4D Ultrasound

Like I was saying, we had our 4D ultrasound on Monday. We've been looking forward to this for the past month. Brian's mom and Brenda came over from Arkansas to be with us and so did my mom. My sister had a test, so she couldn't make it. I don't know why I was nervous all day about it, but I was. I guess just the anticipation of something unknown, the small thoughts that enter my mind about maybe something we'll see that might be wrong with her.  But as soon as she put that wand thingy to my belly and we saw her heart beat and her little body move, all my nerves went away. She's just beautiful!  Here are a few of the better shots we received. She had one arm and hand up over her head the entire time, so there wasn't enough of her face to build a clear full facial 4D, but this one below is of half her face and she is just gorgeous. She looks like a little porcelain doll, I just love it!

Her cute little legs, crossed at the ankles. too cute!

The back of her hand.

This one is kind of creepy looking, she looks more like a ghost baby than anything, but she started sticking her tongue out during the ultrasound and this one shows her mouth open and her tongue out. Again, with that precious little arm in the way!

Week 26...Baby Books and Baby Kicks

I've started on Rylies first keepsake baby book. Appropriately named Welcome Home Rylie. I've picked out the paper pack that I want to use as the theme for her book. I've downloaded so many free digital scrapbooking pages and embellishments over the last few years, but none of them jumped out at me in a good combination, so I bought a brand new digital paper pack and kit.  I just love the combination of papers, flowers and buttons.  And I cant wait to get started on her book.

For those of you who were able to see the book I made for Noah, I'm using the same type of story flow, using a bunch of picture to tell the story about Rylies mommy and daddy, how we grew up, how we met, and our life together that brought us to this point.  I'm hoping to get the majority of this book done soon, so all that is left to do when she is born is to add the hospital and baby pictures.  I'm finding it harder and harder to stay comfortable sitting too long in one place, and unfortunately, these books take hours and hours of sitting at the computer...so i'd better hurry on this project.

This past weekend was spent taking lots of naps. My energy level is starting to peter out quicker now that my uterus is taking up even more space in my abdomen. Brian and I went shopping at Target on Saturday and we were in a hurry going from one end of the store to the other. To his surprise, I was out of breath huffing and puffing like an elderly lady. We laughed about it, it was awful and awful-funny at the same time! He thinks it's cute that I softly grunt everytime I get in and out of the car.

Brian recieved a huge treat on Saturday, when he got to feel Rylie for the first time. Up until now, she hasn't been kicking hard enough for anyone to feel on the outside. However, she must have enjoyed that cereal I ate for breakfast, because she was karate choppin' all over the place on Saturday. Brian was giddy with joy when he laid his hand on my belly and actually felt a good solid kick...several times.  Ahhhhh, the simple things in life that make us smile the biggest! You just cant beat those moments. 

We went for our 4D ultrasound appointment yesterday. Both grandma's came with us, (well, really you could say all 3 grandma's came with us....yes, you Brenda!) so it was extra exciting! The disk they gave us of all the pictures screwed up and there ended up being only one photo on it, so as soon as I swing by and pick up another copy I'll create another blog post about that.

Week 25...Fun With Belly Photos

This is my week 25 belly shot.  I'm just lovin' the belly!  I'm not lovin' the swollen face, feet and hands, but the belly, I'm truly digging.

And Brian's 25 week belly shot. It's funny, I've gained 25 lb's so far, and he has actually LOST 16 lb's since I got pregnant.  How fair is that!? 

Eventually I want to get some professional photo's taken of Brian and I pregnant, but I want to be further along and bigger before I pay someone else to take them.  For these fun photo's I went to a fabric store and bought a few yards of white vinyl that I hung from the wall to use as a backdrop, then had my sister play around with the camera.  We had a great time and I think they came out pretty good once I cropped them down. I could have played more with the black and white color options within Photoshop to soften the tones and edges a bit more, but these look fine for now.

When we were finished playing around on the vinyl, Brian proceeded to help me up off the floor. Never underestimate the slipperiness of vinyl on hardwood floors.  If you do "Mrs. Fatty McButter Pants", as Brian is so affectionately calling me right now, can end up falling back onto the floor. And, of course, my sister kept the camera flashing the entire time.  Which, I'm actually glad she did because i almost wet my pants laughing at these pictures when I saw them.  Too funny!

And, of course, Scripps had to be in the middle of it. She's such a sweetie!

Week 24...Tums at 2 AM...Really?

