32 Weeks and 2 days...

Today was another doctor appointment. We are getting closer and closer! Attached is an updated belly photo yet again. Belly is measuring 41" around now and weight is right on track. Today baby had hiccups during the appointment which was very obvious during the heart rate monitoring. The final heartbeat was either 141 or 148... Jim and I both remembered different numbers. Sorry for those of you who are trying to use that to guess whether we are having a boy or girl. Everything is right on track and Dr. Kercher believes baby might already be head down. Baby is still pretty high up in the belly though so it is hard to tell. I am pretty convinced as my ribs are very very tender these days from the kicks I am getting.

I am getting the third trimester tiredness for sure. Sleep is definitely difficult - not because it is uncomfortable, I can't turn my brain off. I fall asleep right away, but wake up around 3 or 3:30 am and then lay there until the alarm goes off. It isn't bad until about 10 am, when all I want to do is go take a nap at my desk. I may have to try taking a Tylenol PM on occasion... but we'll start slow and see how I feel the next day!

The weekend went too fast!

Today we went to church with my mom and Ann and then out to our usual Sunday breakfast restaurant. Food was delicious as usual and I ordered the pecan roll which satisfied the caramel / cinnamon craving I can't seem to get rid of these days. I blame it on my Grandma from when they came to visit and she made her homemade caramel rolls.

After breakfast mom and Ann packed up to head home. So sad to see them leave, however they promised to return and to bring some additional relatives... Shannon, Ali, and Kristy! Looking forward to that already!

After they left we went to our friends so Jim could help them lay wood flooring. We got to Mandy and Bobs arount 1 pm and spent the rest of the day/evening there. Jim and Bob managed to finish almost the entire dining room. I spent the day helping Mandy with the kids and dog. I changed diapers, clothing, and even gave her a bath all by myself! We took the dogs and kids for a walk at one point. And believe me we got some funny looks from everyone passing by. I had the graco stroller with Willa in the carseat. Mandy had Eric in the jogging stroller. After several attempts to have one dog with each of us, it was clear Mandy having both dogs was much easier. So there we were... one prego lady, one recently prego lady, two strollers, and two dogs walking down a city sidewalk. Most people went into the street as we approached to let us keep going, but some just pulled off onto the grass and laughed as we went. And yet again, Miss Willa was able to give me another lesson in diaper changing. Last time it was the non stop pooping mid change. This time, we had full force blowout mid change. Yes. It was lovely. Mandy just kept laughing and asking if I wanted her to take over... but I kept saying no, I need to learn!
We finally got home at 9:45... and yes - I should be in bed. But I didn't get a chance to upload the finished Bathroom pictures yet... Jim did an outstanding job remodeling it... and thanks to my mom and Ann, the bathroom is decorated and finished!

What a Saturday!

This weekend we had my mom and Aunt Ann make a last minute weekend visit. They arrived on Friday night around 7 pm just in time for some dinner. After dinner we gave Ann the tour of the house and ended up spending the next 3.5 hours in the baby room going through everything and trying to make sense of receipts.

Ann was a huge help in deciding how many of the various items we would want to keep and also helped us realize there were many uses for things like, the little baby washcloths and spit up rags! We got all of the returns organized and then also rearranged the baby room as best as we could to maximize space. This involved moving the massive amounts of diapers we have received to another room in the house and some of the wipes too. We now had space in the closet for some of the cool toys we received. Yeah!

Saturday - Jim and I had to go to CPR training at the hospital where we learned that they have simplified the CPR training to be the same counts for infants through adults. 2 breaths, 30 compressions. I can remember that! We also learned how to properly handle a choking infant, child, adult, and ourselves. It was only a 2 hour course but it was well worth it!

