31 Week Update (or 63 days to go!)

I'm now at 2 week doctor appointments - exciting, right?! We went for our 4-D sonogram last week and were disappointed not to be able to see anything! Grayson appears to be frank breech right now, where he is not only bottom down but his legs are straight up and his feet are in front of his face. So, you can imagine how difficult it is to see a baby's face when they have their hands AND feet covering it! ;-) We did get one blurry smile out of it and saw his tongue stick out so it was all worth it in the end. The doc office is letting us attempt a better 4-D experience next appointment. Hopefully, not only will he be flipped but we will have a better shot of our baby. Otherwise, we have about 2-4 weeks after that for him to move head down or the doctor (and us) will start to worry and we need to start considering c-section as a possibility. But no need to worry for now, he could somersault 50 times before then and trust me, it feels like he is!

Off to breastfeeding class! Hopefully, somewhere in that lesson plan is a chapter on how to get over my ooginess about it. Happy Saturday - it's a beautiful day!!

How your baby's growing:

This week, your baby measures over 16 inches long. He weighs about 3.3 pounds (try carrying four navel oranges) and is heading into a growth spurt. He can turn his head from side to side, and his arms, legs, and body are beginning to plump out as needed fat accumulates underneath his skin. He's probably moving a lot, too, so you may have trouble sleeping because your baby's kicks and somersaults keep you up. Take comfort: All this moving is a sign that your baby is active and healthy.

How To Cut Shelby's Nails

I'm going to try to get through this without laughing. Beau is the only one that can cut Shelby's nails. My job is to watch. And LAUGH. She is such a squirmer and I love watching Beau try to pin her down [I'm already laughing...]. So I think this is his process....

Step 1: Holding the clippers, place the wiener dog under your arm.
[....I'm dying laughing...]

Step #2: Pin Shelby's head under your chin and grab flailing body until you can get ahold of a nail. Clip really fast. [...hahaha...]

Repeat Steps 1 and 2. Nine more times.  [....hysterically laughing only wishing I had this on video so you can join me...]

Wedding Cake - A Year Later

This will be the last of the anniversary talk but I must provide an update on the all-important Wedding Cake - a year later. It was so delicious! Neither one of us had any cake on our wedding night and I'm really impressed at how fresh and tasty it was a year later. We were also pleasantly surprised when we saw 2 different types of cake within one layer! I vaguely remember making that decision but oh my, it was amazing!

Side note - today marks the 3 year anniversary of our first date! Another reason to eat more cake. :-)

A Golden Girl (circa 1990)

Question of the year - is my wardrobe dated or was Dorothy just REALLY ahead of her time?! About choked on my (second) PB&J when this came on the TV....

Yes, I watch the Golden Girls. Thank you for bein' a frieeeeeeeeend.

The First Four Letters in Beautiful

Today is our 1 year anniversary and Beau has made it so special. He continues to show me how thoughtful and loving he is and I keep learning new things about him. I knew he was special when we met but I'm glad I didn't know just how much....or I really would have been chasing after him ;-)

We celebrated our Anniversary last night since he has a baseball game this evening. We went to Maggiano's and ate dessert at Paciugo's - all was delicious and we had a great time. When I crawled into bed last night, there was a print out on my pillow. You see, when we were dating I gave him a list of questions that I thought would be fun if we answered them together - random questions that don't come up in conversation usually. We never got around to answering them - I forgot about them and life was just too busy for us. Well, he didn't forget about them. He answered them and placed the print out on my pillow last night. A peak inside someone's thoughts and feelings is such a wonderful gift and I love that he shared with me. And I'll just tell you, he thinks pretty highly of me ;-)

This morning, we woke up and began getting ready for brunch with our friends, the Phillips. I heard "Wonderful World" by Louis Armstrong playing in the living room (I danced to this with my Dad at our wedding). I went in there to see what he was watching and there was a slide show playing titled "Our 1st Anniversary". He made me a DVD - a look back at the past year - and it is the BEST gift!! Photos of everything from our wedding, honeymoon, the baby's sonograms to even the lightning strike! He is just so thoughtful and I loved watching it with him!

We will eat the top layer of our wedding cake this evening - we don't really remember what it tasted like so it will be quite a treat!

