Dinner Date

 

A few weeks ago we got takeout from one of my new favorite restaurants and sat on the waterfront as the sunset. We didn't have much time, but it was nice to sit over the water and talk about life and baby. After we ate we sat on a bench and Grant rubbed my belly. Only a matter of time before that belly is gone and that kid is in our arms! 

 

Basketball Challenge

 

Colin is one of Grant's co-workers. He is an UO HPHY Alum and an all around nice guy. Colin likes to challenge his co-workers in a physical challenge once a month or so. A running race, a swimming race, etc. Grant decided he'd like to play basketball for his challenge. The date was set for August 2nd. They both trained and there was even a small crowd for the game. I think they played best of three to 21 or something? I can't remember. They had lots of sweaty fun until Colin got hurt. Unfortunately, he re-injured is patella cutting the challenge short and putting him in a leg brace for several weeks =(. I love these pictures of the game taken by another one of Grant's co-workers. They have so much fun workin' out there!

38 weeks!

 

Still truckin' along over here. Apparently I'm HUGE or at least that is what everyone who saw me grocery shopping today thought. Seriously three people stopped me to ask when I was due and were beyond shocked when I said two weeks. And I got the ever famous, "Well you must be having twins" Nope. Just one, ThankYouVeryMuch! I really don't feel like I'm giant, but at our birth class this weekend I was for sure the biggest one there and almost everyone was due within a week of me.

I still feel really good. Tired sometimes, but mostly just the same as I've felt the past few months. Carpal tunnel, occasional heartburn. I wake up about three nights a week to pee at 3am, but otherwise I sleep fine and feel fine. I'm told I am starting to have a bit of a waddle, but I don't feel a lot of pelvic pressure yet. I will admit I'm getting more impatient for this kid to get here. I feel silly for wanting it so bad when I still feel good, but I'm just ready! I've been pregnant and waiting for what seems like an eternity so now I want my prize! I'm trying really hard to relish this last bit of time to myself/with Grant and remember that baby will come at the perfect time when he or she is good and ready. 

As I mentioned, we had our birth class on Saturday - we really enjoyed it! It was at our birth center and went over lots of what to expect and when to call/come to the birth center. She also went over lots of pointers on how to touch a laboring woman and ways to provide comfort. We practiced different massage techniques and labor positions and even got in one of the birth tubs! It was really great to meet other couples with babe's due so close to ours and to hear their baby names! It was also reassuring to see all the people with like-minded approaches to birth. Next week we have a prenatal breastfeeding class that I'm excited about!

 

I've been meaning to take a picture of the belly with headphones and I finally remembered! Every once in a while I play the babe some music. Its funny to feel it squirm to the beat and I will be interested to see if it likes this music more when it is born. I usually play this Journey CD, because this kid's papa loves him some Journey.  I got an iPod dock for the nursery so we can play music in there while baby naps or while we are nursing. I'm hoping to get a few white noise tracks to play too. I've heard newborns love them some white noise!

 

This was a big baby week...lots of pictures! Last Monday Grant installed the carseat. This felt like a big moment to me - like we are really getting close! He was so cute...he read through the entire manual whilst listening to some hard core rap and sitting in the back of the car. We had totally cleaned the car inside and out the night before so it was all ready for the install. I don't even drive this car (b/c it has no AC and no woman 9+ months prego should go without AC) so I haven't gotten to drive around with the empty car seat...but I'm very happy its all ready for baby! 

  

My weekly midwife appointments are always an hour long, but there isn't always that much to do. We chat, they measure me, listen to baby and then we are usually done. Last week they asked if I would want them to draw my baby for me. I know some people probably think this is totally weird and hippy, but it was kind of fun and actually really relaxing! It was fun to see the babe's position and to imagine more what it looks like. Grant thinks babe will be born bald and then will have really blond hair... wonder if the drawing is more accurate or if he is right!!

 

My favorite part was the placenta... it is what connects us and it amazes me all that it can do! They just used water soluble paint so I washed the drawing away later that night. Fun while it lasted!

