April Showers

We had 3 baby showers last week!  The outpouring of love and generosity from co-workers, friends, and family was amazing.  Ward and I are introverts and tend to keep small circles, we just feel more comfortable in smaller gatherings, so we weren't expecting the response we got from our showers.

I don't have any pictures from the first two, but my sister, sister-from-another-mister, and mom threw us a wonderful shower Saturday April 14th. As usual, they went over the top with decorations and super cute handmade stuff from pinterest. We had several people drive in as far as 4 hours to attend.  We are the luckiest parents-to-be! 

Baby Shower Photo Bomb!

I kept the pictures small so they wouldn't take a million years to load, but if you click the picture you can see it bigger.



Adorable diaper cake & cupcakes made by Future Grandma!

Handmade banner from Aunt Loni & Pooh from the Grandparents

More handmade decorations from Aunt Loni



Built in beer holder?

The Hostesses

Future Grandparents

Aunt Maggie

Ward's Family

Varner Family

The girls! As much as we could get them to stay still.

Boys looking super excited!

Brad and Damien who were in from Arizona.

I wish I knew what present he was opening!

Lots of cutie pie baby stuff!

Watching all the action

The Loot!  Of course I had to lay it all out and take a picture.

Nesting

We have been nesting pretty hard the last few weeks. We completely redid our back patio and went over board with cleaning and prepping. We've been talking about what to do with our back yard since we moved in and could never really decide or pull the trigger on anything. Magically a few weeks ago we decided what we wanted to do and hired a contractor.

I love spending time outside, but it gets crazy hot and I end up cutting my time short. Not to mention that I can't drag Ward out there after April! With Colin arriving during some pretty warm weather, I wanted a comfortable shaded outdoor living space. I love the idea of sitting on the porch with him during my leave, and once he gets older while he plays.

We extended the porch, added an overhang with a ceiling fan, and got some new comfy furniture. I love the way it turned out.


The contractor finished Friday and left a bit of a mess. We spent Sat pressure washing and scrubbing then spent Sun assembling the new furniture. We've had a crazy busy week of working, preparing our house for a baby shower, and taking baby classes. It's finally caught up with me and I am pretty miserable today. I hope a few days off my feet will do the trick because I need Colin to cook for AT LEAST 3 more weeks.

Colin in 3D

We had our 3D/4D ultrasound appointment last Saturday. My mom, my sister, my aunt, and Ward’s sister and niece came to sneak a peek at the little boy growing in my belly.  I loved getting to see his little face, but he was SO STUBBORN!  Like his daddy, he ran away from the camera and kept putting up his hands (and sometimes feet) in front of his face.

We did a couple of good photos and here is what we can tell: he has Ward’s puffy cheeks, a button nose, and heart shaped lips.  Ward and I both had button noses as babies and we both have heart shaped lips so none of this is terribly surprising.  Colin weighed in at 3lbs 8oz and is measuring right on schedule.

Check it out for yourself. Who do you think he looks like?

I just want to kiss those cheeks

He kept opening his mouth and smacking his lips

He smiled at us!

Look at that pouty face!

Baby Tami

Baby Ward

30 Weeks!

10 Weeks Left, Yikes!
How far along: 30 Weeks

Total weight gain: 16.5 pounds total

Food craving: Chicken Stir-Fry

Cankles, Stretch Marks, Waddling: Every day I’m waddlin’

What I’m looking forward to: 3D/4D ultrasound on Saturday! I can’t wait to see his little face and see what he’s doing in there. I know we may get a bad angle and I may be disappointed with the pictures, but I’m willing to take the chance.

Milestones: Signing up with a pediatrician. Colin officially has a doctor! Also, I have Heartburn. Again, a milestone I could live without, but it was only a matter of time. I’ve never really had heartburn ever so it took me a little bit to recognize what it was.

