34-35 Weeks

It safe to say now that I am down to the last few weeks that discomfort has officially set in. I am definitely maintaining an exercise ritual, but instead of weight training and cardio every morning, it is more like slow, waddle walking in the neighborhood with lots of rests and water aerobics with my granny friends. My checkup went well, it must have been a busy day in labor and delivery, I waited an hour for my doctor and then she spent 2 seconds checking my measurements and BF's heart rate and was out the door. So, I didn't get a count on what the heart rate was this time. It was a little odd. But hey, luckily I didn't have any questions this time around. I start my weekly appointments at 36 weeks, that is when the real fun begins.


Cody and I have begun to sort thru the nursery, doing wash, and putting things together. It is very exciting to think we are almost there, and soon we are going to meet our child. It is so weird to think, we will be a threesome... a family. We are getting ready for the big day, I am starting to put my suitcase together and wrote a "birth plan". A birth plan is just a few preferences written out to put in your chart at the hospital since the L&D nurses have never met you, and my OB team has five doctors. It will keep me from having to repeat myself over and over when, well, my patience may not be at its highest level. In other news... we found our Maya girl a new home. She left last Sunday to go live with Ed and Phylis, our old neighbors on Greenway. They are wonderful people, close to retirement and looking for a new pal. They lost there 13 year old golden retriever last winter to arthritis and other old dog ailments. It was sad, I really miss her. I cried.

Mother's Day

A few pictures from Mother's Day! We just chilled out in the sun all day, at Mom and Dad's after being so busy with the shower on Saturday.

Damien and Karen enjoying the beautiful day! Uncle "Dam-Dam" flying kites with lil' Dennis. It was so cute! Dennis was just enthralled by the whole event.
Sun-bathing!
Cody made a round of Margaritas for the family. It was nice to have him up for the weekend, he rarely gets to enjoy those quick trips up to Philly. But with the help of US Air and Damien, he was able to pull it off.
Relaxing with mommy before bed. We were all whooped!

The Philly baby shower

The baby shower was a HUGE success, we had alot of friends and family join us at Karen's house on the steamy Saturday last week. I felt very spoiled by all the generous gifts given to BF and our little family. I hardly think, Cody and I will need to get much more to complete the nursery. My mom and sisters threw a wonderful party with lots of goodies to eat, especially Karen! She is an expert baker....mmmm, cheesecake. I think that is all I ate that day: sweets!

These are my "girl" Stolnis cousins on my mom's side, me, Jaqueline, Jennifer, and Lyndsey. Jennifer and I grew up very close, we are only 11 months apart. We spent many holidays and summers with each other growing up. And, everyone knows that Lyndsey and I share almost the exact same DNA, she is as genetically close as I will ever have to a sister. My mom and Jenel, a long time friend... we met in junior high. She was one of my very best friends growing up. Sometime before high school ended we lost touch, but thanks to good ol' myspace we reconnected. And, people say myspace is bad. There are some great bonuses to being a member.
Opening a few gifts! There were some darling things, this is a picture of a "Moses basket", I was stoked to get it. It is like a portable bassinet. It will be perfect for those first few weeks.
All the preggos! I am due July, Jennifer is due in August, and Holly is due in September. What fun!
Auntie Karen is getting a little practice for all those new nieces and nephews on the way. She is holding baby girl, Hana, my cousin Lou and Jennifer's new baby, only 6 weeks old.
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! to everyone who could make it. And, especially those who had to travel so far.

The new 32-33 week post!

We apparently had some trouble getting the pictures to show up, I redid everything, so hopefully the glitch is worked out!

A little update on what we have been up to lately, I have reached 33 weeks. I am feeling good still, more tired and slightly uncomfortable, but overall good. These pictures were taken at 32 weeks, and it is amazing, I have grown a bit more since even then.My doctors appointment was last week, and I finally got to see my real doctor, Dr. O'Keefe. He is wonderful, I really hope that I am able to have him there to deliever the baby. We share many of the same beliefs in child birth. The chances aren't good, considering there are five docs in my practice. We talked a little about the upcoming weeks, signals that I need to look for that labor might be beginning. He also informed me that at 34 weeks, the doctors won't take any measures to prevent pre-term labor. The baby isn't considered full term, until 36 weeks and isn't at his or her ideal maturity until 40 weeks. As much as I want to meet my little friend on the inside, BF needs to bake as long as possible. He also took BF's heartrate 135 bpm, and checked to make sure head was down, all I can say about that is "OUCH"!

