Weeks 32 & 33 - Construction Zone!

I don't really feel like I have much to update on baby wise. I had my 32 week appointment 2 weeks ago. It is time for my next appointment on Wednesday. Everything is moving right along. I believe I now weighed around 155 lbs. Carter's heart rate gets lower each time, which they say is normal. I can tell he is running out of room in there, so his movements are really big and move my whole belly. My feet and legs are starting to swell a little bit. They aren't massive or anything like that yet, but when I sit all day with my legs dangling, they tend to swell a little. My socks leave rings around my right ankle pretty bad cutting off the circulation. My shoes sometimes feel tight, and they look wide when I take them off where I am probably stretching them out. This is why I am glad I've just been wearing flats, so that I'm not messing up my other normal shoes.

Kyle's family shower went great. We had a really good turn out. We had to make a trip to Montevallo for it. I was pretty tired after that day. I started reading Dear John for the two hour trip there. Kyle's mom and aunts did a really good job on the shower. They had a whole booklet of games printed off for everyone to do with lots of good food from Publix. We were pretty late getting home that night, so I was pooped.





I was sad it was dark on the way home, so I couldn't read any more of my Dear John. I was attempting to read it before the movie came out. I've had it for months, because I bought it at the same time that I bought Twilight. I've put it off for so long that Heather threatened she was going to see the movie with or without me. I was afraid to watch the movie first, because then I didn't see myself wanting to read the book after that. I was afraid it would ruin the ending. So, I stayed up until 1 am Thursday night before the movie came out reading the dang thing! I finally finished. It was a good book! We went to see the movie opening night after work last week. The movie had the same plot line, but it did not follow the book much at all. I was a little disappointed, but the movie was still great. And goodness is John (Channing Tatum) not so cute! He made the movie even better. LOL I think I liked the ending of the movie a little more than the book. They were different. We had a good time.

My friend Brandi and I that are due on the same day had our shower on the same day too. Luckily, they were at different times, so I was able to go to hers. She is technically on bed rest, so she couldn't come to mine. It is so funny how we are carrying our babies so different.


I had my friend's shower this weekend too. OMG - They did an amazing job on my party. They had so much yummy food! It ended up being left overs just in time for the Super Bowl too, so that was ok. This was the boy/girl shower. Heather made a really cute diaper cake. I love it. They all worked hard on everything. They even made cute game pamphlets too with my maternity pictures on them. We had a good turn out there too and got lots of more good gifts. Carter is already going to be spoiled and loved so much!! I have a work shower next week, and then my family shower is the 28th. I have got to get his room together to get all of this stuff put away!! :)

I ordered a few bags of personalized M&M's with 4 different sayings and put them in blue tins that said thank you on them. They said Carter Jace, Kyle & Melissa, Thanks 4 coming!, and We love you! They turned out pretty cute.

Speaking of his room - That is what the Construction Zone means! My house is an absolute mess!!!! Since Carter's room is empty, we've put all furniture from my bedroom and the guest room in there to do the laminate floors. They got done last week with that, but we had to wait until they could put down the quarter round on the baseboards before we moved furniture back in. So, Carter's room is wall to wall of furniture. My house has saw dust, nails, hammers, razor blades, drills, air compressors, and so forth all over! I seriously feel like I'm in a construction site. Luckily, the living room has been intact this whole time, so that is where I stay. That will soon get destroyed this week too when they get the rest of the house done. We still have to put laminate in the rest of the hall, a small foyer, and the living room. It shouldn't take entirely too long. I will have to paint the quarter round tonight probably before we do put furniture back in our rooms. I've been sleeping on the guest bed that has just been pushed in the middle of my floor in the room. No news in the morning or any kind of TV for that matter. So, I listen to my alarm clock radio while I get ready. I am off my routine, so I am running late all of the time. My undies are in Carter's room, my clothes are in my closet, my shoes are wherever I left them, and I am weaving in between beds and air compressors in my room to get to the bathroom. The dogs nails on the laminate is driving me insane! Serenity gets up at night and walks circles around my bed. CLICK, CLICK, CLICK, CLICK! She wakes me up a couple of times a night doing that. I can't wait to get my bed put together too...yes that same one from like 6 months ago. It has been in the boxes since then waiting for us to put new floors in. I hope it looks good. We finally also painted my bedroom with a thick brown stripe at the top and a tan kind of color at the bottom. I like it so far, so I hope that it goes with the rest of the decor when I get done putting everything back together. We lost two fish in the process of moving things around. I had them in a small bowl in the sink for a couple of days, which killed my kissing fish. I think that was my fault! Mom and Dad took the other 2 to their house to put in their tank until we are finished. There, my clown loach died. He was my favorite, so we were sad about that. He was a totally cool fish. He would sleep on his back. We are debating whether or not to put the fish tank back up in our room or not. I don't really know yet. We didn't take care of it like we should, and now we will have a rocking cradle in there. I just don't know if we will have enough room.

