34 weeks

as of today i am 34 weeks 3 days pregnant with 39 days left until my due date (12/9/11).  as i was walking around target last thursday afternoon i felt the first braxton hicks contraction....exciting.  :)  at one point i had to stop walking and just lean on my basket in the aisle...i am sure people were wondering/hoping this big old pregnant lady was not going into labor.  ha!

i went to the doctor last tuesday and little brother is looking good.  they told me he will likely be a healthy petite baby - that is just fine by me.  he is still growing and did not take a dip/decrease his growth rate which is exactly what we were hoping for.  he did have one little surprise for us though, he is breech right now.  i will go back for one more scan at 37 weeks to check on him and make sure everything still looks good and hopefully by then he will have turned around and gotten back into the correct position.

that is about it for updates this week.  we actually got to work on little brother's room this weekend.  we bought the paint 2 weeks ago and his room is now painted and we are ready to start decorating.  i am super excited to get his special little space ready.   some of the girls at work have started guessing when they think i will deliver and a couple of them were telling me he has dropped a lot already.  he has dropped a lot in the last week or so because i can actually breathe and there have been no kicks in the ribs (thanks to that breech position i guess).  ha!  here is the 34-week picture....yikes!  i am huge.



10/31/2011......34weeks 3 days!  ignore the weird look on my face!



last weekend recap

we had a great weekend - it went by too fast as usual but what can you do?  we had a family date night on friday night and it was so fun!  we went to a new pizza place in town that is right across the street from our neighborhood and then popped next door for dessert at cherry berry.  yumminess all around!

saturday started with a flu shot for colin (who did not even blink when he got the shot) and a mexican lunch for a momma craving enchiladas.  :)  we even ordered dessert and colin had his first taste of sopapillas - they are one of my favorite desserts of all time and colin now shares that love.  too bad i didn't get any pictures - too busy stuffing my face probably. 

luke was working saturday afternoon/night so we made a special trip to the pumpkin patch with cousin elijah.  then we headed over to grammy's for a yummy dinner and more playtime/visiting. 

sunday was a day we had been waiting for all week.  my niece lauren (aka lolly) had her birthday party at wonderwild.  colin absolutely loves any cousin time and he had a blast.  he did not stop running and playing the entire time.  after the party we went out for a yummy late lunch and then went home to relax while luke went back to work. 

now we are looking forward to halloween and to the costume party/festival at colin's school on friday!  can't believe the month of october is almost over - yikes.

my cowboy.

i have a bunch of other stuff to post about/catch up on but i couldn't resist sharing these pics of my cowboy.  today is his halloween party/carnival at school.  he was so excited to put his costume on today.  my heart might just explode.  :)

the serious cowboy.

cowboy mid-yee haw!

party favors we took to school today!

colin the cowboy video....ha! 

we are going to have a big time with halloween on monday.  today is just the warm up and it's so much fun seeing how excited big brother is about costumes, trick or treating, halloween parties and all that fun stuff!  happy friday!

33 weeks

in the famous words of charlie brown (who is popular at our house right now), good grief.  i think i have finally 'hit the wall' as they say.  i will get my whining out of the way first:

1. my morning sickness is back in full force.  i actually just had to take a zofran at my desk to keep from puking in front of my co-workers.  it is not fun even in the beginning but it is a little comforting because i always take it as a sign that things are going good with the baby growing/hormones/etc.  now - it is just wrong.  to be large and in charge and getting sick when you get out of bed is not cool.  this did not happen with my first pregnancy at all.

2. i am not sleeping well.  not at all.  i think i got up to pee at least 5 times last night and i could not even fall asleep until midnight and the alarm goes off at 5:30am.  i am also at the point where it takes an act of congress to roll over in bed and especially getting my rear end up and in the bathroom is a challenge.

3. i couldn't put my wedding rings on my fat finger on saturday.  i did get them partially on and they wouldn't budge.  my finger turned purple in seconds and i freaked out just a little.  i did get them on today - luke was asking why i keep trying.  hello - i like my rings and i like to wear them.  and if i am being totally honest i don't like the sideways glances i get walking around with my belly and no "proof" of marriage. 

