Third Trimester!

Tomorrow marks the beginning of my third trimester...only 13 weeks until we get to meet Will! I could not be more excited. I'm starting to get slightly uncomfortable - my stomach feels like it's stretched to its max (which I know is far from the truth!) and my back gets achy if I sit or stand for a long time. Plus Will has decided to stick his feet under the ribs on my right side and kick...hard! Not so pleasant for mommy! But aside from all the uncomfortable parts, it's fun getting bigger! Strangers have been asking me when I'm due and an HEB employee nearly knocked me over to keep me from picking up a case of water. And I really do enjoy feeling Will moving around nearly constantly...his movements are becoming much more defined and much more noticeable!

He also officially has the most ornaments of any unborn baby ever ;) My parents got him one, Greg's parents got him one, both of my grandparents got him one, and my aunt got him one. Greg says we're going to have to get a bigger tree next year to fit all of them...I agree ;) Speaking of Christmas trees, here is a really horrible picture of our Christmas tree from this year. I took some with the nice camera, but I don't feel like searching through the memory cards to find it right now!


I can't believe it's almost 2009! Time is flying by so fast. My weekly baby email said that Will weighs about 2 pounds this week and is about the size of a head of cauliflower. His lungs are developing and maturing a lot and if he were born now they would be able to function fairly well (with lots of medical help). He's also started opening and closing his eyes...not much to see in there, I'm sure! I can't wait to see what color they are :) Here's a tummy picture for this week, plus a few other fun ones!

Sammy trying out the sling that one of my mom's friends generously gave us...She approved!

Greg and the girls...Riley is showing just how fond of having her picture taken she was!

I hope everyone has a safe New Year's Eve and a wonderful start to 2009!!

99 Days Left...

Sorry it's been so long since my last post! I was sick all last week, then I had graduation this weekend and Greg and I finished up (most of) our Christmas shopping. Let me just say this - being sick is not fun at all, but especially when you're pregnant! I don't know if I had a mild version of the flu or some other stomach bug, but I'm so glad it's gone! I ended up going to the doctor just to make sure everything was okay with Will since I'd been running a fever. He's doing great (and is as wiggly as ever!) His heart rate on the doppler was 155bpm. There was a moment while listening to it that I could hear two heartbeats and I think the panic must have shown on my face because the doctor laughed and assured me that it was just MY heart beating on top of the baby's ;) Whew! I go back in on January 7th for my last monthly appointment before they move to every two weeks. I also have my one hour glucose test that day to see if I'm developing gestational diabetes. Before that I have to drink a sugary orange drink they gave me and then they'll draw my blood to see how my body handles the sugar. I'm a little nervous since I've had some issues with low blood sugar in the past and hoping that I don't have gestational diabetes...Even if I do have it, though, it would only mean that I'd have to go on a restricted diet and check my blood sugar levels for the remainder of my pregnancy. Not too bad!

I graduated from UMHB on Saturday with my BA in Education. I can't believe it's over, but I'm very thankful that it is. I learned a lot through all the hands on experience I was able to have being in classrooms, but I'm definitely not itching to get into graduate school or anything like that! I'm also very thankful that I have a job and that I don't have to begin subbing after the holidays. God is wonderful and He truly has a plan for my life that is greater than anything I could ever imagine!

We almost have the nursery all put together! We bought an upholstered rocking chair from USA Baby (and got an awesome deal on it!) and a bookshelf from IKEA in the past couple weeks. Our JCPenney bedding finally arrived and I love it. Now I've just got to get the decorations in there and it will be completely ready for Will. Here are some pictures:




I don't have a belly picture yet for this week...I'll try to get that before we leave for Christmas! But here's what is going on with Will this week. The nerves in his ears are becoming more sensitive and he's beginning to be able to pick up on the sounds of other people's voices; not just mine anymore. He seems to love when I'm listening to music too - no matter what kind it is, he'll start to wiggle around. He's still gaining all that baby fat and practicing breathing with amniotic fluid. He weighs 1 3/4 pounds and is around 14 inches long. We're hoping to get a 3D-4D ultrasound in the next month, so we'll have some good pictures of him and hopefully some video too!

I hope everyone has a safe and blessed Christmas!

23 weeks

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! We sure did. Lots of time with family and great food! On Friday, I braved the crowds and did some Christmas shopping. I got quite a few things accomplished (although I still have to shop for Greg - he's so hard to shop for!) and found some bargains on maternity clothes and baby clothes for Will...he's growing quite the wardrobe of sweet little boy clothes!

On Wednesday, Greg and I found an awesome dresser off of Craigslist. We'd been looking for something that could double as a changing table and found a great, sturdy one that was selling for a great price. It's an ugly green color that I'm not too crazy about, so next weekend we're going to be spray painting it white. We got some brushed silver knobs for the dresser that will look great on it once it's painted! When we got there, the lady wouldn't budge on the price but she did throw in a changing table. We'll have to paint that white too, but Will's nursery is definitely coming together! We're still searching for a rocking chair...but everything we've found so far is about $200 more than we want to spend!

Yesterday we spent the day doing some Christmas shopping and then put up our tree. It looks awesome and it's so exciting to have all our decorations up. I love Christmas time :) We also found some icicle lights in the attic of our garage that Greg is going to put on the house next weekend. I'll put pictures of everything up later.

As you can see, it's been incredibly busy around here! I graduate in three weeks (hooray!) and I'm trying to get all the last minute things tied up with my student teaching. I had a job interview last Tuesday that I should be hearing back from sometime this week...it would be an amazing opportunity and I'm really praying that it works out. Even if it doesn't, I know God will take care of us and that's all that matters.

I'm 23 weeks along this week...only one more week until his "viability date," or the day when he has a greater chance of surviving outside the womb than not. He's now weighing in at over a pound and is about the size of a large mango. He's able to hear talking and music from the outside and can even feel movement now when I sway from side to side! He gets so active at church when the music gets loud...it seems like he really enjoys it! I'm enjoying all his kicking and moving around too. He's getting so much stronger. Last night I could even see my belly moving from his kicks! I really can't believe how fast everything is going - we're going to be meeting him so soon, which is very exciting! Here's my 23ish weeks picture, taken tonight before church. I had many people commenting on how it looked like I'd "popped out" and was really starting to look pregnant. I'd say so!