Happy Birthday, Dustin!

Last weekend we celebrated Dustin's 28th anniversary of being alive! :o) I had a lot of fun making his birthday "non-cake". Now that I have a little more time on my hands, I am able to do things like that. I called it a non-cake because he didn't want cake for his birthday, he wanted brownies. Brownies alone seemed so uninspired, so I used one of his other favorite treats, scotcheroos, to make a helmet, which sat on a brownie decorated as grass. It was yummy, and that is what mattered!

Evan and I, of course, went out and got him some gifts, among them were cozy adidas pants to lounge around the house in (those were Evans idea since Daddy told him how jealous he was of his comfy pants), a video game, a bears t-shirt, and a wooden box picture frame that spins that I painted, of course, in true Chicago bears style and filled with photos of Dustin at Soldier field when we went in 2008.

The one major thing, however, that Dustin wanted for his birthday was just ONE DAY of not having to do ANYTHING. He didn't want deadlines, or specific places he needed to be, or projects he had to think about. So, we granted him that as well! It was a nice weekend so we blew up Evans pool and chilled out with him....but we got a little toasty and decided to blow up our pool as well. That's where this activity turned sour...all we had was a foot pump. Apparently you can use a wet/dry vac. but we didn't think about this until our very nice neighbor offered to let us use his, but at this point we were already halfway done so Dustin said thanks, but no thanks. Well, we should have taken him up on it....but as it turns out it wouldn't have mattered. We started filling it with water and the sides seemed low, so we pumped some more. By the time we got in, the sides buckled out and started to spill the water out. We had to hold the sides up to keep the water in....not really very relaxing, so we were forced to give up. We never bothered to release the air and by an hour or two later, it was laying on our patio as flat as a pancake. Hmm...we're guessing there's a hole in it. Call it a hunch. The neighbors were outside watching this whole thing, so we were a bit embarrassed and decided to run inside and hide. Fortunately for him, Evan slept through this whole thing and when he woke up, we were going inside, anyway. I was in charge of bringing everything in while Dustin gave Evan a bath. As if we weren't embarrassed enough, I had to make matters worse. As I was loading things back into the house I had to dump the water out of the glass bowl that Dustin had put out for Tango....I grabbed the bowl by the bottom and went to toss the water into the vegetable garden. Not really thinking about how it being wet, and my hand being wet would create a bit of a slippery situation, the bowl went flying into the air and literally BOUNCED on the patio making the most ear piercing sound I have ever heard in my life. In fact, I found out later that Dustin heard it from upstairs in the bathroom. Oy. I don't think we can ever go outside again! The good news is that somehow the bowl lived to tell the story. Impressive. Apparently Pyrex makes a very sturdy product. LOL

(Evan showing off that he knows how to chill "pool-side", no doubt the result of good parenting!)

The best part about Dustin's birthday celebrations for me, is that I win too! We always go out to eat for each others birthday, and we both really love the same places. Dustin picked out Molly Woo's (which is our favorite Chinese restaurant) for his birthday dinner. Yummmm!!! For those of you who have never heard of this place, it's part of the Cameron Mitchel line, so I guess you could call it "high end", but it's really reasonable to go there for an occasional dinner, and it is SO good. I love that I always have leftovers, too, so I get lunch the next day out of the same meal.

Evan also gave Daddy the gift of sleeping in his crib! It was quite the monumental moment after all of the *unique* things we've tried to make him not be afraid of it. Now, getting him to take a nap in there is a totally different subject, but for now, we'll take what we can get!(This picture taken August 7, 2010)

Overall, (aside from the part were we make ourselves look like big doofus') it turned out to be a nice relaxing birthday celebration. Best of all, it was great quality time with our little family! :o)

seriously, I've got to get more consistant!

It's been three months since my last post! Wow. I'm really bad at this, aren't I? I get so tied up with Evan that I lose track of time. He is so captivating! Growing so fast, too. A few things have happened since my last post. For example, in May, I had my first mothers day! Evan and Dustin bought my new plants for the front garden. Then, Dustin ripped out the ugly, overgrown spirea's and helped me replace them with my pretty, new rose bushes. We also planted two new evergreen bushes to accent the front doorway, but something is eating all of my plants out there and one already needs replaced.

