31 weeks

Hello belly!!  Today I started thinking… what in the world am I going to wear if my belly keeps on growing for 9 more weeks??  Haha.  Perhaps a toga or something.  Even many my maternity clothes that I bought a few months ago are starting to be too short to fit over my ever-growing tummy.  It’s so frustrating!

Certain things that I do are definitely getting more uncomfortable as my belly grows, but I can’t really complain much.  Baby is being pretty good to me these days.  I can’t believe all of the kicks and punches that I feel on a regular basis – just reminding me that a miracle is growing in there!

Today, we had another ultrasound.  As I had mentioned before, the doc was slightly concerned about my measurements at the last appointment, so she had us come in for another ultrasound to make sure that the baby was growing ok and didn’t have gestational diabetes.  I’ve been a bit worried for the past 2 weeks, just waiting to see what we would find out today.

Turns out… we’re just going to have a big baby.  The ultrasound tech commented that our baby already has a big head, and is just generally large.  Also, there is extra amniotic fluid, so that makes my belly extra big.   According to the doctor, things are just fine, and we’ll just keep and eye out and see how things continue to go.  She didn’t seem to be very concerned after the ultrasound info, so that was a huge relief to both of us.

The doc said that the birth size of the parents often has something to do with a child’s birth size, and I was an almost-10lb baby, so maybe this shouldn’t be a big surprise.  Apparently, we may just be from a line of big-headed, large babies. 🙂  Thinking about delivering a big baby is a bit daunting, but I figure if my mom did it, I can too, right?

One of the fun parts of this appointment today was that we got to see our Little One again in the ultrasound!  It was harder to distinguish things this time (because Baby is so much bigger and we didn’t have as much time), but we still saw some fun things and got some more pictures.

Baby - 31 weeks - definitely not as much room in there

One little foot

I think my favorite thing we saw was Baby’s face.  It’s hard to tell from the pictures, but when you can see the baby moving on the screen and the tech is “scanning” in and out, you almost get a 3D view of things. We could see Baby opening his/her mouth and drinking in the amniotic fluid, which was super cute.  The tech said she thinks the baby has my nose. 🙂

Nose and lips - Baby is looking straight at the "camera" and hiding partially in the shadows

The other thing that we weren’t necessarily able to see before is that Baby has really cute chubby cheeks!

Forehead, cheek and eye

The tech also said that she could see some hair on the baby’s head.  We are getting so excited to meet our Little One and actually see what he/she looks like!!

We’ll continue to keep you updated.  Thanks to everyone for keeping us in your prayers.

29 weeks

Well, this is not the most flattering picture in the world, but I guess it’s time for an update.  It’s currently almost 100 degrees outside, and HUMID.  The heat index is more up towards 110 and it’s HOT.  I was sweating like crazy on my way home from work, and when I took this picture, I realized that I look somewhat sweaty/wilted.  Oh well.  Also, I’m missing my photographer man so I had to use the self timer… and it’s not quite in focus… oh well… (you can see that we finally hung up the wall hanging!)

One thing that I am thankful right now is Air Conditioning!  I’m so blessed to have A/C at work (along with my own little fan to keep me cool), in my car (it works better than the heater does in my Californian Jetta) and at home (even though it’s only on the top half of the house – it is wonderfully helpful for sleeping).  Whenever I go anywhere these days, people give me this pitying look and ask me how much longer I have to go.  When I tell them that I have until September they all just say, “ohhh, it’s going to be a long and hot summer…”  Why can’t someone just say something encouraging?  I’m trying to be positive about it and realize what a wonderful blessing it is to have A/C.

Another thing that I’ve been so thankful for is this new addition to our nursery:

A beautiful new La-Z-Boy recliner.  It is sooooo comfy.  I have a feeling that we will all be spending a lot of time in this chair in the future.  In the past few months, my back has been very sore when I sit up for too long (like all day at work), and the reclining feature on this chair has been amazing.  Also, my feet have been somewhat swollen (which will probably just get worse as time goes on), so putting them up feels super great!  Plus, after Baby is here, I’m sure we will spend a lot of time rocking and hanging out in that chair.  So thankful!!

