Lil' Crony

No this isn't an announcement that Baby is here and we named him Crony. It is just a time to say I finally finished the baby blanket I was working on for Baby. ( I didn't bother ironing it, so ignore those wrinkles!) 

Here's a close up of the blanket. 

The Lil' Crony comes from my long time friendship with these girls. We've been together since high school when we dubbed ourselves The Cronies (lifelong friends) . These are the girls that I laughed, cried, hugged, boy-bashed, ate countless meals at Perkins, and all sorts of other stupid things with. Things have changed a little bit since high school. All four of us are married and there are 6 kids and 2 on the way between all of us. Rachel and Karla (bottom and on the right) both had babies this summer and so I had made these blankets for them. Then shortly after, I found out I was pregnant and then Rondi announced she was going to have another little one too, so of course there were two more blankets to be made. We will all have a little baby within 8 months of each other! How much fun is that!! Love these girls and so excited to join in on the motherhood adventures with them!

  For your viewing pleasure here is Lil' Crony Baby T wrapped up in his blanket on his way home from the hospital

And Lil' Crony Baby D ready for his first adventure outside!

I can't wait to wrap up my own baby up in the blanket and see Rondi's babe too (shes due two weeks after me, so really could be any day!)

Thank you girls for so many wonderful memories (and even the not so great ones) I treasure your friendship, support, advise, and all of the many ways you've blessed my life!

Pregnancy Thoughts - Week 39

39 Weeks down - days to go!

I really don't have too much to say about this week. I am so glad that I didn't go into labor around Christmas time. Instead we had a wonderfully quiet and relaxing Christmas. Bryce had 5 days off and so we got to spend a lot of time at home just enjoying our time together. And the waiting continues!

And while we wait, we take pictures!

For the official 39 week picture:

These are getting harder and harder to post as my face keeps getting bigger and bigger!

Pregnancy Thoughts - Week 38

38 Weeks Oh so close to the end!!!

I have officially gotten to the point where I am ready to be done. It isn't so much because of the discomforts, because that is all manageable, I am just so crazy excited to meet this little karate kicker! We have done almost all of the things that need to get done before baby gets here, even got to enjoy a date night and lazy mornings of breakfast in bed, and now let the madness begin! I am ready. Bryce is ready. Bentley is ready (ok I don't really know this but thats ok) Just waiting on Baby to decide that he/she is ready!!

Pregnancy Thoughts of the week:

1. This whole pregnancy I have been tempted by Oreos every time I am getting groceries. That is the one thing that I haven't let myself indulge in because lets face it, once you start eating them there is just no going back! So I told myself that when I reach 37 weeks I could buy them and not feel guilty about eating them. For some reason I didn't get them last week, but this week they were on the top of my list! And they were worth the wait!!  I had always allowed myself one craving purchase each week until now, and this week, well there were a lot. That is how I am coping with wanting baby out, eating whatever it is that Baby wants. So far Baby has decided that he needs a chocolate milkshake, oreos, and caramel rolls. And if there are any moms that are concerned out there, I have been eating healthy otherwise with lots of fruits and vegetables, and keeping my weight gain in check! :)
2. I have gotten to the point where turning over in bed consists of strategic planning, pep talks, soul searching of whether or not I really do need to lay a different way, and feeling like I deserve a medal once it is accomplished. But in reality I don't need a medal, all I ask for is to be able to fall back asleep within 30 minutes until the next round starts.
3. It doesn't look like I will be having a Christmas Baby (I hesitate to write that because I know that Babe is laughing at me and is going to come just to make a liar out of me) But I am holding out hope that he waits until at least the 27th.
4. I am so over the endless rounds of pregnancy chit chat when I go out in public. I totally get why a lot of people go into hermit mode around this time. It gets old!
5. It is funny to see people's reactions when they see me. It used to be looks of "Oh how cute, she's going to have a baby" and now it is "Oh my she's going to have a baby really soon" followed by a look of concern and sympathy.
6. I was very proud of myself for wearing heels to church this week. I haven't worn them for awhile and I forgot how much I love them. Definitely felt a sense of accomplishment for still fitting into them and not tripping over myself at 38 weeks! It was good to feel good about how I look, I miss that!
7. I find myself getting pretty jealous of the moms I see around town with their little ones. So I am trying to make sure I take time every day to really enjoy where life is at now and the feeling of baby inside of me. I know these are the last few days of just me and Bryce and I want to soak it all up!

I realize that this isn't the best picture of me or the bump, but it makes me laugh so I thought I would use this one. Bentley is sure to be right next to me at all times, and this is a normal pose for him. Sitting by me with his nose against my belly. He also likes to come and try to share the yoga ball with me when I'm trying to get rid of back pain. Those are good times. Balancing on a ball with a throbbing back and trying not to get tipped over by a 75 pound dog. No one has gotten hurt yet and it usually provides bundles of entertainment!

Pregnancy Thoughts - Week 37

37 Weeks - Full Term!!!!

19 Days left, that's right we are down to the teens!!

It is kind of funny what hitting the 37 week month mark does to my mind. 36 weeks was awesome to be down to a month, but when you don't have the option of saying the time left in months and it is weeks it really makes it seem soon. Knowing that baby would most likely be healthy if born now is another wonderful thing, except it makes me just want to be done that much more!!! My mind has been over analyzing every small change and I can't go for very long without wondering when everything is going to get going... this could be a long last three weeks!

