It's a GIRL!

Announcing...

Charlotte Grace


Born March 20, 2009
3:39 pm
5 pounds, 13 ounces
19 1/2 inches long

We are in the process of getting used to our new role as parents and that means that blogging is on hold for a while. I will be back as soon as I can!

39 weeks

At 39 weeks, our little one is about 20 inches long and weighs approximately 7 pounds - roughly as much as a mini-watermelon. That explains why my belly looks like I swallowed a watermelon!

While my mom was here, we put some decor on the nursery walls. I found this Classic Pooh wall hanging panel at the fabric store, but she made it for us since it was hard for me to schedule time at the sewing machine while being on partial bed rest. She brought it to us on Sunday so Monday we hung it on the wall over the changing table. For such a simple looking project it was a little more work that we anticipated! However, I'm glad she persevered and I hope the baby will love this project that Grandma made for its nursery.


This adorable blanket came with our crib bedding set, and upon taking it out of the packaging the other night, I remembered that using a big blanket like this in a newborn's crib isn't recommended. Darn! It's too cute to keep folded up in the closet and just hanging it over the side of the crib we'd lose half the picture. So up on the wall it went - behind the crib so it is still near the rest of the bedding that it coordinates with. I'm so happy with how it looks that I may leave it here indefinitely!


My doctors appointment for this week is tomorrow afternoon. I've been having Braxton Hicks contractions, although no more than one or two a day and I'm not even sure that I'm having them every day. They don't hurt so I don't think that I'm always aware they're happening. I'm eager to see what they have to say at the appointment tomorrow - it is the standard ultrasound, non-stress test, and exam. We're praying that everything is still good with the baby and that we'll get to meet him/her before too much longer!

Quick Post

• All was well at my appointment today! Blood pressure was high-normal, but that last word is key - not too far off from NORMAL! Pray for the doctors as they decide if I should be allowed to go into labor on my own and possibly go past 40 weeks or if I should be induced right around 40 weeks (provided I haven't already gone into labor by that point).
  
• Our camcorder arrived today, so we are one step closer to being ready for Baby. It's a belated Christmas gift - A has spent the last few months researching the best one to buy. He doesn't take these kind of purchases lightly. :)
• I had a haircut and fresh highlights yesterday so I'm all ready to meet our baby and today I had a pedicure so my feet will be cute for labor and delivery. I doubt the baby cares about my feet, but my painted toes make me feel so much prettier!
  
  
  
• A and I have ZERO PLANS for this weekend which is awesome! I don't feel like doing much more than just hanging out around home anyway and I'm trying to relish every last moment that it's just the two of us (three of us if you count the kitty, which I do).
• My mom is coming Sunday afternoon for a couple of days to do some last cleaning and cooking for us. My bedrest has risen to a whole new level in combination with my lethargy. It's hard to get anything done, even in the time I don't have to be lying down so I'm very grateful for her help!
• Hope everyone has a blessed and fabulous weekend!

38 weeks = tired

(photo by Anne Geddes)

Today we are two weeks out from my due date. I cannot believe how close we are getting!

I don't know if it is the time change or being so pregnant (or maybe both) but the tiredness seems to have hit me big time this week. I got an email from a good friend wondering how I am doing and at the end of her email she wrote "GET YOUR SLEEP NOW – I MEAN IT!!!!" She's a mom of two little ones so I'm sure she knows what she's talking about. It made me laugh because this is the one thing I can and will do. I can't get through the day without a nap and some days it feels like I could easily take a couple.

Our little one has been moving around like crazy today. Wonder if that means anything... I never complain about feeling movement because it's the most reassuring thing in the world to me. A dancing baby is a happy baby! :)

My doctor's visit this week is on Friday, so if I don't post tomorrow, please keep me and baby in your prayers on Friday morning. It's the same deal as usual - ultrasound, non-stress test, and regular checkup on how the pregnancy is progressing (including my blood pressure of course). My prayer at this point is that baby is happy and doing fine and that my health will be good enough that they'll let me go into labor on my own.

Other than that I don't have much to report. I'm just taking it easy, trying to catch up on books and magazines, and rest as much as possible!