JUNE:
Dustin had his first fathers day, also. Evan and I got him a gift card to get a massage since he's been so stressed out between working, getting his executive MBA, and trying to learn how to be a Daddy. I am so proud of how hard he's been working!

He and Evan took me to Franklin Park conservatory for my birthday. Aside from when he fussed because of the heat, Evan slept through most of it, while mommy played photographer. So many cool things to take pictures of there! Dustin also gave me the day off of diaper duty, which really presented the short end of the stick on his end. Sorry sweetie! But thank you!

JULY:
We survived Dustin's trip to China by way of lots of people coming to stay with us to keep our minds off of it and get some things done. I was the most productive with Dustin's Mom and my Mom being here. I got a LOT of work in the front room done which was so badly needing attention! And it was nice to have some friends visit also. We were so happy to have him arrive back home safely. He was so thoughtful and picked out some great gifts for us! My favorite was the onesie that he got for Evan that had his name written in Chinese, well, not exactly, they wrote out what his name meant in Chinese "Handsome Cloud". What a thoughtful gift! Truely unique. It's unfortunate that one of the snaps already broke :o( But I'm going to frame it and hang it in his room. He's also got a nice silk Chinese outfit that I can't wait for him to fit into! I also received a Chinese style t-shirt that I'm excited about, it's really pretty...but still a little small yet, even though I'm back down to my pre-Evan weight. But it gives me another goal to work towards!Then following all of that, I decided to leave my job to stay home with our little man. I loved my job, but I love Evan way more. The decision was a difficult one, but I'm glad I did it. However, for some reason, I'm having a difficult time dealing with it. I just wish I could be in both places at once. Evan made it a little easier yesterday. Yesterday was the first day of school, so to keep my mind off of it, he decided it would be a great day to roll over for the first time all by himself! Now see!! I would have missed that had I been at school!!! Oh little man, you are growing sooo fast!

BRINGING ME TO AUGUST:
So why am I still having difficulty accepting the fact that I'm not teaching? That's what woke me up this morning (let's rephrase, Evan woke me up....this is what KEPT me up). The only logical thing I can think of is that realization is finally settling in that I left my job. I LIKED my job; and I feel like I was pretty darn good at it, too! I knew what I was doing, I had a plan for every day (OK, most days).....and I left it to be a Mommy! What do I know about being a Mommy?!? I'm not even sure I'm good at this whole Mommy thing. I mean, I've kept him alive thus far. But I'm a teacher- I've seen a lot of parents who aren't so good at the being a parent thing, but have somehow managed to keep their kid alive, so I don't think that stands for much. I mean, the doctor is mad at me because he still gets up every three hours most nights to eat. What am I supposed to do, starve my kid? Or, let's examine the fact that I can no longer get him to nap without putting him in his swing. That's not good! He's a BIG boy, he's going to out grow that swing much sooner than later, I'm sure of it. And when that day comes, he's STILL going to need to take naps! He's terrified of his crib...I try the crying it out method, but he gets so worked up that when I go to calm him down every 5-10 minutes like the paper says to do- he's dripping (literally) with sweat, screaming as if he's hurt, and absolutely will not calm down. It's a nightmare. I know some day he will have to adjust to it, but why is it so difficult and why do I feel so alone? I really have no clue what I'm doing....so eventually, I forfeit thinking "enough for today, we'll try again tomorrow" and put him in his swing, because if I don't, he stays awake until bedtime (with maybe one or two 20 minute naps) and by then he's so overtired he doesn't know what to do with himself. Oh my goodness. I don't know when he's supposed to nap, how long he's supposed to nap, how often he's supposed to nap...I'm not sure if, or when, or how I'm supposed to try to push feedings further apart....I just want what's best for him! How am I supposed to know if I'm doing it right or if I'm really screwing up? He's spoiled me soooo bad up until now. And honestly, he still is probably the best behaved, most smiley little baby ever. Mommy just has a slight insecurity problem, and I think this is what is leading me to question my choice of staying at home.

Regardless, it's been a great summer, and I'm looking forward to watching Evan grow and learn new things (but, with that being said, sweetie, please don't hurry! I love my little baby cuddles with you!)

I guess that's all for now. With any luck, 3 months won't slip by before my next post!

Has it really already been almost a month?

