Christmas 2008

As fast as Christmas comes, it goes! This year was so special to us with Zoey. Christmas Eve we went to church in Gretna, then headed to Seward to spend with my family. Zoey did awesome in church. She just looked at all the lights and listened to the music. She wanted to party all night with my family. She didn't fall asleep until almost 11! Christmas day we spent with Chris' family. We had a great time. The best entertainment was watching Chris and his dad play boxing on the Wii. Zoey got just the perfect amount of toys....thank you to everyone! Chris spent Friday putting them all together. See photo #1!

The second photo is of Zoey and I in front of our new storage unit that Chris bought us. We LOVE it! The doors are markerboard and chalkboard. It has all kinds of cubbies for Zoey's stuff. Last year I started the tradition of buying Harley signs for Chris' garage. This year Zoey and I picked out "Harley Babe Blvd". So fitting we felt. I've started putting Zoey in the baby bjorn carrier. She LOVES it now and so do I. She can face out and experience the world and I can get stuff done around the house and have her right there with me.

The last photo is of Zoey on Christmas Day. She zonked out (probably from partying too much the night before). How sweet she is. She can now recognize Chris and I and responds to her name. She's growing so fast. We go for her 4 month checkup on Jan. 8th. We'll see how much she weighs then.

Thank you to our family and friends for all the great Christmas cards. I cherish watching everyone grow each year. We hope you had as great of Christmas as we did. This year was definitely about reflecting back on the blessings we were given this past year. We hope that 2009 is just as great!

Friends at Christmas

Last night we had our friends Kevin and Amy over along with their two kiddos Carson & Molly. We tried to get a photo of the 3 of them, whew was that hard! We were wondering how large families manage the dreaded family photo. It was a pretty laid back night. I was nodding off in the recliner by 9:30. Someday I'll be able to hang with the big kids again. But for now it's early to bed, early to rise! Got up for the 4:00 a.m. feeding. Chris fed her while I did my think. Then I cleaned the kitchen, put the dishes away, put in a load of laundry, picked up the house from the night before, hit facebook and now am blogging. I'm going to need a 6 a.m. nap!

I'm so looking forward to this next week. There is definitely magic in the air!

Found the Beard!

Zoey has discovered the fur on Chris' chin. The other day Chris was feeding her and he yelped for my help. She had gotten a handful of those hairs and was yanking hard.

Now he knows why I wear my hair in a ponytail!

It's Christmas Time!

A couple of weeks ago we went to Svoboda Christmas (Chris' mom's side). Zoe was watching all the cousins put together a gingerbread house. Grandpa Harnly was holding her. She loved meeting everyone for the first time. She was full of smiles as usual. The first picture is pretty much what she looks like every night. Now you know why I look forward to the end of the day. Wouldn't you knowing this is what you get to look at? I'm patiently waiting for the day when she starts laughing like crazy. Right now she just smiles really big and will let out an occasional squeal.

Fuzzy Wuzzy Chipmunk

Once again, trying to catch up on things. Finally got our computer up and running for the second time. And got all the pictures off the camera again.

Here are couple good ones. The first is from Monday. Zoey always seems to be a little on the tired side when we get home on Monday's. She plays so hard at school I'm sure. She just had to take a little snooze on Chris' shoulder. She was decked out in her Harley outfit.
The second picture is of her in her latest jammies! I have very fond memories of my footed fuzzy pj's when I was a kid. And she just LOVES these. I need to go get more. We only have 2 that fit. Needless to say, I do laundry every other night.

A Harley Christmas for the Harnly's

We loaded up the family and headed to our local Harley Davisdson store this past Saturday. Why? Well, to do some shopping AND to see Santa! We dressed up Zoey in her Harley gear. She was the talk of the store! Sid Dillon (the Owner) even came over to watch. I couldn't find her headband, so there were a couple questions about whether she was a boy or a girl! My fault!! It was so much fun! We will definitely make this a tradition! Notice her hat? It has a picture of Chris' bike on it and say's Future Harnly HOG Rider. They had a pink wooden motorcycle rocking horse type thing there. She will have that one day!! Merry Christmas!

