Family and birthdays

My mom came this week. She was here from Wed-Sat. Wednesday night we had dinner as a family, Ryan made soup and talked until bed time. The next day was a typical mimi comes to visit day. We went shopping all day. We shopped for Charlie and threw a little bit in for mom as well. I made her buy sensible shoes. They are still very cute but are more practical then what she would have picked for herself. We did find Charlie's Christmas dress. It took a while. I hate roses and too many bows. I wanted something cute and understated. For those of you that knew her, it reminds me so much of Linda Buis. I know she would love it! There are still so many things that both mom and I would love to buy for her but we must have some self control. But needless to say we shopped till we dropped. We had a late dinner out with Ryan and went to bed early. Friday was our working day. Mom helped me wash, sort, separate, unpack and clean the nursery along with all the shower gifts that were shipped to us. We even got the wall decal hung, which was a miracle. We started at 8PM and finished a little after 10. On our first piece I thought we were going to kill each other. But I told mom if we could finish this and survive we had a great relationship. It ended up being a fun and we laughed a lot. It was great to have mom here. She got to feel a part of the pregnancy which she hasn't got to until this point. I wish she could have stayed longer.
Birthday Bash
Ryan's birthday was Saturday and I wanted to do something special for him. So I took him to a comedy club in our local mall to see Mark Curry. He was popular in the 90's with a tv show, Hanging with Mr. Cooper, but hadn't heard anything about him since. We sat at a table with 2 strangers but they were very nice and it was great to meet new people. The comics were funny and Charlie was moving the whole time. I don't think she has ever had so much stimulation from mommy laughing so hard. The last few minutes Mark called up people who were celebrating something and I made Ryan go. Everyone had to share what they were celebrating, let Mark make fun of them and do an embarrassing dance. For those of you who know Ryan, know this is WAY out of his comfort zone but he did a great job and I laughed a lot. Mark told me this was going to be so good it would break my water. My response was Hartford Hospital here we come! Then Charlie decided that she didn't want to sleep ALL night and I was up with an awake and busy baby causing mom pain and the inability to sleep. This was our first time of this but I don't think it is our last. Honestly I thought I was having contractions for a while the pain was so intense and not localized but it stopped around 8am this morning.
Our agenda is to put together our last few big purchases for the baby on Sunday, as well as do some crafts to get the nursery ready. Ryan is even willing to help me, so I will post pictures of our craft time later. We have much to do and are anxious of getting it done. We both have a feeling this little one might come earlier than Thanksgiving. We can't believe we have less than a month and we are both so excited and ready (at least we think we are) for her to be here. Ryan spends tummy time with the baby everyday. I can see his love and excitement growing with each passing day. May it come quickly.

bellies and babies

This week has been the hardest week for me physically since May when I was in the hospital for half a week. I will spare you the details but know that it is extremely painful, and there is nothing I can do about it. Boo hiss for no relief. We thought we were going to have to go to the hospital last night because of it but thankfully it was just a very long night. Ryan was great. When I finally attempted to go to bed he held me while I cried at 4 am with no complaining that he had to go to work in 1.5 hours later. Needless to say it was a long night and around 6 am was finally able to fall asleep. I woke up in time for my ultrasound today. Even though I still feel horrible it is now bearable because of our appointment today.

What we know about Charlie so far:
-as of today she weighs 5 pounds 5 oz
-as of today she is 17 inches long
-she has hair
-she is in the 49th percentile so far. Average is okay with us
-If she goes 2-3 weeks early she will be between 7-7.5lbs
-if she waits till her due date she will be between 8-8.5 and could be 22 inches long
-she was breathing great and was very very active today

Everyone kept telling us how great everything is looking. I will give a pat on the back to myself right now. I only gained 1 pound over the last 2 weeks and only 21 overall since being pregnant. Now when you see pregnancy pics below you may not believe me but it is true. We aren't counting the 10lbs I gained over our first 4 months of marriage, shhh don't tell.

This is dad (Ryan's) belly. We don't know why it was taken but I thought if I am showing mine he can show his too.

This is my belly shot.



This is us and my new hair cut. It was windy but you get the jist.


WHAT YOU ARE ABOUT TO SEE IS A DISTORTION. I AM TRULY NOT AS BIG AS I APPEAR IN THE FOLLOWING PICTURE. REMEMBER 20 LBS TOTAL!!!



NOW WHAT YOU HAVE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR...


CHARLIE

I want to say she looks like me but I know its way way to early. Almost all babies look alike when they come out but this is our first good glimpse of what Ryan and I made. I was so happy he got to be there today to see her. We are both so overjoyed with our biggest tiny blessing.

her profile

Thank you for sharing our joy with us, even though it is far away. Feel free (PLEASE is what I really mean) leave a comment so I know who is reading this from home. Next picture post will be of our apartment for grandma b who has been asking for a long time.

Picture Page picture page, everyone loves a picture page!

This is us at a fair. We are in the ferris wheel, the only ride for pregnant women.

This was Ryan's dinner. As you can see its quite a corn dog. I really didn't want to take this pic next to the scary clown trash can but we did. It made me nervous.

The beginning of a bed

actually working

I really did help for a moment, then went back to taking pictures

Almost done

ta da!!!!!! This is all you get to see for now. I am turning our nursery from drab to fab with my crafty projects. I know I am not my sister but it will be fabulous anyway. More pics as I go.
Bedding Product is Cotton Tale, Lizzie is the set name.

missing everyone

So yesterday we went to the hospital because we hadn't felt the baby move in about 3 or 4 days. We tried caffine, sugar, exercise and more but not a budge. So I called the doc and since it was already 4 we went to the hospital. We were on a baby monitor for about two hours. At first she was still but eventually they saw movement and told me she was beautiful according to her stats. The doctor was very nice and said that she would rather us come in for 10 false alarms than have us sit at home and worry. On the upside we saw where we will deliver and met some of the nursing staff. They were very funny and nice and we look forward to delivering there in a short time. My orders are to lie down and make sure I feel the baby move 4 times/hour. If she doesn't I do it again. If we fail that I call the doc. She has been active since we got home so that is good. I guess I am breeding a lazy girl. She doesn't want to move or breath at times (don't worry its optional for them at this point). We are thrilled with our doctors in the practice. We go for our sizing ultrasound on the 14th and hopefully will have new pics to post.
On a very different note, today is my dad's 60th birthday. All of our friends and family went for dinner to celebrate. I was feeling homesick today but tonight at about 7ish I couldn't hold in my sadness or stress from the day before and I fell apart. I wanted so badly to be there with the people I want to see most right now, minus a few key people. It is hard to be out here. Both my sister and I are daddy's girls. It's who we are. But I didn't get to be one today. I called but its not the same. I am sorry I missed it and love you very much, dad. Thanksgiving can't come soon enough!!!!!!!!!!!