36 -w-e-e-k-s!!!

The statement "I'm so ready" is such an understatement at this point! I'm way over being ready. The continuation of my belly growing is really becoming a pain! This past week I have really noticed how my uterus has pretty much taken over my ribs and room to breathe. I walk insanely slow just because it's uncomfortable to walk quickly. I believe Rowen has dropped even more from last week. The lower part of my pelvis is very tight and uncomfortable. "Uncomfortable" is the word of this past week and I'm sure the "IT" word for the rest of my pregnancy!! 

Baby is still the size of a honeydew and there are only 28 days left for me :) Thank goodness! Next week he will hit watermelon stage...yikes! Pregnancy Week by Week, the book that I read each week, says that Rowen is about 6 lbs this week and his length is about 20 3/4 inches. A tip for this week is to make sure that you find your pediatrician but we have already done that. It also say that you should pack for the hospital which I have already done as well. Just trying to be prepared. I still feel quite a bit of movement...he is still kicking around and sometimes still moves slowly from side to side. I know this week or the next he will get in his final position for birth. After about week 37 he will run out of room to turn...more than likely. 

36 Weeks - September 30, 2011

Our next Dr. appointment is this Tuesday. We will be going once a week now. It seems like everywhere I go now a days someone has a story to tell me about when they had their baby or a friend of theirs just had a baby etc...It's quite funny. Actually the past 3 days I can recall random ladies telling me about their children's birth months. Each of the ladies said their babies came early. I am trying not to get my hopes up that Rowen will be early but I still hope he is...just a little early :) For his mama's sake! I mean if I am not getting a lot of sleep now, might as well not get a lot of sleep while a baby is here! Needless to say, Brent and I are super excited and are ready to meet baby Rowen!

           

The next few days = crazy but fun!

I have read that 6 weeks out from your due date, your hospital bag should be packed and ready to go. I am just a little late with that but finished packing our suitcase for the hospital earlier today. I have had a few lists to go by and think that I have everything ready to go. Rowen's due date isn't for another 4 weeks(!) but you never know!! So whenever the time comes and I go into labor, Brent and I won't be scrambling around to grab stuff. It is all ready and in the suitcase. Brent and I got a storage unit for our cubes to go in Rowen's room and it looks really good plus it's a lot of storage space for wipes, burp cloths, toys, etc...

So I am finally getting my hair professionally colored and getting a cut from the fabulous Chi Chi @ Salon FX on Thursday! I can't wait. I haven't been to her in over a year and I just can't believe it. I have taken my hair color into my own hands this past year but I need to get it professionally done! She always does such a good job and I don't trust anyone else when it comes to color and cuts. Did I say that I am so excited?! 

This Friday and Saturday is my 10 year high school reunion!! It feels like it has been 10 years since I graduated high school so it's not really a shock. haha! 

It will be fun getting to see old friends but kind of weird at the same time. I have kept in touch with quite a few people that I graduated with but haven't seen many of them in a while. Being 8 months pregnant is not the look that I would have chosen for this occasion but there are a handful of other girls that are right there with me so I won't be the only one! The funny thing is the other 4 girls that are pregnant( the ones that I know of that is ) were really thin like me in high school so all this extra weight on us is a new thing. I loved a lot of things about high school but I loved senior year the best! Who didn't, right?! One of the reasons for my love of senior year was soccer and track! I played sports all 4 years but our senior year we finally got a soccer team and I was SO excited. We had a really good team and even made it to the second round of play-offs! We beat Goodpasture( our biggest rivals ) in the first round and wooooo were they sore losers! We loved beating them in every sport. And then the track team was fabulous.. actually we were all 4 of my years in high school. I ran the 4x1, 4x2, and 4x4...all 3 sprint relays. My senior year, we set the school record in all 3 of those races! It was so exciting!! I believe the 4x2 record still has my name beside it :) Life has really changed since then and it will be great to see what everyone is up to! 

Tonight Brent and I are going to eat with his dad at Amerigo's!!! Love.that.place :) I can't wait. I have never had a bad meal there and their crab cakes are the best that I have ever had! Oh what to get? What to get?! 

                

Another week has flown by..5 weeks or less now!

I am at 35 weeks today. I can't believe my due date is right around the corner. I just read that 60% of babies come early...I hope Rowen is part of that 60%. I obviously want him to stay in there as long as he can to get everything developed that needs to be developed before he should arrive but I'm thinking a few days early will be just fine! Maybe he is feeling the same way :) I feel like he has dropped a bit this past week. Since this is my first pregnancy, I don't really know if he has or not but my lower pelvic area is pretty tight and has begun to stay uncomfortable especially when I am walking around. 

