A Fresh Perspective

37 weeks and Bella making herself comfy on Mom's body pillow.

It's Adam and first off, I've got to give my beautiful wife some recognition for the way she's dealt with the highs and lows of pregnancy. We're almost to the finish line and if the roles were reversed, I wouldn't have made it past week eight. I don't know how you ladies do it. I've seen and read about things that are not suitable for this blog, but I can go on the record and admit that guys have it MUCH easier!

Up until now Elise has written nearly every line of every blog entry. When the baby comes, I'll be promoted from Facility Engineer & Concierge Services to Communications Director and you'll all be stuck with my bad sense of humor. So I guess you can consider this a practice entry which Elise will be grading later this evening.

We reached 37 weeks yesterday. It is crazy to think that within the next three weeks or so, we'll be bringing home a baby! Speculation is at an all-time high on when labor will begin and whether or not we're having a boy or a girl. At times it's torturous, but fortunately work has kept me busy enough to avoid going completely nuts. While we've been making a good dent in our to-do list (my list of course is referred to as a "honey-do" list), we've been trying to spend this weekend out of the house - and have consequently been eating our way through St. Louis. Yesterday, we had pizza (at an eco-friendly business that Prez. Obama has just ordered for the White House), milkshakes (as recently seen on one those crappy, yet addicitive Food Network shows) and brunch (TBD). There is no shame in our game and our feeling is to "get it while we can!" Did I mention that I've gain a few pounds during this pregnancy? I swear if I eat too much in one sitting, I can feel the baby kick me!

The next blog entry I write will be to share details on our newly-delivered Baby J with our family and friends. We can hardly wait. Until then...


-Adam
(Click play to watch Baby J in action)

As ready as we can be, we guess.......

Adam contemplating the most efficient way and then installing the carseat.

Since we finished the nursery, I have surprised myself by sitting in it, but not redoing everything we've put into place- at least not yet. So we've turned our attention to other necessities like cleaning, packing for the hospital and putting the carseat in my car. As you can imagine, I've taken the lead on the registering, picking items out and decorating, but Adam is all over the safety aspects for the baby. Those who know him well can't be surprised by this at all ;) So here are a few shots of him getting the car seat installed. A few days later, I took my car to a police station for a car seat inspection and he did very well. If anything, it was over installed :) So now we're in a holding pattern and I find myself staring at the calendar often wondering which day will be Baby J's birthday. Adam and I keep hoping for the end of April, but since that's what we'd like chances are this kid is either coming on my birthday (5/8) or well overdue! Keep your fingers crossed for us. We're starting to get even more curious if Baby J is a girl or a boy!

Lots of Changes

Before and after shots of my hair donation.


A year ago, Adam and I were on a road trip after recently seeing the move, The Bucket List, and I decided it would be an opportune time to actually make one (in my old age, I seem to like making lists much to Adam's annoyance:). First on my list of things to do was "have babies." Not too far down from that was donate my hair. So here's my two for one special. Though I have to admit, chopping my hair during my last couple weeks pregnant and getting the "Mom do" immediately might not have been the best idea I've had. Not sure if it's the hormones or the fat prego face, but I'm not a huge fan. Regardless, I feel VERY good about donating my 9 inches of hair to children with Cancer. I'm told by the hairdresser it will make multiple wigs. :) And afterall, soon I'll have a little one demanding all my attention, so who has time to do their hair??

Ready to go- sort of....

Last weekend, my mom came to visit to help us get things ready for Baby J's impending arrival and to celebrate her birthday. We did our best to boost the economy by getting the necessities for Baby J to come home from the hospital and then some. I am sure that I will change and reorganize the nursery several times between now and when I go into labor, but here's the general idea. Adam and I LOVE it and feel that if the baby is born tomorrow even though we have 5 weeks till our due date, we'd be ready......sort of! Thanks to all of you for your generous and adorable contributions!!!! Baby J is a very lucky baby already! Click below for a 360 degree view of Baby J's room!

Hotlanta and our Tour de Babies

Spending time with our favorite nieces, Lauren and Allison.

The guys and girls at our awesome baby shower.

More girls from the baby shower and meeting Cooper!

Meeting Olivia, Jackson and Trey and getting some practice!

New Parents!!!!

Adam and I had a fantastic weekend in Atlanta visiting friends, meeting their new babies, attending our couples baby shower, seeing family and hitting some of our favorite spots. Atlanta is where we met and fell in love and it has so many people who are so important to us, it's hard not to really miss being there- maybe one day we'll be back ;) We had a fantastic time at our adorably jungle themed shower and meeting all the new little ones. We met Trey, Cooper, Olivia and Jackson and are hoping to meet Riley on our next trip! We also got to spend some great quality time with our two favorite nieces, Lauren and Allison. Lauren will be celebrating her 8th birthday soon, so we took her to lunch and shopping, just the 3 of us. It was great!

