34 weeks

This will be a combined 33/34 week post with a handful of updates:

So we figured out the best way to keep Grayson busy on the weekends: Petting Zoo.
We've decided to try out the Hall-Zoo-ween this year - they seem to have a great program for little kids...and hopefully his newfound interest in animals will keep him entertained.

Doggie Update:

I posted a couple months ago that we added someone to our family: Brewsky! He has been an AMAZING addition to our family...the.perfect.dog. Especially for us. He is such a sweet, cuddly guy. A little too cuddly at times - he totally thinks he's a lapdog!

At first we were a bit overwhelmed by the amount of HAIR he shed...but we realized a week or so ago, that it's calmed down a ton. We think it's because he's more comfortable with us and healthy! He had a couple ear infections and eye issues that we were medicating him for, and now he's pretty much 100%. I mean...he still sheds...but not nearly as much as what we were dealing with the first month or so (I would vaccum every other day and pick up a TON of hair!!)

We love him so much...that we will most likely get dog #2 in another 2 years. Unfortunately, B is a little old (8 next month) and we think he'll  be a great, calm example for a puppy (if we decide to go the puppy route next time, that part is not decided) We don't want Grayson to be without a dog at this point since he is so in love with his "doggy". It doesn't hurt that we went to Home Depot the other day and saw THE CUTEST Golden Retriever puppy. OMIGOD!!!

I grew up with very small/non shedding dogs and really love having a big family dog around. We take a walk every night to the open fields in our development and let B and G run around. They both love it - it gets G a little tired for bed since he's running around, and gets B some healthy dog excersice.

Dan's Birthday Celebration

We did Dan's bday Celebration a bit early for a couple reasons:

1. Dan is hoping beyond HOPE that his little girl is either born on his Birthday OR Halloween. (I'm really not a fan of her being born on Halloween...REALLY.)

2. As we get closer to Dan's Bday - we contend with a lot of Halloween parties....

3. We thought it would be nice to "get it done" before things got really crazy and before Bridget (yep - we named her!) arrvies

We went to Nicholsons Gastropub downtown and had a fabulous time.

Bridget Alivia

We were going to wait to announce the name of our little girl, but there have been a couple instances where we slipped (since we refer to her as Bridget at home for Grayson to start getting used to)
Our name choice was a hard one - because we actually don't know if she's going to be a Bridget OR an Alivia! Alivia (specifically Olivia) is super popular and we were a little hesitant to use it as a first name....Bridget Alivia flows really nicely and we decided if she comes out looking like an Alivia, then she will just go by her middle name. And apparently it's a huge southern thing to go by your middle name - had no clue!

Wainscotting

Is almost done! Crossing our fingers it's completed today - we've been trying to stay out of our house since friday..gah!

Midwife Meeting

Switching to a midwife group was seriously one of the best decisions I've ever made. Dan and I went to my 34 week appt together to go over some birth details and ask some questions - the midwife again assured me I was growing completely fine - Bridget is measuring at exactly 34 weeks now - yey! Again, she is the second midwife to tell me she doesn't think I'll have another 8lb baby...which means this labor and delivery is going to feel easy compared to Graysons :) (right?!)

Not gonna lie - they were not happy about "getting thier picture taken" - The Birthday Boys

P.S - my husbands pretty good looking!

How far along?  34 Weeks 

• Total weight gain: 18lbs - (official Doc weight gain!)
• Maternity clothes? Still just tops right now...this weekend I have to go out and buy some fancy yoga pants that will substitute as "work" pants. I refuse to buy maternity pants at this stage of the game.
• Stretch marks? none yet
• Sleep:  Mehhhhh....not so good. I'm getting flashbacks to when I was pregnant with Grayson. Ha. Why must my children be awake at night?!!
• Best moment this week: Getting to see Bridget on U/S again! Our midwife wanted to calm our fears about baby being head up and popped us in the U/S room for a quick viewing. She looked perfect - and head down!
• Miss Anything? RED wine. I went out to dinner with co-workers and someone ordered a red wine and the smell was DIVINE..
• Movement: A lot of big movements!
• Food cravings: I've been drinking a lot of Powerade
• Food aversions: nothing really
• Gender: Girl:)
• Labor Signs: I happened to have a couple hours of untimeable contractions Wednesday afternoon. It's my day off with Grayson, so I'm usually a bit more active on those days....
• Symptoms: Leaking. Getting physically a bit more tired.
• Belly Button in or out? Out.
• Wedding rings on or off? On.
• Looking forward to: Getting the wainscotting finished in the hallway and foyer!!! It's about 3/4 done AS WE SPEAK! It should be finished by this afternoon.
• Feelings- Again, still feeling really good. Getting a little anxious as we get closer to the due date.

32 Weeks

This may be a long post- so watch out!

