Baby Fred - 37 Weeks!

Date:
July 27, 2015

How far along:
37 Weeks!!

How many weeks to go: 
3 Weeks! (or less, I'm guessing!)

Baby size:
Winter Melon (WTH is that?) or a large cantaloupe
18.9-20 inches long

Baby milestones: 
She's considered "full term" now and is just in there practicing her skills of inhaling, exhaling, sucking, gripping and blinking. (We saw baby practicing breathing during the ultrasound last Friday!)

Maternity clothes: 
It goes like this... I wake up for work, put on one of the three maternity dresses that I have or force myself to put on pants (this only happens once a week... maaaybe twice) I go to work and sometimes put on nice shoes, but end up wearing my Nike flip flops most of the day - especially if I'm not going to see any of my superiors. I come home - If I'm wearing a dress, I might just keep it on for the evening, otherwise I change into yoga pants or my PJs and a shirt... one that may or may not cover my stomach at all times... When it's time for bed, I wear my PJ pants (most of the time - sometimes I just say 'screw the pants' altogether) and a light shirt to bed, which usually doesn't stay over my belly most of the night... wake up and repeat. 98% of my closet doesn't get worn right now. It's sad.

Stretch marks: 
Still there and multiplying...

Have you started to show yet: 
Showing it off for everyone to see! 

Belly button in or out: 
Out

Symptoms: 
Random tightening of my belly (contractions, maybe?) stronger at some times more than others... still have pain in my fingers throughout the day and it's definitely worse at night (which is what they say is common), my feet aren't normal size, but I'm still able to get them to deflate if I stay off them, which is a slight bright spot!

Movement:
Yep - she stays pretty active in there most of the time. She was pretty still for a while on Sunday which I let freak me out a little (and I made the mistake of getting Trent freaked out as well) but after laying down and eating and doing some kick counts, she was back at it. She must have just needed a little nap ;)

Labor signs:
 I don't know what you consider a "labor sign" at this point... I don't feel like there's anything, but maybe some of these Braxton Hicks are doing some good and getting us closer to meeting this baby!

Mood: 
Pretty good, I think. There's plenty I could complain about, but I hope I'm doing a pretty good job of not being a whiner! 

Sleep: 
I have a feeling that it's going to be a good 10-15 years before I'm able to have the same relationship with sleep that I did just a few months ago! I used to LOVE sleep and loved sleeping in, but it's just not the same anymore! I have troubles getting to sleep a few nights a week and have started to get a little restless leg syndrome stuff going on occasionally. And I don't like that at all! I have to get up every few hours just to turn over (which is a lot of work these days) or to go to the bathroom. And I can't really sleep in because I am pretty hungry by the time morning rolls around. And then, during the day, I get so tired at times that all I want to do is take a nap! If only I could just sleep at night and then I wouldn't have to be so tired during the day! :) Luckily we've been having some pretty low-key weekends that are good for sleeping as much as I can in the morning and then taking naps in the afternoon, if needed! So I'll just keep taking advantage of those as long as I can!

Dreams: 
Saturday night, I had a dream that I was in labor at the hospital. I don't remember much about it other than there was a big black snail there and I was trying to get it or kill it or something. And then when I told Trent about the snail, he told me that he wished it was a tan snail... Whatever that means!
When I woke up, I kept thinking/hoping that was a sign, but obviously it wasn't :)

Miss anything: 
Not having back pain, being able to fit into more clothes, and just not hurting when I'm walking around.

Gender prediction: 
I really can't change my answer now, so I'm going to stay with boy. But I can't wait to find out!

Names: 
We haven't talked about them much this week. I think we're still pretty set on first names (we might have two girl options at this point) and middle names are still to be decided, but I have my top picks for those, too.