Sleepy Time!

Zoey takes a cat nap when we get home from school pretty much everyday. Chris was playing with her on her new safari mat. Well, they BOTH decided to take a cat nap.

I snapped up this picture quickly. I remember when I was little and my dad falling asleep with me just like this. I still cherish those photos and memories.

Oh, and they both snore really loud too!

Daddy Time & Big Kory, Little Zoey

Here are a couple of my favorite photos lately. The first one is of Chris reading a new farm animals book she got from my co-worker Chandra. She was all into it. Just look at the expression on her face. Just makes your heart melt. I love watching Chris with her. He is an amazing dad!

The second picture is of our dear friend Kory. Kory and his wife Kim and kids Calen & Kenna just moved in down the street from us. Kory stopped by one night and wanted to hold Zoey. As you can see Kory is a big dude. Zoey was diggin being held by him. He's our life sized teddy bear!

We cherish the times / moments we get to share with our family and friends. I hope that you stop and take time to be thankful for your blessings this year. I know we are!

Catching Up.........Turkey Day

Our computer at home is broke so we are anxiously awaiting our new one to arrive. Needless to say I haven't been able to blog. So I'm going to do a quick catch up.

We spent Thanksgiving with Chris' mom & dad and brother Dan. Here is a picture of Grandpa Harnly and Zoey watch some tube! Grandma & Grandpa watched Zoey for us on Friday so Chris could go to the game and I watched it with my friend Nicki from Portland. We all had a wonderful and relaxing time!

Skye, Laken and Tracy were visiting family in Missouri and most of my family was in Florida with my nephew Brock. So it was pretty low key. Zoey enjoyed her first trip to Seward and her first Turkey Day! Thanks Mom / Grandma Harnly for an awesome dinner!

Preciousness

Today we were a couple of busy girls. We did some cleaning, got out all the Christmas stuff, played, napped and hung out. Zoey got to sit and watch me basically make a fool of myself singing Christmas songs, making funny faces at her while putting the decorations up. She laughed, so I think she enjoyed my humor.

Chris was gone most of today, so I decided to attempt to put our huge tree together. Last year we purchased a 12 foot monster. It comes in large sections. So I hauled up the sections one by one from the basement. Got 2 sections put together and realized the were in the wrong order. I stopped there. Chris had to fix it when he got home. Needless to say tomorrow we will be trimming the tree.

The other thing we marked off our list was getting the Christmas cards ordered. I've had them ready for sometime, was just waiting for the pictures. I hope everyone likes them. I so enjoy getting Christmas card pictures. Every year I get to update our wall with our family and friends. It's awesome to see how everyone has changed and grown!

Slowly, one by one the houses around us are getting lit up with the Christmas season. I LOVE this time of year! And can't wait to have many special quiet Christmas moments with my daughter.

Do we have to part?

Today was Zoey's first day of school. Wow was this a hard one. Still makes me tear up just thinking about having to part with her tomorrow again. Overall it went fine. I went with Chris to drop her off. I just stood there in the infant room holding her not knowing how to let her go. I finally handed her off to her teacher and began the trek to Lincoln. It was definitely weird not having her right by my side, her spitup on my shirt, her farting in my lap, smiling at me when I made a funny face or even a smelly diaper to change. Instead I got to go through a large pile of mail, many emails and voicemails. Luckily I have an understanding workplace who are allowing me to slowly transition back into the working world. Luckily it's only 2 days away from the weekend. Already looking forward to it.

The picture on the left is of this past Monday. I bought these adorable overalls for her at babyGAP. Love em! The second picture is of this morning and me kissing her before we went to school.

