31 Weeks

Sorry for the post a day late.  I was hoping to be able to add some fun 4D photos of Grayson from my appointment yesterday afternoon, but he was uncooperative.  His head was tucked down and the umbilical cord was over his face.  :(  We'll try again in a few weeks to see what little man looks like.

My sonogram went really great yesterday.  Grayson is looking healthy!  Alittle too healthy actually.  Typically babies average around 3lbs at this stage in the process.  Grayson is already 4lbs!  They said we could be expecting a 9lb baby if he keeps growing at this rate!  Not surprising seeing how I was 9lbs, 6oz.  He is taking after his momma!  Those James genes may be the death of me.  My doctor mentioned that we might start thinking about a c section.  I am open to anything as long as he comes out healthy and happy!  If we are able to do a c section, we may be able to schedule the day.  If that is the case, we are going to shoot for October 28.  That was my aunt Donna's birthday and I would love to have him on that date to honor her memory.  They are going to check in on him in a few weeks so we'll see how he progresses.  My weight gain is just at 8lbs which means he is half of the weight I have put on.  My doctor says there is no need for alarm and that it will just come off more quickly!  (Side note: We were in the lobby at the hospital before our tour and saw a girl leaving with her newborn baby.  Shane asked why she still looked pregnant and I had to explain to him that it takes time for the weight to come off.  We are not like balloons where the baby comes out and we automatically deflate back to size - although that would be amazing if modern medicine could figure that out!  He has informed me that I am not allowed to come home until after I am back to normal size so I may need to inquire about access to a gym on site post delivery.  He kids...I hope!)

Some of the girls at work are throwing me a shower tomorrow so I am looking forward to that. Otherwise I am hoping to take some time off tomorrow and Friday in preparation for the long weekend at the pool.  It is our final push before we close next week so I get to spend Saturday, Sunday and Monday hanging out with my guards and managing the facility.

Shane went back to school this week so he is trying to get back into a routine.  He also got some good news yesterday.  Last Friday he took his administrative certificate exam that is required to be an administrator in a school.  He passed with a 91!  Only a few more things he needs to wrap up on his research project and he will graduate in December!

Baby Shower

I had my first official baby shower yesterday.  It was hosted by three of my closest friends; Kim, Nikki & Courtney.  Kim was kind enough to host it at her house, despite the fact that they moved in less than a month ago.  She had a chef come over and prepare some of the food for us, which was delicious!  They even planned an activity where all of the guests could decorate little onesies and bibs for Grayson.  He has some really cute, personalized items now.  Everyone was so generous with their gifts, too!  I had a really great afternoon catching up with some of my close friends and family.  Here are a few pictures Courtney captured with my camera.

 

 

 

 

My mother (aka Grammy)

 

My sister-in-law, Kristin (aka Crazy Aunt Kristin)

 

The Hostesses
Courtney, Nikki & Kim

 

30 Weeks

Woo hoo!  Officially 30 weeks which means only 10 more weeks to go!  It is amazing how much more active Grayson is this week.  He is rolling around, kicking, and punching all throughout the day.  I regularly see my stomach moving and find it lopsided every now and then when he sets up camp on the right side (that appears to be his favorite side).

The only news to report from this past week was that I passed my glucose test with flying colors.  I go back next Tuesday afternoon for a sonogram and check-up.  We are hoping to get some 4D pictures so we can see what baby Gray looks like.  :)

I finally had some free time and finished some baby shoes this weekend.  Courtney and I learned how to make these a couple of years ago at one of our hotel craft nights before Emma was born.  They are really easy to make.  The first pair took me about an hour since I needed to refresh my memory, but once I got the hang out it I could knock a pair out in 30 minutes.

Nikki is coming in from Miami this weekend for one of my baby showers so I am super excited to see her.  She is 15 weeks pregnant with her second baby!  I can't wait to celebrate Grayson with all of my close friends and family!

29 Weeks

Wow, 29 weeks.  Shane and I are starting to have a hard time believing how quickly my pregnancy seems to be going.  I guess when you have wanted something for so long, it's hard to imagine it actually happening. 