Post-weekend wrap-up

I realize it's Tuesday which might be a little late to be giving a post-weekend wrap-up, but it was kind of a busy weekend and completely wore me out! I spent most of yesterday resting, taking it easy on the couch, and doing as little as possible. Pregnancy can really tire a girl out!

Saturday was our third baby shower. The guests were mostly friends and family from A's side of the family. Upon arrival at the shower, there was a table set up with three games on it - guessing the number of newborn diapers in a gallon-sized jar, identifying various baby foods without the labels on them, and identifying various white powders from around the house (like baby powder, cornstarch, powdered sugar, etc) without smelling or touching them. Quite a challenge!



We got lots more wonderful gifts and it was fun to get those all unpacked. I did baby laundry that evening, plus got the crib mattress pad and some other soft items for the nursery all laundered and ready to go.

Sunday morning we went to church and then made a stop on the way home to stock up on some more things we'll need after the baby is born. Between a busy Saturday and the time change, I was exhausted and spent a couple hours off my feet before we met up with A's family for lunch. In the afternoon we picked up our crib and mattress and then came home and got that all set up. I love it and am so, so happy with the crib we selected!!! We also got the valance hung above the window. The room isn't finished yet, but it's looking more and more like a nursery!





Finally, one member of our household is very excited to have an extra hour of afternoon sunshine thanks to daylight savings time. Hope it's feeling like spring at your house too!

Sealed with a Kiss

Here's my attempt at posting the pic of the baby kissing me from my ultrasound yesterday. This is a profile of the baby, although you can't really see the whole profile very clearly - the top of its head is on the right and moving to the left across the image is the nose, lips, and then chin. I've tried to label the nose and lips, but I'm not sure if I just made things more confusing. The nose is right below the word "nose" and the lips are below and a little to the right of the word "lips." You can see two bumps and those are them!


The baby's lips are very puckered and look almost as big as its nose. Its nose might be smooshed into the placenta a little bit - I'm not really sure. Anyway, hopefully you can kind of get an idea from this photo. Sorry for my complete lack of photo editing skills!

Happy weekend to all!

Doctor's Update and an Award

I am back from my doctor's visit and for the most part everything is fine. The baby is doing well which is always my biggest concern. My blood pressure was high today but since I'm getting close to delivery, baby is doing well, and my tests are all coming back normal, I don't think they are worrying too much about it. Heck, to be honest with you, I'm not that worried about it. I'd prefer that it was lower, but if it has to be high another 3-4 weeks or so, that's okay too. Just as long as the baby is doing well, which he/she is. Praise the Lord for that!!

We got the cutest picture from ultrasound today. I'm going to have to see if I can get on here tomorrow. It is the baby with his/her face in the placenta and it looks like it's kissing it - lips puckered and everything. I just talked to A on the phone and told him I can't wait for him to get home this evening so he can see our sweet baby kissing me. Maybe it will be a cuddly, lovey baby! :)

On another note, Kristin at Blue Skies From Now On (isn't that the cutest blog title?) gave me an award a couple of weeks ago and I've been meaning to post about it, but keep forgetting. This is a common theme in my life these days; I think it's called pregnancy brain. She and her hubby just moved into a new home and are in the process of getting unpacked and all settled in. I can't wait until she posts some pics of their new place. Thanks for the award, Kristin - I'm so honored!


Hope everyone has a wonderful Thursday evening!

Stockpiling

Today I am 37 weeks pregnant which is apparently considered full term. If I go into labor now, they won't try to stop me! That's pretty crazy to think about, although I don't really think I'll be going into labor anytime soon. Getting to this point has been a big prayer of mine since week 28 when my blood pressure started being elevated. I am so thankful to have gotten to this milestone!!

My weekly appointment is tomorrow afternoon and I know for sure I'll be having an ultrasound and a non-stress test for the baby. Please pray that these are both normal and that my blood pressure would be as well. It would be great if I could have smooth sailing from here on out, whenever that "out" may be. :)

This morning I made a trip to Walmart to get stocked up on a few things. I don't know if stockpiling counts as nesting, but I seem to be in major stockpiling mode these days. The last thing I want to have to worry about in those first few weeks with a newborn is whether or not we've run out of paper towels, kleenex, or other things that we use on a daily basis. I've also gotten stocked up on some food items and then the baby's necessities like diapers and wipes. Hopefully I've planned accordingly and we won't be making too many emergency trips to the store.