Here are the new floors! Yah!! Then, we messed it all up by piling it full of stuff to put floors in the other rooms.

Well, the time is ticking down quickly! I've been to two other friend's showers as well. One is due any day now, and the other one will be going in the first of March. So many preggers around here lately! It won't be much longer until we get to meet little Carter Jace. Kyle and I are so excited and anxious to kiss his sweet face and bring him home with us!

Progress, progress, progress

I love PROGRESS!!!!!!!!!!


First, let me get week 28 out of the way. Again, I've taken about 3 weeks since the last time. I've been busy with all this progress though that I am happier that is getting done than this. My belly is definitely growing. It's not necessarily getting wider, but it is for sure going out straight ahead more now. I've been told I've got the "pregnant walk" going on. I can feel the waddle coming on more and more every day. I just turned 31 weeks Friday. Only 9 more weeks to go. I can't believe how fast this is going.

I still don't have much to complain about. I've had an amazing pregnancy so far. My one may complain is my gallbladder still. The "sludge", as they called it, has been really bothering me lately. Some days are worse than others, but when it bothers me, it can be painful. Its not an awful pain, but it is very uncomfortable. It's enough to distract me at work. I just want to push on it when it hurts. I have found that Tylenol helps make it feel better, but I try to only take it when it gets really bad. That has only been twice now. I guess it wasn't heartburn after all. The nurse said there isn't really much we can do while I'm pregnant for it, so I have to deal with it and take Tylenol when needed. I hope it goes away when I have the baby. If not, there may be a surgery coming after this. I've also noticed something that feels so awkward. Right where my ribs start to open up, I am numb for about an inch from there down. It is the weirdest feeling. The nurse said that could be just the weight pressing on a nerve. I've also gotten to the fun part of the leg cramps in the middle of the night. My calf muscles have been getting charlie horses so bad that I have to get up and walk around to make it stop. Owie!

We finally decided on his name. It will be Carter Jace. Pronounce Jace like Chase with a J. Finally we picked it! Carter was what we both liked all along. Jace was the name I wanted if Kyle had to have a J name. We just used it as the middle name instead since it is one syllable too. It fits! I am not crazy about the possibility that people will call him CJ. I don't like that name really. It already happened for the first time today. I quickly corrected them that it will just be Carter, but I know CJ is coming. Boo. I can really feel him moving around now. It is to the point where my whole stomach moves. We went to see The Book of Eli the other night, and he doesn't like the loudness. He moved constantly. I think he had the hiccups that I noticed for the first time this morning. I'm sure he's had them before and everyone always asks me, but I never really noticed before. Kyle got to feel it too, because my belly was against his. He thought it was my heartbeat, but I told him it was the hiccups. I think he also has found my ribs and bladder. He likes to kick them both. I noticed some...um...leakage going on the other morning. I guess I now have milk! LOL Weird!!!!!!

My friend boy/girl party is February 6th. I can't wait! It should be a lot of fun. Kyle's family shower is this upcoming weekend in Birmingham. His mom has been planning a big party. Here are the invites to my friend shower. They are so cute!


My sister-in-law sent us a ton of stuff with our Christmas presents. Carter will have some really cute clothes. She made a really cute diaper cake to use too. Our nieces and nephew wrote us a sweet letter to go with it. Kyle brother, Kacy, finally made it home from Iraq for good this week. He's been back and forth almost the entire time the war has gone on. They hopefully will be coming in town for their spring break. Carter may be here by then!





