Week #36

Once again..a lot to catch up on. A couple weeks ago Dustin and I attended a birthing class at the hosoital where Gage will debut. It was a crash course on all things pregnancy and delivery. I knew quite a bit of the topics covered in class from various talks with friends, or from my lovely books...but I think it was a good class all the same and I know Dustin learned a thing or two : ) At one point they had the "delivery" video and I kept urging Dustin to leave the room..I kept telling him once you see this you cant undo it : ) He stayed, and to my relief the video was not near as graphic as I had anticipated. The class ended with a visual sensory excercise and I will spare you all the details...it was hysterical and horrifically awkward all at once. If you really care to know, ask me in person! It does make for a rather comical story.

This past weekend, week 35 my mother in law came into town from Dallas to help me get the nursery all put together and finalized. I had one of the best weekends of my life. It started out Friday night with dinner at one of my favorite hole in the walls with my mom and mother in law..two of my absolute favorite ladies in the whole wide world. I LOVED being surrounded by two people that I love the most and its a rare occassion (actually this was the first time) I had them both all to myself one on one and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Dustin was away that weekend on a fancy hunting trip so it was just the girls and oh so perfect. Jolene, a recent grandma to my nephew Colton, was well versed in all the latest baby gear / necessities. My mom and I were still rather clueless in this department so I was happy to have Jolene's help and input. I would like to reiterate just how truly lucky I have been through this pregnancy to have such wonderful people around me...from friends to family, and my amazing husband..I really dont know what I would have done without you and I have never felt more blessed! While Jolene was in town she kept asking what else I needed from Babies R Us..I honestly could not think of a single thing...so we made our way over there on Saturday anyways to return some clothes that were duplicates and just see if there was anything I had forgotten......$472 later I was REALLY set!!! LOL..it amazes me how much STUFF little people need. Gage's closet has now overtaken two rooms upstairs and I still foresee furture storage needs. How can one teeny tiny little person possibly need this much stuff! But they do! : ) Jolene and I cut the tags off all the clothes, blankets; and nighties and washed them in special baby soap and put them away. I never thought doing laundry would be so incredible. I enjoyed washing every tiny sock, bib, recieving blanket, every article of clothings. There were more oos and awwww's that weekend! I was truly touched by how fortunate we are to have Gage to have such incredible gifts from so many people! WE ARE LUCKY!! I have posted some pictures below of the outcome of Gage's room..its finally almost done. I am waiting on one more wall hanging to come in, and still waiting on Dustin to finish that dresser, LOL..and thats it folks..we are ready to rock and roll!

This past Wednesday we went to see the doctor for our now weekly check ups. I had been feeling "funny" for a couple days so I was anxious to have her check me. Despite some of the symptoms I had been having, Dustin and I were blown away to hear what she had to say...not only had my symptoms been spot on and my body working as it should (which still fascinates me that your body knows to do all this tuff) but I am already at 2cm!!! My Dr. advised me of a long list of items that I should not do for the next ten days..including walking, eating spicy food, stairs, etc. I am to prolong Gage's debut until week 37, and then she will let me deliver at any time. Before 37 weeks babies are considered pre-term so thats the reason she wants me to hold him in : ) I am doing the best I can and followed doctors orders. Week 37 is this coming Saturday, Jan 29th... We have our next doctor's appointment this coming Friday, I am anxious to see what she says then. At our last doctor's appointment, aside from finding out we are on our way...we also had an ultrasound that let us know Gage is already 6 pounds 4 ounces. Thats amazing to me the technology these days. The nurse tried to get a profile picure of Gage but he was being so shy and had his head buried into me. Imagine that, I have a shy boy...I think we all know which parent this trait is from : ) And it aint me! Ha! The one appendage Gage was very proud of though was his TT...that we have 4 pictures of...so thank you Gage...no pictures of your sweet face..but I have 4 solid pictures that prove to us once again you are certainly ALL boy! This will no doubt be used against you one day...I see slideshows at your wedding in the future : ) Kidding..not really!

We cant wait to meet you little Gage Matthew..time is a tickin! : ) Love you

Week #34 1/2

Goodness so much to catch up on again. I really do need to get better about this blogging stuff. So as promised in the blog below...I do have a funny story about Dustin and I.
In the beginning of my pregnancy, around week 18 or so I wasnt showing very much at all and I was pretty self conscious about this, that my tummy was smaller than what I had thought it would be at that phase. Dustin knowing how much I worried about this in the beginning must have filed this tid bit away : )

Fast forward to 2 weeks ago..week #32 and I am big as a house. Feeling all and all pretty down on myself, I was on facebook one evening and was pleasantly surprised to see that I wasnt all that big in comparison to some people I knew. I was either right on track or maybe a wee bit smaller. I was thrilled! I literally had been feeling like a whale lately so to see that this was not the case made me happy. I showed my sweet husband a picture of this particular individual who happened to be showing a wee bit more than me. I said to him, look she is bigger than I am dont you think? He promptly replied, no not really. I frowned and sat quietly next to my husband on the couch. He could tell I was upset and asked what was wrong. I quietly said, well...I guess I just dont see how big I am.... He again retorted, no you dont. Now I wanted to beat him : ) After seeing my reaction he picked up on the fact that times had changed, I was now happy to be small and he quickly back tracked...we both laugh about it now...but he was almost found himself in poopie diaper duty for 2 months : )

I am feeling..pregnant, but all in all I guess I cant complain. I am just more than ready for little Gage to be here! I am getting really excited about his debut and the opportunity to finally, finally hold him!! One thing that really helped both of us get excited was getting his nursery ready. Although we still have a long way to go...we are much closer now than we were two weeks ago and that helped me feel prepared and ready for Nugget's arrival. Dustin's mom is coming in this weekend to help us finalize all the details and get every last thing done. I PROMISE to post pictures of his nursery on Monday after I have all the last details put in place.

Dustin and I have both been REALLY busy lately with work, family in town, the holidays, and getting ready for the baby. Knowing our schedules would be hectic I asked that Dustin just paint an old dresser that I had, and place it in the baby's room. This dresser has been the baby dresser for 70 years now, and passed down through my mom's family. To say that it had 7 layers of paint may be the understatement of the year...I was in a hurry to get the nursery done and just said, what the heck..whats one more layer of paint? Dustin was having nothing to do with this. He wanted to not only strip it down to bare wood, but put all new hardware and everything on it. So that is just what he did...for the last THREE weeks now! And I'll be darned if he didnt finally get it down to the bare wood. On more than one occassion I thought if he sanded any deeper he was going to sand right through the poor dresser. He was close to being finished and I came out to see the progress. Everything was stripped with the exception of some grooves where the dresser had some detail work. There was old paint left in the grooves still and I was thrilled. I told Dustin that would look great and to please leave it so that when he distressed the dresser to make it look even older, it would have that old paint peaking through. It was at that moment, that I recieved the "you are on poopie diaper duty for a year look" and Dustin explained, through clenched jaw...that he did not just work on this dresser for 3 weeks to distress it. This dresser was going to look brand spanking new even if it was the last thing he did! I decided it was time for me to go back inside and work on my projects and leave him to his : ) LOL...He put the second coat of paint on it last night and I must admit, it looks beautiful!!! It was not the first time I found myself thinking..I am sure glad he didnt listen to me, his way did indeed turn out better. But, dont tell him I think this often!!! Thanks again babe for all your hard work. I know Peanut will love getting his diaper changed on top of your perfectly sanded, ever so smooth, refurbished dresser : )