Now that I'm in the midst of motherhood I have this empowered feeling that I can do just about anything. A new appreciation for my fellow mother friends and family. And an understanding of a love that is so strong and infinite. It's a love different than you have for your spouse. Just as powerful, but different. I love being a mom. It's still weird to say. The other thing I feel is that there is this feeling that comes with motherhood that once you become one you feel you should write the "how to" book. Being a first time mom I studied up, or so I thought. But it's all the things they don't tell you that need to be written!

Harley Sunday

Today we ran a bunch of errands with Zoey so I decided we would ALL sport our Harley gear. She finally fits into this Harley t-shirt we got from the Prochaskas. It was the cutest outfit I just had to post the picture.

Zoey is growing out of her newborn clothes. It's so much fun to put her in new outfits!

This Tuesday will be 12 weeks. Which means I will be heading back to work and Zoey will begin "school". I call it "school" because it makes me feel a little better. This past week she spent a few hours at school getting to know the surroundings and teachers. Both times I picked her up they said she was a mellow and easy going baby. Which I'm taking as a compliment.

I'm sure this week I'll be a complete mess. Everytime I even think about it I tear up. But it's what we have to do and we'll get through it like everything else.

This coming weekend I'm planning to break a cardinal rule of mine. Putting the Christmas stuff up before Thanksgiving. Today we found new stockings! I'm so excited for Christmas and the spirit of the time. It's always been very special to me and now I have Zoey to re-experience all of those traditions with. And make some new one's!

What a gift.

This Sunday Zoey is having her Baptism. Her sponsors are my sisters Jenise & Tammy and Chris' brother Dan. This will be the first time we have both our families together at our house. I guess that officially makes me grown up! The picture is her in her outfit she will be wearing. She wasn't too thrilled with picture taking that morning.

Today is our 9th wedding anniversary. Hard to believe that it took us 9 years to get to this point in our lives. Our present is this smiling little girl in the picture. We are having my friend Shelly come and babysit while we go get something to eat. First time for us to be out on our own alone. I'm sure it will be a little strange, can't remember what our life was like before Zoey!

I'm the ......

So, since we have been supplementing formula with the breastmilk, Zoey's poos have been not so enjoyable for me. Talk about the gag factor!

The other day she went through a couple outfits so I finally put on this onesie. This is what we looked like when Chris came home that day.

We've had our fair share of explosions in the Harnly household! It's our rule that if you are on Zoey watch you have to change her! Any volunteers?

Our Little Pumpkin

We had a really exciting Halloween this year. We didn't have a SINGLE trick or treater, so we had to eat all the candy ourselves.

As everyone knows I am a huge Halloween fan. Well, our only decoration up this year was a single pumpkin that Chris got us a few weeks ago. Our treat was take-out! Here's a picture of how Zoey spent her first Halloween. Next year we'll get an actual costume!

Wassup Cuz....

Last week we had several visitors. On Thursday Grandma Harnly & Laken came to see us. Here is a picture of Cousin Laken holding Zoey.

When I was pregnant with Zoey and we didn't know what we were having Chris asked Laken what he thought it was. He said he hoped it was a girl and that we would name her Peanut Butter.

Well, he got the first part right. But we just couldn't go with the name. We'll use Peanut as one of her many nicknames though!

I'm awake Dad....You should be too!

Zoey was wide awake at 5 a.m. this morning. So we decided to go give Daddy a smiley wake up call.

Needless to say Chris woke up for a few minutes then we left him to go back asleep. He fell back asleep very hard right away as he then snored through his alarm for 30 minutes.

Too precious.

A MAJOR blowout!

This picture is of cousin Kennedy rocking Zoey to sleep. She came and visited us with my sister Tammy this past weekend. Kennedy went with me to help change Zoey's diaper, which I figured was very dirty. And it was. BAD! I went through 3 other diapers without even putting them on. She just kept going! We laughed so hard it was hilarious. Now I just have to get Kennedy to change the diapers.

We love having visitors and seeing everyone's reactions to her rapid growth.

