Teeth and Cribs

Since my last post, we've been dealing with teething. My poor baby has tons of teeth trying to poke through right now :( The strange part is it seems that the top ones will come in first, at least those are the most prominent ones right now. I thought the bottom teeth came in first and that it wouldn't be until, like, 6 months. I hope they come in soon though because baby boy is a drooly, hand chewing mess. Some nights he just whimpers and cries all night. Sunday night, he was awake every hour and the only thing I could do to console him was nurse. At least I had that. The good news is that he is pretty happy and unfazed the majority of the time.

On a completely unrelated note, we decided to transition Tommy from the PackNPlay to the crib. Our goal was to have him transitioned by Christmas and he is rapidly outgrowing the bassinet part of the PNP. We decided to go ahead and give it a try this week while I'm off of work for a few days and will have help during the day if I need a nap.

So last night instead of his nighttime routine being done in our room, I did it in his room. It took a little bit longer to get him to sleep than it normally does but he went down relatively easily. After he was asleep I went out to the living room and broke down. Bill suggested that we just try and go to bed so I wouldn't be just sitting around upset. We went to bed and I made Bill hug me so that I wouldn't go get him. Tommy slept until 2, ate, then went back down pretty easily. He slept until 6! He might have kept sleeping if I just gave him his pacifier but I missed him and scooped him up without thinking.

He did great! I, woke up A LOT. I was listening for him and waking up thinking I heard him. Then there is the monitor. It has a voice activated setting which means it doesn't make any sound when he's quiet and kicks on when there is a noise. So when Tommy farts, it turns on. When he moves his head around, it clicks on. When he coughs, it turns on. Every time it turns on, I wake up where I used to just sleep through those kinds of noises with him in the room. I'm wondering if it would make sense for me to just leave it on and have the static in the background while I sleep.

The good news is that it went so well. I'm exhausted thinking about doing it again tonight though. I know we can do it but it's emotionally draining.

Baby Room is DONE!!!

FINALLY!!! We finally finished the baby room! I'm so happy with it.
Now we just need the baby!

Weekly Check-In (37 weeks)

How far along? 37 weeks, 5 days
Weight gain/loss: +40 lbs...
Maternity clothes? Yes, of course.
Sleep? I wake up at least twice a night to go to the bathroom. I wake up slightly sore in the hips and never feel fully comfortable. The good news is that I am sleeping, just not feeling totally rested.
Best moment this past week? The nursery is essentially done! The glider was brought over to us yesterday (it was delivered to my aunt’s house) so we have to put that together but other than that, it’s done!
Sex: We're having a boy!
Belly button in or out? I can officially see it through shirts.
Movement: He has definitely slowed down. Still moving a lot but not the big kicks that I used to get.
What I miss? Drinks, turkey subs, and sleeping like a rock though I know that is gone for a long time...
What I'm looking forward to this week: 38 week appointment on Thursday, I’m excited to see if I’m dilated at all. Also, looking forward to the pedicure I’m supposed to be getting! My mom is also convinced that I will have the baby on Wednesday. My dad has been saying the whole time that I’ll have him on the 14th (my late grandmother’s birthday). If mom is right, I only have a couple more days! haha
Milestones: From babygaga.com, "Your smooshed-up baby is weighing in at around 6.3 lbs and 19 inches (with boys somewhat heavier and longer than girls).
As far as their internal organs go, your adorable poop and blood factory has reached "term" - a medical term that means your sweet little bun is birth-ready and labor is welcome and normal at this point. Despite being physically ready to land on planet Earth, your baby's immune system is quite weak and will continue to be that way for their first years of life. Thankfully, your breast milk (aka "boob medicine") protects your child via protective antibodies that are present in your breast milk.”
Labor Signs: Some very strong Braxton Hicks and they are definitely getting more and more frequent though definitely not time-able. I don’t know if this is a labor sign per say but man, I have been in the bathroom A LOT lately. It’s as if my body wants food out of me as fast as possible.
Picture: Taken at 38 weeks.

