Baby's First Christmas

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. It's been extra special for us this year since it was Ian's very first Christmas. He took his very first road trip and we headed over the river and through the woods (or at least over the river and down I/65) to Aba's (Kirk's mom's) house on Christmas Eve to spend a few days with his family. Somehow we managed to, as Kirk put it, stuff 10 lbs of stuff in a 5 lb space and off we headed. It's amazing just how much stuff you need to take on a trip with you when you have an itty bitty baby (swing, bouncy seat, diapers, wipes, clothes, the list goes on and on). Ian did great on both the trip there and back and slept the whole hour and a half, we just made sure to feed him and put him into a "milk coma" prior to loading him into the car. Works like a charm every time. Car in motion + full belly = sleeping/happy baby.

We had lots of fun catching up with family, meeting our new niece Marlee Sue, and showing off/passing around both babies. It's fun to think about the coming years and getting to see these two grow up together. I had so much fun with my cousins through the years growing up and hope Ian and Marlee Sue are able to have the same experience. A trip to Grandma's is definitely more fun when you have someone around your own age to play with when the adults get boring!

Even though Ian doesn't know it he was spoiled rotten and got lots of cool things this year: books, toys, clothes, and some other necessities and odds and ends. He really is a lucky little guy to have so many people who love him. We still have one more Christmas to go with my family and I can only imagine he will continue to rack up. I also racked up as I got one of the coolest gifts EVER from Kirk this year my very first, very own, laptop, woohoo!!! It's a beautiful new Dell in midnight blue. I'm so excited and can't wait to get it. No more fighting with Kirk over who gets to use the computer!!

So far it's been a fun holiday season as we've had our little boy here to spend it with. Having him here with us is by far the best gift we could recieve and we are so excited to think about the coming years of experiencing the magic of Christmas and the holidays through his eyes.

The Williams Family Christmas tree

Christmas Eve

Family Photo

Three Weeks old

Baby Ian is three weeks old today. I can't believe how quickly the time is passing now that we have him. Next week he will be one whole month old. It's amazing how much he's already changed in the few weeks since he's been born. Last week we had his two week check with the pediatrician and he was 8lbs, 9oz and 22 inches long. His favorite things to do these days it seems are eat and sleep of course. Kirk and I are most enjoying his wakeful periods when he is wide eyed and alert and just seems to be hanging out and taking it all in. I feel like I am finally starting to get the hang of this mommy thing now and we are starting to get in somewhat of a routine and things definitely don't feel as stressful now as they did a couple of weeks ago. Kirk headed back to work today but my mom is spending the week with us to help out so we don't officially go it alone until next week so that will be a whole new experience for us. Until then we're enjoying being pampered.

We had a nice relaxing Thanksgiving this year and Ian got to take his first trip to his Grandma and Grandpa Tutten's house where he spent the evening being passed from one set of arms to the other. The only time he got put down all night long was when we had to put him in the car seat to go home. Kirk and I have so much to be thankful for this year: a nice home, great jobs, loving family with brand new niece who we can finally meet in a few weeks, wonderful friends, and most of all our sweet baby boy. We are also thankful for all the help we have had since we have brought little Ian home. We have had many friends and family stop by and bring us meals, offer advice, encouragement and support and we can't thank everyone enough for all that they have done for us. We feel very blessed to have so many wonderful people in our lives. As Kirk always says "it takes a village" and we feel very lucky to have one.

Pictures from this past week:
Grandpa giving Ian one of many of his first Thanksgiving dinners:

Q.T with Aunt Katie

Hangin' with Uncle Chris

How he spent most of Thanksgiving

Napping with Mommy

Scrub a Dub Dub Ian's First time in the Tub

Ian's first tub bath:

We took advantage of Ian's wide awake period this afternoon and decided to give him his fist official tub bath and he loved it!! Not one peep out of him until we took him out of the tub. Of course the bath was not without incident. First order of business once we put him in the tub? To pee in the clean bath water, on the bathroom counter including the cute decorative clock, and mirror. Surprised momma didn't see that one coming! After the bath I had my sweet baby all nice and clean and smelling good with a nice clean diaper, clean cute outfit, lotion applied, and set to go. Next order of business? Load up our clean diaper. Sweet. Not only did we load up our clean diaper but we also decided to go on our changing pad cover and nice clean outfit before momma could get the new clean diaper on. I think he was having fun with me at this point. Another change of outfit later and he was down for the count. What a night!!

