34 Weeks - We have a Nursery!

We officially have a nursery! We've been working on the room for a while, but all of the pieces are finally coming together now. Joel has been a busy daddy-to-be, assembling the crib, stroller, bouncy seat, and (with Grandpa Ken and Grandma Emilie's help - thanks!) moving the two dressers upstairs. Combined with the nesting instinct kicking in on my end, we've made some serious progress!

Here is the 34 week picture and some other nursery snapshots. We ended up changing our plans for the bedding in the room and we are so glad that we did! The new bedding is still gender neutral but is a lot easier to coordinate with. When we saw it, we both thought it was pretty cool and we loved the fun polka dots. It matches so well with so many of the great gifts we've received so we are really happy we made the change.

Assembling the crib:

Jack, doing what he does best - supervising:

"Is this the right one, Jack?"

Almost there....

Ta-Da! Nice job Jack, er, Joel! :-)

34 week belly with crib and new bedding:



How far along? 34 Weeks
Total weight gain/loss: 30-32 pounds - hasn't changed really at all lately
Maternity clothes? Um yes, although some no longer fit. That was a depressing moment, let me tell you.
Stretch marks? As previously stated, my luck has run out - I have a couple. Oh well.
Sleep: Sleep has been a little rocky lately but I think that's more because of being sick than being pregnant.
Best moment this week: Spending some time relaxing with Joel and the dogs.
Movement: Still plenty of movement going on, although it's changed as the little one is running out of space for his or her little bounce house parties. No feet in the ribcage just yet, but I have definitely noticed that the baby likes to push out on the left side of my abdomen, while pushing off of my right hip bone. Thank you for that, dear.
Food cravings: Sweets if anything. I've curbed my salty food craving because I would prefer to not be confused with the Goodyear Blimp. But I don't have the will power to avoid sweets, too!
Gender: You tell us! Be sure to vote in the poll on the top right of the blog.
Labor Signs: No labor signs still, but we are planning to pack the hospital bag and have the car seat installed soon, just in case. One of the couples from our childbirth class just had their baby last weekend and that hit home that this whole pregnancy thing is coming to an end pretty soon. Yikes!
Belly Button in or out? Oh, belly button, wherefore art thou? Has anyone seen my belly button? Even if it was 'there' I doubt I'd be able to see it anyhow.
What I miss: Remembering what it feels like to not have 30 pounds strapped to my stomach (and everywhere else). I think I've reached the point where it's hard to imagine NOT being pregnant and wondering what it feels like to be 'back to normal'.
What I am looking forward to: Hmmm.... well we are definitely looking forward to bringing home the new addition to the family. Although, when people ask if I'm ready, I am hesitant to say yes because I know - without really knowing of course, that we won't ever really be ready for the chaos that lies ahead!
Weekly Wisdom: Well, after being sick these past two weeks, I can say that a humidifier makes a huge difference in recovering!
Milestones: Thanks to all of the wonderful gift cards we have received, we were able to buy our stroller and car seat system this week. Woohoo!
Current Projects: Decorating the nursery walls, packing the hospital bags, and continuing to organize the house!

33 Weeks and a Baby Shower!

We were so fortunate to have my best friend Mary offer to throw an LA baby shower for family and friends! It was so much fun to visit with everyone and Mary did an amazing job with all of the decorations and food! We all keep telling her that party-planning may be a calling of hers. :-) Thanks again to Mary, Ray, Corie, the Pearls, and the Magluyans, for all of your time and energy to make it such a fun day for us! We love you!

Now, the drive down to LA at Christmas had been pretty uncomfortable with this growing baby belly, so I knew we would have to fly for this particular trip. Luckily, that worked out just fine and we made it home in one piece! We packed a small carry on suitcase and nestled our two larger suitcases and checked them on the way down. Thanks to Southwest's fabulous 2 free checked bags per person policy, we were able to get home with all of the wonderful gifts we received, too! Of course, I unfortunately also brought home a lovely respiratory virus from my fellow passengers on that flight (Yeah, I'm talking to you, dude with the horrible cold/flu symptoms that opted to sit right next to me in the terminal...). Although it had me hacking, coughing, sniffling, and wheezing over the past two weeks, I suppose I can't complain too much since I have been surprisingly healthy throughout this pregnancy.

Since this is overdue, I'm going to skip the regular update in favor of some more great pictures from the shower! Since Joel wanted to visit with our friends, too, he ended up sticking around and taking pictures during the festivities. As always, he got some great ones! :-) Unfortunately, we have some camera shy guests so we didn't quite get pictures of everyone there. But thank you once again to everyone who was able to make it out to the shower and for everyone's incredible generosity! We are so blessed!