34 Weeks (And a Few Other Updates)

Today, I am 34 weeks pregnant. It's so crazy for me to think that I still have 6 weeks to go. I know that's not very long at all in many ways (especially when I think about all we still have to do between now and then), but at the same time, I'm really starting to feel like I could go into labor at any moment, so it's hard to picture lasting 42 more days. We'll just see how things go from here on out. It's going to be a very busy few weeks between now and my due date. Here are just a few things on my calendar between now and then:

Today (Nov. 27th) - Dad's birthday (we celebrated yesterday with cake and ice cream)
Sunday, Dec. 4th - Hollis's 1st birthday party (read more about Hollis in one of my earlier posts here)
Monday, Dec. 5th - Mom's birthday; check-up with Dr. Dupre
Saturday, Dec. 10th - Candace's wedding
Sunday, Dec. 11th - my baby shower; Christmas party with Jordan's Home Depot co-workers
Tuesday, Dec. 13th - check-up at health department
Saturday, Dec. 17th - our Sunday school class Christmas party; get maternity/family Christmas/Rylee's 18-month pictures taken
Thursday, Dec. 22nd - Rylee's 18-month check-up with her pediatrician
Sunday, Dec. 25th - Christmas
Sunday, Jan. 1st - New Year's Day; earliest date for induction (unless an emergency comes up)
Friday, Jan. 6th - Jordan's birthday; latest date for induction
Sunday, Jan. 8th - my actual due date (but Ryan will already be here!)

I'm sure I'm probably forgetting a few things, and I know other things will come up between now and then as well (including more doctor check-ups, of course), but that sounds busy enough, right? At some point in there (probably around December 23rd), my daddy will also be coming up from Florida to spend Christmas with us like he did last year, and he'll stay until after Ryan is born. Jordan and I also plan to take Rylee to go see Santa Claus at Bass Pro Shop sometime soon. I'm anxious to see how she will react to him. She did so great with him last year, but then again, she was only 6 months old. I have a feeling she won't be so fond of him this year, especially when we try to sit her in his lap and step away to get a picture. She might surprise us, though... we'll just have to wait and see. So anyway, it will definitely be interesting to see if I can actually "survive" all of this busyness without going into labor. Here is what my ever-growing belly looks like tonight:

I don't know about you, but I'm starting to get tired of looking at pictures of my belly - I'm ready to see the baby! Won't be too much longer now!
Before I close, I wanted to include a few pictures from Thanksgiving this past Thursday and mention one or two other quick updates as well. First of all, Jordan, Rylee, and I traveled down to Brundidge on Thursday morning to celebrate Thanksgiving with a bunch of my dad's side of the family. We had a nice time visiting with everyone and enjoyed feasting on lots of yummy food. After we visited for a few hours there, we went to Jordan's dad's house to visit with him, Jordan's twin sister, and her two boys for a few hours and have their leftover Thanksgiving food for dinner. Needless to say, we ate a lot of turkey and ham that day. When we got home from visiting with them, I realized I had not taken any pictures at all during the day, but I still want to try to document these holidays with Rylee, so I had Jordan snap a few pictures of Rylee and me, and then I took a picture of her with him. They are not at all "Thanksgiving festive" (we're standing by our front door), and of course I didn't feel like putting on make-up that day, so I look rather rough, but I reckon they're better than nothing. Here they are:

I had originally intended to do a special Thanksgiving post with these pictures and a list of things I'm most thankful for, but I haven't had time to do it yet, so I figured I'd just go ahead and post them now. As for what I'm thankful for, the "usual" things still stand. I'm thankful for my Heavenly Father, and everything else I have to be thankful for comes from Him. I'm thankful for my husband, our daughter, our son on the way, our families, our friends, our church family, our home, our vehicles, my husband's jobs... I'm thankful for EVERYTHING we have. When I think about how often we take all we have for granted, it makes me sick. It's hard to fathom the conditions that so many people live in... it's hard to imagine all of the things that so many people live without that we feel are necessities. We are blessed beyond measure, and I am trying my best every day to live in a more "aware" state of thankfulness. I don't want to take my blessings for granted or get to a point where I feel I "deserve" anything I have. This year, I have also tried to be especially thankful for the "little" things in life... after all, they always seem to turn out to be the most precious things in the end. For example, I'm not just thankful for Rylee... I'm thankful for the way she'll randomly walk up to me and say "Hi, Mommy!" and hug my leg. I'm not just thankful for my husband... I'm thankful for the way he'll look at me every now and then and tell me I am his joy. These are not material things that can be taken away from me... these are precious moments that I can hold in my heart for the rest of my life. I am so thankful for those things.
Anyway, I can't believe Thanksgiving is over and we're now full-swing into Christmas season. Jordan put our Christmas tree and stockings up on Friday evening, and he put the train around the bottom of the tree tonight, but I'm still not done putting all the ornaments on the tree yet. I plan to post a few pictures of our Christmas decorations when we get everything done.
I also still plan to post "before" and "after" pictures of Ryan's room when we get it done. Jordan did a bit more painting on Friday, but he still has some final touch-ups to do. Hopefully he'll get it all completely done sometime this week so we can get the furniture moved back into place and get everything ready. I am so excited about it.
Anyway, I think that's about it for this post. Until next time...

Candace's Bridal Shower

As I mentioned in one of my previous posts back in May, Candace, one of my best friends from high school, is getting married. In fact, her wedding is less than three weeks away now! She's getting married on Saturday, December 10th, and I can't wait. I know she is going to be a beautiful bride. I've already warned her that I WILL cry (happy tears, though, of course). I was supposed to be one of her bridesmaids, but since I will only be four weeks from my due date, we both decided it would be best if I not be in the wedding party in case something comes up between now and then and I'm not able to make it to the wedding. Now don't get me wrong - I'm not going to miss that wedding unless I'm in labor! We just didn't want to take any risks. She's getting married about 3 hours (or so) away from where I live, so it'll be quite the trip for me just to get there. I'm definitely bummed I won't be able to stand up there with her like she did with me on my wedding day (she was one of my bridesmaids), but it will still mean a lot to me just to be there in the "audience" to support her on her special day. I am so excited for her and Drew (her fiance)!
Tonight was Candace's bridal shower. My mom and sister and I went, and two of my other best friends from high school - April and KD - showed up as well (among other people, of course), so I was really happy. It felt so good to see the three of them and laugh with them again. I love those girls, and I sure do miss them a lot. Anyway, here are a few pictures of us tonight:

me, Candace (the bride-to-be), April, and KD

me, Candace (the bride-to-be), April, and KD

me and the glowing bride-to-be

I will definitely try to do a post with pictures from her wedding in a few weeks. Can't wait!

33 Weeks

As I mentioned in my post yesterday, I am now in my 33rd week of pregnancy with Ryan.
Today, I went for another check-up with my doctor. All is still going well, thankfully.
I've gained a pound and a half since my check-up two weeks ago, so I now weigh 129 and a half pounds (hey, the nurse said she would give me the half of a pound instead of bumping it up to 130 pounds, so I'm gonna take it!). That puts me at a total pregnancy weight gain so far of 22 and a half pounds. My blood pressure was good as usual (98/60), and my height of fundus measured at 33 centimeters, so it's right on track.
As for Ryan, he has been extra active all day today. The nurse had to chase him around my stomach to catch his heart rate (156 beats per minute today) because he was squirming so much. He's a handful already, and he's not even here yet!
I asked Dr. Dupre when he is going to get this baby out of me. Basically, I just wanted to make sure he's not going to let me go past my due date (not that I think I'll even make it that far). He induced me the day before my due date when I was pregnant with Rylee, because he didn't want to risk letting her get too big since I have a small frame. Back at one of my early check-ups this time around, we mentioned to him that Jordan's birthday is two days before my due date and asked him if it was possible for him to induce me that day if I make it that far. We hadn't talked about it in several months, though, so I just wanted to see how he was thinking and feeling now that we're getting pretty close to the big day. He said that at this point, it's still a little too soon for him to be able to fully commit to inducing on January 6th (Jordan's birthday), because he's not sure yet if he'll be available that day. By law, the earliest he can induce without an emergency is at 39 weeks, which would be New Year's Day. We're not doing that (unless it's an emergency). But he said he definitely won't let me go past the 6th. So, if I make it that far, I will be induced sometime between January 2nd and January 6th. Of course we'll settle on an exact date if and when it comes down to it, but it's exciting/relieving to know that my doctor's not going to let me "suffer" past my due date. I'm just anxious to see exactly how all of this is going to turn out. Everyone fully expects me to go into labor on my own before my due date, but everyone also thought the same thing when I was pregnant with Rylee, and that didn't happen. So we'll just have to wait and see I guess. For now, though, I think this is about all I've got to say for this post. Here's the belly picture Jordan took of me last night:

