Baby is full term in 1 week!

This post will probably be full of pregnancy updates... because baby is coming so soon!  Since my last post we got to celebrate three different baby showers! The first one was at my school, and my 1st grade team put on a fun little baby shower after school. We got our crib mattress, lots of cute clothes and other things we needed for little A like diapers. The next day I got to celebrate AGAIN with Nancy (Mark's mom's) friends. Anne drove me out to Afton and we enjoyed a fun shower with all of the Afton ladies. There was a GREAT gluten free menu, complete with gluten free salads, muffins and a delicious chocolate pudding! The ladies got us our Pack-n-Play which we have in our room for when baby comes home and sleeps in the room with us, as well as the voice monitor, noise maker to put baby to sleep and lots of books to read baby before bed.

Pack-n-play

Clothes from school shower and cute monkey blanket

Gifts from the girls

The last shower I've had in the last few weeks was yesterday. It was a small group of us, just me, Susan and Julie and Anneke. We had a great time though! We started by playing with my little nephew Henry (who was definitely the star of the day) then ate some delicious food! My favorites were there just like at my school shower, tortilla chips, fruit, and Julie even went to the gluten free bakery to get me CUPCAKE :) We also spent a while decorating little oneies and for a group of girls who claimed to "not be artistic" I think we did a great job! I know Mark likes his Ninja turtle inspired one :)

Our Onesies (please note Curious George and Dino (SUSAN!) Elephant and Ninja (JULIE!) BYOB (Anneke!)

Thanks to ALL the generosity of our friends and family the nursery is finally feeling ready! We inherited BUCKETS of clothes from Mark's side of the family (being the 4th boy in the last 8 years) and any gear we have not received as gifts or purchased we are borrowing from Anne and Mike. I still have yet to finish decorating it (I have a vision) but all the key parts are there! We put tthe crib together (finally) and are just waiting for our glider to arrive next week.

Bookshelf

Closet organized Newborn and 0-3

Crib Unfinished

Crib Finished

Organizing all the clothes we inherited

As far as how I'm feeling... I'd say for being 36 weeks pregnant I'm doing pretty good. I had to stop doing most things at the gym, but I have gotten into the pool a few times. First time at 34 weeks (since had to buy a different maternity top!) and once the week after. I'm hoping to go more this week since it will be too rainy to walk. Mark and I have been trying to walk every day, and I'm still doing my daily morning yoga; but I have yet to attend a Zumba class since about 32 weeks. I find that now my body tells me when I overdo something, and I start to get cramps. Dr. said as long as they go away when I rest and drink water it's ok, so I'm just trying to listen to my body and when I feel any pains to stop and rest. I've had a lot more practice contractions, which are scary, and every time I think to myself "What if this is the beginning of the real thing?" (Granted most of these thoughts have happened in the middle of the night). Dr. says things seem good. I am now on to weekly appointments and my vitals have been great and his heartrate has been good as well. Last week he measured a little bit small so if he continues we may have to look into that, but my Dr. suspects it's because he's laying kind of sideways. (Which I know from his constant kicks to my right rib....) He is moving ALL the time and at night the movements became alien crazy!

34 Weeks pregnant about to swim

36 weeks pregnant

Jimpa getting to know Henry

This past week was a fun week in addition to the pregnancy, in that my dad was in town to visit! He came in on Good Friday, and we got to spend some time with him getting to know Henry (who he absolutely loves!) The rest of the weekend we got to spend with him and Paul, Susan and Henry. Saturday we went down to my parent's NEW HOUSE in Northfield, MN, and realized what a CUTE location they have gotten. My dad also got to see ALL the work he has ahead of him. Then on Sunday we went to Minnehaha falls (a bit warmer than the last time my dad was here!) And we did the hike along the falls to the Mississippi river. It was a BEAUTIFUL day.

Pretending to walk Henry

Laughing at Jimpa and Henry

The rest of the week my dad got to spend time with Mark and I in the evenings after work (since he was staying here) and a few days with Paul and Henry. The rest of the time he sepnt getting their new house ready: repairing a leaky roof, installing new door locks, replacing doors, changing the vents in the heating unit, checking out the plumbing, setting up utilities. Etc. He worked VERY hard while he was here! Not the most relaxing vacation! But we were glad to have him, and can't wait for him to be back in a couple months when Baby A is born!