Welcome to my Jungle

Here's a picture of Zoey on her favorite past time, her jungle mat. She loves lying on this and beating the monkey and elephant. She coos and makes noises, it's so much fun to watch her.

This morning we had her two month well baby check up. She weighs a whopin 10 lbs 15 oz. Right on target. Dr. Pat said she's in perfect health and is doing phenomenal. She also go her first shots today. Mommy had to step out of the room and let daddy and the nurse take over. Poor thing got shots in both legs. Right now she's sleeping in my lap I just gave her some Tylenol as her little legs were obviously in pain as she was screeming and crying. Breaks your heart!

I am cherishing every day, hour, minute that I'm blessed to have with her. I will be heading back to work on Nov. 19th. Not really looking forward to it, but I know I need to. It's hard when I've spent nearly every minute with her for the past 9 weeks. It has just flown by. I truly have an appreciation I didn't have before for all the fellow mom's out there. You definitely don't understand until you are one.

We are now getting ready for Zoey's baptism on November 9th. We have a dress for her and finally have the food figured out. It's going to be a small gathering of our families. Should be a nice time as some haven't seen her since she was born and she has changed so much!

Baby Blackshirt

Zoey is a true blackshirt. She dresses in her Husker gear every football Saturday. I added the headband to clearly identify she IS a girl.

She is growing so fast. I seriously think she's gained a pound in a day!

We've gone to breastmilk in a bottle now. It was alot of stress and difficult on both of us to keep going the pure natural way. She's still getting the good stuff and does not look underfed.

She's outgrowing some of her newborn onesies. She is beginning to smile alot more which just melts your heart.

The thing that still amazes me is that she makes sounds like a 300 pound sailor when breaking wind. I have a feeling she will be this way all her life. Gotta love it!

Pretty in Pink

We got this cute pink jammie outfit as a present. I just love putting her in this. She's so cute and cozy!

I think Chris is going to be in trouble with two girls in the house who like clothes!

Belly Cast Art

I finished the belly cast today. I painted a monkey on it and "girled" it up by putting a flower behind it's ear and diamond earrings. It really is pretty cute. I put it on the shelf in Zoey's room.

Hopefully it will bring a smile to her face one day.

Boo!

As you all know we are HUGE Halloween fans! Every year we put on a great party for our friends. We always have many memorable moments and lots of pictures. This year we've decided to not put on our party, even though it kills us not to. It's just a little too much work with a newborn.

Of course I've had to purchase a few Halloween outfits for our little girl. Here is one. It's bright orange with a ghost on it saying boo! She just happend to also smile when I snapped this photo. That tells me she LOVES Halloween too.

She has been growing and growing. And eating and eating! All good things. Now if we can work on that sleep time and overall schedule thing, life would be REALLY good. All in due time I'm told.

Look for more Halloween pictures to come!

Sweets....

We had photos taken of Zoey in her nursery. Here is one of the pictures. It was a little challenging with a fussy newborn. She peed all over me too!

We have a ton of pictures to choose from and it's going to very hard! It's amazing how fast she is growing.

Today was the first day I ventured out of the house without my little Zoey. Daddy took her for a couple of hours so I could get some solo time. Wasn't that fun shopping by myself. Guess I've grown attached to her. Can't imagine our lives without her.

Little Husker.........Hangin with Dad

It's been awhile since I posted anything. This job of motherhood is full-time! Today I posted a couple of my favorite recent photos. Chris just LOVES to hold her when he gets home from work. We still can't remember what we used to do before Zoey arrived. It's hard to not snuggle with her 24/7. The second picture was taken with Uncle Dan. We had to run to Lincoln a couple of weekends ago and we stopped at Dan & Tracy's to hang out. She sported her first (and the only one that fits) Husker shirt. I needed a button on her that says "I'm a girl!" So hard for people to tell the sex when they are this little, unless they are obviously wearing pink or blue! We had a great time. The more times we venture out the lower my anxiety level. Still getting used to all of this.

