Painting Project Complete!

We put our own "personal touch" on the house this past weekend and we really like how it turned out. The hallway and entryway were done in champagne gold which is a nice bright shade with a light yellow undertone. The walls leading down to the stairway will also be done in this same color and will be painted by a professional this Friday. We didn't want to mess with either scaffolding or a tall ladder, so we decided to pay someone else to risk falling! lol...

In the living room we used a color called pumpkin butter. It's a very warm color and not near as scary as the pics indicate! Our kitchen and dining room was done in a dark terra cotta color when we moved in and the pumpkin butter compliments it very well.

I've attached some pics, but please keep in mind that the pics don't do it justice. One of them looks much more orange than it is; another makes it look yellower than it is! And the hallway color just plain doesn't show much.

Taking a Babymoon!

Babymoon: a trip taken by parents who are expecting a baby; designed as a sort of “last hurrah” before the birth of the child.

The trip we have planned isn't at a resort or a luxury spa like some babymoon destinations, but we will be spending time doing something we enjoy as a couple. And that's what's important. We don't need to be spending thousands of dollars right now!

We honeymooned in Kansas City....and that's where we will be babymooning as well. We are going to leave town Thursday morning, April 30, and catch a KC Royals baseball game that afternoon at 1:10 p.m. Our seats are only 6 rows up from the field on the 3rd base side and we should have a pretty good view of a player who grew up in the city we live in and played college ball here in town. Plus, I've never been to a Royals game so I'm looking forward to it.

Afterwards we'll head to the hotel and change clothes and go somewhere nice for dinner. Where, I don't know, but we have time to figure that out. It looks like there are some nice restaurants near the hotel so we may ask the staff what they recommend. Oh, and there's a Hooters nearby! lol....I told my husband I'm afraid if we went in, they'd think I was looking for a job the way my chest is looking these days! hahahahaha! =)

When we get back to the hotel we'll likely hang out at the pool or hot tub. I have a swim suit from my "fat" days that I'm thinking will fit me again. It's one of those 2 piece suits where the bottom looks like a skirt and the top is a tank. The waistband of the bottom is completely elastic so I'm sure it will stretch enough. Hopefully the tank is big enough to cover my growing belly! lol... Or, I can hope there's no one else in the pool area! ; )

Regarding the hot tub....at my first appointment, the pregnancy education nurse said hot tubs are a no-no during pregnancy because my core body temperature isn't to exceed 102 degrees for more than 10 minutes. I did some googling this morning and studies have shown an increased risk of birth defects in babies of women who had an increased body temperature during the first trimester of pregnancy...but since I'm now in my third trimester, I don't know if the danger is still there. I'm thinking I can probably sit on the steps with my butt and legs in the water, or possibly sit completely in it but only for 5 minutes at a time and pay attention to how hot I'm getting. I go to the doctor a few days before the trip, so I'll ask her what she thinks.

We'll check out of the hotel the following morning on Friday and will have lunch and likely hit a nearby shopping mall before heading back home. It'll be a quick trip, but it'll be nice to go somewhere for fun one last time, just the two of us, without having to arrange a baby-sitter.

Side notes:

• We are painting this weekend! The foyer and hallway will be done in 'champagne gold' and the living room in 'pumpkin butter.' It should look nice with the paint in our dining room/kitchen which is sort of a dark terracotta color.
• Our first childbirth education class is this coming Monday (the 20th).
• March of Dimes walk is the 26th. If you'd like to support me, you can do so by clicking on the logo at the top of my page on the right.

Surprise!

I get together with a group of 6 friends one night each month for dinner and we call it GNO (Girl's Night Out). Last night we met at Famous Dave's and to my surprise, they threw me a baby shower! =) I was very shocked...and thrilled!

Here's a list of what we received:

• the bouncer we registered for. =)
• a yellow and pink blanket that will be perfect to bring her home in since it's nice and lightweight (it'll be hot, remember!)
• a bedtime book
• a cover to use on wooden high chairs at restaurants, a bib ("I Love Mommy") and a toy to keep her entertained on her first "baby's night out" with the hubs. ; )
• hooded towel and washcloth set with a bunny on the part that covers the head.
• a pink coat made of soft faux-suede material and lined with sheepskin with a hood and a pouch/pocket in the front to keep her hands warm (not that she'll understand that and actually put them in there, but it's super cute anyway).
• a fuschia lightweight ribbed turtleneck sweater and matching corduroy overalls with a zebra print on the pockets.
• a giant rubber ducky. Seriously. And when I say giant, I mean the size of a basketball. The girl who gave it to me wasn't able to make it, which is probably good, because I'm sure I had that "WTF?" look on my face after I opened it. I looked in the wrapping to see if there was something else with it like a towel, baby wash...something to explain it but there was nothing. Just a huge duck! The other girls were like, "I wouldn't put that in the bathtub with her, it'll scare her!" lol.... This friend (also my cousin) has been trying to get pregnant since 2004 with no luck and they are now looking into adoption. I'm thinking now that the reason she wasn't able to make it last night was because it would've been too hard for her since she's very upset about not being able to have kids of their own. So perhaps shopping is too tough and she just grabbed the first thing she saw or something. I really don't know. But the duck is going to straight to the basement, out of sight. It even scared our dog! My husband's comment was, "Where's the 8-person hot tub that goes with it?" since you always see rubber duckies in hot tubs when they're for sale. lol.... If you know someone who is into rubber duckies, by all means let me know and I'll mail it to them. ; ) Or Shanna....perhaps you want it for your new hot tub?! lol...

