Stool & rings

I finally remembered to bring THE Little Red Stool into work!  YEAH!  No more boxes underneath my desk!  I may have also taken my rings off for the last time this morning…depends on the puffiness factor.  I am not overly puffy, just enough to probably make my rings a little tight and my ankles and feet ache a bit.  I think as soon as the weather cooperates and officially cools down I may be able to put my rings back on, who knows?  But for now, they are off until further notice.  I miss them already! 

Not too much planned this weekend, I have a friend’s baby shower tomorrow and then a birthday party for our nephew on Sunday.  Otherwise I want to try and pry off the little sticky squares which used to hold up my cork board in my scrapbooking room, now turned baby room.  It probably wasn’t a wise idea to put it up, but I liked it for the time being now it will be a pain  to try to remove all those little sticky squares without getting too frustrated and just tearing down the piece of sheet rock and redoing the wall! 

We’ll see if my patience holds…(as many of you know I really don’t have any patience, just another quality I hope the baby gets from Andrew!)

Today’s Appointment

I am nearly 24 weeks along now, which is 6 months for those of you mathematically challenged like myself!  My PA says I am trucking right along, no red flags to report, baby is just the size he should be about 3 centimeters above my belly button (technically that’s just my uterus for now since he is still only about 1 1/2 pounds or so, he’s basically swimming around in a big bubble).  Although they say “centimeters” I am not sure if that’s just medical terminology or what because it is actually about 3 inches above my belly button (which is right under my ribs!).  All that matters is he’s growing which means I am growing too.  I have only gained a whole 8 lbs so far, but 5 of that was since my last appointment 4 weeks ago so I know he and I are starting to put on some weight.  No complaints as long as its good for him.  Everything else turned up normal too, heartbeat, blood pressure, pulse etc…we are both doing great.

I am becoming more uncomfortable as the weeks go on, and was even told today to stop and get some maternity hose for my legs to help with the swelling.  This could be interesting…I will definitely spare you pictures of me and my special maternity hose!  Almost into the third trimester…oh boy!!

Pictures…nursery and more

Okay, I promised pictures and here they are…very boring room right now, but at least its pretty much cleaned out.  The bassinet will be a permanent fixture in our room, but for now it is in the baby room…thank you to Andrew’s sister Chrissy and her husband for giving this to us.  It will work great!

Looking in the door of the baby room, you can kinda see the window with the curtains on the right, which will change, the yellow was just temporary!

From the closet…the two shelves on the right will be gone, they are only holding DVD’s and CD’s which I don’t think the baby will need anytime soon! The wall on the right is where we think we want to put the crib.

Where the changing table or dresser will likely sit.

The Little Red Stool

Some of his first outfits

Can’t forget about the stool clearly labeled from 1979, can you believe it still stands?  This will help me with my swelling feet at work the next couple months.  I also thought I’d post a few of his first outfits, the swim trunks on the left were my own purchase I couldn’t resist for the bargain price  of $1 and thought he would need them for the family vacation to the cabin next year.  The next one was from my mom and grandma-to-be, thanks mom, of course I bought the Twins onesie when we first found out we were expecting and the last one on the right is from my best friend Tracy (Thank you!), our first baby gift and will likely be his take home from the hospital outfit!

Registered

Andrew and I had a very uneventful weekend as planned, but we did end up doing something productive…we registered at all the baby stores!  My mom and I did it together at Walmart and Target on Saturday and then Andrew and I did Babies R Us on Sunday.  I don’t anticipate any showers until after the holidays, probably January sometime, but I really can’t imagine registering with the holiday shoppers so we thought we’d get it done early before I get too uncomfortable and cranky! 

While registering and shopping on Saturday, of course the first-time grandmother-to-be found some cute outfits on sale she had to buy.  I think our little guy is going to be the best dressed baby in town, for half the cost!  It’s not like we have a closet full or even close, but if she keeps it up we just might, there are still 3+ months left…thanks mom!  I am just happy the green and yellow John Deere stuff hasn’t arrived in the house yet, I am just waiting for it to appear…

Our appointment is Thursday, the 6th I will update everyone again on the progress of our little monkey man.  I also plan to take some pics and post them maybe tonight or tomorrow of the stool and maybe the before pics of the nursery since it will be painted in 2 weeks!  It’s all coming together…still undecided on a crib, but we’ll make up our mind one of these times…

Cheers!

Swelling

I think I am just beginning to see the very first signs of swelling in my feet and ankles (soon to be cankles).  I noticed it last week a couple times and kinda wrote it off because I figured it was too early for that to happen.  Well, apparently not.  Lucky me, nearing the end of my 6th month and 2nd trimester the swelling begins already.  If it gets bad enough, and I hope it doesn’t, I will be sure to post pictures for all to see – I know how excited you all must be!  To ease the puffiness for now I asked my mom to dig up an old stool my brother received when he was little, literally titled “The Little Red Stool” (but the letters that spell it out are long gone I am sure), made by our great Uncle Phil when Chris was just a little guy.  So, unless Chris needs it for any reason sometime soon, I will be using it to prop my feet up at work and maybe even at home too once I am on leave.  When I pick it up this weekend I will be sure to add a picture, it really is a site for sore eyes!

