The Grandparents

I thought I would take this time to introduce you to P-Nut's grandparents. Ryan and I are so lucky to have such wonderful parents that will be even better grandparents to our little one. P-Nut is the first grandbaby on both sides and he/she is ALREADY spoiled rotten by these four. We have been told on many occasions that we no longer matter and come second string to P-Nut - and of course, we wouldn't have it any other way.

Without further ado.....

Grandma and Grandpa

Both of Kathy and Jerry's parents went by Grandma and Grandpa and they wanted to carry on the tradition. Classic!

Coach and Jewel

One of the first things dad said when we told him he was going to be a grandfather was "The baby can call me Coach." Growing up a coach's daughter, this is only fitting. My great-grandmother and mom's grandmother was called "Mama Jewel" and mom thought it would be special to go by her grandmother's name. It is very suiting. 

Ryan and I are, of course, so excited to meet P-Nut but I think we might be even more excited for the grandparents to meet him or her. They are going to go nuts :)

2nd Baby Shower

My family hosted an AMAZING baby shower for P-Nut and I on May 19 at the Springdale Country Club. There were so many very special touches that made it truly wonderful. P-Nut is already so blessed to have so many wondering people in his/her life!

There are actually 7 people in this picture- Mommy with three of her besties PLUS 3 little ones, due in July, August and October! 

Cousins! 

Each table had a baby picture of me, a baby picture of Ryan and a prayer card. Guests wrote prayers down for P-Nut. I got home and only read through the first three before I started crying. I still haven't been able to finish reading all of them. I can't wait to share those with P-Nut some day!

P-Nut's favorite - sweets!

Me with my future sister --Aunt LuLu

This gift is from Grandma Kathy. She hand knitted this blanket just for P-Nut. What made it even more special is that she did it while she was in Little Rock with Jerry during his cancer treatment. Jerry is now in remission so the blanket will always have a very special meaning for all of us. 

Another meaningful touch - favorite candy of 2 very special ladies that could not be there. Grape Jelly Beans were my mom's favorite and M&M's were Leah's favorite. It still gets to me knowing they both already know what P-Nut is and are watching out for him/her. 

Me, P-Nut and the Grandmothers! P-Nut is so lucky to have such wonderful grandmothers who already love him/her more than anything else!

With all the hostesses. Thank you again for everything. I LOVED every second of it! 

God's Amazing Works

This was right after a storm blew through Farmington and we had several tornado warnings. It was also the same day the Moore, OK F-5 tornado struck. This portrait in the sky made me thankful for everything and reminded me God gets us through even the worst of times.

The Nursery is Complete

Ryan and I finished the nursery this weekend! It feels so good to have it done and ready for our little one's arrival. We are very happy with how it turned out and we think P-Nut will fit right in. There are some extra special touches that we love. 

Here is a view from the door. The only thing that needs to be added is P-Nut's name over the crib. That will obviously be done after the birth. 

This picture shows two heirloom pieces. The little rocking chair was handmade by Ryan's grandfather who passed away when Ryan was young. The white chest was my mother's. One hinge was broken but Ryan fixed it for me. We are keeping toys and books in the chest. It is special to have both pieces in P-Nut's nursery.

I love the little owl prints I found online. The colors were a perfect match. 

This is one of my favorite spots in the nursery. The chest that we are using as the changing table was the one that Ryan had in his nursery as a baby. We sanded it down and painted it. Above the dresser are baby pictures of Ryan and me and then the middle frame will hold a picture of P-Nut. 

Can you tell which is Ryan and which is me? 

And of course we had to have some sort of Razorback spirit in the room. I painted this at Painting with a Twist. 

So, there it is. Completely done and ready to welcome its new host - in about 5 weeks!!

34 Weeks!

6 weeks and counting people! Crazy Town!!! 

Last week I had my doctor's appointment and P-Nut was looking good. Heart rate was 152 and I gained another 2 pounds bringing my grand total so far to 26 pounds. Not bad.