And, what “Thankful For” list would be complete without my dear husband?

A day at Minnehaha Falls

What a wonderful guy.  I’m so thankful to God for putting Matt in my life.  I can’t even begin to say all the ways that I am thankful for him.  He is going to be an amazing dad!!!

One more thing that I’ve been thinking about recently is how I am thankful that I am not the only one responsible for how Baby is growing and developing.  At the doctor this week, they had a couple of questions (nothing super major), so I am going to go in for another ultrasound in 2 weeks.  I can eat good foods/vitamins, exercise, and rest… but the One really in charge of Baby’s growth is Someone who I would much rather have the control.  I am thankful to know that I can put my trust in Him and he will take care of the details.

We are getting so excited to meet Baby – and thankful that the day is drawing nearer!  We finally feel pretty good about the registries that we have set up at Target and BabiesRUs. (Click on the links and they should bring you directly to the registries.)  Babies need a lot of stuff, don’t they?  There were a ton of decisions to make, and it was actually more difficult than I thought it would be, but after much deliberation, I think we picked some good things.

I am also thankful to all of YOU for being supportive and caring enough to come and read this blog. 🙂  We look forward to being able to introduce you to Baby whenever he/she decides to make an appearance into this world.  Until then, we look forward to sharing in this journey with you.

27 weeks - ready to head off to a Twins game!

During the last couple weeks things have really been going pretty well.  I really can’t complain.  My front rib and middle back get sore after I have been sitting for a long period of time (like at work) but some relaxation and reclining seem to help that quite a bit.  Other than that, I have really not had too many “unfortunate” symptoms recently.  I’m hungry pretty much all the time, which means that I eat a lot… which may not be the best idea in the world, but I’ve been trying to choose healthy options for my between-meal snacks.

You know what they say about people craving ice cream and pickles during pregnancy?  Well, I can understand the ice cream thing.  Especially for not usually being much of a sweets person, I’ve definitely been feeling a longing for ice cream like I don’t remember having in the past.  But, no pickle cravings yet… Matt keeps on waiting for those.  I don’t foresee myself EVER enjoy eating ANYTHING that has been pickled, but I guess pregnancy does weird things to your body.  We’ll have to wait and see.

Latest update on the nursery: we got some fun shelves and curtains from Target!  (and, they were on sale – wa-hoo!!)

The shelves have nifty little cloth drawers that fit inside of them.  The bright colors definitely liven up the room, and it’ll be nice to have some good storage in there.  Plus, they cover up the holes in the floor (see previous post) and they utilize some of the “lost” space in front of the window.  The curtains are super bright and fun, too!  In the picture below, you can see the “circles” pattern on them.

One more Target purchase was another shelving unit, but smaller.  It works as a nice little night stand or something.

If we had more of the drawers, they would fit in this one, too.  Turns out, this piece was made with “adjustable shelves” BUT they just so CONVENIENTLY skipped the holes that would make them fit the cloth drawers.  Well, we would have none of that, so my very handy husband drilled some more holes that made two of the three segments drawer-compatible.  We have so much storage now – all ready to be filled with toys, books, and other baby paraphernalia!

Speaking of storage… we’ve been working on ridding the monsters from the closet in the nursery, but that’s still definitely a work in progress.  Let’s just say there’s a LOT of non-baby stuff in there – some that needs to get re-organized and moved elsewhere, some that needs to be discarded/donated, and some that will probably stay in there, but needs to be inventoried and sorted.  Who would have ever thought that so much stuff could be kept in one little closet? (and all of it has been stuffed there in less than 2 years!)

One of the other things we probably should start looking at more in the near future is the somewhat daunting task of picking out some names that we like.  This is something that has both excited me and scared me to death for just about as long as I can remember.  Even as a child, I had the hardest time picking out the “perfect” name for each of my stuffed animals and dolls.  It even took us a few weeks to come up with the “right” name for our pet snake, Nigel.  I’ve always wondered how long it would take for us to come up with a name for a real baby!!