Happy 1st Anniversary, Beau! I love you with both hearts beating inside me right now :-) xoxo

30 Week Update

70 more days (+/- of course)! I'm still feeling great although I feel like I'm running on a treadmill when I talk to people these days - I'm SO out of breath! It's embarrassing. Speaking of embarrassing, I'm apparently quite the sweater. Especially in business meetings. Especially when I'm speaking and all attention is on me. This surprises me b/c I've always been the cold one donning a cardigan indoors even when its 106 outside so shedding clothes and perspiration are not my style! No complaints here since this pregnancy has been a breeze and I still can't relate when moms ask me about heartburn (whew!). I'm also sporting a fine case of restless leg syndrome (I've told you about this but it's gotten worse) and I am officially having Braxton Hicks contractions. We begin our classes next Saturday kicking off a month of education with a breastfeeding class....honestly, we aren't excited. I'll have a full report of any inappropriate jokes Beau makes or awkward moments I have - we're quite entertaining in these situations ;-)

We bought our glider and ottoman and it's SO comfy - typing in it as we speak!Why is it in the living room? Oh, because it's been 5 weeks since the water heater damage and we still haven't had the back of the house repaired! BUT, the flooring order has been placed and we are hoping to have all floors repaired within the next 1 1/2 weeks. THEN, we can set up the nursery! .....again! :-)

How your baby's growing:

Your baby's about 15.7 inches long now, and she weighs almost 3 pounds (like a head of cabbage). A pint and a half of amniotic fluid surrounds her, but that volume will decrease as she gets bigger and takes up more room in your uterus. Her eyesight continues to develop, though it's not very keen; even after she's born, she'll keep her eyes closed for a good part of the day. When she does open them, she'll respond to changes in light but will have 20/400 vision — which means she can only make out objects a few inches from her face. (Normal adult vision is 20/20.)

 

Check Your Pride at the Door

I hit a new low yesterday. Well, a couple of new lows. I'm so glad they throw in that little "unconditional love" verbiage to marriage vows  b/c that's definitely what Beau needs to get through some of his times with me. After trotting him all around the city yesterday to go pregnancy bottoms shopping (this is what happens when you only buy shirts and dresses) and shoe shopping, I was just dying for some ice cream. Dying. The guy behind the counter was quite proud of the 2 extra scoops in the huge waffle cone he gave me and watching my husband's wide-eyed expression was almost as delicious as the enormous amount of ice cream itself. :-) I'm telling you - people love to feed pregnant chicks...

We arrived home soon after just as I realized that I was going to wet myself if I didn't go to the bathroom NOW. No time for anything, no time to set anything down, no time. So I yelled out for Beau to come get my ice cream. NOW. He said, "Hold on, I'm going to go let the dogs out." Oh no, he was already in the back of the house. I ran to the guest bathroom still urgently calling out for him. As he ran and turned the corner, there I was squatting in front of the commode working on a 1-handed squirmy attempt to get my clothes off all while holding the huge waffle cone in the other hand. I wish I knew whose deer-in-the-headlights look was worse but thank goodness he grinned a little bit or I would have been mortified. He simply walked over and grabbed my ice cream cone saying, "This is a mental image I want to try to forget." What? Not sexy? But thanks to him, crisis averted. Whew....

Then, as I contently took back my ice cream cone (only after 1 minute of sheer panic b/c I couldn't FIND Beau and the cone - really, our house isn't that big - I don't know how he disappears), I plopped onto the couch to enjoy the rest of it. I devoured it just in time to notice the MESS I made all over myself. Crumbs on my big belly, crumbs on my boobs, crumbs in my bra, everywhere. And that's when I had the idea. The Hand Vacuum! It went a little something like this....

"Beeeeaaaaaauuuuu, can you get me the hand vacuuuuum?"

Him: "Why?"

"No reason."

He did a double take: "You. Aren't....."

"What?! I made a mess!"

Giving me a what-have-you-become look: "You aren't going to vacuum the crumbs off your pregnant body??"

[rambling begins] "Well...you just don't understand how hard it is to carry around all this weight and I can't get up off the couch very easily....." 

...And then we laughed and laughed. I love laughing with him!

There you have it. Two "check your pride at the door" situations that I never thought I'd be in. ;-)

29 Weeks (or I love Butternut Squash in my belly!)

I really do love butternut squash-anything and now Grayson is being compared to it - what a treat! Beau and I have to really stop and look at each other these days and say, "Um. Hey. In 2 1/2 months, we will have a BABY. In this house. OURS. Forever." It's still so surreal and I don't even think we get it yet!! Here is something else I was slow to realize until today (in the form of a story)...

