Growing boy!

Hard to believe AJ will be 3 weeks old tomorrow! He is doing really well and is right on track with his weight gain. Now that he has reached his birth weight again, he should be gaining about 1/2 pound a week. And being the nervous new mom that I am, I bought a baby scale so I can weigh him each week between doctor visits. Last Friday, at the pediatrician, he weighed 8 pounds 1/2 ounce. As of this morning, AJ is up to 8 pounds 8 1/2 ounces. He is a really good eater and his weight gain is showing it!

Hanging out in the party chair!

It's tough work being a newborn!

We made it through the first week!

It is so hard to believe AJ will be 2 weeks old on Friday. We have all been doing well at home and we are starting to get into the swing of things. Art went back to work today so now it is just me and AJ hanging out at home.

Arthur William ****, Jr.

July 10, 2009

4:10pm

7lb 14 oz

20"

The eviction notice has been given!

As I mentioned earlier today, I had my 39 week appointment today and basically the doctor has given AJ his eviction notice. I have made no progress in the past 2 weeks and based on AJ's activity levels, he is quite content in the womb. The doctor told me the chances of me going into labor in the next week are slim, and based on AJ's size, he would like to do an induction this week so we can maybe avoid a c-section next week. The doctor called L&D and I am scheduled to check in at the hospital tomorrow night at 5pm. They will admit me and put a gel on my cervix to soften it, then on Friday morning they will start the pitocin. So it looks like AJ will be arriving sometime this weekend. The doctor me told so long as neither the baby nor I develop any problems, they will try the pitocin for anywhere from 48-72 hours. If it is not successful, then we will start talking about a c-section. So today was officially my last day of work and tomorrow I will be finishing up the laundry and housework I wanted done before AJ's arrival.

Wish us luck and I'll keep you posted!

Who gave him a baseball?!?

I swear AJ has a baseball or something to play with in my belly. Last night I was in bed watching TV and AJ was being quite active. All of a sudden this huge lump the size of a baseball is sticking out near my belly button and rolls to my side. I asked Art if he saw it, and he thought (from what he saw out of the corner of his eye) I had my hand in a fist resting on my belly and that I moved it. NOPE! That was AJ!! We then stopped watching TV and proceeded to watch my belly for about 10 minutes. The kid was moving! The lump was his foot, and you could feel his heel as it was protruding out of my belly. Although painful, it was quite amusing. All Art kept saying is, "I think he wants to come out and play, Beck." Well, I don't think he is too eager to come out and play. If he was, he would get the ball rolling and hook me up with some contractions instead of happily playing inside and showing me how far he can stretch my stomach! So the wait continues. (However, at my 39 week appt this afternoon, I will be asking my doctor about the eviction process and how long they will let me go before they induce me.)

We have a baby!

But, it's not mine! Brandie had her baby this morning; however, since I only heard the news from my mom, I will not post anything more until I talk to the proud parents. But, I will share that both baby and Brandie are doing well.

AJ on the other hand is not ready to come out yet. I did a lot of walking and bending and going up and down the stairs this weekend, but it all led to nothing! I think on Tuesday I will start drinking the red raspberry leaf tea and have some eggplant parm for dinner. Maybe that, plus more walking and cleaning, will get this little guy out!

Still here!

Looks like AJ wants me to clean the house. There is no progress from last Wednesday, same 1 cm and 50%. As I mentioned in the last post, I am okay with this as I have a lot to do around the house. Also, we have some zucchini ready in the garden and I would like to make some zucchini bread and muffins to freeze before the little guy starts taking up all my time. Tonight is our last night with plans, we are going to dinner with one of my close girlfriends from Miami. It will be nice to have a relaxing dinner before all of our nights are spent cleaning house and preparing for what's to come. I will keep working as long as I feel up to it, no need to stop the paycheck when work is only 1 mile from home and if I ever feel tired I can go home and nap. My next doctor's appointment is one week from today, so hopefully two things will happen: 1. I will get all the housework done in that week and 2. AJ will start making progress on Tuesday night, because my doctor is on call at the hospital on Wednesday the 8th, so that would be the ideal day to go into labor and have a baby!

The waiting game!