One thing I asked the doctor about is the position of the baby. She felt again and P-Nut is still in transverse position - meaning lying horizontal and not vertical with head down. She said at my next appointment, at which I will be 35 weeks, if it still feels that way, she will do a quick ultrasound to confirm but she wouldn't worry about anything until about 37 weeks. Of course I am hoping baby starts to head down stream but I wouldn't mind if we got to take another sneak peak at P-Nut. I haven't seen him/her since 20 weeks! She will also start checking to see if I am dilated next week. Again, whoa!

This week I started having some pain in my tailbone which is just my uterus putting pressure on that tendon. My "birthing ball" has come in handy for that reason. It relieves a lot of that pressure.

One thing to note this week is that my husband, not me, has gone into FULL nesting mode. He is starting to get very anxious and nervous so he is getting a lot done around the house. Last night he packed his diaper bag that he will carry with him - remember the camo one we got him awhile ago? He also ordered the car seat. We already have the base for it and he wanted to go ahead and install that in my car last night too. I told him that was not necessary until we actually got the car seat :) He also asked if we could pack the hospital bags this weekend. I find lots of comfort in knowing my husband wants to be prepared and its not just me! He is a true partner.

Also, more evidence of his daddy instincts. Last night we had some major storms come through with several tornado warnings. I have never been real worried about tornadoes in our area but he is always watching. At one point he looked at me and said: "Take my baby to the closet." Since P-Nut is in me, I was just assuming he meant his wife as well :) I see who outranks whom now and I am just fine by that.

I can't wait until our next appointment for so many reasons! We are getting so close to meeting P-Nut!

Church Baby Shower

On May 5, the amazing girls from my bible study threw P-Nut a baby shower at church. It was our first shower and such a sweet, sweet occasion. Those girls are wonderful and Ryan and I feel so blessed to have found such an amazing church family we love. We got some amazing things and I had so much fun washing everything and putting them away in P-Nut's nursery. 

33 Weeks

33 Weeks = the 8 Month = Less than 2 months to go!!!!

Scary but exciting all at the same time!

 

From this picture I realize a bold pattern on a pregnant belly is probably not the best choice :)

P-Nut is still as active as ever. I am pretty sure he/she is doing somersaults all day long. I feel most of them on the right side. Baby could grow up to a full inch this week and should weigh in around 5 lbs.

I am getting a little more uncomfortable these days and my ankles have started swelling. They don't bother me, just look bad. Last week Ryan said "Whoa! Look at your ankles!" I looked down and saw 2 stumps. Maybe I should back off of the heels a little bit from now on?

Sleep is getting spotting now too. I wake up with what feels like stretching or growing pains in my belly, not cramps, just soreness. Then its hard for me to go back to sleep.

But if these are the worst symptoms I am having, I won't complain. By all accounts this has been a very easy pregnancy.

Almost every night, Ryan and I are shocked about how close we are getting. Technically in 4 weeks I will be "full term" which is the craziest part of all. We both are praying that P-Nut stays put as long as possible. Obviously for health reasons but also partly for the wild and crazy schedule we have every weekend from now until D-Day. Again, I will reiterate, not great timing on our part when little brother is getting married 3 weeks after the birth. We have bachelor/bachelorette parties, wedding showers, two weddings and a couple of holidays thrown in there too.

My next appointment is on Friday and then its every week after that. We have our next birthing class on Saturday and then our big baby shower on Sunday. Its going to be a busy, but fun weekend!

32 Weeks

P-Nut is now 32 weeks! All of a sudden the song "The Final Countdown" came to mind. We had a doctor's appt. last Thursday and P-Nut was measuring on schedule with a heart rate of 152. I had gained 7 lbs in the past 2 weeks but that is fairly normal. Total so far has been 24 pounds. Baby will now gain 1/2 pound each week so my weight gain will start to sky rocket. My doctor did tell me she was impressed that I was still wearing heels and that I had no stretch marks. That made me feel good! I now have what I call the "pregnant belly button." My innie has become an outtie for the time being.