Best moment this week: Taking TWO naps this weekend and getting some sun. I tend to hibernate in the winter, especially this year. It was such a beautiful weekend that I took my iPad outside and read on the porch for a few hours. I even got a little sunburn on my legs.




I’m in a crazy-pregnant-lady-nesting phase. I have all these things that I’ve been meaning to do for the past 6 years and somehow I feel the need to accomplish them all, like NOW. For example, I feel the need to take everything out of the kitchen cabinets, wipe them down with Murphy’s Oil, and clean out the clutter. I’ve barely touched the cabinets in the 6 years we have lived in our house, but for some reason this must be done NOW!

I am also extra special clumsy lately. I really don’t know what pregnancy has to do with hand-eye coordination, but mine is sucking up a storm right now. Between the hormones, crazy nesting urges, and klutziness Ward dubbed me a “Waddling Train Wreck" this weekend! Thanks honey.

We start our 5 week birthing class tomorrow. Stuff’s getting real up in here!

Boy Mom

When we were registering at Babies R Us, Ward decided to pop over to the toy department. With a boy-like expression he marveled at the Nerf guns and made note of how much more advanced they are now than when he was a kid. I know he can’t wait for Ward Jr to be old enough to play!


Now, he may be picturing me as the unwitting victim in their Nerf gun wars. Unsuspectingly cooking dinner while they sneak up on me and attack.

But really, I picture myself more like this:

Ready for action and taking some boys down!

Oh, and if he'd rather play dress-up and tea party I've got my tiara ready!

28 Weeks!

How far along: 28 Weeks

Total weight gain: 15 pounds total

Food craving: GIRL SCOUT COOKIES!!!

Cankles, Stretch Marks, Waddling: No cankles or stretch marks yet, but I’m definitely starting to waddle. I try to fight it, but sometimes I’m just too tired. I’ve had to eliminate all pointy heels from my wardrobe (which makes me very sad) and have to wear either flats or low wedges.

What I’m looking forward to:  The 3D/4D ultrasound at the end of the month.

Milestones: THIRD TRIMESTER!!! I start seeing the Doctor every two weeks now.  Colin weighed 2lb 14oz at our appointment on Monday, so he's right on track.  The milestone I could live without, are the Braxton Hicks contractions. They come sporadically and aren’t painful per se, but are definitely annoying and uncomfortable.

Best moment this week: Since I'm a few weeks behind, I have more than one.  1. Finishing the nursery. I feel such a huge sense of relief with it done and I LOVE going in there and just looking at the room. 2. Colin getting the hiccups. It was too cute to be annoyed at 2am. He’s getting bigger and his movements are getting stronger. I love the reassurance that he’s in there and doing okay…even if it is when I’m trying to sleep.

We plan to spend the months of March and April taking baby classes and reading books to get ready for Colin’s arrival.  We took our first class last week about car seat safety.  We kind of thought it was going to be a waste of time, but the truth is, we didn’t know what we didn’t know. Apparently you need a master’s degree in engineering to properly install a car seat and there are about 1 million rules to follow.  I probably should have taken better notes!

Ninja Baby

Today I had a lunch meeting where they provided pizza and soda. I started drinking sugar free Coke Zero several years ago and for the past 18 months haven’t really had any soda much at all. In the last month or so I’ve eliminated ALL caffeine (even switched to caffeine free tea). So Colin has not really been exposed to soda and has had limited exposure to caffeine.

At the meeting today, they had Pepsi and Sprite as the drink options. Without thinking much about it, I poured myself a glass of full sugar/full caffeine Pepsi. About 30 minutes into the meeting, Colin was kicking so hard and moving so much that you could see my stomach moving! I had on a pretty fitted shirt today and I looked down to see tiny arms and/or legs moving across my stomach and giving kicks/punches. I covered my belly so no one else could see (because believe me, if they were looking they would see) and tried really hard not to giggle.

He’s getting so active and it’s wonderful! I hope someday I can catch it on video.