We got back home to find that Ann and my mom had set up bouncy seats, the swing, and the jumparoo. They also managed to take Hilo for a long walk. We grabbed some lunch and then the ladies were off to return the items we had receipts for or we knew were on the registry as purchased (Target). Babies 'R' Us was the first stop and believe me the customer service gal was less than thrilled to go through the mess of receipts. We managed to return all but a single blanket at Babies 'R' Us. Then we drove 30 miles North to Green Bay to return the Target stuff. They have a greatland in Green Bay and the baby section is significantly larger there. The returns took a long time again and even included a call to corporate to overide the registry error code! Yikes I had no idea it was that difficult! But again - we managed to get the items we wanted returned. We then spent the next 1.5 hours shopping for bathroom decorations and getting some necessities for the baby room. Next, we went back to Appleton and stopped at the Hobby Lobby. My mom's and now Ann's FAVORITE store. I was pretty much toast at this point, so when asked - do you like this picture... I replied yes everytime. Finally I decided it was time to let my mom and Ann figure out the bathroom decorations and I found a comfy spot on a bench. We got back home and were plain old exhausted.

Dinner was at Hu Hot - a mongolian BBQ place. It was delicious as always and of course we ended with my favorite, cheese cake rangoons. They are now Ann's favorite dessert! We returned home and paid for a movie on demand... The Illusionist! If you haven't seen it, rent it. It was a very very good flick!

Gift Registries

Today I decided to go and return some of the duplicate items I had received from the baby showers. Unfortunately, I found out the return policies at both Babies 'R' Us and Target were not the friendliest. For Babies 'R' Us, a receipt is needed in order to return it, whether it was on your registry or not. They won't even exchange it for a different color, for example I received 2 of the exact same blankets, they wouldn't let me trade one for another of the same blanket in a different color. Even for in store credit... no returns! And then Target, they now have you print off what is called the "Purchased" Registry list. So anything that was scanned off your registry prints off, and you can return that. Otherwise, again a receipt is required. So their policy is a bit better, however if the registry didn't keep up, you were stuck with it. For example, for the 0-3 month (5 pack) onesies, I received 5 packs (which is equal to 25 onesies in that size). Only 2 packs were shown as purchased, so that is all I could return, 2 of the 5 packs of 0-3 onesies. Unless of course I had a receipt, which I did receive many of them... but matching up the exact codes was definitely a daunting task!

I left both stores with about half the items I brought in to return and was definitely frustrated! So advice for those friends and family members either thinking about getting a registry together or buying a gift off the registry... USE CAUTION. If the item you are buying is on the registry - make sure you get it crossed off. And besure to attach the gift receipt to the gift. It is all to common for people to be shopping at the same time... and pick up the same registry items.

Practice makes Perfect...

Saturday I went down to Oshkosh to help Mandy with her first day home alone with a 2 year old, a newborn, and a dog. Jim left for Madison to hang out with Mark, Tara, and Josh. And Hilo went with our friend Chris to hang out with cows on his friend Andy's farm.

Hanging out with Mandy, Eric (2yr old), and Willa (2 week old) was pretty darn fun. But I had a lot to learn. I told Mandy I was in charge of diapering all day for Willa so I could get better at it. I was doing pretty well until she decided to poop and pee as I was changing her. I had to keep scooting her further and further up the changing pad (thankfully we had a cloth down to catch the mess) as she did this 3 times after I had pulled the dirty diaper off. This had been my first ever encounter with this. Thank you Willa for the experience. Eric is getting some new teeth so he was running a bit of a fever and of course only wanted mom. So I was able to get Willa dressed. Another learning experience. They are so tiny and don't really help you get their arms into those tiny sleeves! And the last lesson was on bath time. Never had done that so Mandy showed me how along with how to swaddle. Definitely will need a refresher!

Jim had a good time in Madison - at least from the phone calls and text messages I got throughout the day and night. He is on his way home now. And I am sure he will be very eager to work on that first floor bath!

Hilo had a blast on the farm I am told. He really liked the fresh cow milk and apparently their food. He spent a lot of time barking and trying to play with the big cows who didn't seem to acknowledge his presence, but the calves gave him some attention. Chris dropped him off at about 6 pm and he was out until about 8 this morning. Nice!

On a side note - belly hadn't gone past 39 inches for the last couple of weeks... I measured on Friday because I was feeling particularly bigger... and I am now at 41! So 2 inches in a week. Nice - we'll have to get a new belly pic up on the blog soon!

Almost 31 Weeks Along...