Down for the count after our "eventful evening":

One week old today

Our sweet baby boy is one whole week old today. I have to admit that this makes me a little sad as it seems that time is now flying by. If only I could do something to slow things down..... We got home from the hospital last Wednesday and luckily for me both my mom and mother in law were here to see us through it. Suzanne was such a big help preparing us meals, getting us groceries, and doing some things around the house. We were exhausted from our stay in the hospital and appreciated all the help we could get. Wednesday night and Thursday were definitely trying to say the least. Ian was fussy since he was hungry and we were having breastfeeding issues. I was a mess and luckily for me as soon as I had a crying conversation with my mom she and my dad came to the rescue with baby assistance and dinner! I swear those first couple of days home I felt like the new baby trying to care for the new baby. Things are better now though. My biggest challenge so far has been, believe it or not, with breastfeeding. We are trying to hang in there and stick it out but it has definitely been trying at times. I now see why so many women give up on the whole breastfeeding thing within the first couple of weeks. I don't know what women did back in the days of no breast pumps or lactation consultants.

Kirk has been a tremendous help this past week and I am so grateful for the time he has been able to take off work to spend time with the new baby/ look after and help me. He has been wonderful with Ian and I love to see them together. His patience with him has truly amazed me. I don't know how I would have kept my sanity or made it without him and again this whole experience has made me wonder just how single parents do it.

Here are some pictures from Ian's first week of life.

Meeting mommy for the first time:

One week ago today....

I'm an aunt again!! Congratulations to Suellen and Todd on the arrival of their baby girl this Saturday. We can't wait to meet and hold our new niece and to introduce you to your new nephew. Wild that the cousins will have birthdays 5 whole days apart!! Gotta love those November babies.

Thinking back to last week I wanted to post Ian's birth story while it's still fresh on my mind. Last I posted before Ian's arrival Kirk and I were awaiting our scheduled induction. Little did we know that Ian would have other plans. He still arrived on Monday 11/10 as had been set up but turns out that no induction was necessary. Sunday morning 11/9 I woke up around 5:45 am with lower back and abdominal pains. They weren't terrible just noticeable. I got up, piddled around, and then headed back to bed where I noticed the pains were coming somewhat frequently. I went back to sleep but woke up each time I had a pain to see how far apart they were. Between 8-9 am we were up to 5 minutes apart for an hour. At this point I started to wonder if we would have to head to the hospital that morning. I got up and did a few things and noticed that the pains were starting to come less frequently and not regularly anymore and I was convinced that something was definitely going on but we would probably still be heading to the hospital the next morning as scheduled. Kirk and I had planned to go to the mall and do some last minute errands but I decided I didn't really feel up to it and started doing laundry and household chores like a mad woman. Fast forward to Sunday afternoon with most of the laundry and chores now done I was convinced that I felt better and was now ready to head to the mall so off we went to Williams Somoma. We then went to Zaxby's for what would be our last dinner as a childless couple, fancy I know, and headed home to watch a movie and spend one last quiet night before our induction. All throughout the movie I noticed the aches and pains I had been having off and on all day were now coming rather frequently. At this point I started logging all of the times I would feel something and noted that while they were frequent they were not coming at regular intervals. At this point it was late so I headed upstairs to get ready for bed. As time passed I noticed I was getting a bit more uncomfortable. I started paying attention to the times again and noted that from 10-10:30 I was consistently noticing something every 5 minutes. It was at this point I told Kirk we needed to start writing down times. Over the next hour the pains were consistently 5 minutes apart for an and while I was getting a bit more uncomfortable I still wasn't convinced that we should head to the hospital, after all we were going to be there at 6 am the next morning anyway and I was determined to just wait it out. I got into the bath for awhile which was fabulous and really helped me to relax then decided it was time to head to bed since we would need to be up really early the next morning for our induction. I headed to bed and quickly determined that rest was so not happening for me that night and the pains were now coming rather predictably anywhere from 3-5 minutes apart, it was at this time Kirk and I decided that maybe we should just go ahead and get to the hospital, I was still worried that I was going in too soon but we rationalized that we were going to have to be there in a few hours anyway so off we went.