Best moment of the week: 
The best moment of the week was probably seeing our baby one last time by ultrasound. It's pretty crazy how much the baby has grown since our 20 week ultrasound. At that time, they could get the baby's whole body on the screen and we were able to see all of her at once. Now, they aren't even really able to get the baby's whole face on the screen!
The pictures that we did get of the baby's face were pretty comical this time. Baby looked pretty grumpy!! If she's really that unhappy in there, she should just come out and be with us, I guess!! ;)

The weekend that we had was also pretty great, in my opinion. We had another nice weekend at home getting things prepared. We had a list of things we wanted to get done and I am pretty sure we got it all finished! Trent washed and sanitized all the bottles and things. I got my pump on Friday, so I washed and sanitized everything that came with that. We cleaned the bathrooms so Trent could move back into our master bath when the time came for us to have guests and we cleaned and got the guest rooms ready for company! I got pretty worn out with all the cleaning, which made for a not-so-fun day the next day, but I'll be alright!
Trent also got the car seat put in the car. It's still strange to look in my rear view mirror and see it back there! :)

We found time on Saturday to go to see Ant Man in the theater. It was a good movie! And then we went to eat at Chipotle. (I think I could eat there every day... or at least several times a week!)

Nursery Things:
I think that we're as ready as we can be in the nursery now! I got everything hung up on the walls and all the clothes that we have is washed and put away. Now we just need a baby to go with the room.
There are a few frames that are still empty because I'm either waiting to receive what I am going to put in them or because they are going to have pictures of the baby in them, but the hard part of getting them hung straight on the wall is done. Now it should be pretty easy to put whatever needs to go in the frames in there and then put them right back in their place!

Here's the book ledge wall all done:

Below is a cross stitched prayer that my mom made when my sister was a baby (she's pretty sure that's when she made it anyway!) and I can remember it hanging up in my room pretty much my whole life. I had it reframed to go in our baby's room and just got it back this weekend and hung it up right away. I love having it in the room! The frame ended up costing more than I wanted to spend, but if it stays framed and used for another 30 years or so, I'd say it was a pretty good investment!

And here's the whole wall that you see when you walk in the room: 

Looking forward to: 
Meeting our baby whenever he or she decides to join us!

Also looking forward to wrapping up our birth class on Wednesday and having weekly appointments now!

Other things: 
At our ultrasound, the tech told us that our baby was estimated to be about 9lb 6oz or so, which is crazy! That means that the baby would have grown about 4lbs since our last ultrasound 4 weeks ago. The measurements obviously aren't a fact, but it sure does get everyone all riled up! (I really don't see how the baby could have gained 4lbs in 4 weeks because that's pretty much how much I've gained in 4 weeks, so that would mean that I would have had to gain all baby... doubtful)
After the ultrasound, we had our regular appointment. Baby's heartbeat was in the high 140s and then shot up to the 150s as she was moving around! (During the ultrasound, the heartbeat was in the 130s, which is the lowest it's been the whole pregnancy!)

Baby Fred - 36 Weeks!

Date: 
July 20, 2015

How far along:
36 Weeks!! Our baby would officially not have to go to NICU if born today and everything looked good!! (per our hospital's guidelines)

How many weeks to go: 
4 Weeks!

Baby size:
Head of Romane Lettuce/Honeydew Melon (it said that last week, too)
17.2-18.7 inches long

Baby milestones: 
She's very close to being able to breath on her own without any issues. Her skin is getting smooth and soft. Most of her systems and organs are good to go!

Maternity clothes: 
You betcha... Just wearing and rewearing the same things. Comfort over style these days! I've gotta be extra careful to not show too much skin at work cuz my belly tends to stick out the bottom of some of my maternity shirts now...

Stretch marks: 
Unfortunately... And they are getting worse, I'm afraid...

Have you started to show yet: 
Yes... Enormously

Belly button in or out: 
Out

Symptoms: 
A few belly cramps here and there, a big belly, big feet, feel like I have to pee ALL the time (even when I really don't), constricted breathing at times, what I think is slight pregnancy carpal tunnel (yes, that's a thing!)... Still happy as a clam, though!

Aversions: 
None really... I just can't eat as much these days, so not everything sounds good at times...

Movement:
I feel her move around quite a lot. Sometimes she gets little twitches or hiccups but other times, she's just tumbling around in there (with what room she has left anyway)

Labor signs: 
None that I'm aware of

Mood: 
My mood is good, I just feel tired and like my body hates me at times and I'm sure that shows on the outside occasionally.

Sleep: 
Getting up every few hours to pee most nights (I did sleep the whole night one night last week, though!) Sometimes my breathing still gives me issues, but most nights I can fall asleep pretty well. The mornings come way too early, though!

