couple of minutes to finish up. I'm not sure how I can exactly avoid this in the future, but I'm prepared for it to happen again.

Gemma gained almost a pound  and grew an inch since we brought her home!

Her stats are:

Weight: 6 lbs 15 oz. (31%)
Length: 20.5 inches (85%)
Head: 13 3/4 inches (55%)

And here are a few new photos of her.  She wasn't quite 2 weeks old in these, but probably about a week and a half.

Daddy trying to get Gemma to nerd it up with him!

Wide awake!

31

Longest post ever.  This is your warning. :)

The number of hours I was in labor.  Yes, 31.  What the heck?  I think my body was trying to break all sorts of records with this pregnancy.  First, I got to be in the 1% of women who get the PUPPPs rash, and then I have 31 hours of labor.  I read somewhere that the average first labor is 17 hours.

On Saturday morning I was determined to get things going.  Jeff and I took Harper on a brisk 3 mile walk.  We ran into my doctor who lives about 5 blocks from us.  She was packing up her car to go to Des Moines for the weekend.  She told me she'd be back by noon on Sunday, so if I went into to labor make sure the nurses called her.

Well, my walk must've worked because I started having contractions later on that day. I was taking a nap with my first baby, Harper, when I woke up to contractions at about 2:30.  I wasn't getting too excited since I'd had a couple of contractions the week before and it turned out to be nothing.  Lo and behold, these contractions stuck.  They were about 10 minutes apart.  My goal was to stay at home as long as possible.  So, I did a few loads of laundry and cleaned up the house.  Jeff and I went out to dinner.  (We actually ended up running into my cousin and I think I did a pretty good job of hiding my pain mid-conversation when I'd have a contraction.)  We took Harper on a walk over to my friend, Katie's house.  Katie was sure I'd have the baby that night as my contractions were about 5 minutes apart at the time. (HA!)

Finally, at about 11:30 pm, we decided to head to the hospital. My contractions were 3-4 minutes apart.  We called our doula and headed to the emergency room.  We got checked in and I got checked out. I was shocked when the nurse told me I was only 2 cm dialated.  I got the slushies, walked the halls, and sat on the exercise ball.  The contractions were still going strong and probably about 2-3 minutes apart.  Finally, at 8:30 am Sunday morning, the nurse asked me if I wanted my water broken.  I hesitated, but she highly recommended it.  Dr. Benson was called and he came and broke my water at about 9 am.  (The nurse said it doesn't hurt to have your water broken, but she was mistaken.  Dr. Benson gave me 6 good pokes and it DOES hurt!)

After my water was broken, my contractions were extremely intense.  They were coming about a minute and a half apart and each contraction lasted 50 seconds.  They were so strong, I started dry heaving through them.  This went on for about 3 hours until I asked to be checked again.  Surely, I was going through transition labor and would be at least a 6 or a 7.  Not so.  I was only 4 cm, MAYBE a 5 said the nurse.  I immediately started crying.  I could not make it through another 21 hours of labor.  I requested an epidural and then cried some more.  I was so disappointed that I was giving up and not going to have an all-natural labor.  My doula said she agreed with my decision and thought that I requested the epidural at the right time.

The epidural was scary, but at the same time I was so relieved to not have to be in pain anymore. I think I even slept for 10 minutes here and there.  Eventually the nurses told me that my contractions were not strong enough, so they were going to give me some pitocin to get things moving more quickly.  (What?! Are you kidding me?  Those contractions could not have gotten any stronger in my opinion.)  At that point, I really didn't care.  I wasn't going to feel anything.  Give me whatever you want.

At 5 p.m. I was 9 cm dialated and when they checked me, they found that my dear little baby had decided to turn sunny side up.  Could I get on my hands and knees on the bed and use the exercise ball to try to rotate the baby?  Sure.  Why not?  Gah!!  Just when I thought I was almost done.  When you can't feel anything below your waist and you've already labored naturally for 21 hours, the simplest thing like moving your hips in a circular motion seems like a big deal.  I did as I was asked and was checked an hour later.  I had moved the baby!  But not far enough...I should try to move the baby again.  I said fine, but that I needed a break because I was tired.  They checked me again at 7 pm and the baby had moved on its own.  I was dialated to a 9-10!

