Lots O Updates

Time is flying by!  So much has happened since I last blogged, and really, let's face it, my blogging has been terribly sporadic this entire pregnancy.  After our post-Christmas trip across state lines, we took off on a jet for Texas to visit Scott's family in early January.  I was nervous about flying with Baby at 22 weeks pregnant, but everything seemed to go smoothly including our connection and layover in Dallas each way.  We made good use of our layover with 30+ minutes of walking, so that helping my legs immensely.  Still, flying is much less comfortable with a baby on board.

We were able to spend 4 days at Scott's parent's house where he did a lot of this:

...helping babysit for both of his sister's kids.  That occupied most of our days, which was very tiring for me (I took naps every day), and in the evenings we were able to gather for family dinners and such.  His family even had a baby shower/family gathering of sorts for us in celebration of this baby, so that was quite fun.  We got a lot of nice things for Baby (or gift cards to purchase things for Baby once we returned home) and the best part was, everything fit into our carry-on luggage!  (I don't have any pictures from the shower because someone else was taking photos and we were busy mingling with family and church friends.)

We did come back with a few treasures from when Scott was little- a homemade blanket, booties, and an outfit that his maternal grandmother made for him before he was born (in gender neutral yellow and green- perfect!).  We also brought back the baptismal gown that he was the first to wear in his family (8 or 9 others have worn it since him).  It was made with remnants of his mother's wedding dress, so it will be very special for our baby to wear that at his/her baptism in June!  (Yes, we already have the baptism date set before the baby is even born...we need to help people make their flight plans and don't want to wait until Baby is too old...he/she should be 5 weeks +/- a week or two.)  Scott and I were both baptized around 4 weeks old.

We even had time for a family photo before jetting off for home.  No, we did not plan to match with other family members.  Good thing for fluffy (the stuffed animal) in the picture, otherwise I would have been alone in blue!

Then we were back home for a few weeks and into our work routines.  Classes started up for me again, and I'm only teaching one class this term.  I wasn't sure if I should do one or two, but decided to start cutting back before Baby comes, and boy am I glad I did.  One class means I'm teaching 3 days a week and it's nice to be able to work from home the other 2 days.  We have so much to do around the house before Baby comes, I'm glad I have the extra time to do that now, even though it doesn't feel like I have enough time to do all I want to.

Not long after we got back, I came down with a killer cold.  I finally ended up at Instacare with bronchitis and a sinus infection- not fun at all.  3 weeks later, I think I'm finally over it.  Seems my pregnant immune system is quite susceptible despite my best efforts (sleep, exercise, fluids, healthy eating) to stay healthy.

That illness really put a damper on my house cleaning/organizing projects!  Pregnancy wise, I've still been feeling good and motivated to work, but it seems my body has been telling me it's time to slow down already.  We're at 29 weeks now, and I finally put a baby ticker on the blog.  I figured since it's 3rd trimester, it's time!  All continues to go well with Baby and we're now seeing the doctor every 2 weeks!  Hard to believe we are at that stage.  We had our 1st childbirth class last night and continue to prepare our home and hearts for Baby's arrival.

Last week, we took our last flight before Baby arrives.  We had a direct flight to Minnesota to visit my family, but I was a lot more uncomfortable traveling at 27-28 weeks than I was at 22 weeks.  I still felt good, but it was much harder to sit on the plane for the 2 hour flight even with getting up to stretch 1-2 times.

We had a quick 4 days visiting my family as well.  We got to meet our newest niece for the 1st time.  Scott did a lot of this:

We started calling him the "Baby Whisperer" with his ability to calm and soothe her.  I can't wait until he's able to use those skills with our baby!  We were able to stay in a guest suite at my Grandma's new place, which was super close and convenient to everything we had going on that weekend.  We had breakfast every morning with the 55+ crowd and then our afternoons and evenings were pretty full with family stuff. One night we celebrated my brother's birthday.

The next night we celebrated our niece's baptism during Saturday night church.  It was extra special because Scott was able to participate in the service and do the baptism for her.  Here's brother, wife, and baby in wife's baptismal gown after the service.

Here's my almost 28-week belly.

The last day my family had a couples' baby shower for us in Grandma's party room, so that was fun.  We were able to see family and some of my high school and college friends that we haven't seen for ages.  Everyone brought their favorite children's book for Baby, so we're well on our way to establishing Baby's library of books, which is perfect for both of us book lovers!  Again, I don't have any shower pictures yet because my aunt was taking all of them.

We were again thankful for the chance to celebrate this baby with family and friends that we don't see enough.  Now our traveling days are done for awhile as we have no more travel plans as a family (yet). We imagine travel will be put on hold until at least the fall, maybe longer.

And now the countdown is on until Baby's arrival...hopefully 11 more weeks.  We have lots planned in those weeks that I'll tell you about in upcoming posts!