The Nursery

We went with whales and fishies for his crib bedding, and our dear, talented friend April Schein made the sweet sailboat mobile which we LOVE! It's so perfect for the nursery. Thank you April!

This Mr. Bear bench and bookshelf was Jeff's at one time. It was handmade by his step-grandfather!
 

 

Every little boy needs a monkey towel! We've received the cutest bath towels and we can't wait to use them all.

For now this wooden storage crate on wheels is holding Dad's diaper bag (which is fully packed and ready to go!) but will probably be great for toys one day. I imagine the little guy might have fun pushing it around the house as well.

Another amazing and talented friend painted the tricycle picture titled "Triathlete in Training"! Thank you Karen Logan! There's a good chance that baby's first words will be "Swim, Bike, Run".

There is still no sign of baby and we are now 5 days overdue. He is not ready to come out yet, and we're trying our best to be patient. The plan is still to be induced on Monday. We are prepared and ready for his debut, and can't wait to start life with our little guy. Please keep us in your prayers, and we'll do our best to share pictures as soon as we can! Happy New Year!

40 Weeks - Small Pumpkin

Our little pumpkin's due date (12/25/11) has come and gone so he is officially overdue! I guess next year he'll get to wear "My first Christmas" outfits. If he doesn't come on his own this week, we'll get induced on Monday, January 2nd. It's strange to think that this will be the last Monday, Tuesday, etc. that we will have without a child. In the meantime we are resting up and spending quality time together before the storm begins. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

38 Weeks - Whale

No, baby is not the size of a whale, but Mama is. Throughout the pregnancy there were several milestones where I thought it was absolutely impossible to grow any bigger, but God prevails.

We are now trying reverse psychology with Baby and telling him not to rush coming out. It's way warmer and cozy in my belly and he should stay in there as long as possible, wink wink. We'll see if it works.

In the book titled "Oh Crap, I'm Having A Baby" it says a laboring woman bellows "like a crazed farm animal." It goes on to say, "Note to Dads: this is the perfect time to deploy that cow comparison again because a mom in this state is more like an animal than at any other time of her life. Her senses are heightened. Her focus is needle-sharp. And her sense of smell? We can't begin to describe it. But we can say from experience it's not the best idea to get within 10 feet of a laboring woman after eating a pastrami sandwich."

That short excerpt inspired me to post about our barn door. Instead of the standard french doors we did a barn door for our study, thanks to the suggestion of our very talented friend Karen Logan. It's one of our favorite features in the house, and there's something about a barn door that makes me feel at home.

Moose. Chicken.

We have two new additions in our household. Meet "Moose" and "Chicken".

Moose is a wintry addition that guards over our wine fridge, and also Jeff's beer collection (which is in addition to a few bottles in the fridge). Jeff is in serious nesting mode which means stocking up on dark beer so we can hibernate with baby those first couple of weeks. Baby will be milk drunk, Da-da will be celebrating with his favorite beverage, and Ma-ma will be left to take care of both her boys! This should be interesting.

 

We love yard art and Chicken is the perfect addition to our backyard (which is still work in progress). Chicken was a gift from Grandpa Buddy (thank you!). I'm fully expecting our little guy to be enamored with Chicken once he starts walking. We'll have to discuss some ground rules with Chicken so they play nicely. 

37 Weeks - Swiss Chard

We are 37 weeks (and a few days) into the pregnancy so only about 2.5 weeks until our due date! At our appointment last week the doctor confirmed we have not made any progress towards labor yet. Our next appointment is tomorrow (Thursday) so hopefully she tells us we are at least starting to head in that direction. Maybe he's just not ready to come out yet, which I don't blame him because it is cold here in Texas!

My waddle is pretty awesome these days. It's a lot of work carrying this baby around, but that didn't stop us from going to a Texans game on Sunday. It was an exciting victory over the Atlanta Falcons and the stadium was loud! All the cheering, and the walk from the parking lot, was good exercise for the day.