The nurses called my doctor and got me prepped to start pushing.  Holy crap. I could feel when I was going to have a contraction, so the pushing went pretty well.  I pushed a few times and was doing really well.  I looked at Jeff and asked him what we were going to name our little boy.  We still had not decided on a boy name and were sure it was a boy.  Jeff had said that after watching me go through everything, that I could just name him.  To which I replied, wouldn't you just be shocked if it were a girl?  After only 45 minutes of pushing, we had our little baby girl!  I think we laughed in disbelief when the doctor said "it's a girl!"  Gemma Lorraine was born on 5/29 at 8:14 pm.

Gemma was quiet when she was born.  The nurses had to make her cry, but she was completely fine. (She's still not a big crier.)  She was extremely alert and just stared at me the whole time during our kangaroo care, and she even latched on right away to nurse and gulped like a champ.  I'm glad she knew what to do because I sure didn't!

Gemma is the sweetest little baby ever and we can't imagine our lives without her now.  Jeff says she looks like an Asian version of me.  I think she does have my nose, but I'm not sure about the rest.  Only time will tell I suppose!  She was definitely worth the 31 hours of labor and the 21 hours of pain.  She still might be an only child, though. :)  Ask me in a year.

Gemma Lorraine Lin

Gemma Lorraine Lin arrived on Sunday, May 29 at 8:14 pm.  She weighed 6 lbs. 4 oz. and measured 19.5 inches long. 

Our little angel. She was very alert when she was born.

Our mischieveous little girl

Harper is adjusting well. She loves her new little sister/



I'll try to get better at blogging, but I'm still adjusting to my new sleep schedule, breastfeeding, and keeping up with the house! Not to mention that our days are still filled with lots of fun visitors. :)

36 weeks and Overdue

No, no. I'm only about 36.5 weeks right now, so I'm not overdue, yet.  I'm just WAY overdue posting my weekly pregnancy photos.  I've been sick on and off for the past 3 weeks or so.  New symptoms every week, but mostly nausea and a horrible cold.

Here they are!  I can really see a growth spurt between weeks 34 and 35!

32 weeks 1 day and apparently still waking up.  You'd think after so many weeks of taking these photos I'd get a LITTLE more photogenic.  Not so. Gah.

33 weeks.1 day. Weird hair.

34 weeks. Can you see my red, stuffy nose?

35 weeks. 1 day.  I don't know if its the stripes or what, but I think I looked like I grew a lot since the last week.

36 weeks and 2 days. Looking enormous and gross. Still sick. Yuck.

I had my 36 week check on Friday along with my Group B Strep test. (No results yet.)  Doctor said I'm carrying high and that I'm not dialated yet.  Boo. I was tempted to ask her to check again.  I was sure I'd be a least a 1 because I've felt "different" for quite some time now.

I've been sitting on my exercise ball for the last few days and its relieving a lot of the pressure I've been having.  It's getting so bad that I don't even want to lay down anymore because, for some reason, laying down makes it hurt worse than anything else!

We had another super busy, but productive weekend. 
-Two baby showers (one for us, one for my friend) down.
-My super awesome mama came over to help me cook meals to freeze, and we made 4 different things which should be good for about 8 meals.
-Jeff's friend Adam drew some art for the nursery and it turned out awesome!  (I just need to paint it and hang it now!)
-I also played organ again this weekend and one of the church's ladies groups gave me a quilt for the baby.  So sweet of them!  I play for the last time again next weekend before I take the next two or so months off.  I'll be glad to have some time off, as it is getting kind of hard to reach around my belly when I play.  A couple more mistakes than usual! Oops!