When we got back, we had another ultrasound and this is the only one we've had where Baby J was actually sleeping and not crazily active, though Baby J still needed hands and one foot near his/her face to be comfy.....too cute. Everything looks great and Baby J is weighing in at 4 lbs 5 oz (45 percentile) at 33.5 weeks. We're told that babies put on an average of 1/2 pound per week at this point, so here's to hoping for a healthy (7lb ish or less) baby :) We've completed our natural childbirth class and have a breastfeeding and infant CPR class and finishing the nursery on the horizon. We can't wait to find out who this little one is and share him/her with all of you!!!

Florida

Here are some group family shots of our immediate family.

1. Enjoying some cake at my awesome MLB baby shower, 2. "Aunt" CJ loving the belly

3. "Cousin" Graham eating peas at our house 4. Uncle Gary and Aunt Diane

30 Weeks! How much bigger can I get?

We'll find out in the next 2 months. Scary!

Adam and I went to FL to show off the rather large baby "bump" to close friends and family. As always, it was a whirlwind of a trip with tons of people to see and lots of food to eat. We had a great time. As they say, pictures say a thousand words so for once, I'll keep quiet (don't expect that to last too long) :)

Getting Closer

27 wks ultrasound with Baby J touching foot to forehead and the belly is getting huge! :)
27 weeks and counting, which means that this baby is coming in 3 months, give or take.... WOW! The first 20 wks were so focused on trying to keep food down that now we can't believe how quickly approaching Baby J's arrival really is! We had another ultrasound this week and it's totally incredible to see the Baby have hiccups, watch as the Baby touches his/her foot to his/her forehead, roll around and I even think we saw blinking! Incredible! Baby J received a phenomenal report weighing in at 1lb. 15 oz. at the 45th percentile. I'm doing great, minus a few typical aches and pains. Comparatively speaking, I'm on cloud nine! :)

1. Furniture delivery guys putting together the crib 2. View from bed in corner of room. Mom sent my old rocking chair I had as kid.....brought tears to my eyes when I opened the box

While a whole month earlier than expected, the baby furniture is here! We love it! It's so hard to imagine that this is where the baby will sleep and grow up (at least while we still live in St. Louis). We have lots to do to make it more personalized, but I thought we'd add a beginning picture. The delivery included set up, so Adam did get out of putting the crib together, however, as most of you know he's done and is doing so many house projects he was entitled to a break! After our 8 inches of snow a couple weeks ago, we had a wonderful 70 degrees today...... that just makes us happy! We're ready for spring and for all that it will bring!

Prego Brain

Bella watching and playing as Adam shovels the driveway after 8 inches of snow on on his bday!!

I'm sure many of you have heard of Pregnancy Brain. For those who haven't, people say you're forgetful, clumsy, airheaded, what have you...... for me, I'm flighty and forgetful, but I'm always forgetful so who's to say if it's pregnancy related or not. Adam may have something more to say about it, however, I'm starting to wonder if prego brain is contagious as I'm convinced Adam has it worse than me lately. To give an example, the other day we were getting dressed for work when Adam asked me if his shirt matched his suit. I told him it did, and he asked me if I was sure and I said yes. Then as I'm in the car on my way to work, he texted me "I'm wearing two different shoes." Evidently he was so worried about his shirt that his shoes didn't need a second glance...... I laughed so hard I had tears in my eyes. Just one of many examples that has me cracking up lately. I think it's probably all of the stress of trying to get everything done. Our nursery is now officially painted and the baby furniture is due to be delivered this week. It is over a month early in its arrival and has caused a bit of reality to hit home for us. All of sudden, it's real. We're having a baby. A real life BABY!!!! We're decorating a nursery, planning for work, signing up for childbirth classes, etc. I don't know why the morning sickness, growing belly, active baby and numerous doctor appointments with ultrasounds hasn't been enough to convince me and it took a call that the nursery furniture was in to make it seem real, but it did. Amazing. We are looking forward to another ultrasound and heading to FL and Atlanta for one more trip each prior to the birth of our baby..........We can't wait to see family and friends in the next couple months!!!

Baby Palooza

Our 20 week 3D ultrasound. Everything looked great! It's amazing how they can see the baby is swallowing amniotic fluid and the chambers of the heart. Incredible!!

24 weeks and counting....That means we are approaching the third trimester. Crazy!! We are all feeling pretty good. I now have a substantial "bump" that I don't think anyone questions whether I'm expecting or not. In fact, I've even received some twins comments. Not sure if that means I'm eating too much or that I'm just so short that my belly looks huge in comparison. I'm hoping for the latter. Baby J continues to amaze us. The other night I was laying on the couch with my hand draped over my belly when I felt my fingers pop up. I immediately got Adam's attention and I put my cell phone on there which danced around just like the little Cuban jumping bean I know must be inside. It was the start of what I'm sure will be many entertaining moments with the belly. I can't imagine how we'll be when the baby actually gets here :) Speaking of arriving babies, I know we're not in the Baby Boomers era, but when it comes to our circle of friends and family it's definitely Baby Palooza. There is a long list of friends who are either expecting or who recently gave birth. You can click on the left to meet Allison, Graham, Trey, and Cooper. Baby J already has so many friends and he/she isn't even here yet!! We are so excited for our friends and family during this time!

Adam giving in to some of my more recent cravings....isn't he cute lining up the tator tots??