Baby Shower

 

Wow. That is all I can say about how bowled over with emotion I was after our friends and family showered us and this baby a few weeks ago. We are SO spoiled to have so many people who love us and this kid! Janelle, Lindsey, and Jill hosted an amazing party complete with beautiful flowers, handmade decorations, delicious treats, and even a few fun activities! It was the perfect mix of mingling, activity, and gifts. Thank you thank you thank you! I couldn't pick just  few pictures so there is a slideshow of more than a few favs below...

 

shadow

My shadow while walking today...OMG that belly is huge!

37 Weeks

 

We made it to full term! I am amazed that this kid could come at any time...its the weirdest thing having no idea when something so big might happen. I'm getting really anxious and excited for the actual birth. I still just can't believe we are having A BABY! 

I feel great still - my heartburn was even better this week! My carpal tunnel is still really annoying, but I can deal. I'm still sleeping through the night and just have to pee really bad when I wake up in the morning. I think I kind of wake up when my hands go numb at night, but I am not totally sure. I think I just change positions and fall back asleep. I've been walking 5-6 days a week up these hills near where we live - its a really good workout (for someone in my GIANT state) and people look at me like I'm insane or like the kid is going to fall out of me. Makes me laugh...hopefully the exercise will serve me well in labor. 

What else? I tested GBS positive. Boo. Not really a huge deal, but it would have been nice to be negative. We are trying some homeopathic remedies to see if we can clear it and then we'll retest in a few weeks. If I'm still positive we'll just do our best to keep baby free of infection and watch close the first few weeks. The reality is that GBS doesn't get that many babies sick, but it can make the ones that get sick REALLY sick. I'm not sure that giving every laboring women who is positive IV antibiotics is the right answer though...

The baby is HUGE. Seriously poking out of me all over the place. My email says that the baby could be as big as 6.3 lbs and over 19 inches long. I wonder how big our babe will actually be...I'm hoping for a six pounder... Sometimes when it really stretches it hurts now. I also had a knee sticking out of my side the other day that was incredibly uncomfortable. I encouraged baby to move and, luckily, he obliged. I like to watch the movements - its like he is doing all sorts of tricks in there! I CAN NOT WAIT TO MEET THIS PERSON! Come out and see us!

Maternity Pictures!!

My maternity pictures are posted to our photog's blog and we are in love!! Go check them out and PLEASE leave a comment... if we get 10 comments then we get a free 8x10! Can't wait to see the rest and to meet the baby in that big belly!

Nursery Reveal!

This is my beloved room! I'm beyond proud of it and am so excited to spend time with our babe in here!! Our photographer mentioned bringing a wide angle lens and taking some pics of it for us when she comes to do newborn pictures, but I couldn't wait that long to share so please bear with me on the picture quality!

My first quilt done by me from picking out coordinating fabrics to the end of quilting and binding! I'm so in love!

I am NO designer! I got tons of inspiration and ideas from the web - specifically pinterest and ohdeedoh. Let me know if I've forgotten to cite something in the following list!

Inspiration & Sources...

Cloud Mobile Heavily Inspired by:The ButterFlying, Love this one, This whole room is awesome

Overall design/One Yellow Piece of Furniture: Norah’s Sweet and Sunny Nursery, Soo cute!, In love!,

Rug:World Market

Follow Your Heart:Kohl’s

Grey totes:Kohl’s

Pillows in crib: Pier One

Black Piggie Bank:Target

Crib skirt: DIY using this tutorial

Quits:DIY – one by me and one by an aunt

Emboridered Onesie: DIY - traced this pattern

Changing Pad Cover:DIY using this tutorial

Fabric Bunting:DIY using this pattern

Dog Butt Hooks & Wire Hangy Thing:Ikea

Lamp & Shade:Ikea

Shelf:Ikea

Crib: Giggle

Dresser:Already owned - DIY sanded and repainted white

Rocker & Stool:Already owned - DIY repainted yellow (sun ray by behr) and reuplostered (remember what it used to look like??)

Side Table:Already owned – DIY repainted white

Bookshelf:Craigslist find, but originally from Ikea

Frog Wall Art:Originals from my first grade teacher who is an awesome artist!