4. i am tired.  my husband is tired.  colin is never tired.  :)  luke was out of town last week travelling for work.  thank the heavens he will be home with us all week but he is still working like a mad man.  he didn't get home from work last night (sunday) until 1:30am....pure craziness.  luckily for us we have a pretty amazing 2 year old that is happy to lounge on the couch, or run around the house with the dog, or color picture after picture after picture.  all in all, he is taking it pretty easy on us which i am so thankful for.

5. work is tiring.  i have a different job this pregnancy (well, sort of the same job but a different boss).  i am not chauffered to work on a daily basis (man, that was nice), and when i get home in the evening there is a certain toddler that wants/deserves my love and attention, not to mention dinner and a bath.  ha!

even with all of this complaining i am just so excited.  another difference with this pregnancy is that i know how amazing it will be when little brother is here.  last time i hoped/thought i knew what it would be like, but i really had no idea.  i think that is why i am hitting the wall a little bit - because i know how sweet it will be when he is finally here and i am ready for that to happen.  only about 6 more weeks though so i will put on my big girl panties and stop with all of the whining.  according to pregnology.com, as of today we only have 46 days to go until i am for real full term.  :) and i go back to the doctor tomorrow morning - hoping and praying for good news and to get some good pics of the little boy in my belly.

sunday funday.

on sunday we headed to kemah for a late birthday celebration for luke - this time with my family.  the weather was absolutely perfect outside.  we got there a little early (shocker!) and let colin play a couple 'games' before lunch.  i didn't get any pictures of the actual lunch or everyone else that was there but we certainly had a great time stuffing our faces and hanging out w/everyone.  :)

silly sock day.

last friday was silly sock day at school for colin.  we can't keep up with socks around here.  like, at all - i swear the dog or the washing machine eats them.  especially colin's teeny tiny little socks.  thursday night i ran to target to find some silly socks and as usual i couldn't find anything in the boys section.  i ended up finding some in the dollar spot and i am pretty sure they were girls socks but oh well.  he liked them and they looked pretty cute and silly.

fall festival 2011

our church hosts a fall festival every october.  i absolutely love it.  great food, fun games, and great people. and i don't feel bad spending money on tickets/games because it all goes back to the church.  it's a win-win situation.  we took colin last year too but this year he really loved it too. 

the pony ride was first on the agenda.

of course he had to go jump.  his most favorite thing to do.

time for the petting zoo!

this boy is serious about his sno-cone.

we met up w/uncle doug too.  :)

eyeball candy from the fishing game.

and it wouldn't be complete without a walk thru the pumpkin patch.



we were only planning to stay for about an hour....almost 4 hours later we had to leave and head home for a very late nap.  needless to say we had a great day and colin kept telling us how much fun he had at the festival - perfect!

32 weeks = 8 months!

I am 32 weeks pregnant today. 8 months – how did that happen? I am saying this a lot lately. A couple of updates….we still have not even started on little brother’s room as in we haven’t even picked out the paint color. Either we are the world’s biggest procrastinators or we are really in denial that he will be here in another 6 – 8 weeks. It’s probably a little of both. We also still need to go ‘shopping’ in our storage unit to get the bassinet out, go thru baby toys/clothes/swings, etc. Maybe we will do that next weekend?

I feel like I am huge right now. I am probably feeling this way because I am huge. And I actually found a picture of me pregnant w/Colin at 32 weeks so I can compare! With both pregnancies I have had big plans of taking lots of pictures and documenting the whole process. I have failed miserably both times but at least I have a couple of pictures from the first time around to look back on.

32 weeks pregnant w/Colin - November 2008

32 weeks pregnant w/Little Brother, October 2011

I wish I knew how to do the pictures side by side.  Oh well.

Physically I have not been feeling good this week – nothing specific, just don’t feel good. Thankfully I have not caught the cold virus going around (those prenatal vitamins are amazing). Emotionally I am feeling better about the little boy growing in my belly. I have been doing the kick counts everyday – not always at the same time and I haven’t written any of them down but this kid is definitely kicking/dancing/doing gymnastics in my belly. Feeling him move and stretch and roll around is the best part of being pregnant. It is getting to the point that sometimes it can be a little painful (just a little) but I don’t care, I love it and I will miss it when he is actually out here in the real world with me. Sounds weird I know but I felt the same way with his big brother.

