Baby Update: Weeks 28 & 29

Week 28

As of tomorrow, Aug. 8th, I will be 29 weeks along and entering my third trimester! I went to my last doctor's appointment on Friday, July 28th, and took my blood glucose test that day. That's the test that makes sure you are processing sugars correctly and don't have gestational diabetes. Well, I just got the results today and I guess I was just above the cut-off score, so I have to go back next Monday and do the 3-hour follow-up test (the first took only 1 hour). I doubt I have gestational diabetes as my belly has actually been measuring small and most babies born to mothers with diabetes end up being larger than average. I will keep you posted, though. Much more fun will be our second ultrasound this Friday. This is to make sure my placenta is not too low and to check the bambino's measurements since I am measuring a week small (again!). Plus, we'll get to double-check the gender. I will post the sonogram pics this weekend so stay tuned!

North Dakota is beautiful in the summer - Our June trip back home

I have not been keeping this blog up too well in the last month. Believe me, it was a busy one, so I will try to bring you all up to speed. First, Scott & I traveled back to our home towns June 16th-26th for Scott's brother Byron's wedding as well as a baby shower my cousin Tyla put on for me. Although North Dakota is now feeling the same heat wave we are down in Kansas City, back in June the weather up there was perfect, except for some high winds on a few days. It was in the 70's and 80's with truly cool evenings (we don't get those in Kansas/Missouri past April or May). Scott & I joked that we should winter in KC and spend our summers in ND:) Here's a run-down of the events of our vacation:

My Shower

As I mentioned, my cousin, Tyla Wilson, threw me a lovely baby shower in Dickinson on June 17th. Many of my aunts, cousins, and friends from the area along with my mom, of course, made it. It was so wonderful to see everyone and share my excitement over my impending motherhood with them. I received many lovely gifts for which I am still writing thank you notes. I really need to get caught up! Thanks everyone - I promise the notes will be in the mail soon!

Byron & Becky's Wedding

Scott's little bro, Byron, married Becky Grant on June 24th. Scott was the best man. It was a lovely wedding complete with some of the best and most unique wedding music I've been privy to. Scott & Byron's father, Bob, sang a George Strait song (see Scott, I told you we should have asked him to sing for our wedding - I guess Byron has more guts than you!). And Byron, the diehard Guns 'N Roses fan, had 2 friends of his perform November Rain and very well I might add! I think I can safely say that all involved had lots of fun. I enjoyed meeting Becky's family who are a warm and friendly bunch. I also enjoyed seeing my best friend, Tiffanni Wax, who came all the way from Dickinson to spend more time with me as well as her sister, Terra, who lives in Minot. Terra brought her new baby girl, McKenna, to the wedding dance to visit me, and she is so precious!

So, it was a great vacation, other than the 28 hours of driving!

The end of my internship

Monday, July 31st at 5pm marked the end of a very important year in my life. It was the end of my internship at FSGC in Topeka, KS. It was a great year, but it is exciting to be done. Not only I am done with the second to last requirement for my Ph.D. degree, but it also leaves me free time now to focus on and prepare for my baby's arrival in a few months. I won't miss the long work hours and being away from my husband, but I will miss the kids and families I worked with, my wonderful co-workers, the many learning experiences, and the wonderful feeling my work brought me. I will very much miss my great friends and fellow interns, Molly and Trish. I already miss talking to them and sharing pregnancy woes with Trish who is also pregnant. I had so many mixed feelings at the end that I was teary on a regular basis, and it was not due soley to my pregnancy hormones. It really was a great year and I will miss so many of these people.

I was very touched when my thoughtful brother sent me a beautiful bouquet of lillies to congratulate me on my accomplishment. It meant so much to me that he realized how important this step was for me. My lovely husband also helped me celebrate by taking me out to dinner. It will be hard for me not to be working full time for the coming year, but I shouldn't complain! I took the rest of last week off by giving myself a mini-vacation. Now it's on to baby prep and more dissertation work!

Pictures of my growing belly

Enjoy!

24 weeks

20 weeks

12 weeks

8 weeks

Preview of the nursery

Hi again! I should really write in here more often, right? Anyway, if I ever get around to it, I will post some pics of my burgeoning belly, but for now you'll have to settle for a schematic of how our nursery will soon look, the key word being soon. See, Scott & I will be taking off this Friday for good old North Dakota for a week+ vacation, so that nursery ain't changing or progressing anytime in the near future. But yes, there are plans. Oh, are there plans! Anyone who knows me knows I am full of plans. Plus, I had dreams of being an interior designer when I was a youngster, so I love to decorate. You might also be interested to know that I am a fairly proficient ebay shopper, and boy am I glad of that. Have any of you taken a look at the cost of nursery bedding sets lately? They are outrageous!!! So, ebay has been my source of higher end nursery decor and bedding at a much-cheaper-than-retail price. Check out the set I just won on ebay below. It's a Pottery Barn Kids set that would have sold for hundreds of dollars at the store. As red and blue are my favorite colors, I fell in love with it right away. Plus, it doesn't dictate a particular theme and it's fairly boy or girl neutral so we could use it for our next child, whenever that may be.

Do note that I do plan on adding a bit of a theme to the room, but if I put it in this post, my mother-in-law would find out the gender of the baby so I'll have to post some pics of the "themed" decor we will add to the walls and such to the Annex website for you fellow decorators out there. I think the room will be cute but not too typical baby - you know, full of pastels and teddy bears. That's just not Scott or my taste. But, this set does have gingham fabric (the checkered print) which is pretty common in baby decor and ric rac trim so it has a bit of a vintage feel to it, just like I like. It should go nicely with the turned spindle crib we've picked out, too. Check it out!