I was looking forward to an uneventful week, but it seems its already filling up fast!  I guess the more I spend time doing things, the quicker time will go by while I await the baby's arrival!

Baby Shower #2

I had a lovely work shower yesterday hosted by my friend, Annie J. Silly me, I forgot to bring my camera, so I have no pictures to share!  I can't believe I did that.  That's a typical work day for me.  Always forgetting at least one thing!

The ladies had some wonderful parenting advice.  I think my favorite was to remember to ask for help. We'll see how that goes. I have the mindset that I kind of want to do everything on my own and learn from my baby, but that's definitely not to say I won't be asking for tips!  We were also given some fantastic gifts: our car seat (yay!), some toys and baby music. The food was wonderful, too!

I can't forget to mention that the hostess was awesome to have us all over to her house while she is still on maternity leave.  I always enjoy cuddling her little baby, Henry, and I even got to play with big boy Thomas this time.  He is quite the ride when he's in his own surroundings.

I've hit 33 weeks today and am starting to count down the days until I get to enjoy my own little one! 

Baby Shower #1

My long time friend, Katie, hosted my very first baby shower for me this past Saturday with help from my good friends Sarah and Angie.  It was so fun to have all of my good friends in one place at one time!  It seems like my evenings and weekends are full with family gatherings, baby classes, etc., which doesn't leave much time for spending time with my lovely ladies. 

The shower was wonderful.  I was relaxed and happy, the day was sunny. :)  Being the guest of honor at such a nice event reminded me to be thankful for all of the thoughtful friends I have that love me and support me.  I received many thoughtful gifts and lots of advice!  I'm very blessed.

Opening gifts!

Christy, me, Angie, and Sarah. Can you believe the two girls surrounding me just had babies? They look fabulous!

Katie (the hostess) due in late August, Katie due in late June, and me. Buddies from high school.

31 weeks

Now just posting even though I'm almost to 32...but I'm okay with it!  I started feeling a lot of pressure "down there" recently.  It makes me awfully uncomfortable to walk, cross my legs, stand on my left leg (the pressure is on the left side), etc.  It's funny, though, I'm kind of getting used to it after dealing with it for nearly a week.  Guess the babe wants to prepare me for labor very early on! :)

Weight of baby during week 31: about 3.3 pounds (4 navel oranges)
Length of baby: 16 inches
Notables:
-My belly button is closer to popping out!  I'm not sure if it will completely pop out or not, but there's tiny bump in the middle of it now. Very weird!
-We watch the live birth without medication, c-section, and birth with meds at childbirth class last night.  I cannot handle this stuff. I am NOT meant to be in the medical field, that is for sure! 
-My mom finished the curtains for the nursery and Jeff is planning to paint this weekend.  So excited!  I also checked out the changing table my mom used for me.  I'm in love with it!  I'm going to paint it a greenish color to coordinate with the curtains.  I'm so excited everything is coming together!

31 weeks. 1 day.

In other exciting news:

-I had my first shower last weekend.  It was a wonderful time and deserves its own post.
-Jeff's sister had her baby yesterday! A beautiful little girl who has yet to be named. :) (It's narrowed down to two choices, but we are still waiting to hear!)  I'm not sure when we'll be able to see her in person as they live in Phoenix, but the pictures I've seen show a gorgeous baby!

30 Weeks....

Is almost over! But I'll update anyway.

My leg pain has almost disappeared.  I still get the tingling in my left leg, but no more sharp pain. Thankful for that!  I've had a couple of days of sore ribs, but that must've just been due to an active baby kicking me during the night.  The baby has been more and more active the past week or so.  I can now see huge rumbles in my belly.  It looks like a volcano going off inside of me.  Jeff has been able to see it, so that's fun for him, too.

