jungle friends

Baby C's nursery is basically complete!! I am so excited to have it all set up and ready for Baby C. I love it and find myself just standing in the doorway staring some nights :) The only thing left is to hang her name over the crib! We have it, but will reveal it after she is born. I am very excited to put it up. :)

Without further adieu, here is the nursery!

My Aunt Annalynn and cousin Jenny gave us this rug at my baby shower. It totally completes our nursery and is even prettier in person. Thor loves it too (see picture above).

I love our little reading, nursing nook. I can't wait to read Baby C lots of goodnight stories here.

There it is! Now all we need is Baby C to start breaking it in :)

a remote for everything

Our playard (aka pack 'n play) arrived today. I haven't seen it in person yet because Carl had it shipped to his office. I don't think he trusted me not to carry it into the house and set it up on my own if it arrived here. :)

We picked our playpen based on consumer reports reviews for safety etc. and because it has a diaper changing table. That was my one requirement. I think it will be very useful in the first few weeks home from the hospital and when Baby C goes to stay with g-parents on the days I work.


Having never actually seen our playard we got a little surprise when it arrived. Apparently, it has a remote! Yes a remote! So we don't have to leave the comforts of our coach to turn on the music or the vibration. What a relief! I was really dreading the 10 steps from the coach to the pack 'n play.

And since no post is complete without a picture. Here is our playard:
Now all we need is a remote for the stroller....

36 Weeks!

We've made it to 36 weeks! Our doctor only had good things to say at this week's doctor's appointment. We continue to be on track for a delivery some time around the 16th of January. Frankly, I think the doctors are getting a bit bored with us. No gestational diabetes, negetive for group b strep, blood pressure is good, measuring on track.... I am happy to bore them :)

We spent the rest of the week getting ready for Christmas. Carl and I were lucky to have a four day weekend. We took advantage of it by relaxing and finishing some projects around the house before Christmas.

I can't wait until Christmas next year when Baby C will be here to enjoy it with us!

Here we are at 36 weeks!

How far along: 36 weeks
Net weight gain: 26 lbs
Stretch marks: none :)
Belly button: out for the remainder I am sure
Sleep: up 3xs a night for the bathroom. some nights better than others. experiencing more braxton hicks contractions at night
Food cravings: pineapple!
Food aversions: nothing new
What I miss: exercise! lately I've been really missing vigerous exercise (like running, shredding....) I've been doing some prenatal yoga but with all the snow I can't even get out and go for a walk!
Looking forward to: the arrival of our baby girl! any day now!
Best moment this week: hearing that everything is looking good from the doctor
Milestones: Baby C is as big as a watermelon! oh my!

35 Weeks!

At 35 weeks Baby C is getting ready for her debut! At our doctor's appointment this week the doctor did a low resolution ultrasound to check on her position. The verdict---she is in a great position for delivery! If I wasn't sure whether Baby C had "dropped" yet, I've been reassured by clients all week that the she has definitley dropped. They are all pretty convinced that there is no way I will make it to January 16 because Baby C is already so low. We'll see!

Another sign that Baby C is getting ready to make her appearance... practice contractions. Definitely been feeling some of those at night this week!

In other news, our 35 week kicked off with a lovely baby shower thrown by Baby C's Grandmas and Aunts. Despite the snowstorm that kept some of my family away, we had a lovely tea and many friends and family were there to share in the excitement. There were lots of cute details including onesie cookies, hershey kisses with "It's a girl" tags, and my dad's childhood blocks spelling out Baby Girl.

We ended our week with another baby shower! Carl's company threw us a shower at his boss's house. It was a very nice time and Baby C got lots of cute clothes. :)

Now for a little comparison:

Here I am at 25 weeks

and now at 35 weeks

I think Baby C's grown a little over the last 10 weeks :O

How far along: 35 weeks

Net weight gain: 24 lbs

Stretch marks: still none...

Belly button: out

Sleep: getting up 3 or 4 times for the restroom and started having some braxton hicks contractions this week

Food cravings: clementines---can't get enough!

Food aversions: meat not from local farms (I keep seeing the images from Food Inc and have been having strong aversions...not really pregnancy related but being pregnant makes me even more cautious about what goes in my body!)
What I miss: sleep....

Looking forward to: Christmas!

Best moment this week: the showers and finding out that Baby C is in a great position for delivery

Milestones: Baby C is as big as a cantaloupe! no wonder my back hurts and I am off balance :)

Happy Birthday Asher!

Our little friend and Baby C's future husband is 1 today!


I can't believe it has been a whole year since we found out Asher Thomas was born.

The first time Asher came to our house he was only about 4 or 5 weeks old(?) (Asher's mom you have to help me with that one).

We've enjoyed watching him grow and learn new skills over the last year! Asher came to visit last weekend and we had a little early birthday for him.

Here he is with one of his birthday presents. I can't believe he is standing! Look at him go!



With dad opening his other gift.

Another picture with dad (sorry mom, I don't have any with you :( ) holding his favorite gift-the bows.

