35 weeks and counting....

Today, we're 35 weeks pregnant!

The countdown is getting closer and closer as I realize that 35 weeks pregnant means that there are only 35 more DAYS until baby is due to arrive! This sounds so very soon to me, and I know these next 5 weeks are going to go by FAST considering the holidays and being preoccupied by all of tasks we still have yet to do to finish preparing for baby. I read in one of my baby books today that most of the baby's physical development is now complete and over the next 5 weeks he/she won't grow much longer than the 19-21 inches that he/she already has reached, but will just plump up a little gaining about another pound or so before he/she is ready to join this world. It's insane to me that the baby is mostly done growing in length! Yet, it also makes sense because I feel as though this week I have totally maxed out the space in my stomach. Grow, baby, grow! :) I realize, of course, that this "bump" has been gradually growing all along, but for some reason this week I feel quite huge! And, I know it's not just in my head because my clothes are proof - for one, I'm realizing I've outgrown most of my maternity shirts (oops!) that once upon a time some 30 weeks ago used to amaze me how absurdly large they seemed, and also the amount of times I need to CHANGE my clothes in one day due to my stomach getting in the way of food spills when cooking/washing dishes/eating is rising rapidly. Today I have already worn not one, not two, but THREE different shirts for that very reason. What is yet to come!?

In addition to growing stats, I can feel the baby physically getting larger inside. He/she seems to rub up against my left hip bone alot, which is a little bit of an odd sensation to get used to, but continues to make me smile from feeling him/her, regardless! My stomach also seems to have started to drop the slightest bit. I'm not sure how noticeable this is to outsiders, but I can tell myself just from looking down - hopefully this means the baby is in position and preparing to descend in a few weeks! Tuesday we start our weekly prenatal appointments and I'm looking forward to being able to now have a weekly update giving me some indication on when exactly this little one might decide to join us! We've been stuck on the date of 1/2/10 for so long, but I'm realizing our child could have a completely different birthdate - sooner or later than that! Only time will tell!

I have quite a few photos to share this week, as we celebrated Thanksgiving with my Dad in town visiting, and also have done some other fun things to share!

My Dad ("Papa Lou") putting up the shelves in the nursery!

Baby dancing on Thanksgiving morning...... I think he/she was ready to eat some turkey!

Our little family on Thanksgiving

Dad and I, with my enormous belly - Thanksgiving

EVERYone gets to pose with the pregnant lady... Delaney and her Mama.

Dad and Andy giving Delaney her exercise running up and down the driveway - some people toss the football outside in their driveway on Thanksgiving day.... we watch the dog run. :)

Dad and I making our traditional stuffed artichokes!

Bon Appetite! Dinner is served.

I think Delaney's nervous that she's for dessert! :)

We continued my family's tradition of going out to get our Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving. Though the tradition continued, this was a first for us.........a Christmas tree sale with a backdrop of palm trees. Yep, no longer in New York!

Andy and I at the Christmas tree lot.

Got our tree and all set to go!

The tree is up (but needs to be decorated), our lights outside our hung, and my multiple storage bins of decorations are now crowding our living room. And, as I sit home trying to start going through our decorations, Andy and my Dad are heading to Andy's company Christmas party. Here are my two men of my life all dressed up for the party.

Hopefully I'll get through all of this stuff within the next few days and have more pictures to share of our house decorated for the first time!

Before I wrap up this post, I took a few videos this week that I wanted to share with you as well!

This one is of the baby totally camped out on my left side of my stomach. The camera doesn't do justice to just how far out my stomach actually was popping, but I tried to get a good angle of the little bulge in my belly - I'm still trying to figure out which part of the baby this is.. my guess is it's his/her tush!

This is the baby waving goodbye to you, for now, from inside the belly!

34 weeks and counting....

Today we're 34 weeks pregnant! 6 weeks to go, and I can't believe how (thankfully) the time is flying. Baby should weigh almost 5 pounds now and should be measuring about 18 - 19 3/4 inches in length. With this growth, the baby's movements continue to get more and more entertaining to watch/feel through my stomach. At my prenatal appointment this week, the doctor felt my stomach and told me that the baby seemed to be head down with his/her little butt on my upper right side of my stomach and his/her legs/feet on the upper left side, but s/he is still moving around in there and the chances of him/her remaining in that position for delivery are slim. When s/he moves now, at times, I can feel a nudge/poke/bulge in the front of my stomach as well as my back at the same time because room is getting so tight in there. And, s/he continues to make his/her Momma jump with surprise here and there when letting out a really strong swing or kick in just the right spot - whether it be the ribs, hips, or sides - ultimately, it just warms my heart to experience those particular movements though. I've also been noticing (what I'm pretty sure are) Braxton Hicks contractions over the last couple of weeks where my stomach will get really tight and hard and then it just goes away. They don't hurt, but more so, just amaze me. I'm starting to get curious/anxious to see what the "real" contractions are like, but I'm pretty sure once I feel them, I'll be happy to send them back where they came from.

