Our Christmas Angel

Merry Christmas!! I hope all of you have had a wonderful holiday. Ours has been wonderful and busy! Isabelle was baptized last Sunday, 12/21. My family wasn't able to make it, but we were very blessed that all of Ian's family was able to come. She wore the same gown that all 5 of my siblings and I wore for our Baptisms, which was really nice. Ian & I started a new tradition for her... we gave her a cross that she wore during the Baptism. Our intention is that she will also wear it for subsequent sacraments. She was such a good baby... she didn't cry at all during the Baptism itself. It was until the pictures afterward - when she was starving - that she cried at all. We did a little photo shoot of her in her gown, since the pictures at the church itself weren't all that fabulous. They turned out really well - sweet angel baby. They're available on our Picasa site.

Most of Ian's family was able to stay for Christmas. We've had a wonderful visit. I'm so happy that now all of our immediate families have been able to meet and spend time with the baby girl. Here are a handful of photos from Christmas... Aren't the ones with Sophia so cute? When Naomi & Sophia came to stay with us at the beginning of November, we discovered that Sophia & Isabelle had been given identical outfits as gifts. What are the odds? Naturally, that required that we dress them up and take pictures. Isabelle was still too little to wear hers then, but the shirt worked out well as a dress by Christmas! :) We've been singing the theme to the Patty Duke Show (they're cousins... identical cousins...) ever since!

Ian's parents and sister, Aileen, will be heading home on Sunday. After that, it will be just our little family of three, basically for the first time since about the middle of November. We love our family, but we're also looking forward to some "us time" and spending some quality 2-on-1 time with the baby girl.

That's all the big news from here. I am hoping that I'll have a little more time to keep up with the blog once everyone leaves... and there will be more people not here who will probably want updates. :) Until then, we hope you are all enjoying the blessings of the season and looking forward to good things in the new year!

Well, hello there

It's amazing how infrequently I get to a computer these days. This fall, I got an iPhone, which I thought would help me stay in touch with everyone. It does - to a point. It's super-easy for me to check my email, other people's blogs & Facebook. It is not easy, however, to write emails, blogs or anything that would involve me communicating other than the occasional FB status update. In some ways, it's made communication more difficult because I'm less motivated to get on a computer when I don't need it to check email or anything. So, that's a long way of saying sorry it's been a while since there's been a new blog posting! And I'm sorry for not responding to emails more quickly!

We've been very busy here in the Villanueva household. Let's see... since my last post, my sister-in-law, Jill, came to visit & help us out for a couple of weeks before Thanksgiving. Then my ENTIRE family came for the holiday. We had a wonderful time! It was great for everyone to get to meet Isabelle and we always have so much fun when we're all together. Most everyone left on Sunday and then on Monday, my sister-in-law (on Ian's side), Naomi, and niece Sophia arrived to lend a hand. How lucky are we? We really would have been a mess without Jill and Naomi's help! It was also wonderful to get to spend so much time with Sophia. She just turned 1 in September. We'd only been able to see her a couple of times over the past year and both times there were lots of other people around, so we'd never had much one-on-one time. She's such a sweet little girl! And it doesn't hurt at all that she loves her Tita Mae. :) I'm glad she'll be coming back soon! So, Naomi & Sophia left on a Friday and Ian's mom arrived on Sunday. Isabelle was very excited to meet her Lola. Ian's mom was planning to have a double knee replacement surgery this year and we all decided it would be best for her to have it done in Wichita. Since I stay home, we could be sure someone would be around to help her and she could help with the baby. Isabelle has had lots of quality Lola-time over the past week. I think being around the baby is helping Lola's recovery, too. Ian's dad (Lolo) was in for a few days last week, when Lola had her first surgery. He'll be back this week for the 2nd one. Tita Aileen arrived a few days ago and the rest of the family will be joining us by Saturday for Isabelle's Baptism this Sunday. Most of them will be staying through Christmas, which should be wonderful. I think our house will seem very, very empty come January!

So, that's what we've been up to. In the meantime, Isabelle is doing wonderfully... growing and changing every day. She's started smiling socially and has the most adorable gummy, dimply grin. She's also really observing objects around her... she's become a big fan of the mobile in her swing and the ceiling fan. She's a little hit or miss on the Christmas tree. So even though it's been a crazy whirlwind of a month, we're all doing well and feeling very blessed during this holiday season!

All a Blur...