Well, we are officially in the waiting game now. As of last Wednesday I was 1cm dilated and 50% effaced. My doctor told me I could go into labor that night, or I could go in 2 weeks. So while I am making progress, it means nothing. Now we are wondering, do we have 1 Sunday or 2 Sundays remaining?? Our schedule has been so crazy trying to get everything in before AJ comes, that we have not had a single free night to stay home and get housework done. So once again, the housework has piled up and I am feeling slightly overwhelmed. I think I will be an anxious mess if I have to go to the hospital with a messy house. Art doesn't get it, but it is the same way I have to clean my house before I go on vacation. I hate leaving and coming home to a messy house! On the bright side, we have no plans for this weekend and plan on keeping it that way. On the downside, with 4th of July being a Saturday, I do not get an extra holiday at work or an extended weekend. BOO! Anyhow, we should be able to get the house clean and ready for AJ. I am hoping he makes his appearance on the 8th because that is when my doctor is on call at the hospital. But then again, I really want to see the movie Bruno, so I would not mind if he waits until after the 10th. Selfish, I know, but hey it may be the last chance I have to be selfish! I go back to the doctor tomorrow for another exam, so we will see if there is more progress and maybe this time get a better indication of how much time we have left. As for tonight's agenda, we will be installing the car seat bases in each of our cars and driving to the fire station for inspection. (The last Tuesday of every month is car seat check at the fire house, so I guess this is our last chance!) Oh, and the blinds for the house are in and will be installed on Thursday. Maybe after this weekend I will finally update the kitchen pictures since it will officially be 100% done! (But don't hold your breath)

Stoli the Diving Dog

After work today we took Stoli swimming. He was being a little bit of a show-off with his amazing diving dog demonstrations! 

Any day!

I had a doctor's appointment today, and according to my doctor AJ can come any day he chooses and no one will stop him! The doctor explained to me how 37 weeks is now considered full term (as opposed to the old 38 weeks) but that because AJ is big and I have had no problems, if I went into labor tonight, they would deliver him and he would be fine. Scary! I told AJ not to listen to the doctor and he is to wait at least 2 or 3 more weeks. That should give me enough time to finish doing everything on my list. The doctor also made a point of telling me he was reviewing my last ultrasound reports again, and that I do indeed have a big baby growing in me. He does not expect a 10 pounder, but he would not be surprised at 9lbs. However, if I do go 2 weeks early, AJ may only be about 8lbs. When I was confirming my appointment for next week and making my appointment for the week after, the receptionist informed me my regular doctor will not be in the office that week (6/28-7/4). I am not sure if it is because he is on vacation, or he will be on call in L&D. I am going to ask next week, because if he is on call in L&D and I will be 38 weeks on 7/2, I am going to see if he will let me schedule an induction so he can deliver my baby (and we can maybe avoid the 9lb issue). So much is happening so quickly, hard to believe the end, or should I say a new beginning, is near!!

"In our daily lives problems are bound to arise. The biggest problems in our lives are the ones that we inevitably have to face, like old age, illness, and death. Trying to avoid our problems or simply not thinking about them may provide temporary relief, but I think that there is a better approach. If you directly confront your suffering, you will be in a better position to appreciate the depth and nature of the problem. If you are in a battle, as long as you remain ignorant of the status and combat capability of your enemy, you will be totally unprepared and paralyzed by fear. However, if you know the fighting capability of your opponents, what sort of weapons they have and so on, then you’re in a much better position when you engage in war. In the same way, if you confront your problems rather than avoid them, you will be in a better position to deal with them."
-Dalai Lama

5 Sundays!!

As if 37 days didn't make it seem close enough, 5 Sundays makes it seem like tomorrow! After my next doctor's appointment on the 18th, I will be seen every week. All the little things happening just confirm AJ will be here before we know it. As anxious as I am to meet him, I am hoping he does not come too early because we still have a bunch to do and AJ, of course, still has a bunch of growing (the brain grows so much in the last couple weeks of pregnancy). I wouldn't mind if he holds out til his due date, and being my first, there is a good chance he will. At my last doctor's appointment, we were offered another ultrasound to check AJ's size at 36 weeks. This would give a more accurate size estimate at full term and, in my opinion, lead to nothing good. The doctor said it could lead to scheduling an early induction, or having his size on my charts could lead whatever doctor is on call when I do go into labor to force me to have a c-section. Some doctors do not like to try laboring with a large baby because it can take more time (and I suppose energy on their part...poor doctor), so my doctor recommended no ultrasound and we agreed. I have nothing against c-sections, I just know the recovery is more difficult and if I can avoid it, I will! So AJ's true size will be a surprise, and who knows maybe he is not going to be as big as they say. :)

