Kris took a cute picture of me last week at 30 weeks pregnant. I have it downloaded to my laptop so tonight I'll try to remember to post it to the photo album. Check for that tomorrow!

I had dinner with my friend Amanda last night and she called me huge! The nerve! :) She said my belly doesn't look that big from the front but from the side it does. Well, what are ya going to do?

Congratulations to Annette and Stephen on the birth of their son, Joel Christopher!! You can click the link to the right to read the birth story and see pictures. What a cutie he is! That's two friends with high risk pregnancies down, 1 to go! Michelle is doing fabulously as well so I'm sure we'll be 3 for 3 this year! Yay!!!

Quick update - nothing new to report for me really. Baby Girl is still pretty active. It was pretty cute Sunday evening. I was in the recliner working on my laptop and Kris was sitting on the couch. Whenever Kris would talk, Baby Girl would start moving around. I think she likes her Daddy's voice!

I'm pretty proud of Kris right now. He finished the Lake Waconia Triathlon on Sunday and he did very well. It was a 1/2 mile swim, 17 mile bike and 4 mile run. Being out there watching him though (when I was supposed to be participating, well that was the plan last fall anyway) was tough. I wanted to be competing also! I am definitely doing it next year.

Still no annoying pregnancy side effects (heartburn, swelling, etc.) The only thing bugging me lately is this one area right below my belly button (which is almost an outie at this point!) that is itching like crazy! I just keep putting lotion on it and trying to ignore it. It's supposed to get warm here in MN this week (like mid-80's) so we'll see if any annoying side effects show up. It's been such a cool start to the summer. I've been spoiled!

30 weeks pregnant today!! Only 7 weeks until full term! Time is flying by now. I'm still feeling great. I don't have any aches or pains. I'm sleeping through the night about half the time with the other half involving only 1 potty break. There has been no swelling (thank goodness for a cool Minnesota summer so far!), no heartburn and no other common pregnancy fun. :) Tuesday night Kris and I went and registered at Babies 'R Us. We picked out all the big things there (car seats, stroller, pack 'n play, etc.). Tonight I'm going to Target to register us there. That will be mainly for smaller things (receiving blankets, onesies, a bouncy seat, etc.) The baby's room is kind of at a stand still right now. Kris has 3 more animals to paint but I don't know if he has those animals picked out and sketched yet or not. We're still waiting for the glider to come in. We're supposed to anchor the dressers to the walls so they don't tip over but we don't want to move them into their "final" positions until all furniture (meaning the glider too) is in the room. So, we're just waiting right now. I might start washing the clothes and blankets that I have so I can start getting them out of shopping bags and into the dressers. :) I also might start decorating the walls and bookcase with the little bit of decorating items that I have. Things have been incredibly busy lately but I should have some time around the 4th of July to do that. My day job (meaning not Pampered Chef!) has the 5th, 6th and 7th off for the 4th! We have 3 days every year - it's in our contact with the union. So, I should be able to get lots done at home those 3 days.

That's about all that's new around here. We still don't have a name for the little girl baby. I have one that I really like and Kris doesn't and vice versa. I'm sure there's a name somewhere in the universe that we can agree on - we just haven't found it yet!!

Well, I'm feeling better. The only remaining cold symptom is a stuffy nose. All the aches and pains and sore throat are gone. I'm glad that was relatively brief! I did make it to the baby shower yesterday and oh my goodness is baby Jack a cutie!! And he is so good! He never cried (except maybe during a diaper change) and slept almost the whole time and when he was awake his big blue eyes were so intent on looking at the world around him. You know what else? I'm going to have a baby like that (crosses fingers for a no colic, crabby baby) in just a couple months! Sometimes reality hits you like a ton of bricks, doesn't it!?!

29 weeks and everything is going great! The baby is kicking away. I think she had flipped over because I was feeling a lot of movement farther down. Now, though, I think she's moved back head down because the kicks seem to be coming from my upper belly. I hope she stays head down before she's too big to move around well!

My only complaint is the cold I have right now. I'm all stuffy, my lymph nodes are swollen and my legs and lower back are achy. Since I can't take regular cold medication, I'm hoping my body can kick this bug to the curb quickly. I have a baby shower to go to on Sunday (for a 5 week old baby) and I'm certainly not going if I feel crummy. No need to expose these germs to that wee little one. I really want to see the little munchkin though!

28 week appt update:
That was one fast appointment! They did the usual weight (a little high), urine and blood pressure check. All is fine there. Yes, I've gained a little more than I should but the doctor seemed unconcerned, so therefore so am I! Then the doctor came and measured me. I'm measuring 2 weeks ahead. I was at my last appointment too. He didn't seem concerned with that either. We listened to the heartbeat. He found it right away and it was healthy and strong and fast! That is such a nice, reassuring sound. He asked if I had any questions and I asked about pediatricians. We need to find one before we pre-register for the hospital (36 weeks). They recommend the pediatrician office across the street from them. His own grandkids even go there and his daughter is very happy with the care they've received. So, they put that down on my chart. I'm still going to contact the clinic to see if I can meet them. Apparently they have a Thursday night meet the doctor social or something. I was expecting to start every 2 week appointments after this one but the doctor said since I'm doing so well, we'll wait 4 weeks before having me come in again. Then we'll do a couple 2 week appointments before starting the weekly ones. Wow this pregnancy is flying by!