I wanted to do a quick re-cap of our weekend. I mentioned a couple weeks ago that we were going to attempt to take a trip to the Indianapolis Children's Museum. We were about 1 click away from reserving our hotel room when we decided to double check if it would truly beneficial for us to visit. Thank God we did because upon closer investigation we found that the toddler section of the museum was being completely renovated and wouldn't be open again until next summer.

We racked our brains for last minute trips and couldn't really find anything that fit what we were looking for and  that was so last minute. Finally, Dan found a link to Youngs Dairy Farm, a perfect place to take Grayson. Saturday we took the trip up to Yellow Springs, OH to enjoy a truly beautiful fall day. They had a cute little outdoor play area that included a bouncy house, slide, "corn pit", petting zoo, mini golf, and train ride. Beyond that, there are batting cages, mini golf (for bigger sized people), a huge slide, homemade icecream, and a driving range.

I'm so glad we got to take the trip in with Grayson. He really enjoyed the animals and the toddler specific area they had.

How far along?  32 Weeks. (I look way small in this picture and I think it's just the angle)

• Total weight gain:  17lbs (official doc weight gain)
• Maternity clothes? Still just tops right now...I have eight weeks left and am REALLY trying not to buy any maternity pants. I think I'll make it...
• Stretch marks? none yet
• Sleep:  Still pretty good, although I'm starting to have a bit more trouble falling asleep because of being uncomfortable.
• Best moment this week: Spending a nice weekend with my family
• Miss Anything? Not really
• Movement: A lot of big movements!
• Food cravings: None.
• Food aversions: nothing really
• Gender: Girl:)
• Labor Signs: Still have some braxton hicks here and there. I've also just started to get a bit crampy.
• Symptoms: Leaking. Getting physically a bit more tired.
• Belly Button in or out? Out.
• Wedding rings on or off? On.
• Looking forward to: since I'm late on this post, I will still use it as my "looking forward to"...but tonight we attended a "Meet the Midwives" session. Dan has been limited in attending my appointments this go around and it was the perfect time to meet ALL of the midwives at the same time..and get a tour of the hospital. Instead of delivering at The Christ Hospital like we did with Grayson, we'll be delivering at Good Samaritan. The meeting went really well and I think Dan and I are both still in a bit of shock that this is going to be happening again in the very near future!
• Feelings- still feel really good!! Trying to get myself prepared for 2 kids. wow.

Some Randomish Updates that are worth noting:

• Grayson has pretty much stopped taking naps altogether. Meh. It's not terrible...he's not AS crazy as he used to be. Still a ton of energy, but he'll also sit down and play with his trains/cars/etc.
• Grayson has also gotten very clingy to me...he knows something is up. If both Dan and I are home with him, I have to be the one to change his diaper, change his clothes, and basically do anything that invloves settling a temper.
• Daddy and G Gymnastics: Dan has been going to gymnastics class with Grayson and it's been really nice. I drive G to the class and get to sit and watch..which is SO nice!
• Maternity leave: since I'm only PT, I don't have any sort of payed Maternity Leave. Personally, I know how I felt after I had Grayson and going back to work at 6 week Part Time was relatively easy. I plan on just taking off until the new year and then start back working from home for a month or two.
• During my Maternity Leave: Upon the recommendation of MANY MANY people, we have decided to keep Grayson in daycare while I'm on maternity leave. This way we give the undivided attention to Baby Girl that Grayson got, and also keep G on his schedule.
• Nursery: is on it's way to being complete. We don't have much up on the walls yet (don't plan on putting much up)..I'll hopefully have a post soon to show it off. I'm totally in love with it!
• Wainscotting in the house: we have this scheduled to be completed the last week of September...but we all know how construction dudes are:) I think it's going to be pushed into October. I work with the wife and she is going to push him to get to us very soon. I'm impatient to get it done because it totally transformed our nursery!
• Double Stroller Update: we're waiting on this until after the baby is born. We're both still very torn on what we need...and feel that we won't really know what we need until we are out and about with both kids. Also, we figure we may get some good deals on something black friday if we wait (or even as a christmas gift if we so desire) Grayson has been using the stroller less and less, so it's starting not to make sense to go City Select/Britax B-Ready route.

I think that's it on the updates!

 

31 weeks

I'm in the middle of cleaning my house and needed a break.

So here is the weekly quiz:

How far along?  31 Weeks. A lot of people had been recently commenting on "how small" I was. So at my 30 week appt I asked what I was measuring at, and it was 28 weeks. She said that I was consistently measuring a little bit smaller, but that I was perfectly on track. I honestly have no clue how my belly was measuring with Grayson, so I really have no comparison...but it did make me feel better!