I have another doctor's appointment next week. I will go every 2 weeks, until 36, then I start to see the doctor's every week. My appetite has slowed down again, thank goodness. I get very full, very fast... but I am hungry more often. I am trying to stick to lots of protein, calcium and iron rich foods. Although, it is sometime hard to cook because I have low energy levels in the early evening. As much as I don't want to, I also stopped exercise training with Leigh last week, I am having alot of bad nights of sleep and found that I had to cancel with her too much. We did arrange for her to lay out a plan for me to do on my own when I felt up to it. I am up 18 pounds, and I expect to gain about 1/2 to 1 pound per week until I deliever. This is great I am right at where I wanted to be, which is 22-26 pounds gained.


We have been busy with the nursery. Cody bought me this cozy and comfy glider to rock and nurse the baby in, I love it!!! It was for my birthday.
Here is big daddy putting together the crib, he looked so cute reading the instructions and struggling to make it all fit together safely. I had a baby shower with my side of thefamily this weekend, we got alot of wonderful gifts from friends and family. It doesn't look like we will have to buy to much, we still have two other showers with work friends and neighborhood friends. We have been so blessed. I will post a few pictures when I get them from people. I had to depend on everyone else, since my battery died on the camera.

restoration hard-ware

So this is my screen door project. I found the original screen door from 1926 in our basement. I stripped 3 layers of paint (about 4 hours of work). I then sanded off all remaining paint (about 3 hours of work). Then stained it to match our front door. Then 3 coats of poly-urethaine.


















I even managed to find the original hardware in a box (there is lots of random stuff in the basement). Everything looked great but the lock/latch was broken. So I tried to chemical weld it together but it kept breaking.
I finally decided to do what I do best. I drilled on it. I cut slots and cold welded a screw into place. I know you are are impressed with how low budget it looks. Also fixed up the little rotater dealer bobber.

Finally putting it up. Totally matched and looks great.

Because we are bleeding heart animal lovers, that's why.

Cody and I took a little mini-trip over to Asheville this weekend for a concert, and came back with a dog. We haven't totally lost our minds just yet, you see... we tried everything we could to find her home. I will set the scene:

Cody was driving and I was sleeping, we were on the I-40 somewhere between Rednecktown and Hillbillyville. Suddenly, I feel the car turning around, suprised that we are already home, and quickly realizing that we are in the middle of nowhere, I sit up and ask, "where are we?"
Cody answers, "I just saw a dog on the side of the freeway, if I don't turn around, I won't be able to sleep tonight."
We flip around, and go on the search. We find the little pup up in the weeds on the side of the road, just off of the exit. After standing there for a bit, trying to figure out what to do, because she has got no tags, we call a friend who is a dog rescuer in High Point. She gives us some advice on what to do, and begs us not to call animal control. She claims she can find us some placement for her on Monday. Apparently, animal control will hold a non-aggressive dog for a week, and if not claimed they will destroy it. She must be from one of the houses off the road, right? We drive around and look at what there is in the area, a few trailers, a couple delapadated homes and a country general store/bus stop. We asked a few people if anyone had come looking for a dog that day, we got two replies:

1. "There's a guy down the road and across the interstate aways who messes with them kinda dogs". Huh?
2. "Somebody came a looking for a dog awhile back, but I can't reckon what color it was". Okay.

Yeah right. By the way, did I mention it is pouring rain?

So, we decided to head down the freeway a couple exits to the where there was a local vet, hoping to get a chip scan or a hopefully board her. No such luck, the vet was closed and when we called the emergency number, they tolds us they don't take strays... and no vet in the area would. We left a description of the dog with the store and at the vet office with a contact number. By this point, it was 5:00 Saturday evening, even if we drove back to Asheville or kept on going to Hickory, the Humane Society would have been closed. Here we are with a dog and no owner. We brought her home.

We bathed her (twice) in some flea-tick shampoo, and pulled off quite a few very ripe and happily fed ticks. Eww.
We brushed her lots.
And, Cody fed her. He now has a third best friend.
We could not help ourselves, we named her, so meet Cinco de "Maya"-- since we found her on the 5th of May.