Art and I have been busy in the evenings trying to wash everything we got at the shower so we can put it away. It has been fun sorting through it all and organizing. Last night, Art took a break and decided to put a teddy bear in AJ's stroller and take it for a walk around the upstairs. He simultaneously modeled his "man-diaper bag" showing me all the features and how it attaches to the stroller. It was funny to watch and I wish I had the Flip camera on me to record it. Maybe there will be a next time. We still have a lot to do (in addition to the laundry, we have to put together the bassinet, swing, car seat, pack n' play, party chair and put more stuff away) but luckily Art has had the last 2 Saturdays off and it doesn't look like he will be working the next few. But on the flip side, we are registered for 2 classes that will be all day Saturdays on the 20th and the 27th. Easy come, easy go!

On a different note, the blinds for the house are ordered and should arrive to our house in 2 weeks, at which point the guy will call us to set up a day for installation. He told us he would squeeze us into his schedule as soon as he can, but I guess I will have to keep my legs crossed until the blinds are in and installed!

That's about it for now, I will post some new pictures when we have a little more work done.

My Baby Shower

My Mom threw me a wonderful baby shower this past Sunday, I had such a good time and got so many beautiful gifts. She hosted the shower at a little restaurant down the road from my house and the food was awesome! Brandie and Jen did a great job with the favors and the labels for the wine. (Everyone brought a bottle of wine to build a little collection for me and Art for after AJ arrives - something to take the edge off the late nights.) The chocolate turtle pops that Brandie ordered were adorable. My MIL, Bev, did the decorating; since she only lives 1 mile away she was able to go in the night before and set everything up. WOW, what a job she did! It was all underwater and turtles and looked so cute. Katie's invitations matched my bedding, they had the same turtles and colors and then she took one to the cake place and had my turtles put on the cake. I could go on and on about everything, it was such a great day, but I will end this with some pictures.

Bev, me, Mom


Jen, me, Brandie, Mom



My BFFForever, Katie, and me


Who's bigger?? We are due 7/16 and 7/12, but I think Brandie will go 2-3 weeks before me.


The diaper cake Bev, Poppy, and Art made me.


One view of the room, the table was an L so you can only see some people (there were 30 guests). Notice the cute fisherman's netting on the walls and tables holding underwater baby stuff.


The wine table with some overflow of the gifts.


The dessert table- the brownies were cut out in turtle, fish, and starfish shapes and the cookies were baby bottles, turtles, and ducks.


Bev made her own edible arrangement and cut the watermelon and pineapple in dolphin, turtle, and fish shapes. I loved it!


The yummy cake that Katie brought - it was bottom layer chocolate, top layer vanilla and it had chocolate pudding in the middle. Everyone raved about it!


Thank you to everyone who came to celebrate with me, and to those who could not make it, you were missed!

Just think, 6 weeks and 2 days (at most) until the little (big) guy arrives!

Progress and Set Backs

I guess I will give the good news and progress first, both Art and I ended up with a 3 day weekend! WOO-HOO! That basically never happens, but some of the mowers are down on the farm and since the mechanic took off for the holiday weekend, there was not enough equipment to mow, and long story short Art didn't have to work. That doesn't mean I didn't put him to work at home. :) We got so much done - we organized the storage room and then moved about 16 rubbermaid containers of stuff in there, emptying out the closet in the nursery in the process. Then all the small piles of stuff placed around the house were found homes, instead of temporary resting places. We did more work outside, finished all the laundry, organized the bedroom and bathrooms, and even started the dusting and vacuuming. It was a lot of work, and I could barely move each morning from being sore, but I am so glad the organization is about done. There are still small projects here and there, but those do not have to be done before the baby arrives. The only thing left to do before the baby is clean all the wood work, walls, baseboard heaters, and windows. And let me tell you, in an old house that is not a small task! We will split it up by room and do the smaller rooms on weeknights and the larger rooms on Sundays. We took a break one day to run some errands and head to Lowes for the blinds. Well, turns out Home Depot had a better sale so we decided to go with them for the blinds. The guy is supposed to call today to set up an appointment to come and measure the windows in the house (we are having them install them). We also decided to bite the bullet and do the whole house. Good bye tax refund, it was nice knowin' ya! All in all, I am VERY happy with what we accomplished this weekend.