On another note, the DIY shelf is almost done....now we just need to paint it. I originally wanted it pink and bought pink paint....but now I'm thinking I want to paint it a dark brown to match the furniture in the room. We need to go to Home Depot soon anyway so I'll look for some there. We decided we want to repaint the living room, hallway and foyer of our house and we have the paint picked out, we just need to go buy it. Our plan is to paint next weekend. I'll post pics eventually, and of the nursery once the shelf is up.

We're heading to my in-laws house in Iowa tomorrow for Easter. This will be our last road trip before she's born. I still can't believe July is just around the corner!

I hope you all have a safe, happy and blessed Easter! =)

Anyone Still Checking In??

I've been bad about blogging lately! Lots has been going on...

• Crib is assembled, dresser purchased, nursery is complete! Well, except for one shelf...a DIY project that hasn't come to fruition quite yet. I'll take pics one of these days.
• Stroller is assembled. It almost took as long to assemble as the crib! And I think my husband would agree that it was much more difficult, too!
• We purchased a new vehicle for me....said stroller was too big to fit in the trunk of my Pontiac G6 (small opening) so I am now driving a 2009 Subaru Forrester! =) Much more cargo room!
• Baby is moving lots, especially in the wee hours of the morning when I'm trying to sleep!
• Baby showers are scheduled...May 16 with friends and a few family members, and June 5 with coworkers.
• We start "prepared childbirth education" classes in a few weeks, April 20.
• I'm signed up to walk in the March of Dimes walk April 26. I'll be 30 weeks along by then...I made my friend promise to walk slow! hahaha

I'm packin' on the pounds....and choosing not to share with you exactly how many! lol...

I took a few pics this morning to share with you. This is me, 26 weeks & 2 days pregnant.

Family Birthplace Tour

In September, 2008, the hospital where our daughter will be born opened their new Family Birthplace. We'd heard very good things about it and how nice it was but we had no idea how great it truly was. Kid you not...we've stayed in hotels that weren't as nice as the two private suites we will be in. The whole addition is beautifully decorated and just has a warmth about it. There are lots of pictures of babies and families on the walls and inspiring quotes.

Upon arrival to the hospital we will be checked into a labor & delivery room. In the room is a couch that pulls out into a bed, a flat screen tv, and a dvd player. There is also Wi-Fi throughout the hospital, so we can bring out laptop to pass the time if we wish. My favorite thing was in the bathroom...a HEATED toilet seat! lol... I wish I had that here at home! =)

I will remain in the labor & delivery room until after she's born. I assumed I would be taken elsewhere for the actual delivery, but that's not the case. She will be born in that room and will remain with me the entire time, unless she needs to go have tests done or go to the NICU. Below is a pic of one of the labor & delivery rooms.

A few hours after delivery I will be transferred to a post-partum room. It also has the pull-out couch, flatscreen tv, and dvd player....plus it has a very nice rocker recliner and a mini-fridge. The hubs says he will bring a home brew to enjoy. =) Besides being able to order food (I looked through the menu and mmmmm....), we will have 24-hour access to a hospitality suite which had several snack and beverage items, all of which are free. Here is a pic of one of the post-partum rooms.

The rooms are nice and spacious and plenty of roomy for visitors, but there are also a couple of areas for them to hang out (if we get tired of them, as the nurse put it). One of them is a living room setting with a fireplace, couches and chairs. The other is more like a general waiting room area but has a nice flat screen and a computer for them to use if they want.

After the tour was complete we went up and visited my coworker's daughter who gave birth two days earlier. It was nice to see a room "in action" or whatever and not just an empty one. We each held her baby and surprisingly enough...she didn't cry at all! lol.... It was kind of surreal actually....I mean in just 4 months I'll be in that bed and we'll be holding our own daughter. All I can say is Wow.

First Outfit, Hat and Other Ramblings!

One of my coworkers bought our little girl her first outfit! I couldn't resist taking a picture and posting it, so here it is! (The shirt says "Bee Happy" on it.) It's newborn size so hopefully she'll be able to wear it right away. Oh, and that's the baby blanket that matches her bedding underneath it.