Weekly Check-In (36 weeks)

How far along? 36 weeks, 5 days
Weight gain/loss: +39 pounds...uhg
Maternity clothes? Yes, of course.
Sleep? Sleep is getting less comfortable but I'm still able to get enough, this wouldn't be the case if I was working though.
Best moment this past week? Getting tons accomplished on the baby front. Pack N Play is set up in our room, the rest of the stuff we need from our registries has been purchased, and more work in the room was accomplished. We did run into a snag with the new blinds. We cannot figure out how to hang them up so my dad is coming over in a couple of days to see if it's just us or if they don't work for our windows.
Sex: We're having a boy!
Belly button in or out? I can officially see it through shirts.
Movement: He has definitely slowed down. Still moving a lot but not the big kicks that I used to get.
What I miss? Drinks, turkey subs, and sleeping like a rock though I know that is gone for a long time...
What I'm looking forward to this week: Reaching full-term on Wednesday!!!
Milestones: From babygaga.com, "In fetal developments: most of the bones (soft skull aside) in their little body are now completely hardened, providing a solid structure from which they can now make their grand debut into the world.In physical fitness news: your mini-champ's muscle tone is improving, and you’ll be impressed by their steel-like Ulnar grasp (a newborn reflex that occurs if you lay your finger in their palm)."
Labor Signs: Some very strong Braxton Hicks.
Picture: (36 weeks 4 days)

36 week pictures

I didn't take a picture on Monday so here I am today, at 36 weeks :)
It's super crazy hot here (and I'm sure everywhere in the US right now) so I'm hiding out in the air conditioning as much as possible today. Our little window units are getting a work out! I ended up getting a bunch of work done in the baby room so here's a little sneak peak (sorry the picture is kind crappy).

Weekly Check-In (35 weeks)

How far along? 35 weeks, 5 days
Weight gain/loss: I stepped on the scale this morning and it said I'm up 37 pounds. Did I really gain 7 pounds this week?! I've been very hungry lately but 7 pounds?! I'm definitely puffy, I even had to take my rings off today because my fingers are so big so maybe some of it is water weight. I go to the doctor on Thursday so we'll see what he says about it then. Uhg.
Maternity clothes? Yes, of course.
Sleep? Still sleeping in the pillow fortress waking up a lot throughout the night.
Best moment this past week? My baby shower! Pictures to come (I didn't take any so I need to wait for others to send me theirs).
Sex: We're having a boy!
Belly button in or out? I can officially see it through shirts.
Movement: Lots until yesterday and today. I actually decided to do kick counts last night (I haven't been doing them because he's moving all the time). When I laid down and actually counted, I realized that he is moving but not hard kicks or anything. He must be running on of room!
What I miss? Moving around comfortably.
What I'm looking forward to this week: Lunch with some coworkers today, my MIL's bridal shower, my cousin's baby shower, and getting our shower gifts all organized and put away. We're hoping to have the baby room done by this weekend!
Milestones: From babygaga.com, "Congratulations! You’re now carrying over 5 pounds of baby-goodness - not counting their amniotic fluid, the umbilical cord, or the placenta itself. Developmentally, your wee womb-tenant has the fat-factory running at full tilt while their digestive system puts the finishing touches on critical organs in preparation for their first meal."
Labor Signs: Braxton Hicks come and go.

Sometimes I'm crafty

The other day I went to Micheal's and bought some wood letters that spell out our baby's name and some acrylic paint. I'm still not sure what I'm going to do with them, whether I'm going to put them on ribbon and hang them on the wall or just stand them on one of the floating shelves we have but I LOVE how they came out and wanted to show them off! We still aren't telling anyone the name but obviously there is a Y and an M!

Weekend

Today is Bill's first Saturday off for which he did not have to use vacation time in over 7 years! He started his new job on Thursday and it seems to be going well. He has to get up super early (like 2:30 or 3:00 am) and works long days, 12-14 hours but he's only working 4 days a week and has weekends off! This makes both of us happy. So how are we spending our Saturday? We're going to the mall to buy him a suit...ugh. It will be like pulling teeth but he needs an all black suit to wear for his mom's wedding on July 30th.