Delaney wanted to feel the baby move...

This week in our birthing class we were taken on a tour of the Labor & Delivery area of the hospital. We both really like the hospital so far and continue to be impressed with the clean, safe, and quiet atmosphere there. On the tour we confirmed that cell phones and laptops can be used in the delivery/recovery rooms, so that's a plus in making it possible to send updates to you all soon after this little one joins us. It's difficult to think about all of the friends and family that will not be around us during such a miraculous and exciting time in our lives, but technology definitely helps to fill that void!

We've been continuing to work on getting things crossed off our "list of things to do before baby." The nursery is coming together, but we're still waiting on a few things that should be arriving this week. And, we just purchased a large area rug for our family room that we've been wanting to get before baby arrives so that we have more soft and cozy places to play on the floor. Here are some photos of the new carpet:

Think she likes it?

I think Delaney would be happy with keeping all of the furniture on the tile so that she has a nice place to run around in and not slip all over the place!

All finished and put back together - we just need some lamps now!

That's about all I can think of for an update this week. As we enter our 34th week of pregnancy, we're looking forward to some fun things ahead. My Dad arrives for a visit on Tuesday where he'll spend a week with us and be here for Thanksgiving. This is the first Thanksgiving where I get to cook my own meal, and I'm looking forward to that, just hope my buddha belly body is up for the task, too!

33 weeks and counting....

Today we're 33 weeks pregnant! 7 more weeks to go - and, we have now surpassed the 50 day mark until our due date! Baby now should be weighing in at about 4 1/2 pounds and measuring between 17-19 1/2 inches. I definitely feel him/her growing because my stomach is getting bigger and bigger with less and less room to move about in. This week I've noticed things like getting full a lot quicker when I eat and having a little bit more trouble breathing. I also will admit that it's now near impossible to bend in closely to my body to tie my shoes or reach for something - I always thought that I'd defeat the odds and not be "that pregnant lady" who complains about bending over and picking things up, but I'm proof, it's not a matter of desire, it's a matter of physics! I suspect these side effects will only increase in the next 7 weeks, so hopefully those weeks will fly by for my comfort's sake, but more importantly so we can finally see this little blessing we've been so anxious to meet for the last 7 1/2 months! No matter how uncomfortable I become with this pregnancy, I continue to relish in amazement over witnessing my growing stomach in the mirror each morning and the ability to feel our child moving about in my belly so randomly. None of it can ever be replaced by anything, so I continue to cherish each day of being pregnant and am honored to experience such a miraculous gift!

This week we started our child birthing classes! They are a series of three, 2 hour classes and the first one went really well. The instructor is a labor and delivery nurse at the hospital, so we could end up having her during labor, which would be convenient. At our first class we mainly talked about a rundown of what's to come, and she taught us/had us practice some breathing techniques and various massage routines to help during labor. The "Dad's" are referred to as the "Mom's labor coach," so Andy was planning to show up in class wearing a shirt that read: "Coach" across the front........ unfortunately (wink, wink.... and thankfully) we didn't get a chance to get one of those shirts. But, now it's become a little joke for us that he is officially "the coach." The hospital so far seems really nice. We've seen the Women's Center (entrance area) and it was impressive with hardwood floors and a nice waiting area. We've also been in the main entrance area and another building where the class is held and all of the locations have been really beautiful for a hospital, and clean! In addition to looking nice, the staff seems friendly and it's been really quiet there when we've gone - so all of those things are pluses! This week in class we will be watching some videos of labor and delivery experiences (which should be interesting - I'm curious to see how my (somewhat) weak stomached husband is going to react to those) and get an official tour of the hospital - so we're looking forward to that!

We received some more of our furniture that we've ordered for the nursery this week! We're still waiting on a couple of "big ticket items" - so I think I'll wait until it's all finish to put up official updated photos, but it's coming along! Someone has enjoyed the new creature comforts we've added in the room, and I'm wondering if that someone is thinking that pretty, comfy looking crib in there is actually for her:

Andy and I think she's going to be the type of family dog that will no doubt sleep at the foot of the baby's crib once he or she is here - she clearly loves the room already!