At week 35, baby weighs over 5 1/2 pounds and is around 20 and 1/4 inches. Tonight Brent and I are going to a baby class at Baptist and I am excited. I just like getting as much information as I can before labor begins! My cousin, Angie, sent me a few emails this past week with "new mommy" info and I loved reading over all the tips that she gave me! I already feel a little bit at ease since I have prepared myself with some things that I didn't know about thanks to her info! Now, I'm not sure that I will STAY at ease the next couple of weeks/while I am in the hospital but I hope that I do. A tour of the hospital is not included in the class tonight but we are going to schedule a tour just so we will know exactly where to go when the time comes. The tour is free. 

35 Weeks, September 23, 2011

On my to-do list for tomorrow is to go ahead and pack the suitcase for the hospital. I definitely want to have everything ready to go! I guess I can at least start tossing stuff in there as I think of it. I have 2 lists to go off of also so I will make sure to not forget anything :)


I got a surprise package in the mail yesterday from one of my dear friends Robin!! Well, she told me that she was sending it last week but I totally forgot so when it showed up on the doorstep yesterday I was surprised! And here is what it was:

2 pairs of Robeez! The cutest little shoes ever! Rowen now already has some cute kicks for when he gets a little older...yay! 

And a sweet little lovie was in the package too:

It's super soft on one side and silky on the other side.
So thoughtful of her! Love you Robin! Can't wait for you to meet the little guy when you come in town for the holidays!

                 

Updates and a New Floor

          I had a great check up yesterday at the doctor's office. I am measuring right where I am suppose to be. My belly is 35 cm and I am at about 35 weeks...interesting huh?! Measuring right where you are suppose to be coincides with the week that you are at. As far as energy goes, I have none! I wake up tired, I am tired in the middle of the day, I'm tired right now! Whenever I have the opportunity to sleep in or take a nap, I do so! I know sleep will not be like it use to be in a few short weeks! So Dr. Kyzer said that Rowen is not breech anymore but still has a lot of room to move around...are you serious? Where is this room you speak of?! She said that around 37 weeks he will start running out of room and won't be moving as much as he is now. If she has any doubts about how he is laying then we will have an ultrasound but for now he is in the right position. Yay! 

We met with the pediatrician that we chose for Rowen last night. Dr. Brady is @ Old Harding Pediatrics and both Brent and I really like her from our conversation that we had with her last night. 

She loves to laugh and seems like she knows what she is doing and won't scare our child...you know how some older doctor's can be kinda creepy? No? Just me? Well, she is younger and fun and we feel like she will take good care of Rowen :) She told us up front that all the doctor's in the practice believe the same things as far as medicine goes. Their practice still believe all children should get all their immunizations. And that if parents don't agree with them then this practice isn't for them. We obviously want our child to get the appropriate immunizations. Brent already knew about all this but I had no clue that parents were choosing for their children to not get shots b/c some of them have mercury in them. That's not very smart!! We agree with everything that she talked to us about. It takes us about 3 minutes to get to the office! We are so close! They have late hours and weekend hours as well. There is also always a doctor on call for emergencies. We really feel great about our choice. 

Side note, Brent decided that he wanted to redo the kitchen floor and it looks so good! We had a really light colored wood and we chose to put down a dark wood and it makes the kitchen look so much different. 


Before:

This is actually what was UNDER our light wood floor! Ugh! It was very nasty looking. 


After:

We love it!! It looks very nice. Brent did such a good job!
Now we are trying to decide if we want to put this wood in our living and dining room...We currently have carpet throughout our place. We will definitely leave carpet in the bedrooms and in the hall. But a change in the living and dining room might be nice! We will see. 

           

34 Weeks( 41 days to go! )

Well, I feel like my uterus is taking over my whole upper body at this point! It's compressing my ribs and making it a bit difficult to breathe. I even get winded walking up a flight of stairs...that's never ever happened before. I am slowly running out of maternity clothes to wear( everything is getting really tight )and I really don't want to buy anymore since I only have about 6 weeks left. I do need to find pajamas for the hospital and some jeans that fit. With my 10 year high school reunion coming up, I need to at least look as cute as I can at this point! haha! 

Rowen is the size of a honeydew...it sure does look like I swallowed a honeydew...feels like it too! Talk about being out of breath, I jogged a little the other day just to see what it would feel like. It's NOT enjoyable! Imagine holding a small watermelon and jogging with it..yea! He is about 5 pounds this week( so the book that I am reading says ). I wonder if he weighs more??! Total length is 19 3/4 inches. A few weeks before labor, the baby usually will drop lower in your abdomen. A benefit to the baby dropping would be that it will be easier to breathe since there will be more room in the upper abdomen but there will be more pressure on the pelvis and bladder which will cause even more discomfort. 

