Stroller and Car Seat

We finally made a decision and a purchase. Our new stroller and car seat should be arriving between now and Jan. 4th. Actually, I "tracked" it this morning and it was in Mesa, so I'm hoping it arrives sometimes today! I can't wait to put it all together and test it out. Here are individual pictures of the car seat and stroller, the car seat can also snap into the stroller! So now the baby can come anytime.

Pickles and Ice cream

Just today, my coworkers were asking what I've "craved" the most. I still can't believe the answer is nothing. There are some things I would rather not eat, including veggies (even though I eat a salad just about everyday) Chic-Fila Chicken (which isn't a surprise, being that it's fast food. But prior to being pregnant I thought it was some pretty awesome chicken for fast food!!) and yogurt (which, like my salads, I continue to eat on a regular basis). I would much rather eat anything bread related, for every meal, but refrain, as I know the baby needs dairy, fruits and veggies too! But in terms of STRONG aversions or STRONG cravings, I can't say I have any. I have wanted an ice cream sundae since before or around Thanksgiving, but haven't given in, mainly because when the time comes to get one I'm not in the mood or because I want a Reses's Peanut Butter Cup Sundae with Vanilla yogurt from Friendlys, now is that to much to ask??

Laundry

I spent some of this afternoon cleaning out and organizing the baby's room. That included making a big pile of laundry that should probably be done before the baby arrives! I can't believe I'm doing laundry for a little nugget and really not sure how people don't lose those little socks! Excited to get everything washed and put away before the little bunting arrives!

Quilt pics

I was finally able to upload a few pictures of the quilt. I can't wait to have the backing on and be "officially" done!

More belly!

Another round of belly pics! I figured I might as well get a good photo in while I'm wearing something somewhat normal. It's cold and rainy here today, so I finally busted out a sweater! Good thing I kept this big cozy one!

The new Crib

Well, here it is!! Once the room is actually cleaned out, I'll attempt to take a picture of the entire room!! For now, here's a peek at the crib.

Making a list....

I've started making a list, in my head, of things that we should probably get done in the next few weeks. Yesterday I accomplished picking out a pediatrician, printing off all pediatrician paperwork, so we can fill it out before the first appt., pre-registering for the hospital and scheduling a tour of the hospital. I didn't realize there were so many things to finalize! Now I just have to get on writing up our birthing plan and we should be good to go!

Quilt

Well, the Baby's quilt is just about done. I still have to put the backing on, but in terms of sewing together squares/rectangles, I'm officially DONE! It was such a nice feeling to have finished what I started. I wasn't sure I was going to be able to do it all by myself, but thanks to the help of my Mom, via many, MANY phone calls and the encouragement of Austin, I was able to pull it off. It's not perfect, that's for sure, but close enough. I'm just excited to be able to tell Baby Stutz years down the road that it was made for him/her with love from me! For the next baby, I'll be sure and start sewing much earlier than 8 months. This belly can really get in the way of leaning over and pinning things together. Enjoy a few pictures of the "process"...to come, being that they aren't uploading from my computer at home!

6 weeks to go!

Here are a few pictures of my belly at 34 weeks. We can't believe there are only 6 weeks until Baby Stutz's due date, and in fact, he/she could come much sooner than that! Better get to organizing a few things!

Blanket

So, I know I posted that I was planning on sewing the entire day of Christmas Eve. Well, I got a jump start yesterday. Not sure what got into me, but I suddenly had a strong desire to sew, THAT NEVER HAPPENS. Side note: I've owned my sewing machine for three or four years, a gift I bought myself with my bonus from Nana, and have maybe used it 1, 3 times if you count the time my Mom used it make curtains or the time Rebecca used it to finish the project I started (the one time I tired to use it!). Needless to say, to have a desire to sew is not in my blood. But I started and was on a roll. My poor mother received numerous calls, upwards of 10 or 15 throughout my 3 hour sewing period. Thankfully she was willing to help me, otherwise I would have given up!! So now, I'm just about done with the first few steps, hoping to be done...DONE by tomorrow!

