Maternity Leave...

I made it to 37 weeks working full time. I'm pretty pleased with myself for that one. Allen and I carpooled to work today and decided to celebrate with burritos on the way home. I just finished the "last" of my work tasks and am going to start on my list of other things that need to be done. I'm looking forward to some down time and we are planning on taking Scout to the ponds and hitting up the Morgan Hill farmer's market tomorrow. I want to bring Peter with us and am contemplating putting him in the sling (yes, it is for the baby). Believe it or not, he likes the sling--if only I had discovered it years ago!

The (Almost) Two Week Countdown

I had my 36ish week appointment with Dr. Reimnitz yesterday and we have confirmation that Samantha is definitely a girl. This is great news, as I can't imagine calling a little boy Samantha! During yesterday's ultrasound, I was able to see the "girl parts" and the tech (and my doctor) seemed pleased with the way that everything is going thus far. They measured her head, thigh bone and other parts, though I can't remember all the details. At this point, the tech estimated that she is approximately 6lbs, 14oz, though he made a point of telling me that this is a very rough estimate.

The doctor seems pleased with everything thus far and she said that the baby appears to be very healthy. With the ultrasound they were able to measure amniotic fluid and the heart rate (174--apparently this is normal) and we talked a bit more about final preparations that I need to make as we swing into the final two weeks. Don't worry, I'll spare you the details.

Unfortunately, I found out that the anesthesiologist that I spoke to on the phone is scheduled to be on duty for the day of my surgery. I mentioned that after talking to him I had a bit of anxiety. The truth of the matter is that I really did not like him and now I'm less than thrilled that I have to work with him. I have another appointment with my doctor next week and am going to talk to her about this. Fingers crossed that we will be able to figure out something that I feel more comfortable with--soon!

I am working on the sketch for the wall behind the crib, but wanted to share a picture of a very special gift that will be displayed in Samantha's room. In a previous post, I mentioned Dolores, who was not only a good friend of my mom, but also one of her painting pals. As one of my shower gifts, Dolores painted a pink rocking chair and it is beyond BEAUTIFUL. The chair will be an incredible complement to the nursery and I can't wait to share it with Samantha. Not only did Dolores refurbish and paint the entire chair freehand, but she also customized it with lettering.

We are so lucky to have such special treasures to share with our daughter!

Week 36--3 Weeks Until The Big Day!

Hopefully everyone had a great Holiday weekend! Allen and I kept very busy with a friend's wedding, errands, a birthday celebration, family dinner & more baby preparations. I can't believe that I am starting my last week (actually, 4 days) at work. There is so much left to do and I don't know how I am going to squeeze it all in before Friday evening. I have my next appointment with Dr. Reimnitz tomorrow morning and I will be having the final ultrasound. Fingers crossed that everything is still going well on that end.

I spoke with an anesthesiologist who might be working with me on the day of my surgery. He didn't seem too thrilled with the prospect of working on a spine like mine, so we'll see how that all goes. I wasn't too nervous about anything until I spoke to him, and now I'm having a bit of anxiety, so I am looking forward to talking to my doctor tomorrow--hopefully she will have more information for me.

In other news...I am still feeling pretty well. I am about 1/2way through week 36 and though I am quite tired, the only big complaint is what I think is a touch of sciatica on the right side. Despite a bit of discomfort, this is still nothing compared to the back surgery, so I feel pretty lucky. We have continued to work on the baby's room and the house in general and things are coming along quite well. I am going to attempt to paint a design on the wall behind the crib and am really hoping that the art gods (aka My Mom) smile upon me and let this work out. I just finished my most recent project--letters to hang on the wall, and as you can see we have finally picked a name!

The baby will be "Samantha", though we haven't finalized the middle name. Allen liked this name from the beginning and I like it because my Papa always used to call my Nana "Sam". It is ironic that he called her "Sam," as her name is Ethel, but I know that it will always have special meaning for me and many others in my family. The letters are papier-mache that I bought at Paper Source and covered with papers that tie into the colors of the nursery. Though the picture doesn't show it, the letters too A LONG time to cover and I was starting to rethink the fact that Allen and I chose a long name for the baby! :)

Happy Birthday...

to my spine.

Today is the official third birthday of my new spine. Sometimes it seems like yesterday, and other times I can't believe how long ago it feels. Three years ago was the big surgery and when I think about it, I feel so lucky to have made it through as well as I did. I can't believe how lucky I have been with the back pain during pregnancy and am hopeful that things stay this way for the remaining few weeks. I really wanted to make a spine cake to celebrate, but never got around to it (I'll take any excuse I can to eat cake these days!).

