Pictures

Here is a belly shot at 28 Weeks:

Here are the stages of painting Logan's room from 'tan' to 'aqua-chintz' to match his bedding (which I forgot to take a picture of it against the wall...I will do that this week)....a middle........and an after...(notice the handsome guard dog in the last picture).

Week 28

Yay!  Week 28.....7 month mark!

This week some important things happened.

We ordered Logan's crib furniture.  We went with the Monterey set from JCPenny.  The only bummer is that it is currently Backordered....Although it was initially due to ship on September 19th...now we're down to September 10th...so that's great.  We got a crib (duh) with a solid back, a dresser/changer with a hutch and a chest...all in cherry...it'll look great in his room.  In this house, the room is a little small, so it may be a little cramped, but we won't be in this house forever.  :)

We, meaning John, also painted Logan's room just yesterday.  The color we chose "aqua chintz" from Glidden.  We decided to paint all 4 walls this color.  We figure with the white trim and closet doors...paired with the dark cherry furniture, it'll look great.  And then of course with some wall hangings.  :)  Right now, without the furniture, the room looks very bright and kind of makes me want to go for a swim.  And especially compared to the rest of the house (every wall in our house is a color...some tan, some muted yellow, some dark red, some brown, some green, etc.)....but regardless they are all a muted earth tone....so walking into Logan's room is quite bright!   But it's great and it looks very 'boy'....

We are very excited to get the furniture in there and see it all put together.

I have some pictures...that I'll post tomorrow....

I also called about 'breathing' classes and such....so now we have to plan out our weekends and then schedule those classes.  :)

So, all in all it was a great week.

Tuesday.....is the big day.....the 3D ultrasound...can't wait!!!!!!  I hope he cooperates.  :)

Well...time for bed!!!!

Week 27

Here I am at Week 27....and feeling great. We are currently in the midst of deciding how to paint Logan's room and which crib furniture set to purchase. John and I, at this time, which we knew an interior decorator.....neither of us are very good at picking out colors for walls. Our house was all painted when we moved in.....we love it, but never would have put all those colors on the walls!

All of that aside, this is actually a landmark week...and my brother, James and sister-in-law, Melissa know the exact reason why. They were pregnant with their first daughter and Melissa actually gave birth to Alexis on exactly the day of the 27th week. I couldn't imagine giving birth right now.

Alexis Gabrielle was born January 16, 2001 and was immediately put into the NICU. She weighed 2 pounds and was 14 inches long. She was such a little fighter and ended up staying in the hospital for quite some time...James & Melissa visited her every day. When Alexis came home, she came home with lots of monitors that would beep if there was a potential problem...they beeped a lot, but she was fine. In the end, Alexis had to start wearing glasses before she was one year old....other than that, or including that, she is a perfect angel! She is such a little miracle. She is our Goddaughter and we love her soooo much! She will be 8 years old in January...it's hard to believe that so much time has gone by. :)

Oh...and right now, according to babycenter.com, Logan weighs about 2 pounds...about the head of a cauliflower). :)

Only one more week until my 3D ultrasound!!!!!!!!!!! I'm sooooooooooo excited!!!!!

26.5 Checkup

Ah...I can't believe I forgot to post about my appt.! I think I had called and told a few family members, so I guess I had felt like I typed it out. Thanks Melissa for the reminder. :)

All went well.

Logan's Heartbeat is 154 bpm. It was funny it took her a little longer to get his heartbeat because he wouldn't stay still. He would kick the doppler and then move away.... He does that at first when we listen to his heartbeat with our microphone thingy. I think at first, he thinks it's a game...or perhaps he's just annoyed. I like to think he likes playing games. :)

The 'tingly' sensation at the top of my rib cage, she said, is probably him sitting on a nerve or something. Nothing to be concerned about. I just massage it and it goes away.

I met a new doctor....the 3rd female doctor. She shook my hand (unlike the last appt. doc) and asked for questions...although after my first one, she thought I was done...silly girl! :) But she was very friendly. :)

I am measuring 27 weeks, for being 26 weeks (although my visits are towards the middle/end anyway). She says that it's just fine. :)

They gave me the orders for the glucose test. The nurse warned me how sugary the drink was and icky....and to drink lots of water beforehand and make sure I eat and all... Well I just went next door and did the test right then and there. Really, I didn't think it was all that bad. I was given a choice of flavor (I was expecting no flavor)....so I chose Fruit Punch. It was like drinking sugary Gatorade. I downed it fairly quickly and sat for an hour writing up my training plan for a girl at my office that will handle my duties while I'm on maternity leave. Then I got my blood taken and bam, that was it.

