37 Weeks

37 Weeks!

I'm 37 Weeks which means that I'm officially full term!!  I'm so excited to reach this milestone!

Unfortunately, I seem to have lost the photo for Week 36, which is bugging me because I really wanted to compare this week's photo to last week's.  A few people have told me that I've dropped or at least am starting to!  I can't quite tell from this photo...I think that maybe it looks like it a little, but I don't know-what do you think?  Physically, it doesn't feel like she's dropped yet, though, but who knows!

Our baby girl is moving around a lot-I don't really feel kicks anymore, I just feel a good amount of movement-elbows and knees sticking out, feet in my ribs, etc!  It's funny to feel her hiccup too, which she is doing frequently!  It's also good because I can reassure myself that her head is still down!

This weekend we made a few more purchases that we needed-we got a great deal at Babies R' Us on the baby monitor I wanted.  We ordered the breast pump that I've had recommended by so many friends from Medela-Lex found a great deal online for me!  Also, I started packing my bag for the hospital this weekend-there's so much stuff to remember and I'm glad I have a good list from my Hypnobabies class on what to bring!

Now we still need to get a mattress for the crib and the glider and ottoman for the nursery.  I'm still trying to decide if we really need the crib set or not.  We also still need to get the extra car set base for Lex's car and then install the car seat in my car at least!  It's hard to believe that there is so much to do for such a little baby!  My mom is coming on Monday to help me with some last preparations, which should be fun!!

I'm going to have a lot more time, though, after this week because it's my last week at work before I go on maternity leave.  I've already started a list of the things I want to accomplish before she arrives!  As excited as I am for her to arrive, though, I hope that she waits until her due date to arrive so I can finish everything!

The other big news this week is that December 1st marked our 9 year anniversary of our first date!  The photo below is from our 2nd date, but I figure it's close enough (we didn't take a photo on our first date!)

Our 2nd Date

To Lex, the love of my life, I can't believe that it's been 9 years since we had our first date!  It was a magical night, and we've had an fantastic 9 years!  I am so looking forward to our little family growing soon (hopefully I'll be giving you an amazing birthday/Christmas gift!!) and to becoming parents together!  It's been an amazing journey and I know that we're in for an even more wonderful journey as we become parents!  Here's to another 9 years and beyond!  

I love you!

Well, that's this week's update!

Hope

35 Weeks!!

35 Weeks!

I'm excited to be 35 weeks!  We are going to have a great week celebrating Thanksgiving with my parents.  They have been coming to our house for Thanksgiving since we lived in Lake Forest-I think this is our 5th Thanksgiving that we've done at our house!

Lex is making the turkey, as usual.  He does an amazing 2-hour turkey that is so yummy!  He even brines it the night before.  We all love it every year!  I make the sides with the help of my parents and Lex.

We are continuing to work on the nursery.  We've got the furniture all set up and I'm starting to organize all the baby stuff we have!  We have a lot of clothes!  I need to get to work on washing them all and then organizing them by size so they will be ready when baby arrives!

We also still need to get a crib mattress and more bedding for the crib, as well as the glider and ottoman that I want!  So I'm doing more research and I think I have it all worked out as to where I'll be getting everything.  I'll probably start ordering things over the Thanksgiving holiday.

Here are some photos of the room so far-it's not done, but its definitely getting close and I'm feeling good about it.  It's actually looking like a baby's room!

The Nursery

The crib and changing table is along the right wall

The stroller and car seat are in the room right now so the cats don't get to them!

Dresser drawers are on the left hand wall of the room

I'm still working on Thank You notes for all the wonderful gifts we have received from family and friends!  So if you haven't received one yet, it's coming!!

Until next week!

Hope

34 Weeks!

34 Weeks!

Yeah!  I'm 34 Weeks!  I think I look huge in this photo!  I'm wearing a different tank top, so that makes it look a little different, but still!  I don't know where it's all going to go for the next 6 weeks!

I missed last week's photo because we've been so busy, so it's been awhile since I've posted.  I can't believe I missed last week's photo, though.  I'd been so good about making sure I didn't miss any weeks at all.  Oh well, I guess overall, I've done well.

It's been a crazy 2 weeks!  We've been working on refinancing our house, and it looks like there might be good news!  Woohoo!  Keep your fingers crossed for us!

Our baby furniture arrived!  We've now cleaned and de-cluttered enough to be able to put it together.  We have our wonderful friends, MeiLin and Will Tsai, and their kids, Abigail and Cameron, who are coming over tomorrow night.  Lex and Will are going to put together the furniture.  We're so lucky to have their help!

