Holy Moly! We are officially 32 1/2 weeks along on this 40 (probably for us, closer to 38) week journey! It’s just soooo hard to believe that you’ll be here in just a few short weeks!

We had our last baby shower (a coed shower hosted by all of our Uline friends) last Saturday. It was soooo much fun to be on the receiving end of such an awesome party for a change. It’s quite different than being the hosts. We’ve pretty much received all the necessities off our registry so we are all set. The only major things left are a high chair, pack-n-play, and an extra car seat base for your dad’s car.

Now we need to focus on all the other things we still need to do, like: making cabinet space for your things in the kitchen and linen closets, finding a daycare, solidifying a pediatrician, replacing the bald tires on my car, packing our hospital/diaper bags, laundering all of your clothes and blankets, deciding how we want to organize your dresser drawers/closet, etc. Maybe this is the “nesting” part they refered to in the baby class?!?!

Speaking of classes, we are taking CPR and Basic Baby Care this weekend. I think they are going to teach us things like how to bathe you, how to change your diapers, how to swaddle you, how to hold you, etc. I tell you what, I don’t know how our parents did it without all this guidance….this is a whole new world to us!

Well, I guess I should get busy working on that to do list. Wish me luck….

We are just over 31 weeks along and you’re doing great!  You weighed in at 4 lbs 11 oz today so you’ve gained about 10 ounces in the last week!  You were just as active as ever in there, so much so that you’ve turned completely the opposite way now.  You are back to being head up whereas last week you were head down.  And you went from being face up to face down just in the short time it took to do the sonogram!  No wonder I can feel you moving off and on throughout the day….you stay pretty busy in there.

Of course you had your feet completely above your head and were keeping your little hands busy with them.  You are developing just as you should be – your little tummy was rising then falling then rising then falling.  She said that means you are practicing how to breath which is a great sign for your age!  Keep up the good work!

There were also more comments on just how much hair you have….even I can see it on the sonongram!  Your father and I are getting anxious for your arrival….remind me of that when I am so exhausted I can barely function.  🙂

Our 2 day baby class was a little neve racking, but fairly informative.  We now know how to count contractions, when to go to the hospital/when not to, what the birthing beds look like, and the difference between a spinal and an epidural….along with a few other things.

It was a very eye-opening experience an that made your father and I just a little bit nervous.  We have faith that we’ve chosen a great doctor and hospital though so we feel confident that we will all 3 be in good hands.  It won’t be long now….

It’s about 9am Saturday morning; in about 3 hours your father and I will report to the hospital for our “Learn How to Have Babies” classes.  They’re scheduled from 12 – 5 today and 1 – 5 tomorrow.  After spending all weekend there we better be well versed on how this whole thing is going to go down!  :-}  We’ll report back with our learnings!

We went for our checkup and sonogram today.  You were just as active as ever in there and still have an affinity for your feet.  We got a couple of good sonogram pics of you playing with your feet and toes and she even got one pic of just your foot and calf.  She measured your foot at my request and it was just over 6mm long….they’re growing fast!  You’ve also turned over since the last time we saw you – are are now head down – just one step closer to making your arrival!  She said it also looks like you are sporting a full head of hair in there.  Given my hair situation at birth (see pics) this did not surprise me much…I just hope you have lighter hair like your father.  This being a girl with super dark and thick body hair is not always so much fun.  🙂  Oh, and she did a 3-D image – even though you weren’t exactly cooperating (your hands and feet are always up around your face) it seemed to me that you had a cute little button nose…we’ll see if that holds true once you get here.

After the sonogram we met with Dr. Carmichael.  Looks like you are running about a week big right now and given the fact that neither your father or I are small people she seems to think it’s more realistic to expect you to arrive somewhere between 38 & 40 weeks.  That means you could be here as early as mid-May!  That’s only a little over 7 weeks away!!!  Good thing your father and I are planners as we’ve got most everything ready to go. Now we just need to focus on packing a hospital bag, finalizing everything in the nursery, and finding a daycare!  Everyone is SUPER anxious to meet you!

Mommy at 2 months

Mommy at 6 months

Oh Hailey, it’s been a rough couple of days!  It all started around midnight Sunday when I woke up with a horrible stomach ache.  By 2am I was throwing up, which I thought was great, cause then I’d feel so much better – right?  Wrong!  It happened again around 4am; that’s when I knew we were in trouble.

I called the doctor and she said that no matter what I had to stay hydrated…for your sake.  So, I drank quite a few liquids and ate one saltine cracker.  About 10:30am, those things decided not to stick around either.  By then I had cold sweats, hot flashes, and body aches.  I slept a lot and tried to get down some more liquids; luckly those decided to stay down.

