Single digit countdown continues... 7 1/2 weeks

As of last Tues things were still going good. I had been having a lot of cramping but everything checked out fine and it was determined that it's just because of her low positioning! My blood pressure is slowly climbing, but I'm just now at 120/62. Which yes is pretty high for me, considering I'm doing good to break 100, but it's still considered normal at this point! I will say she must be packing on the pounds. I've gained about 7 lbs in 3 weeks or so. Again they say they are not concerned, since i was slow to gain in the beginning and have still only gained at total of 17 lbs. My luck I will have had a c-section for a tiny 6lbs 5oz baby and this time that I'm going for a VBAC I'll end up with a 9+ pounder!

We did get sad news that Andrew will NOT be allowed to visit us in the hospital. Because of the H1N1, the hospital is restricting any visitors under the age of 12. I cried off and on for a full day about it. It breaks my heart to think he won't be one of the first people to meet her. And now I'm praying for a VBAC even more, so I'll only have to be in the hospital for 2 days instead of 4. I can't imagine not seeing him for 4 days. I don't think he even knew it was possible to come visit us at the hospital before, we hadn't really talked about it much, so it won't be as hard for him as it was for me! :) My mom is going to bring her laptop with webcam for us to use at the hospital, so we can video chat with him.

He is so excited. He's always saying how he wishes she was already here. And when he talks to her he tells her all about the things she's going to get to do and see and the people she will get to meet! Just about every store we go into he finds something that he wants to buy her! :)

Monica's room is SLOWLY but surely coming along! It's about half way cleared out from being a computer room. We got her changing table and dresser on Thur (gotta love craigslist), and I've hung up most of her clothes. Hopefully the two weeks I'm off around Thanksgiving, I'll be able to finish up clearing out the room, steam clean the carpets and maybe, just maybe get to start painting! :)

Well here are the most recent "belly" pics at 32 1/2 weeks. In a few weeks we have a professional photo session set up to take maternity pics so I will post those as soon as I get them!

Trick or Treat Fun!

This year Andrew grew his own pumpkins in HIS garden. They were a little small becuase we had to pick them early so they didn't freeze and turn to mush with the first snow (first week of Oct.) Some friends of our gave Andrew an adorable pumpkin decorating kit. We called them "Mr. Pumpkin Heads" (aka mr. potato heads) They were alot of fun! And much less messy and smelly then carving pumpkins.

This is a gourd Andrew finger painted at school. Since we had left over pieces, we decided to put a face on this one too. It turned out to be our favorite! :)

This year instead of staying home we went to our friend's house and the kids went trick or treating together then after bedtime, the adults had fun hanging out and playing games!

My "cheesy" Lion

Cooper. He was supposed to be a Rodeo Clown, but he refused to wear the clown nose make up so he turned out to be a cowboy instead.

Laurel the Cat (you'll see her tail in the next pic) and Gabe the chubby monkey!

Laurel and ANdrew walking. I just had to get a pic of the tail!

The men stayed at the house and handed out candy while the mom's took the kids trick or treating.

Andrew preschool class party. Unfortunately my camera batteries died so this is the only pic I got! :( There are two Andrew's in his class and both chose to be Lions this year.

Big Brother...

I'm amazed each day how involved Andrew is in the pregnancy. He's always asking how I'm doing, and how Monica Grace is. He wants to hug and kiss her first thing in the morning and last thing at night. I told him last week that she could hear him talk to her so now he will randomly comes over and tell her things or sing her songs. Last night he heard something on a commercial and came over and said he needed to tell Monica Grace a secret. "Monica Grace did you know cupcakes are made for fun?" It was adorable! I've tried to tell him he doesn't have to say Monica Grace all the time. He can call her just Monica, but he says he likes Monica Grace better. This morning he was explaining to her what her name was, Monica Grace Young... "Young is our family name, it says you are part of our family" He also seems very concerned about what I'm eating or drinking. He's always asking me if that's ok for Monica to eat or drink. Or he'll tell me that I should eat more so Monica can have plenty! Last night he told John he needed to go to the grocery store and get me some sweet stuff, because Monica must be wanting it since I was craving it! :) John came home with a cheesecake for me!