We had our baby shower at South Bay MINI on Nov 14th.  It was so much fun!  We really enjoyed hanging out with all our friends and we were humbled by their love, support, and generosity!  Here are some photos from the day.  You can also see lots more photos here!

Everyone talking at the shower-we hope everyone had fun!

The "It's A Girl" sign from the shower

Amanda made us a great diaper cake!

Jennifer made these amazing cupcakes for us!  Aren't they cute?

Our friends gave us so many cute little girl outfits, as well as lots of useful things that we needed!  Thanks everyone!

Ok, until next week!

Hope

32 Weeks!

32 Weeks!

I'm 32 Weeks!  We're getting closer!  I look like I've really popped in this photo, don't I?

We had a fun weekend.  I dressed as a Magic 8 Ball for my halloween costume, which was fun and I got a lot of comments on what a cute outfit it was!  

Here is another photo of me in my costume!  We spent the afternoon and evening at the track at Irwindale and saw some races, did a parade lap, and handed out out candy to all the kids there!  It was fun and I was glad to have an occasion to wear the costume my friend at work gave me!

On Monday we take a tour of Saddleback Hospital, so I'll be sure to update you on that next week!

Hope you all had a Happy Halloween!

Hope

31 Weeks!

31 Weeks!

I'm 31 weeks!  Woohoo!

Less than 10 weeks until my due date (and until Christmas!)

We have a Dr appt this week (with our new Dr!) and we also have our last Hypnobabies class, which I'm sad about!  But we'll still get to see our awesome instructor, Sheridan, because she's our doula, so that's great!  Also, we'll be practicing our hypnobabies scripts, exercises, etc until our baby is born as well!

Our baby girl is moving more, though the movements have changed-now instead of quick kicks, I'm feeling much more wiggling.  And it's clear that there's less space in there because sometimes a body part (foot, arm, leg, or even her whole back) will be pressed up against the outside an pushes my stomach out!  It's really fun to watch my stomach move-you can really see it undulating from the outside!

30 Weeks!

30 Weeks!

Lots of big things happened this week!

On Saturday, October 17th, we drove up to Santa Barbara for a baby shower that my mom threw for us!  We had a lot of fun and it was great seeing everyone!  Everyone was so sweet and gave us several things from our registry, as well as lots of adorable outfits!!!

You can see more photos of our shower here:

The other big thing that happened is that I finally took the leap and switched Drs and hospitals. I just really felt like my Dr didn't believe in me and my ability to have a natural birth!  We have our first appt with the new Dr on Wednesday, so wish us luck!

Until next week!

29 Weeks

29 Weeks!!

Well, we've begun the home stretch-the 3rd trimester!  I can't believe it!  I'm looking bigger than ever-it's even more visible because I still haven't posted my photo from last week (I have to find it on Lex's computer because I forgot to download it from the camera!)

We'll have our 4th Hypnobabies class this week!  We will be talking with our instructor about having her as our doula-we've been thinking about it, but after last week's class in all the options, pros/cons of each option, etc,  I think Lex and I realized that it could really be helpful, especially since this is our first birth!

Baby girl is kicking and moving around like a champ now and I can really feel her!  If you watch my belly, you can actually see her moving around!  It's pretty cool!

Until next week!

Hope

27 Weeks!

27 Weeks!!

I'm determined not to get behind on this-so I'm catching up this evening!!  We went to our 2nd Hypnobabies class this evening!  It was fun and informative!  We learned a lot about nutrition, so I have to start tracking what I'm eating going forward!  Hopefully I can do a good job!  My focus now is to get enough protein.

Our baby girl is still kicking away!  Now some of the kicks are getting stronger and I can feel more than just a little bump when she gets active!  Her movements are also becoming more frequent (at least I feel them more frequently) as she grows and is getting bigger!  It's so exciting!  I read that she is around 2 lbs now! 

In other exciting news, we are working on turning the guest room into the baby room.  What is currently our office, will become the office/new guest room.  But we have to make enough room for guests.  So we moved me out of the office and I now have a small desk (which is a good thing for me...less space = less possibilities for messes!) and my own art/office area in the upstairs loft area.  You can see the stairs leading downstairs on the left hand side.  The doors on the right open to our washer and dryer.  If I sit at the desk, the office is directly behind me. And behind me and to the left is what will be the baby's room.  There is also a pretty good sized open floor space behind me (this is the "loft" area) about 7x9 ft where the baby could play (swing, bouncer, play mat?) while I sit here and do work/play/etc!  I'm very happy with the space!  We got the table/desk at Ikea and Lex did a great job of making sure it was put together in no time flat for me!  (Thanks Honey!!)

