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!!!

Registering

So John and I set out on Sunday to start registering at Babies R Us. It was kind of a last minute decision and I hadn't fully prepped my mind for all the things to register for, but we did allright.

I was really surprised with John. I thought I may frustrate him by taking too long to look at one item...but really for the most part we were in sync. He would read and compare the different brands and such.  He probably could've done it all that day, however my feet were super tired from standing and I was just tired...so we headed home...bummed that we left with nothing though we shopped for a couple hours!

There are a few things we still don't know much about....but the great thing about the registry is we can make changes online if we find we like another brand better or hear things from friends and family.

Week 22

Hooray another week down! I love counting by weeks...I feel it makes things go by much quicker!

I've attached another belly shot (this was taken late at night, so I don't look super, but who is really looking at my face much!)

This week I've noticed that Logan has had some active days and 'sleep' days. I get bummed on the 'sleep' days as I love feeling him move....but I read that this can be normal, especially if I' a little more active in a given day...

I have also noticed that my belly button is starting to flatten out on the bottom-half a bit....it feels funny!  Soon I guess it will be flat, then perhaps an outtie!

Sunday Logan did something new....he kicked the other direction; it felt as if he were kicking my insides and bladder. It felt weird, but I love any movement from him!

My parents came and took our guest bed to 'hold' it for us until we move (someday...there's nothing in the works). So now Logan's room is pretty much an empty palate. We have to pack away the wall hangings (unfortunately that is one of the only rooms that actually had wall hangings...I've got to get on the ball with the rest of the house). And once we decide on the bedding, we'll repaint his room (it needs refreshing anyway, so we might as well have it match a bit).

Bedding is hard....if anybody knows of a good site (besides Babies R Us), that isn't crazy ridiculous expensive....let me know. I don't really want a theme (animals, sports, autos)...but just a nice 'boy' bedset for the crib.

While my parents were here, Logan actually showed off and was kicking me a bit...and my Mom felt him almost right away! Go Logan! Hopefully he behaves that way when we see more relatives and friends! :)

Well this week Logan is the length of a spaghetti squash (never heard of that one either...I've only heard of the regular Summer squash). :) He is 11 inches long and almost a pound! I have my doctor appt. on Wednesday so I'll post when I'm done there. Oh, and I scheduled our 3D ultrasound for August 12th...so we'll have new pictures then. :)

(Oh and for those of you who knew Julie...from working at DeVry or whatever...she's engaged!!!!!! Congrats Julie!)

John felt Logan Kick!!!

So mark the day....Saturday, June 21st.....exactly 21 weeks along....John felt Logan kick for the first time!

The past week or so, Logan had been kicking noticeably harder, but it seemed that everytime John or I would put our hand on my stomach, Logan would get stage fright (or he's just trying to tease us). :) Finally on Saturday night....after I had eaten dinner and we were just watching a movie, Logan started kicking...hard. So I put my hand on my stomach and I felt it! So I called John over and he felt 3 kicks in a row! Then Logan thought we'd had enough fun for one night and he 'went to bed'. :) We did thank him for sharing the fun with Daddy. :)

John thought it was very cool....but was trying to imagine his son kicking in my belly....he would ask me...are you sure you didn't do anything to make your stomach move? I don't know how many people can make their stomach give a little bump in one place on command. :) It is just so cool it is hard to believe! :)

Week 21

Hooray...21 weeks down...19 to go!

Besides my mid-week 'excitement' with my calves I don't think much else happened this past week.

Logan is kicking harder and it seems that he kicks more-so when I sit up than when I lie down. And I can tell that he's moving around as before the kicks were mainly on the left side of my stomach...now they are either in the middle or on the right side.

Next weekend is our 7th wedding anniversary...so we are trying to plan a last-minute trip somewhere (we keep checking flights to see which side of the world we will get to visit). :)

First Hospital Tour

Since we've had our beautiful golden retriever, Buddy (we got him last June) we've taken walks almost every day.  Typically we walk about a mile and a half....sometimes three miles (depending on which route and who I go with).  Since I've been pregnant and the weather has been nice Buddy and I have kept up with that tradition.

During these walks in the last couple of months, I've noticed that after a few blocks, my calves start to hurt a lot.  It feels as though I've been doing the stair-stepper for a half hour and I've just walked a block.  But at each street we've taught Buddy to stop and sit, so it provided a lovely rest for my legs and I kept on truckin.  Anywho, since it's been going on for a while, I decided to check it out on the Internet.  On a couple of 'baby' sites, I found that if you experience any symptoms (including leg cramps) I should stop walking immediately and call the doctor.  Whoops....it's been a couple months like this.

I called the doctor and the nurse called me back shortly after and said that I needed to have an ultrasound done on my legs (weird) to rule out blood clots.  Ack!  I hadn't considered that at all...I perhaps expected that they would ask me to do a bloodtest to see if my iron, calcium or potassium was low....but not an u/s of my legs!!!  Since the doctor's office was closing shortly, I was told I had to go to the hospital.

I picked up John on my way to the hospital from work.  I had an ultrasound of each leg from upper thigh to ankle.  At one point she turned the volume on....I thought, what on earth for???  Then all of a sudden she squeezed my calf and a loud 'woo' came from the speaker...who knew legs could talk??  So each leg lasted about 12 minutes and she said I was clot-free. Whew!  We had to wait around for the doctor to call and tell us that there were no clots and that I should take tylenol for the pain, keep hydrated and we'd discuss it further at my next appointment.  I can deal with the pain, so I don't plan on taking tylenol...but perhaps I won't walk so often until my appt.  I will also grab some bananas at the store tomorrow to help the potassium.  I already drink plenty of milk and I take an iron supplement along with my prenatal vitamin.

So while that was a two hour visit that we weren't planning on taking, we got a chance to see the hospital....and boy was it nice!  Everything looks so new and the place is decorated beautifully.  They were recently named a top 100 hospital, so that's a great bonus as well!  We can't wait to take the official tour of the Women's and Children's Wing.  :)

So in the end, Logan and I are just fine....we just had our first precautionary measure.  :)

I'll be sure to post an update after my next appointment on July 2nd.

Good night!