Our little blessing at 37 weeks, 4 days

     Sorry this is late, but we are officially full term now! So now we have +/- three weeks to go. I had my weekly doctor’s appointment last Friday. Not much to report from that though. I weighed just a little bit less than the week before and my blood pressure was good. The results from my Group B strep test came back negative so I won’t have to have antibiotics given to me during labor to make sure the baby isn’t affected. They did not do a pelvic exam this week because I haven’t been having contractions and they doubt that I have progressed any. Otherwise, here is what’s been going on this week.

How far along? 37 weeks, 4 days

Baby’s size?  The baby weighs a little more than six pounds and is about the length of a stalk of Swiss chard at a little more than 19 inches long. The baby is now considered “full term,” even though his due date is three weeks away. If I went into labor now, his lungs would likely be mature enough to fully adjust to life outside the womb.

Sleep? Sleep is not good anymore. I have trouble getting comfortable at night and falling asleep unless I am really tired. If I have a nap during the day, it makes it hard to sleep at night. And I get up to use the restroom about every hour or two.

Food cravings? This week I’ve been loving frozen green grapes, orange juice, and ice cream, particularly soft-serve type ice cream like that in Dairy Queen blizzards.

Food aversions? No aversions this week.

Symptoms? Still having some pain in my pelvis due to stretching ligaments as my body gets ready for the baby’s birth. I've been having some heartburn lately, which is no fun. 

Best moment this week? One of the best moments this week was when Tim read some of the baby’s books to my stomach. It was really cute to see him get into it. And the baby responded with a few kicks, so he must have enjoyed it too.

Movement? Movement has slowed down some because I think it's getting pretty cramped in there. Some days he’ll move a ton and then the next day he’ll be a little more subdued as if he wore himself out the day before.

What I miss about not being pregnant? I miss being able to get up and down off the floor/couch/bed like I used to. It’s easy for me to lose my balance sometimes when I try to get up as fast as I used to be able to. Also, putting on shoes and socks is really hard now.

What I’m looking forward to? Still waiting on the baby furniture. Unfortunately, the owner of the store called and said the company that makes the furniture will not send a truck out to deliver it until they have a full truck of merchandise, which she doesn’t expect will happen until mid-April. She is estimating we’ll get the furniture at the end of April. We’re both really disappointed. We had hoped to have the nursery completely finished before he was born. Otherwise, I’m really excited to finally meet the baby and see what he looks like and to be able to start that next step in being a parent to an outside baby.  I’m also looking forward to our families coming out to visit in the next two months! 

Just for fun

     Waiting is starting to get old. Go to the link below to guess our baby's stats (when he'll be born, weight, hair color, eye color, etc.) Just for fun. This site allows folks to guess the stats and then awards points based on how close you are to the actual birth stats. The winner may or may not get a prize. 
     Tim and I have already put in our guesses. But don't base your votes off them. We don't know any more than you do. The doctor's have not guessed his weight or length and they seem to have no idea when he'll come because I haven't progressed any based on my last pelvic exam.
     Here's the link. Have fun and good luck!

A sneak peek at Baby Rumely

     We still have +/- three weeks until we finally get a look at our baby. But by using a handy tool on TheBump.com, I morphed pictures of Tim and me together to get an idea of what Baby Rumely could look like. I took a picture of Tim from a couple years back and a recent picture of me (they had to be straight-on shots of our faces without sunglasses or hair in our face) and these are the results.

 

     The results are pretty creepy. He has gigantic ears, which neither of us have. He will apparently have my eyes and some strange morphing of our noses. I'm also pretty sure he got one each of our eyebrows-Tim's on the left and mine on the right. Not so sure about the hair color, which matches neither of our shades of brown and it kind-of looks like he's already balding. Baby Rumely's got swoopy bangs like Tim, but his daddy parts his on the opposite side. I do spot what looks to be a cowlick on one side, so maybe the website knows what it's doing after all. 

   I wasn't ready to give up yet, so I tried one more website, to see if we could get a cuter kid. I went to the website MorphThing.com and tried again. This time I put in the two pictures and had to place little dots around our features. I guess this helps the computer program identify them in the pictures better. Anyway, the results were much more realistic-looking (though I'm not sure what happened with the hair.)

