Sunday, January 31, 2010

Snowy Weekend

This weekend was soooo relaxing! It snowed about six or seven inches on Saturday, which is more than we have had in a very long time. Unfortunately, this caused my baby shower to be postponed! I was extremely bummed, but we are having it next week instead, so it gives me something to look forward to all week! Since I'm preggo, I didn't really do much outside. Ry was very scared that I would fall and hurt myself! He shoveled snow from the sidewalk and driveway but didn't do much else outside. We tried to make a snowman today, but that didn't work out. The snow wouldn't pack together :( I was pretty disappointed. Oh well, maybe next time with baby J! :)

Shoveling the sidewalk
Reese enjoyed himself...he could barely walk, though!

We did a lot inside yesterday. Ry hung curtains in the baby's room and put on more door handles. He also hung all of the smoke alarms in the house and put in the doorstops! I went through the baby stuff we already have and separated the clothes into darks and lights. I am waiting until after the baby shower to wash them, though, so I can do more at once. I also cleaned up our office a little more, washed four loads of clothes, etc, and dusted our bedroom. We were very productive!
Ry putting up curtains in the baby's room
Ry investigating the fireplace before.....
Lighting our first fire! Yeah, we used a starter log instead of real wood because we didn't have any!

This morning, we got up and went to 7-11 to get coffee, and of course, the roads were completely icy. They canceled church, so we went by the Jeffersons' house. Ryan got a MUCH needed haircut and shoveled their sidewalk and part of the driveway. When we came home, I made Broccoli Potato soup. Let me just say, YUM. I just had to take pictures, of course....
Before...
After! So yum.

Tomorrow will not be so exciting because I will have to work and be out in the mess. Technically, I could stay home and work for Onlineformals, but I do NOT want to have all of my USIS hours at the end of the week. I have two appointments set up for tomorrow morning already, and I don't really want to cancel them. We'll see how that goes...

This week we had a great appointment at the OBGYN. They did an ultrasound to check the size of the baby and gave us pictures. I meant to scan them tonight at Omi and Opa's but forgot. He is currently about 7 pounds, 1 ounce. BIG boy! His little cheeks are SO fat..it's adorable. I cannot wait to meet this child! The doctor said that if I have not already gone into labor by 39 weeks, they will probably induce me at that time. She checked my cervix, and I was 1 cm dilated and about 25 percent effaced, which she said is very good for being 36 weeks. I was happy to hear that!

Two random things....and then I have to go to bed. I'm soo tired! First...these are the most amazing mixed nuts ever:
They are a mix of just cashews, almonds and pecans. No peanuts, brazil nuts, or hazelnuts. YUM! I have been eating so many nuts lately as the protein in my mid-morning and mid-afternoon snacks. I found these at Food Lion and wish I had bought about 10 cans because they were on sale.

Second:
Reese in his own little "nook." This is the desk area in our kitchen. We shoved his bed under there, and he goes in there and sleeps. What a cutie!

Have a great week! :)

Sunday, January 24, 2010

We Remembered!

Today was very productive. We attended church this morning and then had a great Soup and Salad lunch at Olive Garden. Afterward, we stopped at Babies 'R' Us and BJ's, then headed home. Ryan worked on more door handles, and I emptied more boxes. Things are really coming along. We went to dinner at The Lucky Oyster tonight with my family for Omi and Opa's 40th Anniversary! It was soooooooooo good. We had a great time celebrating with them. I am so glad that our son will be able to have great grandparents (and not just grandparents that are great, which he will also have :). I love them so much and am thankful for having them in my life! Hopefully he will be, too.

Okay.....here are the belly pics. We took a couple different ones for variety. Enjoy! :)

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Busy Busy

We have been sooooooo busy lately. Understandably busy, I would say! It has been too long since I've blogged. Things have been going very well. We started staying at our house last Sunday night, and have been enjoying being here, making this house our home. After an "ordeal" with Haynes, we finally have all of our new furniture (and old) in the house. Here are a couple of pictures of our bedroom with the furniture still mostly in boxes:



I am planning to take pictures of each room "after," but I was waiting until I could at least get most of the boxes out of the rooms. I think after this week, we will accomplish that. Most everything should be put "in its place" at that point. I just want to get it all done before the baby gets here.............



Speaking of him, everything on that side of life is going very well. We attended a Prepared Childbirth class last Saturday and today and really enjoyed it. We definitely learned a lot that we didn't know, and I would say that I feel about as prepared as I can at this point. We also took a breastfeeding class a couple of weeks ago that gave some good information. We are signing up to attend a class about taking care of a newborn in a couple of weeks. All of the classes are at Chesapeake Regional Medical Center. You pay one fee and can sign up for as many classes as you want! It is great.