Wow... what a crazy few weeks it's been! I feel like I was a little more on top of things the first week after Isabelle was born than I've been in the couple weeks since. I guess all that sleep deprivation piles up after a while. I've missed having Ian at home all the time, too. The poor guy had a very rough weekend of call the weekend after we brought Isabelle home. He's giving a presentation tonight, so this week he's been very busy trying to get ready for it. I'm hoping things will settle down for him a bit soon, so he can have a little more time to spend with his baby girl that isn't a middle-of-the-night feeding. She's a sweet girl all the time, but it is easier to love her when it isn't 3 am. Thankfully, I've had a lot of family & friend help since Ian went back to work! My brother, Kevin, & his family came down last weekend to meet Miss Isabelle. Mandy was excited to finally meet the baby, after she spent a week here waiting for the girl to make her appearance. It was fun to introduce Isabelle to her big cousin, Emma. Emma was precious (as always) and waved at Isabelle and said "baby" and then went off to chase the kitty. :) Another sister-in-law, Jill, came on Saturday and is staying with us through Thanksgiving. It has been such a life-saver to have another pair of hands around (and someone who is actually motivated to clean the kitchen or do the laundry!). We've been getting meals delivered by members of my moms' group this week, so that has been wonderful, too. It really leaves very little for me to do... except for that whole baby thing. :) It truly is wonderful to be able to focus on her so much. It's so amazing to watch all of her little facial expressions or see her looking around at things. She loves to stare at the quilt above her changing table. She's growing well now. We had her 2-week follow-up on Wednesday and she's now 4 oz. above her birth weight (which was 6 lbs. 10 oz.). The goal was for her to be at birth weight by then, so we were really happy to hear she'd gained a little more. She's grown, too. She's now 20 1/4" long! What a big girl! :)

It's hard to believe that Thanksgiving is only 1 week from today! My family is going to spend the holiday with us and it'll be the first time for most folks to meet Isabelle. We're so excited to have them here! I'm also super-thankful that Jill is here now to help me get ready for all the visitors & cooking a big meal. (Although, for the record, the family has been informed that I'll provide the house & baby, but they're responsible for the actual cooking!) ;) Hope you all have a great week!

I Love My Baby

Today has been such a nice day! Since we found out Isabelle gained 6 ounces and is now well on her way to getting back to her birth weight within the expected time frame, Ian and I decided that we're going to go back to feeding on demand. We have been feeding her every 2 hours, whether or not she was awake. Let me tell you, it just feels wrong to wake up a soundly sleeping baby in the middle of the night. It really was not good for anyone's morale. So, now we're going to wait for her to tell us when she's hungry and feed her until she's full. Apparently, she's more of a cluster-feeder. The girl will take in a ton and then sleep for several hours. From last night to this morning, I only had to get up with her three times. She woke up again around 11 am and stayed awake until about 2:30. It was really nice! I have to say, I loved the consecutive hours of sleep and it was really fun to have so much time today when she was awake and alert. I haven't been around many newborns, I guess, because I honestly didn't realize they were that alert. My impression has been that they're basically little lumps of cuddliness for a while. She's much more engaging than I thought she'd be at this stage. Ian went back to work on Monday, so it's just been the two of us during the day yesterday and today. I'm sure she won't always be such a fabulously easy baby, but I will always be thankful to her for taking it easy on her mommy for these first few days!

The Longest Week Ever (but in a good way!)

So, we've been a little busy since the last post I wrote... Ian hit all the high points with the labor & delivery. The only thing I can add is that childbirth is the strangest, most surreal experience I've ever had. In a way, it reminds me of our trip to Paris because I kept thinking I couldn't believe we were actually in Paris! A little different with all the pain and other icky stuff that goes along with having a baby, though... For every step of the way during the delivery, I kept thinking is this for real? We're really doing (fill in the blank)? That's really what it sounds like when your water is broken? And so on...It feels like 100 years since last Sunday, when our baby girl was born. About this time last week, we'd just been moved from the recovery room to our postpartum room and Ian was changing the first diaper. For me, most everything between then and now has been a foggy, sleepy, drugged up blur. :) It hasn't been quite that bad, but I have to admit that I did nearly fall asleep while I was walking (not just standing, but walking) last night. I think this is the closest I have ever come (or hopefully will ever come!) to understanding what it was like for Ian to be an intern... I just don't have patients to take care of and people yelling at me all the time. :) The only significant development has been that Isabelle has had a little trouble with her feeding and weight gain. Newborns are expected to lose about 10% of their birth weight in the first few days and then start gaining the weight back. Generally, it's because it takes a while for the mother's milk to come in. This often takes longer when the baby was born by C-section. Isabelle ended up losing a bit more than the 10%, so we've had to make sure to feed her every 2 hours and supplement with specific amounts of formula since last Thursday. We'll go back for a weight check tomorrow and with the amount of stuff we've poured into the girl, I really hope she'll have gained a couple ounces! (We're hoping to get 2 or 3.) We'll see!

Other than the weight and breastfeeding challenges and the lack of sleep, it's been an amazingly wonderful week. I find myself wondering if we'll have to give Isabelle back... can we really be so fortunate that we get to keep this sweet, precious baby with us for good? The other night, I was rocking Isabelle in front of the fire while Ian cooked dinner for us. It was one of the most lovely, serene moments I've ever experienced. So, that's the quick update from here. Now I'm off to sleep before I have to wake & feed Izzy in about 90 minutes. Blah. :)

Welcome Isabelle Grace Villanueva!

In case you haven't heard, on November 2, 2008 at 6:20pm, Isabelle Grace Villanueva was born by Caesarian section. She weighed 6 lbs 10 oz and measured 19 inches long. Mae's OB recommended a C-section after Mae pushed for 2 hours and Isabelle didn't descend. At no time were Mae or Isabelle in any danger. For this, we will be forever grateful.