Well, that's all for this week!  I'll let you know how I'm doing with tracking my eating next week!  Wish me luck!

Hope

26 Weeks!!

26 Weeks!

I'm officially 1 week behind now!  I'm actually surprised that it took this long for me to get 1 weeks behind, as we're so busy!

We started our childbirth classes this past week on Monday!  I really enjoyed the class, and I think Lex liked it too!  We have homework that we have to complete before next week, which will take some time, but we are enjoying preparing for this big event in our lives together.  The preparations will not only prepare us for all the new changes to come, but bring us closer together as well!

Until next week (or until I catch up!!)

Hope

25 Weeks!

25 Weeks!

This post is a bit late because I've been so tired this week!  I make it through the day just fine, but then I come home and crash!  We had the exact same dinner two nights in a row because I had no imagination and was so tired that I couldn't make dinner that night, so we just had the leftovers from dinner the night before!

A cool thing happened over the weekend-Baby was kicking and as I looked down at my stomach, I realized that I could actually see her kicks as well as feel them!  When she kicked, my whole stomach moved!  It was pretty cool!

I did more work on our registry (several people have asked-we're registered at amazon.com mainly, and also at babiesrus.com).  Its amazing how much research is needed for everything we put on the list!  There are about 20-100 different versions of a single item and each has its pros and cons.  I spent a lot of time reading customer reviews of each product and then deciding on the one I liked.  I had no idea that registering would take so much work!!

24 Weeks!

24 Weeks!

Wow, I feel like there is a noticeable difference between this week's and last week's photos! This photo makes me look really pointy too!

I'm excited to hit 24 weeks, as it marks the point of viability-babies born after 24 weeks have a chance of survival, which is not the case before 24 weeks-so it's nice to hit this milestone.  Of course, we are hoping our little one doesn't make an appearance until her due date, but it's nice to know that if she does, we are at the point of viability!

It was nice to have a long weekend this weekend!  Both Lex and I got some much needed rest and slept in every day!  On Saturday, I joined Lex at the SCMM Dyno Day and watch lots of MINIs on the dyno.  On Sunday, we went to the memorial service for a dear friend and fellow club member who passed away recently.  It was very sad, as he was so full of life.  It made me feel very thankful for what I have.  Then today, we ran some errands and I got a lot of work done on our bedroom-it looks really nice!  Now I feel like I can start working on some other areas of the house that need to be worked on before the baby gets here!  

Tomorrow morning, I'm planning on going to the gym for my yoga class!  I haven't been in a long time, and I need to get back into exercising!  Hopefully, tomorrow will be the start of a new routine!  Even if I go just once a week, it will be a start...but I'm planning on going twice a week!  Wish me luck!

Baby girl is kicking away more and more often now!  Its so much fun to feel her moving and shifting and kicking (though the dancing on my bladder isn't so nice!)  Even more fun is to have Lex feel her move!  I have a feeling she's going to be an active little one!

23 Weeks

23 Weeks

I'm 23 weeks now!!  Time passed so slowly during the first 5 or 6 months of my pregnancy, and now suddenly, it feels like there is very little time left!  Just this week, on August 26th, I realized I was just 4 months away from my due date!

Lex and I are trying to embrace and enjoy our last time as just the two of us by doing lots of fun things together-whether watching a movie on a Friday night at home, or going out to take photographs as we did this Saturday evening (so Lex could try his new camera!!) we are savoring this time-we know that we won't get it back.  We are both so excited to begin this new chapter of our lives together though!

This week we went to an Open House for Hypnobabies (www.hypnobabies.com) which is the childbirth class that we will be starting in late September.  I plan on trying to have a natural childbirth, and we are both looking forward to taking the classes to prepare for it.  I've started listening to the first CD that we were sent to listen to daily before our classes begin.  I must admit, though, that I keep on falling asleep during them!  I think I've got to start listening earlier in the evening!

Until next week!

22 Weeks!!

Only 18 weeks to go!  Wow!  It sounds like so far away and so soon at the same time!

This has been a great week and weekend!