Is it just me, or does it look like he has dropped since last week?
Until next time...

Life Lately

I feel like this blog has turned into a just-pregnancy-updates blog, and that's not my intention for this space. I really want to keep up with life in general on here as well, but lately I just haven't felt like posting much. I don't have all that much going on in my day-to-day life as a stay-at-home mommy, but I still want to do a better job of documenting even the "small" things that make for precious memories later down the road.
So, what's been going on lately? Well... we'll see how much of it I can actually remember. After all, I do have "pregnancy brain" right now. On that note, though, I guess I'll start with that - my pregnancy. Today, I am 33 weeks pregnant. I went to the grocery store yesterday, and while there, a woman asked me how far along I was. I couldn't remember. That never happened when I was pregnant with Rylee... I always knew down to the day how far along I was. Now, I'm so busy/distracted just keeping up with her every day that I am always forgetting what week of pregnancy I'm in. I told the woman I was either 32 or 33 weeks, and she just chuckled and said "I know what you mean." I checked my profile on babycenter.com this morning, though, and it says I am 33 weeks pregnant today. So there you go. 7 weeks left. Does anyone else think that is absolutely crazy? I have another check-up with my doctor tomorrow morning, so I'll try do my "main" update post with a belly picture sometime tomorrow afternoon/evening. For now, though, I'm just trying not to totally freak out on how close my due date is. I didn't even realize until a few days ago that Thanksgiving is THIS THURSDAY. Hello! Where on earth has this year gone?! It seriously feels like just a few weeks ago, I was sitting right here on the couch working on a blog post and watching TV, waiting for the ball to drop to ring in the new year. And now it's already time for Thanksgiving? I just really don't see how it's possible. I was told that time seems to go by faster and faster the older you get, and I'm really starting to believe it. A year has NEVER flown by to me as quickly as this year has. It's just absolutely insane. Anyway, I'm excited about the holidays, but I almost forget about them half the time because my mind is so focused on the fact that I'm going to be having a baby soon. I mean, I'm due exactly two weeks after Christmas - if I can even make it that long in the first place. This is going to be a CRAZY seven weeks, but I'm praying I can enjoy it as much as possible. That's definitely the plan.
I feel like we still have so much to do/get to prepare for Baby Ryan's arrival. We don't have a crib mattress for him yet. We don't have any diapers for him yet (and I think we're going to need some of those...). A few weeks ago, Jordan and I bought some paint for his room. I can't remember if I've posted about this yet or not, but our current guest bedroom, which will be Ryan's room once he's here, is the only room in our home that is painted. All the other rooms are either plain white (master bedroom and Rylee's room, living room, hallways, etc.) or wallpapered (kitchen and bathrooms), but for whatever reason, the previous owners felt the need to paint this one bedroom an absolutely HIDEOUS shade of red-ish, brown-ish, salmon-y YUCK. What made it even worse is that they painted a green ivy border around the top of the walls by the ceiling. I'm telling you, it was so UGLY. It would literally make me sick to my stomach just looking at it. We've lived here over a year now, and since we haven't used the room much at all thus far, I've been able to let it go. Now that I know I'll be going in there every day, though, I told Jordan I really couldn't stand to look at it anymore. I thought I wanted to paint it a light/soft shade of brown or tan... something neutral, but not just plain white. Jordan, however, wanted to paint it an actual color like a shade of green or blue. Like I said, though, I really wanted to keep it neutral in case we end up wanting to move the kids around in the future. So, we ultimately just decided to paint it white, since the other bedrooms are already white. If you want to get really technical, we picked out a gallon of Glidden's "Marshmallow White" shade. Like I said... it's white. Anyway, Jordan started painting it a couple weeks ago (I can't paint right now because of the fumes). He painted two coats (we bought a 2-in-1 paint and primer to make sure it would cover the previous color since it was pretty dark), and by the time he got to the second coat on the last wall, he was running really thin on paint. So, we ended up buying one more quart of paint to do some final touch-ups and whatnot. I'm so anxious for him to just get it done so we can move the furniture around and get everything set up. I know Ryan will be sleeping in a bassinet in our room for the first couple months at least, but I still want/feel the need to have his crib and everything set up in his room before he gets here. We also desperately need to get the closet in his room cleaned out so there's actually room for his stuff (right now, it's basically a "catch-all" closet), but we can't get it cleaned out until we get all the furniture moved back into place. So anyway, all of that has really been on my mind. I really wish I could just do all of it by myself so I didn't have to bother Jordan about it (he already works so hard all week... I hate for him to have to do all of this during the little bit of "free" time he has when he is home), but I can't. Hopefully we can get it all done in the next couple weeks. I plan to do a post with "before" and "after" pictures of the room when we are done with it. I also have hand-me-down clothes and toys I still want to go through before he's born. The list just goes on and on...
It's also about time to put our Christmas decorations up/out. Jordan was ready to decorate before Halloween! I love Christmas decorations, but I think it's a bit early to put them out before Halloween is even over. We will most likely be putting everything up this Wednesday evening after Jordan gets home from work. If we don't do it then, it might not get done at all because of the busyness of the holidays. I'm praying Rylee won't mess with the tree too much... she was only 6 months old last Christmas, so it'll be interesting to see what she thinks of everything this year. I think if we can just make it through the holiday without her pulling the tree down or breaking any ornaments, we'll have done good.
This past Thursday night (November 17th), my mom and I got to see comedian Chonda Pierce and singer/songwriter Warren Barfield in concert at First Baptist Church in Montgomery. My mom won tickets for the show from Faith Radio, and she invited me to be her "date". It was a fun evening out with her, complete with LOTS of laughs, as well as a few tears. This past week, we had several days where the weather was very gloomy/rainy, and it really affected my mood (it's amazing how a lack of sunshine can pull me down that much), so it felt good to laugh like that. Chonda Pierce is one funny lady, and Warren has a great sense of humor as well. It was a much-needed "break" for me. Here's a picture of my mom and me before the concert started:

I wrote a letter to our Compassion International sponsor child, Findley, this past week. I don't write him nearly as often as I should, and I really want to get better at that. He is such a precious child, and I want him to know that we love and care about him and think about him often. In the letter, I told him a little more about our family, and I sent him a few pictures - one of our cat, since we named her Haiti after his country; one of Jordan, me, and Rylee; and one of the ultrasound pictures of Ryan. Findley's 4th birthday is coming up on January 13th, and the one-year anniversary of our sponsorship of him is January 7th, so I'm hoping we'll get an updated picture of him soon.
My poor Rylee has been sick this week. She has a cold with a congested cough and a runny nose. She ran a fever the first few days, but I don't think she's had one since Thursday. Her nose isn't nearly as runny as it was at the beginning of the week, but she's still coughing pretty badly. I wish there was some medicine I could give her to help with it, but there's not because she's too young. We just have to let it run its course. I've had a bit of a stuffy nose for a couple days now, too, but so far that's about it, so I'm hoping it doesn't get any worse. Thankfully, even though Rylee is sick, she's still been acting pretty much like her "normal" self (except maybe a bit more on the fussy side when she doesn't get her way or something). I snapped a few random pictures of her the other day. I asked her to smile at me, and this is the face she gave me:

She cracks me up. I did get a couple of pictures of her with a real smile on her face, but she was still being silly, because she had a blanket on her head. Then she got busy "talking" on her phone. Here are those pictures:

She's a mess. But I sure do love her to death. Anyway, that's about all I can think of for now. I just wanted to update a bit on some things other than just my pregnancy (even though I still think I took up the majority of this post talking about it). Like I mentioned earlier, I will try to return tomorrow with a belly picture and an update on how everything goes at my doctor appointment. Until then...