Spring Break, Sickness, Snow, Shower and Birthday

I can not believe my Spring Break is officially over! Boy did it fly by. Although I was sick most of the week with a cold (from my cute nephew Henry...) I still enjoyed myself and had a good restful time.

33 Weeks

I spent a good chunk of the break getting stuff ready for when baby comes. I made a TON of freezer meals, and I'm thinking Mark and I will eat well for the first weeks after baby :) I planned on making more but by Thursday I was so sick I spent the next two days on the couch catching up on Dance Moms and Glee. It actually worked out pretty well because we got about 8 inches of snow on those days, perfect days to relax and be lazy!

My view from my couch seat

I also got some more things ready for baby, I made a cute little door silencer so that when baby is sleeping we don't wake him up and then I made little hangers for the closet to help organize his clothes! I am now 33 weeks (feeling less and less graceful!) and with only 7 weeks until Little A might be here!




My birthday was also during break and I really felt loved by all around! It was Wednesday, so I wasn't at my sickest point yet... and I enjoyed the day by getting pampered and loved by friends! I had my first pre-natal massage (WONDERFUL) then got 9 inches cut off my hair! After that I went to Caribou coffee to get my free tea for my birthday, and headed to Trader Joes to get some groceries and visit my brother at work! That night Mark came home and cooked us some steaks and we just enjoyed a nice relaxing evening together. All day long I received cards and messages from loved ones and am very thankful for everyone's well-wishes :)

Saturday I was still not feeling great in the morning, but Mark and I went on a hospital visit at Methodist Hospital in St. Louis Park where we will deliver baby A. Although the experience was SLIGHTLY nerveracking because things are becoming real, it was nice to see the Birth Center there, with all it's renovations and how open they are to any kind of birth plan. There were birthing tubs throughout the center, birth balls, low-lit rooms that are reminiscent of hotels.... all in all we felt very good about the location; and it only took about 25 minutes to there.

Ladies of Boys Club

Saturday evening Mark and I drove to Stillwater to celebrate a "Girls of Boys Club" baby shower for Baby A, Baby Sandhal and Baby Lunzer (yes 3 of Mark's closest guy friends are all expecting babies within 3 months of each other). All the girls met at one home, the boys at another and we celebtrated in our own ways :) The girls shower was perfect! We had a delicious Gluten Free Menu: spring rolls, caprese salad skewers, quinoa salad and delicious chocolate mousse/pudding dessert. We chatted and opened presents and enjoyed time without the boys of boys club :) They were celebrating on their own in Sandhals garage, doing their favorite: "activitivies" and eating ribs.

Watching Presents

The pregnant ladies enjoying a "beer" (root)

Baby A got tons of great gifts and our nursery is starting to look a little more ready :)

Elephant Diaper-cycle

Clothes

Car seat (Thanks Daleys!) and toys

Blankets and bibs

Bath gear

Cutest little baby robe every and Mark's favorite Ninja Turtle Costume!

Today was a nice relaxing day, almost over the cold and was able to do a little cleaning around the hosue and enjoy a beautiful MN Spring day! Paul and Susan brough Baby Henry over and we babysat him while they took a nice long bike ride. Mark, Baby, Cici and I practiced being a bigger family and went for a nice long walk, and even got HOT! (yes in MN when it's 58 degrees you get hot!) Looking forward to the continued warm up this coming week, with a promise of 70 degrees Wednesday! Hoping this Spring Fever doesn't make the kids crazy after a week of Spring Break... fingers crossed!

8 weeks left...

We are heading into the final stretch! With school... winter... and pregnancy. That means summer, 60's and a baby!

First I guess I'll give a school update. Things are starting to wrap up. I'm starting to get things ready for my long term sub and my kids are finally in the "I'm no longer a baby and can do things without being asked!" phase. I am enjoying it especially because there is a good chance I will not be teaching first grade next year! I've been given the opportunity to work 1/2 time and with little Baby A coming it sounds good! I will most likely be teaching 3rd grade or above and a part of me is excited to be in upper elementary again! It seems as though I will be taking off until November, and then starting November I will be working 12-4. We found a at home daycare that is 3 minutes from my school and both Mark and I feel extremely good about her :)

Additionally as school is coming to an end, I'm realizing how thankful I am for the parents at my school! At conferences, all my parents were so great  and I even got flowers to help brighten my cold conference week! My room mom is planning a little "present" for me, along with passing along tons of baby books, toys and blankets from her little one. It is much appreciated as for the most part our nursery is still empty!