The problem with buying Bill clothes is that he hates to try anything on. He prefers to buy things off the internet and rips the tags off before he puts it on to wear for the day. If it doesn't fit right he'll either wear it anyway or just donate it. It makes me CRAZY! Suits really need to be tried on and he's been made aware of this. He also hates bargain shopping. He'll find a suit that fits and he likes and will just buy it, not even looking to see if there are others that he likes that are cheaper. Basically, I go with him to keep him in line. Wish me luck with that!

Then this afternoon, he's working the Valley Field Days which is a small carnival in our neighborhood that the Valley Men's Club (of which Bill is a member) puts on every year. It's pretty cool, they have food and rides and carnival games. They bring in a couple of local bands and will have fireworks tonight. Bill and a few of his friends joined the club last year and my dad and uncles are also members. My grandfather (whom we lost last September) was a long time member and had such pride in the club.

Me? I'm going to hide my my parents' air conditioning and my mom is going to paint my toes for me since I get out of breath after just one toe!

Tomorrow is my family baby shower!!!!!!! So excited!!!!! I can't wait to see everyone, eat good food, and of course, open presents. I've been getting very anxious lately wondering what we will still need to purchase ourselves. I appreciate any gift that we are given but my nesting instincts are starting to kick in big time. I need to know what we have and what we need to buy so we can get this place baby ready. After tomorrow, I'll be a happy girl!

Enjoy your weekend!

To-do

So yesterday on the Bump, there was a thread where a bunch of people posted what they had left to do before the baby gets here. It kind of freaked me out because I feel like we have so little ready. After our shower this Sunday though, it's game on. I had a couple of (what I think were) contractions today and it kind of reminded me that I need to get my butt in gear here. This is the list I came up with tonight:

* Buy whatever is left from registries
* Arrange Baby Room
* Get/Set up Pack & Play
* Install Car Seat
* Get cars cleaned inside
* Get animals Groomed
* Get blinds for baby room
* Wash baby clothes and bedding
* Pack my hospital bag
* Order more contacts
* Write 2 weeks worth of sub plans
* Decide, then tell custodians how to set up classroom
* Decide if I want to rent or buy a breast pump and do it (after BF class on 7/25)
* Buy another nursing tank or 2
* Decide which pediatrician will be our primary one (group is already chosen)

Eeeeeeek

Weekly Check-In (27 weeks)

How far along? 27 weeks, 5 days
Weight gain/loss: +21 pounds, up 1 from last week. Uhg.
Maternity clothes? Yup, everything but sweats and the big t-shirts I sleep in.
Sleep? I'm still sleeping great! I don't want to jinx this but I rarely even get up to pee in the middle of the night :)
Best moment this past week? Getting the new nursery cleared out and ready to be painted. Oh and we started registering, finally!
Sex: We're having a boy!
Belly button in or out? In, but it's looking very little.
Movement: Lots and lots! Now Bill, my sister, my mom, and my mother in law have felt him kick :)
What I miss? I still really want a drink.
What I'm looking forward to this week: Getting the new baby room painted and finishing registering.
Milestones: From babygaga.com, "your child's lungs are already capable of breathing air as their vascular system can now handle oxygen/carbon exchange and their brain stem can now regulate rhythmic breathing as well as their basal body temperature!"
Labor Signs: Braxton Hicks have stopped.
Picture:

Nursery Drama

Bill and I bought our house about 2 and a half years ago, minutes from where we both grew up. We love our house but it's definitely on the small side. It's about 1100 square feet with 3 bedrooms, well it's technically only 2 bedrooms with an office because the third has no closet. When we moved in, we took the master bedroom (obviously) and made the office our, well, office. The third bedroom was the catch-all for stuff we didn't have a place for, the elliptical machine, and a couple of boxes of keepsakes from each of us (Bill's trumpet from high school, my ballet shoes, etc.). We also put the litter box in that third room since there really wasn't any other option.

When it came time to decide which room would be the baby room, we decided on the smallest room because it was in the best shape and it's right next to our room rather than across the hall. We painted the room and I love how the color turned out, Bill hates the color. He swears it's purple, I don't see purple, only gray. He decided to just deal with it. We put together the furniture, changing table (with drawers), dresser, and crib. It looks great in the room but there one major problem, that's all that fits in the room. No room for a chair even. We could use the dresser as the changer but I'm afraid that we wouldn't have enough room for storage since we there is no closet in that room either.