32 Weeks

Yesterday I entered my 32nd week of pregnancy. I feel like I'm starting to run out of things to say in these pregnancy update posts, because I really don't have any updates other than when I have doctor check-ups. Of course I'm still getting bigger every day, but I'm actually feeling pretty good overall, so I have no complaints. The only thing I can really ever think to say anymore is that I can't wait to have Baby Ryan here. In some ways, it is surreal to me that I'm due to have him in just 8 short weeks (I know they will FLY by, especially because of Thanksgiving and Christmas), but in other ways, it still feels like an eternity away. I've been anxious to meet him for quite a while now (of course), but after seeing his precious face in the 4-D ultrasound last week, that really did me in. I want him NOW. I know he still needs to "cook" for a few more weeks at least, but I will be good and ready to have him in my arms when it is time for him to make his grand entrance into this world. I know I'm not the only one who's anxious to meet him.
I will say, though, that as excited as I am for Ryan to be here, the reality of everything is slowly starting to sink in, and I've had a few days/nights where I've felt very overwhelmed and ended up having a good cry. It's just hard for me to picture how I'm going to juggle two children - a very active, attention-demanding toddler and a newborn baby - by myself all day long. Rylee is in the stage right now where she's wanting to climb all over us like we're her own personal jungle gyms, and there have been many times during this pregnancy where she's hurt me because she's pushed on my belly (and it always seems to be right in the middle of a Braxton Hicks contraction, which makes it ten times worse). Of course I know she's not meaning to hurt me... she's just wanting to play. It just scares me, because I picture what it'll be like when the baby is hungry and I'm trying to nurse him, and Rylee comes up and tries to climb on me, and she ends up accidentally hurting the baby. I struggle emotionally, because I know my special time with Rylee (as in, her being my only child and having my full attention) is quickly coming to an end. It makes me sad to think about her crying because she's wanting me to play with her, but I'm needing to tend to the baby for something. I know Rylee is still too young to understand what will be going on, and it just breaks my heart. I don't want her to think that Mommy is neglecting her. I know in time she will adjust, and we'll have a new "normal", but it's that time until she adjusts that I'm worried about. I know it might be silly for me to be concerned about all of this, because I don't actually know what it'll be like until we actually start living it. I just can't help but be concerned about it, because all of these thoughts and "What if's" are constantly running through my mind. It doesn't help that people always feel the need to tell me that I'm "really going to have my hands full". Um... I know this. Thanks for the encouragement. Don't get me wrong - I am very thankful to be able to stay home and take care of my babies, but it can be a very exhausting "job" just with one. How am I going to do it with two? I know I can contribute much of feeling like this to my crazy pregnancy hormones, and I also know that Satan is trying to discourage me and make me doubt my ability to "fulfill" God's calling on my life as a mom. I know God will be with me every day, and He won't give me more than I can handle. He will give me the strength to do what I need to do to take care of the precious gifts He has blessed me with. I just have to take it one day at a time, and I will learn. I will adjust, and before I know it, I won't remember what it was like to just have one child. I guess I'm just saying all of this in a round-about way of asking for prayers from anyone who may be reading this. Please pray that the Lord would continue to be with me through the remainder of my pregnancy that Ryan would grow big (but hopefully not TOO big...) and healthy and be ready for his arrival into this world. And pray that the Lord would prepare me for this next chapter in my life... as a mommy of TWO. Pray that I will trust Him and rely on Him for all my needs, and that I will find joy in each day and try to appreciate every second with my babies, even when I feel like I want to give up (because I know I will have those moments). I am SO excited about this next chapter in my life... but I am also very scared. Pray that God will give me peace and confidence. I know I can do all things through Him Who gives me strength (Phil. 4:13).
Anyway, I guess I'll stop rambling now. In closing, though, here's the belly picture my sweet hubby took of me last night:

Until next time...