Waking up

I am only about 22 1/2 weeks along and for the first time had to get up to use the bathroom last night (well, since I was little anyways!)…not too bad, but then again not great either.  It has left me pretty drousy today and I have a sneaky feeling thanks to the heads up from our ultrasound technician that this will become a more regular routine for me.  Not so exciting…

I am already looking forward to this weekend…we have a Halloween party to go to, but we still don’t have our “required” costumes so we may end up skipping it.  Other than that, believe it or not we have NO plans.  It will be great to finally stay home for once, get some needed raking done, maybe even scrapbook a little and put together a budget for our ever decreasing income (not so fun).  Still, I am hoping we are both up for a very restful and uneventful weekend – YEAH!

New Belly Shot!

Here it is, the picture of Kristen (my sister-in-law) and myself at our husbands’ Grandma’s 90th birthday party.  She is about 18 or 19 weeks in this picture and I am at about 21 weeks, can you tell she’s expecting twins?  She is bigger than me and I think according to our dates I am approximately 3 weeks ahead of her, but you can’t tell…with two babies the doctors told her she will measure about 8 weeks ahead of schedule.  WOW!  I am glad its her and not me, go Kristen!

Look at our bellies (and Andrew's hand...yes those are the hands our son may have)!

My next appointment is November 6th, should be another uneventful one with all the routine “services”.  Andrew is officially laid off work as of today so he will be able to go with me to one of these more mundane appointments, if he wishes.  At least he can meet my PA and visit with her for the first time, since after all she is responsible for both mine and our babies health! 

Unfortunately I have some not so good news to report…no, nothing terrible, just disappointing.  I blew chunks (yes, AGAIN) on the way home from work today out the door of my carpooling friend’s Mazda CX9.  I have officially thrown up out the door of her two different vehicles and have only thrown up out of one of ours, is there something I am missing?  Anyways, vacation on October 4th was the last time I did it, so I suppose I am due, but I was kinda hoping I was all done with that. 

Otherwise, all news is good…still feeling him move on a daily basis, but Andrew isn’t able to feel him yet.  I am sure it won’t be long and he may be keeping me AND Andrew up at night!  Andrew is even making comments on my growing mid region so I must really be expanding these days.  According to a fetal weight chart (found online by the grandmother-to-be) he should double in weight from my last appointment, so this could be a really big growth spurt for me and him of course!

More and more movement

I am sure this is just the beginning, but everyday now I typically feel movement usually in the morning on my way in to work and then again at night.  Sometimes during the day too, but maybe I am just not paying attention as much since I am busy at work.  I am trying to catch our little man by holding my belly cause it’d be really fun if Andrew could feel it too, but so far I haven’t been able to catch him for more than a second and then he stops.  Figures…stubborn little guy.

I plan to add some pics from this past weekend when my sister-in-law and I took a belly shot together, but we didn’t get it on our camera so I am waiting for some to come in from others…so, more belly shots to come.

Cheers!

The anticipation is over…

Let the drum roll begin…..okay, no more waiting.  We officially heard and saw this morning that our baby is looking like it has all the parts its supposed to have (thigh bone, kidneys, stomach, nose, ears, eyes, fingers, toes etc etc) and even a small growth in an important area that’s not abnormal.  Yes, there was a little something poking out which means ITS A BOY!  So, we saw HIM sucking HIS thumb and then we made a comment making fun of him doing it and he took it out right away, STRANGE!  Here’s some pics we got from the ultrasound, not real good ones to see his “manatalia”, but that’s okay, we have another one that’s a bit harder to see for that.  He’s only 11 ounces according to the ultrasound so you can image how little he his!  And his heartbeat was going at a healthy 133 bpm.  She said there was nothing she saw to flag for my doctor so all reports are good!

Its a BOY!

Close up of our 11 oz baby, cute little button nose!

I was slightly disappointed that I couldn’t get a closer look at the fingers and toes…I am really anxious to find out if they’re mine or Andrew’s…here’s to hoping the baby takes after me!

So, now I got a close look at the little stinker that has been poking me every once in a while.  The technician kinda warned me that his head is right next to my bladder so to expect some night time bathroom visits in my future when he gets bigger.  I can’t wait!  Basically that means at least for now his head is downward and his back kinda curves up to my right side and his legs are near my belly button.  I am sure I will have some very tender ribs coming up too…what an adventure!

Needless to say, VERY exciting news today!  Now on to the nursery…plans are still the same, monkeys, monkeys, monkeys!

Quick update

Andrew put the handrail on the steps last night, which is required for our final inspection from the city, but we’ll likely take it off as soon as it passes.  We also started our baby gate for the deck, but only got about half way done when it started to get too dark to do much else outside.  So, we can maybe finally call the city for the final inspection, call the lumber yard to pick up our extra materials and PARK in my garage for the first time in a month!  What a luxury!  I realized how much I love my garage when I almost had to scrape for the first time this year, ugh!  But, fortunately I have a car starter and was able to get by without the scraper until I can get into the garage later this week.

Not a real eventful update…our BIG appointment is Friday morning, we can’t wait!  Since I started wearing the comfy maternity clothes last week I have been receiving daily comments and questions about being pregnant.  I don’t mind at all, its just kinda strange to me now that people are saying something because its just slightly more noticeable.    Sometimes I even hesitate for a second thinking, what?  Oh yeah, I am preggo! Duh.