Reflecting

So, everyone keeps telling me to "enjoy the next few weeks, because I will miss being pregnant", and I can't seem to understand what planet they are from? Probably about two months ago I finally became comfortable with admitting that I didn't love being pregnant. Normally, women express how much they love being pregnant, and sometimes become sad when it ends. Not this one! For so long I felt bad feeling like I wasn't one of those women, but then realized that a lot of people probably didn't go through, what I consider, a somewhat traumatizing experience. There were lots of periods of anxiety, that kind of took away from the excitement. I am ready for the prize at the end!  
There are 2 things that I did/do love about pregnancy:

1. Seeing the baby on the ultrasound makes me so happy! The process of a baby forming is simply amazing, and to actually see it develop through is incredible. Not to mention how fun it is when he/she is cute as ever.


2. PEDICURES. Thank you, Jesus for pedicures and me not being able to reach my toes :) Luke offered to give me a pedicure, but I politely declined. Take one look at his nail clipping skills, and you would politely decline, too. I just pray that I go into labor before this pedicure starts chipping. One of my biggest pet peeves is chipped nail polish, and I can't imagine looking at my toes chipping in labor. HAHA!


...and now you can hear the birds chirping, because I am out of things to list! It's OK, because I am actually proud of myself for not complaining more. L might beg to differ, especially these last few weeks, but I feel like I have handled A-L-L of it gracefully, or at least tried. I have a feeling that I will forget about all of the negatives as soon as I hold that little bundle :) 


By the way..with only 2 weeks until d-day, I should probably give you a quick update on Lil' Wayne's progress....
Monday he/she weighed in (via ultrasound) at 6lbs. We were pleased to hear that, as we know we have a peanut on our hands. 6lbs was in the 21st percentile, which is low, but the doctors don't seem concerned in the least bit. Heartbeat was 150bpm at both appointments. Baby looks healthy. They commented on how big the cheeks were, and that they could see hair on his/her head..ha! Everyone seems to call "it" a HIM, but then correct themselves...so, I'm not sure if they are slipping, or if they just say "him" because they don't want to use---"it", "he/she"....yadda, yadda. However, yesterday two nurses referred to Baby W as a "her". Oh, the confusion it has caused me! Either way, I am going to be thrilled. If it's a boy..my maternal instincts are spot on, AND Luke will have to clean the litter box for one more year. If it's a girl...I will be extra excited because she would be such as surprise. Not so excited that I would have to clean the litter box for a year, though (Luke and I's bet). We have yet to set Baby's two name choices in stone, because we feel like we need to see him/her first. We have a couple of choices for each, but are keeping them a little bit of a secret. I haven't fallen in love with a boy's name yet, which is a little stressful to me, but I think we'll come up with a good one when we see HIM. This week, I tried to convince Luke to love the name Charlie because of this video: (you have to watch it)...

It is SO cute. However, I would make everyone use a British accent when they used his name :)  Luke didn't go for it, because he was afraid people would refer to him as "Chuck"..HAHA! On to the next name....




If he is a boy..I am totally outnumbered 4 to 1..oh boy! 

How can you not love this cat? He is the cutest thing EVER!

Luke practices holding a baby with Tiki! (Except he weighs three times what our baby is going to weigh)..yikes!

Happy 37 Weeks!!!

I woke up this morning to Luke singing the "Happy 37 Week Birthday Song" to the baby! Hooray...WE (i.e-alll three of us) made it to 37 weeks. 

Phewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww! 

37 weeks is considered "full term"...the only thing that makes a difference from here on out is the baby's weight...each week gaining 1/2lb more. We went out to dinner to celebrate :) I feel very thankful, as it did get a little scary around the 24 week mark! I'm sure I will be pregnant for another month after all of this..ha! I celebrated on my own today by crossing my very last chore off of my 9 month to do list (it was long).......cleaning out the closets! I got rid of 5 ..F-I-V-E...garbage bags of clothes. Ah...what a great feeling. I figured..why keep um if they barely fit last year? They would only cause bad feelings this summer. Bye..bye Size 2's...see you again...probably never! At least I am at peace with them being in garbage bags..hehe!

Happy Birthday, Mom

Happy Birthday to the Queen Bee...

There is no one on the planet who loves her birthday more than my Mom.. (I come in a close 2nd). There is something about the day that makes her more giddy than the average bear! 

I hope you have a great day. Your real birthday present will be here in less than 3 weeks...GRAMMY!

Blue/White Weekend..

Well..it was a wet one this past weekend, that was for sure! This was the 2nd year we have "hosted", if you want to call it that, Blue and White weekend. Luke's whole family comes, and it involves the PSU Spring scrimmage on Saturday, and then a 5k run, which supports the Special Olympics, the next morning. This year it was rainy and cold, which was miserable. However, I "sat the bench" for all activities this year. Rather than going to the game, Deb and I went and got pedicures. We may have to make that our new tradition next year, pregnant or not..because it was grreatttt! We came back to everyone else being wet and cold, and we were relaxed and pampered. :) 

The "surviving" three...