Pregnancy Thoughts:

1. I've decided that there are several great reasons to be pregnant around Christmas time. 1) When insomnia hits I sneak upstairs and plug in the tree and baby and I rock in the recliner while waiting for sleep to find us again - so peaceful! 2)No one will dare judge you on how many Christmas cookies you eat! :)
2. Since baby has dropped I am hungry all. the. time!!! It is insane, I have become that person who wakes up at 2 am and needs breakfast #1 
3. Is it Baby time yet?
4. Found out at my last appointment things are still going great. Doctor is very pleased with how everything is going so far, so lets pray that it stays this smooth until we meet this little one (and beyond!)
5. It has been funny to me what things have become very important to me to get done before baby gets here, for example - I just had to paint my toenails the other day because of course they couldn't look like the hot mess they were while at the hospital! I need to get the baby quilt I'm working on finished (that still remains to be finished, but progress is being made) and laundry needs to be caught up on all the time. I still haven't actually put baby's clothes away, installed car seat bases, figured out what to do with Bentley while we are at the hospital... you know just little things like that.
6. Baby here yet?
7. I know there were quite a few things that stuck out to me earlier this week that I tried so hard to remember to include, but of course they have gone far far away from my memory! So there might be a follow up post if those things come back to me.

Here's my full term baby belly!

Pregnancy Thoughts - Week 36

36 Weeks Down  4 To Go - or if you prefer 26 days! (That is under a month!!!)

This has been kind of a fun week with hitting different milestones. Ok its actually the same milestone but I like to phrase it lots of ways to make it sound even better. We hit the one month from my due date mark. I am due next month so I don't really have to specify which month I'm due in, I just say the 3rd. There is only one flip of the calendar until D-Day. I can say I am 9 months pregnant (and I'm praying that I never have to say a number higher than that!)

Pregnancy Thoughts from the week:

1. I had a great Dr. appointment yesterday. My regular OB was out of town so I met with a Nurser Practitioner instead and she was just wonderful! My normal doctor is very just roll with it, and doesn't really get worried about things, which I have really appreciated up until now. But this NP was very mother hen-ish which I really like now with the end drawing near. I had mentioned that Baby has been less active lately and so she hooked me right up to the monitors to make sure everything is ok and Baby behaved beautifully. Everything looked good, and she says that it is probably just because Babe is running out of room and has dropped lower to make his grand entrance. (Although since being home Baby has been throwing a party and has been moving all over the place, such a little stinker!) But it was kind of fun to lay there listening and watching Baby's heartbeat and just take time to focus on baby and not get caught up in getting ready or other distractions.
2. The aches and pains have definitely spiked in the last week, which just comes with this time of pregnancy so I really shouldn't complain but it makes me even more excited to have this child to get rid of some of the discomforts (although I know it will get replaced with another set of discomforts!)
3. I started to get my hospital bag ready. Please don't laugh at this, I am fully aware that I could have more than 4 weeks until I need any of it, but it just makes me feel better to know that I have at least a few things thrown in a bag for the unlikely scenario that something happens soon. I have also started to do as many ahead of time projects at work as I can so I don't get too far behind when I return. So my list  of to-do's is shrinking almost as fast as I put more things on it!

And here is my 9th month belly:

Pregnancy Thoughts - Week 35

We've reached 35 weeks! And as of Tuesday we were down to 35 days!!

It seems like things are happening quite quickly with all the lasts and time to finish this up projects, but unfortunately I just can't remember them from week to week as my mind is just shot. Bryce laughed at me the first time I used pregnancy brain as an excuse for something, but I think he is finally learning that it really does affect you!

So the list of things that I can remember happening from this week:

1. Started my run of weekly appointments. Which I am actually glad for. Since learning about my family history of pre-eclampsia I've been very nervous about that and it is so nice to have those tests done frequently to make sure that things are still going smoothly! Also at my last appointment my dr. gave me a few suggestions on what meds are safe for me to take to help combat my lingering head cold symptoms and I all but ran to Walmart to get relief. Now I can sleep again and not feel like I'm trying to cough up a lung! Oh happy day!!
2. I finally had to stop wearing my wedding ring due to my fingers catching up to the rest of me in the weight department. That was a really sad day. So now I have a plain band that Bryce bought me when I got my rings sized during our engagement. So it is still a ring from my husband, just not the one I want to be wearing!
3. Started losing my ankles. After our car trip home from Thanksgiving in MN they were gone, even with walking and stretching every so often. They apparently decided that wherever they went to was better than being with me.
4. I am getting more and more impatient to meet this little one. I have to remind myself so very often that everyday that Baby stays inside of me he is getting stronger and more ready for the world. But it is tough to wait!

While home for Thanksgiving, my family gave Baby his first Christmas gift. It was all my favorite books from my childhood. It has been so fun to look through them and see how familiar they still are! I cannot wait to be able to rock baby while reading these treasures!

And because my other little love is just so darn cute I thought I would include him as well. Bentley has been banned from jumping up on the couches for awhile now but he isn't happy with the arrangement! Yesterday morning after I heaved myself off the couch and went into the kitchen to make myself a cup of coffee I walked back into the living room to find this:

Please notice that he is laying on both the pillows and the blanket! What a little sneak!