Dreams: 
I had one that had a bunch of random people in it... our auditors at work, Trent, people that I haven't talked to since college, etc. I was at work and then we were in some desert-type place... none of it made sense...

Miss anything: 
Wearing comfortable clothes, not feeling like my belly is going to burst open at times, being able to move without it being a huge effort!

Gender prediction: 
I think a boy still, I think, but we've been talking about our girl name so much lately that that gets me thinking that it's a girl!

Names: 
We have names but have recently started discussing our girl name again because we aren't sure if the one we picked is going to work... 

Best moment of the week: 
We're still getting packages of things I've ordered about every other day, so it's been fun to really feel like we're getting ready! The car seat base for Trent's car came this week as well as some bottles and our monitor (which Trent set up on Friday when he was off work!!). I already feel like our house is being taken over by baby stuff, but I am pretty sure that's just going to be the way our lives are from here on out! (And that's just fine with me!)
I also got to be pretty darn lazy on Saturday, which was pretty nice. I slept in real late and then continued to lay on the couch for most of the next four hours or so... The dogs and I had a nice, restful day!

Nursery Things:
Trent helped me to hang up our book ledges (there was no way I would have been able to do that on my own like I had thought!) and I got other things hung up on the walls and ready to go! I'm still working on what's going on the shelf above the dresser and have more things to hang on the wall with the book ledges, but it's coming along!

Looking forward to: 
Our ultrasound and appointment on Friday. Looking forward to seeing how the baby has grown and hear what our doctor thinks about everything.
Also looking forward to getting our to-do list done (well maybe not actually doing what's on the list, but I'm excited to have it all done). We've got a pretty good list going of things that we need to do to get ready for the baby to arrive like put the car seat in the car, wash bottles and things like that, finish hanging what I have already in the nursery, wash the rest of the baby clothes, and get the guest rooms ready for people to come to town when baby arrives! 

Baby Fred - Finding Out and Telling People!!

I've officially been working on this post for probably six months... and I'm finally finished with it now that it's almost time for this baby to make his or her appearance! I'm just happy I got it done before the baby decided to join us!

If you don't want to see pictures of plastic sticks I've peed on, you can stop reading now :) 

This is a compilation of how Trent and I found out we were having a baby and a few short stories of how we told some of our family!

Trent and I found out on a Tuesday morning (December 9 to be exact) that I was pregnant. We had decided the night before that the next morning would take a test. For some reason, I went to Target the night before and, while I was there, I decided to just pick up another pregnancy test or two (I must have just had one at home). I stood there in the aisle with the pregnancy tests and just stared at them all for a while, a few people came and went from the aisle while I stood there and picked up and put down several of the boxes. One girl in particular walked down the aisle and picked up something then walked behind me and left around the corner. A second or two later, she popped back around the corner and said, "Just buy the digital one. You won't regret it." I laughed and thanked her for her advice, picked up one of the digital ones, and was on my way!

Tuesday morning, Trent and I woke up like normal. He went downstairs to handle the dogs and I woke up and went into the bathroom to get in the shower. I took the non-digital test and took it (because I decided it would be less devastating to just not see a pink line rather than have the words "NOT PREGNANT" stare back at me!). After I peed on the stick, I laid the test on the counter and stood over it and watched as the control line darkened up and then slowly - oh so slowly - I watched the faintest pink test line show up. I did a little hop-skip and jumped in to the shower with a huge smile on my face!! I said a huge thank you to God because I know that this was all His doing! 

After a few minutes in the shower, I had to check the line again, so I jumped out in the middle of the shower to take another look. It was darker by that time and I couldn't believe it! I pranced right back into the shower to finish. (And the test is still sitting on the shelf in the bathroom - before this, I would have said that's kind of gross, but I love seeing it every day and remembering how that moment felt!!)

I don't think I have ever showered so fast in my life. I washed my hair and shaved (and got out to check the test) all in ten minutes! (And if you know me, you know that's super fast!) I was just so excited to go down and tell Trent the news!

After I was all out of the shower and dried off, I put on my robe and scurried down the stairs to tell Trent. He was in the kitchen leaning on the island eating some cereal. I stood in the doorway between the dining room and the family room and said with a big smile on my face, "I'm pregnant!" I think he said something like "no way" or "you're kidding" or something! (I wouldn't kid about something like that) So I went up to him to show him the test so he could see it for himself!

