Mommy & Baby at 35 weeks!

Just over a month to go!

What a beautiful morning! The sun is shining and it's supposed to be in the 50's today:) I'm so thankful for weather like this so that I can get outside and go for walks! I think our little peanut likes spring too, he/she is more active than ever. I rarely have to think about counting kicks or movements because peanut is on the move frequently! I'm hoping this means he/she is ready for life outside my tummy and wont keep us waiting too long.
Before I forget, RJ and I want to thank everyone for all of you who came to our baby shower on saturday and for the wonderful gifts for Baby Van. It was a such a great turn out and we received some wonderful supplies for life when baby gets here. A special thank you to my sister Danielle and cousin Lacie for planning the shower. It was so nice!! The shower featured an adorable Teddy Bear theme and everything was adorable:) It was very interesting to hear all of the predictions on Baby's gender, size and arrival date:) Just for kicks and giggles; there were 14 votes for baby boy and 9 votes for baby girl. 18 ladies thought Baby would come early, 1 predicted my due date exactly, and 5 guessed he/she would be a few days late. Just some interesting tidbits to ponder as we wait out these last weeks.
I have been feeling pretty good lately, minus these pesky migraines still sneaking up on me every so often. I had another one yesterday and they are just no fun at all. But I try to remember that there are so many things that could be going wrong in pregnancy, I am thankful that nasty headaches are one of the few things I've had to deal with. Along with the normal things like, waking up several times a night for bathroom breaks and trying to find a more comfortable position to lay in. (Imagine strapping a basketball onto the front of your stomach and trying to get comfy while not being allowed to lay on your back.) My legs, ankles, and feet have been increasingly tired and sore lately. But again, pretty normal and expected. I'm still working my normal schedule at the salon, and hope to do so untill as close as possible to D-day. I think being active has helped keep me feeling good, keeping things moving along, and also help me keep my sanity so I don't sit around worrying and fretting about all the changes that will be taking place soon.
My doctors appointments have been going well and we have another one today. So wish us luck! Afterwords, we're going to the hospital to get our pre-admitting done so that when we show up for munchkin's arrival there will be minimal paper work to complete.
Happy Spring to each of you! And we appreciate you all keeping us in your prayers as the day that we become parents gets closer and closer!!

Nursery

Another week closer!

The snow is melting!!:) I am so happy to see that spring is finally coming! We can see our deck for the first time almost since we moved here! The sunshine we had last week does wonders for my spirit and mood, and it makes me that much more anxious for spring time and being outside again, (not bundled up under coats, hats, and gloves, that is)
And we are yet another week closer to the arrival of little Van Dyke and for some reason my desire to know the gender has been driving me crazy lately. It kind of did in the beginning and then I became fairly content with not knowing, until recently. Many people have asked me what my "mothers intuition" is and I will tell you although I don't have a lot of confidence in my answer as I could see it going either way. But here it is anywho, GIRL, is my prediction. In my curiosity I also put up a survey on my blog here for everyone to vote on what they think our baby's gender is. So please vote!
We've made some great progress in Baby's nursery lately, and I will try to get some pictures up soon, depending on how busy I get today. But the changing table is painted and last week we put up some writing on the walls which turned out great. I'm loving the way it is coming together:) We also had a drs appointment yesterday in which everything went great. Baby is active and we are right on schedule growth-wise. Baby is head down (YES!), butt up, back turned to my left side, with his/her arms and legs punching and kicking apart my right side. And as of now we will be going every 2 weeks for a little while and shortly thereafter, every week until Little One arrives.
This past saturday RJ, Baby, & I all attended our childbirth class as well. It was an all day class with a whole lot of information! I think RJ was a bit more overwhelmed than I was, (you know, with the videos and such;) And I felt encouraged realizing how positive an experience it can be with a great support person, (which I truly believe I have in RJ) All in all I think we both felt more prepared and comfortable with having our baby in Grinnell. We got to take a tour of the OB and got a better understanding on how the whole process typically goes at the hospital.
Well I believe that pretty much sums up my thoughts for now, so much to process before Baby enters our world. I pray God blesses each one of us with a safe, healthy, and wonderful rest of the week!!!

32 Weeks & counting!

Hello hello to all! As my husband pointed out to me earlier, it has been awhile since I've done any blogging. Although I must say it has been a crazy last couple of weeks. Where to begin??.......
If you read my last posting you may remember my mentioning a puppy......long story short....it didn't work out. We weren't able to get the puppy we originally spoke for and ended up with a 1 year old setter who stayed with us a total of 5 days. As crazy as it probably sounded to most everyone, we thought we were making a fairly smart decision going with an older dog who had already had the basic training done. He wasn't a bad dog but a combination of things helped us clearly see that it was not meant to be and that now is just a bad time of year and time in our lives for a doggy-addition to our family. I will highlight a few of these, (feel free to laugh, cry, and roll your eyes.) 1. Dog slobbered uncontrollably 2. He left hair all over everything (much worse than our kitty) 3. Dog terrorizes cat, leaving cat not eating or drinking for days 4. Dog has accidents in the house even after being outside 5. Dog barks CONSTANTLY especiallyl throughout the night (tho previous owners say he doesn't bark) All in all it was a lessoned learned by both of us and we feel much better knowing the dog is in a home better suited for him (thanks to our friends Jon & Liz Grandon) and we can now focus on preparing ourselves and our household for the arrival of Baby Van Dyke in a slobber-free and quiet home, at least for the time being;)
While on the topic of our amazing child, i will just say that it is feeling more and more real all the time! Baby is growing (as is my waistline, or lack there of). He/she has much more defined sleep/awake cycles, and the once cute little kicks have grown into bigger rolls and wave-like movements and I am just more aware all the time of the little human being growing inside of me:) I am having more trouble staying comfortable, especially at night between my near hourly trips to the bathroom. It seems baby is much lower now than he/she had been, which I'm sure is due to the rapid growth of baby and shrinking area baby has inside my tummy.
RJ is wonderful as usual to both of us and has just been such a great support to me throughout the pregnancy with all the changes that are taking place. I am especially thankful for his lack of complaining and pointing out that I've been doing much less laundry and cooking, and much more time sleeping and being forgetful. He continues to encourage me to take it easy and compliment the things I do get done, while he works so hard everyday. I am also thankful to God for such a nice weekend we had. Spending friday evening with Chase, Lance, & Collin and Saturday evening with my family after Dani and Mom's safe return from Texico. Yesterday we headed to Des Moines after church and met RJ's mom and uncle Al and grandma Joni for lunch at Chili's. (Strawberry lemonade, bbq pork, and red velvet cake absolutely rocked my world!) And we ended the day with some awesome worship at BIG.
I suppose I have rambled on long enough, although I feel like I have left out so much. Maybe if I do this more often there will be less for me to say:) hahaha We'll see how that goes, but for now God Bless each and every one of you. I pray that like me, you can stirve daily to put your relationship with Him FIRST in your life.