Wow, it really has. Only 2 days until our little guys 1 month birthday. I can't believe that didn't hit home more yesterday. (Shoot, I'm already a month behind on my scrapbook! I'd better get a move-on!)

Today is Dustin & I's 4th wedding anniversary. We met in 2002, got married in 2006, had a baby in 2010...what lies ahead for 2014? That seems a lot further away than I guess it really is. I'm hoping we win the lottery so that we can go to our honeymoon location, Punta Cana, EVERY year instead of every 5 years! :o) Sounds like a reasonable plan, right? And own at least one vacation home somewhere with palm trees that we can live from October until the end of March. Did I mention that would work with our work schedules, because we would have none? Yeah, we are the type of people that work to live. The whole living to work thing makes perfect nonsense to us!

Anyways, I'm totally excited about this post because with Evan being a few days from a month old, I have to step on the scale and see how my weight loss has gone. I gained a whopping 48 pounds during my 9 months of pregnancy. Seriously, I had random strangers (at Target) coming up to me and asking me if I was having multiples. How nice of them....

Of those 48 pounds, I have already lost an even 40 pounds! I'm so flippin' pumped about this that I had to think about what I have done to lose this weight. (btw- best weight loss in one month everrrrrr!)

You see, about a month ago, I hired my own personal trainer. His name is Evan. He is VERY demanding when it comes to a steady work out regimen! He insists that I do about 354,971 bicep curls a day, and another 129 at night (for good measure- he even wakes me up every three hours to make sure I do them). For most of the bicep curls that I do, I usually am required to do weight resistance with my arms. I am also required to do about 732 sit ups a night to make sure his pacifier is in his mouth so that he doesn't cry while trying to get sleepy again after his diaper change (which sometimes I wonder if that can be counted as heavy lifting?). I do about 30 squats a day bending down to change his diapers.

Evan insists that I have the proper diet. I can count on my fingers how many drinks aside from water that I have had in the past month to ensure that I can increase my bicep curl weight properly- I accidentally got off track once and regretted that mistake big time! So I drink somewhere between 60-90 ounces of water a day, and I keep another 30 oz next to be all night to support my evening workouts. It's OK though, I don't have too much excess water weight because I'm also shipping out about 400 ounces a day to make sure my personal trainer is content in his belly region. He also makes sure that I am kept so busy that I only have enough time to heat up a small "Smart Ones" microwave meal to eat for lunch, assuring that I will not overeat for once in my life. He is very generous, though, he also allows me just enough time to pray to God that it will still taste reasonably edible once it's cold.

I'd say overall this is a good weight loss plan. Should you ever need this same success, let me know and I will lend you my personal trainer! ;o)

Presenting Evan James

I can't believe it's been so long since I last posted! I guess that's what happens when you get tied up in last minute preparations and then have the baby...I guess I will just have to catch up so that I can carry on with life! :o)

My showers were wonderful. Mom and Kendra threw me one close to our house for my family and friends. Evan got so many clothes it was unreal! I got lots of useful things and even got our glider from my parents. That filled his room up very quickly...aside from his furniture that we waited a little too long for my comfort to get! The nice thing about this is that Dustin's office all went in and got us a gift card to JC Penny which covered nearly half the cost of the set! Then the teachers at school threw me a shower and pitched in for his car seat/stroller combo. That was totally unexpected! How generous! I also had a shower given to me by Becky and some of my circle of friends that I have this year combined with last years that got moved to another building, and a kindergarten teacher had her class throw me a shower...both of these showers I was given toys, clothing, and even a "wee-blocker" to prevent the pee fountains! haha. Lots of fun!! I was not expecting the generosity of people and was a little overwhelmed. How nice of people I surround myself with!!!

The rest of my pregnancy was trying to scramble to get his room finished and get things ready at school for my long term sub. Boy is that a lot of work! My head is still spinning as I think of things I forgot to do for my sub!!! Thank goodness for modern technology- the phone, and the internet! Life savers! Dustin worked so hard on the wood work (with a little help getting started from my dad) and he did almost all of the painting! I am so proud of him, the room looks amazing (at least in my opinion!) Here are some pictures of his room finished: My due date was April 5th. I was crossing my fingers that Evan would join our family for Easter, but his presence was quietly hiding within my belly still that night. The next day we had my weekly dr. appointment. Dustin went with me, of course, to figure out the next course of action.