We both just kind of laughed and he gave me a cute shocked/happy/what did we just do? face... 

Then I ran back upstairs to finish getting ready for the day - smiling the whole time!

Before I left for work, I had to pee again, so I decided to use one of the digital tests I had bought the night before. Before long, there was the word "Pregnant" EEEEE!!!

I sent a picture of it to Trent as I was leaving for work just so he had more confirmation that this was real! His reaction made me smile again!

I called the doctor's office as soon as they opened at 8 to make an appointment for blood tests and to make our first prenatal appointment.

Throughout the day, it was kind of crazy talking to people at work - we'd just be talking about normal, every day things, like we would do any other day and I would be thinking in my head, "They have no idea my whole world just changed!" That was a pretty crazy feeling and it went on like that with everyone we talked to for a few months before we felt comfortable to start telling people!

It's been a pretty crazy, fun and exciting 7 months since we found out, but I can honestly say that I don't think I have ever loved Trent more than during this time!! He's such an amazing husband and I can't wait to experience being parents with him!

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Trent's Parents

The first people we told here Trent's parents and we actually didn't even mean to tell them! We had decided that we weren't going to tell our parents until about mid-January, after we had our first OB appointment, but we knew it might be difficult to do that since we'd be with them for many days at a time during the holidays. Despite the challenge, we decided that would be the best thing to do.

We got to Trent's parents' house on Friday night and by the time Monday rolled around, I had turned down wine and Dr. Pepper and then actually accepted some wine at Trent's grandma's but then had Trent chug it for me while hiding out of site from everyone!

We sat down for supper on Monday evening and the conversation turned to kids for one reason or another. Trent and I instantly looked at leach other and couldn't stop smiling. Then something was said to the effect of "What do you think the timeline is on that?" and after a few moments of hesitation, Trent stutters out "....uh... August?"

Then there were a few confused looks exchanged by Trent's parents followed by one of them saying "What? Are you pregnant?" and me hitting Trent on the arm and saying "Did you really just say that?"

After that, there were hugs and tears and smiling and lots more to talk about!! 

Later that night Trent asked me if telling them was all I had imagined it to be and I told him that it was even better than I had imagined! I love surprises and that was the biggest and best surprise that I was able to be surprised about while being able to surprise other people at the same time! There was no anticipation or nervousness going init to, it just happened and it was great!

Just perfect!!

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My Mom

Since we let the news slip to Trent's parents before we had intended to, we made a plan to tell my mom as well while we were visiting for Christmas. We didn't want to tell her until we were alone with her, so that meant we had to wait several days until everyone else was gone from her house. 

Finally, on Sunday, right after Kellsey and Wade left to go home, we had a chance to tell her, so that's what we did with the first chance we got. We had her come to the table and said we had one final present for her. She asked if it was going to make her cry. I don't remember if I said "probably" or "maybe" but really, I knew she was going to... :)

In my mom's newspaper, she does a little section called "Grandma's Brag Book" that has a picture of a grandma with her grandchildren and a little caption explaining who's in the picture and things like that. Since this will be my mom's first grandchild, I decided to make my own little "Grandma's Brag Book" column to give to her since she'll be in the "Grandma Club" now.

I was planning on doing it up nice and making it look like it would in the paper, but since our plans to tell our parents got moved up by a few weeks, I had to improvise. I just used a piece of paper and on the front put "Grandma's Brag Book" and then on the inside, I put our ultrasound picture in there along with a caption that I made up. Since it's been six months since this happened, I've had my mom make up what it may have looked like had I been prepared:

When my mom opened it she looked super shocked and asked if it was for real and started crying. We couldn't tell if it was a happy cry or a mortified cry or sad cry or what... she assures us it was a very happy cry - she was just caught off guard haha.

I also had wrapped up a Christmas bulb ornament that we had found at my Grandma and Grandpa's a few days before when we were out there. It said "Grandma's Make Every Day a Holiday" on it. I just thought it was appropriate since that pertained to her now too!

It was nice to be able to have my mom know so she could understand when I had to leave the kitchen to go lay down or know why I didn't want to eat some things. I don't think she loved having to keep the secret, though!