This week we have Jeff's work Christmas party, and on Saturday our neighborhood is having "Lights in the Heights". It's a holiday festival with music where they block off the streets so people can stroll around and look at some serious Christmas decorations. Other than that, we're hibernating and waiting...

Jeff and I have a new nephew who we are so excited to meet and hold! Baby Max Joseph Garcia was born last week Thursday. Congratulations Cristee and Brandon! I love this picture of him. Look at that hair! He looks so warm and cozy.

36 Weeks - Melon

Happy Thanksgiving! We had a nice and relaxing Thanksgiving in Austin, and I ate way more than I had room for. Poor baby was probably squished because of all the stuffing, turkey, and mash potatoes (not to mention pie) that I feasted on. There's no holding back these days.

We spent Saturday and Sunday at home in Houston watching football, playing around the house and decorating for Christmas. This is the first year that we have put up a tree and it was oh-so-much fun! We're full of holiday spirit and want to bring baby home to a cozy house. Jeff and I are not big on exchanging presents so this year our gift to each other is a baby boy.

This week is a big one for baby and us. We have meet-and-greets scheduled with two pediatricians, and on Thursday we have a check-up with the doc. At this appointment the doctor will check to see if labor is progressing, and do an ultrasound to find out the position of baby and his weight. Lets hope he's not a record breaker! From now on our appointments are weekly. We also have tickets to a Cirque Du Soleil show Wednesday night and on Saturday we are going to a yummy "Thanksgiving Feast" party with some friends. It's going to be a super fun and busy week!

The best part of all about this week is that our new baby nephew should be arriving Thursday or Friday! Yippy! We can't wait to meet him and will be praying for a quick delivery for my sister Cristee and brother-in-law Brandon. It's going to be so much fun to have our boys grow up together. I have a feeling they will be little buddies :-)

33 Weeks - Pineapple

Oh baby! Our little pineapple has officially "dropped" - a pregnancy term meaning he has descended and is getting ready (for those of you not familiar). It has brought some comfort since I no longer feel him digging in my ribs. This also means we're getting closer to meeting our little guy! Words do not describe the excitement we feel about getting to finally meet him. We've felt and watched his movements, talked and read to him and daydreamed of what life will be like with a little boy joining our family. Pregnancy is an incredible journey.

A special thanks to the Grandmas for helping us prepare for the baby shower and getting our house ready for the baby! And thank you to our family and friends for a super fun party! We feel so blessed to have such wonderful people in our lives, and have been telling baby how spoiled he is already. We are still in awe of the love and generosity! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

31 Weeks - Naval Oranges x 4

Jeff did an Olympic distance triathlon on Sunday in Galveston, TX. He did great, and baby and I had so much fun cheering him on. We learned that Jeff is part fish from this race. He did really awesome in the swim by taking 3rd place in his age group! We hope baby likes doing triathlons too so we can be a family of triathletes one day.

Baby and I are getting B.I.G. He should be around 3.3 pounds (or the weight of 4 naval oranges) and is heading into a growth spurt. Getting off the couch is quite a feat these days, and thankfully Jeff has become really good at knowing when to extend a hand to help me up! There are usually a few jokes involved with it though. Sleeping is also becoming a bit more challenging. Between the bathroom breaks and having to switch from side-to-side often, we don't sleep through the night anymore. It's just preparation for when he arrives! 

Last night was especially a sleepless one because the fire alarm went off at 12:30am. We're still getting use to the noises of our new house, and it took a few minutes to determine if it was the security or fire alarm going off. After some investigating we determined it was a false alarm, phew! 

30 Weeks - Butternut Squash

Our little butternut squash is almost 3 lbs now, and he gets the hiccups! About once a day I feel him "hiccup" but they usually don't last long. His movements are more visible from the outside and sometimes it looks like I have an alien inside me trying to escape. We have 10 weeks left until our due date. I have a theory that he'll arrive about one week early, or maybe it's just wishful thinking. 