We have some names written down on a list, and I think that I’d like to start looking again, and perhaps have some more discussion about specific likes and dislikes.  Today, my parents lent us this book:

Even though this book is older than me (copyright 1979), and it’s in sort of rough shape (the cover is falling off, despite the tape) I hope that it lives up to it’s name!  Hey, I guess it worked for my parents, right?  Sometimes, it’s fun just to read through books and find interesting/fun/cute/meaningful/crazy/awful names and read them to each other.  At the same time, it’s a lot of pressure to think that we need to pick out a name for our child that will be with them for the rest of their life!  Yipes!

All that said, it has been really fun to continue making progress on preparing for our little bundle of joy to join us in the near future.  We’re entering into the third trimester now!  I have a feeling this last third is going to go by quickly.  We’re so excited to meet him or her and start a new chapter in our lives together as a growing family!

25 weeks

Yup.  Belly’s getting bigger.

Other fun happenings have been going on around the Knutson household as well.  We got the crib and mattress, and put it all together one night.  From what I’ve known, putting together the crib is often a large undertaking for many husbands.  For Matt, it was a piece of cake.  I helped hold some pieces and things, but it all went very smooth.

The crib looks really nice in the room!  It really makes it seem more like a “nursery.”

The next undertaking was something that we’ve been planning to take care of for a long time.  Since our house used to have radiator heat, there used to be a radiator in each room.  After Matt bought the house, he got a forced air system installed, so we took out all of the radiators (because they were broken and unable to be used).  Unfortunately, the pipes that used to bring the hot water to heat each room are not as easy to remove.  Matt was able pull some of them out, but when the pipes go through the floor, it’s not always so easy without demolishing things.

We have a shelf that we’d like to put in this corner of the baby’s room, and those little pipes sticking up really got in the way.  Matt decided to take on the project. He got a long chisel-like thing that he thought would do just the trick.  In his words: “Ideally, it should only take about 5 minutes, but realistically it might take more like 30 minutes.”  Well, this is what they looked like to start with.

Pesky Pipes - starting the removal process

I don’t have any other process pictures, but let’s just say it took many more tools, lots of pounding/sawing/sawzall-ing/prying and lots of persistence on Matt’s part.  An undisclosed amount of time later, here is what we ended up with.

Yay! No more pipes!

Now we just pretend that the holes and water stains aren’t there (aka cover them up!) and we have another corner of the room to use!  I love how hard Matt works on things, and what he can accomplish.  It’s not always in a “conventional” way, but he’s so creative and doesn’t give up when his first idea doesn’t go as planned.  What a great guy. 🙂

Baby has been moving around a LOT recently.  Even as I sit here right now, it feels like he/she is doing a kickboxing workout.  Kick kick, punch punch, twist, repeat.  I can’t complain, though.  It’s so fascinating to think that there’s a little life inside of me.  Matt has also enjoyed feeling some of the kicks recently.

I’m not sure what else anybody would really like to know, so if you have any questions, feel free to ask.

A few months ago, I decided that I wanted to make something to go in our baby’s room.  This is partially just because I wanted to do something “crafty” and also because I think handmade things can be very special.  The problem was, I had no idea what in the world I wanted to make.

I found a picture on the internet of a cute tree with an owl, and decided that it would be cute.  It was one of those projects where I just went to the fabric store and picked out some fabrics and the n came home and tried to figure out what in the world I was doing.  Kind of fun not to have to follow any directions, but definitely takes me longer to figure out how I want to do everything.

Here’s the finished product:

The leaves are actually all double-sided, and they stick out a bit to give it some depth.  I feel like the cute little owl needs a name or something.  Let me know if you have any inspiration.

It was a lot of work, but it was worth it.  I”m excited to hang it up in the baby’s room to fill up some of the blank wall space.