Just talking about this makes me want to go and sew!! I'll post pictures (maybe of the process or maybe just of the final product) later!

New Crib

The new crib should arrive tomorrow, if all goes well for FedEX (that's what the tracking device is telling me). What a great Christmas eve present! We can't wait to put it together and see how it all looks. Pictures to come!

Belly pictures.

I haven't charged my batter in my small camera, hence the big camera covering my face!! Enjoy the pics, hopefully I'll take some "Non-sweats" pictures over Christmas.

Wishing you all a Merry Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year!

7 weeks to go!

I had a Dr's appt yesterday. I'm officially going to the Dr. every two weeks and then once a week until the baby arrives. That really puts things into perspective for me, better get organized.

The appointment went well. My blood pressure was 110/70 and the Baby's heart beat was 152. The Dr. said that baby was in a good position and everything looked good.

I will say that I LOVE our family circle appointments much more than just visiting with the Dr. Although it was nice, I was there for a full hour and only met with the Dr. for about 5 minutes. I guess if I had more questions we could have spent a little more time together! Oh well, I was just glad to hear the Baby's heart beat and to find out that the Baby is head down!

Shopping

We stopped at Babies'r Us yesterday on our way home from the Dr. appointment. We were so blessed to get so many beautiful gifts when I was home for my baby shower, and wanted to make sure we got the final things we needed. By final, I mean essential, like a car seat, new crib (details in a minute) and a changing pad. There's still tons of stuff we could use, but at least now we feel somewhat comfortable with the fact that at 33 weeks we are "ready" if that Baby decided to come earlier!

We tested out a few car seats, to see which one would fit best in our car, then came home and did a bunch of review research. We think we've found the one we want and will place the order soon!

So the crib. For those of you that don't know, they've ban the manufacturing and selling of drop down cribs in the US. I'll be honest, when I first heard about this, I thought to myself, ok, I see that they are bad and have caused some problems, but our baby will be just fine. It wasn't until Thursday, when I got a text from my sister and then saw online that they were ban that we really started reconsidering. Austin came home from work and I said, "oh, I saw today online about the cribs...." before I could finish he stopped me and said he had read the same thing.

As much I we love the crib we're using and would love to keep using, there is something that just doesn't feel right about keeping it. I know we could rig it to stay in place, but the fact is, if something ever happened we would feel terrible. That said, we picked out and ordered a new crib. Considering the fact that we would love to have more than one child, getting a new crib isn't such a bad idea anyway. (The crib we were going to use, has been through at least 4 or 5 kids, so maybe it is time to just get a new one?!)

We decided to get a cute modern black crib (yes, black!). It is going to look SOOO cute. Austin now wants to re-paint the rocker to be black, which I'm all for.

It seems like everything is coming together. We even found a cute little blue/red/white hat for the baby to wear home! Austin would say they are Bills colors and of course I would say, PATS COLORS!!! Just have to find a pair of little nugget red pants and the baby's coming home outfit is DONE! (Do we bring more than one outfit to the hospital??) Now we just need the baby.

Sex of the baby

NO, we don't really know the sex of the baby. When we went to the ultrasound yesterday, we made sure that they knew that we didn't want to know and that we didn't want it written in our chart. I'm paranoid enough that I asked both the Tech doing the ultrasound and the Dr. about it being written down. I just couldn't image getting this far without knowing, only to have someone say something on accident.

That being said, when the Tech left the room, Austin and I analyzed if it was a boy or girl based on the Tech saying the following:

-"Oh she is shaking her head no at me"

-"Let's see if we can get him to move his hands, so we can see his face"

And the Dr. did it too!! I can't remember the specifics on what he said, but either way it made us wonder.

Austin's still very convinced it's a girl and I'm still thinking boy. We can't wait to find out!

