Dr. appointment

Yesterday we had our monthly pregnancy check-up. I had been looking forward to this appointment since we were unable to hear the heartbeat at our last appt. THANKFULLY they found the heartbeat right away. It's at 150 bpm. So it looks like everything's good right now. I'm 18 weeks and 5 days today so here's what took place this week with the baby's development:

Head to rump, your baby is about 5 1/2 inches long (about the length of a bellpepper) and he weighs almost 7 ounces. He's busy flexing his arms and legs — movements that you'll start noticing more and more in the weeks ahead. His blood vessels are visible through his thin skin, and his ears are now in their final position, although they're still standing out from his head a bit. A protective covering of myelin is beginning to form around his nerves, a process that will continue for a year after he's born.

In another book I'm reading, it says that the baby now has his/her own unique set of fingerprints on the fingertips and toes. How neat!!

Drew and I are REALLY looking forward to next Thursday when we'll be able to see our baby again! And (hopefully) find out whether we're having a boy or a girl. :) Next Thursday is also our 4-year anniversary and I can't think of a better way to celebrate. We're planning on spending the whole day together which is another reason I'm really looking forward to that day. I feel as though I've barely gotten to speak to him these past few months with all his schoolwork. He's now in the final stages of finishing his capstone paper. His goal is to have it completely finished and submitted by next Wed. so that we can enjoy Thursday together without feeling the burden of it. I'll be glad for Drew too when it's finished. I know it's wearing him out, especially now that he's back to work this week - he'll work a full day, come home, eat dinner, and then work on his paper until bedtime. But he's a trooper - he never complains.

As for me, I've been keeping busy lately getting my classroom put together for the start of another school year. I can't believe it's time to go back to school already!! I'm looking forward to about September when we've been in school for a few weeks and the routines are already established. I LOVE what I do, so it should be fun.

The baby's room got put on hold for now. There's only so much I can do without Drew's help, so I'm waiting for when he's finished with schoolwork. We have a lot of moving and maneuvering to do with our furniture to get everything in the right spot, but hopefully pictures to come within the next month of our baby's room.

Well, I can't wait to post in a week and show you updated pictures of our baby!

Children's books

Those of you who know me, know how much I love children's books. About a month ago Drew and I received an ad in the mail from Scholastic to join the Disney book club and the Dr. Seuss book club. Of course to entice us to join both clubs, there are GREAT deals on books. We were able to get 10 Dr. Seuss books and 10 Disney books (all hard-cover) plus a "free" Dr. Seuss bookbag and Winnie the Pooh carseat organizer for around $20. We read all the fine print and even called to make sure we could cancel out of the club after we got the initial deal (because when you're a part of the club they'll send you a new book each month, which you have to pay for...which is about $4-$5 each....not a great deal.) So we ordered the books and just received them in the mail this past week. Here's what we got....

Disney Books with the carseat organizer

Dr. Seuss books with the bookbag

(I have no idea why the pics are uploaded sideways.

Drew and I have both tried to fix that and can't figure out how)

4 month pregnancy pictures

In a few days I'll officially be in my 5th month! So I had Drew take some belly pictures of me yesterday.

This picture doesn't really show my growing belly, although I do look "wider" than normal and you can see a little pooch in the front if you look closely.

Here's a better side shot of my belly.

I'm really looking forward to when I'll be able to feel the baby move. I'm told that I should be feeling it within the next few weeks. I did find out at my last doctor's appt. that I have an anterior placenta which just means that the placenta is in front of the baby closer to my belly button. Apparently it's nothing to be concerned about. However, I did read that those who have anterior placentas might not feel the baby's kicks as early as others because the placenta acts as a cushion. The book also said that the doctor may have a difficult time finding the heart beat because of the placenta being in front, which is the problem we faced at our last appt. It's been disconcerting at times when the doctor hasn't been able to find the baby's heart beat and when I just feel like I'm putting on weight rather than carrying a baby. But there's nothing to worry about apparently, so that's good news. I'll post more info after our next appt. August 7th!

Week 16 development

I am now 16 weeks along. Here's the latest baby development from this past week...

Get ready for a growth spurt. In the next few weeks, your baby will double his weight and add inches to his length. Right now, he's about the size of an avacado: 4 1/2 inches long (head to rump) and 3 1/2 ounces. His legs are much more developed, his head is more erect than it has been, and his eyes have moved closer to the front of his head. His ears are close to their final position, too. The patterning of his scalp has begun, though his locks aren't recognizable yet. He's even started growing toenails. And there's a lot happening inside as well. For example, his heart is now pumping about 25 quarts of blood each day, and this amount will continue to increase as your baby continues to develop.

This is the last week in my fourth month, so (hopefully) by Sunday I'll post another pregnancy picture.

"Parents" for a day

Last Thursday Drew and I watched my cousin's 2 kids - a 2 1/2 year old and an 8 month old. They're both so good - it was definitely eye-opening though. I didn't realize how exhausting it would be! Thankfully Drew and I will only start out with one child before having two to deal with. :) We did have fun though. We set up the sprinkler in the backyard for John to run through. Drew eventually put his swimming trunks on too and joined the fun. We set Silas on the grass where he could get wet, but he didn't seem to like that very much, so Drew held him while running through the sprinkler a few times, which he did enjoy. We also went for a walk around the block, attempted to blow bubbles, but ran out of bubble solution, and ate a yummy lunch of homemade pancakes (which Drew decided to make after hearing me read the story to John about Curious George and the blueberry pancakes).

