Week 32

How is it possible that we're now at the 32 week mark!?  It is hard to believe that we are likely going to be parents NEXT MONTH. (I say "likely" because I realize he might be late and actually born in June.)

Reality is really starting to set in!

As the sign says, it's time to bust out the umbrella because this weekend's forecast is full of baby showers!!

(And true to the phrase, we are getting April showers for real, too.) Louis V is a lucky boy to have an entire weekend devoted to him, can't wait! April showers bring May babies!! :)
 

I had the absolute pleasure of spending an afternoon with one of Ian's co-workers, who also happens to be a phenomenal photographer, for a maternity photo session. It was a Valentine's Day gift from Ian, so great! This was probably the most fun photo session I've ever done because I got to eat lots of cookie cake before it and then spent the entire time sticking my belly out as far as it would go, you know, as opposed to trying to suck it in like I normally would. ;) It's been less than a week since we did the photos and she's already shared a ton. She is THE best! JK Photography if anyone is looking for great photos and a good laugh (she's hilarious). 

 LOVE, LOVE, LOVE them all. Jenna rocks.

Unfortunately, I also have some very sad news to report this week: the Belby zoo is losing a loved member on Friday. Wrigley has been battling illness since last summer and, unfortunately, chronic pancreatitis has gotten the best of him. He battled through some serious liver failure, the cause of which may have been the pancreatitis, we won't really ever know, and has since fought the pancreatitis.

Since it all started, he's spent a week in the hospital:

 

Had a feeding tube through his neck:

Was subjected to pokes, prods, pricks, x-rays, tests, meds and steroids:

No one can argue, he put up one heck of a fight!

 

 He started having issues again recently and we had to make the tough decision to send him over the rainbow bridge. We take him in on Friday and I'm already dreading it with every bone in my body. I will forever cherish the 9 years of memories he's given me and will take solace in knowing he'll be reunited with his brother, Shelby, as they watch over the zoo from the rainbow bridge.

 As you can probably tell from my posts, I love my pets with all of my heart and soul, so this is very tough on me. I look forward to surrounding myself with friends and family for my baby showers this weekend, but my sweet Wriggles will be on my mind, no doubt. He has been an awesome companion, a super snuggle buddy and just an overall great cat. If only they could all live forever...

The best cuddler in town:

 

 

 

Such a handsome fella:

 

Berta is sad, too:

 Always helping at the computer:

 

Doing his best baby impression for dad:

Never says no to a smooch from mom:

 

I will forever love this face.

We love you, Wriggle-man, and always will.

 

And I know you'll be watching over us!

BONUS PHOTOS, Jenna really came through for me here
(before we even knew how special these photos would end up being):

 

Bittersweet.

 

 

Time to dry my tears and finish up with the 8-MONTH Q&A:

How far along: 32 weeks

Baby is the size of a: Squash. Louis V is weighing up to 3.8 pounds and is up 16.7 inches long (if he's average, that is) and is taking up a lot of space in his uterus home! He now has toenails, fingernails and real hair (or at least respectable peach fuzz). He's getting bigger by the day -- in fact, he will gain a third to half of his birth weight during these last 7 weeks!

Weight gain: Doctor's appointment is this morning, I'm going to guess I've added 2 more pounds to the frame. *UPDATE* - NO weight gain!!!!
As they say, there's a first time for everything. ;)

Maternity clothes:  Same story, but the bump is DEFINITELY bigger.

Stretch marks: No apparent stretch marks!

Belly button in or out: Status remains the same, it's in but for the portion where it was pierced.

Sleep: Sleeping well, unless you count Monday when I woke up at 2:45 AM and never went back to sleep. Great timing since we had our first childbirth class Monday night from 6-9PM...nothing like a 19-hour day!

Best moment this week: Taking maternity photos with the amazing Jenna Krebs!!

Worst moment this week: Will be Friday when we say goodbye to our sweet man, Wrigley. :(

Miss anything: Wrigley already.;(

Movement: He's definitely the life of the party in my belly. He is very active during the morning at work, I sit at my desk and see my belly bouncing around from his kicks, rolls and jabs. His other favorite time to show off his moves is when he should be sleeping, aka 2 AM.

Cravings: Serious pineapple/citrus smoothie craving.

Queasy or sick: Nope, feeling pretty dang good.  
Baby items of the week: Shower gifts are rolling in, so fun!

Looking forward to: My sis-in-law and niece getting to town tomorrow from Vegas and all the baby shower festivities with family and friends this weekend!!! It'll be a very welcome distraction to be celebrating the new life we're bringing into the world. And, of course, I love getting to see family and friends from both near and far. :)

Week 31

We've arrived at Week 31 which means the weekly countdown to parenthood is now in SINGLE DIGITS!!

 CRAZY!!