All in all, she is super sweet. She has been socialized with other dogs, Jack and Flower seem to have taken right to her. Tillie doesn't seem to bother either, which is good. That makes her easier to place. She is young, you tell by her teeth, she may be only a year or two old. She isn't fixed and has already had at least one litter of pups. She is super skiddish around men, and does alot of cowering. She is also really underfed. Her ribs, hips, and shoulders stick out of her skin. She has started to perk up today, after feeding her and generally getting lots of love and attention from us and the neighbors kids. Maybe, it is just us trying to make ourselves feel better, but it doesn't seem like she came from a very good place. I am taking her to the vet tomorrow, to have her scanned for a chip and have a general wellness exam. She could possibly have heart worms or other stuff. We have been keeping her outside of the deck, so she won't pass anything to our dogs or get stuff in the house. Hopefully, our friend can get her to a lab rescue this week.

Fried Green Tomatoes

Cody and I are laying low this weekend, and sticking pretty close to home. We have been so busy with traveling and company lately! The house needs some work done, I think Cody and I are both feeling a little "nesty" lately.

We went to the Farmer's Market on Friday and bought a few plants, veggies, and herbs. I started my herb garden. I did it in pots this time around, I am not a green thumb kind of girl, so I was a bit nervous sticking them in the ground. I am trying my hand at, Thyme, Parsely, Basil, and Rosemary. Wish me luck!

We also registered with the church, Immaculate Heart of Mary, and had dinner there last night after mass. It was nice, they had a welcome dinner for new members of the parish. We are turning into real live grown-ups, scary.

They had some beautiful looking tomatoes, and I bought some green ones. I tried on my southern cooking apron, and here is my first try at fried green tomatoes. I made a batter out of milk, cornmeal and flour. They were really tasty, I drizzled them with some local goat cheese. YUMMO! We also picked up some catfish, which I battered and fried too. Cody diggin' on my southern fried food.

***SIDENOTE***this was the first time I actually fried anything. It was not as scary as I thought, although, I let Cody handle all the flipping in the hot grease. Rule #1 of pregnancy, do not let otherwise normally clumsy, pregnant girl near hot grease. Bad plan, someone will definately get hurt.

30 weeks

My 30 weeks appointment was this week, everything went great. My glucose test came back false-positive, which means I am healthy and have no issues combating sugar. Yeah! I don't have to give up my cereal or ice-cream. Turns out that my sugar level were actually very low, in the 50's-60's the whole time. This must have been why I felt soooo horrible.
I also met the last doctor in the practice, Dr. White, another woman. She was wonderful, other than my own doctor, I liked her the best. She was so sincere, and she took the time with me in the appointment, she even sat down. All the other doctors barely shook my hand! If I can't have Dr. O'Keefe, I really hope she is on call when I go into labor.
The heart rate was at 140 BpM, and BF moved around the entire time making it very hard for her to get his/her heartrate. Dr. White was impressed by the movement, and asked if this was a typical day for us. I said yes indeed, you should feel the little one around midnight. I gained 1/2 pound since my last check-up, this totals me out at 15 all together. I am pretty pleased, if I stay at this pace I will have totally gained around 25. Let's keep our fingers crossed there are no growth spurts. My blood pressure was a bit higher than normal, but the doctor wasn't to concerned. I had to do some self portraits, I keep forgetting to ask Cody.

Aaron Art

I brought out the sidewalk chalk for Madeline to experiment with, and I think her daddy had fun too.

My deck has never looked so pretty.

A visit from the Reiter's

Cody and I had some company this weekend, and luckily it was a gorgeous one. It was a typical Carolina blue sky, and 80 degree temperatures. Cody's buddy from high school came out with his family. We had a great time just relaxing around the house most days, although we did make the trek out to Asheville to show off some of the more beautiful parts of the state, we walked around town and checked out some of the galleries.

Cindy and Madeline having some breakfast. Aaron and Cindy made an absolutely awesome pancake breakfast for us on Saturday morning. A special recipe for buttermilk hazlenut pancakes that Aaron found really made BF happy, the little one has been craving pancakes for a few months now.

Cody, Madeline and Flower having some "practice" cuddle time on the floor. Madeline was just so cute with the pups, she really had a handle on how to play with them by the end of the weekend.

Peek-a-Boo!

We had such a great time, and vowed to try and get together again next year at their home with our new little family member. I am glad we got to really hang out, and Cindy and I finally got a chance to really get to know one another.