Yesterday afternoon, Allen and I met up for a bbq with some friends from my prenatal yoga class. It was a very warm day, but we had a great time swapping pregnancy stories and it was a lot of fun for all the guys to finally meet! It has been so great meeting new friends who are sharing so many of the same expriences as me and I am really looking forward to continuing these friendships after everyone gives birth.From left to right--Shelley & Dominic (born April 2nd), Sara (due first week of June), me, Carla (due in July) and Marianne (due in October). The four of us are all expecting girls, so Dominic will have his pick of girlfriends in the upcoming months!

Keeping Our Cool

Back in the fall, when I thought about the last few weeks before the baby would be coming, I think I was picturing a relatively peaceful existence (i.e. - the calm before the storm). I assumed that we would be finalizing the nursery, doing last minute touches around the house, and simply enjoying our last weeks as a twosome.

Fast forward to month 8.5 of pregnancy and things are looking a little bit different! I am rounding into the final days at work--the 29th is my last official day, and the nursery isn't anywhere near ready. Compound this all with the fact that we just survived the second weekend heatwave of the year, and I am really starting to wonder if we are going to be ready in time! :)

Yesterday while I was at work, Allen finished painting the nursery. I can't believe how great it turned out--especially since he was stuck in the hottest room of the house on the hottest day of the year thus far. At this point, the crib was ready to move into the baby's room and Allen decided that he would assemble it this morning. He brought the crib up to the room in pieces and got to work while I ran errands for the week. As our luck would have it, the crib company sent the complete wrong set of screws for the assembly process and as a result, the crib looks like this:

We have contacted both the crib manufacturer and the store where it was purchased and hope to have the correct set within the next few days...

In other news...

The carseat has been ordered and is "en route"--last I checked, it was in Illinois (gotta love UPS online tracking!). I have started washing the baby's clothes and attempted to organize everything as best as possible. Scout likes to lay near the plastic bins that hold all the clothes and blankets.

We have been feeling bad for both dogs (Scout especially) during the heatwave, so while out at dinner with friends this evening, we decided to leave her in the air conditioned house with Peter. When we came home, she left the following for us:

In case it isn't clear, those WERE my black Reef flip-flops.

Thanks Scout.

One Thing Leads to Another...

An update on the baby's room--we're getting closer to having it ready! Allen has painted all of the major areas and just needs to finish off the edges and corners. We are pretty sure that it will be done by this weekend and I am hoping that we can set up the crib and start getting things together. Now that we finally have settled on a color, things are looking good!

As we round into the last weeks before the baby comes, we have been attempting to update and finalize a few home improvements. I think I mentioned our whole house fan in an earlier post and Al and his dad installed a new dishwasher on Wednesday of this week. I realize that a picture of the dishwasher isn't all that exciting, but it does help to explain the title of this post.

Neither of us particularly loved the white dishwasher, but we agreed that it would be best to purchase the dishwasher in the same color as the oven and fridge. We both agreed that the appliances look fine, but now, our cabinets look awful (i.e. - one thing leads to another...). Looks like there is a kitchen cabinet project on the horizon!

Al and his dad also installed new light fixtures in our downstairs bathroom. The wall still needs a bit of "touch up" paint, but between the lighting and the new mirror, it is looking much better than before!

The final home improvement for this week (so far) was a new sconce for the hallway leading upstairs. I wish I had taken a "before" picture, as the "after" is so much better!I realize that these aren't the most exciting pictures, but I figure that entries with pictures are more interesting...

In baby news, things are going really well. Today officially begins week 35 of the pregnancy and all things considered, I am feeling really good. I am a bit more tired and it is difficult to get comfortable sometimes, but I really can't complain all that much. Work is keeping me really busy, as I am wrapping up my final few weeks before my leave begins. I notice that my legs/feet are a bit more sore, but I feel lucky to be up and around. The baby is moving a lot and Tuesday was an EXTREMELY active day for her! I will be seeing the doctor for our final ultrasound on 5/26 and my last "official" day of work is 5/29. Allen and I may finally have chosen a name, so stay tuned for more details.

This weekend is supposed to be a hot one--fingers crossed that it isn't too bad! Hope everyone is doing well!

Less Than A Month to Go!

I realized yesterday that we are truly in the final stretch! We are less than one month away from the big day and still not quite ready for our newest family member to make her debut. From what I hear, we'll never ever feel ready though! :)

The month of May has been EXTREMELY busy, as we had packed all of our classes into the past couple of weeks. At this point, Allen and I have successfully completed Infant CPR/First Aid, Basic Baby Care, Breastfeeding & one other class that I can't quite remember at this time (obviously, it made a big impression on me). In addition, I had a wonderful baby brunch celebration with girlfriends and another teriffic evening with the "PFC" ladies. I don't have pictures from these events, but will post some soon!

A lot of people have asked me if the pregnancy is "dragging" on, but it truly seems to be flying by! This weekend, Allen and I picked up the crib and will be assembling it as soon as we finish painting the room. Though still a long way from completion, I think that the nursery will turn out to be really cute. We have been scrambling to take care of a few more home improvement items before the baby comes and are attempting to make the house a bit more "green" with the changes.