Monday I took Hilo for a very long walk because it was absolutely beautiful outside. We walked for a good hour and then stopped by the neighbors to see if their 5 yr old boxer "Spike" could play. And he was home! The two of them are hilarious to watch because they both swat at eachother and then use their weight to push eachother down. Spike usually wins because he easily has 30 lbs on Hilo, but Hilo is definitely faster. Of course since it is spring and all the snow is melting, he needed a bath afterward. Yeah - that was interesting. We managed to get him cleaned up and not too many scratches on me.

Tuesday we had another doctors appointment. We had the "Labor talk". Very basic info telling us what signs to look for and what to do if we think I am in labor. Always good information to know! Baby is growing right on track - belly measures 30.5 cm, weight is up 21 lbs, and heart beat was between 146 and 155 bpm.

The rest of the week was pretty uneventful. Work has been pretty busy again for Jim and I so we are really tired by the time we get home. It is March Madness and also St. Patty's day this weekend, so Jim is heading to Madison to visit with his friend Mark and fiance Tara. They are going to Madison to hangout with Mark's brother Josh. I would go - but the whole drinking all day and being in bars just for some reason doesn't sound like a whole lot of fun at this point.

Baby Shower in MI

This weekend was a trip to MI to visit with family and then of course for the baby shower. We took Friday off so we could get an extra day - it was well worth it! The baby shower was beautiful and we were able to visit with lots of friends and family. We played a few games and they hosted a diaper raffle, for each person who brought a pack of diapers, they were able to enter their name into a drawing for a wine basket compliments of Aunt Deb or a handmade quilt compliments of Aunt Linda. Cindy's (Jim's mom) friends won both prizes... their table was definitely the lucky ones!

We received a bunch of great baby gifts... just making it sink in more and more! The Kirkwood family went in on the strollers, both of them! So we now have the travel stroller complete with infant car seat and then Jimbo got the Maclaren Vollo stroller - umbrella stroller made by his favorite Formula 1 Racing team. Jay (Jim's dad) even decorated the box with a race car photo from his calendar! Big time!

The boys had gone go-karting once again during the shower and then stopped by afterward. Then a bunch of us went to Champps for some food and drinks. It was so nice to hang out with our friends and get some time to just relax. That night we visited with more family and then relaxed at Jay and Cindy's.

The drive home on Sunday was uneventful - we made it home in about 6.5 hours and Hilo had some room in the back of the car among all the gifts and luggage. Ah - time for bed!

Willa Jean has Arrived!

Today my girlfriend Mandy was finally admitted into the hospital and stayed! It has been a long week of contractions for her... and then a few hours in between with nothing. But today at 2 am her water broke and she was off to the hospital. Mandy was nice enough to let me hang out so I took the day off of work to learn a few things. It was quite surreal being there, and thinking this is going to be me in 2 months. YIKES! I was there for the "waiting period" and was able to see the Mandy without drugs and the Mandy with drugs... surprisingly she was making it look like a cake walk. Thankfully though, I needed to be at work to catch a meeting when things really started happening. The epidural was wearing off... and contractions were significantly stronger than ever... But alas... she is here! And a tiny little thing with some lungs! The picture somewhat shows how tiny she is compared to Jim's hands. I really am not sure how Jim will be able to snap those little buttons on the onesies or fasten the newborn size diapers... My mother in law seems to think a small baby is out of the picture... I am not there yet...

Here are the stats:

Willa Jean Simon

March 6, 2007 @ 4:30 pm

6 lbs 12 oz and 20 inches

Belly Pics... at 29 weeks!

Well the pounds are starting to come on a lot faster in the last weeks... I am officially up to 20 lbs now. And the belly is holding steady at 39"... so I am not sure where it is going... (yah right). I did recieve a very nice compliment today at work though - from behind you can't even tell you are pregnant! So I will take that as a good thing! :)

We had a doctor appointment this week and again baby was measuring just fine. This appointment was the glucose test for gestational diabetes. I had to drink a super dooper concentrated orange pop and then they drew blood one hour later. It tasted fine, but definitely gave me the shakes... I am not used to caffeine or sugar that early in the morning... And baby was responding too. The first read on the heart rate was 167 bpm... and then it dropped to 154 bpm. But good news is I don't have gestational diabetes. Measured 28.5 cm so that is on track too. It is very hard to believe that we have only 11 weeks to go - of course that is if baby arrives on cue... which we know is not likely!