Week 27

I am officially in the 3rd trimester and am almost finished with week 27! It still seems so far away until October, but then I think it's only 13 weeks away and that seems so close. I have been a busy little bee nesting away and getting the nursery ready. I am also taking this opportunity to redo some other portions of the house, including the living room and our bedroom, pictures will come later when I am completely done, I swear.

We are slowly making progress on Tessa's room, and hopefully in the next few weeks it will be done. Joel and I are both planners, so we both need to have the nursery done with many weeks to spare before she comes, just to have a peace of mind! Joel has been wonderful with helping and not letting me do too much, but we still have a long ways to go. Once the nursery is done, we will also have to tackle the basement since that is where our guest bedroom will go.

Joel's Grandma Judy came up this week and helped us get some things done, although she decided she would clean the house while I did the crafts, instead of vice versa. Not that I needed her to clean, but it sure did help and I know she does a fabulous job! She also brought up a couple gifts for the baby, including an adorable outfit and a crib sheet! She is also going to make a valence to match! Love the crafty people.

Busy, Busy

July has absolutely flown by! I can't believe we are in the last week of the month, and then August hits. I am officially in the 3rd trimester now, which is so exciting and yet a little intimidating. This means that in 13 weeks (approximately) Tessa will be here, in this crazy world! We have been very busy this month, with working non stop, working on the nursery, and my other crazy nesting needs. We have redone the living room, updated the dining room a little, and of course, our bedroom.

I convinced Joel we needed to go to Ikea. So this past Tuesday, when we were both off, we ventured up to Minneapolis. 5 hours and lots of money later, we had a complete bedroom set, a bunch of kitchen stuff, some things for the nursery, and a few misc. items we couldn't live without. We also stopped at the outlet mall and found a couple cute little outfits. Overall, it was a great day, although we are now catching up on sleep. We don't set alarms often in our house, so the mere fact that the alarm was set that day was pretty amazing, let alone the fact that we got up and around when it went off.

 

My cousin Nate got married in Itasca, IL this past weekend. After a couple years of dating, he finally proposed to Lisa last July, and they married where Lisa grew up! It was a beautiful wedding,  I mean, seriously incredible. We headed to Chicago on Thursday and went out to dinner on Thursday night as a family ( all 20 of us!) Joel and I had some great Chicago style deep dish pizza and then topped it off with some peanut butter cup ice cream. Yep, that was a good night!

Friday we decided to head into downtown Chicago. There is a train station just a few blocks from the hotel we stayed at, so we took the train in. It was only $9.00 a person for a round trip ticket to Union Station, which we thought was pretty reasonable and made it much easier than trying to drive there! After our train ride, we stopped for some much needed starbucks (yes, I got decaf, but it was still delish). We started wandering around downtown. Literally wandering. No map, no directions, no idea where we wanted to go. Joel wanted to just "see some stuff" so we did just that. We wandered by Sears Tower, now called the Willis Tower, but we didn't go up due to my fear of heights. We went down to the Art Institute and then walked around Millennium Park. 

 

There are some really cool sculptures in that park. We stopped by a few shops, went through NikeTown, and then decided to head down to the Navy Pier. 

Luckily my tech-savvy husband found a free trolley that took us down to the Navy Pier because before that, we were walking everywhere and I was about beat after 5 miles of wandering. So, we hopped on the trolley and it dropped us off at the beginning of the Navy Pier. By far, the coolest part was the Children's Museum (don't judge us!) but the views of Lake Michigan were pretty awesome too. 

 

We went through some of the exhibits, including some incredible stained glass designs. 

 

We talked about going on a dinner cruise on one of the cruise ships, but decided we would get back to Itasca too late since the dinner cruise ended at 11pm and we would have to get back to Union Station and then back to Itasca. Plus, I was already losing steam. So, we took a bus back to Union Station, one which conveniently left the Navy Pier and dropped us off at Union Station, so no more walking! 

Saturday was the wedding, and the day was beautiful! Nate and Lisa had a 2:30 ceremony, and then Lisa's parents opened their home to any guests wanting to hang out between the ceremony and reception. Lisa's parents have a beautiful house, garden, and back patio area, which was perfect for guests to relax for a couple hours. 

 

 

 

 

The reception began at 6pm, and was back at the hotel we were all staying at. They had a cocktail hour, followed by dinner, and then a giant party/dance. It was great to see a lot of our family that we don't see very often, and catch up with people we hadn't seen in a few years. Plus, with a little liquid courage, many of the older folks got on the dance floor and boogied the night away. Everything was decorated so thoughtfully, and they didn't miss a single detail! 

 

I punked out early, but blamed on tired baby. I actually lasted until almost midnight, but finally went up stairs and back to bed. Sunday we had to head back to Des Moines and then Monday morning it was back to Webster City, since I had to work at 3pm on Monday. Overall, we had a wonderful trip. I wish it was a longer vacation, and I definitely wish I didn't have to come back to work right away, but we had a fantastic vacation!

Week 24

Week 24 has arrived! I really feel like I have popped recently, and feel much bigger. We had our 24 week doctor's appointment, which went just fine as usual! The doctor said everything is looking great, and wished he had 50 just like me every day because his job would be easy! If he only knew the real me. The only real problem I've had during the pregnancy has been the terrible heartburn. If there is any truth to the old wive's tale about hair and heartburn, our babe will have a lot of it.  Baby's heartbeat was beating away at 144. She is now the size of an ear of corn, and weighs over a pound! I can feel her going crazy sometimes, kicking at me, and rolling around in there. She definitely loves her sugar, because I have had a terrible sweet tooth in the last few weeks. We've hit the viability date at 24 weeks, which is the point at which the baby could survive outside the womb, but obviously we want her to stay in and develop fully. Babies born this early tend to have many health problems, but it is a small relief to know that if something should happen, there would be an opportunity for her to survive.

Since we decided not to purchase a house right now, we are still in the process of getting our rental just the way we like it. We can't paint the walls, but we have come up with some great ideas to decorate the nursery and add color without painting. We are going to do polka dots in her room with lime green, pink, sky blue, and lavender. We have started buying the supplies for this project, and so far, even Joel seems excited for it. We have all the furniture in there, but it's not built yet. We hope to head up to Ikea sometime this month to buy the rest of the stuff we need for our house mini remodel then, so we can have everything done before October, just in case. 

 

Week 23

We are now in week 23! None of my regular clothes fit, and I have a limited amount of maternity clothes. I hate the idea of buying clothes, knowing I will only be wearing them for the next four months, but I have decided that it is better to spend some money on maternity clothes than having nothing to wear. So, I broke down and bought some stuff when Old Navy had their 30% off EVERYTHING sale. Sorry folks, the sale is over. But, it was great to get a couple pairs of pants, capris, and a few shirts. 

My appetite has been incredibly strong, but am still struggling to gain weight. As of my last appointment, I had only gained 2 pounds, and at that time, the baby weighed a pound. The doctor isn't worried yet, but I feel helpless since I am eating constantly and just not putting on the extra pounds that I expected to. I'm sure it will be coming in the next few weeks. I've also had terrible heartburn almost every night, which has been more of a nuisance than anything, but I figure if the old wives tale is true, that baby will have a full head of hair! 

Joel has switched to nights, so that has been an adjustment since we don't get as much time together, but we've been able to start getting our house ready for the baby (except the nursery!) He usually sleeps until noon or after, then we get an hour or two to hang out/work on the house/run errands before I head off to work.