27 weeks- The Nursery is Coming Together

The crib is here!

Justin assembling the new crib.

Pieces everywhere.

Justin's artwork on the wall.

All of the 0-3 month clothes!  It seems like way too much, but I have a feeling that this will barely be enough with poop, pee, and spit-up on everything!

We are slowing getting the nursery put together.  I think it is looking pretty good!  Justin did a great job putting together the crib and hanging up all the pictures he made.  We need to add a few more things to the walls and then I think we will be all set!  I finally went through all the clothes we received from our Chicago and KC trips and boy do we have a lot of clothes! I think we have more 3-6 month clothes than 0-3 months at this point.  The article of clothing I like best are the little socks.  They are so tiny and cute!

I am feeling pretty good still.  I am starting to get kicked in the ribs more often. Justin thinks it is pretty funny.  We ran out at the lake this Saturday.  It was wonderful! I should say that I am not really running.  It is more like a jog/waddle.  But my heart rate gets up and I am getting exercise!  Our 28 week appointment is on Thursday, so hope all is well!

26 Weeks - Off to Chicago

26 Weeks pregnant.  I just noticed that I was holding the 25 week sign! Oh, well!

In front of the Field Museum with my dad, Aunt Jan, and cousin Nick.

At Dominican University with my dad, Aunt Jan, and cousin Michele

Out to eat with the whole family at the White Eagle. It is a Polish restaurant and is really yummy!

Me, Dad, and Justin outside of Frank Lloyd Wright's House and Studio. Notice Justin's Bears shirt!

Well, we made our last journey before baby up to Chicago to visit family.  It was a great trip, but went way to quick! Whenever we go up there, my Aunt Jan takes such good care of us! We saw lots of fun things and ate way too much!

In terms of pregnancy, I am slowing down a bit.  I never realized how far away my feet were until now! I might need to borrow some adaptive equipment from work to help me get on my shoes and socks!  I am slowly becoming more uncomfortable, but still managing pretty darn good.  We are still even running in the mornings (or should I say jogging).  I think I might have a few more weeks in me and then I will resort to walking the last month or two.  We have our 28 week appointment next week  which is crazy to think I will be 28 weeks pregnant!

25 Weeks- Back to Kansas City

25 weeks along and my baby belly keeps getting bigger!

Jenny and Ben (Justin's sister and her husband) made us a diaper cake! I thought it was really cute!  It is a little lop sided because it made the 9 hour drive from KC to Dallas in the back of the car.

We went home to KC this weekend to see friends and family.  It was really  nice to get to see everybody! Justin's sister, her husband, and their baby came in from DC as well!  We hadn't seen their little girl since she was one month old and she is six months now. Boy, what does 5 months do to a baby! She is wiggly and crawling and drooling and making noises. She is super cute!  We were lavished with more baby gifts that we know what do do with while we were home.  Everyone has been more than generous towards us and we are so thankful. Now we just have to go through everything and figure out how it works and what it does!  On Thursday we leave for Chicago to go visit my side of the family. We are super excited!  Report back next week for our adventures in Chicago!

24 Weeks- Baby got a Registry!

24 weeks! If you could see inside my belly you would see a very squirmy little girl! We took the picture outside in the record breaking Dallas summer heat.  Today it is a cool 102! Tomorrow it should heat up to 108!

We are going to be super busy these next two weekends.  We are going to Kansas City and then to Chicago.  Our last trips before baby girl arrives.  So we went to go register this weekend.  We ended up going to Babies R Us and Target.  We really had no idea what we were getting ourselves into! We were told to bring someone with us that has a baby, but we thought we could handle it ourselves.  In the long run I think we got all of the basics down.  They hardest thing to figure out was what type of bottles to get.  I think we came up with the perfect plan.  We will have to wait and see.  It was really fun getting to use the gun to zap everything.  Justin and I weren't able to do our wedding registry together since he was in Dallas and I was in KC, so I did everything online.  It was fun getting to do this together.  I think I am most excited for our diaper bag.  It is pretty much awesome and it doesn't look like a diaper bag!  So that is it from here.  Like I said, Friday after work we are driving up to KC for a joint 30th birthday party (Justin's b-day is in September and mine is in October).  It will be a quick trip and we will drive home on Monday.  Then we leave next Friday for Chicago to visit our family!  Our last plane ride without a baby! We better enjoy it!