We arrived at the hospital between 12 and 1:00 am. At this point I was uncomfortable when a contraction would hit but was able to easily breathe through it, as long as I could stand up during the pains I was okay. Sitting during a contraction at this point was just not super pleasant. Once we got to the hospital they got us back to an L&D room rather quickly and hooked me up to monitors for contractions and the baby's heart rate. Contractions were coming every three minutes at this point and I was 5-6 centimeters. This is when I realized that perhaps it was a good thing we went ahead and arrived at the hospital when we did. I did after all want the epidural and had I waited much longer to get to the hospital I may have found myself in the situation of not being able to get one. My L&D nurse was great and worked me up quickly and pretty much immediately got me hooked up with an epidural which was fabulous. After the epidural nothing much happened until my OB/GYN came in around 7/8am, broke my water, and started me on pitocin to get the contractions going again. This was the downside of the epidural as it noticeably slowed down my labor. Finally around 11:30ish my nurse came in and informed me it was time to push and at 12:37 pm little Ian arrived. After Ian's arrival my Ob GYN informed me that Ian's cord was wrapped around his neck once and he had a "true knot" in his umbilical cord which luckily wasn't tight and never caused his heart rate to drop during his delivery. He also presented Occiput Posterior, meaning face up. Our Dr. told us that many times when a baby presents this way it winds up having to be delivered via C section so, all told seems that we were very lucky to have had such a good delivery. As someone who was absolutely terrified of labor I was pleasantly surprised that every bit of it was very manageable. I had heard all of the horror stories during my pregnancy and all the details of women being in horrible pain but can honestly say that this was not my experience at all. Yes the contractions hurt but they were only for a short period of time and once they were over I was okay. Once I got the epidural there was absolutely no pain. I could still feel some contractions but nothing I would call painful. I had the most fabulous labor and delivery nurses who really put me at ease and best of all my regular OB/GYN was able to deliver Ian.

It's surreal to think that just a week ago today Kirk and I experienced one of the most amazing moments of our lives when we welcomed our son. At long last he is here and we are just trying to take it all in and enjoy every minute we can with our sweet little baby. My days are now filled with changing diapers and feedings around the clock and while it is exhausting and overwhelming at times when you are lying there cuddling your sweet baby against your chest and watching him sleep you know that it is all worth it.....

He's arrived!!

Our sweet baby boy Ian Malcolm Williams arrived on Monday 11/10 at 12:37pm weighing in at 8 lbs 2 ounces and 21 inches long. We are now back at home and attempting to get all settled in. So far motherhood has been a challenging, exhausting, and amazing experience. We are very much in love with our little one and still can't believe that he's finally here!


"Before you were concieved I wanted you. Before you were born I loved you. Before you were here and hour I would die for you. This is the miracle of Love" Maureen Hawkins

4 More days

Only four days max until Baby Williams will arrive!! Had my trial run at L&D today for my NST. Baby's HR was in the 130's and all looks well so we will continue to hang in there until Monday. The test provided me with enough peaceful time to reflect that apparently I drifted off and didn't wake up until the nurse came back in the room to tell me I could go. Too bad we can't get a nap break at work everyday, I could definitely get used to that. It was strange being on the opposite end of the spectrum today as I was the one wearing the hospital name band and lying in the bed hooked up to a machine. Being a patient is going to be a whole new kind of interesting experience for me, perhaps it will make me better at my job. Everyone at work is shocked beyond belief that I'm still there as they were convinced I would deliver early. I am basically the only nurse who's worked there and carried full term. They have all informed me that apparently my child is going to be very stubborn. Gee, wonder where he would get that from......

40 weeks!!

Happy Due date to us! That's right today I am officially 4o weeks pregnant. How did I celebrate this momentous occasion one might ask. Why, by going to work as usual of course. I have to admit at this point it's getting downright amusing to answer the question when is your baby due? When I answer "today" I can tell by the look on the other person's face that they now view me as nothing more than a ticking time bomb.

Obviously there will be no baby today. Since our due date is about to be behind us I will now start a new countdown: T minus 5 days and counting until we meet our baby boy! Two work days down and only two more to go until I start my new 12 week job of stay at home mom, can't wait!

Happy Election Day!!