Kris worked on the nursery painting again last night. He outlines the 3 animals he had done and he worked on finding about 5 more that he can start on. They are all so cute! I love them! Yes, I'll post pictures of the nursery - but not until it's all done.

My birthday was Saturday. On Friday when I talked to my Mom, she told me part of my birth story. She told me the part I'm most interested in right now - the hurty part! :) Friday night, June 4th, 1976, my mom had her first contraction at 9:30 pm. At 9:35 pm, she had her second contraction. At 9:40 pm, she had her third, etc. Basically, once she was in labor, she was in labor! They finished packing the hospital bag, called the doctor and headed to the hospital about 8 miles away in the next town. They arrived at the hospital sometime around 10:30 pm. I was born at 12:31 am on June 5th. Yeah, my mom had a 3 hour labor. I was 2 weeks overdue and 6#, 14.5 oz. That's a small baby for being 2 weeks overdue! I'd like to ask my mom more questions, like how long did she actually push, did she have drugs or was it too fast, did her water break naturally somewhere in that 3 hours or did the doctors do it, and more. I have a brother and sister but they were both delivered by cesarean so my mom will never know if all three would have been born so 'easily.' My sister (the middle child) was breech and her head was stuck in my mom's ribs so a cesarean was medically necessary. For my brother (the baby), my parents elected for a scheduled repeat cesarean since the first one was not the bikini kind. I wonder if my mother's natural labor will be anything like my own. I'd like to give birth naturally (i.e. without drugs) if possible but I won't be a martyr either and end up with an emergency cesarean. I guess I won't know until early September.

Robyn's daughter, Jessica, was born last week Wednesday. You can click on the link to the right to see a picture of her! Congratulations to Robyn, Kris and Gavin on the arrival of your bundle of joy!

How about a little update?
Baby first: Everything is going great. She's active. She's growing (as evidence by growing stretch marks!). She kicks (or punches, I'm not really sure yet) Daddy now on a regular basis. Last night, Kris could even feel her moving around in there but not kicking or punching. That's pretty cool! She turned 27 weeks gestation yesterday. Only 10 more weeks until she's full term. Of course, she probably won't make her appearance for another 13-15 weeks! That would be 40-42 weeks. I was born 2 weeks late as was my mother. I was a first child, my mother a second. If history repeats itself, Baby Girl won't be born until the 2nd week of September. Remind me of this in late August, will you? One last thing, yesterday a co-worker of mine brought in a bag of baby clothes for me. She has a son that is a toddler now so she needed to get rid of some infant clothing. There was a bunch of sleepers and bibs and outfits in there along with two blankets. One of the blankets I am absolutely in love with. It's a knitted blanket in pink, yellow, green and blue. It's absolutely gorgeous. I can't believe she just gave them to me. How nice!
Mommy next: I'm still feeling really good. No aches or pains yet. Sometimes in the morning my back will be sore but it usually goes away with just moving around getting ready. I've had a couple charlie horses (charley horses, one word, two words?) at night. I had one last night that hurt really bad. Other than that, things are going great. Since yesterday marked 27 weeks, we have officially begun the 3rd trimester! Can you believe how fast time is flying by?

I added a picture of the going home outfit just now. Go look (click on bunny as always) and tell me what you think! It's knit and so soft and I just love it. I'll just put a little white onesie underneath it and we'll be all set.

Last night Kris put together the armoire we purchased on Monday. So the dresser and armoire are done and the only thing left is the bookcase. I just love the way these new furniture pieces look with the crib! The room is turning out fabulous! I can't wait until it's done. I'll take pictures then and post them for you to see.

Also last night I bought a going-home-from-the-hospital outift! It is SO CUTE! I'll take a picture of that tonight and post if for you to see. I absolutely love it. It was exactly what I was looking for!

What a whirlwind weekend! I spent most of it with my family celebrating my brother and sister's graduations (high school and college, respectively). I was so tired Sunday night when I got home that I just collapsed in bed and read a book before falling asleep. It was so much fun to see everyone though! Auntie Krystle even got to feel Baby Girl move on Sunday morning! She had been waiting and waiting for that so I was glad Baby Girl played along. :) Yesterday Kris and I did so much work around our house! First, I cleaned it for 3 hours while Kris helped and then did some animal painting in the baby's room! After taking a break for lunch we headed to the movies. We saw Shrek 2 and it was pretty cute! Then we headed to Home Depot and Target and spent gobs of money. We bought 2 dressers and a bookshelf for the baby's room from Target. Kris has one of the dressers almost put together. It's all going to look so nice together in there! I can't wait! Then we went out last night to have dinner and watch the T-Wolves game with Kris's parents. It's too bad they didn't win. They had a terrific season anyway - maybe next year! Now, I'm here at work trying to remember what I was doing last week! I have these cryptic notes on my desk. Hmm...