Mae and Isabelle are both doing well. She was a very quiet baby for the first 8 hours of her life, until she woke up. Even when Mae was pregnant, Isabelle was most active after midnight--she definitely kept that trend going last night. Eventually, she settled down by sleeping on my chest. I have never been happier to sleep in a hospital bed.

Congratulations to those who guessed some or all of Isabelle's name. I was very impressed that anyone could make sense out of that alphabet soup. Isabelle is a common name in my family, shared by my sister, grandmother, and great-grandmother. Grace is Mae's grandmother's name. It's hard to say who she looks like--at first, Mae thought she looked like my sister Aileen. Isabelle definitely has the Filipino nose. She has a cute dimple, long toes, long legs, nice eyelashes (according to the OR nurses)--in our eyes, she's perfect.

Check out our online baby album. We'll be updating it often, stay tuned.

It's Show Time!

So this is it! It's officially our last post before the baby arrives! We're off to the hospital and looking forward to meeting the little girl soon. (Lest you all think I'm nuts and blogging instead of jumping in the car, I'm writing this in advance and we'll just post it when the time is right.) The timing has worked out well... you have one last letter for the name game! A few people have been emailing & texting their guesses to me, in addition to those who have posted guesses here. I have to admit that some people have figured out one of the names. BUT, no one has guessed the other one yet! The letter G is your last one. I also thought we might be helpful (now that I don't have to worry about anyone figuring it out in advance!) and give you a couple clues...

• Both of our families are very important to us. (Sorry non-family folks... that's really not going to be helpful for you!)
• We think the baby girl is going to be a Beauty... we may just call her that as a nickname.
• She'll be our princess. Why not give her a queen's name?
• We are so thankful for all the blessings we have received and we know she'll be a reminder of God's goodness in our lives.

Not sure how helpful the clues will be, but you'll know her name soon enough anyway. :) Good luck! We'll keep you posted!

...And Waiting...

We've decided once this baby girl is finally born, we need to sit her down for a talk about seeing thing through to the end and finishing what she starts. :) My OB appointment this week was relatively uneventful... there's been some progress, but not all that much. The big thing is that we've decided to go ahead with an induction after I reach 39 weeks if the baby isn't here by then. We'll see! At least there's some definite end in sight.

Until there's more exciting news, I thought I'd post a few videos of our sweet niece, Emma. She came to visit us last weekend... really to meet her cousin, but she ended up just entertaining and distracting her aunt instead. She's such a big girl now! She's walking! It's amazing how fast things change. She was here about a month ago and walking with help, but now she's good to motor around all on her own. It's so cute to watch her waddle along.





And here's a little one of Emma with the kitty she got for her birthday. She walks around with him all the time, which is hilarious because he's almost as big as she is! (She's also very helpful and is cleaning the rug for me...)

Still Waiting...

It is now Day 7 of our 5-day window during which the OB really expected we would have the baby. I do have an appointment this afternoon, so we'll see if there's been any progress. I'll be sure to keep you all posted! My sister-in-law, Mandy, is still here - doing a fabulous job of keeping me company and my morale up. :) I'm sure the poor girl is bored to tears. I haven't been sleeping well/much at all, so I haven't felt so up to doing much beyond walking in the neighborhood. How have we been passing our time? With Halloween neighborhood fun & games! The other night, someone rang the doorbell, but when I went to answer the door no one was there. Instead, I found a little garbage-bag ghost, bag of candy and a note similar to this one. Naturally, Mandy & I couldn't pass up playing the game. In fact, we decided we could make a WAY better BOO ghost than the one we received... a BOO anyone would be proud to hang in a tree in their front yard. :) We spent a surprisingly big chunk of the afternoon making these two fabulous BOO's and re-doing the note. As Ian said, we must have a lot of time on our hands. He really wanted nothing to do with the BOO's and felt quite sure someone would send the police after us for playing pranks on the neighbors. It was pretty hilarious to imagine the police chasing two little prego's (Mandy is 27 wks) running/waddling down the street trying to make our big getaway. (Although, I say, anything that involves people leaving chocolate on my doorstep is not a prank - it's a gift from heaven!) In the end, Ian decided he couldn't risk having a pregnant lady falling during the escape on his conscience, so he was awesome and did the dirty work for us. I have to say, I don't know that I've ever seen him run so fast. Good times! We've decided that if the baby doesn't come today, we're going to carve pumpkins. Please hurry, baby!

38 Weeks & Counting...

I think this has been the longest week ever. Actually, I think the 5 days from Wednesday to today have been the longest week ever. I kinda wish this whole dilating thing had never started so early. Ever since then, it feels like I've totally been on edge... I really was perfectly content to wait until 40 weeks before expecting the baby to come. It's only been since it seemed like we were on the verge of something happening that I've been anxious to get things going. This week has been especially that way, since the doctor fully expected I'd deliver before the weekend. She said that in her experience, women at my stage usually deliver within 5 days and that she expected she'd see us within the next couple days. Here we are - day 5 - and nothing. Boo. (Side note - I don't mean to say anything bad about my OB. She's AWESOME and I truly feel so blessed that we happened to end up with her. This is just such an unpredictable thing, especially for 1st-time mothers.) It's been especially frustrating because my fantastic brother & his family [not to say the others aren't fantastic... :)] happened to be able to come to Wichita this weekend & my sister-in-law was able to take off work for most of next week to help with the baby. Knowing that she would be around really helped alleviate a lot of nerves for Ian & I. We weren't sure if they should plan to come down if the baby hadn't actually been born yet, but schedules wouldn't work out quite as well in the next few weeks and we were all pretty confident she'd be here by the end of the weekend, at least. Apparently not. So, Kevin & Emma went home today and Mandy is hanging out with me until Thursday. Hopefully we'll have a baby by then. I have a sad feeling I'll go into labor as soon as Mandy gets home. :) We'll see. So that's the big, no-news update for now. My word for today is BOO and it's not because of Halloween.