Grayson is doing well.  I heard his heartbeat yesterday at the doctor's office and get to see him again on August 28 at my next appointment.  I had my glucose test so I am just awaiting the results.  His kicks, punches and movements seem to be getting stronger.  Shane likes to watch him kick on the outside of my stomach and felt him give me some pretty hard punches this weekend and yesterday. 

I am still feeling really good.  I get pretty tired on the weekends, and find myself trying to catch up on sleep, but we have been keeping ourselves fairly busy.  We took a hospital tour yesterday which was quite humorous.  All we planned on getting to know was where exactly we needed to be at various times of the day and throughout the process.  Little did we know we would be provided with quality entertainment by the others on our tour.  I guess we just aren't too worried about the whole process so we felt the need to ask the irrelevant questions.  One in particular was about their profanity policy during labor & delivery.  Another, that we opted not to ask, was in response to a gentleman worried that they may run out of beds/rooms.  (Side note: not one person was in labor/delivery while we were there yesterday, so we felt like this question was very unwarranted).  We wanted to ask if any mangers might be available out back in the event that there was a shortage in beds.  Needless to say, we pretty much kept to ourselves in the back and tried not to be too much of a distraction with our off the wall comments and snickering since the others seemed very intent to soak up any and all information. 

Our chair in the nursery arrived last week and Shane was able to convert it to a swivel/rocker.  Once we got it set up in the room, we realized how large this thing actually is.  I have to admit, I was worried at first, but after walking by the room multiple times each day, I am getting used to its size.

The chair is super comfy and roomy.  It is definitely what I had envisioned when I went on a quest to find something for the nursery.

Shane's summer is slowly coming to an end.  He starts back with various trainings and meetings on Wednesday so today is his last official day of summer.  The pool closes in just a few weeks so I am looking forward to one less thing on my plate!

28 Weeks

Another week quickly flew by!  Today is 28 weeks and Grayson is just over 2 lbs and almost 15 inches long.  His continuous movements are a constant reminder that he seems to be doing well inside my little belly.  I think my dad saw him move on the outside of my stomach for the first time this last week.

Our chair and ottoman will be delivered this morning.  I can't wait to see how they look in the room, although I am alittle concerned about their size.  Naturally I had to have the big, comfy chair but didn't think too much about how well it would all fit together in the room.  If you know me, I always put comfort before functionality anyway!  :)  Shane plans to figure out how to mount the rocker/swivel mechanism to the chair so I will get an updated photo as soon as it's all complete.

This week was uneventful in the pregnancy department but we did have some family stuff come up.  My 95 year old grandfather fell and broke his hip last Monday night.  On Wednesday morning they did a partial hip replacement and was moved to a rehab facility at another hospital on Friday.  I have visited him a few times over the last week and he seems to be doing well.  They had him up and moving around the day of his surgery and his rehab seems to be progressing really well for someone his age.  He is such a strong person so I know he'll be up and "running" in no time.  His mind is still very sharp and he has no trouble carrying on a conversation when we visit.  He touched my belly last Tuesday and said, "That's my great-grandson in there."  I think it was the first time he had seen me truly pregnant.  Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers over the next few weeks.

Because of this unexpected event, my parents were able to quickly find an apartment.  We helped them move in on Saturday morning so my mom could come up here and help when she is needed.  It's a cute little apartment that is only about 5 minutes from our house.

I'm looking forward to another "nephew" this week!  My best friend, Ellen, is expecting a baby boy any day now.  His name is Ben and I can't wait to meet him!!

27 Weeks

Today I am 27 weeks and officially into my third trimester!  I am so excited that we have come this far already!  In just 3 short months we'll get to meet Grayson and finally start the family we have always wanted!

My doctor's appointment yesterday went really well.  I have only gained 7 pounds but my doctor is not too concerned.  He said it will just help me lose the weight quicker after Grayson gets here.  I go back in 2 weeks to do my glucose test and then continue two week appointment rotations until he gets here.  They plan to do another sonogram at 31 weeks so hopefully I can give you more updated photos in a month.  :)

Other than being tired at the end of the day, I feel great!  I thought the heat would really affect me but it hasn't been too bad.  We have been battling 100+ degree temperatures for about a week and they are predicting another week without any relief.  I am managing to stay indoors as much as I can and enjoying the new A/C we had installed at the pool this spring.

