Building the Baby's Room

If this can be any indication, this was our starting point. This is the closet as we began to work on the nursery. In this picture, the closet doors have already been removed, the twin size bed has been taken to the basement. We were on our way to making some drastic changes. Thanks go out to Ann, Trevor and Ramsey for helping us by getting a box and power added to this room and the one next door. A central light and fan will keep the room nice and cozy.

While Kelly was at her shower, Alex helped add the pink and brown border around the top of the room. Here is the changing table. We will still be installing shelves above this. We got a whole bunch of books from the baby shower guests.

A nice little shot of the corner that shares the crib and the closet.

Finally, the closet. I have heard that this little girl will be consumed by shoes, clothes, jewelry, and more. Why not start with a cute but functional closet. We still need to find some cubby baskets to add to the small shelf on the left. The hanging bars will work for up to 3T clothing as indicated by the Bears cheerleader outfit on the center bar.

We still have some details to wrap up in this room, but we will have them done in no time. I hope the little one likes it when she finally arrives. Mom is currently setting up the closet. Who knows when she will be heading to bed.

As we finish up, we will add more pictures.

See you soon!

Patrick

Baby Shower

I want to thank everyone who participated in the baby shower. From planning to attendance it turned out fabulous!
Games that were played: Guess how big Kelly's belly is (using toilet paper), make a baby out of Play-doh - congrats Heidi and Krystal on the best and worst baby and of course gift BINGO.

I am no longer worried that our little girl will have no clothes. She has tons! I don't think I can possibly put her in all the outfits that she received. They are all so cute!!! I love little girls clothing. I actually told Pat last night that I didn't think I would pick up anymore clothes for her until after she is born.... will I actually stick to that.. Pat doesn't have a lot of faith.

We also have a good collection of books started. She is going to be one well read to baby.

Favorite part about the shower - seeing everyone! It was a great mix of people and I really do think everyone had a lot of fun.

I'll post pictures once we have them -
Kelly

CBE - Day One

Child Birth Education

Day One
1. Meet RN Claudette
2. Pay money
3. Fill out a form
4. (Men) State your name, due date, and why you are here. (Women) State your name, your Dr. and best/worst thing about being pregnant.
5. See various parts of anatomy in pictures and other visual aids
6. Sit on the floor and learn to relax and breath.
7. Kegels

Well, the night was quite a bit like the above schedule, but it was much more enjoyable. Much like Kelly, three women had no illness while the other six were very sick. It was almost like there was no middle ground. It is like 6 people picked up the slack for the 4 that didn't get sick. I did see a couple of eyes roll when Kelly said it has been the perfect pregnancy and she is enjoying every moment of it... except heartburn.

We went over the folder that has all the info in it. One particular piece of information that will be discussed in great detail is pre-term labor. Our RN will make a very big deal of it in every class that we have, because lets face it, it is a serious topic. We also got registration forms for the birthing center that we could fill out at home, make copies of course, and then mail it in. Sadly, as advanced as the New Sherman Hospital is, they still have forms with the old address on them, so we cannot mail this form in without covering the old and entering the new.

Skipping ahead, the most entertaining part of the evening was the relaxation and breathing exercises. We have 10 couples in class and I think the hospital needs to move the tables towards the speaker's area about 2 feet. Then we will all fit comfortably. The first thing we learned in this exercise was to give massages. The ladies sat in front of their men and were massaged for about 5 -10 minutes. Then the RN declared "turnabout is fair play, it is the guys turn..." for 47 seconds. Oh well, instead of a massage, I took a nice little back scratch. That relaxed me enough, gave me goose bumps too.

It was then time to go to our happy/special place. For about 3 minutes, it was very difficult for me to focus on anything other than Adam Sandler and Carl Weathers in Happy Gilmore (great flick if I do say so myself) rather than my own happy/special place. I learned 2 things. First, I have two special places. One is much like the blank white room in the Matrix (without the architect or tv screens) or a place we used to call the dirt hills when I was a very young boy. Second, my wife does not have a happy/special place that pops out to her instantly. While we were meditating, we were instructed to use all 5 senses. Apparently doing so helps block out pain and other things that can reduce your focus or hinder your relaxation. Oh another relaxation technique is to flex muscles. Word of advise to anyone who wants to try this... don't over do it, you just give yourself cramps.

Breathing was very basic tonight. Slow Paced Breathing... in then out, in then out...

Kegels... we all did them... and now I need to remember that at a specific time, I need to tell my wife to go to the basement... something I found I could not do. Hopefully when the appropriate time comes, I will remember to tell her.

I am looking forward to class next week. I cannot remember what we will be discussing, but I really just want to get to the relaxation and breathing exercises again.

Patrick

Getting Ready

As you may have heard, we entered week 30 on Thursday. We are almost at single digits on the countdown. Time has been flying by.

I spent a portion of the day procrastinating, but I finally started painting the nursery. We finally chose an Antique White for the walls. It was a little darker than we thought it would be when we looked at samples in the store. That was a nice surprise. We wanted to have a darker neutral color that could go with her pink and brown bedding. This should work. It better work, I spent $47 on paint... still have part of the first can because the paint covered really well. I know that should be a good thing, but I planned on the paint being the same as our last bucket of Behr paint was. It seemed to take forever to cover a blue wall.

Well, the first coat looks successful so far. We will have to wait until daylight to see how well it covered. I do need to touch up at the ceiling line. The coverage was a bit light up there as I was trying not to get too much on the ceiling. After my touch ups, I will put up the border. hopefully that goes well and I will be able to show off some pictures.

It is coming along... I am feeling more and more prepared. Hopefully Kelly is too.

See you soon!

Patrick

Week 30

We've entered week 30. 10 or so left to go. It's hard to believe we've come this far. Here's a few things that are happening ....



1. Pat's upstairs right now painting the nursery. I'll share pictures when it's completed. I'm hoping to have the majority of it done by this weekend because our shower is Saturday! I'd like to be able to put things away where they belong after I bring them home.



2. Our shower is Saturday! Jen and Molly are coming in Thursday from Ohio (I cant wait to hug little miss Molly). My sister Keri, Shawn and Bennett (husband and son) and my mom are driving in from Louisville on Thursday. It will be so nice to see them again.
Thanks to everyone who has helped with the shower - it's going to be fantastic!


3. We start our Childbirth Education Classes on Tuesday night. The thought of overwhelming knowledge is creeping in. I'm not sure I'm ready for videos -



4. Thanks to Dr. Bryant (my friend Stephanie) I was able to tell where the baby was laying. As of Friday night her head was down and to the left and her butt was up and to the right. - She sleeps like her father - SLANTED!

Week 29

We entered week 29 yesterday - 11 left. It still seems so far away, yet almost here. It will really start hitting me when we get her room started / finished.

We're in the process of checking out daycare providers. We're looking more for "in home" than a center and it's proving challenging. So far the two places we've gone to didn't impress us much at all. I have more set up for Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. I know I've technically got until July but it would be nice to check this off our list.

I went to the doctor today - exciting news - we've now moved to apts every 2 weeks! My blood pressure was very good and I am measuring spot on. She's moving quite a bit now ... it's such a nice feeling.

And we enter the home stretch!

Here we are - Week 28 - entering the third trimester and our home stretch!
Overall this pregnancy has been a breeze. It was easy getting pregnant - there was no morning sickness - I don't believe I've been too moody (but you'll have to ask Pat) & I'm feeling great.

12 weeks left..... I can't believe it. Maybe it's time to freak out now!