It is hard to believe that this year is half over! Where does the time go? The first portion of this quarter was met with some less than pleasant weather, since May hit there's been a little bit more cooperation when it comes to things like the sun. Still we never really had a "spring" we had winter, some mild winter, some heavy winter… and then some summer. I'll take the summer – winter you may leave and return late November, thank you.
My pregnancy has been progressing rapidly and the belly is ever expanding – one would think at some point it is physically impossible to get any bigger, but nature seems to have other plans in mind and my belly continues to expand. Less than 8 weeks to go and ACE should be here! The nursery is complete – pending the arrival of one final wall hanging. It is mostly stocked with all things necessary for Ace's arrival, at least all the big furniture. We also have created a baby "station" downstairs – complete with the packnplay and a rocking chair that I found just this week at a consignment shop, for $20! I was excited for that buy. So everything is falling into place there. We started birth and delivery classes at the beginning of June, those have been helpful in hearing all our options and learning some different breathing techniques. We have 2 more classes to go and those will be done with.
The house has made significant progress over the last 3 months and just about every room is sufficiently decorated and organized. Small pockets still are a work in progress, including the garage, the closet under the stairs and the laundry room – but not too bad considering the amount of rooms in this house.
Friends and Family during this second quarter of 2008 have been around often. I was able to venture down to California for the last time sans baby in May for my baby shower there. I was able to see all sorts of friendly faces that I hadn't seen in a while and spend some quality time with my mom and grandma. It was a good trip. Here at home, Stacy and I have enjoyed many a coffee trips for chatting. Lunches with Vanessa. Book clubs have been good. I got to see Shannon and Nikki in May for an hour or so on their way back to the airport from a weekend of concerting. It was short, but excellent! Went to a stamp party in May at Stacy's and hosted one here myself this last weekend; they both were a lot of fun. Carrie came to visit for the ever anticipated movie Sex and the City. We made a whole evening out of it drinks (I use the term loosely), dinner and the movie. We spent most of the weekend shopping J in fact I exposed Carrie to three of our local malls.
Second quarter of 2008 has also seen more quilting on my part. I finally finished my friend Lori's baby quilt! Well, not her baby quilt, but the one that I made for her son. Her son that in less than a month is turning two. I then created bumpers for the cradle my grandpa made, that will live in our room for the first few months of baby's life. I'm not quiet done with those as I need to make the ties to keep it in place. Finally, I've made a quilt for Vanessa's baby. Vanessa had her baby on June 18th, a baby girl named Sabria. She's adorable and it was wonderful to visit her in the hospital.
That sums up my second quarter of 2008 – the last few days have been pretty warm. My pregnant self has been managing. The only time I've been miserable was sitting in church, the non-air conditioned church. Ugh I went to the bathroom after the sermon and a woman was standing at the sink and said "Oh you poor thing, I was just thanking God that at least I wasn't pregnant!" and my response was "good instincts!" Yah I was pretty dern miserable then, but I was well hydrated – we had wisely chosen to imbibe in some Jamba Juice that morning. J So that wraps up the first half of the year.
The next quarter will be the final weeks of pregnancy and the arrival of Ace. A much anticipated moment on many minds. Along with the celebration of our fourth anniversary, Loving Husband's birthday, and a smattering of weddings throughout. It should be a very nice summer. Happy Fourth of July everyone!
 |  |  |
 | 
|  |
|
|---|
Monday, June 30, 2008
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Third Trimester
In the final stretch! 11 weeks to go! At the same time, that seems forever far away and just around the corner. I've started to grow out of the "honeymoon" phase and well into the I feel like the size of a building. Most of the time I am fine, but I find myself with less energy and forget picking anything off the floor or the bottom drawer of the fridge. Not happening.
Ace is moving around happily in my tummy – mostly attacking … I mean resting on my right side. He's steered clear of my left set of ribs, so it's good to know when all this is done I'll at least have a few left to protect at least one of my lungs. Otherwise he is quite content these days squirming all over the place. The doctor says he's an extremely active little boy for still being on the inside. He does frequently run laps around my belly and often kicks off your hand if it displeases him. So far he loves apples and gets quite excited with movement when I consume them.
I had a doctor's appointment on Tuesday this week and I'm right on target for where everything should be. Weight, size of uterus (does anyone else find it odd that pregnancy is the flood gate to socially acceptable amounts of "too much information"?) Ace's heartbeat was faster this time around – it was 163 BPM this time, previously has been holding happily right around 150. The doctor says that it's good that he fluctuates a little, in fact even states it's probably because he's running out of room and gets frustrated. I have now entered into the appointment scheduling realm of every two weeks, previously I had been going to the doctor once a month. I am now scheduled through the end of July with every other week appointments. Loving Husband fondly refers to this stage as the greatest insurance scam ever.
