Sunday, October 16, 2011

Well, on Tuesday, October 18th, we'll be two weeks away from our due date, and boy, am I ready!  Maybe not ready in terms of what to expect, but ready to meet this little one (and ready to not be pregnant)!  So this'll probably be my last pre-baby post.  I still need to get the photos from the other baby shower back on September 24th, so if I have time, I might post that as well before Baby E arrives.

Currently, we have all the boy stuff up in the room, but I'd like to change it out to see what the girl's room would look like too.  Who knows?... Maybe the girl stuff will be out for good, but then again, maybe not!  I did, however, open a fortune cookie last night that taught me how to say "Girl" in Chinese...  Maybe it's a sign!  :)

Here are some pictures of the room (mostly complete, but not organized in the slightest) and one to document my huge baby belly!  I plan to paint the mirror frame and side table after the baby arrives: red if we have a boy and pink or green if we have a girl.

30 Weeks

Today is Wednesday, August 24th, and I am 30 weeks, 1 day!  Our due date seems to be approaching quickly, and I'm pretty sure these last 10 weeks, plus or minus a few, will speed by now that the new school year has started.  The following photos were taken yesterday at 30 weeks.  I'm slightly tanner and my hair's a little longer, but my belly steals the show!  It's out of control!  ...And it's just going to get bigger!

Congrats to my sister and Frank!  Jaxon Edward Ross was born yesterday at 7:34 p.m., weighing in at 7 pounds, 9 ounces, and measuring 20 inches.

August 20, 2011 - Shower

This past Saturday some of my girlfriends threw a shower for us.  It was absolutely wonderful to see friends from all parts of my life: from middle school on through college and even friends who have married into the group now that we're (somewhat) adults!  I really am lucky to have such sweet people in my life!

Eckenrode Family - - - - - College Friends

The Wives Club - - - - - Middle & High School Friends

The Hostesses & My Mom

4d Sono and Nursery Updates

Ok, so I haven't updated this in a while...  Tomorrow (Tuesday, August 16, 2011) I'll be 29 weeks, with 11, plus or minus a few, to go!  Summer and this pregnancy have flown by quickly.  When I think back to the end of the 2010-2011 school year, it doesn't seem that long ago, ...and that's actually about the same amount of time we have left until this baby's here!  ...And Frank and my sister's baby will be here within 3 weeks (or at least that's what all the family is betting)!  Crazy!

Well, Monday of last week I had my glucose test and a routine prenatal check up.  Baby E was having a little arrhythmia, so an hour long check up turned into 4 and a half hours of monitoring the baby's heart rate with a follow-up appointment this past Friday.  Had anyone seen me during the whole process last Monday, all the monitors, etc., would have made it seem like a much bigger deal than it really was, and everything ended up being fine at the follow-up appointment on Friday.  However, we did end up getting 2 extra sonograms out of the whole ordeal, one of which was 4d!  After week 20, I wasn't expecting any additional sonograms, so (and I can say this since everything turned out okay) it actually ended up being kind of fun!

4d sono's are definitely a little freaky-looking, and the babies (I think) always appear a little alien-like.  However, I'm convinced our little one looks like a miniature Christopher...  Well, an alien-baby version of Christopher, but nonetheless, more like him than me!  So you be the judge!

CHRISTOPHER

       

BABY E

SHELLY

                 

As for the nursery, we've made a little more progress.  Christopher's picking up the glider/rocker on Saturday morning, so that'll be here soon... at which point all the furniture will be in place.  My mom is making a few pieces of the girl's bedding, so I currently have the boy's bedding on the crib.  Don't take that as an indication as to what we're having.  We still have no clue.  Either a mini-Chris or a mini-"Chris"-tina (as far as I'm concerned).

So here's the room so far.  I'm planning on hanging an enlargement of one of the 4 x 6 photos (You'll see below.) with the baby names on them above the crib.  My Granddad Jack built the corner shelf for me when I was little, so I'm excited to be able to use it in the baby's room.

We'll try to get some baby-bump photos up soon!

20 Weeks: Half-Way There!

I am 20 weeks today (Tuesday, June 14th), so I can now officially start counting down the weeks instead of counting up!  Christopher and I went in this morning for my anatomy sonogram... So cool!  From the sonogram the baby's growth and development seem to be right on track.  All the measurements were right around what they should be at 20 weeks, give or take a couple of days.  (Of course the head was measuring three days ahead of schedule, and I'm sure that's because our baby's going to be super smart!)  Brain, heart, spine, etc. all appear to be developing well.  Heart and liver function looked great!  The baby's heart rate was at 150 bpm, so right on track as well!

As far as pictures go, our doctor was going to load all the pictures and videos onto a USB for us... which we did in fact bring with us to the appointment; however, the USB that we brought unfortunately was completely full.  ....So in order to be able to post, I had to take a snapshot on my phone of one of the sonogram pictures.  Obviously not the best quality, but it gets the point across.  If you can't tell, it's mainly of the baby's face.

We can't wait for the next 20 weeks or so to pass so we can finally meet and hold our little guy/girl!  ...And of course, we can't wait for him/her to meet all of you!

Baby Bump Photos - Round #2

Well, we're almost to the half-way point!  It's Saturday, June 11th, and I'm 19 weeks, 4 days.  The last group of belly pics were taken nearly 6 weeks ago, and this belly has grown (in additional to my face, rib cage, etc.).  I was trying to see how long I could take these photos in the same clothes so that Christopher and I could really see the comparison, but I think these jeans have pretty much met their limit!  Maternity pants will be in my near future, I think.

Nursery Progress

Over the past 2 weeks, the nursery has started to come together!

On Saturday, May 28th, I bought both the girl's and boy's bedding. (Sounds silly, I know... but whichever one we don't use this time around, we'll just keep it on hand in case it's needed for our next little one.)  We also started the painting process and finished up on Monday, the 30th.  I taped, and Christopher painted.  He did a great job!

On Sunday, June 5th, Christopher assembled the crib.  He is already such a great dad!

Sonogram Photos

Everything went well at our doctor's appointment this past Monday (May 9th), which is always a relief.  Luckily, Christopher has been able to come to all of my appointments so far.  This one was very exciting, so I'm very glad he was able to be there with me.  Baby E was moving all over the place and now looks like an actual baby!  He/she wiggled around so much that it was hard to get good shots of him/her.  Very fun!  We go back in for our 20 week anatomy sonogram on June 14th, and we can't wait to see how much Baby E will have changed by then.

Here are some of the sonogram photos.  The two on the left were taken at nearly 7 weeks, and the two on the right were taken on Monday, at 14 weeks, 6 days.  You can barely see a little "gummy bear" in the first two, whereas you can see the face and chest (and the left arm in one of the photos) in the more recent ones.

Baby Bump Documentation

Well, per Christopher's request, we have started documentation of the "baby bump."  So here are the first of the tummy photos.  Photos taken at 13 weeks, 5 days, on Sunday, May 1, 2011.  "Big" changes to come!  (We'll see how long I'm okay with this documentation process!  Ha!)