I was told no news is good news....and I haven't heard anything...so all appears to be well on that front.

My next appointment is Thursday, August 28th and I will meet the last female doctor (there are 4). After this appointment I will start going every 2 weeks!!!! Ah! Exciting!!!

Belly Button

Haha....okay so this is funny....and exciting.

Lately my belly button has been flattening out, which has been really cool to see and feel. It is weird...but like my friend Abbey said, you are more drawn to want to touch it. haha!!

But today....as I was getting ready for bed, I noticed that there is a little part of my belly button that has popped out. When I wear a tighter shirt, you can still an indentation of my belly button, but I imagine that soon the whole thing my pop... But it was both cool and weird to see a little part pop out. :)

Whew....another little landmark! :)

Bedding!!!

Late Sunday night I received an email from JCPenny that Logan's bedding had been shipped....since then I've been tracking the packages every hour.....and today at 3, just as I was getting ready to leave work, I saw that they had been delivered.

After a lovely hour and fifteen minute commute there they were....2 boxes ready to be opened. I raced in the house and pulled the boxes in. I don't know who seemed more excited at the time about the boxes...me....or Buddy...he was sniffing around like a crazy dog! :)

I pulled everything out and it was just perfect! We got the bumper pad....sheet....2 valances....hamper....diaper stacker.....dust ruffle....and the comforter. I noticed that the blue in the set was baby blue and a bit more of a blue-aqua. That was nice to see....as there are many accessories in baby blue, but I was starting to get nervous if everything on the bedding was aqua.

I immediately ran upstairs and laid it all out on the floor (no furniture yet...that'll be picked out this week). Then I ironed every item....and for those of you that know me....I purposefully don't buy clothing if it needs ironed.

I hung the valance and re-laid everything out on the floor. It looks great!!! I am very excited!!! John was glad to see that we got the bedding as well.....he normally doesn't enjoy painting, however, he's looking forward to painting Logan's room. So we just need to brainstorm how exactly to paint the room....do we do just one color or two? Add a chair rail? Just leave one color and then decor? Oh the decisions....

I have narrowed crib sets down to a few....hopefully we can get that ordered this week...and with all hope, it can be delivered within the next week or two. We are doing 'grow with me furniture'...so this will be furniture that he'll have for a long time. The changer is typically a dresser or a nightstand....then some other sets come with a dresser or chest...some with a hutch on top of the changer....or a separate bookshelf. So it is finding the right design on the crib....that turns into a toddler bed (with rails) and eventually a double bed.

Hopefully we'll find it soon. Until then, I'll enjoy looking at the bedset......on the floor of an empty room. haha!!! ;)

Week 26

Saturday marked 26 weeks.

I am sill feeling quite amazing. :) I am just loving being pregnant!!!!! However, I am daydreaming a lot about 'when Logan arrives' and how much things will change. Currently....sure I'm bigger and proud to show it.....and our conversations have all been centered around Logan and all kinds of baby things....but thinking about all the changes that will take place....is exciting. :) And it seems to be coming closer and closer...quicker and quicker. :)

I could (& I'm sure John could too) do without the emotional side some days. It just seems that some days I can by teary about something sooo dumb. John has been great though. He's typically not a very sympathetic guy....but he's been very understanding lately and I really appreciate it.

I also have become a bit more obsessed about a 'clean house'...my biggest problem is Buddy, our Golden Retriever. Sure, he's pretty much the cutest dog ever and I love him to death...but the shedding is something I would love to see stop. I did buy the Furminator and that does do an amzing job at getting all the extra hair out before it hits the carpet for furniture....but it seems that no matter how much I get, there is still more. And it is shedding season due to the warm temps, but still...it is frustrating. Ah well.... :)

My doctor appt. is tomorrow morning. I have been getting a weird tingling sensation right above/around my ribs....like they are 'falling asleep' or something....it's weird...so I'm going to see if they say anything interesting about that. Otherwise, I will get orders for a glucose test....and I'll get to hear the heartbeat again. :)

Till tomorrow...