Yes really!  The heartburn chapter of my pregnancy has begun, hence the munching on Tums at 2 oclock in the morning last night. That mexican food dinner that I begged Brian to take me for was SO good going down. (fajita this, heartburn!) But when I was waddling back to the car, I kind of knew it was probably a mistake. Darn these cravings. Brian was so awesome to drive 15 miles to take me to a specific mexican food restaurant that I hadn't been to in 4 years, just because i was craving it.  Many other close mexican resturants would have been sufficient, now that I think about it, but last night it was Ted's and only Ted's that could satisfy my craving. Was the heartburn worth it?  Ya, this time it definitely was!

Soooooo, a good night's sleep is becoming harder and harder to come by. I'm not supposed to sleep on my back anymore, so I end up flipping from side to side like a fish out of water, lying on a shore line trying desperately to survive. LOL, okay that was a little dramatic, but you get the "flipping" visual at least.  I end up waking up many times throughout the night in an attempt to catch myself sleeping on my back, and if I don't catch myself, Brian does anytime he awakens and looks over at me.  Oh, and my hands fall asleep and get numb at night now. Who knew that was a condition of pregnancy?  I almost always sleep with my arms and hands curled up around my chest or head or wrapped around my pillow. Not anymore, they turn dead numb when I do that so I have to sometimes sit up, let the blood drain back into my pathetic little fingers and then lay back down with them down by my side. This happens when I blow dry my hair in the mornings too. Very strange!

Pregnancy is wonderful, I wouldn't trade any of this for anything. I'm starting to feel Rylie kick more and more and I just LOVE it.  I cant believe how much I love this little girl already and I haven't even met her yet. Just a little over 3 months to go and she'll be here. We love you Rylie!

Week 23...Major Progress On Nursery

One of the many things I love about Brian is that when we set our minds to do something, regardless if we've never done it before, we end up doing it. And boy did we "get it done!" this past weekend. Rylie's furniture was delivered last week so we decided that this past weekend we would get Rylie's room put together. We had several other things on our weekend agenda, and if you saw our list you would probably think that adding to it a project of getting an entire room's worth of baby furniture put together and a room cleaned up and organized probably wouldn't be able to happen.  That is, unless, you do things "Nutt-Style".  Again, it doesn't matter what project it is, when Brian and I decide we want to get something accomplished, we work together and encourage each other to the point where all of a sudden we look at each other and say WOW, we got it done! There are no slackers in this family, I can assure you!

Brian took the reigns on the baby furniture, which is probably best since he is a read-the-instructions-first type of guy. I, on the other hand, usually go by the rule of, "if all else fails, read the instructions".  We seem to compliment each other well by differing in this area. The key is to know your limitations and appreciate each other's strengths and weaknesses, which we both do. Oh, and another key to great project accomplishments Nutt-Style is always remembering "it's not a competition".

While Brian started putting together Rylie's furniture, I finished up trimming and cleaning up her pink circle mural and putting a fresh coat of glossy white paint on the baseboards in her room. The baseboards were a bit challenging as my growing belly prevented me from leaning down in the right way to angle my brush correctly. Therefore I had to completely lay on the floor, on my side, arms above my head, to get the angle of the paint brush the right way for me to cut in the baseboard paint. I had to take many short breaks as my arms got tired very quickly. They are done and they look great!

Brian got on a roll with his furniture project. He was finished with the dresser before I knew it and half way finished with the changing table as I finished up with the painting.  We finished the changing table together and took a break for dinner.  We intended to start and finish the crib the next day after church, but who can sleep when there's a cute little baby crib to be put together?  We couldn't leave the crib out in the garage while the two other pieces of the set were sitting pretty in her room already! So we decided to bring the crib in and put it together as well. 

The Master Furniture Assembler at work...

We ordered a very beautiful piece of art for the wall above Rylies crib and the glider/rocker chair that will go in her room too.  The piece of art is from Pottery Barn Kids and it's 4 feet by 3 feet. I think it will look perfect over her crib because it will compliment the pink, brown, and cream tones of her circle colors, but also add some soft blues to the room. It will hang on the all beige colored wall above the cream colored crib, so I think it will look fantastic! 

