Snow Day!

29 Weeks

Your baby now weighs about 2 1/2 pounds (about the size of a butternut squash) and is a tad over 15 inches long from head to heel. His muscles and lungs are continuing to mature, and his head is growing bigger to make room for his developing brain. To meet his increasing nutritional demands, you'll need plenty of protein, vitamins C, folic acid, and iron. And because his bones are soaking up lots of calcium, be sure to drink your milk (or find another good source of calcium, such as cheese, yogurt, or enriched orange juice). This trimester, about 250 milligrams of calcium are deposited in your baby's hardening skeleton each day.

from babycenter

Doctor's Visit

Had an interesting doctor's visit today.  Speck and I are doing fine.  Heard his heartbeat and it's still going strong.  Had to do a glucose screening test.  This involves drinking 8oz of a terrible nasty drink (imagine gatorade combined with fanta and add a cup of sugar) in 5 mins.  An hour after you finish, they test your blood sugar to make sure you don't have gestational diabetes.  Thankfully I passed.

Then they drew 3 vials of blood.  Texas requires you to be tested twice for HIV, this was my 2nd test.  After, I had to get an unpleasant shot.  Since I'm Rh negative, I had to get an injection of Rh immunoglobuin to prevent my body from developing antibodies that could attack Speck's blood.  After he's born, he will be tested to see if he's Rh postive, if he is then I get to have another shot.

Since we are in the home stretch, I get to start going to the doctor every 2 weeks now until 35 weeks and then every week and eventually everyday.  Yay....

Photo Challenge Week 4

I was not very good on taking photos last week apparently but here's what I got.

1. Jan 20: Crib is put together!
2. Jan 21: Week 28 belly
3. Jan 22: Putting baby clothes away
4. Jan 24: Our godson is pretty much the most adorable kid ever :)
5. Jan 25: Went to see Gravity

28 Week Belly

28 Weeks

By this week, your baby weighs 2 1/4 pounds (about the size of a large eggplant) and measures 14.8 inches from the top of his head to his heels. He can blink his eyes, which now sport lashes. With his eyesight developing, he may be able to see the light that filters in through your womb. He's also developing billions of neurons in his brain and adding more body fat in preparation for life in the outside world.

from babycenter

Photo Challenge Week 3

1. Jan 12: Lucas starts to paint the nursery accent wall
2. Jan 13: Lucas finishes the accent wall
3. Jan 14: Me at 27 weeks
4. Jan 15: Peanut enjoying an evening car ride
5. Jan 16: Target sells Lion King leggings, for women
6. Jan 17: Out with the Coopers celebrating Simon's citizenship!
7. Jan 18: Peanut is not a morning pug

Prayers for My Parents

My parents shocked us this year by announcing they were leaving Tench Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia and moving south.  Please pray that my Dad finds a job where he is appreciated and where my Mom is happy.

".. I ask your prayers for me and Ginger. We believe it is time for us to take the step forward of moving toward the south. It has been our intention of someday moving back to finish out my years in ministry. With her parents now in North Florida and with our first grandchild due in April, it seems the right time to act. Our plan, if an opportunity does not arise earlier, is to make the end of March our last day before moving."

Full writeup can be found HERE.

27 Week Belly

27 Weeks

This week, your baby weighs almost 2 pounds (about the size of a head of cauliflower) and is about 14 1/2 inches long with his legs extended. He's sleeping and waking at regular intervals, opening and closing his eyes, and perhaps even sucking his fingers. With more brain tissue developing, your baby's brain is very active now. While his lungs are still immature, they would be capable of functioning — with a lot of medical help — if he were to be born now. Chalk up any tiny rhythmic movements you may be feeling to a case of baby hiccups, which may be common from now on. Each episode usually lasts only a few moments, and they don't bother him, so just relax and enjoy the tickle.

from babycenter

Painting

Lucas starting painting the accent wall in the nursery yesterday!  I love the color.  We went with cobalt stone lightened 75%.  It's the exact color that I had in my head the entire time.  I'm excited to have the nursery set up soon.  It'll be nice to have the furniture out of boxes.

Photo Challenge Week 2

1. Jan 5: took down Christmas decorations
2. Jan 6: delicious adult lunchable
3. Jan 7: paint samples on the nursery wall
4. Jan 8: Speck's new onesie!
5. Jan 9: satisfying milkshake craving
6. Jan 10: Despicable Me 2 movie night
7. Jan 11: Peanut recovering from our dinner party.

