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!

Celebrating 28 Weeks and Christmas in LA!

We have been back 'home' in LA for the week, enjoying the holidays with Jenn's side of the family and our friends that we sadly left behind when we moved up north. :-) We were really fortunate to be able to see so many people we love while we have been in town. (Thanks to everyone for making time to see us, too!)

We were also able to sneak in one last visit to Disneyland, just the 'two' of us. As one of our favorite date spots, we really miss our regular, quick visits to the Happiest Place on Earth! We enjoyed wandering around and riding all of the rides (approved for mamas-to-be of course). While it was our last trip as a twosome, it was the baby's 1st visit! We really look forward to passing on our obsession to our kid(s) and we can't wait to experience the magic through their eyes. :-)

How far along? 28 Weeks

Total weight gain/loss: Don't know - haven't stepped on the scale this week, but it hadn't changed much last week. I'm back to not paying much attention to it.
Maternity clothes? Yup - although I'm going to need some longer shirts soon as I am starting to notice a draft on the underside of my stomach sometimes.... :-(
Stretch marks? None that I can see...so that means no, right?
Sleep: UGH. Well, I think a return to my magical Sleep Number 45 will help, but this week has been a little rough. However, without the dogs around, we've been enjoying sleeping in for probably the last time in our adult lives.
Best moment this week: Too many to choose from! Between seeing my family for Christmas, visiting with friends, and taking our last trip to Disneyland as a childless couple... we have had a great week!
Movement: While I can't seriously use the acronym usually, OMG comes to mind! I'm slightly convinced that the poor child has run out of room in there and is trying to get out. We (namely, my rib cage and I) have noticed a major change in the movement this past week. Joel has been able to feel (and see) plenty of activity, however the baby protested performing for Nana Claudette. Sorry Mom!
Food cravings: Cheese Bread! Just kidding...well, not really - we went to Northwoods Inn for dinner on our first night down in LA. Yum!
Gender: Believe it or not, we've still yet to figure it out! ;-) According to a long list of old wives tales we read online the other day, most signs point to boy.
Labor Signs: Nope....
Belly Button in or out? Again, neither....
What I miss: Being comfortable
What I am looking forward to: Someday being able to lay on my stomach or back again. Oh how I wish I could just sleep on my back some nights!
Weekly Wisdom: When pregnant at Disneyland, wear compression stockings! I think that's why I was so comfortable for most of the 12 hours we were there. Seriously! I couldn't believe how comfortable I was all day on my feet. I'm convinced that the improved circulation made a huge difference.
Milestones: Santa brought us the crib for Christmas! Woohoo! Baby Corcoran has some furniture! :-) Aside from that, more frequent and new movement. We think we can feel the head (or maybe the rump?) pressing into my side. For those of you who have never experienced growing a human in your belly, let me tell you, it's just lovely sometimes.

Current Projects: Clean out the nursery room.... yes I'm aware that I believe that was the current project a few weeks ago. We're REALLY going to get it done this time. Really!