34 Weeks, April 29, 2007

6 more weeks to go! It's hard to believe I'm almost at the end of my pregnancy...and even though I 've had it quite easy, I'm getting more ready to have my body back to normal (whatever that means). At my doctor's appointment last week, everything looked normal, and she could tell that the baby's head is positioned down. In the last week or so I've been feeling a lot more tightening and pressure on my stomach - she must be running out of room. This weekend we had friends visiting us - Jim & Jen Stumbo and their 2 kids as well as Sam & Erin Cruver and their 3 boys. Cruvers stopped by for a few hours on their way back to TN from Myrtle Beach and Stumbo's spent the weekend with us. On Saturday morning Jen & I got up and hit the neighborhood garage sale & found some good deals. I found a wooden rocker that John agreed to paint and we'll put that downstairs in our family room as an alternative to the rocker/glider for the nursery. I have yet to pack my overnight hospital bag - and I'm feeling the pressure to get that done just so we have it ready. At our showers we got a lot of things for the baby, and so we feel more ready in that regard as well. John has already installed the baby car seat in the back of my Jeep. Who knows when this baby will make her debut? I keep thinking of my mom this week - she delivered me 6 weeks early - and that would be like me having a baby this week!! I can imagine her shock and surprise to go to the hospital on Christmas day and have a baby. Hopefully this one waits until June at the expected timeframe. Well - I'm off to get things done. Sorry we've been so lax about getting this site updated - we'll try to be more consistent.

Baby Showers - April 2007

We had a fun weekend with family to celebrate a few baby showers! It was the first time I've seen Brandenburg's since Thanksgiving and my parents since Christmas. Our parents and John's sister, Sara stayed with us for the weekend. The girls started the morning off with a little R&R at My Bella Spa where we enjoyed some pampering with a pedicure/manicure combo.
Meanwhile, at home - John was cooking up his famous french toast - and after brunch we went to CMC hospital to take a tour so that everyone can see where we'll deliver the baby. It was nice for us to see the facilities as well.
My girlfriends, Christa & Chrissie threw me a shower on Saturday 4/21 - and they had contacted both moms for baby pictures of John and I - which they hung during the shower. It was such a fun time. Several ladies from our church choir were also there and it was so nice to introduce family to our "family" and friends that are involved in our lives here in Charlotte. While we attended the shower - the guys went golfing and then on Saturday evening we walked down to the shops at Blakeney and had dinner on the patio of Brixx pizza & listened to live music.
On Sunday afternoon - we were off to yet another shower - but this time the guys came along for a couple's shower. Our friends, Pete & Heather Grant hosted. We drove up to see this cute stork blow-up in front of their house. This shower was family & neighborhood friends from next door. It was fun to re-connect with everyone since the Grant's moved out of the neighborhood a couple years ago.
Parent's to be....

31 Weeks, April 8, 2007

Nine weeks to go! John and I are getting excited to see what this little girl looks like. We hope that you had a wonderful Easter weekend. Ours was pretty low key - which was much needed. We had dinner with our friends' and had fun watching the sweet babies play with plastic eggs. In the picture above (L to R), me, Mindy & Samuel, Christa & Caroline and Chrissie & Alicia.
A couple weeks ago we got our crib and dresser/changing table. We've put together the crib, and we have yet to put together the dresser - but that will come. We've attended our Childbirth classes at the hospital, and they were somewhat helpful. I've also signed up to take a Baby Massage class, as well as Baby CPR - just so we have additional information that we can potentially pull from if/when we need it. I still have felt really good, however, I am noticing that I'm beginning to get a little more tired in the afternoons - but that's to be expected. At my Dr.'s appointment today everything was looking good and she listened to the heartbeat, and it seems the baby's head is down right now - but she may still continue to change positions and move around in the next several weeks. I've asked the Dr. if there's any reason to believe I will go early since my mom had me 6 weeks early, and the others 3 weeks - and my grandma Klassen went approx. 3 or 4 weeks early with her 7 children - however the Dr. assures me that every woman is different, and there doesn't seem to be any correlation from mother to daughter - so I guess time will tell. On Saturday John and I went to Babies R Us to pick up just some basics to have ready when the baby comes home - a pack of diapers, wipes, creams, lotions, soap, newborn t-shirts, hats, socks, mittens, and a couple of outfit options to bring her home from the hospital in. Our families will be coming in a couple of weeks for some baby showers we're having here in Charlotte - and we're looking forward to spending time with them as well. Until next time....