31 Weeks/ 4-D Ultrasound Pics

Yesterday, I entered my 31st week of pregnancy. Once again, I wanted to wait until today to do this post because I had another check-up with my doctor this morning. We also had a 4-D ultrasound done. Before I get into that, though, here's the belly picture Jordan took of me (and Ryan) last night:

Now, on to my appointment this morning...
Thankfully, Jordan had one more option day off from UPS that he needed to use up before the week of Thanksgiving, so he was able to go with me and Rylee for the ultrasound part of the appointment. After waiting for a little while, the ultrasound tech called us back to a room and got everything set up to do the ultrasound. I was anxious to see if Ryan would "cooperate" for us and give us some good pictures. When we had the 4-D ultrasound done when I was pregnant with Rylee, she did not cooperate AT ALL the first time, so we ended up having to go back a few days later for a second attempt. Thankfully, we were able to get some really good pictures of her the second time, but I was hoping not to have to go back for a second attempt this time around, because Jordan would not be able to go with me. Anyway, almost immediately after the tech got the ultrasound wand on my belly, she said it looked like I had really good fluid, and she was confident we'd be able to get plenty of good pictures of Ryan. We did. Overall, I don't think we got quite as good of a variety of pictures of him as we did of Rylee, but she still got several good ones of him for us. I absolutely loved getting to see his precious face. He is so stinkin' cute it's not even funny. I know he's my kid, so of course I'm partial, but I'm telling you, he is adorable (as you will see in the pictures below). I really, really, really cannot wait to see him in person. The tech took a few quick measurements of him first before she really started focusing on getting pictures. After a minute, she asked me if I was diabetic. I told her no and asked her why she asked. She said he was a little chunkier than the average baby at this stage in pregnancy. She said it wasn't a bad thing by any means... he's just a big boy. According to the measurements she got, he already weighs 4lbs. 8oz. The "average" baby at 31 weeks gestation weighs about 3.3 pounds (according to BabyCenter.com). I told y'all he's a big boy! Anyway, then the tech checked his heart rate and asked me what I had eaten for breakfast. I told her I had chocolate chip pancakes, and she giggled and said it appeared that he liked them, because his heart rate was 160 beats per minute. I told her I wanted to make sure he would be nice and active for his photo shoot. It worked. So anyway, then the tech had her fun getting pictures of him. She kept saying how beautiful he was, which of course made my heart swell with pride. She's the same tech who did the 4-D ultrasound of Rylee, and I remember her telling us how beautiful Rylee was. And obviously she was right. (Okay, so I know she probably says that to everyone, but still... it feels good to hear it.) Anyway, she took 40 still shots and saved them to a CD for us, and she also recorded the entire ultrasound on a DVD for us. I debated how many of the still shots I would share in this post, but ultimately I just decided to upload all of them so I wouldn't have to try to pick out my "favorites". So, here they are... all 40 of them:

I'd say he's quite "proud"!

Ryan's sweet little feet

trying to hide his face with his right hand

perfect little ear

The ultrasound tech spanked him to try and get him to move, and he got upset! Poor baby!

big yawn

Look at that precious nose and those lips!

blowing kisses

starting to stick his tongue out

His eyes are open, but we can't really see them because of the angle.

sweet smile

another big yawn

It looks like we have another 3rd-generation thumb-sucker on the way!

sucking his thumb

sucking his thumb... and giving us "the bird"!

His eyes are open in this one too, but we still can't really see them because of the angle.

sticking his tongue out!

sweet boy

sticking his tongue out at us again!

Isn't he the cutest thing you've ever seen?! Oh my goodness, I cannot wait to get my hands on him! 9 more weeks... 9 more weeks...
Before I close, here's the quick update on me:
Dr. Dupre says I'm still "rocking and rolling". I passed my glucose test that I had done at my last appointment, so that's good. My blood pressure was good, as usual. My "height of fundus" measured 31 centimeters, which is right where it should be. I've gained 3 more pounds since my appointment two weeks ago (total pregnancy weight gain so far of 21 pounds), so I'm up to 128 pounds (fully clothed and with shoes on). And that's about it. I go back in two weeks on Monday, November 21st for my next check-up.
Until next time...