     Anyway, we'll just have to see in about a month. But just for fun, here are some pictures of Tim and I as babies so you can just use your imagination to come up with what you think Baby Rumely will look like. First off are pictures of Tim as a baby. 

 And some of me...

Menu Monday

    Here is our menu for this week. Quite a few brand new recipes this week. I'm getting tired of most of my old stand-bys. Though as you can see, taco meatloaf is making an appearance since it's Tim's favorite. Plus, I'm still working on freezing food for after the baby is born. I've already frozen four quarts of soup, two quarts or spaghetti sauce, and two loaves of zucchini bread. I plan to freeze a meatloaf and a couple casseroles this week. 

Monday: Chicken spaghetti casserole. This is a recipe from the blog Pioneer Woman Cooks. Whoever this woman is, she is really funny and makes a lot of easy- and tasty-looking meals. Freeze extra in disposable aluminum pans. 

Tuesday: Dinner with Jim and Amanda from our church small group. 

Wednesday: Taco meatloaf with black beans and corn. Make an extra to freeze.  

Thursday: Eat out before small group. 

Friday: Cajun chicken pasta. This is also a recipe from Pioneer Woman Cooks. 

Saturday: Bratwursts. We found a huge package of them for sale at Costco for really cheap. We'll freeze some of them because there are a lot. 

Sunday: Beef tamale pie. This is a recipe from a blog I found called Freeze Happy! I was doing some research into freezing meals and discovered this site. This recipe seemed pretty easy. I plan to make two and freeze one. 

Blueberry Zucchini Bread

     While researching recipes to freeze for after the baby is born, I happened across a recipe for blueberry zucchini bread. I've never made or even eaten zucchini bread, but I've always wanted to try it. And when Tim saw me looking at the recipe, he encouraged me to give it a shot. I ended up baking three loaves, two of which I froze for after the baby is born. That way we can have a little treat at some point and have something besides cereal or oatmeal for breakfast. The bread ended up tasting very good. I think it would be even better during the summer with fresh blueberries and zucchini. 

     I used some of the extra shredded zucchini in the spaghetti sauce we had Friday night. I froze two quarts of it for after the baby is born. You can't even tell it's in there, but I wanted to make sure we were eating plenty of vegetables after the baby comes and not a ton of fast food and unhealthy stuff. 

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients

• 3 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 1/4 cups white sugar
• 2 cups shredded zucchini
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 pint fresh blueberries (I used frozen)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease 4 mini-loaf pans (I used three slightly larger pans).
2. In a large bowl, beat together the eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar. Fold in the zucchini. Beat in the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon. Gently fold in the blueberries. Transfer to the prepared loaf pans.
3. Bake 50 minutes (mine took closer to an hour, so check often) in the preheated oven, or until a knife inserted in the center of a loaf comes out clean. Cool 20 minutes in pans, then turn out onto wire racks to cool completely.

The blueberries and little flecks of green zucchini skin make the bread look really pretty when it's sliced. I made it on Friday and we've almost demolished a loaf already. So try out this recipe sometime if you like to bake. Or tuck the recipe away until spring when zucchini and blueberries are in season. You won't regret it.

Our little blessing at 36 weeks

     Things are going well on the baby front. I had a doctor’s appointment on Friday, the first of what will now be weekly visits. The baby had a heart rate of 134 beats per minute, which is lower than it has been, but the doctor said that was normal as the baby gets bigger and can't move around as much. My stomach measured 37 cm, which is on track for where I am in the pregnancy. It should be anywhere between 36 and 38 cm according to the doctor. So the baby is not measuring too big or too small. The doctor also did a pelvic exam and I am not effaced or dilated at all. They will continue to check my progress each week. 

How far along? 36 weeks

Baby’s size?  The baby weighs about the same as a Crenshaw melon at almost six pounds and about 18.5 inches long. He is packing on the pounds at about an ounce a day. He should begin shedding his vernix caseosa and lanugo hair in preparation for his birth.

Sleep? Sleep is okay. I’m kind-of worn out from the time change and from how busy we were this week with hospital tours, birthing classes, small group, two church functions, and some other stuff I’ve been up to this week. I get up to use the bathroom a ton still and Tim told me that I woke him up with my snoring the other night! I’m not normally a snorer, so I hope this is just a pregnancy thing.