Ultrasound

It was so fun to see where the baby was positioned during the ultrasound. I often guess what part of the baby is pushing where on my stomach, which makes Austin laugh. We found out yesterday that the baby is head down, spin and back pushed against my left side, butt in my rib/chest area and lefts off to the right. He/she loves to put his/her hands in his/her face (just like the last ultrasound). Maybe the baby is already sucking on his/her fingers! Either way, it was hard to get a good 3D picture, in fact they came out kind of scary!! We're hoping for a better picture in 4 weeks, although at that point I'm alway hoping the baby is head down and getting ready to come out. So if we can't get a good picture then, I'll be alright with that.

The Dr. informed us that the baby was just over 4lbs! So exciting to know that he/she is going to be a healthy size baby. He also told us (which I'm sure he tells everyone, but it made me smile) that we had a cute and neat kid. No idea what the means in regards to see him/her via ultrasound pictures, but I'll take all the compliments on my baby as I can!

Kidney Update

We had our follow up ultrasound yesterday. They basically told us that things are looking ok and they still want to monitor the kidneys. It seems they saw something different in the left kidney for the last report and want to follow up again in 4 weeks just to be safe. The Dr. was really great. He spent a lot of time talking with us about our options after the baby is born and what could possible happen between then and now. He continues to say that this might just correct itself, through development or even through the birthing process (apparently gravity does amazing things....according to the Dr.) We're good with the results. At this point there is nothing we can do to correct the situation and it's really not worth stressing over. We have full faith that God is in control of our little nugget and we'll just keep praying that things work itself out. If not, we'll take the steps necessary following birth. Thanks for the continued prayers for Baby Stutz! We're excited to see him/her again in four weeks!

Feeling better

My two girlfriends, whom I happen to work with, put me on orders to go home and rest yesterday. I did my best to stay off my feet, with the excepting of putting away a few dishes, making some soup and doing my laundry. But other wise I just sat and rested, read and watched tv. Today I'm feeling MUCH better. Hoping this feeling stays and the other doesn't come back often!

Hiccups

This poor baby has had the hiccups for the last two days, not continually, but on and off. Poor little nugget. I'm trying to figure out what it's related to and the only thing I can think of is that it happens when I'm hungry, right after I start eating. No idea what that means!

Belly pictures...finally

Here are a few pictures of my belly this morning.

8 weeks to go!

I can’t believe there are only 8 weeks until Baby Stutz’s due date! What is even harder to believe is that fact that Baby Stutz could come as early as 4 weeks from now! Are we ready…NO. We are going to go and get the changing pad and Car Seat this weekend, and then we’ll be semi ready. Meaning, the baby could arrive and we would be ok. But fully ready, no, I don’t think we are there just yet. I can’t say that I’m not nervous, because I am. I’m scared for labor more than anything, but I know we have options and I’m sure Austin will be a great support. I guess it’s more just the fear of the unknown. Either way, ready or not, this baby is coming!

Kidney Update

We are going in for another ultra sound on Friday, to take a look at the Baby’s Kidney and see if it corrected itself. Austin and I aren’t worried either way, as we feel that it can be corrected if needed once the Baby is born. Of course, it would be a blessing if everything has already taken care of itself, but if it hasn’t we aren’t stressing over it. Either way, we’re excited to see Baby Stutz again. We’re hoping they’ll do another 3D image of his/her face.

Out late

I’m such an old lady these days. I can’t plan anything past 6pm just in case I’m not feeling that great. After being up and on my feet throughout the day, all I really want to do by 5pm is come home and sit with my feet up! I want to be more active and spend time with friends, but I can’t bring myself to commit to anything. Sad right?!

Comfortable...