Voting today was surprisingly easy. Kirk and I walked in, went right up to the counter, voted, and were back in the car leaving the polling place all within about 10 minutes maximum. Not too shabby considering we figured it would be an hour wait just to vote since this is such a historic election and all. I don't know if we just really lucked out or if the people with last names at the end of the alphabet just weren't voting but we were very pleasantly surprised. This is the one thing I wanted to do before the baby arrived so he now has my permission to show up whenever he wants!! I hope everyone else was able to get out and vote today. If an almost 40 weeks pregnant lady can make it out anyone can, no excuses people. Don't know about the rest of you but I am just so glad that the election mania will be winding down soon. Things I am looking forward to the most now that this election is almost over: one by one the campaign signs will start coming down, the Newsweek magazines might finally have something on the cover besides Election 08' stuff, No more automated phone calls encouraging you to elect whatever candidate they're calling about, and last but not least no more campaign ad commercials with candidates smearing each other. I have decided Baby W is waiting until after the election to arrive so he can prepare himself for the kind of world he will be born into. :)

Kirk and I went to our last prenatal appointment today. We are at a standstill as No change has occurred since we last went 5 days ago. Something tells me our little boy will not be showing up for his due date. I'm actually expecting to go all the way until Monday when our induction is scheduled to take place. I'm a little disappointed as I was hoping to avoid the whole induction/pitocin thing but have to admit that within the last few days I have officially entered that period everyone told me would come where I am just ready to get this kid out and quite frankly will be fine with whatever method it takes to do just that. We have been instructed to show up to labor and delivery at 6:00 am on Monday morning 11/10 for the induction. I will also be making a trial run to L&D this Thursday as I have been ordered to go for a Non Stress Test just to make sure everything is good with the baby's heart rate. The Dr wants this done just as a precaution to make sure it will be okay to wait until Monday to deliver him. Everything looked great today at our appointment so we just continue to wait...... As usual we'll keep everyone posted as things unfold.

Induction date set

Only 6 days left until our due date! I can't believe we're so close now. All checked out well at our 39 week appointment today. We have some slight progress since the last appointment (2 and 80%) and are just continuing to wait it out at this point. Our next appointment is scheduled for next Tuesday 11/4 (election day). If we don't have a baby next week then we will be going to the hospital on Monday 11/10 for an induction. (We'll get more information on that at our appointment next week provided we make it.) That gives us a maximum of only One and a half weeks until we meet our little guy!! That also gives me a maximum of only one more week at work until I'm out for 12 weeks of maternity leave!! I am so excited to get to spend the holidays at home with the new baby this year and not having to worry about work for a few months so we can have that time to get to know each other. In the meantime I'll be taking advantage of the little bit of time we have left to get things ready, pamper myself, and spend some QT with Kirk. I started the pampering process today with a fresh new haircut and fully intend to treat myself to a pedicure and some sleep this weekend. Time to squeeze in all the little luxuries we can before baby boy arrives.

The Home Stretch

38 week 3 days belly pics.

Only 10 days left until the presidential election.......

and only 11 days left now until Baby W is due to arrive! I can't believe the time is here already. On one hand it seems like I have been pregnant for FOREVER and on the other hand it seems like it's flown by. To me this is by far the most tedious part of the whole 40ish weeks of pregnancy. It's strange to think that our baby could be born either any day now or his arrival could still wind up being a few weeks away. It's hard to be patient as I am more than ready to meet our new addition though I keep reminding myself to just enjoy this time as our little guy is easy to take care of right now. Something tells me that once he gets here it won't be quite as peaceful around the house. The wait is killer though and it's getting harder to be patient as our due date rapidly approaches. At 38 weeks and some change I'm feeling huge and exhausted. The exhaustion is really my biggest complaint these days as it's getting harder and harder to make it through the work day much less the work week. Thank goodness for the weekends! Our next appointment is set for this Thursday 10/30 so we continue to wait....... Hopefully it won't be too much longer.

October or November??

Only three weeks to go until Baby Williams is due so we are now officially playing the waiting game and biding our time until he decides to make his big debut. Since I know that he could be born anytime between now and a week or two after our due date I've really been wondering lately just when his birthday will be. Will it be November or October? Will he be born before, after, or right around his due date. What do you guys think? Apparently there is a guessing pool of sorts going on at Kirk's work right now. Don't know why but it cracks me up to think of a bunch of grown men sitting around trying to guess Baby W's due date all so they can win a coveted bag of m&m's, or whatever the prize is, I say m&m's because apparently that was the going prize the time Kirk won one of these things. The girls at my work are convinced it will be a Halloween birthday. My guess is he'll be born sometime during the last week of October. Of course now that I'm saying this he'll probably be stubborn and be a week or two overdue. I sincerely hope it doesn't happen that way but I also know that I have absolutely no control over the situation. My mom is convinced that it will either be October 2oth or 31st since both of my brothers have decided to schedule their wisdom tooth removal for these dates and she will be busy shuttling them around town those days. I figure whenever it does happen it will be during the wee hours of the morning anyway, isn't that the way these things usually work?

