30 weeks and counting...

We are finally in the home stretch (at least that is what I am going to keep telling myself as I brave the 100 degree plus weather, the nasty iron supplements I can't keep down, the heart burn, the numb and cramping legs, and my inability to eat ice cream or frozen yogurt due to being lactose intolerant.)  Anyway, I am getting very anxious for her to be here.  Can you tell?  I love feeling her daily, but I just wish I could feel her kicking me in the ribs.  It would mean she is head down, getting ready to come out like a good little girl versus making mommy go through major abdominal surgery.  

Since I last posted I have been incredibly busy with work and not been thinking very much of the baby.  Now that I have showers just around the corner and a nursery to decorate things are getting fun again.  Josh made my night a couple weeks ago when he bought the baby her memory book.  It is really adorable, and has some great keepsake moments for us to document in there.

One of the keepsake items you put in the book are belly pictures.  Being that I am growing every day, these are starting to get really fun.  But daddy decided he is not so pleased with his sympathy weight.  So he thought we should at least document that too.

 Crazy daddy!

Here are the "real" belly pics.  And in case you are wondering, yes I am getting tan.  Lucky for me, Madelyn loves the pool!   When ever I get too hot at night, I jump in the pool first thing in the morning.  Then, if I have no where to go that day, I just hang out in the AC in my bathing suit.  Whatever works right?

28 weeks

So as I approach 30 weeks there are a few things that I am hoping for. One, that my belly button will pop out. Not sure why I want that, I just think it is cool. Two, that she turns around. I found out at my appointment last week that she is defiantly breach and if she doesn't flip by the end of the eighth month they will schedule a c-section. To which my mother in law replied, "Now we will know when to come out." That at least made me laugh in the midst of my stress! And three, that the temperature will stay under 100 for as long as possible. I just get beat up when I am in the heat. Weddings the past couple of weeks have licked me for sure and my poor husband keeps going to bed with more and more clothes on, as I strip down to less and less while turning the AC down further and further. I can't even bear to think how hot I will be in July.

Here is what Baby Center says about Madelyn and Mommy this month (with some slight comentary by myself):

How your baby's growing:

By this week, your baby weighs two and a quarter pounds and measures 14.8 inches from the top of her head to her heels. She can blink her eyes, which now sport lashes (hopefully daddy's lashes). With her eyesight developing, she may be able to see the light that filters in through your womb (which someone told me to take the flashlight, put it on my stomach down by my pelvis and she would follow it, turning her out of breach). She's also developing billions of neurons in her brain and adding more body fat in preparation for life in the outside world.

How your life's changing:

You're in the home stretch! The third and final trimester starts this week. If you're like most women, you'll gain about 11 pounds (Ha! That's funny!) this trimester. At this point, you'll likely visit your doctor or midwife every two weeks. Then, at 36 weeks, you'll switch to weekly visits. Around this time, some women feel an unpleasant "creepy-crawly" sensation in their lower legs and an irresistible urge to move them while trying to relax or sleep. If this sensation is at least temporarily relieved when you move, you may have what's known as restless legs syndrome (RLS). No one knows for sure what causes RLS, but it's relatively common among expectant mothers (I totally have this!!). Try stretching or massaging your legs, and cut down on caffeine, which can make the symptoms worse. Ask your caregiver if you should try iron supplements, which can sometimes relieve RLS.

Our Lazy Day

I love when my husband thinks I am cute!  After a long Easter weekend, the cats and I decided we needed some shut eye.  Josh was working on his thesis/watching the Masters, so I decided to crash on the couch since I hadn't seen him in awhile.  Sad when this is what I consider spending time with him, I know.  At one point he stopped working/watching and saw the how cute the cats and I looked sleeping in our comfy positions, so he took pictures for the blog.  Thanks for contributing babe!!

Tigre's new favorite position on the chair (that we cover when you our guests are not here).  Still not sure how he gets his leg all the way up there by his face, and how it can be that comfortable.  Weird...

Belle has a way of always needing to be by someone.  I even think her and Madelyn are becoming friends.  She doesn't jump every time Madelyn kicks her. :o)

Six Months

So here are some recent belly pics.  I said in an earlier post that I didn't think my belly was getting larger, but every time I see someone they comment on how much bigger I look.  You decide. I am certainly wider...

What a day!

Monday was quite the day.  First I took my cats to be shaved.  This sounds like a mundane task until you realize that my cats hate riding in the car, going into a carrier, and other people messing with them.  We lead a pretty quiet life over here, and they like it that way.  However, I do not like picking up their hair all the time.  I would vacuum and within hours I could see little Tigre clumps of black hair all over.  But Belle was the worst.  She has these little white hairs that get over everything.  Not fun, especially when I started to think about cleaning up after baby too.  So, instead of shaving them right before the baby came, which I knew would be traumatic with all the other changes going on, I wanted to give them a test run.  This was just as much for me as for them.  After wrangling them all up, I wanted to put them in the front seat of the car so they could see me as we drove.  That didn't help.  They both screamed the whole time.  At one point my Chiropractor's office manager called to ask me a question and she was just laughing because all she could hear were the darn cats.  But as I got to the groomers the lady was very kind and promised me she would do her best to make sure they were calm before she started bathing and cutting.  