We felt our little one moving even more.  I got lots of kicks and nudges throughout the week and Lex got to feel a lot of them!  It's so special and exciting not only to feel her, but to share this with him!

Here is this week's photo!  My tummy is starting to look really pointy!

This weekend was really fun!  My sister is visiting from New York City and we went to look at wedding dresses (she is newly engaged!!!) It was SO fun to see her try on dresses and help her discover what she likes!  She looked beautiful in everything she tried on!  I can't wait to see what she chooses!

We also spent some time at Babies 'R Us and worked on our baby registry.  There is so much to learn and know!  I can't believe how much research it takes just to do the registry!  I think I've got it almost figured out, though!

Here are some photos of our first baby gift-from my Grandma Cile and Grandpa Ovie!  They picked out this adorable outfit for our little one and we are so excited to see her in it!  Thank you Grandma Cile ad Grandpa Ovie!  We love it!  And we love you!!

First Kicks!!!

I'm now 21 weeks!!  More than half-way there!  

This past week has been great!  While I've been tired, I haven't been so achy this week, which is nice.  The biggest development is that I was able to really feel her kick!  On Friday night, I felt it for the first time when I was really sure that it was her.  When I put my hand where I felt the kick, I actually felt it with my hand!  I had Lex try to feel and he was actually able to feel several kicks as well!  It was so exciting to feel and really exciting that Lex felt it at the same time I felt it for the first time!  We've both been able to feel her all weekend, usually in the evening!  It's been so exciting to feel our little one!

21 Weeks!!

Situation needing remedy!

It has come to my attention that the only photo of my husband on this blog is of him behind a book! SO, I decided to remedy the situation right away with this sweet photo of him and his kitty, Tigre. They are so sweet together..he's going to be such a great Daddy!!

Love you Sweetie!!

20 Weeks

I've officially reached the 1/2 way point in my pregnancy!!  Only 20 more weeks to go to a healthy, full term baby!  I hope I can wait that long!  I'm so excited to meet our little one!  

Here is my pregnant belly photo for the week-as you can see, it's still growing!

Our cat, Tigre, decided to join me in this photo!

Highlights from the past week include:

*Feeling tiny movements here and there.  On Friday night, I was certain I felt her move as I was laying down watching TV!

*Finding a few more maternity pieces are H&M and Kohl's (cheap or on clearance) so that I have more tops to wear to work and on weekends-I was just wearing my regular tops, but they were all getting too short, so it's nice to have things that fit now!

Have a great week, everyone!

Hope

It's A...

We had our 20 week ultrasound/anatomy scan yesterday, Wednesday, August 5th.
We're very pleased to announce that our little one is looking and doing great!! The Dr took a good amount of time looking over and measuring every part of her and told us that she is healthy and doing great!! Later that day we got the results of the blood test from our 1st trimester screen and those came back really good too!!

We also found out that it's a....GIRL!!

We are both so excited that our little one is going so well and is healthy! Now we'll start narrowing down names and deciding on things for the nursery!

I'll try to post some ultrasound photos from the day soon!

Hope

19 Weeks!

We've reached 19 weeks-almost the half way point!  This weekend we spent time with my parents and looked at baby furniture, etc.  There sure is a lot of baby stuff!  It was fun looking and dreaming!  

Here I am at 19 weeks.  I think that the clothes I'm wearing really make a difference-I think these clothes make me look smaller than the photo last week!

Hope

The Beginning

Welcome!!

Lex and I are beginning this blog to keep all our friends and family up to day on my pregnancy and beyond! We hope you enjoy!

We announced I was pregnant to our friends on July 6th with this photo!

Here I am at 16 weeks, on July 13th. My mom took this photo when she came to visit us! I'm just starting to show!

Here I am on July 19th (my birthday!!) at 18 weeks! My belly has definitely popped!

Our next big milestone is on August 5th, when we'll have the 20 week ultrasound and anatomy scan. We'll also find out the sex of the baby at this appointment! At our 12 week ultrasound, the Dr said that she was 75% sure it is a girl. We're waiting until the ultrasound to find out for sure! We've already started thinking of names, mainly girl names, but haven't made any choices and won't until we find out the sex! Hopefully the baby will cooperate!!

I hope to update this blog weekly and post a weekly update on my progress along with a photo of my tummy-both to keep everyone up-to-date, as well as to keep a record for myself of my pregnancy!

We'd love to hear your comments, advice, etc, as we go through this happy time! Hope you enjoy!

Hope (and Lex)