We made alot of progress on the nursery this weekend.  Shane and I went to Ikea on Thursday night to get Gray's dresser and a bookshelf.  We also bought some shelves at Aaron Brothers for one of the walls.  We put together all of the furniture, hung the curtain rod, ironed and hemmed the curtains and then hung the shelves.  It is all turning out just as I imagined!  It is very plain as of now, but I plan on getting some accent colors and more decorative items over the next couple of months.  Hopefully the alphabet set will come in soon for the wall over the crib and we hope to get the chair and ottoman in next weekend.  Here is a picture so far.

I also managed to knock out a few sewing projects last week/weekend.  I made about a dozen burp cloths out of some fabric I already had from other baby gifts.  I made 2 of each of the burp cloths below.

I also made a taggy blanket for Grayson.  I have been trying to find Texas Tech ribbon, but have not had much luck.  My aunt had a great idea to do A&M fleece on one side and Tech fleece on the other!  Genius! Here is the final result.

My next project will be making him a few pairs of shoes and finding all of the finishing touches for his nursery!

26 Weeks

Today is 26 weeks and baby Gray is just about 1.5 pounds right now.  I have noticed him moving alot more over the last few days.  Shane read to him last night and he was very active listening to his daddy's voice!

We had a pretty productive weekend.  I finally got registered!  Court and baby Maggie met me at Buy Buy Baby to help walk me through the madness.  I had already started a list so we just needed to find the items and add additional things that my experienced mom friend recommended.  After that, I picked up Shane and we headed over to Babies R Us to complete our registry.  We also made a stop at Haverty's to buy an oversized upholstered chair and ottoman for the nursery.  It doesn't rock or swivel, but we found a way to convert it.  That is a project for Shane to tackle when it gets delivered in a couple of weeks.  This was the one item I told Shane we would splurge on since I wanted a comfy place to sit in Gray's nursery.  Shane sat in the chair and I could already see him thinking about all of the times he will read to him at night before putting him to bed.  :)  On Sunday I went up to Ikea to purchase the dresser but it was sold out.  They said more should come in later this week so we'll try again this weekend.

We did make one other spontaneous trip on Saturday.  There was a furniture store going out of business next to Babies R Us so we stopped in there to see if they had a dresser and bookshelf for the nursery.  Shane and I ended up walking out with a new sofa and love seat for the upstairs living area.  We got a great deal so we could not pass it up.  I did not exactly plan on purchasing them since we already had a sofa up there that was given to me during my parent's relocation to the lake.  We figure they may want it back later this fall since they are working on getting an apartment up here as a second home.  It will help when my dad has business in town or they just want to come up for a few days and have a place of their own to stay.

Surprise Shower
Sunday morning I had an in-service training with my lifeguards.  I know I talk about work alot, but rarely do I actually talk about the "kids" I get to work with.  I call them kids but they range in age from 16-24 years old.

I showed up at the pool alittle early to go over the schedule for the morning with my pool managers.  As the guards started to show up, I was told to stay in the manager's office and not come out until instructed.  When I was finally given the thumbs up, I walked out to the upper deck of our pool and saw all of my guards sitting together holding presents.  They were throwing me a surprise baby shower!  It was the sweetest thing!  I found myself tearing up at the thought of these kids spending their hard earned paychecks on me and Grayson.  It was completely unexpected.  These kids mean alot to me and I really do enjoy working with them every summer.  Naturally I found it hard to reprimand them for anything wrong they had been doing so I had to adjust my speech and focus on the technicalities of their job.

Shane and I opened all of the gifts when I got home later that afternoon.  We got 8 packages of diapers, 6 containers of wipes, clothes, bibs and plenty of toys.  We were truly overwhelmed by their generosity!

Gifts from my "kids"

My "kids"