34 week appt

This picture isn't me but it's so relative to this post I had to use it!

Here are the stats from our latest doctor's appt:

Weight gain - up to 18 lbs now!
Blood pressure - great
Heart rate - 140's
Fundal measurement - now it's 38-39 cm. So much for things slowing down since the last measurement. When my mouth dropped open he felt around and said it's not extra fluid, just a big ol' boy!

We have an ultrasound on the 4th to check sizing and then see the doc right after to discuss the findings and what our plans will be.

Catching up!

Oh my goodness, this week has just gotten away from me! Last week of school before Christmas break, expecting our first big winter storm that didn't come when we thought, work, Christmas prep, all on top of being 8 1/2 months pregnant! Craziness.

Our storm that we expected to wake up to Thursday morning ended up coming in around noon on Friday. The boys had a half day on Friday so I just decided to take the day off and work on Saturday. This was a blessing because I had a few hours at home alone to wrap gifts, work on our never ending laundry piles, pay bills and handle email situations. Thought I would get this post done also but I'm doing it now from work on a Saturday, see?

My maternity photo shoot went really well Tuesday! Well, until the very end of it I guess. The "fainting bug" almost got me again! After about an hour and twenty minutes of being on my feet and taking directions for poses I had to ask for a break because I was about to faint. I felt it coming for a good 5 minutes or so but could not get the words out. It's weird because I can hear myself telling myself to sit down but I don't know if I'm embarrassed or if really I can't say it. Anyway, the photographer was great and Josh was even greater. He got me seated and ran off to a gas station to grab some water and a candy bar. A few minutes later I was fine although I was a little nauseous and after looking at what we had taken on her camera we decided we were basically done anyway. Then the reality that I'm sitting on a stool naked with a gold wrap around my waist hits me!!!! It makes me laugh even now.

Josh thinks the pictures will be beautiful and from what I saw on her camera I agree. He's now talking about putting one or two on the wall, it's not what I had in mind I promise! We get to choose the ones we want on the 6th of Jan. I think I'll go back to have his first pictures taken there even though it's really expensive. Her newborn shots are awesome! Oh, and our poses were Josh and I together, my bare belly with our hands on the sides, us with a bare belly and the ultrasound picture held in front of my belly, me wrapped in the gold material and it flowing out behind me, then I'm wrapped in a gold material around my waist and my arms are covering up top. I'll share them once I can!

These aren't the best quality pictures but when I saw myself I laughed. Is that a basketball under my sweatshirt?

Nope, all baby!!

32 week appointment

Heartrate - 140's
Blood pressure - 112/60 a little higher but still normal!
Weight - up to 15 lbs now.
Fundus Height - He said I was measuring at 36!!!! No joke, I'm 32 weeks measuring 36. My doctor's exact words, "you've exploded!" Not something an 8 month pregnant woman wants to hear.

I'm not stressing anymore about it though. I have another appt in two weeks and I hope to not see that much of a difference in the measurement, maybe it'll even out? We have an ultrasound scheduled after New Year's to check the baby's size and I guess I'll find out then what he suggests to do if anything at all.

It has really given me some incentive to get things ready for the baby around the house though. I'm washing everything, starting to get things out of boxes and put up. I may not really have 50 days left before he's here!

Maternity Photo Session

Alright guys! I'm having maternity photos taken next Tuesday and I'm looking for ideas for some different and beautiful poses. The lady who will be taking the pictures has a website and you can look at some of her pictures under the portfolio/maternity section here. Would love your input!

Another baby shower and a big surprise!

My dear friend Lisa, shown here in the green, threw another baby shower for me this past weekend. I had sooooo much fun! She made a wonderful brunch, had some really fun games, and every one's generosity in the gift area was simply amazing. I'm blessed to have such great friends.

Yes, we played the game with the melted candy bar in the baby diaper! There were 5 different ones to guess which kind of candy bar it was! Here's Rebecca taking a whiff!

We are writing down our guesses for the diaper game!

Almost time to open the gifts! See my belly?

A cute little outfit with a soccer ball of course!