I have a co-worker who has a strong distaste for babies (in general).  She is young, so I don't judge her too much. :)  (And, she insists she will like MY baby.)  She doesn't want kids, etc.  Anyway, she was sitting in my office the other day and saw my belly move.  She grabbed the arms of her chair, her eyes started watering, and she just kept saying "Oh my god. Oh my god." I honestly thought she was going to throw up right then and there.  HILARIOUS!

I had my doctor appointment on Friday.  Other than not getting in until after 5 o'clock for a 4:20 appointment (!), it was pretty uneventful.  The heartbeat is still in the 140s and my weight gain has slowed (for now).  Still no boy name, so I'm convinced that its a boy.

Speaking of boys...My friend, Christy, had her baby last week on Tuesday. Grayson Timothy is here and all is well!  I can't wait to go meet him when things are a little more settled down for the Bodes.  Now, I'm awaiting a Nesseler arrival.  I had a dream that this one is a boy, too, so we'll see if I'm right in just a few days!  Exciting times!

30 weeks!

27 and 28 weeks

I am super late on this post and am actually almost to 29 weeks now, but I finally got my husband to give me the photos! :)

I had a big growth spurt, I think from weeks 24 to 27. I felt like I could eat and eat and never get full, but that phase has finally passed and I feel normal again. And, even though my doctor says I am perfectly on track with my weight gain, I'm hoping that it will taper off some now.

27 weeks 1 day. Cheesy grin. :)

Home stretch! Third Trimester. 28 weeks 1 day. Had to include my other baby, Harper.

I'd been feeling relatively good up until last Friday morning.  I woke up at 2 am with a really sharp pain in my outer thigh.  It only lasted a 5 seconds or so, but then my leg went numb.  I went back to sleep and it was still numb when I woke up to get ready for work.  It's continued throughout the weekend, so I have a call into my doctor right now to make sure its nothing to be concerned about.  My internet research (hehe) has led me to believe that it could be Merlagia Paresthetica, which is supposedly common in pregnancy.  I'm hoping at the very least my doctor will be able to tell me how to avoid or relieve some of the pain that comes along with it.

Now that volleyball has ended, I've started doing water aerobics two times a week with my friend, Katie.  It's pretty fun and more of a workout than I expected.  I'll have reduce to once a week starting next week once we start our Prepared Childbirth classes. I'm actually really excited for the classes.  Our doula (we decided to go with one!) is one of the teachers, so it will be fun to get to know her through the classes, too.

Almost to week 29 and if I could have just timed my pregnancy one week later, I'd be turning 29 years old the same week.  Maybe next time! :)

Progress

Not on the baby front. (Well, I suppose there is some progress being made there, too!)

This weekend was packed full as usual, but turned out to be productive AND fun.  Friday, I got the rare evening to myself while Jeff went out with a couple of his guy friends.  I spent it replacing the outlet and light switch covers in the basement, catching up on DVR'ed TV shows, and sleeping early. Heaven.

We headed to Minneapolis early Saturday morning to run some errands. I scored a couple of really great deals at Gap Maternity (gosh, I think about 2 or 3 shopping trips ago, I said I was done maternity shopping!) and picked up fabric swatches for the nursery.  I fell in love with this fabric online, but needed to see it in person.

I'm glad I did!  The pattern is MUCH larger in size than it appears online.  I'm still in love anyway, and can't wait to see it in the room. 

We spent the entire afternoon with my in-laws to celebrate Jeff's brother's birthday, which is actually today.  A little Valentine's Day baby. :)  We made homemade pizzas, opened gifts, and cooed over my newest nephew, Miles.  It was such a nice, relaxing day. We arrived back home around 9 o'clock to find that our crib and mattress had been delivered! I think having that physical piece of furniture in our home has made things sink in a little bit more for my hubby.

I played organ at church on Sunday, then we headed to brunch at Applewood with my family. A trip back to our house allowed me to get my brother to hang my new chandelier.  Jeff doesn't seem to be too impressed with the new one (you know, he really loves saying "meh"), but I'm definitely digging it. 

Painter is at our house finishing up the basement today. Progress being made=Life is good.