Wow, I guess I am realizing that I also haven't posted his 4D pictures. I am totally bias, but he is the cutest thing ever!!! I can't wait to hold him in my arms and kiss his sweet little head.




I've celebrated a couple of big birthdays and went to my other preggo friend's baby shower. Mr. Griffin turned two years old last weekend. My camera died before I got to get any pictures of him, but I did get a picture of Kristen's cute decor. This weekend was Keegan's first birthday party. Where has the time gone? I had a great time at Angie's shower yesterday, but I forgot to even take a picture with her. She was originally due 2 days before me, but she is now scheduled for a c-section March 9th. Both of my friends that were due with me have moved to the first week or so in March. I also did something last weekend I hope I never have to do again. My first cousin that was also pregnant with me due sometime in July lost her baby girl. She was just diagnosed with Turner's Syndrome the week before. When she went for her checkup, they couldn't find a heartbeat. My cousin had to deliver the baby. Dad and I attended her funeral last Saturday. I hope to never see another baby casket in my lifetime.







Well, last but not least, we are finally making progress on Carter's room. A couple of Sundays ago, we took all of the furniture out of the dog room and ripped up the carpet. The room is now painted Grass Cloth green, and I've repainted the trim white. We removed the shelf in the closet so that I could replace it was a cooler closet organizer. So, right now, his room is painted, but it is just concrete slab right now. We were supposed to get laminate laid in the whole house today, but that didn't go as planned. We put a deposit on some laminate that was going on sale Friday. It was supposed to promise the amount and price we needed. BUT, when we went to pick it up, they sold our boxes out from under us that day and there weren't enough boxes for us. I was not a happy camper. I really wanted to get the floor put down this weekend so that I could put the furniture and closet organizer in. My first shower is this upcoming weekend, and I wanted to be able to put his stuff away when I got home. With the help of some great friends, I think we are going to try to do it one night this week when the flooring does come in. Papaw put in his fan for him too. I originally put up a light fixture thinking it was bad for a fan to blow air in the baby's face, but I was wrong. So, I bought a pretty ceiling fan. I love it all. I've bought several things to decorate the walls with when everything gets done. I will post more pictures then.









As I was painting the trim in Carter's room, I had to shut the door for a minute. Most of the night, Jigga was laying in there with me on the cold concrete. They are so confused about what happened to their room. Well, I guess since they don't have their couch any more, they had to find somewhere else to lay while I was painting. They are not allowed on my bed, but I guess they are too confused right now. I came out of the room to this view. Be and Jigga were knocked out. You will see a quilt on the bed. I have to sleep with this only now. I wake up sweating if I sleep with the normal comforter.


Last weekend, I also took my maternity pictures. Kyle was out of town and didn't make it back in time for them. I think we are going to try to take some more later with the two of us. I had them done by my good friend Candace at Simple Sweet Photography. I love them! She always does a great job.

Beautiful Blogger Award

Yah! I got my first blogger award! Thanks Tiffany!!

Here are the award rules:
1) Thank the person who nominated you for this award.
2) Copy the award & place it on your blog.
3) Link to the person who nominated you for this award.
4) Tell us 7 interesting things about yourself.
5) Nominate 7 bloggers.
6) Post links to the 7 blogs I nominate.

*7 Wonderful things about me

1. I eat very fast - one item at at time - and I do not like for any of them to touch.
2. I DO NOT eat chicken on a bone and hate watching other people do it.
3. I love Excel spreadsheets and making cool things in PowerPoint.
4. I grew up the biggest tom boy.
5. I don't spend as much time with my family as I should.
6. I call my love handles "taters".
7. I am pregnant with my first child and am really nervous about knowing what all I am supposed to do when he is born.
   
   Now I've got to nominate 7 lovely bloggers, in no particular order!

Kristen

Amber

Thrifty Decor Chick

Toni

Alyse

Candace

LyndsAU

Holy Moly - It's been a month!!

I don't even know if I can remember what all has happened in the last month. When I looked back at my blog, I haven't even posted my 24 week belly picture. Here I am coming up on 28 weeks. Let me see if I can recap the last month of events.



