Moved Check, Full Term Check, Unpacking almost Check

Well hello again everyone. We've had a very busy week since our last update. We moved out of our old place, unpacked a ton of our stuff, and already made some updates/changes to the new place. We are so excited to be in our new home and already have started our wish list of updates. Brian has quickly become Mr. Fix it. On our first day in the house he worked on the air conditioner which was causing some difficulty on move day (90+ degrees, followed by a beautiful mid 70's day the next day, go figure). He has replaced a faucet, the wax ring in a toilet, many lightbulbs, outlets, etc. I've been very impressed! Thanks to all those who helped us with updates (carpeting, painting, etc) and those who helped us moved, we REALLY appreciate all the help and we couldn't have done it without all of you.


Brian is Mr. Fix It, watch out Handy Manny, here he comes.

I am happy to report that Ofie did not feel that move week was a good time to come surprise the parents and she has decided to let us get settled in and make her accommodations perfect before her arrival. My feet did begin swelling up quite a bit (think cankles). With lots of water and elevated feet, I can usually keep the swelling to a minimum and yesterday they even looked like my old feet for a few hours (it was cause for celebration). Our dr.'s appointment last week was good, everything continues to be right on track (we're officially full-term now)and we both continue to be healthy. We will be going every Friday for dr. appointments now and our goal is to make it past my birthday (this week) and our anniversary (next week 16th) before Ofie arrives. Selfishly, I'd like to not be in the hospital for my birthday and we'd really like to have a nice dinner and go see the new Harry Potter next weekend for our anniversary. We'll see if Ofie has other plans.

Below you will see pictures of our completed nursery, we love it and it all came together in just a few days!

We've been busy so there have been no belly pictures for awhile, but here we are at 37 weeks and 2 days. When we're relaxing on the couch, Gretchen has taken a liking to my belly, it's a very comfortable spot for her to snuggle up. Disregard my color choices, my favorite shorts were in the wash so I was wearing my favorite old gym shorts of Brian's.

Until next week that's all, only one more room in our house to unpack and then it's time to sit back, relax and wait for Ofie's arrival!

Packing, showers, etc....

Basement






Ofie's room (the color, carpet, and furniture are changing)









Backyard View towards the 3 seasons room.




So much going on and so little time. We are 6 weeks from Ofie's due date, 2 weeks from move day, and 11 days until closing date. In addition to finalizing house details, picking out carpet and paint colors we've also had two baby showers and another doctor's appointment. Ofie is doing very well heartbeat at 141, we're measuring right on track, and Ofie continues to move around a lot. She has had the hiccups lately (a good sign as its her practicing her breathing), but she definitely doesn't like the hiccups because with every bout of hiccups there comes lots of thrashing around inside, it's very funny. After our next appt we start going every week, hard to believe we're that close!

We had one baby shower in Dixon and one in Wheeling, both were great and Ofie was definitely spoiled at both. We are very appreciative to everyone for all of the wonderful things we've gotten for her. Thanks to Joyce, Jenni, Kim, and mom for hosting the showers, it was great to see everyone!

As we continue to pack up our house for the move the only things that are completely packed are Ofie's things, and we can't wait to get them all unpacked in the new place and finally set up the baby's room. Then we'll feel ready for the arrival. We did decide to err on the side of caution and pack the hospital bags prior to the move just in case little Ofie wants to arrive before we can get our house unpacked and locate things.

Here are some pictures from the showers and the house.....free tours of the house anytime after closing as long as you agree to bring a box inside, unpack, or do some other sort of home repair :)

Dixon Shower














Brian and I at the shower in Wheeling, he was there to greet people, get some dessert and help with gifts afterwards.

Ellie and Allison were my helpers during gift opening. They handed me gifts and moved them for me. It was very helpful. Hard to believe that nearly 4 years ago these girls were the flower girls in our wedding and now they're practically towering over me.Here is our living room after we got back from the last shower. We had to sort through everything and pack it into boxes for the move. Gretchen wasn't sure what to do with all the things in her way so she would set her ball on things we were moving so we'd have to throw it for her.