I can't believe that she is now 1 month old. I'm not sure where the time went. She is now sleeping 3-4 hours at night, which is awesome for me. I don't feel like a complete walking zombie. And I'm much happier during the daytime! She must be going through a growth spurt. She wants to eat every 1-2 hours during the day recently. Needless to say, I sit around alot. The Pediatrician told us that she may start to not have pooie diapers all the time. She could go a few days without going. Well, she did. She went from Thursday to Monday! However, Monday marked our first official "blowout". Holy cow! That girl was savin up. She went so much it came out the back of her diaper. I had to give her a bath. I think she's going to bless us with another blowout soon. Our little Zoey is a farter. You can be standing 10ft away and hear her................Must take after her dad!

This is how we roll....

For Zoey's coming home outfit I had this hat and onesie made for her daddy. It's a picture of Chris' Harley. On the shirt it says "This is how my daddy & I roll" and on the hat it says "Future Harnly HOG Rider". I just love this outfit and will cherish it forever.

Just in looking at this picture and how she is today, she's grown so much!

We've discovered that Zoey doesn't like to sleep in her bed. She prefers to be snuggled in with you. We spend alot of recliner time with her on our chest. Or right now she's bundled up in a sling on me. Yes, I wear my baby! I always thought these slings looked weird with mom's wearing their babies. But they love it! And I can do stuff around the house and not worry about her.

Sweets

Sorry it's taken so long to get a picture posted. It's not that we are not proud parents, but still adjusting to having her actually here.

We went in for her 2 week check and she is past her birth weight, which is perfect. She's still getting used to this world and just loves to be held and rocked. The landscape of our kitchen and living room has definitely changed. We now have diapers, bottles, baby clothes, timers and blankets strung everywhere.

Pictures honestly don't do justice for how darn cute she is in person! So you'll just have to come visit.

Look for more pictures each week!

Introducing....................ZOEY!!

WOW! I can't believe I didn't post anything after August 6th. Well, as you all know by now our little Baby 'H' came early. Even though in this post I don't have a picture, look for a swarm of photos coming soon. Here is a general play by play.

Monday, August 25th I worked a full day. Had an OB check up appointment at 4:45. Was 2cm dialated and 90% effaced. Everything looked great. No contractions, just a few braxton hicks. Nothing out of the norm. 7:30 p.m. that night I went for a nice pre-natal massage as I have been getting throughout my pregnancy. Came home, lounged as usual and headed to bed feeling pregnant, but normal.

In the middle of the night I got up as usual to go let the dogs out and use the restroom. Again, all normal practice by now. At 2:30 a.m. I woke up feeling like I was going to pee the bed and had the instinct that my water was breaking. I woke up Chris saying, "Chris, Chris, I think my water broke, my water broke!" I got up and yes, my water broke in the bathroom. I was just saying, holy cow. We called our doctor and they said to head to the hospital. All of a sudden my contractions started. YIKES! Of course we had our bag packed for weeks and Chris was pulling all the last minute things together. I decided that I really wanted to shower before we went, so we both took our turns getting ready and me breathing through the contractions and Chris trying to time them. We bought a stop watch and when we finally needed to use it the stupid thing didn't work! Before we left my contractions were 4 min. apart.

By 3:15 a.m. we were at the hospital in our room. All of a sudden I was hooked up to ever monitor they could get me on. I told the nurse, I really think I need to poo. She said well, just wait, you need to hold it. I said, well I went before I came in, it just feels like that. She said, well, you can't go the baby's head is really low. I got an i.v. in and quickly signed the okay for an epidural. No one can prepare you for what the pain is like. The nurses nicely offered me some staddol to take off the "edge" of the contractions until my epidural was in. Sign me up!! That stuff was awesome. Made me a little loopy, but definitely made me more relaxed. By 5:15 a.m. I had my epidural. It took them 3 wonderful trys. I was really nervous about the epidural as last year at this time I suffered from spinal headaches, which can be a side effect of epidurals. What they don't tell you about epidurals is that they take awhile to take effect. It was weird. Our OB doctor came in around 7:30 a.m., checked me and said, well you want to go ahead and have a baby? Chris and I just stared at each other and said are you serious? We both thought foresure he would come in, and leave for a few hours come back and it would go on for awhile. But I was ready to go. No one can prepare you for how your labor may go.

