Moo-ving Along

The title will make more sense when you see this picture:

Cattle on the loose!

A couple weeks ago the neighbor's cattle got out. Zach called me on my way home from work and said to be careful when I turned onto our road because the cattle were out and a van might have hit one. I drove VERY slowly - 1. because I didn't want to hit a cow and 2. because the road was so icy - and sure enough I saw two of them off to the left side of the road against the fence where the other group of cattle were. I honked and chased them onto the road and slowly drove behind them as they limped down the road. Poor fellas were the ones who got hit --- and to think the van didn't even stop!!! There were pieces of their vehicle laying in the road; you'd think they'd stop to assess damage and try to find their owners. Anyway, you can see Zach's truck and more neighbor's vehicles in the road with hazard lights flashing! Then there was me, cattle ranching in my Vibe... After a little while, they were all back in the pasture and everybody went home.

In other news, we have a crib and carseat! Funny story about the carseat is how we got it. One of Zach's customers from work gave him a hard time about having kids and offering to pick up baby gear: "Zach, I saw carseats on sale at Wal-Mart. Want me to get you one?" and comments of the same sort. Zach always said no. Until the day came where we were actually having a baby and when his customer asked Zach if he wanted him to pick up a carseat, Zach said yes! Needless to say, the guy was a little surprised and then congratulated him and said he would really get the carseat for us! :)

The other funny thing about the carseat was that when we looked at it in the store, we couldn't figure out how to get the gosh-darned thing off the base! Zach said, "I hope we get this thing soon so I can read the user's manual!" Oh my. My husband and I are SOOOO different in personalities! I would have just kept tugging and pulling until I got mad and figured it out or broke it --- and he wants the user's manual. At least one of us is logical. :) And once we got it, we did figure out how to get it off the base. I have a picture of Zach reading the user's manual when we opened it up but he threatened many bad things if I posted it anywhere. Ha- ha!

I suppose the little lady can make her appearance any time now because we've got a way to transport her home and a place for her to sleep.

We also have a SWEET changing table/dresser that Zach refinished! Here's the before and after photos:

Before

After

It used to be Zach's when he was a kid and I'm really glad with how it turned out! He did all the sanding and painting the past few days (even with a sore back and two nights of fire department training!). The only things are the knobs. They used to be wooden drawer knobs painted red to match the rest of the dresser and these are white ceramic. Slap a changing pad on top and we're good to go! Cute table and ensemble for such an unglamorous job of changing dirty diapers!

The Little Cookie - she's getting quite big! She's been getting the hiccups almost every night for the past couple of weeks. It is the weirdest and coolest feeling all at once! She's still as active as ever: wiggling, kicking, elbowing, scraping my ribs with her little knobby knees and feet, and I'm pretty sure I've felt her little fingers tapping away too. Only five weeks left to go - give or take - and I'm hoping (well, my ribs are hoping) that she slows down a bit soon because things are starting to get uncomfortable!

And it's making my job of teaching 20 six-year-olds quite difficult! Mrs. Cook doesn't tie shoes or pick things up off the floor anymore. :) Good thing I don't sit down much during the day because that's when she's all crammed up in the ribcage! Standing up, reclined, or laying down seem to be the most comfortable lately.

Anyway, I suppose it all comes with the territory. I'm still doing okay. No bad swelling in my feet, ankles, or hands and I'm hoping it stays that way! It's starting to get more uncomfortable now though. She pokes and jabs harder against my ribs - ouch! There's no more "just suck it in" to get through or around somewhere because my belly is permanently out. :) Also, doing the dishes is a bit rough because the counter & sink are right at belly height. So I either have to bend over funny or stand on my tiptoes so my belly goes over the counter. But you know what? I'm still glad she's in there. She's healthy and growing and has a strong heartbeat at each appointment. She's active and wiggly and gets hiccups. And I can't wait to hold her on the OUTSIDE.

Here's the last few weeks of belly photos I haven't posted:

32 weeks

Somehow I missed 33 weeks in there. Oh well.

34 weeks

35 weeks - with a fresh haircut & color! 

 35 out of 40 weeks. Whoa. Time is a flying past! She'll be here before we know it!


Cheers to the last bit of good sleep for awhile,

Sarah

Fun Nursery Finds & Baby Pics

 Since I've decided on a red, yellow, white country theme, it's been much easier to pick out nursery things. Either the item goes with the theme or doesn't. But it also means a lot more things catch my eye now and I can't go too crazy buying things until I know where they'll go or how I'll use them.

nursery items

The old red glass piggy bank I found it at Goodwill for $1. It's scratched up on the inside but apparently it's pretty rare that I found it in tact since children actually had to break the bank to take their money out (no rubber plug on the bottom!). And it's adorable! This gal has one for sale on Etsy and she took much better pictures: http://www.etsy.com/listing/104630296/christmas-red-glass-piggy-bank-by-anchor#

Another white lamp, some antique milk glass vases (I found four 6-inch rosebud vases at Goodwill for 99 cents each!), and a wood box with red heart detailing. It needs some cleaning up too.

Then there's this little guy I found at an antique store for 50 cents. I don't know if it's an antique but it's tiny and pink! It's maybe 2 inches long and 1 inch tall. For 50 cents I couldn't resist.

We're in week 28 we've entered the third trimester! Crazy to think there's only 12 weeks (3 months) left! The first three went by so slowly - I felt nauseous, we couldn't tell anyone yet - it felt like forever. The past 12 weeks have sped past and now there's only a little while left! Yikes!