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Jared and Kenzie

We had to be sure to make a trip home to see my brother and his girlfriend in person to tell them our good news because we didn't have any get-togethers planned. We were on a tight time frame and we actually had to go out to out to their house and pry them out of bed to get them to come out to the living room with us so we could tell them the news. 

I didn't have any real big clever way to tell them (and I think that coming out and saying it is a little awkward in itself) so I was nervous to have to actually say it out loud. 

So, after we were all sitting in the living room, I said, "A few months ago, Trent and I decided we were going to try and have a baby... So we tried... And now we're having one"

And that was that! 

Both of their first words were "I knew it!" 

I'm not convinced that they really "knew" at the right time, but I'm sure they had their suspicions. :)

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Aunt Doreen and Uncle Nick

We stopped and told Nick and Doreen our news right before we had gone out to tell Jared and Kenzie.

My mom said she wanted to bring along the "Grandma" ornament that we had given to her when we told her and use that to tell them the news, so when we walked in, she stood by them and said, "Do you want to see what Trent and Kendra gave to me?"

Then she got the ornament out and showed it to them and as soon as they had a chance to read what the ornament said, the celebration began. I'm pretty sure they had their suspicions because it was kind of random that we had made a point to be sure they were going to be home and ready for us to come see them that early on a Saturday morning (and they kept looking at me and smiling when my mom asked them if the wanted to see what we got her), but it was still good to get the news out in the open!

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Melodie and Russ and the girls

Towards the end of January, all of Trent's family gathered at our house to celebrate Trent's parent's anniversary, so that was the perfect opportunity to tell Trent's sister and her family. 

I had just recently finished a gallery wall that is on our dining room wall that has our parents' and grandparents' wedding pictures on it. It also had a current family picture of us and then I had one leftover frame. I decided to put one of our ultrasound pictures in the extra frame before they arrived at our house and just wait until someone noticed the picture. 

Right after everyone arrived, we all sat down for lunch at the dining room table. Towards the end of lunch, I saw Trent's sister look at the wall for a little bit, she then looked at Trent's mom and then back to the wall and then she looked at me and asked "What is that picture of?"

I smiled and kind of nervously laughed and then said, "That's a picture of our baby." 

After the initial shock wore off, there were tears and smiles and happiness and much more to talk about!! We even got to go to Pottery Barn Kids that day and look at cribs and chairs and other fun stuff like that! :)

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Grandma and Grandpa Kock (and Uncle Dan and Alex, too!)

We made a trip one Saturday to tell people that we hadn't seen since Christmas time because we didn't want to wait any longer to share our news! Our first stop was in Westside where we had breakfast at my mom's with Grandma and Grandpa Kock, Dan and Alex, and Jared. We ate and then before it was time for us to leave and go to our next stop, we gave Grandma and Grandpa the card below.

I don't think they saw it coming either so I think they were surprised and excited :) 

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Trent's Grandma

The second stop on our trip was up to Webster City to tell Trent's Grandma. She thought we were just coming up to have lunch with her, which, of course, would always be a good enough reason to make the trip, but this was extra special!

We arrived and chatted for a little while at her house and then right before it was time to head out to eat, Trent gave me that "Well... just tell her already!!" look. I don't know why I get so nervous to tell people, but I think it's the whole just coming out and saying it thing that makes me feel all weird about it! 

So finally, I just said, "We have something to tell you." (Or Trent said it, I don't 100% remember - I was too nervous!) and she guessed it right away!! There were hugs all around and she was super excited for us! It gave us plenty to talk about over lunch and definitely made it okay that I mostly just had cheeseballs at lunch :)

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Kellsey and Wade

Our final stop on our trip around the western half of Iowa was to see Kellsey and Wade. We were supposed to have supper with them, but there was a bad storm coming (which we ended up driving home in) and I really don't think I could have ate any more that day anyways after a big breakfast in Westside and lunch in Webster City! So we just ended up stopping by their apartment for a little while to tell them.

I knew since Christmas time how I wanted to tell Kellsey because I knew that she would really appreciate it and get it. :) 

Around Christmas, Old Navy had a commercial with Julia Louis-Dreyfus where she has what she thinks should be her nieces' and nephews' "favorite present from their favorite aunt" and it's a horse named Esteban! Kellsey and I quoted that commercial a few times over Christmas, so I then knew what I was going to do to tell her we were having a baby!