 

• Total weight gain:  16lbs
• Maternity clothes? Still just tops right now...dress above is Target Juniors.
• Stretch marks? none yet
• Sleep: Still pretty good!! I can't believe this.
• Best moment this week: Hmm. not sure about this. Nothing stands out..
• Miss Anything? Not really
• Movement: A lot. Way lot. Ask my co-workers. I was just chatting away with some of them and the baby decided to go CRAZY moving around. We were all dying.
• Food cravings: None.
• Food aversions: nothing really
• Gender: Girl:)
• Labor Signs: Still have some braxton hicks here and there. I've also just started to get a bit crampy.
• Symptoms: My leaking has gotten much worse this past week..and I'm starting to feel more pregnant. I was trying to explain the feeling to my mom this morning. I feel "heavier". She's clearly taking up more space and so I'm feeling that all of a sudden.
• Belly Button in or out? Out.
• Wedding rings on or off? On.
• Looking forward to: Weekend with my little family.
• Feelings- again, I still feel great. Although I'll admit that just this week I started to slow down a bit. I asked Dan how he thought I was acting in comparison to last pregnancy and he agreed - WAY better.
• Workouts - still doing them. I'm tired. I kind of want to stop...but we all know I won't. I'm keeping up with 4 workouts a week with a mix of cardio, weights and at home workouts.

I also wanted to post this adorable outfit my neighbor, Lynn, gifted us last week. There were multiple outfits and this one was my favorite! I love the matching shoes!! 
 

 

30 Weeks and Labor Day

Last week Grayson and I did NOT have our usual playdate with Zach since he was on a family vacation. Instead I brought G to the Children's Museum.

I had only been on a Saturday and it was a pleasant treat to go during the week - much calmer! Since Grayson has been fighting his nap recently I was hoping that this would do the trick to put him down..and it totally worked!

I also finally signed G up for his second gymnastics session. So weird that the session ends November 4th - 5 days short of my due date! I chose a later class this time around since the weather is getting better and we'll have more opportunity to play outside in the mornings. This will also give Dan the opportunity to start coming to some classes, too...in the case that I deliver early, he'll have an idea of what goes on.

Switching Topics***

Happy Labor Day Weekend!

We stayed in Cincinnati this Labor Day for a couple reasons:
1. We had a wedding to attend
2. Annual Karoakefest

Soo...we had a bunch of things going on in the Cincy area that we couldn't pass up. The weather was pretty gross the whole weekend, which in the end, worked out great. We spent a lot of time in the house relaxing.

In an effort to get a "girls picture" I accidentally let my drunk husband take some shots of us. Um...every pic was completely blurry...this was the best I could get. (and if you haven't noticed, I'm kind of obsessed with Instagram)

 

And for the weekly quiz

How far along?  30 Weeks. I have 10 weeks left.

• Total weight gain:  Sitting pretty at 15 weeks (official doc appt. weight gain).
• Maternity clothes?  Still just tops right now...I can still put my jeans on (not zipped or buttoned)
• Stretch marks? none yet
• Sleep: Still pretty good..about every other night I have trouble sleeping. I felt bad because I woke Dan up at 2:30 one night and neither of us could go back to sleep.
• Best moment this week: Finally settling on a name (Dan just got her initial tattooed on his arm) I'll admit that it was ALL my fault. For some reason I kept going back and forth on names. I'll be very excited to finally announce her name...when she's here!  
• Miss Anything? Not really
• Movement: Since about FridayI've finally started getting bigger movements from this little lady. Way big alien baby movements. It makes me happy that she's possibly flipping into place:) ALTHOUGH, most of the movement is still pretty high up.
• Food cravings: None.
• Food aversions: nothing really
• Gender: Girl:)
• Labor Signs: Still have some braxton hicks here and there.
• Symptoms: Cutting down my iron pills - I wasn't really "keeping them down". I rarely throw up, so I was pretty shocked at how sick these things made me.  I'm going to have blood drawn again in about 3 weeks to see if my iron levels have increased. I'm also starting to feel a bit slower and more "pregnant". I have back pain still but not nearly as bad as it was with Grayson and even though it's there I almost feel weird calling it back pain when I know what I went through with G....and Night Sweats. YEY. 
• Belly Button in or out? Out.
• Wedding rings on or off? On.
• Looking forward to: Potential Weekend in Indy! We're thinking of taking G to the Indianpolis Children's Musuem on Saturday. Since it's 2.5 hours away, we thought we'd make a weekend of it and leave after Dan gets out of work Friday and take our time exploring the city and museum. We haven't booked anything yet, but the Colts are in town the two weekends AFTER, so it's the perfect time to attempt it.
• Feelings- I still feel really great - this pregnancy really has been a treat for me. I know I have 10 more weeks ahead of me and that things can change drastically, but so far I have thoroughly enjoyed being pregnant with this little lady. I feel great emotionally...I actually have not cried ONCE during this pregnancy. So different from the last!