My gestational diabetes issue is going pretty well. I had my second follow-up appointment with them, and the nurse that looked through my record book said I am doing a great job with my diet! I am now taking a pill to help regulate my sugars and it seems to be working. I feel like if I did not have Diabetes, I would have gained much more weight than I already have. I'm following a pretty consistent diet, so there's not too much room for bad stuff. At this point, I have gained 30 pounds. It could have been 40 to 50 if I hadn't been dieting. In a way, it's a blessing!

Because they have me on this medication, I have been having twice-weekly fetal non-stress tests for the last two weeks. They will continue until sweet baby boy is born. I sit in a lazy boy-type chair for about 30 minutes or more while they monitor the baby's heartbeat with a fetal monitor. Every time he moves, I click a button, and his heart rate is supposed to go up. Everything has been fine with the tests, except for the fact that he sometimes won't move for the first 10 minutes or so of the test! He'll move in the car on the way there and in the waiting room, but when I sit in the chair, nothing. After about 10 minutes, he usually gets the picture and starts rolling around in there. It is interesting to just sit and wait for him to move!

It's hard to believe that he will be here so soon. I cannot wait! I know I have been HORRIBLE about making baby updates and putting up belly pictures but it is so hard when we have so much going on with the house. For those of you that want one (Joanne :), I will try try try to remember to take one tomorrow. Ryan keeps reminding me after I've taken a shower and have only a nightgown on. Hopefully we will be able to remember tomorrow when we come home from church. Here is info about being 35 weeks:

Your baby doesn't have much room to maneuver now that he's over 18 inches long and tips the scales at 5 1/4 pounds (pick up a honeydew melon). Because it's so snug in your womb, he isn't likely to be doing somersaults anymore, but the number of times he kicks should remain about the same. His kidneys are fully developed now, and his liver can process some waste products. Most of his basic physical development is now complete — he'll spend the next few weeks putting on weight.

To end, here are a couple of pictures from this evening. I promise to try to be better with the blogging...haven't I made that promise before? :)


Ry working on door handles in the office
The finished product!

Reese in the kitchen, his new hangout :)

Monday, January 4, 2010

Happy New Year!

I can't believe it's 2010! It's amazing how fast a decade goes by. I remember when I rang in the year 2000 at a party I threw at my parents' house with all of my best high school friends. I was in 10th grade! Listen to me......I sound like an old"er" person.

We rang in the new year by going to Shogun for hibachi...YUM...and then playing games at the Jefferson house with the whole fam. It was very fun to have everyone sit around the table and play Catch Phrase! I am looking forward to some game nights in the future that we can hold at our house :) For most of the rest of the weekend, we worked at the house. We attended a funeral for Ryan's cousin on Saturday in North Carolina, so we didn't go to the house on Saturday at all. We spent most of the day in the car listening to the 90's station on Satellite radio. Bryan rode with us, and we actually had a pretty fun day despite the circumstances.

While working at the house over the weekend, we put the baby's crib together and moved it and the "chifferobe" around until we got them into the "perfect" position. We still need to order the dresser for the room. After we get this and I get a few decor-type items, his room will be complete! Of course, we also had tons of help again this weekend. Here are some pictures of our work crew:
Louise painting the closet doors
Rog putting together the glider
The screws for the baby's crib
All of the crib parts
Ry in the middle of putting the crib together...pun intended haha! :)
Bry putting up more crown..they finally got it all up and caulked this weekend. The last step is touching up the paint over the areas that were caulked and spackled.
Opa putting up a ceiling fan in the guest bedroom
Mom and Renee also came over and helped move boxes all around the house! I didn't take any pictures because I was too busy directing them from room to room. I loved it :) This weekend should finally be the weekend that we will start living there! I am excited excited excited to get settled in and get ready for this baby to be here. Speaking of him...

I am 32 weeks now. Here is the info about the baby:
By now, your baby weighs 3.75 pounds (pick up a large jicama--) and is about 16.7 inches long, taking up a lot of space in your uterus. You're gaining about a pound a week and roughly half of that goes right to your baby. In fact, she'll gain a third to half of her birth weight during the next 7 weeks as she fattens up for survival outside the womb. She now has toenails, fingernails, and real hair (or at least respectable peach fuzz). Her skin is becoming soft and smooth as she plumps up in preparation for birth.

I cannot believe that in two months he will probably be here! It is too crazy. He is moving around like he's doing an aerobics class as we speak!! I signed up for childbirth classes today, which apparently is considered "last minute" since most of the classes are full until February, which will be too late! We were able to sign up for a two-Saturday class at Chesapeake General. They also offer a breastfeeding class and a class about introducing your baby and dog that I think we'll take as well! The dog class should be interesting. I feel like the more info the better. I will report on how all of my informative classes go as soon as I attend :)

Okay..off to research hotel rooms for an overnight trip this weekend. We have a work dinner to attend in Bedford, VA on Saturday night. It's four hours away, which kind of stinks, but it should be nice. Wish me luck!