37 week appointment

Today is officially Jimbos 30th Birthday and also our 37 week appointment. Last weeks appointment had me at 2cm dialated, 50% effaced, and -2 Station. This week... almost at 3cm, still at 50% effaced, but -1 near 0 station. So progress is happening. Now we just need the contractions or water to break! ha ha!

Baby's heart rate was really low this time, 126bpm, but still normal, as apparently mature babies have lower heart rates. Makes sense I guess! We had a good discussion about all the signs to watch for and we are just in a waiting phase now. Still 2.5 weeks till the actual due date. But I am really really hoping for sooner than that. There just isn't room for this baby to go out anymore!

Just in case things were moving a little faster, we had Josh at his friend Emmas for the appointment. Jimbo and I went out to Cy's for dinner to get some super spicy Thai food for his birthday. Then we hung out at Kim/Jerome/Emma's until 9pm. We came home and I cleaned.. cleaned... cleaned. Can you tell I am ready to have this baby!

So the waiting begins!

Christmas Day

Today we woke up around 7am and Josh was the first one up. We had to get him to wake up his cousins and aunts/uncles before he could go downstairs because we needed everyone to go together to see if Santa came. He walked into our guest room and yelled, "Awesome, get up". He calls uncle Aaron "Uncle Awesome" because of a previous visit, where they played a running/flying game and yelled Awesome as he held them in the air. It stuck.

We walked downstairs and looks on Izzy and Josh's face were priceless when they saw all the presents! We got it all on video - no pics - sorry! And there we sat for about an hour unwrapping gifts. There were so many! All of Jim's aunts/uncles/gramma's sent their gifts over so it was Santa gifts on top of all the relative gifts. They were hilarous! Any clothes - immediately pushed aside or given to mom... toys needed to be unwrapped and played with immediately. Stockings had their fun gifts in it as well as the Kirkwood traditional peice of fruit. We had breakfast and waited on opening the adult gifts until later since it was a bit crazy already in the family room with all the toys.

Finally we had Josh's big unveiling of his Thomas Bed. It was fun because we skyped with my family in MN at the same time so everyone got to see the excitement. And boy was he excited! He jumped in it for 10 minutes... pointing to all the different parts and saying this is my bed! He needed to remind Izzy apparently that this was "his bed". Yep, all the hardwork paid off, Jim was very happy!

Hopefully I can get some of the present pictures and such from our relatives because we apparently only focused on the video camera this morning. Oops! But here are the Thomas the Train bed pictures. Jim spent a TON of time on this and it paid off! :)

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Christmas is finally here! We were in for one crazy adventure this year. With baby #2 due in less than 3 weeks, we were not traveling to MI this year for x-mas. So the MI family decided to come here. Jim's parents, their dog Addie, his older sister Abby, hubby Aaron, two girls (Izzy - 2, Charlotte - 1), and dog Zoe, and youngest sister Catherine all arrived on Wednesday to stay through Monday. CRAZY! 7 adults, 3 kids under 3, 3 dogs, and a partridge in a pair tree.

Before the fun could begin, I had my 36 week check up, the first of which my doctor would check for any progress to labor. Besides being uncomfortable, the contractions have been pretty minor although much more noticeable than the Braxton Hicks I had with Josh. The official verdict, I am 2 cm dialated, 50% effaced, and at -2 Station. For those unfamiliar with this terminology, here is your quick lesson. Need to be at 10 cm, 100% effaced, and 0 or positive number to deliver a baby. So I am definitely showing signs that the baby is on its way, but I very well could stay at this level for another few weeks or go in 4 hours! Really not any clear indication of how close we are to babies arrival. Baby's heartbeat was 140bpm and he/she was kicking and rolling like crazy during the appointment. Doctor just laughed and kept putting her hands on my belly to feel he/she move. It is fun to see the doctor excited to see the baby move like that, seeing as how she sees pregnant people all the time. She is a good doctor... now I just hope I make it to next week so she can have a chance to deliver this baby. With Christmas this week, she is off until Monday.