At church this weekend, I got a lot of, "You finally look pregnant!" comments... Welp, we're in the last trimester now so I'd hope so!!! :)

Anyway, here's the picture from last week:

27 weeks

Many of you didn't know but at the 20 week ultrasound, the doctor saw a small cyst on the baby's brain. I got the call about a week after the ultrasound. She said it was a developmental thing that sometimes happens around 20 weeks and not to worry about it. They scheduled us a second ultrasound for 6-8 weeks later to check on it and most of the time the cyst is gone but if it's not, we would have to go to a specialist in Grand Rapids. So, after about 15 minutes of freak out mode (she called me at work) I decided not to Google it or worry about it and just pray about it. Pray that in six weeks the cyst would be completely gone but if not, that He'd prepare us. It's really hard to pray those prayers "God, Your will be done," especially when it's something hard.

That being said, the ultrasound was last week on Wednesday. The tech asked if we knew the gender and we said yes, they told us it was a girl. Zach asked, "But you're going to check again though, right?" :) He was still holding out hope for a boy. But the first thing the tech saw when she put that wand-thing on my belly was her little butt and she said, "Oh there's no doubt about it; she's definitely a girl and she's showing it to us!" She even took a picture and labeled it "BABY GIRL :)" but I'm not going to put that one on here for her sake.

27 week profile picture

The tech tried to get a 3D shot but the little lady kept her hands and arms up by her face the WHOLE TIME! This was the best we got: hands and forearms with a little nose peeking through. I guess she wants us to have some mystery left!

27 week 3D picture

Immediately following the ultrasound I had to go drink the "glucola" drink for my glucose test (checks for gestational diabetes). It tasted like drinking a cupful of melted orange popsicles: super sweet and syrupy. Ick! My stomach felt AWFUL after drinking that and I sipped water for the next hour, bound and determined NOT to throw up and have to repeat the whole process over again....From there we went to our regular monthly OB appointment and then back to the lab for them to draw my blood. Only  two little vials this time and I didn't throw up after. :) Success!

At our monthly appointment, the Doc told us the results of the ultrasound and blood test wouldn't be in until Friday - and then she was going to be out of the office on Friday - so we'd have to wait until early this week! I was a little frustrated about having to wait for all that info but God decided this wasn't a time to grow my patience and they called the NEXT DAY to tell us the cyst was gone! Praise God! And I passed the glucose test! Phew! What a load of my brain!

Now all we have to do is keep praying she grows strong & healthy and there's a smooth, uneventful delivery in 12 weeks.

Love,

Sarah

Nursery Inspiration

Baby is growing, growing, growing because my belly is certainly starting to stretch! I can feel her move a lot now - and not just little flutters! There's the occasional kick or poke, but sometimes I'm convinced she's doing somersaults in there in preparation for her  future Olympic gymnastics career. :) Lately she has discovered my ribcage and loves to wedge herself up in there. She's kicked my ribs so hard that I've jumped a few times because it was so forceful! She's pretty active in the morning and at night so when I lay down Zach can usually feel her twirling around in there. Love that surprised, amazed, big grinning face Zach gets when he can feel her.

26 weeks

We have started the process of nursery setup. Seems crazy that such a tiny person needs a whole room but I think we will all sleep much better if she's got her own space. :) We decided to move the office stuff to the basement and make that room the nursery. We figured that would be the best option since we wanted to keep the guest room available for visitors. Plus it's a huge room and this little baby doesn't need a ginormous room with an equally ginormous closet. Ha ha!

 Zach got a carpet remnant and moved his desk and file cabinets downstairs. He also rearranged the futon, TV, and treadmill so he's pretty much got a mini man cave down there now. There's still a few bookshelves and also a gun cabinet that needs to be moved out. The bookshelves will go down in the new "office" to make it feel more like a room and less like a cement basement. The gun cabinet will probably end up in our room.

Our first project will be to paint. Since we're renting we don't want to do something bold or elaborate on the walls since the house isn't ours so we're going to go neutral (tannish-brown color). And when I say, "WE," I really mean "I" because Zach doesn't really have a preference about how this whole decorating thing BUT he will be helping to carry it out. :)

The second project is the changing table. It's a dresser that belonged to Zach's parents and has sat in the house across the road (in storage) ever since Zach stopped using it.

changing table - BEFORE

I just love this thing! Well, I love its potential. We're going to sand it, repaint it (red), and put a changing pad on top. VOILA! Free changing table that will be perfectly functional as a dresser as she grows.

A third project is this adorable little rocking chair. It was also in the house across the road and it's currently in my classroom. I don't have a picture of it but it will need the same treatment as the dresser - sanding and a fresh coat of paint.

I think that's it as far as projects go. Other inspiration includes this quilt at Papa & Grandma Thornes. I love the colors and patterns on it: red & white gingham and yellow with bitty red flowers. I'm hoping Grandma will be willing to make a small one just like it.

I guess you could say we are going with a country/rustic theme. Big surprise, I know. But now that I've got a theme it will be a lot easier to find little accent pieces, like this little white milk glass lamp I found at an antique store here in BR. (This isn't my photo, but the base looks just like it.)

That's all for now. I've got to head in to my classroom and wrap up a few things before the kiddos come back tomorrow.

Ugh.

I'm not ready!

Love,

Sarah