Obviously, we didn't want to do an early induction, but at this point we know he's full term. The downside of this appointment was that my blood pressure was high and my proteins were high, so they wanted me to go to the hospital and get tested for preclampsia. Was this supposed to be of comfort?? If they showed any signs, they were going to have to induce me that night for the safety of both me and the baby. (Luckily, everything came out fine...except that I was scared out of my mind!) On the flip-side, the dr. said that if I did not have the baby that night, she felt the best idea would be to induce me later that week. Because that wasn't really what we wanted the birth to be like, we did our best to put it off. Her on call days are Wednesdays, but she happens to be at the hospital we wanted to go to on Thursdays. After further discussion she pointed out that if it were earlier in the pregnancy, she'd be fine with waiting, but at this point, knowing for sure he is over due (my original due date if my body functioned like a typical womans, would have been March 31, but I felt, and his first ultra sound showed that he would be due April 5th), we would just be waiting for something to go wrong...such as this preclampsia I was showing signs of.

My induction was scheduled for Wednesday, April 7th at 9pm. Dustin did some research for me, and after reading all of these other women's stories I was expecting to go in there and take it easy for the night, get a good nights rest, wake up and get to work........... not so much.

After dropping Tango off at my parents, Dustin and I went to grab a bite to eat for dinner. I needed something to calm my nerves and I'd heard they'd starve me at the hospital. It didn't really work. We went to Fazoli's where they somehow forgot to process our order so we sat for entirely too long before Dustin finally said something. They felt bad (the manager was the one that took our order, and she saw my overly sized belly, I'm sure it doesn't feel too good to be starving a very preggo lady!) And decided to make it up to us by giving Dustin an extra slice of pizza, a ton of breadsticks, and changing my fettuccine alfredo for a family size. What was I going to do with a family sized portion!?!? I was so nervous I barely even put a dent in it. Needless to say we had a ton of leftovers which we put in the trunk to smuggle in later if need be. Flash forward to the future, we ...no, I... discovered this still in the trunk last week (three weeks later) .... gross.

We got to the hospital a half hour late. Is it normal to be late for your own baby's birth? They didn't seem too bothered. In fact, apparently a lot of babies decided they wanted to be born that night and they didn't have enough nurses on hand to do much, so we sat in the waiting room until about 11:30 at night. Did I mention that I'm normally in bed by this time?

Finally, they get us to my room, ask some questions, get my IV in and all that jazz. I'm thinking, "OK, time to get some rest, gotta get up early for a long day tomorrow!" 12:30 in the morning rolls around and they tell me they are going to start dilating me with this balloon (which they show to me and it's nearly 2 feet long. No, I'm not kidding, I wish I was.) WHAT?!? Luckily they don't put much of it actually inside. Thank the holy Lord! But we will say that not nice things were rolling through my head. Not to mention, this was probably as close to as painful as labor as you're gonna get. Not cool. I thought I was supposed to be sleeping!!! NURSE!!! Yep, roll in the meds. ahhhh... nothing beats loopy and sleepy! not even 2 hours later (this can take up to 6 hours) I'm 4 centimeters- rolling right along! Sweet, maybe I'll have my baby sooner than I thought...and what about that well needed rest? The meds let me go in and out of bits of sleep, that was nice, what was not nice was the nurses and dr.'s coming in and waking me up to check my progress. Boooo!

Around 4 am my doctor called in just to check on me. I wonder if she was worried, or if she was woken up by someone else, as it was her on call night....Sweet nonetheless.

5am. I am finally 5 centimeters, time to break my water. Oh how scary, this is for real now! Of course, Dustin is sleeping and the dr. is chuckling at him for his sleep mask and all haha...almost immediately I go into full on hard labor. All I really remember was doing my breathing exercises alone and getting really ticked off about it...when out of nowhere during a contraction I hear Dustin's sleepy voice saying "you're doing great, dear". Probably not great timing. I replied, in what I can only imagine was my "friendliest voice" : "yeah, you are too." I think he took the hint, he was by my side after that ;o)

I don't think it was much longer after that when I demanded an epidural. To all of you women who plan on having a baby, this really is the way to go! You don't get any prizes for sucking up this pain, why bother trying? The epidural didn't hurt too bad. That or labor was just worse and distracted me enough. After that it was smooth sailing! I couldn't feel a single thing. Sure, the nurses had to flop my legs around for me, but that sure as heck beats the feeling of your whole body squeezing your guts out! Plus, I was again able to get a few more short naps in here and there.