Baby Updates

Just a quick little update for everyone... I went to the OB today and she said she really expects the baby to be here SOON. She said that in her experience, women like me deliver within 5 days, so we really should have the baby by the end of the weekend. She also said she really expects it sooner than that... like within the next 48 hours. For the record, I'd like to refer everyone to this post from back in April and just say that I called it. :) Hope you're all doing well and having a good week! Since we're really at the end, here's another letter for you. :)

Full-Term Day!

As of today, I am 37 weeks pregnant, which means the baby is now full-term! That means that if she were born today, her lungs should be fully mature and she should be fine breathing on her own. Hooray! Since we heard I'd started dilating, today's the day we've been aiming to make it to. Naturally, it'll probably be best for her if she can hang out for at least another week or so, but I'm also happy that I can start hoping for her to come soon guilt-free. :) Although, it would be really thoughtful of her if she could make sure to wait until at least tomorrow night, since Ian has his first gastric bypass scheduled for tomorrow morning. I'm sure the patient would be thankful, too. :) I really hope she doesn't wait until Nov. 9, though! That sounds like a VERY long time from now! I'm glad, too, that I'll be able to be a little more active now. I've really tried hard to follow the doctor's directions and keep the activity to a minimum for the past couple weeks. I have to say, I'm a little bored. I think it's been good to get some rest, but still... So, that's the news for today. We'll keep you all posted on any developments!

Slow Progress

I just wanted to give you all a little update... After last week's excitement, things have slowed down quite a bit. Since we're not at full-term until Sunday, that's a good thing! The excitement last week ended up with us going to the hospital on Saturday because we thought there was a chance my water had broken, but really weren't sure. Turns out, everything was fine. It was a relief to have someone tell me that, though. Since the news on Wednesday & Thursday was such a sudden surprise, I kinda went into overdrive for a few days. Ian & I did some last-minute baby-prep cramming and I was feeling hyper-aware of every little thing going on with me. So, it was very reassuring to find out the baby wasn't going to come any minute. Since then, I've been WAY calmer and, surprisingly enough, had many fewer contractions. Funny how that works. I've really done very little this week, since the doc recommended keeping the activities to a minimum until we hit that magical 37 week mark. I had my weekly OB appointment today and found out we're at about 3.5 cm now, which the doctor said is a good, normal amount of progress in a week for a first pregnancy. If it keeps at that rate & we can make it a couple more weeks, I should be in pretty great shape once the baby does decide to come for real.

We're running out of letters already! I'm getting nervous that one of you is going to guess the baby's name. ;) We do have enough left to make it a couple more weeks, so we'll see! Here's your letter for this week... S! Don't forget that the letters are for the baby's first AND middle names, so "Zaileen" could still be in the running, Kit. :) You'd just have to work all the other letters into her middle name.

Busy Baby

So, it's been an eventful few days. We're on the clock! At my weekly OB appointment on Wednesday, I found out that the baby is head down, engaged, ready to go and I am dilated almost 3 cm. So, it's not at all uncommon for women to spend weeks at that state, but it certainly was a big shock to the system and reality check to realize that all of this is truly coming soon. The other big part of the prediction puzzle is effacement. My doc didn't mention anything about that, so I called yesterday to check what that is... 80%. Yikes! I was expecting it to be something like 10%. So, it still could be a few weeks, but probably won't be. So, that's our news for now. We'll post as things develop (within reason, of course). Since it looks like we'll be early, I'm giving you TWO baby name letters this week! Bonus! :) The letters are I and L. And yes, Mandy, Bertha Camille is still possible!

Life in Kansas

We've had a busy week once again. I think there's a flip-side to the nesting instinct... I'm suddenly feeling like I need to get out of the house and do as much as possible now, since once the baby comes, it'll be much harder for a while. So, in the past week we've done a lot! Here's a brief rundown & you can see more pics here...

• SAT, 9/27 - RACE FOR THE CURE: I signed up to walk in Wichita's Race for the Cure with my moms' group. It was a lot of fun... and I discovered that a one-mile walk really isn't very long. I'd been a little worried about it because I'd had some trouble just walking around the neighborhood sometimes, so I wasn't sure how this would go. It was a breeze and fun to spend some time with the other moms' in the group. (You can't really tell from the pic, but the 3 of us on the right are all 30+ weeks pregnant! I was not waddling alone.) Ian's practice also had a tent there, so it was a good chance to see a lot of those folks, too.
  