Now the set backs...we went to breakfast yesterday morning (the special was PECAN PANCAKES, I got them with fresh banana on top and thought I was eating at Uncle Bill's in OC, it was FANTASTIC!) so neither one of us was hungry for lunch and when we went into the fridge in the evening, Art noticed his milk was not that cold. The thermostat was set at 37, but the thermometer I put in there was reading 50. The freezer is set at 0, but is reading about 15. So, we have no clue when it happened since neither of us were in the fridge since the night before. I turned down the temp and let it sit overnight, this morning...still 50! So all of our food is spoiled. :( We just got the fridge in August 2006, it is not even 3 years old and it wasn't cheap! Luckily, since we did get a higher-end fridge, we also got the service plan. So, Sears will be out to my house on Thursday to look at it. In the meantime, we have to leave our food in it and let it continue to spoil so the repair man can vouch for the food in there. Sears said they only refund you up to $250 for food, but I had a lot of meat from Sam's in there and I still have the receipts for everything, so I will be fighting.

Life is never boring around here!

Waste of Time!

Well our trip to Blinds To Go was a bust! We got there and talked to the salesman about the cordless cellular shades. We were thinking of going with the blackout ones for the nursery, but I do not want the baby to only be able to sleep if it is super dark, so we instead opted for the double cellular shades. The man took our measurements we brought and came back with a price...it was HIGH! It actually didn't sound right to me, because I had priced Levolor blinds at Lowe's and it seemed to be about the same. Luckily, there was a Lowe's 2 miles down the road, so we took a ride over there to get an exact price. Wouldn't you know it brand name Levolor is actually going to be cheaper than no-name Blinds To Go?! The blinds are actually within a couple dollars of each other at the 2 places, but Lowe's is having a sale this month for 15% off all custom order blinds. I'm sorry, but how can a place advertise that they are the cheapest because they manufacture them and don't put a brand on them, then end up being more expensive?? Also, we decided to save Art the aggravation of installation. Lowe's will come out and measure every window in our house for $35, then they will install all the blinds we buy for another $83. The real reason we will have them do this is because they guarantee their measurements, and if we are laying out that much for the blinds I want to be sure they fit. (We measured a window to replace a vinyl blind, and when we got home it did not fit. I swear the lady cut it wrong because both Art and I measured. Luckily it was only a $15 shade, so we did not lose that much money over it, but with that experience fresh in our minds, let them take responsibility!)

So anyway, we will be heading to Lowe's to schedule the guys to measure and order our shades. We decided to go ahead and do 4 more windows, so we will have 7 done in all this time around.

Single Digits!

We are down to 8 Sundays! BUT...in all honesty it may really be just 6. YIKES! I say 6 because my baby shower is on a Sunday, so there will be no work done on that day, and I am eliminating Sunday, July 12th because the doc seems to think I may need to go early. If, by chance, I have not had AJ but the 12th, I would imagine I will be in no condition to be doing housework. As mentioned in the last post, I am supposedly growing a monster baby. The doctor had the full results of my ultrasound at my appointment this past Monday, and after all measurements are averaged, AJ is in the 80th percentile for size. The doc said that while we are not looking at anything abnormal, he is large so we will monitor his size and there is a chance that I could be induced early. This will make for an interesting baby pool!

I hope to have the nursery done by the end of the first week in June. The only things we have so far are the furniture, bedding, stroller, and diaper bag. There is still a TON of stuff we need, but we are waiting until after the shower to buy anything. Tonight we are going to Blinds To Go to buy new blinds for the nursery. We currently have those flat, vinyl shades throughout the house, and we would like to replace them with a cordless Levolor type shade, we decided to do a couple rooms at a time and break it up so we don't have that huge expense all at once.

I'll end with a picture of Stoli - the warm weather is right around the corner and he is getting very anxious to go swimming!

Keeping 1/2 the promise!

Well, I did not deliver on the kitchen pictures, but they will be up by the end of the week. I am, however, giving the promised pictures of AJ. The ultrasound today went very well, everything looks great. My boy is HUGE! He is weighing in at 4 pounds 5 ounces, and if he continues to grow at the expected rate of 1/2 pound per week, we are looking at a 9 pound baby...OUCH! His feet are already measuring at 2 1/2 inches long, we were told to kiss newborn booties goodbye because big foot will not be fitting into them. He also has big hands with long fingers. AJ is head down and he was not interested in showing us his face, he kept it buried or covered with his hands pretty much the whole time.