We had our last appointment yesterday and things are continuing to progress right along. Here are the stats for those that want to know: 1cm dilated, 50% effaced and -2 station at 37 weeks. As we're leaving our appointment on Tuesday Kirk looks at me and says "ya know, I'm starting to think we're about to have a kid." So I guess at 37 weeks pregnant the reality of the situation is finally starting to kick in for my husband as D day is now in our not so distant future. I'm still feeling pretty well but do have to admit that I'm getting pretty tired these days and fantasize multiple times during my work days about going to my office and taking a nap. I feel huge, can't breathe and can't do anything around the house without my upper back aching so all that being said my feelings will not be hurt if this kiddo decides to arrive in a week or so. I don't even want to think about getting any bigger than I am right now! I've also been having some lower back aches/cramps lately that my doc says could be contractions. I haven't had anything really that I could tell was an abdominal contraction yet. Anyone else have this experience? Our next appointment is set for Monday 10/21 at just shy of 38 weeks.

In other news Kirk and I celebrated our 4 year anniversary last week. As most of you know we usually celebrate our anniversary by going on a trip. First year: Biltmore, second year: Outer banks, third year: Blue Ridge Georgia cabin, this year: trip to the hospital to bring back our very permanent souvenir. Since we're not really going on our usual trip Kirk went all out this year and got me THE most fabulous gift EVER. A beautiful, black, brand new Kate Spade purse and wallet. That's right he went to the Kate Spade store all by himself, told the sales girl about a purse his wife had seen three weeks ago that she loved and bought the most fabulous anniversary gift ever!!! How sweet is that?? It's hard to believe it's been 8 whole years since we first met and 4 years since we were married, time really does fly.

Slight Progress at 36 weeks

Today was our appointment with the Ob Gyn for our 36 week checkup. Imagine my surprise when the Dr. informed us that I am already making some progress. This is about how the exchange took place:

Dr. Wheeler: "Have you been having any contractions or been feeling like you've had anything going on?"
Me: "Nope I don't think so."
Dr. Wheeler: "The reason I ask is that it looks like you're already about 1 cm dilated."
Me: "EEEK!" or some other kind of gasping shocked sound.
Dr. Wheeler: "I still expect to see you next week though."

OMG!!!! I honestly don't even think I've had one single braxton hicks contraction yet. How could this be?? I know I could go on like this for weeks and it doesn't necessarily mean anything but this new information got me started thinking that this is really going to happen soon! The Dr. also informed us that it could really be anytime now and that if I did go into labor I'm so close to my due date that they wouldn't do anything at this point to try and stop it. All of this new information got me started thinking about all of the little things I need to do and loose ends I need to tie before the big day and suddenly it doesn't seem as far off as it did just 24 hrs ago. Last night as I was drifting off to sleep I had a quick moment of panic when I realized that today I would be 36 weeks and in just two weeks I would be officially full term. This thought was followed by the thought that the baby could possibly come in two weeks which was quickly followed by the thought OMG I'm not ready for him to come in two weeks. I've been telling myself that I'll probably be overdue so I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that the baby could actually come before our due date. Anything at this point is possible because like I was just telling Kirk tonight this kid will come when he's ready.

Everything looked good as usual at our appointment today and we are due to go back next Tuesday for another check up. Incidently today at my weight in I weighed the exact same thing I did two weeks ago at my last appointment. Absolutely no change and that's still four pounds less than what the nurse tried to stick me with last week. Interesting no??

I also had yet another party in my honor today as my coworkers decided to throw me a baby shower at the hospital. It was a lot of fun and we got a lot of cute stuff including a hand made baby blanket from one of my coworkers. I feel very loved as baby Williams has so many people who want to celebrate his upcoming arrival with us. I have never felt as pampered and spoiled in my life as I have felt these last couple of weeks. Thanks to our family, friends, coworkers, and mom's coworkers we have pretty much most of what we wanted/needed for the baby and we are now just waiting for his upcoming arrival.

Crazy Busy!!

34 Weeks!! Whoa Belly!!

Phew!!! Feels like the last two weeks have been a whirlwind of activity and something tells me that things aren't likely to slow down anytime soon!! First off let me start out by singing Kirk's praises as we just found out earlier this week that he got a promotion at work!!! Just had to put this out there as I am very proud of him and all of his hard work!!