So while they were be tortured at the groomers, I decided I would have lunch with my Friend Sarah and her son Matthew (potential mate #1 for Miss Madelyn).  I was a little stressed because the groomer said she would call if the cats were not behaving, but Matthew was so darn cute I wasn't really focused on them for long.  Plus, I like talking to Sarah about mommy stuff.  I know I am not one yet, but it is fun knowing that I will also have a little one in just a couple of months.  And I have realized that it is comforting to talk to friends about their experiences, they ultimately make you feel better.

Sarah and Matthew at lunch.  I am keeping my fingers crossed that I can look like Sarah when my baby is 8 months old.

Literally he was so chill the whole time, this was as emotion as I got out of him for the picture. :o)

So after lunch it was time to go get the cats.  I was very nervous.  I didn't care as much about what they looked like.  I just wanted them to be calm.  It is sad when pets cry and you can't do anything about it.  Anyway, I got to the groomer and she said Tigre (our skittish cat who doesn't even let us brush him at home) was so calm for her he fell asleep while she was cutting him.  And Belle (our cat who just wants to be up in everyone's business all the time, and loves to be combed) was so scared the groomer had to cut her while she was being held on her shoulder.  This was very weird for me to hear.  But it is evident in their pictures.  Tigre is nice and evenly cut, and Belle looks like we tried to cut her at home.    

Mister Tigre

Miss Belle, who was not happy with us for about 4 days. :o)

Our 1st Baby Shower

The parents who hosted the great day (along with Tamara who was not able to make it, but still put a lot of work into it.)  

This past Saturday Josh and I (and Baby Madelyn) were blessed with an amazing baby shower that some of the booster parents threw for us.  We were completely overwhelmed by the thoughtfulness and complete generosity of everyone who was involved.  We have waited and wanted this baby for three years.  Now that we are having her, all the fun things that go along with having a baby just make the process that much more, and real.  Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone, for everything!!!!  

We played a couple of number of games as a group.  One was a game where we had to guess the prices of about 15 baby items.  I was close being only 21 dollars off.  Josh however, was 55 dollars off.  It was funny how much he thought baby things would cost.  In another game we all had to finish nursery rhymes.  Again, I did pretty well.  Josh however answered the question: Mary had a little lamb whose ____ was white as snow, with the word "hair".  It was really cute!

Two of the games were just for Josh and I.

They gave us a bowl and a spoon.  We had to clean up the cotton balls only using the spoon, not our other hand.  The person with the most cotton balls won.  

Josh, realizing I might be winning, started cheating.  You can see how evenly distributed the cotton balls were until he started scooping all if them to his side.  That was great for him until I realized what he was doing.  Then it was on! 

They also blind folded us and made us guess what flavor baby food we were eating.  Neither of us were very good at this game.

We looked a little funny waiting for our food.

But even funnier when I started spitting out flavors like vegetable beef stew and macaroni and cheese.  YUCK!

It was a really fun day.  Thank you again to everyone for coming and showering us with so many things for Madelyn.  We really appreciate it!

Fun Stuff!!

So for a couple of weeks my pregnancy calendar has said that the dad should be able to feel the baby. Unfortunately my baby's daddy falls asleep when he gets home waiting for the baby to kick. So the whole process of having him feel her has been very frustrating to me.

Typically we would be sitting on the couch after dinner and she would start to do whatever it is she does. I would grab Josh's hand. She would stop moving. Then, after about five minutes, it would be like a miniature explosion just occurred in my belly following by some rolling movements. I would say, "Did you feel that?", turn around, and Josh would be sleeping. I tried not to take it personally, but I really started to think he didn't care about feeling her. I seriously sat there for hours when I first started feeling her with my hands on my belly. I just thought it was the coolest. Apparently this does not translate to men. However, this week we have had a major breakthrough in this area. Josh can feel her and, as of tonight, see her moving!!!

We were sitting in bed on Monday and he was wide awake watching Sports Center. Note to men: if you are awake enough to annoy your wife by watching ESPN in bed, you are awake enough to wait five minutes to feel your unborn child. Anyway, Madelyn started moving like a mad woman. So I reached over and grabbed Josh's hand. I told him I was going to wait until he said he felt something (versus me saying "did you feel that" a million times and him saying "no"). After about two seconds he said, "I felt that." It was one of the happiest moments of my life, and his! Ever since he figured out he can actually feel her, he has been putting his hands on my belly every night. Usually after I eat is the best. I lay back on the couch and she goes to town from all the calories she has just ingested. It is really fun to see him feel her. Not so fun on the bladder I have decided.

So then tonight we were watching LOST and she was moving again. Maybe it was because LOST was so tense, but very night her movement gets more and more violent. Since Josh had Belle on his lap (very typical during TV watching in our house) it was hard for him to reach my belly. So I just kept my shirt up exposing my belly (again very typical during TV watching in our house because all my PJ shirts are too small) and all of a sudden I saw my belly do the wave. I turned to Josh and said that I think I can see her moving. So we watched as my belly was popping in and out, from side to side. So cool!! I hadn't even seen that before. I think because I was wearing black pants it was really distinct against the embarrassingly white stomach.

All that to say, we are moving forward with a healthy, and active bun in the oven. Fun stuff!!