Baby class

Jason and I attended Holland Hospital's baby class last Saturday. It was an all-day event - 8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Although I've been reading a lot, I still learned quite a bit. The birthing rooms (just one room for labor, delivery, and recovery!) are very nice. They were recently remodeled and feel as homey as a hospital room can. Even Jason was enlightened by the class. He was very surprised to learn how a c-section is actually done. I guess I just assumed he knew the procedure, but he was quite shocked to learn that they actually cut through the lower abdomen area to get to the baby. We're just hoping that we won't get first-hand experience with it!

Baby is definitely getting stronger. Sometimes I think we have a wild child, judging by the amount of movement I feel. I must admit, though, that I love feeling those kicks. It's reassuring to know that our baby is growing and moving. One of my favorite hobbies now is to lay on the couch and watch my stomach move (way better than watching tv these days!). On the surface, Jason seems to think I'm crazy, but I know that he's getting into it, too. He's even started talking to the baby from time to time.

My belly is growing, too. It's seems like just within the last couple of weeks people are really starting to ask when I'm due. The guys at work are now comparing my belly to theirs, telling me that I'm almost ready to compete! It does get a little uncomfortable at times. I certainly cannot eat as much in one sitting as I used to. I get that uncomfortably full feeling, only it takes much longer to go away. So, I'm eating smaller meals, but snack more frequently.

Thankfully, though, I really haven't experienced too many other negative pregnancy effects. I can't believe that I'm due in only 9 weeks! Yikes.



31 weeks

Starting to get ready...

This past weekend, I attended my second baby shower, given by Jason's aunts Carolyn, Agnes, and Lillian. Of course, Jason's mom lent her decorating hand as well. Everything was so cute! Jason's mom even decorated a little tree with all kinds of Jason's baby keepsakes (pacifier, comb, shoes, baby blanket, etc.), which she passed them onto me. What a thoughtful gift!

Everybody was very generous, and we ended up with so many nice gifts! They took up the entire back end of my car! We've now got most things unpacked and put away as much as possible, without having our baby furniture. We picked up our travel system and crib mattress last night. This is becoming so real!

We got quite a snowstorm last night, which dumped about 6" of fresh snow in the West Michigan area. Since Jason gets so many personal days, he decided to use one today. Unfortunately, I had a couple of commitments at work, so that wasn't an option for me. He used his snowday to the fullest. He had the travel system completely assembled by the time he called me at 8:00! Throughout the course of the day, he finished either setting up or putting away the majority of thte remaining baby items. I think he's really getting excited for this little one's arrival, too!

Just some of the baby presents we received between our 2 showers

Jason's favorite present

30 weeks

Baby Shower #1!

My Aunt Lynn and sister-in-law Courtney hosted a beautiful shower for me this weekend. Everything was so cute! They did an amazing job. It was so nice to see so many friends and family members. As far as I could tell, everything went very smoothly, and I thoroughly enjoyed the day.


I can't believe how much baby stuff we received - onesies, baby monitor, bouncer, stroller, pack and play... It was so much fun opening all of those cute gifts. Everybody was asked to bring a book for us as well, and we ended up with quite a library. I can't wait to read through all of them with JackHannah (probably more times than I'll be able to count!).


I could go on and on about all of the wonderful gifts we received, but I'll mention just a couple - Jason's mom paints very cute baby onesies for friends, so she painted one for us, too, with pink hearts! Can't tell what she's hoping for :-) We also received the cradle that my grandpa made for me when I was a baby, and good friends Penny and Tiffany made bedding specially for it. What a special surprise! It's just beautiful.


As an added bonus to the trip, I got to have a little girls' weekend with my good friends Sara and Jill, and Jill's daughter Claire. They all came over to the shower with me from Grand Rapids. Since they had never been to 'Muth before, we made a day (and night!) of it, and played tourist after the shower. I was so happy that Jaime, my best friend from college, was able to join us as well. We had a great time exploring Bronners (I think Claire was particularly overloaded with all of the lights!) and eating a family style chicken dinner at Zehnders. We had fun, but we were all beat by the end of the night!


One shower down and one more to go - next weekend is the Davis' (Ocedek) side baby shower. We are truly blessed with such generous, loving families!


My girlfriends - Jaime, Sara, me, Karen, Jill, and Courtney


Karen is due with her 3rd baby 2 weeks before I am!


Karen meeting Miss Claire


My cradle!

Happy new year!

The new year is finally here. The year that JackHannah is going to make his/her entrance into the world. It's really starting to feel close now. This month is particularly busy at work for me, and it's already flying by.

I'm now officially in the 3rd trimester - 28 weeks, and I'm definitely feeling more pregnant. I can't eat quite as much (not necessarily a bad thing!), my skin is starting to feel tight, and my belly button is getting very small! I've decided that with the new year that I'm going to get back into exercising. Of course, what I do is limited, but I bought a pregnancy aerobics DVD and must admit that I'm feeling really good knowing that I'm doing something good for the baby and me.

My first baby shower is in Frankenmuth this weekend, and I can hardly wait! I'm so excited to see everybody. I know that my Aunt Lynn and sister-in-law Courtney have done a lot of work putting it all together. I'm so grateful for both of them! I can't wait to return the favor to Courtney someday :-)

Hope that you're having a fantastic start to your new year!




28 weeks