  
• SUN, 9/28 - CHURCH PICNIC: In Farmington, the annual church picnic is a HUGE deal. Maybe that's just country life. :) It really is something that people from all over town - and the county, really - come to, even if they're not Catholic. It's also a huge fund-raiser and how a good chunk of the parish's budget is covered each year. Apparently, not all church picnics are quite like that. They had a sign-up after Mass a few weeks ago for people who were planning to go. I thought that was kind of strange, but whatever. This picnic was way smaller and - strangest thing of all - everything was free! Even the funnel cake! It really was a nice thing... there were some speakers, activities for the kids, chances to meet other people in the church. We ate with a couple who lived in the Chicago area for about 5 yrs and in NC for a bit. What a funny coincidence. They were a lot of fun - we compared notes on the best places to eat in Chicago and got some good tips on places in Wichita.
  
  
• FRI, 10/3 - ZOO DAY: I went to the zoo with the moms' group on Friday. The weather was absolutely gorgeous and it was great to get outside, get some exercise, and meet more new people. It was nice because the people who went to the zoo were different than the ladies I'd met at the other events so far. It's a pretty good little zoo. I saw the biggest tortoise I've ever seen in my whole life! I think I sounded like one of the kids when I first saw it. :)
  
  
• SUN, 10/5 - PUMPKIN PATCH!: We went to the pumpkin patch yesterday! Neither of us had ever been to a pumpkin patch before, but the moms' group was going, so we thought we'd try it out. It was fantastic. They had a corn maze that we really were not sure we'd ever find our way out of. In the end, we thought we figured it out, but ended up coming out the entrance! We considered it a victory, though, since I was beginning to imagine going into labor in the middle of the maze and needing a helicopter to come save me. :) There were a bunch of other cool things, too... a giant pumpkin cannon, pumpkin sling shots, great food, etc., and those are just the not-necessarily-kids-only things. We're excited to go back next year with the baby. I think it really must be one of the most fun places ever for kids.

So that's about it from here! I'm resting up today, which has been very nice. It's a kinda dreary, rainy day, so it's perfect for resting. We have a childbirth class marathon this week... there really is a class on our schedule every night this week! Childbirth, Dad's Class, Car Seat, Breastfeeding... Phew! Hopefully, we'll learn something this week. :)

Last, but not least, here's your name game letter for this week... As promised, it's not alphabetical order! Your letter this week is R.

What a Big Week!

What a busy, wonderful week we've had! It's been a tiring one, but fabulous. To start, almost all of my family (just missing my sister, Genevieve) was able to come to Wichita to visit us. We celebrated the 1st birthday of our niece, Emma. She's just amazing... and a fantastic birthday girl, I have to say. She was SO excited about her presents and her cake. She's so much fun. It seems like most babies I've seen at their 1st birthday's are pretty clueless about everything that's going on. Emma was all about the birthday celebration! We just got a new video camera that I have not yet figured out how to work, but once I do, I'll post a video of her present-opening extravaganza. Here are a couple pics, but without the squealing and spinning around in circles, it's hard to really get the full effect. :)

We also had our 2nd baby shower this weekend! We really weren't sure if we should have one or not, since we know so few people in Wichita, but we figured it would be a good chance to the family to get together, if nothing else. My sisters-in-law had a great idea to make a scrapbook instead of doing the usual baby shower games, so it didn't matter how many people came. As it turned out, we did have a few neighbors and ladies from Ian's work come by, which was so nice of them. We also received a ton of gifts from people here and from our friends & family all over the country. We are SO thankful for everyone's generosity! We're especially thankful to Jill, Mandy and Cortney for all their hard work to make the shower happen. You girls are the best!!

Last night, I went to a meal swap with the moms' group I've been getting involved with. I really am so thankful and feel so blessed to have found this group of women so quickly. I've only had the chance to go to a few events, but each time, I'm amazed by how warm and welcoming everyone is. Someone asked me recently how this move has compared with our move to Charlotte and it's really incredible to think of how different it has been. In Charlotte, I felt very lonely and isolated for the first several months and had a hard time meeting new people. I really wish we had family or friends close to us now, but I've also found it relatively easy to meet people and start making friends at least.

On the baby front, things are moving forward very quickly. It's hard to believe how fast the time is going by now! It really was great to see Emma this weekend... it's helped me to focus more on being excited to meet our own little girl and get to know her. Everything's been very smooth with the pregnancy. The baby's moving well (especially ramming her bum into my ribs) and I've been feeling pretty good, all things considered. I actually start my every-week OB appointments this week, so the time is coming close! Not too much longer and we'll be able to share pictures and her name with everyone! Until then... here's your letter for this week (and a little nod to the Bears fans out there)! (And I promise to stop with the alphabetical order after this one.) :)

Letter of the Week

Here's your letter for the week! And I'll even give you a clue... The baby's name is NOT Abba Baba, as my sister-in-law, Mandy, guessed. :) It's an exciting weekend around here... almost all the family is in Wichita for our baby shower and my niece's first birthday. She's such a big girl already! We're looking forward to lots of family fun this weekend. Hope you all have a great weekend, too!

The Name Game!

This week is sponsored by the letter...