You can see the commercial here if you don't know what I'm referring to:

I bought a little white horse and wrapped him up with a ribbon and a tag that said "Esteban" on it and gave it to Kellsey with a note that said, "So you can try to be the favorite aunt in August."

I think it's safe to say that she was pretty surprised when she opened the gift and realized what it was for. I was so happy that she was surprised because I was afraid she was onto us!! (Wade said he knew, so I'm glad he didn't tell either! haha)

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Jocelyn

We usually have lunch with Joce once a week, so we were going to use that time one week to tell her the news. The week that we planned on telling her, Betsy (her roommate) was going to come and have supper with us as well. We weren't quite ready to tell people outside of family yet, so we had to try to figure out a way to tell Jocelyn alone.

We decided we'd invite her over for supper the night before our official "family supper" was planned for that week. We told her Trent was making enchiladas and that she should come have some. She got kind of suspicious and said she felt like she was being trapped and we were going to tell her some bad news. She said she thought we were going to tell her we were moving or something like that.

So, when I got home from work and told Trent that Jocelyn was onto us and suspecting some sort of news, of course he played right into that. When she got to our house, he told her that we were moving. He said he got a job in Wisconsin and was moving in two weeks and that I was going to stay back in Omaha until we sold our house and then join him. Trent did all the talking because there was no way that I was going to get anything out without ruining it. So I just stood there and watched her get really sad and upset and then finally just say, "Well, let's just eat so I can go home cuz I don't like this." or something like that! 

It didn't take long for us to tell her we were just kidding and to tell her that we DID have some news to share though. I then told her that we were going to have a baby!! Of course, there was some hesitation in her believing us since we had just got done tricking her into thinking some other big news was real, but soon enough, we got her to believe us and she was super excited! 

I did feel a little bad about the little roller coaster of emotions we had brought her on :) But it was still fun!

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Aunt Barb,  Meghan, Molly, and Steph

I decided to tell my Aunt Barb and my cousins on my mom's side at our annual girls weekend that we had in February. We all met in Des Moines at a nail place and I had my mom show up with a T-shirt on that read "Great Moms Get Promoted to Grandmas"

As soon as she walked in and took off her coat, my cousin, Molly, noticed it and asked which one of us was pregnant, either Kellsey or myself! She sure has eagle eyes :)

We had a fun weekend all hanging out together and I even got to do my first shopping for some maternity clothes! Turns out my cousin's wife, Steph was also pregnant at that time! I'm sure that wasn't a fun secret for her to have to keep while we were talking about me being pregnant too!

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Grandma and Grandpa Jons

The last family members that I got to tell were Grandma and Grandpa Jons. Millie and I actually made a stop to see them at the nursing home one weekend and told them the news.

It was nice to see them both smile when we told them! It isn't always easy to get a smile out of Grandma, so that really made me happy. She even told us a little about what she remembered about being pregnant. :)

I am still hoping to see them one more time before the baby arrives so they are able to see how big I've gotten, but we'll see if I make it out of Omaha before then!! 

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There were several other family members and friends that we wanted to be able to tell ourselves, but we just didn't have the chance to see before we thought the news would get out, so we either texted them or called them or sent them messages to share the good news. Everyone was very happy for us and it was always fun to share it with more and more people!

And now, here we are, a month away from the date when this baby is due to join us out here on the outside of my belly and then we'll have some even better news to share with everyone!! I just can't wait :)

Baby Fred - 35 Weeks!

Date:
July 13, 2015

How far along:
35 Weeks!!

How many weeks to go: 
5 Weeks!

Baby size:
Honey Dew Melon/Coconut
17.2-18.7 inches long

Baby milestones: 
Most of her development is complete at this point. She's just going to spend the next few weeks putting on weight so she can be one healthy baby when she decides to join us!!

Maternity clothes: 
Yes - I really wear the same three dresses every week to work and then force myself to wear pants the other two days and I dislike every minute of it!

Stretch marks: 
I found some last Thursday!!! :( On the underside of my belly where I really can't see, so who knows how long they've been there!

Have you started to show yet: 
Yes... I really don't think how much more I can show... but I'm sure we'll see just how much over the next few weeks!