As for these past couple of weeks, Kirk and I are finally finishing up the last of our parenting classes this week and then we will be certified to have this baby, which is a good thing since we don't have that much longer until he's due. Out of all the classes we've taken lately the parenting class seems to be the most useful of all of them. A couple of weeks ago Kirk must have been feeling inspired by our class on Baby care and decided to use poor Tobi cat as a practice baby and dressed him in one of the newborn onsies we have. It was hilarious though I felt bad for the poor cat but he was truly a good sport. This picture says it all. I think if he could talk he'd be saying "I hate you both".

Last week in our parenting class we talked about healthcare issues and the whole time I couldn't stop thinking about how lucky we will be to have a nurse on call 24/7 who will probably even make house calls if necessary, right mom ;P ? How sweet is that!! You can't beat that kind of service. During the last two weeks we've taken/ finished up most of our classes, lined up our pediatrician, and today I preregistered at the hospital at the suggestion of my ob at our last appointment this past week.

Also last weekend three of our best friends threw us THE most fabulous baby shower, also apparnetly known as "fertile valley 08'". (It has been brought to my attention recently that a certain member of my family is referring to the shower as this since there were so many children and pregnant women there!! How fun will it be to see our son grow up with all of these kiddos!!) We had a great turn out for the shower and feel so incredibly lucky to have so many wonderful friends and family to share this special time in our lives with. We got so many great things and I truly feel spoiled by how much people have done for us and the baby. After the baby shower Kirk and I had so much fun unloading/playing with all of our new toys, I mean new stuff for the baby. It's crazy how quickly the baby's room is filling up with stuff. We got so many diapers I don't think we'll need to actually buy any for months and I'm definitely stoked about that.!!!We also got our travel system/car seat stroller combo and pack n play (thanks mom and dad) and bouncer which Kirk promptly put together right after the shower without me even having to ask him to!! He also already put together our crib which came in this past week(thanks ABA and GrandDad!!) a couple of days after our shower of course and it looks fabulous!! Do you think Daddy is getting excited?? I'm so stoked about being able to finally start putting his room together. I still have a lot to do but it's all finally coming together. So, with all of this going on and then throw in work and just life in general and you can see how things might seem a little crazy around here. It's all good things though as we're trying to make sure we're as prepared as we can be for this baby's arrival, if there even is such a thing.

I still feel pretty well all things considered except for some occasional upper back pain, mostly if I stand on my feet too long. Also my son's kicks are geting very strong and he has a tendancy lately to jab me in the side with what I can only imagine is a foot. It's very interesting to say the least. Kirk has been having a lot of fun jabbing my belly and getting him to move all around. Funny how they can play like this even before he's born. Our next appointment will be October 8th for our 36 week check and then I'll start going every week. So far everything looks great except for the fact that they made me weight about three times this last appointment because I had "such a large jump". Yikes!!! I will say that when the doctor weighed me she got 4 pounds less than the nurse and then when I got home I got home on my scale I got 3 pounds less than the doctor so I'm going with freaky scale on this one, that's my story and I'm sticking to it anyway!! Let's hope that doesn't happen again as it was quite embarrassing. I only hope I can keep it from going out of control these last few weeks. Thank goodness I don't have much longer!

32 week update

32 week baby bump. Now ya see it.

Now ya don't.

32 weeks down only 8 ish or so to go! Everyone keeps telling me how I'm so close but I tell ya 8 weeks feels like forever away. We had our 32 week appointment today and I'm happy to report that as suspected it was very uneventful. Baby's heart rate looks good, measuring right on time, Mama's BP is good, doesn't appear that this kiddo is trying to arrive anytime soon. All around a good report for all. We go back in two weeks (9/25) for our 34 week checkup. I feel very lucky that all in all this pregnancy so far (knock on wood) has gone remarkably well. I've felt great pretty much most of the time and really can't complain. I've managed to keep working mostly at my regular pace and I'm still able to get some exercise in though I admit it's not nearly as frequent as it was during the second trimester but something is better than nothing. All in all I really have enjoyed being pregnant so far and do not feel overly ready for it to be over just yet. The only real complaint I have is how ridiculous I now look at work in my overly huge scrubs. Suellen, in answer to that question you asked me long ago about maternity scrubs I can honestly tell you that yes they are that awful. The problem is that stores don't really sell maternity scrubs per se they just instruct you to wear a larger size so this normally size small girl is now wearing size large scrubs to accomodate the growing belly. First my coworkers gave me a hard time because I was growing out of my scrubs and needed to buy new ones and now they make fun because I look so ridiculous. There is no pleasing these people!