As our due date approaches, we've been getting more questions about what the baby's name will be. We've decided that something should be a surprise and you all already know it's a girl, so we're holding out with the name. BUT, we're getting close to the end now and I thought we could play a little game to see if you all can guess what her name will be. I realized that if you put her first & middle names together, there are enough different letters to tell you one each week.

Here's what I was thinking...

• I'll only give you a letter once, even if it might appear in her name several times
• You'll get the letters out of order, so you'll have to do a little unscrambling to figure it out
• You'll get the whole name earlier if she decides to make her arrival before we actually hit week 40 :)

How's that sound? Ian said way complicated, but I think you can handle it. :) We'll see! So, in case you didn't figure it out from the picture, your letter for this week is "A." Good luck!

Heads or Tails?

It's hard to believe how quickly our due date is approaching! I'm starting to freak out a bit because I feel like we are so not ready. I know that we're not going to have the house completely furnished before she comes, but it would be really nice to have it a bit further along than it is now. I'm getting tired of our "sofa" (aka air mattress). In real life, it's all coming along and we have some plans in place that will help us get everything ready. It just all takes time and it's getting harder to be patient. I was thinking earlier today that if we were still using our original due date, we'd be expecting our little one within the month. Yikes! I'm so thankful that ended up not to be accurate. We do have a lot of the immediate necessities (thank you, Midland shower hostesses!)... plus, the crib arrived earlier this week (thank you, Lola!). I know we don't need it right away, but it'll make the nursery feel a little more "ready."

I'm growing very quickly! Here's a picture from the wedding we went to last weekend. It's an awkward pose - I didn't have time to figure out how to squeeze myself in properly before the pic was taken - but it is a good belly shot. The other day, I was eating dinner and tried to lean forward and couldn't. It was weird - there was something blocking me from bending forward at all. I felt the top of my belly and there was a very distinct, very hard, round thing on the right side by my ribs. I'm not sure if it was a head or a bum (I think head), but it was definitely some end of the baby. I was just saying to my sister-in-law last week that I've never understood how people could say, "Oh, here's the baby's head." I'd just felt harder spots on my belly, but nothing I could identify at all. Now I get it. Today there was a kick that was definitely some limb. I still haven't figured out the heads and tails of everything - butt or head? arm or leg? - but it's very interesting to have a clearer mental picture of what's going on in there!

Somber Celebrations

I know I blogged about this last year, but how on earth can I be so busy when I have no job? This time, I'm not even looking for a job! :) It really feels like the entire month of August has been a blur. I realized yesterday that we've had another one of those stretches where we'll be out of town for 3 of 5 weekends. I think that really makes a difference, since we've either been recovering from or getting ready for some trip most of the time.

This will be an interesting weekend... I think I mentioned before that we're going to Houston for the wedding of a med school friend. We've been looking forward to seeing him and experiencing a big, fat, Greek wedding (both the bride and the groom are Greek). Unfortunately, it's going to be a pretty subdued celebration. The groom's father passed away on Wednesday. Our friend thinks his dad knew he may not make it because in the days before he died, he made it very clear to everyone that if he should die, he wanted the wedding to go on. So (if our flight gets in on time) we'll be going to the Visitation tonight, funeral tomorrow morning, possibly rehearsal dinner tomorrow night (I'm not sure just yet if that's still on), and wedding on Sunday. I really feel bad for our friend. I've always been so thankful that Pop was able to be at our wedding, but from my experience, I know it's really hard to have such a happy experience mushed together with such a sad one. It really is hard for me to think about our wedding without thinking about losing Pop. I actually have never watched all of our wedding video because of that. (Well, partially... also because it's really not good quality at all and that made me really sad.) I probably would be able to watch it now (almost 5 years later already!), but that first time, it was so overwhelming and all I could think was that it was the last day I ever saw him alive. I really can't imagine what Manny will be going through having the funeral one day and the wedding the next. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers. He said he hopes that this weekend will still be a celebration - both of the marriage and the life of a great man - even if it is a little more subdued than planned.

Entering the Home Stretch!

It's hard to believe, but this week officially starts the third trimester! It's really hitting home now that pregnancy generally lasts 10 months, not 9 (how is 40 weeks supposed to equal 9 months??). I said the other day that I was 8 months pregnant and got such a surprised reaction. Before it was me, I imagined 8 months meant that you were just days away from the 9 month mark, which naturally is when the baby would magically pop out. Maybe not. :)

It's been a relatively quiet couple of weeks. I had a terrible cold last week, which I think was coming on for the whole week before because I just felt really, really tired and run down (even for being pregnant). I've decided that I officially do not like being sick & pregnant at the same time. I'm surprised and very thankful that I haven't been sick more often during this pregnancy. I usually catch every little thing that comes along, but I really haven't been sick before. Anyway, I'm 110% better now! Yea! Ian and I are heading to Houston this weekend for a wedding. This - hopefully - will be our last big trip before the baby comes. That's a weird thought. I'm glad, though. We had to go to Houston this past weekend, too, and we ended up sitting in the plane on the tarmac for several hours and then had a very bumpy ride with no chance to use the bathroom. Not a good situation at all for a sick, pregnant lady! I'm hoping the flights this weekend are very uneventful. We're planning to do a lot of relaxing this weekend - and I'm getting my first pre-natal massage. I can't wait! Hope you're all well and having a good week!