Heartbeat

So about 2 months ago, John and I bought a 'microphone' set from Babies R Us. It came with 2 classical CD's and two little speakers, a belly belt (so I don't have to hold the speakers on my tummy) and it came with 2 sets of headphone with a 'heartbeat microphone finder' (so John and I can listen at the same time). I use the CDs and speakers a few times a week....and at least twice a week we try hard to find the heartbeat, but have been unsuccessful. We also threw away the instruction booklet and clearly on the heartbeat finder it says 'You must read the instructions first'. It is not that it is difficult to plug in headphones and turn up the volume, but as far as placement on my belly....it can be tricky (apparently).

So we were in Babies R Us yesterday....John broke into the box and read the instructions. So we tried it last night and voila!!!! We were able to listen to the heartbeat for about a half hour....as we were falling asleep in bed. I had to eat 3 hours beforehand, lay flat, be relaxed and be in a completely quiet environment. It was really cool and we can't believe that we hadn't heard it before. It's funny because you can tell when he's moving (besides me feeling it or seeing it on my belly) because the heartbeat will get much louder as he's moving and then it goes back to faint, but nonetheless it's always there. We were smiling and laughing last night while listening to it. Ah, the cool stuff that they have out there now to be so much more involved (especially for 1st time mothers...and especially those of us that have waited for soooo long and are a bit obsessed about it all!!!).

I love it!!!!!

100.....99.....

Today, on our "Baby Due Date" Countdown we hit 99 days until Logan's due date!!!!!!  Woo hoo!!!  I believe when we got it (from my Mom), we had somewhere around 245 days to go.....oh man, how time has flown!!!

(Yes, the Lilypie ticker on the upper right corner of my blog says 100 days today.....)

Regardless we are now in the double digits.  How exciting!!!

Week 25

Saturday we celebrated 25 weeks of a healthy pregnancy....by re-organizing our 'office' so we can move items I still had in Logan's room into the office closet. It went really well....I was very proud of John as he threw a lot of things away or we gave them to Goodwill. We ran to Target and bought some Rubbermaid bins and put all the 'stuff' he still wanted into some nice bins (we took these items out of boxes from when we moved almost 2 years ago....yeah....). The funny thing about our 'office' is that we are almost never in there. We both have laptops for work....and our personal laptop....so there isn't much of a reason to go in there. We are trying to think of what to do with the room....hm...

So now Logan's room is a clean slate! It feels good to have all that organizing done. I also finally ordered the bedding!!!! We really like it a lot (I hope I will in person as well). It is from JCPenny....called Mad About Plaid. It is chocolate brown and aqua-blue.....the comforter contains patchwork squares...plaid, stripes and polka-dots....sounds busy, but it is really cute. It should arrive within 2 weeks....then we will color-match it and make some decisions on how to paint the room. Yay!

We still need to make some last touches on our registry (at Babies R Us)....but then I think we are good to go (from that aspect!).

Everything really is moving along at a great pace, but we still have to pick out furniture, discuss daycare/work options for after Logan arrives, pick a pediatrician....and a bunch of other really important items. Time for me to make a list!!! :)

As far as this last week was concerned, Logan had his days of moving randomly and moving a lot! Of course, I love the days when he moves all the time....watching my belly move is just sooo cool! We keep trying to hear his heartbeat on this little 'speaker' device we got from Babies R Us....but we can't hear it. I will bring it to my next doctor's appt. next week and they will help me find it with this device.

Most nights I have no problem sleeping...sure I get up a bit more often to go to the bathroom and I toss and turn...but last night was horrible! This has happened to me on a smaller scale every so often and I cannot pin down the problem. I woke up choking (on extra saliva...sounds gross...and it is, but I've heard this happens to some pregnant women). Well it is kind of scary to not be able to breathe all of a sudden....but it is slightly funny in the fact that I try to sit up right away...and well, think about it...sitting up with these massive stomach muscles I have, is not that easy! Anyway, after about 5-6 choking/coughing fits in 1.5 hours time (I thought I'd have no voice today)....I drank some water and took a tums and slept sitting up....it worked....I was slowly able to go back to sleeping on my left side by 2:30. I would say the problem is that I drink a lot of milk at night and with my pills before I go to bed...but I do this every night...so I can't blame the milk. And this doesn't happen that often, but when it does, it's annoying!