Now back to the Christmas festivities. We are making new traditions this year since it is at our house that are a good combination of both our households. The kids are getting along very well and so are the dogs. It is definitely crowded, but we are managing. We went to mass on Christmas Eve and thankfully Jim's coworker Eric told him to get there early because as soon as church is full, they start mass, regardless of what time it is. Mass is scheduled for 5pm, but the last few years they started at 4:30pm! Sure enough, that is exactly what happened this year. The adult ladies of the family got there at 3:30pm and the dads came with the kids at 4pm. Our church also frowns upon saving spots, and they post it everywhere like the doors on the way in, on huge flipcharts all around the altar... so it is just guilt running through you until your entire party arrives! Thankfully we were all present before all the chairs/pews were taken! After mass we had dinner (candied yams for Rausch's) and enjoyed some frosty trees and snowmen for dessert (Walsh tradition) with Reddi whip (Kirkwood tradition). We ended the night with putting out cookies and milk for Santa and carrots for the reindeer, the kids were so EXCITED!

Finally, at the end of the night I realized it had been a while since I posted true belly shots. So here you have it. Look at that gargantuan belly! ha ha! It is crazy how much it moves depending on how the baby wants to lie, my whole belly will be off to one side or the other at times. I don't know how much bigger I could get, glad it is only one in there! haha!

So much to do - so little time...

The list to prepare for baby seems to be about a months worth of work... every night I feel like I have to do at least something in order to feel a little bit more prepared. But I keep reminding myself to prioritize... things like the carseat and bassinet need to be ready... but all the decorations in the baby's room... that can wait. I just want it all done, and now! ha ha! Poor Jim, he has been such a good sport and really really been patient with me!

This weekend we took advantage of our good friends Kim and Jerome and their daughter Emma. They had asked us about a month ago to watch their daughter Emma (Josh's FAVORITE girlfriend) on Friday night. And we in return asked if they could watch Josh on Saturday night if we went to our friends wedding. They agreed. Our kids get along SO well and we honestly feel like having them over to play is easier most times!

So Friday night Emma came over around 4pm and it was immediately play time! We played and played and played. After dinner we went to "Streets of Bethlehem", a local church's replica of the city where Jesus was born. It is very popular in this area and grows each year with attendees according to my coworker. This is our first time there. We got in line and there were people every where. The lady said it was going to be a 45 minute wait. Jim and I saw the line moving and decided let's try it and if it is too long, we can always bail. We had told both Emma and Josh all about how we were going to see the animals... Josh had translated that to going to see Jesus at the Circus. Nice. Long story short, we waited for 1 hour and 45 minutes with 2 - 2 year olds. They were such good sports! By the time we got there it was definitely cool to see, but the kids were so tired and we were through the city in 10 minutes. Not necessarily worth the 1 hour and 45 minute wait... but cool to see anyway.

The first thing we saw when we got there was a huge camel... Both Josh and Emma wanted nothing to do with it... they clawed there way into Jim and my shoulder and wouldn't look at it. They did enjoy the sheep/goats, the dancers, and looking at all the stuff people were making/selling like toys and food. On the way home, all they talked about was the camel, and how they got to pet the camel. (liars!) Ah well, at least they remembered something!

Saturday we played and then Emma went home for her nap. After Josh woke up from his nap we dropped him off at Emma's house so we could head to Katie Flemmen's wedding in Madison. He was so excited to go over there. The wedding was a good time, it was nice to see my college friends and of course Katie. My friend Jenelle is expecting too, about 9 weeks behind me. It is hilarious how tiny she is compared to me. I am so ready to pop! And my stomach feels that way forsure. We only lasted about 3.5 hours at the wedding before everything hurt and it was time to head home. We hit up Perkins on the way home for some late night dinner. It was funny to hear the high school kids conversation at the table next to us, drinking coffee and talking about all the drama they have. The other table next to us was definitely college age kids, drunk... WE ARE SO OLD!

So overall, a good kid swapping weekend. I am so glad that we have good friends like Kim and Jerome and that our little ones are such good friends. Kim is expecting number 2 in May, so our second kids will be close in age too, hopefully they will be good friends too! The one random pic of Josh wearing a striped shirt, purple tie, thomas hat, and sandals with socks... As we have been cleaning/reorganizing closets Josh has found these items and insisted on wearing them for the remainder of the day. I think he looks like an engineer in the making... :) hopefully he will learn to get some sort of fashion from his aunts/uncles... and be social butterfly like his parents!