Miscellaneous Ramblings at 23 weeks

Sitting here on my couch looking out our windows at the beautiful mountains. I should be getting ready for the day and packing for our trip to Nebraska, but the couch is pretty comfy right now. I can't believe I'm over halfway through my pregnancy. The time has flown by! One thing I'm relishing right now is that it's mid-August, and I'm not having to prep a classroom for the new school year. It's a little odd, but I'm okay with it. I'm looking forward to subbing. It will be fun to have the experiences at different schools and see different classrooms.

Shelby can be very active sometimes. Steve got to feel his first real kicks the other night. He thought it was pretty cool. Luckily, the movements are not keeping me awake at night yet. We had a doctor's appointment on August 6. The heartbeat was at 140 bpm. We need to figure out when we're going to take childbirth classes and a tour of the hospital. The hospital we'll be at has a variety of dates offered; we just need to decide which ones work best for us.

A couple weeks ago, Steve and I went on a 3 hour hike on a trail just south of town. It was a pretty easy trail with some beautiful views. We were even lucky enough to see some bighorn sheep. They were right by the trail and were obviously used to having people around.

Steve and I are heading to Nebraska sometime this afternoon for the weekend. We'll be celebrating my mom's birthday, going to Platte River State Park (an old family favorite), spending time at the Cass County Fair, and going to a baby shower thrown by my aunts on my dad's side of the family. It will be a busy but fun weekend. It will also be Steve's first time in Nebraska in the summer. We'll see what he thinks of high humidity.

I made a car seat cover similar to this one this week. My top has a white background with orange, brown, blue, and green polka dots. The bottom layer is brown with cream polka dots. It was pretty easy to put together and will be great to use! I also bought some fabric for making Christmas stockings which is my next project. I'm hoping to get as much done for Christmas as I can before Shelby comes. I don't think I'll want to take a 2-week-old shopping for Christmas presents.

This is a picture of a sunset seen out of our living room windows sometime recently. Definitely an image of God at work in our world.

Shelby's First Pictures

We had an ultrasound today. It was fun getting to see our baby. He/she was moving all over the place. The technician said everything looked good. In my unbiased opinion, I think Shelby is pretty cute!

What a cute little baby!

Looks like Shelby's holding on to the umbilical cord

Profile of face

Leg and foot

20 weeks...

I finally have a belly shot to share. This picture was taken on July 11. I would have posted it sooner, but our camera was lost for a few days. Thanks to St. Anthony, I found yesterday! So here I am at 19 weeks...

We have our 20 week ultrasound tomorrow. We are looking forward to our first glance at Shelby.

I am still feeling good. I definitely get tired more and typically fall asleep on the couch at night before finally heading to bed.  A couple days ago was the first time someone I did not know asked when I was expecting. Yay! I actually look pregnant and not just a little chubby!

18 weeks...

Well, I still don't have the "belly shot" I have promised, but I will get one taken this weekend. I'm actually starting to look pregnant! My regular clothes aren't fitting quite right, so I need to go shopping for some new ones.

We had a doctor's appointment yesterday. The heartbeat was at 150 beats/minute. I've been feeling Shelby move every once in awhile. It's a pretty neat feeling. We will be scheduling an ultrasound in the next few weeks. We are not going to find out if Shelby is a boy or a girl. Steve is convinced it's a boy. I had one dream at the beginning of the pregnancy that it was a girl, but I really don't care. I just want a happy, healthy baby.

It was great having my family here last week. We did all kinds of fun things...the  Children's Museum, a hike in the mountains, playing in the backyard, swimming in a Goldfish pool (made by Pepperidge Farm, of course), going to a park, laughing, reading books, and so much more! I wanted to share some of my favorite pics from the week.

Clare and Jacob made sure to include Steve in the water fun!

I love living in Colorado! This site is only about 20 minutes from our house.

Clare and Jacob both love having books read to them. They enjoyed having a different selection to choose from at our house.

Accumulating baby stuff...

A baby needs a lot of stuff! I'm slowly working at gathering the needed items as cheaply as possible. I found a Boppy at a garage sale for $1 a couple weeks ago. Yesterday I brought home a crib, changing table, Pack & Play, and swing from one of the families I give guitar lessons to. She bought the crib and changing table used for their first daughter who is 13. Their other 3 kids used them as well, but they are still in great shape. AND she gave them to us for free! I also had a friend give me a play mat/grocery cart cover because she had received two. Having all this baby stuff around definitely helps it seem more real that we are having a baby!

I'm hoping to have a picture to post soon. I'm starting to get a bit of a "baby bump." It basically just looks like I've been eating too much junk (which I maybe have as well). We've been pretty busy the last couple weeks cleaning and organizing in preparation for my family to arrive today. There will be 10 people staying at our house for the next week! I'm looking forward to having them all here.

14 weeks and counting

I've made it through the first trimester. No more nausea...not feeling completely exhausted...things are going well. We heard Shelby's heartbeat again on June 7. It was 160 beats a minute this time. A friend claims that means Shelby is a boy because it's a higher heartrate. We'll find out in 6 months!

I finished cleaning up my classroom yesterday. Kinda strange knowing I won't be going back full-time, but it hasn't completely hit me yet. Right now our living room is full of the stuff I brought home...including about 270 books! One of my goals for today is to find a place for most of it and start trying to sell the rest of it on Craigslist and an Yahoo teacher's group. I will definitely miss teaching, but I'm looking forward to having this time to prepare for Shelby's arrival.

A little heartbeat

We heard Shelby's heartbeat for the first time on Monday, May 3. It was very exciting and relieving. It is wonderful knowing there really is a baby growing inside of me, and that all of these symptoms are not for nothing. I have been feeling pretty good overall. No major morning sickness...there's been a bit of nausea here and there, but it usually goes away once I have some food. The worst part is that I've been extremely tired. That sometimes makes it hard to get through the school day. But I'm at 10 weeks now, so hopefully, only 2 more weeks than a break.

I told the other teachers on Friday, May 7 that I will not be coming back next year. They are, of course, very excited. It is definitely a little bittersweet to know that I will not be teaching next year, but I am really looking forward to being able to stay home with my little one and also to have the time to prepare before he or she arrives!