Becky and Rich came for a visit.

Allison Danielle

Captions: 1. Uncle Adam with Allison 2. Aunt Elise first meeting Allison 3. Jim, Caren, Lauren & Allison 4. Allison's Close up 5. Grandma Elayne & Uncle Adam with Allison surrounded by her blanket 6. Allison meeting Baby J

Due to our niece, Allison Danielle's early arrival we headed to Atlanta several days early and spent about a week with our brand new niece, Caren, Jim, Lauren and Elayne. Allison is precious and a totally great baby! We hope that our little one is as good as she is! We would be so lucky! We had a crash course in newborn care, hospital stays, and are now eager to pick the hospital Baby J will be born in and take our childbirth class. We are now 22 weeks along and I am happy to say that the "morning sickness" is 99% gone!!! YIPPEE!! Took long enough!! Baby J happily flips kicks and punches me throughout the day and Adam enjoys feeling our baby's gymnastics as well! It's hard to believe that our little one will make his/her arrival in about 4 months! We're so excited to meet him/her! Feel free to send us your guesses :)

Halfway Point

We have lots of news to share! First, Adam and I took out the amazing yet horrific pump a week ago tonight and so far so good. I have been a thousand times better and have even gained back the 13lbs I lost in addition to a pound or two on my own (not all in the last week mind you). Great news, even if getting on the scale makes me frown now :) I've felt so good in fact that we had a very busy weekend, including Adam's Holiday party. Ironically, we were chatting on the way how noone has really rubbed my belly like you hear so much about once the baby belly appears. So I went from noone really rubbing my belly to NFL players rubbing my belly....too funny! Then we got an exciting phone call late saturday night from Caren and found out early sunday morning, 12/21/08, that our niece, Allison Danielle, made an early appearance. She is absolulely adorable. We can't wait to meet her and post some pictures of her in our next entry. :)

Today, we are 20wks and 2 days and had our big ultrasound where they check all of the anatomy and give you the option to find out the gender. Baby J was doing toe touches and sucking fingers and was active as could be as usual. Even Adam can now feel some of the many movements I feel throughout the day. We are happy to announce that Baby J is 11 ounces and 9 inches long with all necessary parts! Though we know many of you might be disappointed, the parts you're most curious about will remain a mystery until our little one makes his/her arrival. Feel free to give us your best guess as wondering is such tremendous fun for us. We are halfway there and since the first half of this pregnancy seemed to drag along for us, I have a feeling this second half will go by much faster since I'm feeling so much better. FINALLY!

Happy Chanukah, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! We miss all of you!!!

Thanks, Becky, for the awesome T-shirt!! (Click pictures to enlarge)

See you soon, Ally, Lauren, Caren, Jim & Elayne!!!! :)

Pump it up

Today we're 19 weeks and Baby J is kicking and tumbling away enjoying life on a daily basis. I, on the other hand, felt the final straw not too long ago and finally accepted my Dr's advice and had home health come out to provide an anti nausea 24 hour a day pump. What neither Adam nor I realized was that the nurse wasn't going to do the heavy lifting (i.e. sticking me with a needle), it would be Adam's job. We didn't know what we were signing up for with this pregnancy, but I'm happy to say that the pump has helped tremendously and we both hope to not have it too much longer. I'm very hopeful that by 20 weeks (7 days and counting) we'll be officially over the hump. Please keep your fingers crossed for us!

Today, we had a total BABY DAY. We started by going to our first of a few hospital tours which was an incredibly eye opening experience. Adam got to see a "conehead" for the first time. We continued the baby day by registering, going furniture shopping and holding a friend's newborn. Needless to say, we are a tad overwhelmed, but, there is a light at the end of the tunnel :)

The pictures included are of my new heavy medical companion with my bruised and battered belly and of Adam's first present from Baby J. He deserves an award for all that he's done and continues to do to take care of us, so Baby J and I found this shirt for him. We don't know what we would've done for the last few months without him. He's been Husband of the Year for a while, but he's now added Daddy of the Year to his long list of credentials. We will be forever grateful. Oh, and evidently, these are my really comfy pjs..... :)

Definitely a Taurus

Today, we are 17 weeks and while the first trimester troubles remain with us, I am excited to say that I'm fairly sure that I can now feel our little one doing the flips and crazy movements we've seen during our ultrasound. We had a doctor's appt on Wednesday and while we were trying to listen to the heartbeat again, it was really muffled and irregular at first so I asked the dr why it sounded like that and she said the baby was moving. Apparently, our child is as hyper if not more hyper than his (easier than his/her) mother and father combined :) The first time I thought I felt Baby J move was a few days ago and it felt like a tiny movement or flutter, but I wasn't sure. Now I've felt it several times and am fairly sure I am in for a long haul with this kiddo, as when I'm still, he seems to be moving a lot! I'll take all your kicks and flips little one if only you would help me out with the nausea! We keep trying to broker a deal, but it seems that Baby J doesn't like my terms yet. We definitely have a Taurus on our hands (just like his mama!) :) Happy Birthday (tomorrow), Courtney!!!