The day after Thanksgiving, Alabama beat Auburn by the skin of our teeth. It was a good game, but not really if you are an Alabama fan playing your rivals that have talked smack all week long. I watched the game at Heather and Derek's, because Kyle had to work like always. Then, on December 5th, we won the SEC Championship game against Florida!! Yah!! Man were we so excited!! If I weren't pregnant, I believe we would have partied all night long. It was such a good feeling!! We now wish we would have gone ahead and bought those National Championship tickets a long time ago like we thought about doing.

On December 11th, we attended Kyle's work Christmas party. It was a pot luck type dinner where everyone brought a dish. Kyle signed me up for mom's Seven Layer Salad. Everyone really liked it. They had a different but fun party. It was in the lobby of their work with pool tables, Wii games, Tiger Woods golf, Rock Band, putt putt golf, and all that. They had tournaments where you could win games. The owner of his dealership gave all of the significant others a gift for supporting them through long hours and weekend work days. She gave me a glass Christmas ornament looking cookie jar. It was really pretty. I've already put it to use with some homemade Oreo Truffles that I made for work. I sent some with Kyle to work in that jar. After Kyle's party, we drove out to our friend's house because it was her birthday party. She is my other friend that is pregnant and due 2 days before me. I also went to my doctor's appointment this morning. I can't remember all of my stats now that I've waited so long. I do remember my weight was 145.something lbs. I told the doc about my tender swelling knee, the blood blisters on my feet, and this crazy burning kind of feeling under my right boob every time I eat. It just is uncomfortable. She told me to keep an eye on it because it could be my gallbladder. That freaked me out!



From the last post I just ordered my baby bedding. I've received it by now, and I love it so far in the bag. I hope it looks as precious when I get it put in the crib. I've gotten several gifts of clothing from friends and Kyle's mom for the baby. I have neglected to take a picture of them all yet. They are all so cute. I need to get a picture of his first outfits. I finally purchased the crib and dresser/changer combo last week. I went with the same one I loved in this post. Kyle and I picked them up this past Sunday to store at mom and dads until we have new carpet down. While we were there, we finished up little bits of our registry. Kyle had never been in BRU before, so he really enjoyed it. I was worried that he wouldn't even want to go, but he was fine with it and actually liked it. He played with everything and even dropped a few things. LOL He just walked around amazed at all of the baby stuff and read the backs of labels to try to learn about it all. I should have taken my video camera. I think I am pretty much done with my registry for now.

Sunday night, December 13th, I woke up in the middle of the night to that same spot under my right boob just hurting. All that morning on the 14th, it even was hurting me in the back behind my right shoulder blade. I called the doc, and they wanted to send me for a gallbladder ultrasound. So, I went to that on December 15th. I had to undress my top and put on a robe. They squirted that warm gel all over me to do like a normal ultrasound except it was aimed under my ribs on the right side. The little lab tech girl worked at it for about 30 minutes taking pictures here and there. She said deep breath, and hold......now breathe. I didn't think I was going to make it between some of those hold and breathes. I had to let it go before she said once because I got dizzy. That is hard to do! LOL Otherwise, the test was harmless. Then, she let me sneak a peak at lil man. He has really grown since the last time I've seen him. She was trying to get his heartbeat, and he was moving all over. He brushed his little arm across his face and moved his little lips like sucking almost. I got the results a couple of days later that I didn't have gall stones, but I had some normal or not alarming "sludge". eww!! I have sludge. She said it may can cause some pain, but there is nothing they do for it while pregnant. Yah! I think I have come to the conclusion that it really is just heartburn and I've never had it before. So, now, I eat about 2 Tums a day when I feel that under there. Its a burning, tingly feeling that is just weird. Tums helps.

