Tales of Our Very Non-Weekend Weekend

This past weekend, Chris and I signed up for a 12 hour crash course in parenting: 6 hours Saturday and 6 hours Sunday. We were out the door by 8am both days, leaving us more than a little sleepy come Monday morning. In exchange for our little rest and relaxation, there were a lot of pluses to this taking this course, the first one being that a lovely breakfast spread - consisting of bagels, fruit, yogurt, juice, and water - was served upon arrival both days :) The second obvious plus was that we really did learn A TON just from showing up. Our instructor was really fantastic. Very knowledgeable. She shared so much valuable information about labor and delivery, caesarean sections, vaginal births, epidurals, breast feeding, bottle feeding, home safety hazards, breathing exercises, timing contractions, how to preregister for the hospital, what to pack for the hospital, when to leave for the hospital, what to expect upon being admitted at the hospital, where to direct hospital visitors, diaper changing, swaddling, bath time, and much much more. We sat on the floor and practiced common breathing exercises including deep cleansing breaths and the shorter, faster "ahh-hee, ahh-hee, ahh-hees". We were also given life-like dolls (ours was a girl :)) and actually practiced changing diapers and swaddling our newborns with receiving blankets. A tour of the labor and delivery and mother-baby floors/rooms were also included in the course, as was an hour-long lunch break (plenty of time to hike it to Portillo's across the street!) and an afternoon snack tray filled with cheese and crackers, veggies, yogurt, cookies, and more juice and water. I think we were both pretty wiped out by the end of the weekend, but Sunday ended on a high note: Our friends - Jim and Sylvia - who are also expecting this summer, met us for a late afternoon showing of the new movie, What to Expect When You're Expecting. It definitely had it's share of funny and sad moments ... super cute overall :)

Happy 89th Birthday, Great-Grammy!

5.19.12

Cheers to Mr. and Mrs. Kevin Casey!

5.12.12

Good friends of ours, Kevin Casey and Katie Van Deventer, got married about a week and a half ago at the St. Alponsus Catholic church of Chicago. Drinks, dinner, and dancing followed at Gibsons Steakhouse downtown. Chickie and I made it out on the dance floor for a few songs and enjoyed plenty of lime and sprites. Chris's knees made it to the dance floor during every song and enjoyed having their d.d. for the night escort them home before any major injuries occurred :) Much thanks to Kara for loaning me one of her maternity dresses for the night! When you're 8 months pregnant, black has a way of making everything better :)

Winter Melon

We still have 3 weeks to go, yet Chickie has already reached full term! He/she has fully developed, and will only continue to grow stronger throughout the rest of the month and into June. Thebump.com said that a lot of moms-to-be find themselves scrubbing their floors around week 37. What's hilarious about this is it's incredible accuracy. As soon as I got home from work yesterday, I threw all the bathroom rugs in the washer - grabbed the broom, dustpan, swifter, mop, and cleansers - and began the impossible process of trying to make this place spotless. When Chris came home from work, he joined in my efforts and was a huge help - especially with the bathtubs - since it's getting pretty hard for me to bend over these days, plus I really shouldn't be around too many chemicals at once. Thebump.com said that the reason many women do this around week 37 is that their nesting instinct really begins to kick in as their bodies sense that baby will be here shortly. It's also the brain's way of making sure their prepared for just about anything so they can feel like they have an extra edge on this whole new parenting thing. Although we still have a lot of cleaning left to do, it was SO NICE to get ready this morning in my beautiful, sparkling bathroom! After work, my mom and I have pedicure appointments :) ... ahhhhh, Friday is finally here.

Enjoy!

We HEART Chickie! (Part 3)

Don't expect to hear any news regarding pink or blue, stork or caesarean, at least in the next week or so. Now that I'm almost 37 weeks, weekly visits to the doctor is a must, yet I left rest assured today that this baby is cooperating with Mommy's work schedule and will not be joining us anytime soon :) I was so relieved to hear that as I'm really hoping to make it through the rest of the school year so that I can enjoy a nice, long maternity leave come summer and fall.

Other things worth noting:

• Chickie's heart rate is back up to 140 bpm. It had been in the 130s and 120s at our last two visits. I'm still not sure if this means anything (actually I'm pretty sure it means absolutely NOTHING), but it's always fun to keep track and see how accurate the old wives tales are for us. They say that if the baby has a high heart rate (i.e. above 140), it's going to be a girl.
• Chickie is still turned head down, just like the doctor wants him/her to be.
• Chickie's bump is a good size, suggesting that he/she is growing just fine!
• The results are in and I'm NOT anemic ... woo hoo! :)
• They also performed a Strep B test ... results are expected within the week ...

Happy Mother's Day!!

Our "Larger" Sweet Honeydew?

So, thebump.com told me that Chickie was roughly the size of a honeydew melon around 33 weeks, and apparently they liked this fruit so much that they decided to use it again. At 36 weeks, Chickie is once again the size of a honeydew melon, just a larger, more riper one? Exactly 4 weeks from today marks my last day of work for the school year, and I'm crossing my fingers that Chickie holds out at least that long. We have so much to do between now and then that we really do need all the time we can get. Last night I washed all of Chickie's bedding so that we could finally put the mattress in the crib. While I was busy doing that, Chris put together the pack-n-play in the living room, as well as the car seat. We also went out to Babies R Us and bought a second car seat loading station so that we can have one in each of our cars, as well as two car mirrors, and a small bin to hold stuffed animals in Chickie's nursery. We're getting there, slowly put surely ...