When we found out we were having a girl, my husband made one request ... that she have a Cubs hat to wear home from the hospital. We got on Ebay last weekend and found a newborn size baseball cap that will be perfect. Here it is!

My parents are coming to town on Sunday to help move furniture around to "make room for baby." =) The queen bed that's in the nursery now will go to the other spare guest room along with the night stand (a round table w/a cloth on it) and the chest of drawers is heading to the basement. The king bed that's in the other guest room is moving to the basement along with the dresser and nightstand. And, finally....a dresser that's in the basement now will be brought upstairs to go into the guest room since it will match the queen headboard better than the one we did have in there. If you haven't figured it out, we have lots of spare furniture! lol...

They are also bringing us a glider and a jogging stroller that my brother & sister-in-law are giving us that they no longer use. The cushions on the glider are cranberry, but I have an ivory chenille blanket I'll throw over it and it'll be fine. My parents are also buying us the crib mattress as an early shower gift, so we'll get that this weekend, too. They've offered to help put the crib together, but we'll see if we have time since they're only here for the afternoon.

Last weekend I cleaned out the closet in the nursery so that's taken care of. A lot of stuff got taken to the basement or pitched. I found things that had been boxed up from 4 moves ago and had no business even making it in the house when we moved in two years ago! lol....

The bedding came with a valance for the window but I'd prefer full-length curtains instead. There is a large east-facing window in her bedroom and even with wood blinds, it's still very light in there and the valance wouldn't block out any light whatsoever. I found some curtains online (Wal-Mart) which are supposed to block out sunlight, quiet outside noise (in our low-key neighborhood that's the garbage truck), and also heat/cold. They received really good reviews so I ordered a pair of light pink panels. I wanted ivory but they didn't come in that color; only sand and beige which I didn't think would look very good since the bedding doesn't have those colors in it. They're supposed to arrive sometime during the week of March 2.

I rescheduled my lamaze classes to begin April 20. My doctor prefers I start when I'm 28 weeks along, so I had to move it back. I'll be just starting my 29th week the night of the first class.

Things are going well with me. Still having some stretching pains at night but I don't think they've been as bad this week. I've also slept a little bit better, too. The scale is going up and up and by leaps and bounds which I'm not liking, but I can't exactly try to not gain weight! I'm hoping it does slow down though because as of yesterday I've gained almost 18 pounds. I had another 4 pound gain this last week and 3 the week before. I'm halfway through my pregnancy though so maybe that's not so bad? My doctor didn't seem concerned last week and she said she'd tell me if I was gaining too much too rapidly. My next appointment is March 12.

She's moving around and "dancing" a lot. I put my husband's hand on my tummy last night in bed and he was able to feel one of the kicks a little. I told him in a couple of weeks he'd be able to feel it better. I also *think* I saw my tummy move the other night in the bathtub when she kicked a couple of times! I kept staring to see if it moved again, but it didn't even though she was still moving around.

I guess that's it for now. Hope all is well with each of you. =)

It's A.......

You can thank Mother Nature for this early post! Our trip back home this weekend was canceled because pretty much the whole state of Nebraska is expecting to get 4-8" of snow! It's supposed to start tomorrow (Friday) morning and we planned to leave in the afternoon. My mom called last night and said she didn't want us driving back and risk having an accident.

So since I already called and told her the news, it's safe for me to go ahead and tell you! =) We're having a -- wait, are you SURE you want to know and not be surprised later?? hahahaha.... Before I tell, someone asked if we'd be sharing the name and the answer is probably not. Although we might change our minds later on. Okay, are you ready?? It's a .... oh, one other thing! I bought the bedding set on my way home from the appointment! Yay! I can't wait till the nursery is all decorated and complete! Hopefully our little girl will love it! Eeeeekkkk! =) Did you catch that? It's a GIRL!!!!

The ultrasound went great...she was uber active! The tech was having trouble getting good pics because she was moving around so much. She said, "You've got a wild one in there!" lol.... We were able to see all four chambers of the heart and it beating. My husband finally got to hear it in person, too. It was thumping at 157 beats/minute. She showed us the kidneys, stomach, spine, brain, etc. Everything looks perfect and no signs of any problems. We are ecstatic!

We celebrated by stopping by Granite City. The hubs had a big mug of beer and I enjoyed a virgin blood mary followed by a glass of milk. =)

I took pictures of the ultrasound pictures since I don't have a scanner here at home. I didn't want to make you wait till Tuesday when I'm back at the office. She gave us two pictures that were taken in 4D but the "picture of a picture" thing didn't work very well, so I'm not posting them here. You could see a cute button nose though, so perhaps she'll get my nose and not her daddy's. ; )

Here's our daughter's first picture (it isn't perfectly clear since she didn't stay still for ANY of the pics...but it's the best we have!). Beautiful, eh? =)