As I told you last week, we had our 3D ultrasound appointment last Thursday. It was...interesting. Louis V did not want to cooperate AT ALL. He totally had his face smashed against the placenta and put the cord between himself and the wand to further obstruct our view of his little mug. We tried lots of rolling around, prodding, shaking of the belly, etc., but we didn't have much luck convincing him to move.

Finally, a second ultrasound tech came in and maneuvered him around so we could get a look at his face.

Slightly frightening, but also pretty awesome to see our little man growing and living inside of me. Not gonna lie though, he kinda reminded me of Gollum and I really hope that isn't still true when he's born. ;)

Next up on the social calendar was a friend's baby shower. It was a bumptastic event!

The bump crew was in full effect -- Wendi is due in August (with twins!), the showered mama-to-be, Amy, is due in June, I'm due a week before her in May, Jess is due in August with a baby girl and Abby is due in August! Not pictured are two other bump crew attendees, both of whom are due in May. We are quite the reproduction crew! :)

Ian and I celebrated selling our house with a yummy dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, Red Lantern, and I got this oh-so-perfect fortune at the end:

We also spent time working on design and finish ideas for the new house, or at least we tried to, but Wrigley felt that the only possible spot for him to lay was on top of the plans and in front of the computer...what a good helper. 

He also assisted with watching TV.

And served as a lap warmer at dinner time.

(In our house, you never dine alone!)

And, like the rest of us, voiced his displeasure about the cold and snow!!

Spring is here?!

Guess not, back to hibernating.

Then, when more snow came, Berta really gave up and refused to face the day. Izzy was very concerned.

She was also concerned that Ian's neck might get cold while watching a movie in bed, so she sprawled her fat self out to keep him warm. 

(She has no respect for personal space.)

And that's a wrap for our week of hanging out!
(Literally, if you're Kip. Berta is wondering when we adopted a monkey.) 

Answers to the weekly questions:

How far along: 31 weeks

Baby is the size of a: Pineapple, yum! He's now measuring up to 16.7 inches long and weighs up to 3.8 pounds (about the same weight of pineapple his dad can consume in one sitting). Louis V is going through major brain, nerve and eye development this week...and all five of his senses are in working order! Also, his bones are hardening at this stage (except his skull, thank goodness). And just like with the last few weeks, he's continuing to get smarter.
So, of course, he had to have this:

Weight gain: I hit 30lbs at my appointment last week, wonderful. 

Maternity clothes:  No new maternity purchases...fingers crossed I can continue to do the mix-and-match thing for the remaining 9 weeks!  

Stretch marks: Belly is still clear of these.

Belly button in or out: A spot from my belly button piercing sticks out a little, but the actual button is still in...and Ian likes to push it. :)

Sleep: I feel like I'm going to curse myself by answering this so positively, but sleep is still going very well. We've been going to bed earlier again, but seeing as everyone keeps saying, "Get your sleep now!", we're not feeling too guilty about lights out at 8:45PM. ;)

Best moment this week: Officially signing on the dotted line of the offer for our house! And learning that my incredibly wonderful parents are going to house us in the meantime so that we don't have to live in a van down by the river. (To be fair, Ian's parents are also incredibly wonderful and generously offered to let us stay with them as well. I just couldn't turn down the offer of having my own mother's helpful hands under the same roof as I learn the ropes of motherhood.) I have a feeling we'll be spending lots of time at both grandparents' houses since we won't have one of our own! 

Worst moment this week: Old Man Winter continuing to show his ugly face--it snowed on Tuesday and we had near record lows on Wednesday. I'm really starting to believe that it's going to be cold forever.

Miss anything: Rolling over in bed without being winded.

Movement: Louis V is one squirmy wormy these days! Unfortunately, he thinks the best time to dance and party is in the middle of the night (that's when he busts out his best moves), so I'm hoping he gets straightened out when he arrives...middle of the night dance parties are long in the past for this girl!

Cravings: Woke up this morning seriously craving a citrusy smoothie. (Maybe the result of the pineapple baby in my belly?) Why can't I live in a place with a Tropical Smoothie store!?! Really tempted to hop a plane to Vegas and get 10 of them. 

Queasy or sick: Feeling pretty good this week, the acid reflux is MIA (knock on wood) and I hope it stays that way!  
Baby items of the week: We got our first shower gift in the mail -- fabulous swaddle blankets!! I'm so excited. :) Big thanks to Uncle Steve and Aunt Ann for spoiling LV!

Looking forward to: Maternity photos this weekend!! I'm hoping it doesn't snow...and that I can find something to wear.

Week 30

I'm definitely not sad to see Week 29 go, glad I survived and am onto Week 30!

As I amended last week's post to mention, I wasn't feeling so hot as the calendar turned to Week 29. What I thought was just blah-ickyness thanks to pregnancy actually turned out to be the oh-so-ugly stomach flu.