Luke being his typical self, sandwiched between his sisters...

Getting ready....

Nick and I standing on the sidelines :( 

We'll get um next year, Nick.

I don't know how Jessica ever kept up with him while pregnant..he walks WAY too fast for this one!

Lots more runners this year than last...

You run through the Beaver Stadium tunnel to end the race... (Luke's dream)

Way to go!

Great job, guys! :) 

Last year's Blue and White "team"..we were a few men down this year. 

Next year Luke is in charge of the jogging stroller--there are lots of hills on this run!

Baby's Nursery

We are "READY"!! Bring on the baby...

We LOVE our new rocker/glider..thank you SO much Deb and Gary!! :) 

It is soooo comfy..Luke and I have both napped in it already...

Need a cute little baby to fill the frames...

Thanks for the cute rug, Mom!! :)

BTW...if you click on the pictures, it makes them bigger (I just figured that out)

Bedroom Re-do

Befores, with our old furniture:

Afters..thanks to my talented hubs:

Between all of our supplies, we probably spent 200.00 on materials...not bad!

I covered the chest with an old throw rug we use to have in front of the bed. 

It killed two birds with one stone because we can no longer trip on the curled up rug, and it was the perfect size for the pad!

35 Weeks

Here we are at 35 weeks..just glowing, right! ha!

The baby has definitely dropped, as you can see, and as I can feel. Completely 100% UNCOMFORTABLE. I cannot imagine how uncomfortable some of these women with humungo bellies are, if I am this uncomfortable with a small belly. I feel great in the morning, but by night time..I just want to go to sleep and not wake up for the next 5 weeks. I have a feeling baby will be here in the next couple, and even though I am uncomfortable, I would rather he/she stay in and bake for another 5 weeks. The longer..the plumper...the better sleeper...the happier mommy and daddy.... is the way I look at it. We'll see, it is out of my control! Maybe it will share a birthday with my Mom and Grandpa Guinane - April 21st! We'll see. We have one more 2 week appointment next week, and then are on to the 1 week appointments..dun, dun, dun. This week the baby's heart rate was at it's normal..between 140-150, and everything else looked great. I gained another 2lbs, and am up to 26lbs gained. Right on target!

We also started our childbirth classes this week. They are Tuesdays and Thursdays for two weeks. A little bit traumatizing, to say the least. At least Luke and I have a good sense of humor about everything, otherwise we would probably be leaving in tears :) Last week we watched live births and labors, and the men looked more traumatized than the women. News flash...they just have to stand there and count to 10! ha! Luke thinks that I should start an epidural now....a month ahead! haha! 

Anywho, we have a busy week this week, and it is really starting to set in that we are no longer going to be a team of two (kind of bitter sweet). We'll make the most of the next +-5 weeks, as our lives are about to change f-o-r-e-v-e-r.

Hiatus!

Whoops! It's been awhile since I updated, and I have some impatient "followers"...haha! Sorry! I wish I could say I was busy, but that is certainly not the case. Well, we have been kind of busy doing projects, but not busy enough to use it as an excuse :) This weekend we are going to be picking up our chair, and the nursery will be close to d-o-n-e! I promise to post pictures Sunday!

We have also been busy redoing the furniture in our bedroom. My handy husband built us a floating headboard and an end of the bed trunk..wait till you see! We really wanted a new bedroom suite, but knew that now was probably not the best time to invest in one, as other things are going to take priority (diapers, diapers, diapers)!! So, we got creative and Luke made us some really neat pieces. There is an unfinished furniture place down the road that was having a moving sale, and they were selling old kitchen cabinets. We snatched up about 8 of them, in all different sizes, for under 20.00. Luke used them on the headboard and chest. 

The cabinets are such nice quality... you really could have redone an entire kitchen with the selection!

    

             

 Here is the trunk, obviously in the works...

Our old, and by old I mean..my Dad's ;), Ethan Allen dresser. Great quality, but it looked like it popped out of the 60's

He added some molding, to kind of marry the 4 pieces...

We have 3 more to attach to this cheap dresser from Ikea (it's out of stock right now). Luke is going to add some decorative molding and the cabinets to the drawers...betcha' it won't look like a 29.99 dresser then! :) I had seen it advertised on a couple of other crafty blogs, which is why it is probably out of stock! You just need to look past the ugliness of it, and create a vision (AND add some new hardware)!

 Initially, I had a panic attack over the paint color I chose, but ended up loving it (after 3 coats of paint). It is impossible to find a brown espresso paint color. The one I chose has a gray tone to it, which is what made me panic, but it looks nice with our taupe/aqua color theme. 

I will also post finished pictures of the furniture this weekend. First, my hubby needs to get that chest up our 2 flights of stairs..it weighs A LOT. 

I'll have to give him his steroids this weekend :)