The glucose test

Just a wee update on my diabetes testing... I went in this morning on an empty stomach. It is always a bad plan, when you are pregnant to have an empty stomach, for me, it usually causes alot of nausea. This morning was no different.
First, the lab tech took my blood, then gave me a 8 oz. bottle of orange flavored syrup to drink, it was like flat Crush soda gravy. Gross!
I then had to sit in the waiting room and have blood drawn every hour for 3 whole hours. It was a very long morning for me. I felt sick almost right up to the end. I will find out the results tomorrow, they sent my blood away for a lab to test. Please pray that everything is okay, I am not ready to give up my daily bedtime bowl of cereal or ice cream (depends on my mood).
I came directly home and made the most delicious PB&J on toast I ever tasted with a huge glass of milk.

The third trimester, 28 weeks!

I have officially reached the third trimester. Yeah! A couple of belly shots, my father just loves these.

My appointment this time around was not all good news. They found that in an initial screening I am not tolerating glucose the way I should be, and now I am at risk for gestational diabetes. To further explore this, I have to go in next week for a 3 hour glucose screening. It involves drinking a super-duper sugary drink on an empty stomach and taking blood every hour for three hours. I am a little bummed, but realize that I may be just fine and this worry is kind of pointless. I am going to just have to watch my sugar and carbs this week, and hope for the best.

I met a another new doctor, 4 down, 1 more to go. She was much nicer than the last woman I saw, younger and cheerful. She was pleased with my weight gain (now up 11 pound), blood pressure and the belly measurement was "right on the money". BF's heartrate measured out at 142 BPM, kind of low considering I chugged 8oz. of sugar 20 minutes before.

I am feeling kind of tired now, sleeping is becoming difficult. I am battling insomnia off and on, and I keep waking up on my back. I wake up in the middle of the night feeling like my spine is on fire. I started to make lists before I go to bed to help with the insomnia, so far so good.

We also started our Bradley classes, which will get us prepared for natural child birth. Cody thinks I am completely insane, but hopefully after we finish he will be as stoked as I am. They are a little silly, kinda hippy-dippy touchy feely, but we really haven't gotten into the meat of the method yet.

Easter Brunch

Before heading back to High Point on Easter Sunday, we had a family farewell for Easter Brunch. Margie and I planned out a delicious menu: Lamb Chops, Crabmeat Quiche, Fried Potatoes, Cinnamon Rolls, Soda Bread and Fruit Salad. And of course, Coffee and Mimosas.
We also made a homemade, from scratch Buttermilk Cake with Chocolate Frosting. The frosting took a little longer than normal to harden up, although our cake was lopsided it was indeed delicious.

Sammy grilling up the lamb chops!

The whole family! Minus a big sister, and two gorgeous nieces. Christy and Mike made it just in time to say goodbye, the poor dears were on a cruise all week.

Sushi Deli nite

Another obsession of ours... we all headed out to dinner for one last hurrah before I left. Unfortunately, Cody still wasn't home, he couldn't make it. The Newlyweds!

Laurel, me, Corky, Melissa, Mimi and Crazy Lees! I love this picture! I kinda got really sad at our goodbyes, I realized that Lisa and I may not see each other for awhile. She is moving back to San Fran, she has to go do like grown up things and get a masters.

Next time I am in town, and not toting a baby on board, I so want to check this place out ladies. Doesn't it sound fabulous?

More San Diego

While Cody was away, I had lots of free time to play. I had so much fun with my family and my girls. Margie, Scott and I headed down to the Prado to check out the Annie Leibovitz exhibit. It was amazing, she is best known for her celebrity portraits (i.e. preggo, naked Demi Moore) and there were a few of those displayed. However, I found that her more personal work and photojournalistic styles were incredibly moving. She covered Rwanda during the civil war and the pictures are so haunting. Also, included were family events... births and deaths. I highly suggest checking it out if it comes to a city near you. The Prado is in downtown San Diego at Balboa Park, it is a cluster of very beautiful buildings built to house the exhibits of one of the World's Fairs (not sure which one). The park itself is huge and also includes the land with the San Diego Zoo.
Mom and I posing for Scott, he was collecting lots of family photos to take with him to Japan. He left a few days ago, he plans to teach English to middle schoolers for a year. He is very excited, and we wish him all the luck.

A few of my girls and I at Melissa's new house, having our sanity-saving-pjs-and-wine-party! A tradition started shortly after we all started working together at Toddler School. I sure do miss those nights!

Laurel and Hailey (who turns one this week!).

I gave her the elephant she is holding for her birthday. In case you don't know, a hidden talent of mine is very realistic animal sounds, especially the elephant. We can't have baby Haze forgetting who Auntie Heather is, can we?