We've been busy and didn't have time to do belly shots, but here's one from 33 weeks. The belly is getting in the way now, I can't reach the faucet doing dishes quite like I used to and there's still more time to grow, yikes!

I Failed :(

Well unfortunately I failed my Glucose Challenge Test (it's the one hour test) so I know have to go back for the dreaded 3 hour Glucose Tolerance Test. The one hour is not so bad the drink is flavored like fruit punch kool-aid, they only take your blood once and you're only waiting one hour. The three hour means of course sitting in a hard waiting room chair for 3 hours (they don't allow you to leave), you have to drink the gross, thick orange drink instead, you get your blood drawn like 4 times, and you have to fast for 12 hours beforehand plus the 3 hours you're there. Seriously 15 hours of not eating for a pregnant woman does this seem like a good idea. Never mind my fear of one of the phlebotomists at the place who has on two separate occassions made me cry from pain and nearly pass out from not getting my veins. I'm really hoping she doesn't work when I go back because I don't want the pain or bruises she inflicts.

I did not fail by much, but as the nurse said, failing is failing! I am anticipating passing the 3 hour though since my score was low for the one hour. I go on Tuesday so let's hope it goes well. Just to be on the safe side in case I fail Brian and I went out and had ice cream last night. I mean seriously what if I fail and my diet is monitored I better enjoy the good stuff now.

In other news we did finally purchase Ofie's baby room furniture so that is exciting. We hope to have it at our house in the next few weeks and possibly set up by the end of May. I finally feel like we're accomplishing something. We will have new belly pics up after the weekend. Only 1 more day until 28 weeks and the official start of the third trimester. My sciatica is better and I'm finally back at the gym so that is cause for celebration as well. I have never appreciated a good workout or even the ability to walk, or climb stairs so much as I do know that they are painfree.

Ofie's on the Move

We had a doctor's appiontment yesterday, very routine, which we like. For a 10 minute appointment it took 1 hour to be seen by the doctor, I guess that's what happens when one of the doctor's has to leave to deliver a baby. They just keep telling me sometime it will be my turn, but still frustrating while you wait. They also managed to make me wait in the hottest exam room ever, who thought it was a good idea to put a pregnant woman in an already hot exam room, I nearly passed out.

Ofie's heart is beating away at 141 beats a minute and boy is she moving. Her movement reassures me that everything is ok, so that's good. We have discovered that she really likes oranges, they are one food that gets her dancing a lot. Amazing how fast the time goes, we have another appointment in a month then we start going every two weeks. I'm going for my glucose test in a couple of weekso hopefully that goes well and this continues to be an uneventful pregnancy.

I did have my first nightmare that Ofie came too early and we weren't prepared. Needless to say this has caused me to get more done, especially at work with making sure there is good plan in place for while I'm gone. It may come as a shock to some that I am a bit of a controlling person so to let someone else do my job while I'm on leave is hard to adjust to. My new plan is to try and be baby ready by the end of June so that if Ofie comes early I'm as ready as I can be. Yes, I know the overplanner in me is already worried about her coming early, big shocker. I'm ok with her coming late, it gives me more time, but if this kid is anything like me she'll be arriving in early June just because she wouldn't want to risk being late :) I had a talk with Ofie last night about staying inside as long as possible to fully "cook" and give me time to prepare.

No news on the house yet, but we have officially moved the office to the basement and created an open room for Ofie, just a few more things to take care of before we move furniture in there. We'll post pictures once there is something to take a picture of.