Part of our stockpile - please don't think I'm nuts!!!

I'll update on the doctor's appointment tomorrow afternoon/early evening. As always, thanks for your prayers!

Packing

I have been packing for the hospital just in case the baby decides it's ready to be born sooner than we're expecting. The hospital packing list includes "Baby Clothes - weather appropriate for trip home." There is probably a 35 degree temperature range that it could be on any given day in March in Colorado, so I'm trying to plan accordingly.

If the weather is nice and we have a boy, he'll be sporting this:


If the weather is nice and we have a girl, she'll come home in this:


If the weather is cool or cold, we'll layer this over either outfit above:


And here is the back - I think when you're a baby is really the only time it is appropriate to wear a duck on your backside, but it is oh-so cute for that age!


I've also got two blankets packed, heavy and lighter weight, that we can cover the car seat with. Hopefully we've got it covered with these items. And yes, I've packed a few diapers too - I hear those are essential!

Nursery pieces

I don't have completed nursery photos to show because we don't have a completed nursery yet. However, the pieces have been arriving one by one and I'm just too excited to keep from posting them. Here are the two latest additions...

The changing table



I think I've mentioned before that this is the changing table my parents used with me and my brother, except it was white and didn't have the rail around the top edge at that time. I love it because it has sentimental value and also because it has doors! We didn't want to spend the kind of money that it apparently costs to purchase a changing table with doors or drawers - seems like all you can get for a reasonable price is wide open shelves. I like to keep things organized but I'm also thinking there will be days when that just doesn't happen and having doors to close over the mess will be much appreciated. My dad put a new top on it and added the rail and my mom painted it for us. This color coordinates with the color of pooh bear in our crib bedding, so hopefully thing will look cohesive once they are all in the room together.

The rocking chair


This chair also came from my parents house and the chair pads were sewed by my mom. I found the fabric and then gave everything to her to sew the pads. I am so pleased with how it turned out and I'm looking forward to rocking our baby in it! Right now it is sitting in our living room because there's no room for it in the nursery so I get to see it and enjoy it all day long.

This isn't related to the nursery, but I just had to post a picture of how Jasmine spends probably 80% of my bedrest time. I'm usually on our living room couch with a quilt and she curls up at my feet. Isn't this too cute?


I just love how she puts her paw over her face! Such a sweetie...

9 months!

Holy moly - I am 9 months pregnant today (aka 36 weeks)!! Things are really starting to fly by and I am getting more and more excited/nervous to have this baby. According to babycenter.com, the baby weighs almost 6 pounds and is 18 1/2 inches long!

I had my 36 week check up today and thankfully things are fine, although my blood pressure was up a little bit today. Go figure...apparently I'm trying to keep them on their toes with this up-down-up-down blood pressure thing. Since it was elevated they did a non-stress test on baby who did just great on the test. They are going to check some blood work on me and next week I'll have an ultrasound along with my regular appointment/NST to double check that my fluid level is still good. Please pray that the results of the blood tests are normal and that my blood pressure goes back down.

Monday night my wonderful friend Dottie threw the most lovely baby shower for me!! The guests were friends from my book group and my Bible study, along with both of the grandmothers (my mom was in town visiting for a couple of days and A's mom lives here). We were spoiled and showered with so many great gifts! Here are some pics from the evening:

My 36 weeks photo

The food and beverage table - everything was so delicious!

AMAZING cake - Italian cream with apricot rum filling and cream cheese icing!

Opening gifts

Hooray for a diaper genie!

Lots of cute and useful gifts that we are looking forward to using very much!

Big Friday night plans

Hey y'all - Happy weekend! It has been a sunny but windy Friday and some cooler weather is moving in for our Saturday. I was glad for the sunshine today but not the wind. I do not like wind, which is unfortunate since springtime in northern Colorado can be pretty gusty.

I ended up going out for a little bit today to take care of some very important business...