I've been looking for a glider/rocking chair for a while, and although I found several that were exactly the style I was looking for, they definitely were NOT in the price range I was looking for.  I wanted something modern style with a matching ottoman. I also wanted a chair that had a covered base. The popular glider/rockers right now seem to be the ones where the wooden glider base is exposed. I dont know why, but those, although comfortable, dont appeal to me.  So I had this wonderful vision of what I wanted to be sitting in when I rock our little miracle baby to sleep and when I wake up in the middle of the night to comfort her crying, and when I'm just sitting in her room staring at her in her crib. Once I pictured what I wanted in my head, there was no such thing as settling. I decided I wanted dark brown, again to compliment the dark brown trim that I trimmed her pink circles in and to add some darker contrast to the rest of the room.  Well, I searched and searched and searched every online furniture store, specialty store, and baby nursery store I could find. I found many chairs that I loved, but nothing we could afford.  Let's put that a bit differently....not so much that we couldn't afford, more so that I wouldn't spend THAT much money on a chair that was going to get spit up and pooped on eventually. (I might be a picky mom-to-be, but I am realistic.)  

In my desperation to find the right chair, I checked a particular stores website on a whim just for the heck of it, thinking that I could pass the time while I come up with another option.  And wouldn't you know it, THIS store HAD THE CHAIR and ottoman I was envisioning.  And at a price we were very, very pleased with. Dare I tell you where I found my dream glider and ottoman ......................... Wal-Mart!  Of all places, Wal-Mart. Yes, retail God's you can strike me down as I speak, I found and ordered my nursery glider at Wal-Mart. I'm sure this is what I get for making the "anti-Christ of American retail" comment in a previous post, since now I have to brag that I found my dream glider there. Regardless, below is a picture of the set. It's absolutely exactly what I was wanting. I recieved an email this morning that it shipped today, so we'll see once it get's here if I'm still as excited about it.  But one thing I have to say for now is, Wal-Mart, You Rock! Or rather, You Glide!

Week 22...More DIY and Some Baby Flutters!

Call it nesting, call it saving money, but Brian and I are really getting into the DIY (Do It Yourself) projects. We replaced the quarter round moulding along our baseboards in our hallway this weekend, and we even mitered the edges and made it look really professional. Wood puddy works wonders where the corners didnt exactly line up, and after Brian painted them, they absolutely look great!  Rylie decided that she didnt like the up and down, up and down, up and down, I was doing all day by being on the floor measuring, going to the garage to cut a piece, and then getting back down on the floor to hammer the moulding in. But I seemed to have a gentler touch with the hammer which made the nails go in straighter. Once that was complete, however, daddy Brian did all the painting. It looks great and we did it all ourselves.

The finished moulding, before paint. Look how beautifully that corner lines up!!!

I'm completely finished with the colored circles in Rylies room, except for the dark brown trim. I'm embarrassed to say that free handing a brown rim around each circle is going to be much harder than I thought. I tried on a small circle and the brush I chose was too wide once it had paint in it, that it turned out completely aweful! Once the dark brown dried, I covered it up with white primer, recoated the colors and now it's as if it never happened. I'm going to get a smaller paint brush and try to be more delicate with the brown trim. We'll see how that works out for me. When that is done, I'm going to put a fresh coat of glossy white on the baseboards and crown molding. Then the painting in Rylies room should be complete.

We ordered her baby furniture this past weekend and it's so cute. It's funny, i wasnt too peticular about what i wanted her furniture to look like at first. We just felt so happy and blessed that we are even able to have this child, the furniture really didnt seem to matter. That is, of course, until I found a perfect little pink rug with cream colored flowers at Pottery Barn Kids. Once I bought that darling little rug and imagined our baby girl in her room, all of a sudden it DID matter what everything looked like. I got this whole new idea of how I wanted to decorate and have everything match. So I searched and searched for the perfect crib and changing table set. I wanted it to be a cream color...not white, not light brown, but cream. A very difficult color to find in our price range. But alas, Stacie does not give up!  We found a great baby furniture website that had exactly what I was looking for, within our budget!  So we bought that. (more pictures to come when it arrives and Brian will have to put it together!) But here is the picture of what it will look like, minus the bedding. This is just the website pic.

Her room is coming together so wonderfully. We will also have a cradle that we are borrowing from a friend of Brian's mom. Brenda used the cradle with both of her sons and I'm glad we can keep it alive in the extended family.  We are also getting the wooden high chair that Brian used when he was a baby. Mom an Pops have had it in their attic, so we will get to pass that down to Rylie. So awesome!  I just cant wait unitl she is here and we get to meet our baby girl.  Only 4 more months to go!

I think I felt Rylie a couple of times this past week. It didnt feel like a definite kick or anything, more like some lightly popping popcorn in my uterus. It was a strange little flutter feeling, but it makes me smile everytime I feel it. I wish I felt it more often. She doesnt seem to be very active right now. From what I read, she should be around 11 inches long now and almost weigh one whole pound. Unbelievable! Truly an miracle! We love you, Rylie.