About every half hour to hour nurses and dr.s checked in on me to see if I had made any progress. Nothing. 9am, nothing, 11 am, nothing.

What was going on? Is my baby OK? His heart is still beating on the monitor, what's the deal? I thought I'd have my baby in my arms by now! The nurse at this point informs me that my dr. has been in touch and she feels they may have to start thinking about a C-section (the very last thing I wanted) she shows me his heartrate and how it shows that he's getting really tired of this process, and the dr. is slightly concerned about this, but is willing to give it a little longer.

My dr. walks into my room to check on my progress, I felt better knowing she was there, unfortunately she didn't have great news for me. Still no progress. Sure enough, it was time to give in. He wouldn't come down any further. He hadn't in the past month. They said they could dilate me more, but there'd be no point if he wouldn't decend. C-section it is. They scheduled it at 1:30, and I was able to sleep a little more. They had me all unhooked from the monitors and ready to go at 1:30, but for some reason my dr. was late. My parents came in to see me before they wheeled me off for the surgery. I was not feeling so good. Sure enough as soon as they left the room, I got sick. They gave me some medication for the uneasy stomach feeling, obviously, it didn't work. As they took me to the O.R., I remember saying "wheee" to try to hide the fact that I was sooo scared! As soon as I got to the O.R. and they were hooking me back up, I had to get sick again. Once the monitors started running they said "no wonder you were so sick, your blood pressure really dropped." Great. Once they gave me some medication to bring my blood pressure back up, they gave me some more stomach medication, and more numbing medicine to numb me higher, then they let Dustin in. My saving grace. Everything is sort of a blur from here. I remember the cloth hanging between my face and my belly as blue. Or was it green? Either way, I couldn't feel anything from my ribs down except pushing, pulling, and yes, pain. How? Don't ask me. It wasn't the pain of the surgery (thank God!) just the pain of three people trying to get my little guy out safely. Dustin, my angel sent from above, spent the whole time six inches from my face talking to me and trying to keep my mind off of what was going on. I love him. The next thing I knew I heard them talking about a big baby. Whatever. Who knows what they mean by that. Then I hear "wow! 10 pounds!" "You've got to be kidding me!" no, really, I seriously thought they were! But they weren't. 10 lbs, and 22 inches. Time of birth 2:18pm. They washed him up a little bit and let Dustin hold him next to me. I wish I could have seen straight. I couldn't really see much. I saw he had hair, but that's all I remember aside from them snapping a quick picture and at some point jerking myself awake thinking what on earth was I thinking drifting off. Actually, I don't know at what point that was....

After that they took him off to test his sugars, they were worried about them with his size and all. They were fine. I don't remember the ride back to the recovery room. I do remember it felt like forever that I sat alone in silence not knowing what was going on with my baby. Dustin finally came in and told me about his blonde hair, and bright pretty blue eyes, I couldn't wait to get my hands on him. He was so beautiful! The nurse told me how good it was that I went for a C section, and told me some of the things that might have happened had I not. Glad I did.

He is perfect. Every pound, and every inch. I couldn't love him more! We look forward to sharing our stories with you as he grows. I've told him of all the exciting adventures he will get to go on- the zoo, waterparks, beaches....He's really excited! :o) So are his parents.

Evan James - April 8, 2010:My 2 most precious gifts from God...

Catching up & Welcome to my 3rd trimester!

For the most part things have been mostly uneventful...

I failed the first glucose test, I got a 154 and they view 140 as passing. (I don't understand, they've told me my whole life to get the highest scores that I could get on my tests, and now I'm getting too high? I've never had that problem before!) The real bummer, though, was that I then had to drive down to Riverside for a 3 hour test, which actually takes 4 hours, and 4 pricks from a needle. I really can't think of ANYTHING I'd rather be doing at 8am on a Saturday morning.... :op During the test, however, I got a lot of reading done in my "Secrets of the Baby Whisperer" book, by Tracy Hogg, which I hope will not be in vain, I'm very excited about trying her techniques. (This book is like "Super Nanny" for babies!) It seems like a very good book and I got mine for really cheap at Once Upon a Child. Score! (I'll have to let you know if it works in a few months!) I'd post a picture, but for some reason, Blogger's not letting me. Boo.