Ofie is "Perfect"

Well we are back from our 21 week ultrasound and the verdict is Ofie is perfect or so the Ultrasound tech says. She has 10 fingers, 10 toes, and everything she needs to have and is quite fiesty. I had an orange beforehand so she'd be cooperative and move around and boy did she like the orange. She was squirming, covering her face, and hiccuping. However, she was a bit of stinker and didn't want to roll over at all so it took awhile to get the pictures of the spine they wanted. The tech was even able to tell us that the baby has high arches on her feet, wow the technology is amazing. Due to the location of the placenta they said that I am feeling much more movement than most people, I'm sort of hoping that doesn't mean the later kicks will be more painful. Still neither Brian nor Gretchen has felt her movements, but it will be soon.

Unfortunately, the scanner at work does not scan the pictures well so I'm going to try at mom and dad's tomorrow on their scanner. The pictures are beautiful, you can see a wonderful profile of the face with distinct nose and mouth. We also have a 3D picture, very crazy looking. We were also surprised to find out that we get another ultrasound at 32 weeks, so that was exciting news. Our next appointment is not until April 14th. Now that I know Ofie is healthy I feel confident to start preparing the house for her arrival, so we'll be busy in the next few weeks registering, buying furniture, moving the office to the basement so we have a baby room, etc.

If you have just joined our blog we want to let you know that Ofie's gender is remaining a mystery until July when we meet her so she will remain Ofie and be referred to as her until then. Since I feel like I have done practically nothing to prepare for Ofie's arrival yet I feel I must share that I am catching up on my scrapbooking and this weekend am heading to Wisconsin for the annual Scrappy Ladies "Brechon" Family Scrapbook weekend (3 full days and 3 nights of pure scrapbook fun). I am hopeful I will be all caught up on my scrapbooking so that come July I am ready to scrapbook all the millions of pictures we will inevitably take of Ofie.

I am attaching pictures of me at 21 weeks 4 days. Slowly but surely Ofie is making her presence known to the outside world.

House Shopping Part II and belly picture

Well we went out house shopping again yesterday and saw two houses that we could see ourselves in. They were not houses we put on our well maybe we could live there list, but we could both envision our things there. Best part is both have room to grow and with some paint and TLC (but not too much) we'd be great. After talking, talking, and a good night of sleep we've decided we are going to put an offer in on one of the houses this week. It's a short sale which means it's pre-foreclosure so the bank is very meticulous about the sale and from offer to accepting (if they do) it can take months. We have the time to wait so we're going forward with an offer. We'll keep you posted on if this works. Cross your fingers though because it would be a great house for us and our growing family!

We have been taking belly pictures every few weeks since about 10 weeks, but there was nothing very noticeable until now. Still kind of just looks like I gained weight, but it's definitely Ofie. I have also just begun feeling her kick and move around, and boy does she have a party in there sometimes. Brian is anxious for when he will get to feel the kicks. Only 16 more days until our big ultrasound!

17 Week Appointment

We are back from our 17 week appointment and we are happy to report Ofie's heart is beating away at 144 beats a minute. It was the quickest appointment we have had so far, very little waiting and the appointment was a total of 15 minutes from start to finish. After the appointment we decided to do a little scoping out of baby things and get some lunch. Wow is Baby's R Us overwhelming. So many baby things, so many choices, it's going to take us months just to figure out what we like. Seriously, does a baby need all those things?

Our next appointment is the big one. On March 17, easy to remember St. Patrick's Day, we'll be getting our 21 week ultrasound followed by a visit with the doctor. The ultrasound is supposed to last one hour and we'll get to make sure everything is ok, we have no reason to believe it won't be. We will not be finding out what we're having so Ofie will remain Ofie until some nice warm day in July when she decides to show herself. So next month we'll have ultrasound pics to show. As of now I have no really belly to show yet, but we'll be sure to post a pic when there is.

In other news now that 2/14 has happened and work will be settling down we're beginning our house search. We've found a realtor who we really think is going to be great and we may be out looking at houses as soon as this weekend. We're optimistic we'll find a great house at a great price and maybe with any luck be able to move before July. We'll keep everyone posted on house developments as well.