December 18th, we had my work Christmas party. I had to rush home from work to get ready and be at Kyle's work to pick him up. We had it at the same place as last year. It is always really nice. We got a nice buffet of some really good food. The band wasn't as great this year. It was the same one we've had the last 2 years, but the lead singer quit a couple of months ago. The new lead singer was ok voice wise, but he was horrible to watch. I am on the committee at work that plans the company events including the Christmas party. I got up during one band break and announced door prizes. I didn't win the first two rounds, and we left before the third one was done. We bought tickets to see Avatar at 10:50 that night. Bad idea. The movie was great and the first one I have ever seen in 3D, but it was way too late and too long. Kyle and I both nodded off during parts of the movie. I even heard him snore once. I had to elbow him. It wasn't because the movie was bad, but we were so tired. It ended around 1:30.



December 19th, now this was a busy day and I am more understanding through this why I haven't had time to blog. I went to my grandmother's house for Christmas lunch with the family at 11. I had to keep an eye on the clock to leave in time to be at Heather's college graduation at 2. She graduated with her Bachelor's in Engineering...finally!! I am so proud of her. My other friend graduated with her Communications degree the week before, but it was on a Friday when I had to work. So, I wasn't able to go. I did meet them for lunch though. I am so proud of her too. After Heather's graduation, I ran home to rest for a minute and get ready again to drive to Birmingham for Kyle's family party. It was at his aunt's house. We ate a few bites to eat and sang a few songs. Then, we stayed the night at one of Kyle's friend's houses and just hung out. We ate a bite and watched some games at Buffalo Wild Wings Sunday before driving back home. Boy that was a busy weekend.



Kyle actually got Christmas Eve off this year, so I took off too. He was still gone from the house all day though doing his shopping. Procrastinator!! Christmas day, Kyle and I opened our gifts from one another. I got a beautiful Bulova watch and a Patagonia pullover from him. I love them both!! I had gotten him a new blazer for work and 2 tickets to the Jay-Z/Jeezy concert in Atlanta for him and a friend. I am so jealous, because I would love to go since we missed out on the last one. However, I don't think lil man would enjoy loud concert speakers at 8 months pregnant. I'd probably have him on the floor right there. Being Kyle's child, he would probably come out singing all the songs anyway. lol So, I am letting Kyle take a friend instead. He was really excited. He first thought they were tickets to the championship game, but I couldn't afford to send him there. LOL He was still excited though. We went to mom's for a yummy fried turkey for lunch. Their big gift to me was a cute little mini camcorder that records on a memory card. It is the coolest thing ever. I can't wait to record something on it. I wanted it to try to record the baby being born. If not, then I am sure I will find a ton of other cute things to record him doing. :)

I just went to my regular checkup this morning. I had to do the yummy glucose sugar test. I passed my glucose and hemoglobin tests. Yah!! I weighed 148 lbs, my BP was 100/80, my belly from top to bottom was 29", and lil man's BPM was 140. Everything is moving right along! I now start my every two week visit. Man time is flying! I am starting to get into the somewhat nesting/panic phase. There is so much that I want done before the baby gets here. I had all intentions of doing that this past weekend when I was off for 4 days, but I have had a head cold of sneezing and blowing my nose constantly. So, Saturday, I took it easy all day and felt like poo. I started Monday night trying to organize a little at a time. I got the kitchen pretty much done. I still have a few cabinets to go through and clean out. Next will be the closets. Once I get the new flooring in, everything will start rolling along. I need to paint the hallway, my bedroom, and the baby room. I have to clean out his closet in that room because its used for storage right now. I really want those metal organizer type shelves for his closet to have some spots to stack stuff. Maybe I can get some of those too if I can find them for a good price. Ahh! A lot to do in so little time! :) Panic has set in!

Bedding

I finally broke down and bought the baby bedding. I waited until the day after Thanksgiving to see if I could catch a good sale. It didn't go on sale anymore than it was, but I did get a coupon for free shipping. I am so surprised that I liked this bedding, because I do not like the typical baby stuff. I don't like the bears, animals, airplanes, trains, and any of that kind of stuff. I just wanted geometric like shapes or something. However, when I saw this bedding, I loved it immediately. I am so surprised with myself, because it has elephants on it. I am ok with them though because they look more modern than like a real elephant. The elephants also are good for us as Bama fans too! lol I've made the purchase and just waiting for it to get here now. Now, I just need the new floors down, the crib, and then I will be set. I love it online. I hope I will love it just as much when I get it.