36 Weeks

We have made it to 36 weeks today. Crazy to think that any time now something could happen! Claire seems to be having lots of fun inside still, moving lots and pushing her extremities out at me often. We love to sit and watch her move...she is most active in the evenings. I think she is starting to work her way down because I feel more pressure on my bladder now. We have our doctor appt tomorrow and will find out if she is head down or not. If she is not head down, Jeff might have to perform his "magic aversion" again! He has been making me practice our breathing techniques a few times and remembers what TACO means (from prenatal class with the MN girls) so he is set! Today he bought the first pack of diapers and as you can see in the picture, he is a proud daddy-to-be! It will be so fun to watch him with Claire when she comes. I have a feeling she will have him wrapped around her pinkie from the first minute he meets her. We are very excited for what lies ahead in these upcoming weeks. Please keep us in your prayers as we go through these next few weeks...pray for an easy labor and a healthy baby girl. oh and that Sheila waits till hockey playoffs are done!

35 weeks and growing fast!

Here we are at 35 weeks today. I am still loving being pregnant and am really enjoying watching and feeling Claire move around. I have been starting to have some Braxton Hicks contractions, usually toward the last few hours of work after being on my feet all day. Hopefully they are doing something. The nice part is they don't hurt....I am enjoying that! We have most things already lined up for the trip to the hospital. The nice part is that if we forget anything, we live only 2 blocks away! It is crazy to think that Claire could arrive anytime now. I am hoping to go into labor on my own so I can stay home for as long as possible. We will see. Only God knows the day and time.

We have gotten a break from the heat for the past 2 days...highs only in the mid 80's which is a nice relief. It feels so good to have the windows open and be able to walk outside. I hear that today the high in MN was 94 degrees! Mom and Dad said it is their practice run with the heat before they come down to help once Claire is born!

As you can see from the pictures, I have really started making huge changes in growth these past few weeks. I have a feeling all the ice cream I have eaten is catching up to me now! I am trying to prepare myself for a long labor and a big baby!

Kids say the funniest things!

I wanted to share two things I have heard in the past few weeks from kids...hope you get a kick out of them like we did! I teach preschool for one of our church services and the kids are 2 and 3 years old. One of them asked me the other week "why are you so fat?". It was pretty funny and he definitely caught me off guard! Then I was sitting out by the pool the other day (yes, I was in the shade) and two girls walked by, both about the age of 8. One said "that looks like it hurts" and her friend asked "what does?". She points to my belly. I just had to start laughing! Kids are just so funny!

Hope y'all are doing well and are enjoying finally having some warmer weather. We are getting a break from the heat today with the temp right now at 79 degrees. It is very nice to have the windows open and the a/c off for a bit. I know Presley is definitely liking the cooler weather too.

Claire is definitely growing every day and she likes to stick out her body parts often. My belly takes on weird shapes lots and we have fun trying to guess which body part she is sticking out. The books I have been reading say that by now the baby should have a definite pattern for sleep and wake cycles, being most active at a certain time of the day. Well...I have to say on my days off when I am taking it easy and laying around, we have a very, very active child! She is quite the mover, probably making up for all the sleep she gets on the days when I am at work and busy. It will be interesting to see how well she sleeps when she is born. Here is a picture of her little "nursery" corner Mom and Dad helped us get set up when they were here to visit in February.

34 weeks and going strong

Well, we have made it to 34 weeks today. I still cannot believe how fast this pregnancy is going. Overall, I have absolutely nothing to complain about. I have been lucky to remain comfortable for the most part. I do feel like Claire has started to work her way down a bit this past week, feeling more movements lower and a bit more pressure. She wakes me up about every 2 hours at night to empty my bladder...I am guessing she is telling me she needs more room as my bladder fills up! I have started to slow down a bit at work but still working full time. The weather down here is getting warmer every day. We average low 90's now during the day and high 70's to low 80's at night. With the humidity going up 3 flights of stairs multiple times per day can get challenging but I know it will be harder in the coming weeks. Not much else happening here. We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of our new addition. Hope you enjoy the pictures of our growing baby!

Mother's Day

It has been over a year since we lost Nadine, but yet it feels like only days ago. I sometimes have a difficult time remembering what I did last week but I can clearly remember the way the moon was shining off the clouds as we flew the red-eye (both literally and figuratively) from Minnesota to Houston. You can't always hug your mom on mother's day but if you can, you better do so tightly. We miss you and can't wait till august when we can bring claire to see her nanny.

33 weeks already

Here we are...33 weeks and growing, growing, growing! I cannot believe how much bigger I have gotten in the past week...guess I need to lay off the ice cream! Things have been going well this past week. Claire is moving so much and sometimes it is even a bit uncomfortable. She likes to stick out her body parts and push against my ever growing belly...she is probably trying to stretch out a bit and quickly finds there is no room to do so. According to our book on pregnancy, Claire should weigh about 4 pounds now and be about 17 inches long. It is so crazy to me to think about that much baby fitting into my abdomen! God sure does amazing things!