My friend Wendi made this basket for us and it was beautiful! It included a hand-made hooded towel and blanket also. Her thoughtfulness was overwhelming.

And while I was having a blast with my girlfriends, Josh was out getting our family a new car! He got us a 2010 Saturn Outlook!

Just a quick look inside. It seats 7 which will allow me to continue my carpools after the baby arrives.

What a surprise huh? He is simply the best!

The last time that I'll see him before he's born!

We got to see a myriad of facial expressions from this little guy! Even a smile!

Unfortunately his cord was around his face alot but this picture was cute because it looks like he's hugging it. It's a little scary though, I'll be mentioning this to my doctor in a few days.

Another sweet face!

And a little bit of a pout! He's definitely gained weight huh?

I can not wait to meet him in person!!!

Last post from Thanksgiving weekend

David and LaVon's anniversary is the day after Thanksgiving so we celebrated by taking them to a favorite place of ours, The Melting Pot. We had a blast and these are just a few pictures from that special night.

The fourth and final course, chocolate!!!

The Love Martini! How appropriate huh?

Family pics from Thanksgiving

All of the boys

Mom and her three sons

Von and Dave

Josh and I

(All of the above pictures were taken on our deck.)

2nd Annual Turkey Bowl

Our friends hold a flag football game after Thanksgiving and the Brown Family almost had an entire team!

Josh ready to go.

Gametime! Can you see Jeremy on the left running? (He's got the gray tee shirt and blue jean shorts on.)

Huddle up guys!

Team picture. The game was almost two hours long and we came home with only a sprained toe. Tristan and Aidan were pretty sore the next morning though. Jeremy and Jody's team won by two touchdowns.

Thanksgiving

We had a full house and it was so much fun! Josh's entire family came for the holiday, his mother, step-dad, and both brothers. Tristan and I had fun picking our centerpiece. It's an acorn, squash, and something else we couldn't pronounce.

Preparing our plates. I was a very proud chef! Not much of a photographer for the big day though. I was busy hostessing as we also had our friends The Thompson's over. Their dad had just returned from Afghanistan the day before so it was definitely a day of thanksgiving.

Our Colorado Mountains. We had to get out and enjoy the scenery a bit!

The boys and Josh made it to the top of the waterfall while Von, Dave, and I hung out at the bottom.

David and LaVon

We hope that all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving also!

30 week appt!

Here are the details:

Heartrate - 143 and he was moving all around
Blood pressure - 92/60 a surprise again! I've had a lot going on to get ready for Thanksgiving and yesterday was a rough day for me.
Weight - 0 gain since two weeks ago. Holding steady at 13 pounds. (The boys and I were going through their baby books and I wrote that I gained 18 pounds with Aidan.)

We chatted a little about Meralgia Paresthetica which is something that I have noticed for the past two weeks. It's basically a nerve that is compressed around my pelvis or spine from the weight of the pregnancy or sometimes the baby's position that causes tingling in my left thigh and sometime the lower leg aches. It's not too bad right now though and once I deliver it should be resolved.

Also chatted about my prolapsed bladder and the discomfort that I had all day yesterday. If that continues or increases in frequencies they might be able to put in a pessary (supportive device)but I have to chat with the doctor about it.

Other than that, all is well! The Brown family will all be here in Colorado tonight so lots to do! I'll update with pics after the holiday. Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

Pregnancy Dreams

Wow, I've had some wild and crazy dreams during this pregnancy! During the early months I was worried about everything in my real life so my dreams were based alot on fear. People chasing me, something happening to the baby, etc... Lately, I've had some pretty racy dreams and all I can think is that I feel pretty good right now and I like the way that I look with my little tummy so it must be transferring into my dreams. I watched Ricky Martin on Oprah a few weeks ago and that night I dreamed that I was his surrogate and I was carrying his triplets! My most recent dream was that I was wearing a bikini and there were several male admirers around! It's been fun to say the least.

Major League Soccer Champs!