When I get home at night, instead of going to my closet for a t-shirt I am raiding Ryan's draws for shirts. XLs are so much more comfortable these days. I am still sleeping fairly well with only the one bathroom trip at night- still at 3:30 a.m. every morning. There have been a few occasions I slept through the night and it has felt like heaven.

I think I have started experiencing Braxton Hicks contractions now. I can't be sure though. They don't hurt and I only notice them when I happen to put my hand on my stomach and it is hard as a rock, so hard I can't even press on it. This is about the time they should be starting so I am just assuming. My uterus is starting to practice for the big day!

I got my weekly update email yesterday and it said baby should now be facing head down to prepare for birth!! That freaked me out!! Are we really to that point? I am pretty sure P-Nut is not head down yet because I asked the doc and she said the little booty was lower than the head. P-Nut is very, very active and kicks momma all day long. I can really tell body parts these days which is fun.

Overall I am still feeling fantastic!

Ryan and I both have this feeling that P-Nut will make an early debut. Ryan was 6 weeks early, his brother was 3 weeks, I was a week early and Spencer was about a week early. Therefore, we have been feeling the pressure to get our to do list accomplished around the house. We made a lot of progress on the nursery this past weekend and I can't wait to show it off once it is finally complete.

My next appt is next Friday and after that it will be weekly visits!!!! Ahhh! I really can't believe how fast this is all going.

Our Getaway to KC

Ryan and I decided to get out of town for a weekend so we booked a room and head up to Kansas City. We left early Saturday morning and had a full day scheduled.

Since Fayetteville doesn't have any purely baby superstores, we wanted to go to some of those in order to "play" with some of the things we registered for. We registered for our carseat and stroller without ever seeing it in person. Luckily, we loved both. We were also able to find some things we wanted to add to the registry.

Don't mind if I do.....

One of the most important items on our schedule was of course FOOD. Ryan decided he wanted to eat at a couple of the famous KC BBQ joints to decide which one he liked best. Lunch on Saturday was at Gates BBQ. Ryan got ribs, I had a pork sandwich.

Lunch on Sunday was at Arthur Bryant's. Ryan had burnt ends and I had a sausage sandwich.

My favorite was Arthur Bryan'ts but Ryan's was Gates. So it was a toss up. We marked off something from Ryan's bucket list which was fun.

Saturday night we had tickets to a Royals game. Ryan grew up a Royals fan, which slightly hurts me because I am a Cards fan through and through. The things we do for love :) We found some great seats on StubHub and got to watch a nail-biting win for KC while pigging out on all the yummy ball park food.

The most amazing thing at the game to me was how quickly we were out of the parking lot after the game. We stayed for all 9 innings and I was predicting we would be sitting in traffic for at lest 45 minutes waiting to get out of the parking lot. But to my surprise, from the time we walked out of the stadium until we walked into our hotel was a total of 15 minutes. Bliss!

Please disregard our appearances. It was sprinkling all day. Yuck! 

Speaking of hotel, we stayed at an AWESOME one - Hotel Phillips downtown. It was a block from the Power & Light District and was an old hotel that had been redone. So neat! We loved it. The staff was extremely friendly and we had a huge room. It is normally not a hotel we would stay at just because it is pretty pricey but luckily, the day I was looking to book on Travelocity, their rooms were half off. Yay me! I would highly recommend it to anybody traveling to KC. It was a nice change from the typical chain hotels.

On Sunday morning we got up, had a complimentary breakfast (just because the hotel put a temporary charge on our card) and then headed to the WWI Museum. Ryan and I both love history so we were especially excited about this adventure. We spent about 3 hours in the museum reading every word and analyzing every artifact. Ryan was very impressed with all the weapons.

The entrance to the museum. You can actually go up into that tower.

KC skyline view from the museum

After the museum we had lunch and then headed back home. We were in our driveway by 5:30 Sunday night. It was the perfect little getaway for us and will probably be our last before P-Nut arrives. We soaked up every minute of being together and enjoyed everything about our trip.