Jeff and I graduated from "Labor and Delivery" class. We feel much more comfortable with the whole labor part now, just hope we don't throw our learnings out the window when the time comes. Our teacher reminded us that labor is just a short time, and being parents is the rest of your life...a sweet but scary thought!


This past weekend we traveled to Washington, D.C. for the wedding of our friends Tom and Danielle. It was a beautiful wedding, and we really enjoyed the fall weather while seeing the sites.

28 Weeks - Chinese Cabbage

Ladies and Gentlemen, we have now entered the 3rd trimester! Let the final weeks begin! Baby is now around 2.25 lbs and 14.8 inches long. The bigger he gets the harder he kicks, and the stranger the food that my Baby App uses to describe his size...chinese cabbage? In a couple weeks the doctor will do a basic ultrasound to see the position of the baby, but besides that there are no more ultrasounds scheduled. The next time we'll see the baby will be in person! Holding back tears at the thought of that...silly hormones. 


We toured the hospital that we'll be delivering at which was an eye opener. I wouldn't say the delivery room was exactly pretty. I guess it really doesn't matter though because I'm sure the wallpaper will be the last thing on my mind during those hours. Thankfully it does have valet parking so Jeff won't be dropping me off on the sidewalk while he finds parking. Wouldn't that be a sight!


Now that it's starting to get cooler out we decided to get the back porch set up. We already love hanging out back there, and are looking forward to planting some trees, flowers and a garden in our very bare backyard.

26 Weeks - Cucumber

Baby is now around 14 inches in length and should be close to 1.75lbs. We started our Childbirth classes and have a few more sessions to go. The first class was already quite interesting. The Dads and Moms split up into two groups and were asked to put together a list of the "Good" and "Bad" of pregnancy. The Dads' list was funny. It included "always having a designated driver" under the good, and "too many pillows in the bed" under the bad list! 

We had a super busy and fun weekend which included putting the crib together and painting the nursery. Daddy did a great job with the crib while Mama watched and gave praise and baby kicked with delight. We think he really likes his new room already! Sunday morning we indulged and made chocolate chip and blueberry Ebelskivers. These little tasty delights are Danish pancakes, and thanks to  Zach and Sari we have our own ebelskiver pan and recipe book! They are so much fun to make, and a fun word to say too!

We have an announcement to make about the neighbors: they got chickens! Yes, we live in inner Houston, the 4th largest city in America, and we get to wake up to "cock-a-doodle-do" in the morning. At first we thought it just added to the strangeness of our street, but now we've come to appreciate and love the duo (a rooster and a hen). One day I may go out and try to photograph our new friends...

25 Weeks - Rutabaga

We found a little slice of heaven on earth, and it's called Martha's Vineyard. From the majestic beaches to the interior farmland, it's absolutely perfect! Last week we were fortunate to spend time exploring the island, and be at our dear friends' wedding. They couldn't have picked a more beautiful location to tie the knot. And in typical Karen and Derek fashion, they left the ceremony in kayaks! The week also included a lobster bake on the beach, some kayaking and hiking to secluded beaches.


Baby and I have definitely grown! He moves all day and all night, so we are preparing ourselves for an active little guy. We are nearing the 3rd trimester and the nesting has begun. The crib has arrived, and we hope to have the nursery done in the coming weeks. It's all becoming so real and we can't wait! Our doctor appointments are now every-other week. At our last checkup we got to hear baby's heartbeat and it was around 150 - healthy little boy! Next week we start our labor classes which should be interesting...

Master Bath

Jeff's favorite part of our master bath is the glass shower, and mine is the clawfoot tub. We also are excited about the hexagon floor tile. Most of the original 1930 bungalow homes in the neighborhood have the original hexagon tile, so this is our way of sticking with tradition but with a modern touch. I must also admit that it is really, really nice to finally have two sinks! Jeff and I have always lived in small apartments with closet bathrooms, and getting toothpaste in my hair (thanks to Jeff) was always a potential risk.