Food cravings? Orange juice has been particularly refreshing this week. I’ve been craving a milkshake for the majority of this week too and finally got a small one from Sonic today! Yay! 

Food aversions? No aversions. I pretty much like everything I liked before I was pregnant.

Symptoms? My pelvic muscles have become sore as my ligaments stretch to allow my pelvis to open up in preparation for the baby’s delivery. It hurts to get up from bed or the couch and sometimes when I’m walking around. My doctor said it is completely normal though. Other than that, I haven’t really had any pregnancy symptoms.

Best moment this week? Finishing our birthing classes this week and touring the hospital and pre-registering was great. It’s nice to cross more things off our baby preparation to-do list. And having a better idea of what to expect when I go into labor has helped ease some of the uncertainty about it.

Movement? The baby is still moving a lot, more so in the morning and evening. He still gets the hiccups about once a day, which is fun.

What I miss about not being pregnant? Nothing much.

What I’m looking forward to? I’m still waiting for the baby’s furniture to be delivered. I can’t wait to be able to do some more work in the nursery. We had some art framed for the room this week and I can’t wait to hang it once we get the furniture in. 

Here's a view from the side. It's amazing that I still have a month left. 

How much bigger can I get? 

Here's a shot of my bellybutton. As you can see, it is pretty much flat now. We'll have to see if it will become an outie. 

Still no stretch marks though!

Menu Monday

     No new recipes this week, so I'm not going to post any pictures. I'm also starting this week to make extra of some of our meals to freeze for after the baby is born. This week, I'm going to make extra soup and spaghetti sauce to freeze. 

Monday: We're having burritos tonight. Quick and easy before Tim goes to play basketball at the church.

Tuesday: Ritz cracker chicken, sweet potato fries, and steamed broccoli. 

Wednesday: White bean chicken chili. This is a recipe that I got from my friend Jodi. I make it a little bit different from the recipe she uses by adding a few different seasonings and using shredded chicken instead of ground chicken. Mainly because ground chicken was $4.99 a pound this week. I will freeze some of it to have after the baby is born. 

Thursday: We'll eat out before we go to our small group. 

Friday: Spaghetti with salad. I'll also freeze extra of this.  

Saturday: Grilled chicken breast, roasted red potatoes and some vegetable. Because Tim requested that I let him grill this week. 

Sunday: Lemon pepper shrimp scampi. One of Tim's favorites. This is a recipe from Cooking Light. I've made it many times before. 

Our little blessing at 35 weeks

Well, I have officially reached the infamous 35/35 (35 weeks pregnant, 35 days to go). So that means only 5 more weeks (approximately) until I am holding a baby in my arms! I can't believe it!

How far along? 35 weeks

Baby’s size?  The baby weighs about the same as honeydew melon (5.25 pounds) and about 18 inches long from head to heel. Because it’s so snug in my womb, he isn't likely to be doing somersaults anymore, but the number of times he kicks should remain about the same. His kidneys are fully developed now, and his liver can process some waste products. Most of his basic physical development is now complete — he’ll spend the next few weeks putting on weight.

Sleep? Sleep isn’t so great anymore. I’m having a lot more trouble getting comfortable enough to fall asleep, though I am pretty good at falling back asleep when I wake up during the middle of the night for bathroom breaks (which is pretty frequently).

Food cravings? This week I craved Funfetti cake. And Pink Lady apples. 

Food aversions? Nothing really.

Symptoms? Tim is convinced that my belly button is about to wave the white flag and surrender trying to be an innie. I’m also having some more pain in my hips/lower back area. Otherwise, I’m still doing good.

Best moment this week? The baby has had the hiccups a few times this week. It’s the first time I’ve really been able to tell that that was what they were. They feel kind-of like a small kick, but very rhythmic. It’s pretty cute.

Movement? He’s still moving a ton. I guess he’s not too big that he can’t still roll over in there from time to time.

What I miss about not being pregnant? Nothing.

What I’m looking forward to? I’m looking forward to the baby’s furniture coming in soon. It should be here within three weeks. Once that happens, we’ll soon be able to finish the nursery and put everything away and put art up on the walls. Yay! Then we'll post pictures.

Our new ride

     We made a big purchase this weekend...our new family car! Check it out. 