The nursery is nearly complete, all the main components are in there and happily awaiting the baby. So far so good – we used our cats to test out the weight support on the changing table – combined our cats weigh close to 40lbs, so we figured not bad test subjects for the table, it passed with flying colors…. And Nickolas got a great view of the inside of the crib and thought it was so nice of us to give him a bigger bed. He leaped right in. Dang it. We pulled him out and he moseyed on his way. However, that night when I got up for one of my many middle of the night jaunts to the bathroom he was cozy and curled up in the middle of the crib, I pulled the sleepy bear out of the crib and placed him in his bed where he quietly returned to his slumber. To the best of our knowledge he hasn't returned to the crib since. Tort remains content to hide under the bedskirt of the crib as his own personal fort.
A few weeks back I had a lovely shower in SoCal. It was great to see everyone and had a lovely party hosted by Dawn and thrown by Shelley, Dawn and my mom. I got some lovely gifts and gift cards and have been able to obtain many of the necessary baby items for Ace's arrival. His car seat in fact is on the way as we speak. J I am very much looking forward to my other showers to be held up here in the great northwest in July and being able to celebrate with friends here. My dear friend Vanessa is due in 9 days, and we are all excited with anticipation to meet her little girl! So that should keep me busy for the next few passing weeks.
Ace will continue to grow and I will continue to become less and less mobile, relinquishing more and more duties – such as laundry – I'm getting to the end of the line with that chore, the bending down and getting the laundry in and out of the bins is getting difficult, in fact it already is impossible for me to get to the bottom of the dirty clothes hamper. However, Loving Husband has been wonderful – he's been very helpful and is amazed regularly by how hard and strong Ace's has been kicking me.
Thank you for your continued love and support and continue to pray as we enter into the final stretch, when our little boy finally will arrive to much excitement.
Ace is moving around happily in my tummy – mostly attacking … I mean resting on my right side. He's steered clear of my left set of ribs, so it's good to know when all this is done I'll at least have a few left to protect at least one of my lungs. Otherwise he is quite content these days squirming all over the place. The doctor says he's an extremely active little boy for still being on the inside. He does frequently run laps around my belly and often kicks off your hand if it displeases him. So far he loves apples and gets quite excited with movement when I consume them.
I had a doctor's appointment on Tuesday this week and I'm right on target for where everything should be. Weight, size of uterus (does anyone else find it odd that pregnancy is the flood gate to socially acceptable amounts of "too much information"?) Ace's heartbeat was faster this time around – it was 163 BPM this time, previously has been holding happily right around 150. The doctor says that it's good that he fluctuates a little, in fact even states it's probably because he's running out of room and gets frustrated. I have now entered into the appointment scheduling realm of every two weeks, previously I had been going to the doctor once a month. I am now scheduled through the end of July with every other week appointments. Loving Husband fondly refers to this stage as the greatest insurance scam ever.
The nursery is nearly complete, all the main components are in there and happily awaiting the baby. So far so good – we used our cats to test out the weight support on the changing table – combined our cats weigh close to 40lbs, so we figured not bad test subjects for the table, it passed with flying colors…. And Nickolas got a great view of the inside of the crib and thought it was so nice of us to give him a bigger bed. He leaped right in. Dang it. We pulled him out and he moseyed on his way. However, that night when I got up for one of my many middle of the night jaunts to the bathroom he was cozy and curled up in the middle of the crib, I pulled the sleepy bear out of the crib and placed him in his bed where he quietly returned to his slumber. To the best of our knowledge he hasn't returned to the crib since. Tort remains content to hide under the bedskirt of the crib as his own personal fort.
A few weeks back I had a lovely shower in SoCal. It was great to see everyone and had a lovely party hosted by Dawn and thrown by Shelley, Dawn and my mom. I got some lovely gifts and gift cards and have been able to obtain many of the necessary baby items for Ace's arrival. His car seat in fact is on the way as we speak. J I am very much looking forward to my other showers to be held up here in the great northwest in July and being able to celebrate with friends here. My dear friend Vanessa is due in 9 days, and we are all excited with anticipation to meet her little girl! So that should keep me busy for the next few passing weeks.
Ace will continue to grow and I will continue to become less and less mobile, relinquishing more and more duties – such as laundry – I'm getting to the end of the line with that chore, the bending down and getting the laundry in and out of the bins is getting difficult, in fact it already is impossible for me to get to the bottom of the dirty clothes hamper. However, Loving Husband has been wonderful – he's been very helpful and is amazed regularly by how hard and strong Ace's has been kicking me.
Thank you for your continued love and support and continue to pray as we enter into the final stretch, when our little boy finally will arrive to much excitement.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)