Kirk and I have been very busy the last couple of weeks with various classes. Last Saturday was our first childbirth class and I actually enjoyed it. My favorite moment came when the instructor was talking with the class about enemas and how some docs still require patient's to have them blah, blah, blah. She then went on to explain that this was an "invasive procedure" at which point a random husband in the class got a very puzzled expression on his face and asked"how is that invasive?" At this point came my favorite moment when my husband looked at him like he was insane and said "how is that NOT invasive??" Hehe, gotta love it. Kirk then looked at me and wispered "wonder what they do for fun". That's my husband! We also went to our first parenting class on Tuesday night where we learned to do baby care basics such as diapering, swaddling, and bathing oh my. I told Kirk that by the time we're done with these classes in three weeks we should be fully certified to have a baby. Somehow I don't think he was convinced.

4D U/S and 30 Week Update

Today marks 30 weeks exactly. Only 10 weeks to go give or take a couple!! Yesterday, as planned, we had our 4D U/S. The morning got off to quite a rough start as everything that could have gone wrong, it seemed, did on the way to the appointment. We left the house for our appointment 20 minutes later than planned. Against our better judgement Kirk and I decided to go ahead with our breakfast plans even though we were already running late. Kirk was, of course, trying to look out for his pregnant wife who'd been craving a chick fil a chicken biscuit for a couple of weeks. Tons of school traffic later and after getting pulled over by a cop for a stupid should have known better traffic violation we arrived at our appointment 20 minutes late. I, of course, was having a "come apart" through all of this as I just knew we'd have to cancel our appoinment after we'd been looking forward to it for a couple of weeks now. Of course it all worked out and we still got in. Luckily for us our ultrasound tech was also late. Moral of the story, things usually work out and there is no sense in getting worked up when there's really nothing you can do. This is something Kirk's been trying to get me to realize for some time now and though I've managed to adopt this attitude at work for some reason home is a whole different story. Hopefully next time I'll just remember this experience, take a deep breath, and avoid having my "moment". Oh well, for now I'll just blame it on the pregnancy hormones. After all I only have a few more weeks to use that excuse.

Luckily after we arrived for our appointment the rest of the day thankfully went off without a hitch. The ultrasound was a lot of fun and I'm really glad we decided to do it as I knew it would probably be our last chance to "see" the baby before he's born. The pictures didn't turn out quite as clearly as I thought they might but they're still pretty amazing and you can definitely make out some pretty cool details. This ultrasound gave us a little bit of insight into our baby's behavior in utero as well as his physical features. So far the feedback we've gotten regarding his pictures is that he has his daddy's nose and both of his parents long fingers and toes. Apparently he's pretty flexible as he had his foot all the way streched to his face at one point. He also spent the whole ultrasound with his hand up to his face/ mouth. Can't be sure as to what he was doing but it almost looked like he was sucking on his hand/thumb. He also did a good job posing for us as we got to see him smile at one point. All in all it was a pretty fun experience. The whole ultrasound took about an hour total with something like 50 pictures and some videos that we got to keep. Not all of the pictures are very clear or that good for that matter but the good ones we got make all the drama worth it. Here are a few of our favorite pics from the ultrasound.

Picture one sweet baby foot. Picture two shows his long fingers giving us the peace sign.

Picture one with face, hand and foot. Picure two: our future gymnast, baby with foot up to face.

Sweet little face.

I'm definitely feeling and looking very pregnant these days. Makes me wonder just how much bigger this bump will get over the next 10 weeks. I can only imagine as I already feel huge! Mom, I still can't imagine how you did it carrying two at the same time! I have a whole new respect for women carrying multiples.

30 week baby bump

This upcoming month promises to be a very busy time in the Williams household as we get ready for our new addition. Our plan is to finish the nursery as soon as furniture and bedding gets in. Kirk has been hard at work getting the room ready so far putting up crown molding, painting the walls, putting in an awesome closet system, changing doorknobs. You name it he's been fixing it. He's pretty much gotten most of the prep work done now. Have I mentioned how fabulous it is to have such a handy husband around!! I'll post some nursery pics as soon as we start getting furniture and things into the room. I'm definitely excited about the progress so far. We also have childbirth and parenting classes coming up in the next few weeks. So much to do for such a little person! Our next appointment is set for 9/11 at 32 weeks. I don't imagine it'll be too exciting but of course I'll keep everyone updated as usual.