But speak of the nursery, Mark and I were in "nesting" mode last weekend. We made a huge trip to home depot, and worked on a few projects around the house. First we put in blinds in the baby room (FINALLY!) and while Mark did that I put together our changing table/dresser! (Currently empty aside from a diaper cake Cathy gave me :) and changing pad inherited from a teacher at my school. Mark also worked on fixing a few small problems with our toilet, including putting in a handle that was not broken! *Hooray!

Current Nursery

Such a good carpenter :)

My work

Toilet handle :)

Practicing the baby carrier

Diaper Cake

Then pregnancy. GOOD, but definitely getting bigger and more tired again! I went to zumba this week and thought to myself, "this may be my last evening going to zumba". I was just so tired the next day and know that I am starting to get to the point where I should just start enjoying our "spring" weather and walk :) I know Cici will like that. And of course I can still do my daily yoga, which I think is why I still have 0 back or other body pains. I attribute it to that and using the foam roller every night.

29 weeks

32 weeks... yes I look morning tired :)

 As far as cravings go, I am loving good food, especially breakfast food. That and my baths/foot soaks are my way of pampering myself. I'm looking forward for more of that this coming week when I have Spring Break and my birthday! I plan on a lot of good alone time, craft time, a pre-natal
massage and cooking to prepare for the birth! 

Mexican Inspired Brunch

Breakfast cups

French toast with berry compote

Don't look good but chocolate oatmeal pancakes and eggs :) My fave!

The little stinker

I also hope to spend more time with family this week. We've loved spending time with sweet baby Henry, and I look forward to my family coming here this summer... In fact, my parents recently found out that an offer they put down on a little home about 30 min south of us was ACCEPTED! Which means they are now double homeowners and get to be close to baby more of the time! It is definitely a project, but it'll be so great knowing that they are so close and that they have their own little place in Minnesota.

Henry

March is Here!

Huge Icicles! 

March 2nd... the high did not get above 0. I looked at blog posts from last year for the coldest weekend of the winter, I complained about a day that it was 15 degrees.  Then I saw a blog from 2 years earlier... March 12th-60 degrees. What a weird winter!

We got a huge storm a couple of weeks ago. Piling 10-12 inches of snow on top of the crazy piles we already had! Cici was not very happy with it, but we had our first "snow" day here in MN (Not a cold day) So that was enjoyable! The tricky thing is the temperature has not gotten above 12 since the storm, so the roads are just ice sheets, not fun!

Notice how big the snow is in comparison to the dog

This past week was kind of nice because although the temperatures stayed low, the days are getting longer, and I was finally motivated to put away all our winter decorations. Now we have our springtime pictures up, our Easter signs out, green bows for St. Patrick's day, we will wish the Spring to come! I also did some work on the nursery! I put in contact paper in the closet, put together a little bookshelf (and filled it with all our children's books) and organized the few baby items we currently have. 

Puzzle I made for baby's room

Closet

Bookshelf I made

Going home outfit from hospital :)

Mark and I also tirelessly spent one evening putting together our two new bedside tables so they finally match our bedroom set! (and do not have scratches and missing shelves. We also got a furniture for the loveseat in the living room. Slowly but surely we are furnishing this house :)

This week was Susan's birthday so I made cupcakes (actually the cupcakes were for myself... I made her cookies!) And they brought Henry over to visit! He is growing so fast, now about 6 weeks and he's starting to seem more baby-like. He smiles and holds things and focuses on objects around him! The only person who did not like the visit was Cici... Makes us worry for what she'll be like in a few short months!

sorry it's sideways

Cici wanted love

Smiling

Speak of a short few months I am now 28 weeks, In my 7 month of pregnancy. Baby is supposedly around 2 pounds and mostly developed! I hate to be repetitive but I still feel pretty good. I do get tired more quickly (which I realized after spending the weekend in Afton celebrating Marcella our niece's baptism, with 20 of Mark's side of the family) but overall I feel good. I'm still enjoying my morning yoga, going to zumba a few days a week, and even taught a fitness class last weekend! (Though I was VERY sore the next day!) I'm hoping that this means 3rd trimester will just be more of the 2nd???? Though my growing belly tells me otherwise. The solice is that I am really starting to feel sweet baby boy move and enjoying making Mark jump by placing his hand on my belly when it happens. 

28 weeks