Belly button in or out:
 Out

Symptoms: 
Random Braxton Hicks, a little bit of acid reflux still, puffy feet by the end of the week... the usual :)

Movement:
Lots of movement and body parts sticking out of my belly!

Labor signs: 
Not that I know of!

Mood: 
Good, I think. I'm sure I look pretty tired and unhappy at times, though... but really, it's more of just the tiredness. I'm very happy :)

Sleep: 
Not too bad most of the time. Sunday night I had quite a rough time falling asleep and ended up laying in bed for 3 hours and that wasn't so fun...

Miss anything: 
Same ol'... Wish I had comfortable clothes to wear all the time and I miss being able to move without it being a huge effort.

Gender prediction: 
Mostly boy but I just can't wait to find out!

Names: 
We have names! We still have the right to change them, but I think they're pretty set :)

Best moment of the week: 
We had our hospital tour during our birth class last week. That was pretty exciting!! It won't be long before we're there for real! I feel so much better knowing where to go and slightly what to expect when we're there and learn about all the hospital has to offer.
My sister came on Friday night to get pedicures and go out to eat and spent the night, so that was a fun event for the week! My feet are so much prettier now that they are painted nice. It was much needed since I have resorted to wearing my Nike flip flops pretty much every day at work these days...
I spent two hours at Target on Saturday purchasing everything else I thought we'd need off our registry. I had also purchased some stuff online earlier in the week from Target, Amazon and Buy Buy Baby, so we've been getting packages every day pretty much. I feel like we're finally almost fully prepared in the "stuff" department to have this baby!
I also did my first load of baby laundry on Saturday and packed the baby's bag for the hospital! I also have my bag about 90% of the way packed and it will hopefully be all ready to go or I'll at least have a final list of the last minute things we'll need to grab when we're headed to the hospital to have a baby!!! Woot!!

Nursery Things:
I put a fun set of sheets on the bed, which really "funs up" the room. I put a few things on the shelf that Trent's dad put up last weekend and printed out some of our maternity pictures to put in frames. My projects for this week will be to hang up the frames and the book shelves that I have!!

Looking forward to: The weekend to be here :)
But really, just looking forward to getting more done in the nursery in the evenings this week and then this weekend for anything that doesn't get done before then!

Other things: 
We had our first appointment with our new doctor last Thursday. It was nice to be able to ask questions about how delivery will go and what she thinks about certain things and know that when she answers them, she will be the one who is actually going to be there to deliver her baby. She has been delivering babies for 16 years and both Trent and I thought our first meeting went great and we both like her a lot. I think everything will go great with her!
We scheduled another growth scan in two weeks to see what baby's estimated size is again and then we scheduled all the rest of our weekly appointment up until our due date!! So hard to believe that the end is in sight!! 

Baby Fred - 34 Weeks!

Date:
July 6, 2015

How far along:
34 Weeks!!

How many weeks to go: 
6 Weeks! Ahh!

Baby size:
Cantaloupe
(I'm not even going to put a weight here anymore because whatever is "average" and what our baby probably is, are most likely not the same thing!)
About 18 -18.7 inches

Baby milestones: 
Her layers of fat are developing so she can regulate her body temperature when she's born and her lungs are continuing to mature so she can breathe like a champ once she's born!

Maternity clothes: 
Yes - I'm constantly making my shirts are still covering the bottom of my belly... putting on clothes is probably the worst part of being pregnant right now :)

Stretch marks: 
Not that I've seen

Belly button in or out: 
I'm going to say officially out.

Symptoms: 
Same things going on... Braxton Hicks contractions occasionally (even though they don't quite feel like what I thought they would) and I have to pee quite a lot. My feet are pretty big these days and it's just an effort to move as well... But I'm not complaining :)

Movement:
I can feel the baby pretty consistently these days and when I can see or feel body parts sticking out, I always try to guess what body part it is... Who knows if my guess is right, though!
While Trent's family was here this weekend, they all got to see the baby move from the outside while I was sitting at the table. I had a shirt on with polka dots on it, so that made it easy to see when the baby was moving. Taylor and Jenna also got to feel my belly when the baby had hiccups for the first time (that I noticed). When I started feeling very consistent movements, I realized that they were probably hiccups and Taylor and Jenna came and put their hands on my belly and could feel it. Taylor's face was great when she felt it, I think she thought it was cool but it also may have been kind of strange. Jenna kept asking why the baby was kicking in there, so I'm not quite sure what she thought about the whole thing. It was pretty neat, though!