We had a great Mother's Day overall. Peter and I slept in while Allen and Scout went to the park. After working around the house during the day, we met my AJ, Uncle Steve, cousins and Nana for a celebration dinner. It is always fun to be with the family and nana seemed to have a great time.

Today I Learned...

that Peter is DEATHLY afraid of the stroller!

How Many Times Can We Go To Lowe's In One Weekend?

While we have known that we would need to get the baby's room ready for her arrival, Allen and I had never really finalized our plans for the nursery decor. Over the past weekend, we made the big decision to start painting the room, and I have to say that it is MUCH more of an ordeal than we ever could have imagined! On Friday night after work, we went to Lowe's to buy the paint. One would think that this is a simple task (especially since we went with a general theme/color/style in mind). For those who are wondering, we were planning on a sage green tone. Allen DID NOT want pink, and I did not want the room to look too "boy-ish". We settled on a green tone and thought we were ready to go...

After slapping a few of the walls with the chosen color, both Allen and I were unsure about our inital color choice...

While I was at work on Saturday morning, Allen made the executive decision that the green was not going to work. He took weekend trip to Lowe's #2 and purchased samples of a number of green shades, and attempting to get creative--he also threw in some purple/lavender samples as well. I came home from work to see the following...

While I love the message that he painted on the wall, I wasn't quite enamored with the new color options. I have never been a big fan of purple, and my work with Team In Training has definitely turned me off from the green/purple combination. Poor Allen had been scouring the painting idea books at Lowe's and thought that a purple accent wall might be just the ticket. Unfortunately, he was vetoed upon my arrival back to the house!

Somewhere between Lowe's trip #2 and me returning from work, Allen went back to Lowe's with the hope of finding the perfect color.

Scout spent much of the afternoon "helping" Al with the room, though I don't think her input was all that valuable...

We finally decided that the sage green was not going to work and attempted to pick a neutral beige around which we could incorporate a number of fun elements to make the room less gender neutral. Back to Lowe's we went (trip #4) and we left with what we thought would be the "perfect" color. Allen spent much of last night painting the room, and we were confident that things would be done by the end of the coming week.

Come Sunday morning, I went to look at the progress, and both Al and I realized that there was virtually NO difference from the color in the hall (and much of the downstairs) to the baby's room. With hours of work behind, I assumed that we would just live with it as is.

After a wonderful brunch with friends (to be documented in another blog posting), I ran a few errands this afternoon, and when I returned I found out that Allen had taken trip to Lowe's #5 and grabbed what seemed to be a sample of EVERY color paint that they could possibly have in stock.

We scoured the samples and narrowed them down to the few upon which we could agree. On trip to Lowe's #6, we decided that we would love this last color NO MATTER WHAT and as I type, Allen, Peter & Scout are working on the room. I look forward to posting pictures as soon as possible!

In other news...

I am very proud of my picture wall. This is a "project" that has been on my mind ever since we moved into the house and has just started development over the past couple of weeks. My favorite photo is one of my parents and Ron & JoAnn from a 1979 New Year's Party. Special thanks to my AJ, as I also have some great old photographs of my nana & papa. I am excited to add more and am looking forward to putting up some pictures from Al's family as well.

I'm just wrapping up week 33 of pregnancy and will be seeing Dr. Reimnitz this coming week for another check up. We have the final ultrasound scheduled for the 26th of this month, and at this point, I am planning on working through the end of May. Check back for more photos and updates! :)

Celebrations!

Where does the time go? I swear that the weeks have been flying by, and between work and the business of life in general, there never seem to be enough hours in the day! I'm a bit behind on the blog posting, so here's a glimpse as to what has been going on over the past couple of weeks...

On April 25th, my friends Natalie, Ellen, Shelley & Courtney hosted a shower for the baby and I. It was a gorgeous spring day, and we spent the afternoon in Ellen's backyard in Campbell. There were so many special people in attendance, and it was great to mix friends from the past with new friends from both work and Team In Training. The girls did a phenomenal job with everything, and the personal touches were amazing! We enjoyed a lovely homemade brunch which seemed to have the theme "Becky's Favorite Things" (creme brulee french toast, maple bacon, homemade cheese danish, yogurt parfaits & spinach salad). JoAnn had a hand in helping with the decorations, as the main centerpiece was a garland of photos from my childhood created by Natalie.














The favors were adorable as well! Each guest received a copy of the recipe for "Sweet Baby Ishibashi Carrot Cake" with two jars of carrot baby food. Believe it or not, carrot baby food is the "secret ingredient" in this delicious dessert and I can't wait to make my own batch!

Here are a few more pictures from the shower!

Special thanks to my wonderful friends for making this such a special day!