*Obviously this is not me, but this very well could've been taken at my house.*

I think it's safe to say that everyone has suffered from the flu's wrath at some point in their life, so you all know how brutal it is. I think it's also safe to say that it's SO MUCH WORSE when you are housing a baby in your midsection. The bump gets in the way as you're trying to find that one position that allows you a teeny bit of comfort, you don't fit on the bathroom floor as easily as you once did, your legs cramp as you are giving back the Gatorade you thought it was safe to drink...you get the picture. I'll welcome labor over the stomach flu any day (although, I reserve the right to change my mind after I actually experience labor). It knocked me out for Thursday and Friday, but Ian and my mom were fortunate enough to not get it after helping take care of me during those rough days. Thankful for that and thankful for them!

Once I was finally able to eat and drink without paying the consequences, I decided I needed to get out of the house for some fresh air, so I dragged Barbie Doll out of bed Saturday morning to register as my walking buddy for the St. Patrick's Day 5K!

Russell Construction was the title sponsor (and generously paid all employees' admission fees), so I really wanted to be there to support the event. I wasn't able to meet my goal of 30 minutes, but starting and finishing the race was considered a success in my book given the fact that I'd eaten only toast for 48 hrs.

Lucky for Wendy, she didn't have to run with me anymore (prior to the flu, she agreed to run with me even though the bump would slow her down), and she went on to finish 6th in our age division! We gave her mad props for the stellar run, but not so much for her attire.

 It was a great time...and I promptly went back to the couch to rest when it was over.

I looked kind of like this:

Of course, it wouldn't be St. Patrick's Day without some corned beef and cabbage, so we headed to my parents' house for our annual CBC dinner.

And my mom surprised me with an extra special treat...cookie cake!!

I don't really think that walking a 5K at a pretty leisurely pace earned me a cookie cake, but who am I to argue with my mama!? The best part is that she ordered it fully frosted (the ONLY way cookie cake should be ordered), and when she got there to pick it up, they hadn't done it that way. So, she had them frost a new one for her so as to comply with my preference. :) Now that's what you call an AWESOME mom. Hopefully I can earn that title someday, too!

Now that I'm healthy and feeling better, I had to prove to myself that I could've reached my goal for the race if I hadn't gotten sick. Treadmill 5K yesterday in 29:31, not too shabby for being 71 days away from my due date!

Now onto house news...we've accepted an offer!! We ended up with two interested parties and the bidding war led to one winner. We're excited to finally be moving (literally) forward with the sale and onto the new house!

Fingers are crossed that we can figure out the timing of closing, rental, etc. so that our baby doesn't have to live the first months of his life in a van down by the river. ;)

I ended up meeting the woman whose offer we accepted, and in addition to raving about our house and décor, she also raved about our little Kipster.

Everyone loves this cat, I wasn't going to be surprised if she somehow worked him into the offer for the house! ;)

 (He is priceless, and therefore, not for sale.)

 Weird that no one wants Izzy, our problem cat-child:

While our week started on a sour note, it ended quite sweet--selling our house, getting to see our little man in 3D on the big screen (post with photos to come!) and letting our ears flap in the wind like we didn't have a care in the world...

Berta sure enjoyed her time in the car, so much so that she left me a reminder on my window. Lovely.

In conclusion, we're 30 weeks along and have only 10 short weeks to go...

you've cat to be kitten me right meow!!

 Q&A for the Dirty 30:

How far along: 30 weeks

Baby is the size of a: Cucumber or cabbage (timely for St Patrick's Day). He's between 15.2 and 16.7 inches long and weighs anywhere from 2.5 to 3.8 pounds. His skin is getting smoother and his brain is getting wrinklier! And he's now strong enough to grasp a finger...like the one he'll have me wrapped around from Day 1. :)

Weight gain: I'll find out this afternoon. I'm going to guess 30lbs at this point. 

Maternity clothes:  It's pretty much the same story here, mixing and matching long, looser tops and maternity leggings, work pants and jeans.

Stretch marks: No marks still!

Belly button in or out: It's still hanging on as an inny!

Sleep: It's strange, but I'm sleeping better now than I was before. Less bathroom trips and sounder sleep, don't think that's the norm! Dreams are getting more vivid again though.

Best moment this week: SELLING OUR HOUSE! 

Worst moment this week: Two words: stomach flu.

Miss anything: Being able to put on socks easily.

Movement: Yep, lots of it! It's fun to put things on my belly and watch them move and jump around from his kicks. :)

Cravings: My afternoon treat of Diet Coke/Diet Mountain Dew.

Queasy or sick: Heartburn and acid reflux, UGH.  
Baby items of the week: I think we finally found a crib online, so that was exciting!

Looking forward to: The 3D ultrasound we're heading to shortly!!