Thanksgiving and the Nursery

With only four and a half weeks left, it is finally starting to hit us that we're having a baby.  There is actually going to be another person living here in just a few weeks, and I realized the other day while Ben was out of town that I may never stay at home by myself again.  So, at this point I am trying not to panic about all the things  I haven't yet done and just enjoy the final few weeks of freedom from being responsible for Noah.  That is easier said than done, however, because there seems to be so many projects I haven't tackled, including cleaning out the rest of our closets, cleaning out the fridge and pantry, packing my hospital bag and organizing all of Noah's clothes.  At least I am finished washing his clothes, so if he does surprise us by coming early, then he will have clean things to wear.  The saving grace with all of this is that I only have 6 more days of work, so once next Friday rolls around, I can really focus on his impending arrival as well as finish my Christmas shopping.

I am now 35 and a half weeks, and that makes Noah a little over five and a half pounds.  He is approximately the size of a honeydew melon, and while it is (sometimes) hard to imagine that I'm actually carrying that around, when I look at myself in the mirror I do realize how huge I look and that I'm getting bigger every day.  He is still pretty active and gets the hiccups a lot and my only complaints continue to be not sleeping and the occasional heartburn.  

I am happy to announce that we've checked one item off our to do list...finish the nursery!  It was hard to get good pictures but I did my best.  We still have the wall about his dresser to fill, and I think we'll do either his birth details (you can get really cute prints with all the details on etsy, my favorite place to shop) or some of his newborn pictures.

Two other items we crossed off our list were picking a pediatrician and touring the hospital.  We get the meet the pediatrician in early December (not that I have any idea what to ask him), and hopefully he will be at the hospital when Noah's born.  Our hospital tour went well, and I figure that in the midst of us panicking when I am actually in labor we will hopefully remember one or two things they told us like where to park and where to check in.

We also got to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family in Ellijay, GA, which is a small town in the mountains about an hour north west of Atlanta.  Jake was here for a full week, and we spent three nights in the mountains with my parents and the dogs.  We didn't fall in love with our cabin (mainly due to the large number of bugs), but the view was pretty and we had fun spending time together and eating really good food.  My mom and I did some shopping on Black Friday at the outlets, and then Jake and I did more shopping when we got back to Atlanta, so I am happy to say that I'm at least half way done with my shopping!   And speaking of Christmas, we also got our tree and plan to decorate this weekend.

weeks 32 and 33 & my chapel hill shower

At almost 34 weeks, Noah has made it further along than I did (I was born at 32 weeks).  He is the size of an average cantaloupe, weighing 4 3/4 pounds.  It is hard to imagine that something that big fits into me and that he is getting so much bigger each week (he gains approximately 1/2 a pound per week).  On our second to last (yay!) ultrasound this morning, the tech confirmed he has a full head of hair, which explains the heartburn I have been having.  Of all the crazy things you hear about pregnancy symptoms, it sounds like this link may be true (Johns Hopkins thinks so at least -http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/20/health/20really.html).  Since he is so big (well technically average), the ultrasound pictures aren't great.  He still loves to cover his face with his hands, so this is the best profile picture we could get. And, yes, we realize his lips and nose look huge, but they promised he has a cute button nose.  We'll see...

34 weeks

Also, I have gotten several requests for a belly picture, so here I am:

34 weeks

Besides getting bigger each week, I feel pretty great.  Sleeping is still a  pain because I can't get comfortable, and both Ben and I caught colds this weeks, so the congestion has made sleeping even harder, but otherwise I feel as good as ever.  I keep waiting to feel worse, and maybe/hopefully I will be lucky enough to feel good until the end (famous last words?).  I will say that I have been extremely hot, so the start of winter couldn't come at a better time.  Poor George, Nibby and Ben (especially Nibby who hates the cold), are dying at our house because I keep turning the heat off.  I figure at least I'm saving money on the heating bill, and we can use that to buy the 10-12 diapers he will apparently go through every day.

Noah and I have had a pretty eventful couple of weeks.  Nesting has hit in full effect, so the disorganization of the closets and refrigerator at home are driving me crazy, which in turn is driving Ben crazy.  Ben was out of town last weekend visiting his family, and that gave me a chance to revamp all 3 closets downstairs.  The container store may become my home away from home for the next 6 weeks - it is basically a dream come true for someone who can't stand clutter.  I have several more projects lined up, so as soon as I'm done with work (12 more days!), I will get started.

Two weekends ago, Leni, Leslie, Jess, Kristen and Heather threw me a baby shower in Chapel Hill.  There were lots of amazing decorations, delicious food and fun games.  Noah and I are so blessed to have such great friends and overwhelmed by everything they have done for us.  We also are grateful to now be almost fully stocked with the baby items we think we need (yes, I expect we have plenty of things we don't need and that there are a million things I don't yet know that we need). 

The Nibby has helped us test out some of our gifts, namely some outfits and our stroller.  As you can see, he is definitely larger than a 0-3 month old baby.  I think he might be more in the 9-12 month size.

While I was in Chapel Hill, I got to see baby Annabelle again, who is still doing great (although she is keeping Leni up most of the night), and that same weekend was Madison's first birthday, so we got to celebrate with her.  It is hard to believe that just a year ago she was born - Noah will be able to learn a lot from her, and he is certainly meant to be with an older woman.