Asher- Aunt Karen, Uncle Carl and Baby C love you and wish you a very Happy Birthday!

Surprise Baby Shower!

As I mentioned in our 34 week post, our Reading Camp Committee threw us a surprise shower at our last meeting! Since it was a surprise we didn't get any pictures of it but I took pictures of the gifts when we got home.

Baby C was blessed with many wonderful gifts. She received

many wonderful books

a beautiful handknit blanket

and... a DINASOUR blanket! Carl was realllly excited :) one of the counselors, Emily, made this for Baby C.

34 Weeks!

34 weeks was a wonderful, busy time! Our 34th week started with a Surprise Baby Shower! Carl and I co-direct an all-volunteer Reading Camp for low-income 3rd and 4th graders in Cleveland. At our meeting on Sunday morning the volunteers who help plan Reading Camp threw us a surprise shower! We feel so blessed to have such wonderful people supporting us both with the Reading Camp ministry and as we become parents. I'll do a seperate post on the wonderful gifts they gave us :) think books and something special dinasour related. :)

Sunday afternoon our friends threw a shower for us! I will also do a seperate post on this because there is too much to tell but it was a lot of fun and we are so blessed to have such a wonderful group of friends!

In other news from our 34th week, Baby C and I are now seeing the doctor once a week until delivery! The doctor says that Baby C is measuring on track to be about 6 or 7lbs when she is born and that we should expect her in the next 4 or 5 weeks. Sounds good to me! The doctor also said that at this point Baby C will do well no matter when she is born so if I were to go into pre-term labor they wouldn't try to stop it. I don't want Baby C to get any ideas about coming out too early, she needs those few more weeks, but it is nice to know that if something were to happen she would be healthy and okay!

We finished the week off with Baby C's first trip to cut down a Christmas tree. Carl, my dad, and I went out on Saturday and chopped down trees (1 for our house and 1 for my parents). It was a great day for it. There was snow on the ground and it was sunny and warm (yes I am calling 40 degrees warm :)) I can't wait to take Baby C with us next year!


Our picture this week is from Christmas tree chopping. Sorry for the giant red coat :)

How far along: 34 weeks and 6 days
Net weight gain: 22 lbs....we think, the nurses messed this up last time (sometimes they subtract 2 lbs sometimes they dont... so we are somewhere around 22-24 lbs)
Stretch marks: nope
Belly Button: out most of the time
Sleep: rough-sore back, up 2x a night for the bathroom, some insomnia
Food cravings: fruit!
Food aversions: nothing!
What I miss: pain free sleep--pretty sure I've said this before a few times :)
Looking forward to: hospital tour and family/friends shower
Best moment this week: our baby showers!
Milestones: Baby C could be born any time now and be okay!

33 Weeks!

33 weeks was a good week for Baby C, Carl and I. Other than some insomnia everything seems to be going smoothly as we get closer to the big day! It's hard to believe but in just 3 weeks Baby C will be full term and can safely make her debut! While I am sure there were moments during this pregnancy when I felt like I would never get to see my little girl, as we get closer it feels like it is flying by!


The upcoming weeks are very busy for us so Carl and I decided to do a date night this past Friday. It may be our last for awhile so we decided to go all out. We had a very good dinner at Crop Bistro in the Warehouse District and then stayed in a suite at the Renaissance. We relaxed in the morning and then got a yummy breakfast at the Waterstreet Grill, also in the Warehouse District. It was a very nice, relaxing evening.



The picture for this week was taken on our date night in front of the hotel. You can see the Christmas lights in Public Square in the background.

How far along: 33 weeks and 5 days in the picture

Net weight gain: 20 lbs at last doc apt. again---still no scale at home :)

Stretch marks: still none...wondering when I am going to regret this item

Belly button: mostly outie but not totally popped

Sleep: less than comfortable...though I did find the king sized bed at the hotel to be very nice...now if we could get one to fit in our room.

Food cravings: pickles are making a come back

Food aversions: nothing....just hungry

What I miss: a glass of wine with my dinner at Crop Bistro

Looking forward to: our Baby Showers!

Best moment this week: spending some qt with my hubs on our date night and getting the lyrics to our baby girl's lullaby (written by our friend Cara)

Milestones: Baby C weighs in at 5lbs now! :O

chemical free cleaning

Ever since I found out I was pregnant I've thought a lot about what we use to clean our home. I started switching over to environmentally friendly, all natural cleaners a few years ago for most of our cleaning needs. The one area that I had yet to find a good cleaner was for our floors. This became a big priority when I realized we'd have a little baby crawling around on them soon. Chemicals in cleaning supplies have been linked to all sorts of health problems, not to mention the impact on the environment.....

I was inspired by my friend Emily who got a steam mop before her son Asher was born. Carl and I researched them and finally bought one last week. Ou new Shark Steam Pocket Mop arrived the other day!

It uses water (steam) to clean the floors. Totally chemical free. Also, you save money (and have less waste) because you're not buying all those pads and bottles of cleaning solution like with a swiffer.

I 'll let you know how well it works!