34 Weeks, September 16, 2011

Brent and I have our last baby shower tomorrow. It's our church shower. It will be fun...love the ladies at Woodmont Hills! I have a doctor's appointment Monday morning w/Dr. Kyzer and then that evening, we have an appointment with Rowen's future pediatrician, Dr. Brady at Old Harding Pediatrics. That is something very important that I am glad we are getting taken care of this coming week. Our class at Baptist is coming up too! We will be going on Friday...it's only 2 hours which doesn't seem like enough time to discuss a lot. We will also be getting a tour of the parts of the hospital that will be our home for a few days and then I believe we might be given the opportunity to go ahead and pre-register as well when we are there. 

Wow how my body has changed since week 20...

I have tripled in size!!

                 

What I am Loving Today!

I have a couple loves today so here it goes...

I'm LOVING...

Rowen's nursery! It is basically finished so I took pictures of it earlier. We are still looking for a few things but they aren't necessities! 

at the door 

changing table and glider

 The owls that I made and a mirror that I bought yesterday at Home Goods. It was blue but I painted it the bronzy color that I used for his name over the crib.

Mirror over the changing table

 Bookshelves and dresser

another shot of the stuffed bookshelves :)

A small corner of the room where a little chair from Pottery Barn would fit just perfectly!!

The top of his dresser...lamp and plate Aunt April made. Oh and that other thing is the video monitor which works great!!

His crib and name :)

A few of his stuffed animals warming up his bed for him. And yes, Brent and I know the rules...we will take the animals out before we put Rowen in there! 


I'm Loving...
that the weather is truly almost Fall!! I can't wait until it stays in the high 60's for a little while. I finished getting my Fall decorations out today and here are some of them:
( I took the pictures with a crazy lens app on my phone so that's why they are kind of yellow )

I'm Loving...
this book that I am reading through-

It is very informative and has lots of great tips. I know when I have a question about something when we come home with Rowen from the hospital, I will go to this book for the answer!
I also got told to buy Baby Wise from a few mothers with little ones. Brent ordered it off of Amazon and it got here today. We are both looking forward to reading it. I think that it focuses on getting your baby into a routine. 


I'm also loving Brent...always!

               

A great baby shower with wonderful ladies!

Yesterday was such a great day! It actually started with Starbucks with Brent :) Yumm-o! I can't wait until I can have my cinnamon dulce latte's WITH caffeine. The decaf cdl's actually taste the same as the ones with caffeine so when it comes to taste it's totally fine...a burst of energy with the decaf ones...not so much! haha. I can't wait until I can add caffeine back into my life!

At around 12:45ish my mom and I headed for Murfreesboro for my baby shower. Dana hosted it at her house. There were 10 ladies and a few of the girlies. Boy did they shower me with lots of wonderful gifts!! I'll post the pics with descriptions...

 The book theme food table

 Some of the books that were on the table...I got to take them home :)

The cake! With a sleepy little baby. The baby was removed before the cake was cut!

 The inside of the cake...my favorite! It was sooo delicious!

 Some of the ladies...Ashley, Norma, & Sherry

 Some more of the ladies...Sarah, Shannon, Beth, & Colby

 Me and the hostess, Dana

 Cute outfits( 6-9 months..yay )

 An adorable Christmas outfit from Brent's Nana :)

 How talented is April??!

 She painted this plate for Rowen!

 Bumbo and Bumbo play tray

 Baby Einstein ocean wonders play gym...this looks like a good time!!

 Rowen's car seat. It looks very comfy. Can't wait for him to be in it :)

 Rowen got some cute burp cloths!

 "wee"publican!

Love this fabric and just how adorable is it?!

This is already set up in Rowen's room and ready to go! It actually dispenses baking soda everytime you put a diaper in. So fresh.

The baby bullet. We will be ready to make baby food when the time comes :)

We also got towels, washcloths, a humidifier, sun shades, bath books, and much more! The ladies were so generous. It's always a good time when we get together :)

When we left the shower, mom and I headed to Baptist to meet baby Sarah Colvin. My cousin Angie had her baby Friday morning and we just couldn't wait to meet her! She is just the cutest little baby ever!

Angie and Jim didn't know if it was a boy of a girl until Friday morning...it's a girl! When we were visiting with them I started to feel nervous because my time is right around the corner!! I can't wait for Sarah and Rowen to grow up together! Oh and I forgot to mention that Angie looked wonderful...definitely didn't look like she had a baby the day before!!