In addition to being 33 weeks today, we're also celebrating Andy's 31st birthday! Here are some photos of our birthday evening celebration.

Presents!

These are from "Grandma Capozzoli" for "Daddy" by way of baby..... a Yankees outfit (that either boy or girl will wear) and a little pink outfit for if we have a girl!

Showing me his gifts from his parents, Charlie and Sue - the Yankees World Series Champions hat and shirt being his most prized possessions at the moment. I think he has said at least 10 times how much the hat and shirt are "awesome."

Our "quaint" birthday party dinner for 2... 3 if you count Delaney... 3 1/2 if you count Delaney and baby :)

One of ... JUST one... of Andy's favorite desserts - chocolate lava cakes! I've never made these before, so I think I still need to perfect them, but they tasted good, regardless!

I meant to place a candle in them to officially make them "birthday cakes," but you might be able to guess that standing between the birthday boy and his cake just to snap a picture was torture enough for him..... he wasn't having the candle to boot!

Priceless! Haha - for real, how can you not smile when you see this?! Delaney wanted to dress up like her Daddy in honor of him on his birthday.

And.... a little message from "baby" to "Daddy" on his birthday:

Also, I wanted to include another video that I took this week. I caught the baby slowly rolling to one spot in my stomach. It isn't fast movement, but if you watch the right side of my stomach, you'll see the bulge of the baby's body slowly appear and eventually disappear. (Please ignore the HGTV we have on TV in the background!) :)

32 weeks and counting....

Today we're 32 weeks pregnant! That means we are 7.2 months along. Or, 8 weeks left to go - Or, 56 days! Any way you look at it, we're moving along and the end is getting closer and closer (though, still, time does not seem to be flying fast enough)! The baby now weighs almost 4 lbs and his/her length should measure anywhere from 16-19 inches long. He/she is growing, and it shows!

I'm coming up short with news to report this week, but a few things to mention still.

We received an adorable baby gift from my cousin (thanks Jenny!) :) in the mail this week and part of the gift was a CD selection of "Baby Tunes" that her little guy (who our baby may very well share the same birthday with because we have the same due date, just one year a part!) likes the best. So sweet! I have uploaded the songs onto our itunes and now "baby" has been getting a daily dose through my ipod of those adorable little songs, which hopefully he/she will remember when he/she comes into this world. I've been reading that now is about the time when babies may start developing a memory in the womb, so I'm trying to do things repetitively for him/her to hear so that this world is just a little less scary for him/her when he/she does arrive.

This week we must have reached a new milestone for belly growth because I have suddenly started to receive a little more attention from the neighbors in our neighborhood while out for my walks with Delaney. A handful of people, who didn't know we were expecting, have stopped while I've been out this week and asked when we're due, what we're having, and have given their Congratulations. Must take being 7 months pregnant for the average public to feel confident about asking if you're pregnant without worrying that you may just be gaining a little extra weight! :) Regardless, it always makes me happy when people take a minute to stop and inquire about our pregnancy, so it was nice to get the extra love!

The baby must be exhausted from all of the moving he/she has done in the last week or so (or REALLY starting to run out of room in there), because recently the movements have been more calm and easy. And, last night we went to a local minor league hockey game with some friends here, where it seemed as though we were sitting RIGHT underneath the speakers. With each goal scored there was music, cheers, and loud, loud, loud siren horns - I kept feeling so badly for the baby knowing that he/she can definitely hear what's up these days, and worried that he/she would be scared by it all. Yet for the majority of the time, the baby just slept right through all of the commotion! It took until the 3rd or 4th goal scored before he/she finally woke up and started giving me some reactions to all the noise. Silly baby! I gotta imagine he/she is just REALLY used to hearing Delaney's loud barks all the time that a little bit of raucous doesn't faze him/her in the least! (After the game Andy and I stopped at Red Robin for a late dinner ------ I have been craving a milkshake from there and until recently (when I learned that one exists in the next town over!) thought that I'd have to wait to return to NY before I could have one. We were saddened though when we arrived and placed our orders, only to learn that the milkshake machine was already shut down for the night - what torture!!? Luckily Andy was craving one of those milkshakes just as much as I was, so I think we'll be heading back there (at a more reasonable time) for one SOON!)

This "bun in my oven" is growing into a "loaf!"

Baby Belly

I couldn't resist including this one of Delaney. This is one of her new found favorite spots to lay down. It's under the large ceiling fan and she usually tucks her face in between our end table and couch, but I caught her laying like this the other day.

I'm not sure if she was just relaxin' or if she got stuck! :)