I luckily only pushed for 20 minutes and here came Zoey Kay Harnly. What an amazing experience. We still cannot believe she is here. She has already melted her daddy's heart and made her mommy cry just looking at her. (more than once) 6 lbs. 15 oz., 20" long. 8:19 a.m.

Look for pictures to come soon. We are still getting everything settled.
Thanks to everyone for your love and support and for the visitors, phones calls, emails and messages. We can't wait for all of you to meet her in person. She is just too cute!

4 Weeks...did you hear me?.......4 Weeks

Today marks our downhill slope. We are 4 weeks out from our due date. I cannot believe it. Now that it's here I look back and feel like time has flown by!

As usual we've been very busy. Last Saturday my nieces threw me a family / friends shower in Seward. They did such a great job! I think they had as much fun as I did. We got great gifts.

Sunday we took back just a couple of things we got duplicates of and went through our registry lists and bought a few more things we thought we would need right away. And of course it was the hottest freaking day of the summer. I was so tired when we were done. But did I sleep? No. I started to wash all the baby clothes and blankets. I had so much fun folding all of it. Those newborn clothes are soo tiny. I can't believe that the baby is not toddler sized in my belly. I seriously have sprouted out. Some of my shirts are not fully covering my belly, which is a little scary.

Chris put together our swing. We took a teddy bear and covered it in Baby Magic and put it in the swing to see what the dogs would do. What did they do??? Not a thing! Hopefully it will be the same way when an actual baby is sitting in there. We'll see.

My ankles have been extremely swollen by the time I get home. And of course I hate sitting there. I have too much to do! I'm still enjoying being pregnant and would like to stay this way until baby H is really ready to make an appearance. Ask me if I'm still enjoying it in 2 weeks. I'm wondering if I'll change my mind.

Belly Cast

I bought a belly cast kit several months ago anticipating the day we could finally use it. This past Sunday we broke it out. Chris was quite the Artist! It was basically strips of casting material that Chris had to layer on me. It was messy, but turned out pretty cool. If nothing else it was once again good entertainment.

It's dry now, so I can start painting it. Not sure where we are going to put it, hang it somewhere. It's sitting on the kitchen counter right now and it looks really big to me!

I do have a new craving. Cottage Cheese. It seriously is the weirdest thing. I used to hate it. I didn't like the look, taste or texture. But now as I type up this blog, I'm eating it straight out of the container. Our baby is going to have some strong bones because I can't get enough milk or cottage cheese. Maybe we should look at investing in a dairy cow!

Cubby Wubby

We had our regular OB appt on Monday. We got a 3D photo of cubby cheeked Baby 'H'. Everything is looking good. The baby is still head down and kickin like no other.

Last Saturday we had a Couples Baby Shower. Chris was somewhat reluctant at the whole idea, but ended up having a great time. Our friend Amy made Chris a survival tool belt. It was hilarious! He had goggles, a snorkel, gloves, diapers, powder and the works. Oh! And we can't forget a custom beer koozie!

We got some wonderful gifts. We truly are blessed by all the close friends in our life. It really meant alot to us to have everyone come and spend a few hours with us on our driveway! Not to mention have a few beers. We went through 11 cases, and I wasn't even drinking!!

Sleep is becoming a challenge and I'm definitely getting a little uncomfortable. But not so bad that I want baby 'H' to come early. I can hold out for 6 more weeks. Yes only 6 more weeks!!

Week 33!

We are quickly approaching the home stretch. It's fun to look at pictures from week 18 to now. Can't believe how much growth has occurred! And I still have more to come.