I was so upset when we got all the furniture in there and I realized the room is just too small. I need a chair of some sort for nighttime feedings and we don't want a room that's overly packed, especially if there is another room available! Bill is pretty bummed that we put so much work into fixing up that room and now we need to do the other room too but I think it's probably a good thing. We don't plan on staying in this house forever, probably just another 5 years or so. When we go to sell it, it would be nice to have the rooms all fixed up. This is the kick in the butt we needed to get them presentable.

I like our cat. I really do. I'm not a cat person and wasn't the one who brought him into the relationship but I do like Gizmo. I just hate his litter box. With. A. Passion. Litter boxes are disgusting. Even the fancy-shmancy automatic one that we have, you still have to change the poop bin every few days or it smells:
The thing is, logic would state that we take it out of the bedroom it's in now, and move it to the other room. But now that we've fixed up the other room, I'd really like to make it into a guest room. We have a twin sized bed we can put in there but I don't know too many of our guests that would be cool with sharing a room with our cat's excrements. Other than the bedrooms, here is a list of other rooms in our house: kitchen (I don't want to cook meals next to cat poop), bathroom (no space), living room (I don't want to hang out with friends next to cat poop), basement (best choice but you have to go through our garage to get to the basement and it's too cold in the winter and too hot in the summer to leave the door to the garage open).

Now that I've convinced Bill to fix up the other room and use that for our nursery, I'm feeling better and less stressed but of course I have to add some drama with the cat box. I think I might be SOL on this one though...

Baby Bedding

As soon as I found out I was pregnant I began searching for the perfect baby bedding. I found a couple of sets on the Babies R Us website that I like but wasn't crazy about. I want something that is more pattern based and less cutesy baby but Bill want's something that "let's you know it's a baby room." I finally found a set that I'm totally in love with! Bill loves it too which is always a plus. I just want to buy it but I was told by many family members that I should not buy anything other than the furniture for the room because they need options for gifts (we won't tell them about the ERGO). I've been able to resist so far but hopefully I'll hear about a shower soon because this whole, not having a shower planned thing is making me very restless. I just want to buy stuff when I have coupons and it's on sale if there isn't going to be a shower (I know my family, there will be a shower, it just will be very late).

So anyway, here it is!

It's Nantucket by Bananafish.
Isn't the mobile adorable?!

Now I just have to see how patient I am! I can keep myself under control for now but I have gift cards to Amazon from swagbucks burning a hole in my pocket and this set is available on there!

Weekly Check-In (23 weeks)

How far along? 23 weeks, 5 days
Weight gain/loss: +13lbs.
Maternity clothes? Yup, all pants (except sweats) and most shirts.
Sleep? I had been sleeping great!Best moment this past week? Having Bill feel the baby move from the outside :)
Sex: We're having a boy!
Belly button in or out? In, but getting more shallow.
Movement: I'm feeling more and more every day. It's starting to get stronger too.
What I miss? Hmmm, nothing much this week, I'm just excited!
What I'm looking forward to this week: My friend Melissa is coming to visit! She was supposed to come up to Syracuse a couple of weeks ago but ended up getting sick.
Milestones: From babygaga.com, "Your little womb hi-jacker is starting to kick their break-dance party up a notch now that his/her ears are registering sounds from the outside world!"
Picture (from yesterday):In other baby news, we finally finished painting the baby room! The wall behind me in my bump picture is the color. I love it, it's very neutral. I also got a huge burst of energy this past week while on vacation from work and put together the dresser and the changing table. They are perfect! The one complaint I have though is that the room is pretty small and I'm not sure we'll be able to fit the dresser, changer, crib, and a glider in there. We'll see once we get the crib put together and everything situated but I'm starting to worry. The room we are using is not technically a bedroom since there is no closet. We have another bedroom but the windows need to be replaced and it currently houses the litter box. I'm sure we could get the room ready in time for the baby but Bill insisted that this room is better. It's definitely in better shape but I'm starting to worry that we made the wrong choice.

Here are some more pictures:

The newly painted walls.

The new furniture.