Here he is hiding his face, you can see his big hand and he is kinda smirking


Here is the measurement of his foot, the bottom right shows you it is 6.62 cm or appx 2 1/2 in!

Here is the 4D pic of big foot

This are his long fingers holding his forearm and his leg bent below

A close up of his long leg, the measurement showed us he is going to be tall!

A half peek of AJ's cute little face


So I may not have posted the kitchen pictures yet, but I think the pictures of AJ are more fun anyway! Check back later this week for the kitchen update.

Where does the time go???

Has it really been 2 1/2 weeks since my last post??? Wow, time is really flying and progress is not keeping up! I still need to take some kitchen pictures and hopefully I will get them this weekend. I spent the last 5 days sick in bed, and it totally wiped me out. The whole coughing while pregnant thing is so not fun. Not to mention being sick took away a weekend from me, so I got a big old NOTHING accomplished. On the bright side, Art scrubbed the bathrooms, mopped the kitchen floor and did a bunch of laundry on his Sunday off work. AND...he made me homemade asparagus soup, from scratch, using his mom's recipe and asparagus from our garden. I couldn't really taste it 100% with all the congestion, but it was awesome and I thanked him everyday! So we are down to 10 Sundays until AJ, but....1 is the baby shower, so really we are down to 9. And there is no telling if he will decide to make an early appearance. He is due on a Thursday, so I think we will get that last Sunday (or at least my fingers are crossed that we will). Speaking of AJ, we have a growth ultrasound on Tuesday, so lots of pictures are going to be appearing in the next week. :)

13 Sundays

YIKES!! Art works 6 days a week-YEAR ROUND (yuck!) - and during busy season it is seven days a week. With things starting to leaf out and slow down around here, I have started counting down to AJ's arrival by Sundays. As in, "Hey Art, we only have 13 Sundays left to get EVERYTHING together!" But then you factor in the Sundays that we will not be doing anything related to the house, and that leaves us with 9 or 10 Sundays. I think I am officially freaked out. When will this "nesting" stuff start to kick in??

Oh and I didn't forget about the new kitchen pictures, I just need to tidy up before I take and post them. Hope everyone enjoys the BEAUTIFUL weekend (okay well, Saturday) we are going to have; I will be at the beach for a hair and facial appointment hopefully followed by a nice stroll on the boardwalk with the fam.

I was recruited!

This weekend we got anxious to move the baby furniture into the room, so Art and I did it one night by ourselves. No worries, there was no heavy lifting involved for me (though I do think it was not smart for Art's back). Art would lift a corner of the furniture and my job was to place a carpet slider under it, then I had to guide the furniture while he pushed/pulled and whatnot. I was exhausted, so I am sure Art was super exhausted, but it is done now. Well the baby's room anyway; the rest of the upstairs is another post. I still have not put up pictures of the new kitchen, but I plan on taking some this weekend. So, I will leave you with some before pictures. I totally forgot to take the before pictures until after the work was started, but I think you will get the idea of how awful it was!

This is the old lighting fixture

Here is pea-green countertops (the backsplash was the same pea-green formica) and the lovely gold floor. All circa 1970s. The picture does not fully show the ugliness!

Time is a flyin'

Holy cow! I can't believe it has been almost a month since my last post. CRAZY!! Thing are slowly getting done in the house. Art's Mom helped us clean, no scratch that, SCRUB the kitchen from top to bottom so that we could put things away. Then she packaged up for storage the stuff I no longer use and put dishes and kitchen supplies away where I wanted them. It was a huge lifesaver and took both Bev and Art 4 days of working in the evenings from about 6-10pm every night. They wouldn't let me help, so I had to sit at the table and tell them where stuff went, but I did get to cut the shelf liners! haha. Now the random stuff around the house is all garage stuff, but it is busy season and Art has been swamped so he has not been able to trek it outside. Now we have to tackle the upstairs and move all the furniture. The weekend we were going to do it my Dad got sick, so we lost our helper. Unfortunately for us (but good for my sister), they will be swamped helping Jen with the move to the new place, so I guess we will have to recruit more help. All in all, it is coming together and I am very happy with the progress. Hard to believe AJ will be here in 97 days!!