Been feeling good. We had a relaxing long weekend away from home in Kansas City. Didn't do too much. Hung out at the pool, checked out a little shopping and ate. Just what we needed.

This morning I had an appointment with the perinatologist, last one! The baby weighs around 4lbs. 10oz. He said at my due date it would be high 7lbs - low 8lbs. I said to him as long as it has a small head, I'm cool with it. Everything looks good with the exception that the fluid around the baby is a little low, sufficient, but low. So they will be monitoring that. We see our regular OB doc on Monday again, hopefully the baby won't be camera shy this time as we'll have another ultrasound.

Baby 'H' has been tossin and turnin everynight. I'm pretty sure Chris has been freaked out a couple times by the way my belly moves. It is the craziest thing ever!

Daddy Wrapper

It's been a couple weeks since I've put anything up. We completed our 6 week "Prepared Childbirth" classes. At our last class we learned some basic baby care things. One was how to wrap your baby into a burrito! I of course had my camera on hand to document this moment. Here is a picture of Chris doing an excellent job. He's a true natural when it comes to Daddy Wrapping!!

Last night we got pictures taken of the two of us and the buddah belly. After we were done we stopped and got something to eat. Chris said how excited he was. It's so unlike him to get too excited about anything, but this is so different. Makes me even more excited!!

Tight Tummy

Time is flying by. We are in the 3rd trimester and I can't believe it! Baby 'H' is very active. The movements are harder. Some days I feel like a punching bag. You can definitely tell when there is a head or a butt or a leg close to the surface.

My tummy feels really tight. I keep lathering on the "keep stretch marks away" cream. Hoping my skin will survive without any war wounds.

The hot weather is killing my ankles. My one ankle was so swollen today it was not recognizable.

We have 1 more prepared childbirth class left. Do we feel prepared, not really. We've just decided to lay low and go with it. What else do you do?

T minus 10

We are in the 3rd Trimester. Only 10 more weeks to go. Does not even seem like it should be here that soon. Both of us are trying to enjoy this time as much as possible. I can definitely tell that Baby 'H' is growing every day. It's movements are alot harder!

Chris is planning a long weekend getaway for us. Just going to KC, Jamaica was out of the picture I guess! I can't wait for some R-n-R.

I have started experiencing more of the normal pregnancy things. Restless nights (can't get comfy), heartburn (bring on the Tums!) and the most dreaded thing I feared..........Kankles. Mostly it's only a singular kankle, but tonight it was both. Usually it happens when I get to spend alot of time sitting at my computer at work. By the time I get home.....no more ankle bone. Geez...those are just so gross. Don't know what it is, but it's seriously is gross!

We have a plan!

After many many hours of researching, calling, investigating and visiting we have a childcare plan for when I return to work. We are currently still on 2 waiting lists, but have secured a spot for Baby 'H'. We had to extend our search to surrounding areas and found "Tiny Toes" which is in Elkhorn.

I visited last Friday and spent a lengthy amount of time with the infant staff. What a great group! The main lady has been there since 1994. She has a wealth of knowledge, love for babies and has that "Grandma" way about her. Love it!

Since it is a little out of the way Chris drove it this morning. And it wasn't bad. I just hope that on a day of really bad traffic he still doesn't think it's too bad! Our plan is that Chris will drop off and I will pick up. That will allow me to get to work early and for Chris to stay a little later.

Being a task oriented person I wanted to have most of our major things done by June 30th. Which would allow Chris & I to enjoy the rest of the summer and do things we want to do. This past weekend I got the upstairs completely re-organized and setup. Our office is cleaned out and guest bedroom all set up again. Feels so awesome!

We're Registered.

We've had several people after us to register, so last week we bit the bullet and did it. This was seriously the most overwhelming thing. As you can see from the pictures there are hundreds of items and hundreds of choices of those hundreds of items! No one told me about how "not so fun" this part was. It was completely stressful.