I wouldn’t exactly say that I’m comfortable. I have my moments, but lately I’ve felt tired, run down and unable to sit or stand for long periods of time. Thankfully I’m still sleeping really well, but after being up for a few hours I feel like I’m ready for a nap. Work is keeping me busy and helping pass the hours until I can go to bed. I couldn’t image just sitting at home and feeling uncomfortable throughout the day. I feel like I’m re-entering the first trimester, where I was tired all the time, which I guess is normal. My belly has been stretched, to what I think should be the max, and continues to grow on a regular basis. That stretching feeling doesn’t help with feeling comfortable either. Oh well, I guess it’s just God’s way of getting me to the point where I’m ready to say “I’m done, and ready for the baby to come”.

Baby Bonding

This weekend was packed full of events; from Graduation of my kiddos, to multiple Christmas parties (in fact I had one every night this weekend) and so much more in between. Here’s one of my favorite pictures from this weekend. My girlfriend Rachel (the other girl in this picture) is also pregnant, 16 weeks in fact. When they were about 12 weeks pregnant they found out that the Baby’s skull and skin on his/her head isn’t developing, because of that she/he mostly likely won’t live through the pregnancy. If by chance the baby does make it through the pregnancy she/he isn’t’ expected to live very long. Rachel and her husband Claud made a heart wrenching decision to carry the baby as long as God lets them and then donate all his/her organs to other families with sick babies. I’m in awe of her strength and her faith. Please keep her in your prayers!

Nine weeks to go...

We are officially starting to count down the weeks, rather than counting up! So exciting to think that in 9 weeks we could be parents, even scarier to think that it could happen before that. I’m secretly hoping the baby doesn’t come too early. I know most pregnant women would want that, and who knows, in another few weeks I might be begging this child to come out, but for now I’m focused on work and not the baby. I guess I keep thinking I have more time than I really do. Ok, so maybe we should at least got and get a car seat, just in case?! No, for the most part we have everything that we would “need” to survive the first few days. We don’t have everything, but who really needs EVERYTHING the day the baby comes home? But car seat, we really don’t have, so that is a must.

Will post new belly pictures soon!

Here's the "bigger" posting of the pictures, not sure why they were so small before. I don't have the motivation, read blog below, to take the other pictures off! Enjoy the doubles!

A few pics

Here are a few Belly pics from home. My camera died day one, so I didn't take many pictures. I know my Aunt was taking a few, so as soon as they are uploaded, I'll put them on the blog!

Flying

My travels went so much better than I expected. First there was security at the airports. With so much chatter about the new x-ray machines and complaints about the pat-downs, I was interested to see what I would face. Turns out, I didn’t have to do either. At both Logan and Sky harbor I went through a regular medial detector and that was that.

My sister had suggested that I talk with someone at the counter when I got to the airport to see if it was at all possible to be moved into the bulkhead seat. In doing this I would be able to put my feet up on the wall in front of me and have more leg room. What a great suggestion, it worked all around for all of my flights!

With regards to being irritated and uncomfortable, I’m normally irritated in general when flying, so to be 7 ½ months pregnant and not be irritated was truly a blessing from God. Thank you for all the prayers! I was comfortable, able to sleep and even watched a movie on the way there and back.

Baby Shower

I’m overwhelmed and at a loss for words (I know, me without words?!) by the out pouring of love for Baby Stutz. It was such a blessing to be able to fly home and see everyone. I loved that I got to spend quality time with family and friends for so many days. Baby Stutz got so many wonderful gifts, I can’t wait to put them all to use! I’ll be thinking of each of you as I use your gift and I’m sure I’ll be telling Baby Stutz, “now, this is from….she loves you sooo much”. Thank you so much for all the beautiful cards, words of encouragement, hugs and love/support. I can’t wait for all of you to meet Baby Stutz in person.

Lacking in Motivation

I know I’ve been slacking on the blog lately. Going home for my shower and coming back to the reality of life and work hasn’t been the easiest adjustment. To blog on top of that seems tiring. But I did hear a lot of people at the shower say that they loved reading the blog, so here goes.