As it turned out, Dustin had his classes that day at Ohio State practically down the street from the hospital, so it actually worked out, I dropped him off, went and took my test, and spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying a little "me (&baby) time". During my afternoon excursion I was able to go shopping and get 3 maternity shirts for under $3 a piece- always exciting! And I registered for more "in store" items at Target, as I keep finding everything we want/need is located "online only". I enjoyed a delightful Chipotle burrito (yuuuummmm!), and went to see "The Squeakual" (Chipmunks II), since that is something Dustin really wouldn't desire to come and see with me, it was everything I thought it could be, and more! I admit that I was timid at first walking in and noticing that everyone else had brought kids to the movie....but then I realized that I did, too, so everything worked out! :o)

Long story short, I passed that darn glucose test that I didn't even study for! Boo-Yah!

As far as how I feel, I have been having some "arm" issues since around Christmas. I think it's what my "What to expect when you're expecting" book is describing as pregnancy caused carpel tunnel. It's truly exciting, kids. I love that I can be writing at school and all of the sudden my fingers start to tingle as if they are falling asleep. (*sarcasm*) This happens at least six times a day. Luckily, it doesn't happen AS MUCH at night as it was. It's bad enough that I have to wake up to go potty before I die of that sharp pain you get when you have to go really bad and you have a 3 pound baby sitting on your bladder....or wake up for heart burn so bad you think you're going to vomit....lets go ahead and make my arm fall asleep every 10 seconds! Is this God's way of preparing me for baby? Hopefully, I have the "Angel" baby that the author of my book describes! I'll need to catch up on my pre-delivery sleep! I am going to see my Dr. on Monday and see what her professional opinion is on it. Other than that and the typical uncomfortableness of pregnancy (moving slower, hard to get up off the couch or out of bed, and sore feet) nothing else seems to be going wrong, and for that I am thankful! The books all say the third trimester should be about as fun as the first one ;o)

Last night was actually fun as Dustin and I had a "date" night. We were supposed to go out to dinner and see a movie, but I decided to trade in my movie for more shopping- it needed to be done. (Honey- don't think you aren't taking me to that movie still, later!) I had a shirt I had to return from my shopping excursion after my glucose test, and we needed a few things for the baby. We looked at several stores to find a nice window fixture for baby's room. We were going to do the typical blinds that we have throughout the house, but decided that those let too much light in, and since it's in the back of the house where looks don't always matter.....we like to sleep more than we care about aesthetics! We are hoping with what we found, it will be darker and our chances of more sleep will be a little higher...maybe... (crossing fingers!) The best part is that we found something that matches the monkeys face (and very close to the same material/texture) in his bedding, so as of now, I am thinking it's a keeper!

We also needed to find a mattress for his currently non-existent crib. I never registered for a mattress as I have read way too many articles on SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome). Goodness, if those articles don't scare a mommy-to-be! But it's necessary reading because it is a reality in life, so you must educate yourself. A lot of the SIDS articles spoke about how you should never use a used mattress, a lot of mattresses have flame retardant on them that causes SIDS (hmm, would I like to take a low chance that the baby's mattress is going to burst into flames, or a high risk that my baby is going to die by sleeping in his bed?)....overall, a very scary and difficult thing to think about. Nevertheless, we chose to do some research on mattresses and we found one that specifically touched on these points on the reviews online, so we went and purchased it. I still can't believe it was at Walmart. No worries, I still hate Walmart...but we did buy a mattress there last night. (Strange fact, I also read that breast feeding reduces the risk of SIDS....now tell me, how does what my baby eat keep the mattress from killing him? I don't know how this correlates, I assume they don't really know a lot about what causes SIDS in reality, but I planned on breastfeeding anyway. Well, that and a lot of praying!)