A Day of First's

Sunday was a big day for me! Mostly because I went to my first mom's club event. I found this group online that seems pretty great. It's a Meetup group, which has been great for me so far because they have message boards and whatnot that I was able to participate in before we even got to Kansas (in addition to all of the real-life get-together activities they have). So, I've emailed with a couple people in the group (one's from Chicago originally) and put some posts on the message boards, but Sunday was my day to actually meet real people. They have a monthly book club, so I figured that was a good thing to go to without a kid. :) The people I met were great, so welcoming and really encouraged me to come to the playdates even before the baby is born. They said they ususally spend most of the time socializing while the kids play, anyway, so it would probably be more fun for me pre-baby, since I won't have to worry about keeping an eye on my kid.

The other first was that I believe I had my first Braxton Hicks contractions during church on Sunday. The doctor said anything that comes on suddenly, takes your breath away, but doesn't increase in frequency or intensity is probably BH. The first one definitely took my breath away! We're at the end of the 2nd trimester now and I'm feeling the baby move a ton. It's interesting how this is such a positive thing, but also makes me way more paranoid than before. :) Before I could feel her, we just had to trust that everything was developing as it should. Now there are all sorts of new and different sensations all the time and the more intense ones make me a little nervous that something's wrong. Ian and I were saying the other day that it's good that I'm going to start seeing the doctor every 2 weeks (now that I'm in the 3rd trimester) instead of every 4 like I had been throughout the pregnancy. I used to be totally fine for the first 3 weeks, but completely convinced something was wrong with the baby by the day of my appointment. I just went to the dr. last week and kinda wish my next appointment were a little sooner than next week!

We have discovered one other first in the past several weeks that isn't so fun... it looks like I have my first real negative pregnancy symptom. Apparently, my gallbladder has had it with being pregnant and has decided to make its protest loud and clear. It could be from the overabundance of fast food we ate during our move, but that's around when I started noticing regular pain in my right side. It's gotten a lot worse in the past few weeks and I'm loosely back to my first trimester diet - rice, crackers, bread, oatmeal... anything without much flavor, basically. We've determined that there isn't an infection that could hurt the baby - just obnoxious pain for me - so I've rebelled against my new diet a couple times. Somehow, I decided it would be fine if we went out for Mexican food one night. Not so smart, really. It would have been worth it if it were fabulous Mexican food, though. :) I'm too far along now for them to consider surgery (although they sometimes do during 2nd trimester) and all the medical treatments are a no-go for pregnant women. So basically, I just have to suck it up for a few more months. We'll probably end up having the surgery done about 6 weeks after the baby's born. So, it's certainly not the worst thing that could happen and I'm so thankful it's nothing that will bother the baby, but it's probably not going to help this last trimester go by very quickly. Boo.

Hello again!

Today's a very big day - we had our cable & internet service hooked up. Hooray! We're once again connected to the outside world. It's been a while since we've been in touch with everyone very much. So, here's a general update on everything...

The move went about as well as could be expected (with the small exception of a 3 hour stand-still traffic jam followed by a 250-mile detour to get around a chemical spill in Tennessee). It was a long trip, but we were able to spend 2 nights with family, so that gave us some bright spots to look forward to along the way. There were some hiccups with getting into the house (last minute touch-ups weren't done), so we had to spend 1 extra night in a hotel, which was a bummer, but in the end, it all worked out fine. The first weekend we were here, we went to a BBQ the sales guy for the development hosted for a couple of our neighbors. It was great to get to know a few of them right away. It was actually a going-away thing for one couple, but the other 2 couples at the party will be around. One of the ladies actually volunteered to watch Connor & Pooka while we were in Texas, so that worked out beautifully.We were here for about 10 days with a very, very empty house before the movers came with our stuff. Now we just have a very empty house. :) The cats have been enjoying it because they can run and slide across the hardwood floors without anything to block their path (except for walls, if you're a big Connor Cat).

We spent most of last week in Texas with Ian's family. They hosted a baby shower for us on Saturday, which was fantastic. We really had a great time at the shower and just visiting with the family in general. It's amazing how generous people are... We're very thankful to have such a wonderful family - and friends!

Now we're looking forward to visiting with my family when they come to Wichita for our 2nd shower in September.

Other than that, our lives have mostly been focused on unpacking our meager belongings. Ian started work on Friday, but it'll take a while for that to be very busy, so he's been able to help a lot with the unpacking. I discovered that unpacking is WAY easier when A) Ian is around to help (which hasn't often been the case in our many previous moves), B) I can't really lift anything. Darn. :), and C) Your stuff doesn't take up all the space in your house. One of our poor neighbors was downsizing when she moved and 6 months later still has a garage full of boxes. Their cars had to spend the winter outside last year because there was no room for them in the garage. We actually managed to get just about all of our boxes unpacked in about 3 days. It also has helped that we don't have much furniture (including tables & bookcases), so we can't put away too much just yet. It doesn't help in terms of feeling settled, but it's great for emptying boxes! So, that's where we stand now. We've purchased a sweet fridge and a washer & dryer, so we feel like grown-ups. Now we're just waiting for the paychecks to start coming and we'll be ready to move on to furniture. Yea!

