Thumbtown

Just because it's so cute, and I totally didn't see it coming.

Why is it so cute???
(I just realized this probably means he's right-handed!)

7.5 and so alive.

7.5 weeks, that is. It will be 8 on Wednesday.

This guy continues to shatter my heart daily with cuteness and sweetness. I actually love to hear him cry...partially because he doesn't do it very much, unless he just needs something. And I like taking care of his needs, so it works out!

As of week 7, he is more generous with his smiles. Before, you had to really work to get a smile, but now he will grant them unmerited. Again: heart-shatteringly cute. He is also talking more! I LOVE it. He seems to (try to) match the volume of his environment, as I learned from our visit with his 3 busy, talkative sweet cousins in Wilmington last week. Instead of being overwhelmed by their (high) amount of activity, he merely tried matched their level (although his voice is much tinier and delicate) with little 'oohs' and 'ahs' and various gurgly sounds with random consonants thrown in.

His next cute trick came with battle wounds:

And resulted in this:

So, the past few nights he has let us sleep even longer because his thumb seems to hold him over for a while before he starts crying! Nice work son. He actually went 11 hrs last night between meals, which is REALLY good for a 7.5 week old!!

I just love him to pieces and I think he's addicting. On Saturday, I was home alone with him alllll day. After putting him to bed for the night, I was surprised that I missed him!

He and Stuart are bonding in cute ways too. I'm excited for the day they can do manly things together. Whatever that may be...

So much. Too much.

Oh boy.

How do I catch my blog up on the 1st 5 weeks of my little stud's life?

I LOVE a good milk coma

I think I'm starting to function again, but I spent a majority of the past few weeks simply staring into the sweetest blue eyes, smelling the sweetest little head, and nuzzling the sweetest little cheeks. Aaaand I'm getting all teary-eyed just thinking about it! Motherhood has been the best unexpected delight.

I say an 'unexpected' delight because I had no idea the love that would overwhelm me the moment I first laid eyes on my firstborn child. There is no way you can be prepared for that. But I'll do a birth post soon and share more about that.

It is hard work, and pretty exhausting, but we are doing well and trying to figure out what to do with ourselves now.

Here is a video of some early morning snuggles.  He was fascinated watching himself on the screen as I recorded.  I was trying to get him to realize he was seeing himself but it might not have clicked with him yet...I'll give him some time :)

It's time

Here's the situation.

Today I am 12 days overdue. I've been trying to go into labor...but it's not working. The problem is my sweet baby has not yet dropped at all- he's still 'sky high'; I am about 50% effaced but 0% dilated. At my medical practice, they don't like to let babies go over 2 weeks past due date. I've been having tons of contractions but the fact that he hasn't dropped into place at all is a concern.

Our theory (the midwife, and I agree) is that he hasn't dropped into place due to the high amount of fluid he is floating around in. A lot of fluid is good for him, but is probably prohibiting him from fitting into my pelvis and causing labor to start.

We are going to the hospital at 5:30 today. They will put a "balloon thing" in me overnight to cause dilation. Usually women will be 2-3 cm dilated after 12 hours with this device. Tonight should be a little uncomfortable, but not TOO bad and they'll give me Ambien to hope for a great night of rest. In the morning we will start pitocin to get contractions going... see how things go...maybe break my water around noontime. Once the water has broken, he will HOPEFULLY be able to get into place and come out to meet us in the afternoon or evening!! Since he never 'dropped' there's a small chance maybe he wouldn't fit, in which case we'd have to do a C-section.

So that's the scoop! Please pray for me as I'm nervous-- pray that things happen naturally with as minimal intervention as possible! Also pray for protection over me and baby's bodies as we work hard to make this happen, and for Dad as he bravely coaches us on!


**The lovely pic is by my dear friend Charis Hill
**Sorry for no blogs lately-my computer died!! We are getting it fixed this week :)

36.5 weeks- watermelon

Hi friends. Less than a month to go! I'm pretty excited. I have cut back my work hours to 4 days a week, and also set an official last day of work: April 15th. He is due April 19th. I reserve the right to move my last day up sooner if I feel the need to! I honestly hope to never ever go back there again...except to visit and show off my little man to my co-workers, who have been so sweet and gracious with me these last 8 months :)

I've VERY much enjoyed 3-day weekends these past 2 weeks with my new schedule. As you can see in the picture, last Monday we painted our bedroom! Tomorrow we will paint the nursery. Today is a rainy Saturday, and knowing that I don't have to accomplish everything today, I am relaxing in bed, in my PJ's, and am actually just paying attention to my babe move around in his huge bump-home (I'm trying not to use the word 'belly'- I never liked that word much anyway). I realized recently that I've been so busy working and preparing for the baby that I had hardly been paying attention to him! His heart rate was low when we went in last Monday so the midwife hooked us up to the heart monitor to see how my contractions affected him (they didn't really affect him at all). He was just consistently below where they wanted him to be that day, so I was ordered to really pay attention to make sure he was kicking enough (at least 10 movements every 3 hrs) and to come back in 3 days. It was a little alarming, but I felt like he was OK since he usually moves around so much.

Sure enough, on our follow-up visit he performed like a champ, heart beating strong and fast, and showing off for the midwife with his acrobatics. She was laughing while trying to locate his heartbeat because he was so lively in response to her touch. It was so nice :) We think he was asleep and during the previous visit.

Since then I started to really appreciate his health and vitality. His movement is painful sometimes but it's very endearing. It's so cool to think that he is full-grown now and just looks like a regular born infant! I have contractions all the time; some that are so tight I can barely breathe, and some with pain. There is a small fear that I won't realize when it's the real thing even though everyone says you will 'know'. Stuart is in Phoenix Arizona this weekend. We've been praying for a long time that the baby won't come this weekend and I don't think he will. Once it turns April, he has my permission to come whenever he's ready! I'm not as afraid anymore. I dreamed last night that he was born and I was just staring at him. It was so real and it was the first time I've dreamed about him! He had dark hair and big feet. But still no name. I have no idea when that will come.

Pineapple.

Yeah 33 weeks. I'm getting so used to being pregnant now, I forget how far along I am...forget to blog...forget lots of other unrelated things too. I had a baby shower last weekend- a romantic spaghetti dinner at my parent's house with a ton of my favorite gals. It was so fun, and I got some great loot! Like, really, really good stuff.

I have been so busy lately! My spare time is spent going on walks, RESTING, SLEEPING, EATING, getting the house in order- and that's about all I have time for! Partially because I just require a lot more of the resting and sleeping than I used to. This beautiful, amazing warm weather has been very uplifting recently. I love spring time- I was born on the 1st day of spring! Baby is due right around Easter. I just hope it's not actually on Easter, tax day, or my birthday that he makes his entrance. He needs his own holiday.

The doctors say we are looking good- he is head down and kicks those little feet and legs around like CRAZY. I'm having lots of painless but some very tight contractions. At work I write down what times they start, just for fun. When I first realized I was having contractions, I felt so cool!!

Last week we took a few classes, including childbirth, and now Stuart is pumped and ready to go. It's very cute. The other night I apologized that his music room was a MESS-- just a tornado of baby shower gifts. He smiled and said that it's not his music room anymore. It's the baby's room.