Still Preggers...

So, Dinah has still not made her appearance...although I think she might be coming soon. At least I hope so!

Christian and I have been pretty busy trying to finish up her room and make sure everything is ready to welcome her home. I keep thinking of things that have yet to be done, so that is nice way to help pass the time while I am waiting around. I have pretty much finished training the person who will be the interim Baughman Center manager while I am gone, so I am superfluous at work now. Again a good thing...it is hard to concentrate on anything that doesn't have to do with baby or baby stuff!

On Sunday Christian and I were wandering around the mall and decide to 'build' Dinah's first bear. Here is a picture of it in her crib. We haven't named him or anything...we wanted her to be able to name him herself when she is older.

Dinah's room is almost complete. We just have a shelf to put up, but Christian is still finishing it (needs a couple more coats of poly). Also, Christian's good friend, Keith (and my best friend Jennifer's husband), is building a changing table/dresser for us. We are excited about having a piece of furniture built just for us and by someone we are so close to.

I've put in here some pictures of the completed parts of the room. We love it and it is hard to not just sit in there doing nothing. It makes me feel like Dinah is closer to actually being here.

These are the Dinah letters that a lady Christian works with painted for us. Such a thoughtful gift!

Dinah's crib

Canvases that I painted with the help of my friend Lindy and Dinah's Aunt Amber.

This is where the new changing table will go...this shelf will stack up on another one we have in the room and holds clothes and her stuffed animals.

Shelf with toys, books and other fun stuff. If you look closely you can see the pictures of Alice and Dinah my friend Jen Johnson drew for us.

Well, stay posted to here or facebook if you've got it. We'll be making announcements as soon as something starts happening!

okay okay okay

So, I've been really bad about posting...I know. Every time I think about doing it my brain starts to hurt and I can't really think of anything of interest to say. So this is likely to random and not very exciting...sorry.

Tomorrow marks 37 weeks, so that means that baby Dinah will be considered "full-term" and really she could come any day now. I am definitely ready to meet my baby and I am more than ready to be done being pregnant! I have sausage feet, trouble sleeping and now to top it all off it is allergy season and the pollen is affecting me much more than normal.

Christian and I are feeling more and more ready to welcome Dinah when she comes. Her room is looking good, we've picked a pediatrician, almost all of our "big" items have been bought or received, and some last minute items are slowly coming in (we have our two work showers this week). We go to pick up her diapers next week so we can get them "prepped" for her.

Tonight we go to learn how to care for newborns at our hospital. I feel less freaked out by actual labor and delivery after our birth class, so maybe I will feel a little less freaked out about being completely in charge of a little person after this class. Although I hear that you never stop being freaked out about being a parent!

Christian says that he has another post all planned out, but he was waiting for me to post again before he would do it. His stuff is always better than mine...so I am sure it will be more interesting.

We'll be sure to keep everyone updated if (and when) we go into labor and Dinah is threatening her appearance.

Oh, and I'll have Christian take another couple pictures of me and my belly. I am looking pretty huge these days!

She likes to move it, move it!

So for the past few weeks I have been feeling little baby Dinah move around in there. Lately she has been quite hyper and if I am sitting still she is moving about. (Including sometimes tap dancing on my bladder!) I can definitely feel (and sometime see) her moving through my clothes. That is fun, because then Christian can feel the baby too. We really are at the fun stage right now...feeling the baby and having that daily assurance that she is healthy and growing strong and I am just at the stage of "cute pregnant" before I get enormous and uncomfortable.

We are getting ready for a really busy weekend leading into a really busy next few weeks. Aunt Amber is graduating on Saturday as is Grandma Frederique. And Uncle Jeremiah will be on this side of the country for a couple days. We are really excited about hosting Christmas this year. I have my tree up and I am enjoying the season (if only it would get a bit colder here). We are also excited when we think about the next Christmas season when baby Dinah will be here with us AND old enough to enjoy the fun!

Looking Pregnant

So, I am finally starting to look like I am having a baby and not like I am just chubby. It is fun to pull out the maternity clothes I have so far and wear them. Honestly, all the stretchy waist pants are so comfy, I'm not sure I will go back to regular pants again! No wonder "mom" pants all have elastic waists...they know a secret the rest of us haven't figured out yet!

Here is a picture of me taken this week. I was 19 weeks and 2 days in this photo.

Strolling

So, Christian is super sweet and is definitely the "emotional" one between us two. So, while he contemplates the beauty of life, I will tell you all about the beauty of our stroller. :)

Choosing a stroller is really like choosing a lifestyle. Did we want to have one of those infant car seats that we can carry the baby around in and that snaps into a bigger stroller or stroller base? Did we want to get a sling or Baby Bjorn and carry the baby that way? Did we want to shell out a bunch of money for a car seat the baby would grow out of within a year, just to spend alot of money on another seat? We were crazy for about week trying to decide what we wanted to do.

Finally, we decided that carrying around a 20 pound car seat with a baby in it was not our (my) cup of tea. We've both always liked the idea of strapping our baby to ourselves and only using the stroller for walks and longer trips. So, then what stroller did we want...we looked at a couple different things online and decided we really liked the look and features of the UppaBaby Vista.

Of course, this stroller is made by a smaller company and only one store in Florida actually had one in stock. So, one Saturday morning we drove down to Safety Harbor, FL (near Tampa) to look at one of these strollers in person. Long story short, we totally fell in love with it. It is super easy to fold and to steer. It comes with a toddler seat and a bassinet, both of which can be turned to either face the "driver" or face the world. It is really light for a "full-sized" stroller and very strudy. It also comes with both a bug screen and a weather sheild. We totally love it and it is truly awesome. We also got an amazing deal on it because we got the floor model and is the red one. :)

See some pictures here...

Its a girl!

So, many of you know by now...we are having a little girl! I've attached some pictures from this ultrasound. There are a couple good profile shots of her little face and a "proof" shot the doctor gave us of her little hiney. There is also a video from the ultrasound too so you can see her moving about some. We need to edit it down some, so I'll add it later.

I was wanting a girl for this first one, so I am very excited. Christian was being a proud papa yesterday, showing off the pictures to everyone he came across.

We do have a name picked out, but I am having second thoughts about one of her middle names. For now you can call her Dinah.

Our First Post

Thanks for visiting our new baby blog! I am hoping to be able to post updates from doctor's visits, pics of my growing belly and of course any ultrasound shots we get. Stay tuned because there will be lots coming!