I miss home internet access!

So, we made it safely to Wichita and finally into our house. I've been working on an epic post outlining our trip here, but we don't have internet access at home yet, so I've just been writing it in bits at hotels or Panera. :) I'll post it soon, but wanted to let the world know that we're in Kansas now and doing well!

Happy 4th of July!!

The countdown is on! One week from today, the moving truck will be loaded up and we'll be on our way to Kansas in what I hope will be our last move for a LONG time. Thankfully, Ian's hospital is paying the relocation expenses, so we're having the movers do all of the packing and that junk for us. While I am so very glad not to have to worry about digging up boxes and packing everything up, I think that going through the process of packing does help you mentally prepare for the fact that you're really leaving the place where you live. It's weird to think that we'll be leaving Charlotte for good so soon, since everything inside our house looks the exact same as it has most of the time we've lived here. We do still have some cleaning-out type stuff to do this week to get everything ready to be packed. I find it hard to be motivated to do that stuff. I'm really a great high-yield cleaner. I like to clean things when I can tell a real difference after they're clean. I'm awesome at straightening up, cleaning up the kitchen and that sort of thing. BUT, I really, really hate going through the mail and dealing with paperwork. That's always where I lose my steam. All that detail stuff and spending so much time going through one stack of papers makes me crazy. Unfortunately, that's the kind of thing that we need to do this week. Give me a box of books to pack any day! (Although, again, I'm so thankful someone else is doing that and I don't have to worry about wrapping all the plates and glasses, etc., etc. I don't want to sound like I'm complaining about the movers!)

In other news, I've been sleeping much better this week. I think the yoga really has been helping. I've been meaning to start doing it for ages. I have to say that my legs and hips feel pretty normal after I do it. The other thing that's making a world of difference is that we've finally invested in a maternity pillow. I got the same kind my sister-in-law, Mandy, showed me when I was visiting them a couple months ago. I have to admit that at the time, I was a bit skeptical. For one, it's called a "Snoogle." What's that all about? For another, it's in a C-shape, but you can twist it around into all these crazy positions. Seriously - it came with a huge sheet of diagrams for possible positions and encouragement to share any additional personal favorites with the manufacturer via their website. So, Mandy pulled out her Snoogle and started twisting this thing around in the living room and showed me all the fabulous ways you could use it and I have to say, I thought it was a little too much pillow for me. So, I'd been using a regular pillow between my legs and thinking that the total body pillows couldn't be all that much different. But as it has gotten harder to be comfortable (and I keep thinking about how much longer I still have to go), I began to think that maybe the crazy snake of a pillow was a good idea after all. I admit, I was wrong to be skeptical - it's AMAZING. And I'm really glad I can use it in lots of ways. It's nice to use it to sit up in bed and read and it wraps all around me like a big hug when I'm sleeping. It twists enough that if I ever do roll over to a non-sanctioned position (i.e. anything not on my left side), I can still use it for my legs and head without too much adjusting. So, now, I have to say THANK YOU, MANDY! You were totally right. :)

Well, I'm off to my paper sorting and shredding for today. I hope you're all doing more fun and exciting things for your 4th!

Insomnia

For some reason, I've had a lot of trouble sleeping lately. I don't know what the deal is. It's really irritating. I've had trouble sleeping in the past, but this is a little different. I tend to be a bit of a worrier (ha - that's an understatement) and that's caused me sleeping problems before, but I'm really not worrying about things now. I just have a lot of thoughts in my head. For example, last night - at 2 am - I was wondering where we should put the piano in our new house. Not worrying about where to put it, but just thinking curiously about where it will go. Now this brings up a big question... Do we own a piano? Well, no. But I want the kids to have piano lessons, so at some point we'll need to get one. So as one part of my brain was thinking that finding a good place for it will be a little tricky, the other part of my brain was thinking, "What?! This is crazy! You don't even have a piano! You don't even have a kid yet! It's 2 am!!" And so on. That's about when I started thinking about this blog and mentally writing it. And then, "Are you crazy? It's 3 am! Write the blog tomorrow! You won't even remember what you're thinking right now anyway!"

Sigh... For now, I'm blaming the insomnia on pregnancy. It's been getting more difficult for me to be comfortable at night. Really, I think I've had a relatively easy pregnancy so far and I truly don't want to complain. I recently have been having a fair bit of pain in my hips, so that's not so fun for trying to sleep on my left side, as they say pregnant ladies should. I've been doing the pillow between the legs thing and it helps a bit, but still... It's really fine for now, but I've got a long way to go. Now that makes me worry.

So, I'm starting a new "sleep hygiene" plan today. I woke up (and actually even got out of bed) when Ian left for work this morning and I went for a walk. I then did a bit of a prenatal yoga workout. Maybe exercise will help. I've decided I'm also going to do the ending meditation portion again tonight before I go to bed. And no caffeine from the afternoon on. I really haven't had much caffeine lately, but I did have an iced tea at dinner last night. And no naps today! I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Hopefully there will be some easy, sweet dreams tonight.