Ok, so enough babbling from me, we have BIG plans this weekend. Time for this big momma to get some rest so I can enjoy the next couple of days with my boys. Happy Friday!

happy birthday to you!

birthdays are a big deal around here.  last week luke turned the big 2-9.  unfortunately he was out of town for his birthday, as in all the way in wisconsin.  before he left on monday we gave him a card that colin had picked out especially for him - he was so proud of it.  i know i say it all the time, but i am one lucky girl to have these two.

happy birthday luke/daddy.  we love you so much and are so lucky to have you.  you are the best husband/father anyone could ask for.  xoxo, momma & bubba.

beach time.

we were lucky enough to be invited to the beach with some of our most favorite people a couple of weeks ago.  we had a blast as usual and the weather was absolutely perfect.  the beach never gets old.  especially when you get to spend time with great friends.  we had so much fun going out to eat, relaxing on the porch, chasing kids around, had a fish fry....we had a good time playing all weekend. : )

beach bum.

surfing with daddy.

the men & two of the little ones.  :)

they had so much fun playing together....cute boys!

if you look close you can see baby owen in his stroller, just chilling on the beach.

kirsten's minnie mouse glasses were a big hit!  :)

ready to get on the jet ski!

colin kept asking luke to go faster, ha.

boys & the jet skis.

thanks to the moon family for inviting us along.  love living in houston and being able to spend the weekend at the beach in the fall.  :)

30-week update

I have so much to blog about but Luke has the camera and he is travelling for work so it will have to wait.  I don't have any belly pictures for this post but I have something even better!  Today I am 30weeks, 4 days pregnant with little brother.  I had an OB visit this morning and had a follow-up ultrasound to check little brother's growth too - so it was an exciting morning for me!  First, this was the best picture I got of him - he was not cooperating (as usual) with the profile pictures they tried to get but I love this picture of his face, so sweet.  He has his hand (I think) under his chin, but you can see his right eye, nose, and those kissable lips.  

The doctor told me today that little brother is still measuring pretty small and that the umbilical cord flow has medium to high resistance.  My OB explained it to me that the umbilical cord is like a water hose and the nutrients/blood/etc should be free flowing to the baby (little to no resistance).  For some reason, mine is not working like it should.  All of this to say that we will go back in 3 weeks again to check little brother's size and the umbilical cord flow.  After the next appointment I may have to start going in for twice weekly non-stress tests just to make sure little brother is ok and the absolute worst case scenario is that he will be here earlier than planned (like my OB said - we know we can feed him out here in the real world, even if we don't want him to be here just yet).  Starting today I will be doing "kick counts" each day - I am sure he will have no trouble kicking/punching/moving like he should - he is definitely a wiggle worm in there, even if he is a little wiggle worm. He weighed a little over 3 lbs today and if he continues to grow and develop like he should the MFM doc said he would probably be around 6 lbs at full term.  After delivering Colin at 7lbs 9oz.... 6 lbs doesn't seem so bad.  :)

Everything else on the scan looked good - everything is developing normally and we could see him taking his "practice breaths" which was really neat.  I am a worrier by nature - thanks mom! - and especially being at the doctor and hearing this without Luke was tough today.  But I know that little brother is just fine.  I would still really appreciate any special thoughts/prayers for this little boy to continue to grow big and strong and for him to be able to receive all of the nutrients he needs through that cord.  When we go back in 3 weeks they want to see that he is continuing to grow and hopefully the resistance with the umbilical cord will have slowed - they are fancy terms and numbers and levels to measure all of this but I will leave that up to the professionals!  I really hope we can get some good 3D shots of him next time too - today he was faceplanted into my uterine wall, ha. 

I will definitely take a belly shot on Friday @ 31 weeks...can't believe the time is flying by so quickly.  As usual, I can't wait to meet this little boy and am getting more excited and anxious as the days go by.  We love you little brother!!!