...renting High School Musical 3!!!! I loved the first two and I wanted to go see this one in theaters when it came out in October, but life just seemed to keep happening and we never made the time for it. Now that it's out on video and we can rent it for a whopping one dollar, I had to get it. I consider myself lucky that A doesn't mind watching these kinds of things with me. :) So that's what our big Friday night plans are - two soon-to-be parents getting in touch with our eighteen-year-old senior year selves. I'm not sure if that makes us cool or pathetic...

While I was out I stopped by the mall to see if there were any cute new things that I couldn't survive without for these last few weeks of being pregnant - ha! I ended up with a pair of khaki pants and this cute black and white polka dot top. I am such a sucker for polka dots!!


This afternoon I finished up some really simple baby blankets that I'll be adding to my baby gift stash. I'm too lazy to photograph them right now so I'll post about them separately later this weekend. Enjoy your Friday night!

Another good report!

My check-up at the doctor's this morning went very well - fluid level, blood pressure, and non-stress test were all normal! Because my fluid level has been consistently normal for the past 3 weeks, I don't have to have that checked next week. They may check it every other week but that depends on what my blood pressure does. Thank you to everyone who is praying - I'm so grateful for normal doctors visits!!

To celebrate, I decided to do a little shopping after the appointment to see if I could find some cute Easter outfits. The plan is to purchase a little boy outfit and an Easter dress for a girl so that we're prepared either way. I'm afraid if we wait until he/she is born everything will already be sold out.

I didn't find a boy outfit that I liked today so I'm still on that hunt for that, but I did find this cute dress for a baby girl...


My mom has a white bonnet with purple smocking that my grandma made for her when she was a baby. That bonnet has been offered to us if we have a girl, so I wanted to get a dress that had some purple in it to coordinate with the bonnet. I think a white bonnet will look pretty darn cute with this dress and those little white, lacy shoes!

Baby Preparations: Crafty Style

We are having a windy afternoon here today - must be something moving in! Jasmine and I are on the couch having a cozy afternoon, plus I'm trying to be extra good about my bed rest today since my 35 week check-up is tomorrow. It's just me and Jasmine this afternoon because A was feeling better this morning and went to work. I'm SO GLAD that he's doing better and thanks to everyone who prayed for him!

Before I was put on partial bed rest, I had a bazillion craft and sewing projects planned for the baby. Blankets, burp clothes, nursery decor...you name it. And then my hours at the sewing machine got cut back severely. I've accepted that I won't be able to have everything I wanted done before the baby is born, but I've also resolved to be very wise about the free hours I do have in a day. Since my mom was here last week and got lots of meals cooked and frozen for us, I don't need to focus as much time on dinner preparations and as a result, I've gotten a little more crafty the last few days...

I have GOBS of cute baby fabrics and have been trying to make a dent in that stash. Not all of my projects will be for our baby, but I'm getting stocked up on baby gifts as well. Once our baby is born and we find out its gender, I'll probably go "shopping" from my gift stash and select some gender-specific items for our little one. In the meantime it is fun to pour lots of love into each project, wondering if it will be for our baby or another family's bundle of joy.

This first project IS for our baby since it's gender neutral and Classic Pooh. I found this cute Tigger flannel at JoAnn fabrics and couldn't pass it up. I turned it into a snugglie blanket and two matching burp cloths:




I love this next fabric which I used to embellish some cloth diapers to make them into cute burp cloths. If we have a girl she is SO getting these!



Sunday afternoon I made a fleece tie blanket that I bought before I knew I was pregnant (this one is for our baby too since it's gender neutral). It's a kit from the craft store and it was on clearance for $6 or something, so even though it isn't Classic Pooh, I couldn't pass it up.


This last project is for me, but it does have to do with the baby. On the hospital packing list, it is suggested that you bring no-slip socks. I know what kind of no-slip socks the hospital gives you and they are U-G-L-Y. Last fall I saw an idea and tutorial on "homemade by jill" for this very thing! She had a baby boy in October and made these for her hospital stay. Since they're so easy and cute, I decided to do the same. They're just puffy fabric paint on the bottom of whatever socks you like!



I guess most of the stuff I've made recently is for our baby, but I promise I have other projects in the works that are not. I'm still working on some flannel blankets that won't all be for our kiddo and I may make a set of flannel burp clothes too - can you tell I love soft, cuddly flannel for baby items? I'll post those once they're finished.

I'll update tomorrow after the doctors appointment!