Enter Third Trimester!!

So.... here I am, 28 weeks, 2 days.  11 weeks and 5 days to go, not that I'm counting :)  But who knows, maybe Miss Hailey will make her appearance before that, which would make mommy very happy!  I am getting quite big this days, not to mention uncomfortable!  My ankles and feet don't seem to be interested in their normal size anymore, because they are nothing but swollen these days, even when I'm not on my feet too much.  But other than that, I'm feeling great!

I'm finally in the third trimester and it has definitely set in that she is coming soon!  I really can't wait to meet her!  We made a lot of progress on the nursery this weekend which has made me feel a little more prepared.  Rian painted.... and we are really happy with the color!

 Final result:

My sister made the drapes out of the adorable fabric we found.... here is what it looks like next to the walls:

And here is a picture of how huge I am!  Oh boy!!!

In furniture news, our crib, dresser, and changer are on backorder until May 19!  Yes, that is 3 weeks before my due date!  Good thing Hailey will be sleeping in a bassinet in our room for the first few weeks.  

Look at this adorable outfit my mom got for Hailey during her recent trip to New Orleans:

Our 3D/4D Ultrasound is in 2 weeks, so we are really excited to see how much her little face has fattened up since our 20 week appointment!  Then a week after that we start 6 weeks of baby classes at the hospital so we can learn a little something about babies!!  And my doctor appointments just moved from every 4 weeks to every 2 weeks... so apparently this is happening soon!  I can't wait to be a mommy :)

25 Weeks & Chicago Babymoon!

Lots has been going on in the past 5 weeks since I've posted!

I've been working alot, which has been getting harder because I run out of breath more easily these days running around the hotel, plus my feet and ankles have been starting to swell up.  I was pretty concerned about that because they were pretty big at one point (I'm talkin' Orange Beach '08 Cankles! or bigger!!) - so I went in to the doctor for an 'emergency' appointment in between my normal 20 and 24 week appointments.  Luckily everything is fine (no signs of pre-eclampsia or other swelling-related problems).  I just need to start watching my salt intake and drinking lots more water.  And let me tell you watching salt intake is not easy!  But when I went back for my 24 week appointment, the swelling was down and I lost 2 pounds of water weight so that is good!  My belly is also measuring right on track at 25 centimeters.  So even though I feel like I've gotten alot bigger in the past couple weeks, it's good to know its right where its supposed to be!  Little Miss Hailey is moving around like a ninja these days... I even felt her kicking my ribs yesterday!

24 week pic:

A couple weeks ago we celebrated Rian's 28th birthday!  I made him breakfast in bed, got him some new Cardinals apparel for the '11 season and we went out for a big birthday dinner at Ruths Chris Steakhouse that night.  It was excellent!

In home improvement news, we are definitley moving forward with the basement & nursery projects.  The basement is now fully carpeted and baseboards are in!  I think it looks great, and Bucky certainly enjoys the extra space to run around :)

Furniture for the nusery is also ordered and should be in by mid-March.  We are picking out the paint color this weekend so Rian can get to working on that.  ALSO, my lovely, kind, sister agreed to make my crib skirt and matching drapes for Hailey's room!  We found an adorable fabric swatch a few weeks ago... the colors are coral, pink (a darker pink, not baby pink), and 2 different shades of green.  And its polka dots!  I'm really excited about it and think it's gonna come together nicely.  Thanks Mel!

We also returned from our mini-Babymoon to Chicago this past Monday night.  For anyone who doesn't know, a Babymoon is a trip for you and your spouse to spend time together before the baby comes.  I know Chicago isn't the most exciting of destinations (we've been there a million times and I even lived there for a short while) but it was a quick and easy trip that gave us lots of rest and relaxation!  We even had our first train adventure to get there!  It wasn't too bad... a little tough to get comfortable for the 6-hour ride, but I would do it again, preferably to a closer destination like Jefferson City!  Anyway, once we got there, we were trying to pretend like we'd never been there before and did lots of touristy things!  Navy Pier, Millenium Park, The Bean, Mag Mile, Sears Tower (awesome!), Second City, restaurants and things like that.  We also went into a lot of cute little baby boutiques in Lincoln Park & Roscoe Village.  Everything was so adorable!!  Here is a snippet of some pics from our trip:

So, here I am at 25 weeks down, 15 weeks to go.  Once March is over, I feel like the time is going to fly.  I cannot wait for springtime!!!

BIG NEWS!

Rian and I are having a GIRL!

We absolutely could not be more excited!  Her name is Hailey.  Middle name is still in negotiation... but we are getting close!

Here is how it went down!  My appointment was at 1:00, and at 1:30 they finally called us back to the ultrasound room.  The ultrasound tech, let's call her Joan, asked us right away if we wanted to find out the sex.  We said YES!  And she explained that she typically saves that part for last, of course!  So Joan starts checking all the tiny parts..... 2 arms... 2 legs... abdomen...stomach... kidneys.... head... brain... neck... spine....4 tiny chambers of the heart.... umbilical cord... level of amniotic fluid... everything!  She also checked for a cleft palette and physical symptoms of downs syndrome, both of which were negative - thank goodness!  It was amazing.  Admittedly half the time I didn't know what the heck she was looking at, but we'd just wait for her to say "... that looks good!"  Apparently throughout the whole thing she was looking at the 'goods' from a couple different angles to see if it was boy or girl, but we couldn't tell!  She did say that the baby was basically sitting on my bladder which is the most difficult angle to dicipher the sex.  But I said I would jump up and down if necessary to move it into the right position :)  Finally she had me roll to one side (towards the ultrasound screen) and she finally got the baby in the right position to confirm the sex.  She wrote 'THINK PINK' across the ultrasound screen so when we saw that, we knew!  And she said she is 100% sure, so hopefully there won't be any blue suprises in the delivery room!

I was 20 weeks and 3 days along at the ultrasound on Tuesday, and the baby measured 20 weeks exactly, so according to my doctor, 3 days isn't enough of a difference to change my due date.  Baby weighed 12 ounces, which is in the 32nd percentile for her gestational age.  We got a picture of her tiny face.... very skinny at this point but she will surely put on some weight in the weeks to come! :

I don't want to embarass Hailey by posting the pictures of her lady parts, but I can assure you she is a girl :)

After the appointment, Rian and I visited each of our moms at work to surprise them with the news.  We stopped at Carter's first to make our first pink purchases!!  It was really hard for me NOT to buy everything in the store.  We got one outfit for each grandma and a little something for ourselves :)  Both Marge & Peg were incredibly happy for us.  Then I texted my whole phonebook and put the news on FB! 

Rian and I went out to dinner last night to celebrate, then we told the good news to our first born Bucky Blue!  He was really happy for us :)