Labor signs: Nothing "real" I don't think...

Sleep: 
Not bad. I had trouble getting to sleep on Sunday again because of my whole heart beating like crazy thing, but once I get to sleep it's usually all good.

Miss anything: 
Having clothes to wear that is comfortable and not hurting/look like I'm in major pain any time I get up to walk.

Gender prediction: 
I don't know at all these days... I think that I still think it's a boy, but I'm not as strong in that thought as I once was.

Names: 
I think we have picked names!! Still have several options on middle names, and I'm sure we could still change our minds, but it's pretty fun to think that we could have a child named one of the names we picked out!

Best moment of the week: 
Trent getting back from his work trip to Florida on Wednesday! It's just so much better/easier to have him home!!

We also had a great weekend celebrating birthdays and the 4th of July with Trent's family this weekend. We didn't go anywhere, but still had a busy and fun weekend at our house. We grilled out for lunch and supper, put together a puzzle, opened gifts, and lit off some fireworks and sparklers and other fun things. And, of course, we had an abundance of birthday desserts to eat as well, one for each birthday person! 

The birthday people!

Watching fireworks!

I also spent a LOOONG time on Sunday afternoon/evening figuring out what we all needed to buy from our registry so we could officially be ready for the baby... We have gift cards and coupons to several places, so I was trying to figure out what to buy from which place in order to get the biggest discounts and things like that. It was a lot more work than I had anticipated! I got stuff ordered from Amazon and Buy Buy Baby and made one purchase from Target, but I had a little trouble with purchasing the rest of the things on Target.com, so I still need to get that worked out. Everything should start arriving this week, though, so it is going to be like Christmas each day when I get home from work to see what's arrived!! :)

Nursery Things:
I really need to get a move on in the nursery! EEE! Trent's dad, being the super helpful and giving guy that he is, helped me to hang a shelf in the nursery this weekend while he was at our house. I know I never would have gotten that hung myself, so I'm super thankful to have his help! Now I just need to get all the frames hung and figure out what's going in them!!

Looking forward to: 
Our birth class on Wednesday. We get to take our tour of the hospital that night, and I'm pretty excited about that! I am curious as to how it's going to make me feel - either really excited or possibly terrified... or both! haha
We also have our first appointment with our new doctor on Thursday. This is the doctor that will be delivering our baby. I hope everything goes well with her!!

Other things: 
This weekend, while the girls were over, they hung out in the nursery for a while when Trent's dad was hanging up the shelf. They both sat in the chair in the room and had stuffed animals that they thought would be the size of the baby and were practicing rocking them while singing "Rock-A-Bye Baby." It was pretty adorable. They both said they would hold the baby if I said it was okay :)

They also were very thoughtful with the Beanie Babies and picked out ones that they thought could be the baby's favorite toys. Taylor picked out one for if it's a girl and one for if it's a boy. Our baby is going to have very loving cousins!

Baby Fred - Maternity Pictures

Last week, we had maternity pictures taken by Steph from SM Photography. She went to high school with one of Trent's coworkers, so that is how I found her. 

I wasn't even sure if I wanted to take maternity pictures because, by the time that I got around to scheduling them and actually making the decision, I had already gotten super big... and who wants pictures of that?!? But I didn't want to regret not having them after the fact, so I went for it! The decision was made easier because her prices were so reasonable, and I am overall very happy with how they turned out!! I'm glad that I have these pictures of us (and even my big belly) to look back on and remember how we felt before welcoming our first son or daughter into the world!

It's always a little awkward to have your picture taken, especially when you're asked to be serious in some of them (and we don't do very well at serious!), but I'm glad she made it work through our laughter and talking! I'm sure there's some pretty funny outtakes of us! When we got to the outside pictures, the mosquitoes were horrible so I'm sure it got even more frustrating for her to try to catch us when we weren't swatting them away!

Below are most of my favorites that we had taken. I can't wait until we have a little baby join us in our family pictures! I don't know how we're going to wrestle the two dogs into sitting still all while holding a baby, but hopefully we can make it work :)

Get ready for a lot of no-headed, belly shots!