Wall Paint: Wet Pavement from Valspar

Fabric for all projects: Fabric Depot

36 weeks! = 9 months!

I feel like it is insane to think that we are one month from our due date! Can you believe that?! This week was great - lots of exciting things for this little family! I'll start by saying that I'm still feeling great and know that I am ridiculously lucky to be saying that this far along. My carpal tunnel is still there and is progressing, but it is manageable. I've done all the baby knitting I'll be able to do until after baby is here and I get some of this fluid off, but that isn't a huge deal. My heartburn is also around, but continues to be managable. The best thing is that I'm still sleeping through the night. Toward the end of the week I started waking up at 520 or so just wide awake. I didn't have to pee or anything so I think it was just anticipation of all the fun over the weekend!

On Friday we had our maternity pictures taken by the lovely Katie Anderson! It was SO fun and I can't wait to see what she got! I'll post them here when we get a sneak peek soon! We are so excited to get to have her back in a few weeks to do our babe's newborn pictures, too!

I spent the rest of last week and Saturday finishing the nursery! I REALLY wanted to have it done before the baby shower which was yesterday. I got it done and am in love! It feels SO SO good to be in the room that is our baby's! I'll post some pictures later today.

The Shower! OMG we are beyond spoiled! Jill, Janelle, and Lindsey hosted an awesome shower and we had a great turnout! It was so fun to see people that we don't get to see very often and everyone was so excited about the baby! This kid is beyond spoiled already! The shower was complete with awesome decorations, delicious food, and fun activities! I didn't take any pictures, but I'll post them all once I get them! Thank you to everyone who planned, loved, and showered us - we are humbled by your support and generosity!

What else? I think I mentioned that I went back on my antidepressant - it was such a hard decision, but I am feeling significantly better so we are confident it was the right one. I love the doctor I'm seeing at OHSU - she specializes in pre- and post-natal depression so I feel like we can trust her advice. At this point we will continue to see how I do and she will monitor me post-partum to see if we need to make any changes.

Hypnobabies - I took a few weeks off! Oops! I'm back on track, but I was feeling really overwhelmed with the amount of time it was taking so I decided to give myself a break. It was good because now I'm more excited to get back into it and get ready to birth this baby! I would say that I really like the relaxation and positivity about birth that it preaches, my continuing complaint is the time commitment - I think it would be a really tough program to stick to if I were working.

Baby continues to plump up! I'm positive he is still head down, which makes this mama very happy! Things are getting tighter in there so the movements are much less grand. I have a few days each week were I have these really low crampy feelings - It seems to be my body readjusting, perhaps to a growth spurt or a change in babe's position. I didn't feel awesome for a few days last week and for a minute I worried that my time of comfort had run out, but luckily I was back on track to feeling good by Wednesday. If we go into labor anytime now we can deliver at the birth center! We are starting to get lots of guesses on when this baby is going to come - many say early! and I'm getting more and more guesses that it is a girl! SO SO CURIOUS about who this little one will be and what it will look like!

Brewfest

 
A few weeks ago we spent a beautiful afternoon and evening on the waterfront enjoying friends (me) and beer (grant). The weather was perfect and OMG was the beer flowing. Let's just say all was fun and games until the ride home... 

 

love her! 

 

Linz & Hillary


A few of the crazy boys. Those tasters are NO JOKE! 

 
All the girls and my big belly

G likes to pretend he is supporting the belly...

35 Weeks!

As I write this, baby has the hiccups. I was telling Grant the other day that sometimes its hard for me to concentrate when I'm having a conversation or trying to get something done and there is this being moving or hiccuping or kicking. I always just want to stop and focus on it or at least tell the other person, but that is kind of random... "excuse me, but my fetus is hicuuping and I need to focus." I've been loving this stage where I can REALLY feel it move though. No more are the days where I question if each twinge was the baby or not.