26 Weeks

The network of nerves in your baby's ears is better developed and more sensitive than before. He may now be able to hear both your voice and your partner's as you chat with each other. He's inhaling and exhaling small amounts of amniotic fluid, which is essential for the development of his lungs. These so-called breathing movements are also good practice for when he's born and takes that first gulp of air. And he's continuing to put on baby fat. He now weighs about 1 2/3 pounds and measures 14 inches (about the size of a scallion) from head to heel. His testicles are beginning to descend into his scrotum — a trip that will take about two to three days.

from babycenter

Buzzfeed Does It Again

Buzzfeed is a great website.  One of the things that they do is make of list of things about a group of people and get it right.  They did such a list called "29 Unexpectedly Awesome Things About Being Pregnant" and pretty much got it right.  

To see the list, click HERE.

Photo Challenge Week 1

I saw a post that said you should do a picture every day then a collage every week to document what happens over the year.  With the baby coming, I liked the idea a lot.  I'm sure it will turn into photos of Speck every day.

1.  Jan 3: Speck's Gator clothes as of now
2.  Dec 29: New iPhone
3.  Jan 2: Sunset from our house
4.  Jan 1: Paint choices for Speck's accent wall
5.  Jan 4: Became a Mary Kay consultant
6.  Dec 31: New Years Eve at Dave & Busters
7.  Dec 30:  Reading Exploiting My Baby by the fire

Exploiting My Baby

A friend of mine let me borrow Exploiting My Baby by Teresa Strasser.  Strasser gives her account of pregnancy, birth, and first few weeks of being a mom without any reservations.  She talks about everything that happens to her, no matter how gross/uncomfortable it is.  Poop? Check.  Stretch marks? Check.  Sex? Check.  It's the first pregnancy book that I have read and it was nice not to have her telling me how fantastic she feels all the time.  In fact, she makes fun of these people.

I could relate to many of her topics.  Her chapter on missing toxins, is relate able.  I've been missing having wine, caffeine, and not worrying about what medicine I can take.  She also has segments on people to punch.  The great sleepers, the maternity models, and people who keep opinions to themselves to name a few. 

There are some things she goes over, that thankful I haven't had to deal with.  For example: excessive weight gain, acne, and paranoid googling.  Everytime I would finish a chapter on one the these I would thank God for being nice to me so far.  To date I'm still down 4 pounds, have clear skin, and took my obgyn's advice on staying away from googling every thing.

I enjoyed the book and if you are looking for a light hearted book about pregnancy/birth then pick this up.  Just don't expect tons of medical advice or what to expect.

Favorite quotes:

• Like it's so special having a baby.  Britney Spears did it twice, so there you go.
• I have to wear my big-girl pants now, and they can't be low-rise.
• Here's what you need to know about exclusively breast-fed babies: They can levitate.
• The second I put my husband's hand on my stomach, the little guy just stops moving.
• Until recently, this was very true for me.
• To my husband and son, my only wish is to continue to deserve you.

     

Paint

I've convinced Lucas that we need to paint an accent wall in the nursery.  The walls are kinda blah and need something to liven it up a bit.  He agreed since I was only talking about one wall.  Got some samples from Lowe's yesterday.  Right now I'm leaning towards Cobalt Stone.  We will put the samples up this weekend and hopefully decided.  I'm ready to get the room done with so I don't have to worry about it anymore. 

Welcome 2014

It's hard to believe 2014 is already here.  2013 flew by and overall it was a good year.  Big events include: selling a house, buying a house, Lucas's 30th birthday, birth of nephew Logan, birth of nephew/godson Walker, going to Istanbul, hosting my family for Thanksgiving, and getting pregnant!  People are facebook are complaining that 2013 was a rotten year but looking back on all those events and more, I'm happy to say it was a great year!

2014 is going to be an interesting/exciting year.  We are hopefully going to get the house all organized and sorted out before April.  There's the baby showers for David and then David Lucas being born in April!  And that's just the first 4 months.  Excited to think of what else will happen.

In lieu of making resolutions, because I believe no one ever keeps them, I'm going to try harder at some things.  Specifically:

• Making family more of a priority
• With the baby coming, it's become more important to use to see (or at least skype) family.
• Supporting Lucas
• I have a feeling he's going to go through a lot with work this year and I want to be able to help him when I can and mainly let him destress.
• Learning how to become a mom
• There is so much about babies that I don't know but I'm trying not to let that overwhelm me.  I'm going to learn as I go, take advice, and realize that I will make mistakes but I'll learn from them. 
• Focus on friends who want to be my friend
• This has been hard for me to learn with all the transition/moving we've been through.  You fall out of touch/grow apart from people who you thought were close friends.  I'm learning more to focus on people that really want to be there for me and my family and not when it's just convenient for them.
• Taking more walks 
• I've gotten lazy.  Yes pregnancy makes me sleepy but not 24/7. 
• Cooking
• This will hopefully come when I can stand looking at meat again. 
• Crafting
• I like making things either from sewing, knitting, or general crafting.  I would like to try to do something once a month.

Here's to a great 2014 full of surprises and joy!