In the picture of Chris what is he holding? Nursing pads. I had to explain to him what those were. He's like any other guy, likes control of the scanner and will scan just about anything.

We are registered at Target, Wal-Mart and Babies-r-Us. I'm sure there are things on our list that we won't need and things not on our list that we will need. But we're learning as we go. What an adventure this is daily. At least we can cross this off our list!

Week 29...and Growing

I know, I know, it's been 3 weeks since I've posted a "growth" picture. Here's the buddah. It is definitely poppin out. According to my weekly pregnancy email the baby should be 15.5" long and weigh around 2.7 oz. So I'm thinking to myself, if a baby weighs around 7 pounds when delivered and I have a mear 11 weeks to go, that's a big growth spurt.

And I already feel like my body is maxed out in size!

I've been experiencing some "kankles" by the time I get home. Just have so much to do that it's hard for me to sit and put my swollen feet up. Last Friday we golfed 18 holes, and was it hot!! I was done at 9. But I pulled through. Maybe our baby will take up golf when it's older.

Busy, busy, busy....

We have been so busy these past two weeks. Last Friday I had 2 doctor appointments. First we met with Dr. Bonebrake, the perinatologist. Everything is looking good. What we have found out is that Chris also has the same freaky blood as I do, so our baby will be just fine. We will see him one more time and then will just continue with our OB doc. Dr. Bonebrake did an ultrasound so we got some more pictures. The baby is growing great. 2lbs 4oz! Right on target. It's moving like crazy. Still freaks me out. I'm still feeling good. Have probably pushed it a few times and have worn myself out completely.

After my appt. with Bonebrake I had one with Dr. Nabity. It was just supposed to be a routine checkup so Chris did not come. Oh, but this is a good one. I went to his Immanuel office this time. I went and checked in and let the receptionist know I had to go if they needed a urine sample. So I did. I marked my sample, put it in the window and flushed away. Well, that stupid freakin toilet decided it was going to overflow! Are you kidding me! And I really had gone...if you get my drift. I walked out, bright red and told the nurses that the toilet was overflowing. They said they've been having problems not to worry. I told them I am so embarressed, but that I really had to go. I was mortified! Well, needless to say I got right in. The nurse came in and was so nice to me. She said we can just blame it on some guy that was in previously and used that restroom. She then said it was my lucky day, no bloodwork. Yippee. But did Dr. Nabity tell you that he wants to "check" you today? I said, are you serious? No, didn't know that. Luckily I had just had this conversation with my friend Amy, so I knew what to expect. All in all. I'm not dialating yet, good. I did still have to get my blood drawn, but the nurse was a good one!

We went to a CWS game on Sunday. I forgot sunscreen on my legs and ended up with a nice looking burn. I managed to get everything else lubed up. Was only able to make through 5 innings. Those plastic seats in hot weather does not do a pregnant lady any favors.

Last week we started our Prepared Childbirth classes. We meet every Tuesday for 6 weeks. Chris and I just end up cracking up at half the stuff. This week we watched a video of a birth. Holy Crap! It finally came to me that this baby has to come out at some point! Overall we feel that we are ahead of the game by having the nursery ready and many other things.

We met our pediatrician today. Dr. Steinauer. He is the brother of a co-worker of Chris'. Great guy. He's like a disney character in real life. I guess only about 5% of people actually go and meet their pediatrician before they have a baby. I just didn't want some stranger coming to check on our baby at the hospital without meeting them first, at least! So we can mark that off our list.

Tonight we decided to go register at Target and Wal-Mart. Again, holy crap. We have no idea what we are doing. A few things here and there that we think we'll need. Chris was all about the diapers. I was...well...tired. Tomorrow night we are going to tackle Babies-r-Us. If you've never been there, well, it's like the Nebraska Furniture Mart for babies! It is so overwhelming, but they have everything! That's where we will register for most of our stuff.

Well, better head to bed. I'll try and get my profile photo up tomorrow.