The Colorado Rapids played Dallas FC last night in the MLS Final and we are all shocked to say that our Rapids won the MLS Championship Game 2-1 in overtime!!!!! This is a first for our team and the game was very exciting. Our game winning goal was an "own goal" for Dallas which is kind of sad. Our player kicked it and it hit a Dallas defender's knee and went into their goal. We'll take it though!

You know your child has grown up when...

this is what you wake up to in the morning! He pulled his last baby tooth after I went to bed, hold on - give me a second to cry.

Good thing Dad was up to celebrate with him, I hate missing things like this!

28 week appt

Well, here we are! I made it to the 7 month mark! Had a doctor's appointment this week and here are my stats:

Heartrate - 140's and he kicked while she was listening.

Blood pressure - Fine, I wasn't told a number.

Weight - 13 pounds gained now! Yep, I gained 4 pounds since the last appt. and I'm blaming it on Halloween candy.

Labwork - My testing last month showed me to be a bit low in the iron area so I've had to add that on. I was at a 33 and they want me at a 36 at least before delivery. We'll retake the test in a month.

Not sure why this is fuzzy but maybe that's good in a way, ha!

My belly heart!! I'm getting so excited!

Our first snow of the year!

Very pretty and more than we expected!

Baby Shower

What a wonderful weekend! I've never had a shower like this and I have to thank a few special people!! My best friend Cathy for throwing such a beautiful shower and really going above and beyond anything I could have ever imagined, my sister Shelly for taking the time and making the effort to come for the weekend and be here for me, all of my dear friends for attending, and my wonderful husband for helping with anything that was needed!

Shelly and I before the festivities began!

Part of the setup. There was so much food! Cathy blew my mind and made a special effort to include my favorite cake, carrot with cream cheese icing. (That's why we had two cakes!)

Game time, everyone's jotting down their answers. Left to right: Lisa, Bendu, Sharon, Shelly, Tasha. Not pictured: Karol, Cathy, Josh and me! We had a lot of fun!

I really felt special! I only wish that the shower could have gone on for a few hours more. I had so much fun talking with all of my friends and just hanging out.

Gifts! I'm so grateful for everything that was given to us. The cards made me tear up more than once! I really felt surrounded by love.

Shelly got the boys these awesome shirts! They said they would wear them on his birthday! I can't wait for that picture.

What an amazing day and weekend! I thank God everyday for all of the blessings in my life. I am a very lucky girl.

Company's coming!

We love having company at the house and especially our family members that we don't get to see that often! Shell is coming today and we can't wait! We get to share our first baby shower with her, she gets to see our new home, my growing belly, see Tristan's last soccer game, and meet our friends. Lots to cram in over 3 days but we'll make it work. Recaps will follow Monday here and on Shell's blog.

We have entered the world of ....

BRACES!!!! They were just put on yesterday and he's hurting today. Here we go!

Very Happy Halloween!

We had a really busy but happy Halloween and hope that you all had a good one also! Friday night Tristan started carving his pumpkin. This is the first time that I've let them do everything on their own so after cleaning it all out and tracing on his design he was about an hour into the project. The eyebrows, eyes, and nose are done after an hour and 20 mins or so and then when he's working on the mouth I hear, "Moooommmm." I come in excited to see the finished project to only see a pumpkin with a huge hole for a face! I can't help but giggle a bit and ask what happened? Seems as if Tristan cut too far and clipped the piece that was holding the face onto the pumpkin. Big time bummer! However, Josh had a great idea and ran for the stapler and the paperclips so that we could stitch his face back on and here's the finished project:

Franken Pumpkin

My pumpkin! This was bought as a replacement for Tristan so that he could have a chance to redo but come Sunday, he didn't feel like carving anymore so I did! I had a blast! Even toasted the pumpkin seeds and they turned out fantastic!

Aidan's pumpkin! He drew his design on by hand and did a great job!

Tristan's costume. It said Cell Block Psycho but we were going more for inmate.

Aidan's costume - Swamp Monster. I loved it!

My attire! Thanks Shell, the tee shirt was a "huge" hit, ha! I think "our little pumpkin" had a good day also.