Stranger: "When are you due?!"

Me: "June 26th. It still feel so far away!"

Stranger: "Do you have your nursery ready?!"

Me: "Yes! Well, wait. I did. But now everything has to be moved out b/c our floors have to be torn up."

I'll spare you the blabbing that ensued about the water heater busting, the damaged floors, etc. Poor stranger. Anyway, this conversation led me to realize that everything we have put together and organized now has to be pulled back out of that room (& closet) to re-do the floors and then we kind of need to start all over. :-( At least Beau doesn't need to reassemble the furniture! It's frustrating to make progress and scratch things off your list and then have to do it all over again. But it could be worse - it could ALWAYS be worse! I'm just excited we picked out all the new carpet and tile that will bring that side of the house back to 100%. Even better than before! I will post before and after pics when we get going!

How your baby's growing:

Your baby now weighs about 2 1/2 pounds (like a butternut squash) and is a tad over 15 inches long from head to heel. His muscles and lungs are continuing to mature, and his head is growing bigger to make room for his developing brain. To meet his increasing nutritional demands, you'll need plenty of protein, vitamins C, folic acid, and iron. And because his bones are soaking up lots of calcium, be sure to drink your milk (or find another good source of calcium, such as cheese, yogurt, or enriched orange juice). This trimester, about 250 milligrams of calcium are deposited in your baby's hardening skeleton each day.

The Caldwells Move to Frisco!

I am SO thrilled that my parents are moving up here! They have always talked about moving out of Corpus Christi - I just never really thought they would do it. :-) I can't wait to have them so close and to be able to eat dinners with them and have them watch Grayson grow up - it's such a blessing! And I REALLY can't wait to have date nights with Beau and possibly even travel without having to worry about a capable babysitter. My mom can't wait to shoo us off so she can get this baby all to herself. And she hasn't even met him yet. :)

It's probably a little too early to make this announcement since they still need to close on the house in 3 weeks but I'm just too excited! And the house is so pretty! Exactly what they need - spacious and on the golf course so the mornings will be so peaceful for their morning coffee. I may be over there to enjoy it as well. They are 1/2 a mile from us! And my mom's hair will love the low humidity.

Beau is also excited about the big move! This is why:

He eats REALLY well in the presence of my parents. They just love to feed him and it never ceases to amaze any of just how much (and how quickly) Beau can eat! Look at the size of that steak! We can't wait to have more of these dinners with them!

My Dad and Beau are big buds and will no doubt get in plenty of trouble together....I can just see the ideas they will come up with - climbing on roofs, deep frying everything in the fridge, shooting guns where they shouldn't, the list goes on... :-)

Love these kids!

28 Weeks - You Sneaky Little Thing...

My goodness - my first missed weekly update! Here you are on pins and needles wondering which fruit/veggie we are this week and I have left you hanging. My apologies. There is so much to tell you about - Easter, my parent's big move, their beautiful new house!, and updates on our house flood repairs (which the update is that there is no update. ha.)....but in the meantime, here is the 28 week update the day before we hit 29 weeks [sigh]....

How your baby's growing:

By this week, your baby weighs two and a quarter pounds (like a Chinese cabbage) and measures 14.8 inches from the top of her head to her heels. She can blink her eyes, which now sport lashes. With her eyesight developing, she may be able to see the light that filters in through your womb. She's also developing billions of neurons in her brain and adding more body fat in preparation for life in the outside world.

Our Sweet Felix

Beau and I went down to Corpus Christi for Easter for many reasons but most importantly, it would be one of our last trips since my parents are moving to Frisco. I wanted to say goodbye to their house and to Felix, the most gorgeous cat ever! My parents have been working on adoption opportunities for Felix since he was an outdoor cat and everyone knows if you transport an outdoor cat they will run away looking for their home. I loved being in their home one last time and seeing Felix while I was there. Well, last night Felix was taken from us too early by two low life stray dogs. :-( He was the sweetest, most perfect cat and while we were all having a hard time with leaving him behind in Corpus, this is even harder to deal with.

This has added a very difficult twist during an otherwise very exciting time for my parents and me. This comes on the heels of saying goodbye to Geeto a couple of months ago - a cat we have had for 13 years. These 2  guys were my dad's buddies so it's tough. The last picture is of the two kitties together :-)

Is Felix not the most beautiful cat you have ever seen?!