     We have been a one-car family for about two months now since moving to Washington. No fun, let me tell you. Tim takes our Toyota Camry to work everyday so I was pretty much stuck at the house unless I drove him to work in the morning. I know plenty of people have functioned with one car, but we really wanted a second vehicle by the time the baby was born in case I needed to leave the house, especially in the case of an emergency or something. 

     The new car is a used "salsa red" 2005 Chevrolet Equinox. We bought it from a car dealership in Kennewick. After haggling with the sales person, we finally settled on a price that we believe is a great deal. We had it checked by a mechanic before we bought it and everything major checked out. Also, the dealership is going to put new tires and air filters on it this week. It's a smaller SUV and will make a great family car. 

     The inside of the car is really nice. It has gray cloth seats and is very clean. The previous owners obviously took good care of it which was not the case with most of the cars we checked out. It didn't smell like smoke like a lot of the cars we looked at either. Eww!  We are so blessed to have another vehicle!

     And we weren't the only ones  who got a sweet ride this week. Check out what Tim put together for the baby!

     It's the Chicco stroller that Tim's parents bought for us. After some initial frustration with figuring out the directions for putting the stroller together, Tim figured it out.  We still have not put the base for the car seat in the vehicle because we are waiting to get a seat protector to keep the car as nice as possible. Just another step towards getting ready for his arrival. 

Our little blessing at 34 weeks

How far along? 34 weeks

Baby’s size?  The baby weighs about the same as a cantaloupe, about 4.75 pounds and almost 18 inches long. His fat layers — which will help regulate his body temperature once he’s born — are filling him out, making him rounder. His skin is also smoother than ever. His central nervous system is maturing and his lungs are continuing to mature as well.

Sleep? I’m having a harder time falling asleep at night because it’s getting more difficult to find a comfortable position. But once I finally do fall asleep, I sleep pretty soundly (minus the frequent bathroom breaks). And boy, are they frequent. Tim says we should take out stock in toilet paper.

Food cravings?  Not a whole lot of cravings. Green grapes and this new sherbet we found that is orange with chocolate chips in it. Soooo good.

Food aversions? Broccoli and I are still not the best of friends, but I still eat it anyway.

Symptoms?  The upper half of my belly button seems to want to poke out, but the bottom half is holding it back. My back hurts pretty frequently, but I don’t really have a whole lot of the common symptoms particularly the digestion-related ones, thank goodness. I’ve had what I think are a few Braxton-Hicks contractions (practice contractions), but I’m not certain.

Best moment this week? Attempting to videotape my belly moving has been pretty fun this week. We’re still working on it and may post something on the blog. The baby seems to be a little camera-shy because he will be holding his own personal dance party in my belly and it will be moving all over the place, but once we bring out the camera, he stops moving.

Movement? The baby has been moving a ton. We’ll keep trying to document it. It’s really remarkable to watch my whole belly ripple as he rolls over. This morning I rolled over to try to get Tim to wake up and my tummy was pressed against his back and the baby kicked so hard that Tim felt it in the small of his back. That was pretty funny.

What I miss about not being pregnant? Not too much, though I think it’s pretty funny that I have this vision in my head of how big my body is and a lot of times I try to fit through spaces that I don’t fit through anymore or I bump into Tim or counters or other things because I forget that I have a belly. My hands have swelled a little bit in the last few weeks so my rings have gotten tighter. I actually took off my wedding ring, which fits a bit tighter, and have just been wearing my engagement ring. 

What I’m looking forward to? I’m really looking forward to finishing the baby’s nursery. I’m also interested in what we’ll continue learning at our childbirth classes. Our first one went well. I didn’t really learn too much that I hadn’t already read in my pregnancy books, but I think it helped Tim to hear some of it. It was kind-of nice though to hear about the process from someone who made it not sound like a terribly scary thing. Our instructor is really big about trying to take the fear and uncertainty out of labor. 

 Here we are...with six more weeks to go!

 And just for a laugh, here I am in the same shirt four months ago! Whoa baby!

Nursery progress

     We are slowly, but surely making progress in the baby’s nursery. We’re still waiting on the crib and changing table to come in, so we’ve been working on organizing the closet and getting things put away so that when the furniture comes in, we can finish decorating and everything quickly. Here is a picture of the crib. We ended up ordering a different one than we previously planned because we wanted a crib that looked a little more masculine. We also ordered the dresser which appears on the far right in this picture, though we didn't buy the hutch that they have on it in the photo. 