Anywho...besides the bad night occassionally, everything is just great and things are moving along just loverly! :)

Week 24

Whew....6 months down! Crazy to think of.....only a few more to go!

More kicking from my cute little boy. We only have another month until our 3D ultrasound...I'm excited! I can't wait to see what he looks like.


I have been cleaning the house a bit more like crazy.....which is a good thing. :) But I have recently learned that I can do the laundry, however John needs to lift the baskets of clothes and carry them up and down the stairs....as my lower back starts hurting a bit more quickly.


I have also had an emotional moment or two thinking about my work situation. I do plan on working after my maternity leave/FMLA leave is over (I plan on taking 12 weeks). However, I am thinking more so about the drive. I drive at least an hour to an hour and a half one way to work....I would rather spend that time with Logan playing, not in the car.....granted time is time, but still. Also John and I don't exactly work next to each other and neither of us work close to home....so trying to figure out where to do daycare is a whole other process.


So we still do have time to think about it....but it's not such a fun topic to think about...we'll see.


There was a baptism today at church on Sunday and he was sooo cute. I got to thinking a little bit about actually having Logan at home and it just makes me smile. October/November will be here before we know it! Yay!

Week 23

Wow, another week has passed....quickly.


Let's see...Logan was very active this week...he even started to kick a little bit in the mornings as I am waking up (he used to wait until after I ate breakfast and started my commute). Sometimes as I toss and turn at night or get up to go to the bathroom...he'll give a couple of kicks...either to say, hey Mom I'm up with you....or hey Mom stop moving! :) I like to think he's being supportive.

Also, another very cool thing happened. When he kicks strongly (on the half of my stomach that I can actually see) I can see my belly move...it's really cool.

John's parents came up for the 4th of July....Dorene was able to feel Logan kick while we played a rousing game of Bingo at our town's festival (John ended up winning $50 later that weekend). :) So far Logan has showed off for everybody...I hope he keeps it up. :)

Logan enjoyed most of the food at our festival...although why is it that so much of the food is fried? Ick.

The rest of the week I have been filling out pre-registration forms, checking with the insurance company on our coverage to make sure there aren't any surprises when the big day comes and adding some stuff slowly, but surely to our registry.

22.5 Week Checkup

So I had my check up for this month. Logan's heart rate was 145 beats per minute....still nice and strong.

I met a new doctor (since there are 7 in this practice and any one of them could be on call to deliver Logan). This was the first male doctor I've met. He was allright. I had a small list of questions and he didn't elaborate much on the answers...just seemed kind of rushed. The other doctors took a moment to sit down and make me feel like they had all the time in the world for me.

This was the first time I was measured (which I am kind of surprised that it wasn't done before)...I am measuring a little big, but all in all just dandy.

So he didn't seem to have any other advice for my legs hurting other than (as I told him I was doing) was drinking lots of calcium and adding more potassium to my diet.

My next appt. is on the 30th. He said he will give me the paperwork at that time for the glucose test....fun, fun!

Our 7th Anniversary

So on Monday, June 30th, John and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary.  Wow, it's been that long?  :)

We had hoped to travel somewhere exciting, but it just wasn't in the cards.  We didn't plan enough ahead of time and didn't have anybody to watch Buddy.  That's okay, we figured we should spend our anniversary at home enjoying all we have accomplished during our years together...and spend time with Buddy who did truly bring a new whole level of joy to our lives.

On Sunday, we went to the banquet hall where we got married (which actually live right around the corner from it) and had brunch.  It was so lovely.  We had a view of the area outside where we actually got married.  Afterwards we walked outside under the trellis where we said "I Do".  Aw, very sweet.

Then we went home, changed and left to register for cute little Logan...so exciting!

On Monday (our actual anniversary) we went downtown Chicago for the Taste of Chicago.  We had such a nice time....we took the train down....ate a bunch of delicious food...did some walking around...just lovely.

Here is a picture of us....please keep in mind, this was around 11pm after we'd been walking around all night!

We look forward to many many more happy years together!!!