Maria is also starting to get jealous over who's turn it is to talk to "Baby Ica" She doesn't want Andrew to talk or touch my belly! Only her! :) Little does she know how that little baby in there is gong to turn her life upside down soon!

I'm including a pic taken last month of Andrew and his best friend/girl friend McKensie. They moved to Arkansas so we got the kids together one last time at JumpIn for a simple farewell party! We miss them very much, but can't wait to see them when we go back to MO next June

After much nagging...

Ok so this will be quite the hodge-podge of pics. My mom has been nagging at me pretty much since the reunion to post new belly pics. I finally got around to taking them this morning.

I'm also throwing in some pics of Andrew, and the Rose John made for me during the boys play dough time! Oh yeah, and look what we woke up to this morning... about 3-4 inches of snow.

And the ultrasound said...

Yep, that's right... a girl! Monica Grace Young! Andrew is so excited! John and I are slowly adjusting to the idea. :)

On Friday, John got to work and found his cubicle in wall to wall pink streamers and balloons and candy. Here are a few pics. The last one is PRICELESS!!!

Before and After

Ok, so I just realized that I still never got these pictures posted! I'm so sorry! But the house is 99% done now. All we have left is the trim around the door and we plan on repainting the doors them self, but that will have to wait til this fall when it cools off a little! The sunlight has not been cooperating so the lighting for the pics is a little off. But you get the general idea!

Mom also pointed out that I never took pictures of Andrew's new big boy bed. He graduated from his Toddler bed to a loft bed! It make the perfect fort or play area underneath, plus it's much easier for prego mom to tuck him in at night. We currently have his nap mat set up underneath in case of midnight accidents it's an easy transition instead of stripping and remaking the whole bed at 1am. Night accidents rarely ever happen but when they do, like last night (as you can see by the lack of bedding on the loft) it's a life saver!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Andrew's new bed

A whirlwind week

Our weekend went pretty smoothly! As ou can see Andrew had lots of fun in his pool this weekend. Then Monday hit. WHen I got to work that morning my car was smoking! yeah, white smoke coming from under the hood. So Andrew and I started our day yesterday by going to my ob appt., were he got to hear "cutie's" heartbeat for the first time. Dr. Hayes was great about getting him involved in the process and asking him good Big Brother questions. Then we grabbed a quick lunch at Culver's, and headed over to the car doctor. Where we sat in the shop for 2 hrs. Only to find out that the other day when John pushed the plastic guard back into place, he pushed it too far and the plastic started melting against the exhaust pipe. Luckily they didn't charge us for looking into it. So worried we would have a $200-$400 bill, I walked out of there paying $48 for the 28 point insp/oil change and replaces two light bulbs.

After all that we met John and our friends Simon and Karen for dinner at the new Rodizio Grill Brazilian Steak House in Fort Collins. I have never ate so much food in my entire life We had over 15 different options cycling to our table as often as we wanted... 4 types of beef, 3 ckn (including ckn hearts) , 3 pork, pot roast, pinapple, turkey wrapped in bacon, grilled zuc., mahi mahi, and a some type of sausage. Plus 21 different salads options along with rice, blk beans, stroganoff, mashed pot., and pasta alfredo. Oh, and some of the best sweet blk tea I've ever had. I was even amazed at how much Andrew ate. He's not a big meat eater so I was worried. But he loved the basic salad, rice and mashed potatoes, and then he pigged out on the pork tenderloin, ham and grilled pineapple. When we got home he told us he was "tired all the way to Jesus and outer-space" and "mama, can we go back there tomorrow and get more pineapple?" :)

So even though yesterday was very busy, it turned out very good!!! Except for one little piece of bad news. My ultrasound was supposed to be done before our trip to MO. However they need me to be at least 18 weeks. I turn 18 weeks on Thur. Aug 6th, but the ultrasound tech is only there on Tues. And we leave for MO at 7:30am Tues the 11th. So we had to schedule it for Aug 25th. SORRY MO friends and family!

The count down has begun. We leave for MO in 13 days! :) We are so looking forward to seeing everyone. Espeically at our Friends and Family Fiesta and Fireworks party that Friday! :) Hopefully the humidity and temps will stay unseasonably low like they have been! Pray Pray Pray!