28 Weeks Today!!

Officially 28 weeks pregnant today and as promised had my regular 4 week checkup with the OB and so far so good. Baby's heartbeat was in the 140's. I'm measuring right on track and best of all I only gained 1 pound since my last appointment. This is a definite far cry from my 24 week appointment when I got lectured by the doctor for packing on 7 pounds in four weeks. Honestly I know that's excessive but I have no idea what on earth I could have done differently four weeks ago than what I'm doing now or have been doing the whole time. Who knows. I also got the results back from my GD test and all's clear with that too. Let me tell you that was one test that I can honestly say I truly enjoyed since it allowed me to eat a whole king sized whatchamacallit candy bar and drink a Dr. Pepper in 15 minutes per DR's orders. Doesn't get much better than that!!

Kirk and I are slowly but surely getting things done in preparation for our little guy's arrival. Bedroom furniture has finally been ordered though I'm not convinced it or the bedding will be here before he arrives. He officially has a space reserved at Primrose Daycare for February. This past weekend Kirk began diligently working on getting the room ready. So far he's almost gotten the closet organization system done and crown molding up. Next step painting and then it's just a matter of waiting until all the stuff for the room comes in.

It's amazing how the farther I get into this pregnancy the faster it seems like the time goes. I have a feeling these next 12 weeks are going to fly by.

Since we only have about 12 weeks left I figure it's finally time to post some recent pics, with, most importantly of course a recent belly pic.

Kirk caught me here napping with my three boy after work. I love this pic as it sums up perfectly just how I feel after work these days.

Lynchberg Tennessee at the Jack Daniel's distillary tour for Kirk's birthday. Doug, my boyfriend Jack, me 25 weeks 3 days pregnant, and Kirk.

27 weeks 4 days belly pic

Next up our 4D ultrasound on 8/26.

$1000 + dinner at Zaxby's??!!!

Sunday night started out innocently enough. Kirk and I were looking forward to going to a friend's house for dinner which is always a good time. That afternoon/early evening we decided to run around town to get some errands done prior to dinner. While we were out and about at Lowe's (our home away from home) we get a call from our friends informing us that one of their children has a fever and while they still want us to come to dinner they will leave the decision up to us. As much as we hated to Kirk and I decided it would be best to stay away from that situation since we had no idea what the kiddo had that could be giving him a fever and since I didn't want to take a chance on getting baby boy sick and myself sick. Since we were already out and about and starving (go figure) we decided to go out and grab a quick bite at Zaxby's, not quite the steak dinner we had been planning on but at least I didn't have to cook! Little did we know this one small decision would later cost us.

Dinner at Zaxby's was like any other that I knew of so as I was leaving the restaurant I was in my own little world planning out what I would do when I got home. Apparently Kirk was doing the same thing because as he walked my to the car and opened my door for me and I climbed in and got buckled in to leave we both managed to miss this lovely little site:

The only reason we noticed this prior to driving off is because a nice couple came and pointed out the damage informing us that someone had, of course, hitten our car in the parking lot and driven off. Luckily the man was observant and got a vague description of the driver, the car, and the tag #. When we filed the police report the officer informed us that if our witness could identify the driver and if we wanted to press charges this lovely human being would get at most a ticket while we of course, the innocent bystanders, get stuck with what I'm sure will be at least a $1000 to fix my car bumper. Oh well, what can you do. Most shocking about this whole incident? The fact that I didn't even get upset. I actually told Kirk "oh well "stuff" happens, what can you do." Yeah, I think he was as shocked as I was about my outlook on the whole ordeal. All I can say is at least it wasn't a brand new car. It's a little easier to take when you know your car is 10 years old and you're about to replace it anyway. Dinner was good, worth $1000? The jury's still out on this one.

Our next appointment with the OB is tommorrow. I will be 28 weeks pregnant with only about 12 weeks (give or take a couple) left to go. I can't believe how fast time is going by now! We are so very excited for our little guy to get here in a few short months!

Breaking in the Blog

Welcome to our new blog! I decided to start this page so family and friends can keep up with what's going on in our lives. This will serve as a great place for me to keep everyone updated on our busy family and most importantly for me to keep everyone updated on pregnancy and in a few short months baby news. I can't promise it'll always be interesting so read at your own discretion and don't say I didn't try to warn you!