By the time your dad got home from work I was not much better.  I tried to eat some chicken noodle soup but that wasn’t going down so good so I switched to Jello…that seemed to be okay.  I took a hot bath and went to bed with the hopes that I could make it through the night.

I am thrilled to say, it’s 8:00am Tuesday morning and I made it through the night without incident.  I was able to stomach some solid foods this morning, and I feel SO MUCH better!  I am still having some hot flashes but my body aches are a million times better and I can actually function without feeling ridiculously weak.  I’ve managed to lose 5 pounds since Sunday…that’s pretty much all the baby weight I’ve gained with you in 2 days!

I tell you what, this whole experience has given me new found respect for those new moms who have morning sicknesss…I’ll gladly feel this way for 2 days as long as I don’t have to do it for 2 months!  All things considered, I feel pretty lucky!

Well, your 2^nd official baby shower is scheduled for this weekend!  It is being hosted by my good friend from college, Christine.  She is my mani/pedi and shopping buddy so you’ll get to go with us when you get old enough to enjoy those things!

All of your grandmothers will be there and all are looking very forward to your arrival.  It’s hard to believe that’s only a couple of months from now! 

We are still in the process of trying to find a rocker/glider for your room.  Those suckers are expensive!  I went on my lunch break today to buy your bedding set – once that’s in place the basics of your room will be pretty much done.  Then we can focus on the accessories and decorating – fun, fun! 

The car seat/stroller travel system that we wanted for you has also arrived.  Since it’s the new year model it wasn’t available until now.  It’s grey with pink accents and very functional…which I’ve learned is very important.  The car seat is pretty heavy….I can’t imagine how heavy it will be once you’re in it.  I’m gonna have great arm muscles!

Hopefully we’ll have some pictures posted from the showers soon!

The day started out great until I opened my day planner and realized that today officially starts the beginning of our 3^rd Trimester!  How can we possibly be 2/3 of the way through this process already?  I guess not even knowing we were pregnant for 10 weeks took a big chunk of that time away, but still….only 12 weeks to go!?!?

My team at work is throwing a shower for me tomorrow.  All the girls from Uline are invited to attend so it should be a ton of fun!  They’ve been asking for baby pics of me and your dad and for all kinds of interesting information so I know they’ve got lots of fun stuff planned.  I can’t wait!

We still need to find a rocker/glider for your room so your father and I will probably embark upon that mission this weekend.  It’s also daylight savings time so we’ll be losing an hour.  That means one less hour of precious sleep for me…or as your dad said, I’ll just fall asleep on the couch an hour earlier now….7 instead of 8!  🙂

We found out that our neighbors, Noah & Cheryl, are having a baby girl! I am so excited that Hailey will have a playmate so close in proximity and age. How fun! We also got word that Jeremy & Stacey (Brad’s best friend in Iowa and his wife) are also expecting a baby girl in July! This is really great news because Jeremy is all boy all the time and they already have a son….having a girl will definitely help balance things out for poor Stacey!

Well, it’s 3:30 in the morning and I am wide awake. I woke up about 2:30am to go to he bathroom for the 2nd time since going to bed and my nose started running. I blew it in the bathroom and went back to bed, about 15 minutes later it was running again. I blew my nose in bed this time which rattled your father from sleep a bit (neither of us can blow our nose without reaching at least a 7.5 on the decibel scale!) so when I had to blow my nose a third time I decided to head for the living room.

So, here I am am, at 3:30 in the morning parked in the reclining couch with a box of kleenex and a million things running through my mind. I am exhausted, but just can’t seem to fall back asleep….I am sure I’ll pay the price for that tomorrow. I have a feeling the number of sleepless nights I spend on the couch may become more common as we go along.

Well, we are 27 weeks along as of Friday. Just a few more days and we’ll be in our 3rd trimester! It’s so hard to believe! Our neighbors Noah & Cheryl, and our friends Jeremy & Stacey should be finding out the sex of their babies this week. I am so anxious to know what they are having. Especially Noah and Cheryl…will you have a playmate or a boyfriend living 2 doors down!? 🙂

We went to dinner with our friends Phil & Brandon last night. They are the ones that adopted an adorable baby girl from Russia, Alina. She’s almost 2 now so they were kind enough to give us a bag full of the clothes she can no longer wear…..some really cute stuff! As your father and I were going through the bag, we just kept trying to imagine how it was possible that clothing could be so dainty…and that the person wearing was going to be so small…and most of this stuff was 18 months! We are really in awe when we hold up the newborn clothing.

We already have plans to put you in swimming lessons as soon as possible. They say you can start as early as six months! That should work out well since you’ll be about 1 year old by the start of next swim season.

Well, I should probably try to get some sleep so I am not just miserable to be around tomorrow. I’ll be thinking of you…always.