And here is the bedding again, in case you had forgotten. My grandma who passed away recently bought it for me in December. It is going to be such a sweet reminder of her every day when I go into the baby's room. 

     So far, we have painted the nursery light green to match the bedding (Pottery Barn Kids Eli Elephant) and Tim installed some shelving in the closet to better utilize the space. I have been washing and putting away baby clothes (and blankets and bibs and towels and socks and etc., etc., etc…) I also bought some wicker baskets to store baby stuff neatly. So far, the four baskets contain baby socks, blankets, bibs, and toys.

 Here's a picture of the baby's closet. The other side of the closet has more hangers for clothes we get in the future. It doesn't have any shelving. We'll put something tall on that side, like a clothes hamper. 

 This kid has a pretty nice wardrobe so far. We have outfits in sizes newborn-12 months. Hopefully he won't outgrow everything too fast. 

 I love these baskets. They are so useful for storing little things. 

     We also recently bought some cute elephant print art prints on Etsy. I think they are really cute and continue the elephant theme from the bedding. I'm thinking that I will frame them in white and hang them above the changing table. Here they are:

     We also have a painting by Tim's cousin Katie for the nursery, but I'm trying to come up with a few more ideas for wall decorations, especially something for above the crib. I was thinking of trying something crafty myself, but we'll see if that actually happens. I'm also thinking about curtains and perhaps a rug. We'll see.... there's not much time left!

Menu Monday

Monday: We had hamburgers with roasted red potatoes and green beans. This was leftover from last week’s menu because the hamburger meat wasn’t completely thawed on Sunday night. We ended up just munching on whatever we could find in the kitchen while watching the Oscars.  

Tuesday: Eat out/take-out. I’m pretty tired after spending a lot of today cleaning the house and organizing the baby’s room. Once Tim brings the car home and I can go grocery shopping, I don’t think I’m going to want to come home and make dinner.

Wednesday: Baked fusilli with Italian sausage. This is a recipe that I got out of Paula Deen magazine. It makes a TON of food so we’ll eat it again on Thursday.

Thursday: Leftovers

Friday: Mango baked chicken. This is a Publix Apron’s recipe.

Saturday: Southwestern quiche. This is a recipe I made up a while back based on a quiche at The Big Easy in Watkinsville, Ga., where we’re from. It didn’t turn out exactly like I wanted it the last time I made it, but I think I will get it right this time.

Sunday: Upside down hamburger casserole. I found this recipe on a blog that I read. I made it recently and really liked it and want it again. Here is the recipe. I also like it because Tim and I like different things, and it is pretty easy to customize it and make two different ones without too much trouble. I leave out the mustard and pickles in Tim's and leave off the cheese on mine. 

Upside-Down Cheeseburger Casserole

Ingredients:

1 pkg (6.5 oz each) pizza crust mix


1/2 cup hot tap water


All-purpose flour


PAM® Original No-Stick Cooking Spray


1 pound ground chuck beef


3/4 cup chopped onion


2 tablespoons all-purpose flour


1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper


1 can (14.5 oz each) Hunt’s® Diced Tomatoes, undrained


1/2 cup Hunt’s® Ketchup


3 tablespoons finely chopped dill pickles


1 tablespoon prepared yellow mustard


1 cup shredded reduced fat Colby Jack cheese


1/2 teaspoon sesame seeds, optional

Directions:

Prepare crust by combining pizza crust mix and hot water in large bowl. Stir until moistened; cover and let stand 10 minutes in a warm place.
Remove dough from bowl and knead on floured work surface until dough is smooth and springs back when touched. Roll dough into 8×8-inch square, about 1/4-inch thick; set aside.
Preheat oven to 425°F. Spray 8×8-inch glass baking dish with cooking spray; set aside. Heat large skillet over medium-high heat. When hot, add beef and onion; cook 5 to 7 minutes or until meat is crumbled and no longer pink. Drain fat. Add flour and pepper; stir until well blended.
Add undrained tomatoes, ketchup, pickles and mustard to meat mixture; stir to combine. Place in prepared dish. Sprinkle meat mixture with cheese; top with pizza crust dough.
Lightly spray dough with cooking spray; sprinkle with sesame seeds, if desired. Bake 18 to 22 minutes or until crust is golden brown.