One more thing. I had my glucose testing done and it looked great.  They were checking for gestational diabetes.  I had to be below 130 and I was at 85. I guess that means I can load up on sweets!  That is about it for now!

23 Weeks- Baby Class

23 weeks along and feeling good still!

Justin is beginning to build the baby's new dresser/changing table.

Construction is in process. No hard hats needing here!

You can now tell what it is!

Baby's room is slowly coming together! New dresser/changing table in place. We got a new duvet cover for the bed, but according to Justin it looks like a "cloud" and I do agree so we will have to do something about that. Curtains are up too!

 This week was our all day course at the hospital learning about labor and delivery and getting prepared.  After the class I am even more scared than I was before to go into labor! That is some scary stuff!  I am sure though that once I am 40 weeks pregnant and miserable because I can't move I will be willing to do anything to get her out of me!  After going, I am thinking I am going to try to go as long as I can without an epidural.  It sounds like without it I will be able listen to my body more and know when to push and labor might go a bit quicker.  We will just have to see when we get there!  I also learned that they can deliver babies while the mom is on her knees! Craziness!

We also put the dresser/changing table together and I think it looks lovely!  The room still has quite a bit to go before we are done, but it is coming together nicely.  We have our 24 week appointment on Thursday and we do they glucose test to check for gestational diabetes, so hopefully all goes well! 

22 Weeks- Baby's Room is Starting to Come Togther

22 weeks! We are more than half way there! Baby girl is definitely getting more wiggly as each week passes by!

Grandpa sent Baby Girl a nice rocking chair that I am sure will be put to very good use!

Justin drew and colored these picture for the baby! I think he did an amazing job and I am so proud of him for all his hard work.  We bought some frames and now they are artwork for the baby's room! All the animals are Australian animals, a wombat, possums, and sea turtles.  We need to teach the baby about Australia!

This week we decided to start working on the baby's room. We made the trip to Ikea to buy some furniture. We found out that cribs won't be sold there until October because of safety standards.  I guess each year they make sure all the cribs are up to the right safety standards. We were a bit bummed because we were excited to get a crib! We did find a dresser/changing table and when we went to go pick it up it was out of stock! But no worries, because we found plenty of other things and Justin got to eat Swedish meatballs which is his favourite when we are there. We will just go back in a few months to get everything else. 

One exciting thing that happened this week was that baby girl moved and Justin was able to feel her when he touched my stomach.  He was really excited! I was happy he finally got to feel her moving around.  She is growing strong and is continuing to move around quite a bit.  Work is slowing getting a bit more tiring.  I just can't move around like I used too.  Transfers with patients are a bit harder, getting on and off the mats is challenging, and getting up off the floor after helping with shoes/socks is becoming a chore.  I have a feeling in a few months I will be needing to take the easier patients! Or I might end up needing a therapist!  That is about it from here.  Next Saturday is our all day class at the hospital!

21 Weeks- Baby Girl got a New Ride!

21 weeks is here! Baby Girl Claybrook now has a new car seat and stroller! Here I am posing with the new baby ride!  This is what took 5 hours of research last week to buy.

We have made it to 21 weeks, now officially less than half way to go. Craziness!  Our excitement for this week is the car seat and stroller.  The first night we practiced pushing it around the house taking it in and out of the car.  I am glad we are practicing because it is much harder than it looks! There are buttons and latches and pulls everywhere!  Justin had to help me like five times before I could figure out how to take the car seat out of the base for the car.  Let's hope all of the other baby things are a bit easier to understand!

We signed up for an all day class at the hospital in two weeks.  This is the one to teach you all the basics and we get a tour of the rooms and where I will be delivering.  I am pretty excited.  It will make everything seem more real.  Each day it does seem more real, especially as I look down and my belly is growing!

One other exciting thing is I am beginning to feel the baby moving around in my stomach.  No kicking yet, but just wiggling around.  It is crazy!  She is making herself known!  Justin is just waiting for that first kick!  That is about it from here! Oh, we should break the heat wave record set in 1980 this week of 42 days straight over 100 degrees.  That should be exciting! Not really.