Great find!

So after researching how much baby furniture costs (crib, changing table, dresser, stroller, pack 'n play, etc.), I'd decided to keep my eyes and ears open for any great deals. I've been checking Craigslist daily, but either I'm too picky or there hasn't been much out there. It seems that all the cribs I've looked at on craigslist are older and not very attractive. I would like a good deal, but I don't want to get one that's so old it doesn't meet new safety standards, and I also don't want to get one that I don't really like. So, yes, I've been picky. :)

Anyway, yesterday morning I was looking through the list and found a person wanting to sell a new(er) crib, dresser, and possibly a bookshelf for $200. She said the crib and dresser are pretty much brand new. The crib retails at Baby's R 'Us for $280 and the dresser retails for $140. They got them about 2 years ago and are wanting to change the color scheme in the room, including the wood furniture. So we set up a time to meet yesterday, and I was thrilled with it. She still had it all set up in the room, but it looked like it was just out of the box! Her older daughter helped disassemble the items so we could fit them in the Pilot. It all fit, but apparently I didn't think it through before leaving the house because I only brought one blanket and a few bungee cords to help keep the items in place. Well, my mom and I ended up having to stop about 4 times to rearrange and secure the items, but we were able to get them home in one piece.

Here's a picture of the crib and dresser off the internet. We haven't assembled them yet because we need to clear out the baby's room in order to make room for it all. That will be my job over the next few weeks before school starts.

Oh, and we also got a Sealy crib mattress included in the deal. Apparently crib mattresses can be over $100. And we also got a bookshelf that is probably about 7 feet tall that matches the natural wood color. She didn't get it at Babies R 'Us so I don't have a picture yet to show, but it looked nice.

Here's a picture of my mom and me with all the furniture loaded in the back of the car. It took us a while to load and rearrange. I counted it as my workout for the day since I was sweating by the end of it. :)

Currently we have the furniture stored in our guest bedroom, but now I'm motivated to get the baby's room cleaned out so we can put it all together.

So hopefully pictures to come soon of the assembled furniture!

Trip to CA

Well, I'm a few days later than I said, but here are some pictures from our trip to CA. Drew and I spent 2 days at Mormor's house (Mormor is Swedish for grandmother). Then we all headed to the cabin in Twain Harte for the rest of our trip.

Before we got to the cabin, we stopped at an area trail that takes you down to a cave that you can swim through. Sounds like fun, right? Well, keep in mind that it's also NUMBINGLY cold...and that's really not an exaggeration. When I first stood in the water I felt shooting pain up and down my legs until they went numb. (I know, I sound like a wuss!) But then once you were numb, it made it a little more bearable. It really was very neat to swim through the cave and see all the stalagtites hanging. I would definitely do it again!

Drew and me hiking down to the cave. Yes, I did wear flip-flops....very stupid. :)

Cathy and I getting up enough courage to get in the water!

The studly men jumped right in. Drew, Chris (Cathy's husband), and Brian.

Drew and I standing in the cave.

Great view of the cave (from the other side)

The next day we went to a beautiful lake surrounded by mountains called Pinecrest Lake. We decided to hike halfway around the lake and then up a trail to Cleo's Bath, which is supposed to be beautiful. Well, the hike ended up being more difficult than we anticipated. :) But once we reached the top, it was very neat and we all felt a great sense of accomplishment. The boys found some places to cliff jump while us women watched and swam through another equally chilling pool of water.

The lake is sooo blue!

Yes, we did have to hike over these rocks and boulders. It was a very intense hike for all of us at times.

At the top at Cleo's Bath. Drew posing by some waterfalls. This is where the boys decided to do their cliff jumping.

Drew jumping

Brian jumping. Doesn't it look like he's going to belly flop? Don't worry - he didn't.

Cathy and I braving the cold water again. :)

This is the view from Cleo's Bath. If you look closely, we hiked all the way from the blue lake in the far background. Yes, it was the longest hike of my life, but it was beautiful.

Then another day we went to the Twain Harte lake, which is basically just a large swimming pool for those that live in Twaine Harte. The boys decided to do some...interesting...jumps off the diving boards.

Drew and I swam to a floating dock and sun bathed and talked. It was nice!

We had a wonderful time on our trip. It was so nice being with the whole family and catching up. Now we only have to wait until Thanksgiving to get together again...and this time it'll be in exciting Troy, OH. Since I'll be in my third trimester, I won't be able to fly, so the family is all flying to our house. We can't wait to have them here. Hopefully we'll have some of the baby's room ready to show them. Lots of fun!

On another note, Drew and I had our July doctor's appt. yesterday (which was nothing special), but we did get to schedule our next ultrasound. It's actually going to be on our 4 year anniversary - August 14th at 9am. We thought that would be a special way to celebrate our anniversary! The doctor told us we can bring a CD-R and they'll put pictures of the baby on it as well as the baby's heart beat. :) We can't wait! I think we also might bring our digital camera to video the ultrasound and possibly our reactions when we find out whether it's a boy or a girl. Woohoo!!