Then today, after several weeks (maybe months) of searching for a decent deal on wooden letters that spell the baby's name to paint and hang in his bedroom, I found 1/2" thick, 10" tall ones online at woodenletters.net for only $2.50 each! For those of you who have never looked for these, you can find a good deal for them around 7-9 dollars a piece, which adds up after so many letters plus shipping! Sure, I had to pay about $8.50 for shipping, but after what I saved on the letters, I think it was totally worth it! (Nope, I'm not telling you how many letters I bought, nor am I going to spill the beans by telling you the grand total, either! You will just have to wait to find out his name!!!)

Dustin has gotten the room almost all painted, he did the bottom part of the room's trim last night and plans to do the rolling today (the top green part is done already). Then not next weekend, but the weekend after that my Dad is going to come help with the woodwork we plan on doing...and then it will be "move-in" ready for baby! I'm so excited that things are starting to come together. And a little stressed, too, with only 11 weeks and 1 day left!!!! ACK!

So overall, nothing too eventful for all of you, but exciting things for us! I can't wait to see the final product of it all! That includes the bedroom, AND my snugly baby!! Don't worry, I'll post pictures of both, so long as Blogger lets me! :o)

Happy New Year!!

Dustin and I couldn't be more excited about the exchange of 2009 for 2010! This year we get to meet our little baby!! Then we get to enjoy watching him grow for 9 more months before 2011. Oh the things that we will experience, I'm sure!

We brought in the new year with a good bunch. Our friends Lauren & David came, along with my friend, Elizabeth, from high school, and of course, Jason, our best man at our wedding who comes to visit us every year at this time. We all had a good time and I enjoyed all of the company (and the excuse to clean the house!!!)

I found it to be an especially exciting party as the baby did something fun and new! Last month, I had been questioning whether or not the baby was moving/kicking/etc. until on the cruise, with Jason, he got all excited and there was no question in my mind! Well, obviously, the kicks and punches have grown a little stronger as the weeks move on and our little boy gets stronger and stronger....Dustin's been able to put his hand on my belly and feel movements, I however, only could feel them from the inside---that is until last night. Once again, sitting on the couch with Dustin and Jason, I felt something bounce from my tummy to my elbow! HOLY SMOKES that was a hard kick, so I put my hand there and it happend again, and again! I let Dustin feel it, and then Jason got to feel it. I think this kid really likes Jason!! :o) That was pretty cool, and I couldn't stop thinking about it all night.

Speaking of night-- nights have been a little harder. Not just because of the uncomfortable factor, but also because this entire week I've woken up in the middle of the night with horrible heartburn! Ugh. I never had heartburn before I was pregnant. Does this mean baby will have fuzz on his head?? He might, according to the books and the internet, that is what people believe.....but then again, they also thought he was a girl (and that last internet site seems to think he will be 11 lbs. 5 oz! No way will I allow that!!) ....So we will see... I am very interested to see if he has white hair like his Daddy did, or dark hair. I just can't wait to meet him, period!

Less than three days until my third trimester......

HAPPY 2010, EVERYONE!

Another predictor that I can't help but laugh at!

I can no longer trust the internet after it kept telling me that our little boy was, in fact, a girl! But I did this for the humor in it! At least it got the gender right this time! Go ahead and try it, even if you aren't preggers- It doesn't ask for a due date or anything. I laugh. But watch it go and be for real. 11 lbs. 5 oz!?!? As if I would tolerate that!! (though the eyes and the hair definitely isn't impossible...)

http://pregnancyandbaby.sheknows.com/pregnancy/baby/Madame-Zaritska-predicts-your-birth-experience-1.php

The day you deliver, outside will be hazy. Your baby will arrive in the early morning. After a labor lasting approximately 14 hours, your child, a boy, will be born. Your baby will weigh about 11 pounds, 5 ounces, and will be 20-1/2 inches long. This child will have medium amber eyes and some auburn hair.

In other news Dustin has been worried about how big his belly was in relation to his head (this brings back visions of me teaching my students about proportion....) Anyways, he got me concerned about it. So this morning as I stared at the wonderment of the ultrasound images, I decided to do some research on the computer and found this:

Our little boy:

The picture on the internet:

We feel much better. I also noted the shape of the other baby's head and our baby's and decided that he has a good chance of looking like his daddy! :o) Aww, and I love his daddy!!!! :oD