Week 37, Joe's Birthday and Pumpkins!

Today is a great day as we enter into Week 37 of Little Rosey's growth!  Each week that passes, we feel thankful that he's had the proper time to grow and we grow increasingly excited to meet him!  Especially after this week, we can feel confident because he'll officially be full-term.  Now, only time will tell!  

We had a busy week last week:  Joe's birthday, my Mom's birthday, our niece Cora's birthday, awaiting arrival of the new iPhone, a baby shower at Joe's work, all finished up by pumpkin carving.

We had a nice, quiet celebration of Joe's birthday this year.  We shared some cupcakes with some friends on Tuesday night (carrot cake, of course).  Thursday (his actual birthday) was nice as well.  Unfortunately I was quite low on energy Wednesday night and Thursday morning, so I failed to hang birthday signs throughout our apartment (like Sandy would have done) but I promised Joe I wouldn't be 8+ months pregnant next year on his birthday and would have more energy!  After work, Joe came to my office and took advantage of his first Omni massage.  I think he enjoyed it!  We then went to a Japanese restaurant that has been known in Seattle for the past 100 years.  He loved it and ordered all sorts of things that I'll stay far, far away from!  Joe's birthday gifts this year included some baby apparel, but I think he was okay with that!

Looks like we'll have another Illini and Steelers fan in the house!

Last night we had so much fun with a few friends carving pumpkins.  I can't even remember the last time I carved pumpkins, and we're quite satisfied/impressed with our final product!  Our friend Derek even baked 5 pumpkins worth of seeds!

And finally, we've been putting the finishing touches on our little guy's room.  I'm so excited to show you, but am holding out on taking a picture until it's finished...which will be soon!

We love you all and hope you are well!

You should really watch this...

Week 36, Swollen Ankles, & Nice People

Well, we're halfway though week 36, which means about 1 more week to go until our baby is fully cooked!  Of course, he could still simmer for 4 more weeks, but we've practically cleared all the hurdles now!  We are so happy!

And we're ready for him...ish.   His room is ready at least (I'll take some pictures) and we've got the smallest diapers you've ever seen!  

My body has kicked into another gear = discomfort.  I guess I avoided swollen feet until this point, but the other day I took off my socks and yelled to Joe because I'd never seen anything like it!  It's not a pleasant sight, nor does it feel wonderful.   It might be one of the downfalls of sitting at a desk all day.  I now feel the urge to hang upside down to balance back out. And sleeping is sort of obsolete at this point - sadly, for Joe as well.  Everyone tells us it's natures way of preparing us, but I think someone else said it best when they said "As far as I was concerned, no nature that was capable of giving chameleons the gift of disguise would be stupid enough to think that the cure for no sleep was more no sleep."  :)

Last week's birth class topic was breastfeeding.  We were definitely excited to learn more about it and how exactly that whole thing works.  I wasn't sure if I was just feeling particularly crabby that day, but the class was HORRIBLE.  Our teacher (who we love) was in Iceland for the week so there was a guest lactation specialist filling in.  It was just terrible.  It was certainly frustrating.  Maybe she's never taught before, and probably she should find a different avenue to help the breastfeeding world.  Anyways, I kind of assumed I was feeling disproportionally frustrated with it...until yesterday.  Yesterday we got an email from the organization who runs the class apologizing for the sub-par class and offering a make up!  I felt a little better about the complaining I did to Joe last week.  So we'll try again!

We had the privilege of meeting one of the world's special people this week.  We wanted to get our car seat inspected.  We knew you could go to the fire station, but there is also this woman known around Seattle as the "Car Seat Lady".  I decided to give her a call.  She is certified (in whatever you get certified in for this sort of thing) and does this voluntarily!  She will travel anywhere within 100 miles of the Space Needle to inspect your car seat - for free!  We kind of expected her to come, make sure we had it installed correctly, and leave.  She was with us for an hour filling us with all sorts of crazy information we never would have known!  It was awesome and pretty amazing that there are people in the world like her.

Well, tomorrow is birthday day for Joe!!!  Wish we were with you all to celebrate, but I'll be sure to take good care of him!

Love,

Robyn

Cyber Shower

Thought you'd enjoy some pictures from the cyber shower that the Kirkwood Girls threw for us!  Incidentally, made possible by Steve Jobs.  He made great things happen!

Wish we could have been there in person for the party...the cake and cookies looked really great on screen...but how fun!

Thank you to all who were there, the very generous gifts, and great surprise for my mom!

This might count as our 15 seconds of fame.

The Omni Group

Be inspired.

I'm very sad our little guy will miss out on living in the world with Steve Jobs.  But inspired to be a little more bold and a little more like him today.

"Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart."

-Steve Jobs

Week 35 Starts Today

I've learned a lot about pregnancy during pregnancy.  For example, I thought the end of pregnancy (other than being completely uncomfortable) was the easy part.  Fully grown baby = less to worry about.  In fact, the main thing that I was preparing to worry for was trying to get the baby out!!!  Hasn't exactly proven to be the case for us, but we're doing our best to go with the flow, trust God and the doctors.

We've had an exciting end phase to a long 9+ month process.   Everything is ok, just not exactly how we thought it would be at this point.  We are thankful and blessed that our guy is 34 weeks cooked, because if he decides to come early, he'll be alright.  We're hoping for at least a couple more weeks so that his lungs can get big and strong.  We'd prefer to hold him when he's born rather than have him in a nursery at the hospital.  We keep telling him that.  

We had another doctor this past weekend, and he was equally great.  While we were hanging out in the hospital, he birthed a baby nearby.  And right after the baby popped out, he grabbed his guitar and sang to the family!  How amazing is that!?  I wouldn't be sad if he delivered our baby and sang to us!

The last hospital visit we wrote about here, where we learned I was having contractions, kicked us into gear.  Some of our friends came and helped us paint the nursery and now there is a perfect, bright blue room ready for him when he comes home!  It made us feel better anyways.  He has a dresser full of cute baby clothes, enough blankets to keep him warm through the mild Seattle winter, and a carseat for us to bring him home in.  And, if anything, it reminded us again that we have great friends.

Yesterday we had the best cyber shower ever!  My mom's friends, the Kirkwood Girls, organized a baby shower for us, where we would participate through video chat on the computer!  And the best part, they covered it as a birthday party for my mom so she had no idea!  It was so much fun!   Who would have thought you could have a baby shower, where the only 2 people who were out of town for it were the people having the baby!!!  But it was perfect!

Joe is doing well.  He is pretty much awesome and more than anyone could ever ask for!   He's taking my couch-potato prescription (just for the weekend so far) seriously and has really been amazing.  Keeping me hydrated and fed.  Laundering, kitchen cleaning, taking my friend to the airport and off to work at 6 this morning!   LJ and I are going to owe him big when this is all said and done!   We are very lucky.

Well, we go back to the doctor today to figure out a plan for the next several weeks.

Thanks all for your love and support!  

Love,

Robyn