I'm lucky to still be feeling great. People keep asking when I think the baby will come. For some reason, I think early, but I always tell them that if I continue to feel this good it can stay in for as long as it wants so I can get everything on my to do list done! Its amazing to me how soon or how far away it could be and we have NO IDEA! Back to how I'm feeling - my biggest complaints are still the carpal tunnel and heartburn. The carpal tunnel is progressively getting worse and at times drives me insane. Three of my fingertips on both hands are now constantly numb/tingly and throughout the day/night I'm always trying to change positions to get the tingly-ness to go away. The heartburn is just something I've gotten used to - I've found its worse lately when my stomach is empty so I've been trying to eat a little bit all the time. Tums usually help, if eating doesn't cure it though.

I've been working hard to get the nursery done and its getting SO CLOSE! My goal is to have most of it done by this weekend so that I can show people at the shower and so we can take a few of our maternity pics in there. The quilt is the only thing I'm not convinced will be done and that isn't the end of the world. I really like how it is turning out...I'm excited to post pictures soon!

My email tells me that this kid in me is HUGE - possibly weighing in at around 5 1/4 lbs and over 18 inches long?! No wonder I can feel every little movement! I had this shift in pressure yesterday. I'm not sure if the baby changed positions or if he moved down or what, but all of a sudden it is kind of uncomfortable to bend over and I have a few more twingy pains when I move in certain ways. Hmmm...

We're still working on names and I'm thinking that we are probably not going to make any progress from our current position until the baby is here. August and Walter are still the boy front runners. Edrie and Aurora and maybe Maren are the girls. Maren is falling out of favor because it occurred to us that she could be called Mary and that just isn't as fun. I LOVE Edrie and would want to use the middle name Ruth...Grant is coming around, but it isn't his fav and most people aren't in love with it... not sure I care though! We'll see. I'm excited to see what it ends up being called...its such a hard decision.

Cannon Beach Babymoon

We spent last weekend in Cannon Beach and were greeted with the most amazing weather! The above picture defines our time well - belly, knitting, puppy sleeping. What you can't see is that my hubby is close by and we were ALONE! We haven't done anything just the two of us all summer, so this was our little weekend babymoon to spend a little time reconnecting. It was so nice!

Olive knows the smells of the beach so even before we took her onto the sand she was whining at the hotel room door until we took her. She continued to whine the WHOLE weekend if we weren't literally on the beach.

Such a nice day to be at the coast!

Saturday morning we took things slow - with Grant and Olive going for a morning jog while I got some knitting in. Then we spent some family time chilling on the beach.

Grant and I did some baby reading and Olive chewed her stick.

Then it was time for Devin & Alysha's wedding! It was a perfect day for a beach wedding! We were so happy to get to be there to celebrate with them. Congratulations guys!

The rest of the weekend we just relaxed and worked on things like a budget and getting our life in order. Those things aren't much fun, but it felt so good to have them lined out before this baby comes...its going to be here so soon!

34 Weeks!

I get huger by the minute these days. Seems like I can't possibly get ANY bigger, yet somehow it happens! I still feel pretty good. For some reason Sunday and Monday were rough - I felt off and exhausted, but I slept in yesterday making me feel much better. For the latter half of Sunday baby was in a really weird position that made me SO uncomfortable, but after some coaxing he got back in line and mama is much happier. 

I had two job interviews this week - leading me to stuff myself into the bella band and some dress pants. OMG I was uncomfortable! I don't think either job is a go, because at this point its hard for me to start working and then I'd want time off when baby comes. It was good to get some more experience interviewing though. 

What else? I had an appointment with my midwife yesterday. Baby is still head down and really low. Heart rate sounded great and my blood pressure is normal. All things that make me happy. For some reason, I've found that the anxiety and what ifs of the first trimester are creeping back in a bit so the reassurance was nice. 

We are continuing to work on the nursery and I got to wash all my baby clothes and diapers and put them into the dresser this week. For some reason I had been looking forward to that for MONTHS! Its one of those silly little things I always dreamed of doing while pregnant, but it had to wait so LONG because of all the moving and craziness. For the nursery I still need to finish baby's quilt, make a crib skirt and mobile, paint a few things, hang pictures. Hoping to get it all finished before the shower next week!