well, paul and i have been referring to the baby as “the little man” this entire time so that we don’t slip up and say his name. i learned today that he is definitely not so little. mr. magoo weighed in today at 6 lbs 10 oz and is gaining weight at 1/2 lb per week. so that would put him at gaining about 3 more lbs (if not more) by my due date. not only that, but the size of his head alone is in the 90th percentile and his tummy is in the 80th percentile (do we have a little chubs on our hands?) needless to say, this is going to be a BIG baby. helloooooo c-section.

i left a message with our doctor to make her aware of the baby’s weight (since i had to go to a specialist to get this particular ultrasound done). i’ll be anxious to hear her reaction, though we’ve known all along that he would probably be a larger baby. my next appointment with my doctor is a week from tomorrow, so i’m assuming we’ll get into the nitty-gritty of c-section stuff then.

a funny measurement that they took today at the specialist was of the baby’s leg bone that goes from his hip to his knee. that measurement was “extremely long” according to the ultrasound tech, which made me giggle. i figured that he would have long legs, given how tall paul and i both are, however, i couldn’t help but remember back to when paul was in primary and getting measured to see if he could fit into planes. that same measurement they took on the baby today was one of the measurements that was really long on paul and almost classified him as being too big in the cockpit of a plane. ~ hahaha! like father, like son.

so dear friends, that’s the latest from baby land. surprise surprise, the whites make big babies! i’ll be sure to keep you all posted in the upcoming weeks, especially since we’ll probably be scheduling a c-section. get your calendars out! we will know his birthday soon!

hello there!!! gosh i have a lot of things to blog about. first thing first though… PAUL IS HOME!!!! he got in last wednesday evening, had thursday to recoop from jetlag, and then we headed to atlanta for the weekend for a baby shower. we have been busy busy!!! words cannot express how great it is to have him home…. everything is better with paul around. the little man is definitely happy to have his dad’s big hands on the belly again.

the pictures that are attached are from the shower that mom and janice hosted over the weekend. it was the perfect nicole friendly shower!!!! all of their lady-friends who have known paul and i for years were invited, they brought their gifts unwrapped for display, and we all had yummy treats and enjoyed time visiting with each other. the best surprise was when janice’s sister, marie, showed up at the door. marie traveled all the way from vermont (on standby flights no less) to come and see me while i am pregnant. it was such a great surprise and definitely my favorite gift!!! the weekend went by very quickly since there was so much going on, but it was wonderful spending time with our families and celebrating the baby.

speaking of the baby…. the little man is doing very well and has a room full of goodies to enjoy when he is born. at 34 weeks, i am feeling VERY big, and had not realized how big i have gotten until i saw these shower pictures of myself. good grief!!! the basketball has turned into a beach ball. paul and i head to the doctor this afternoon for a check up. dr. thomas will be doing a fetal weight check to see just how big this bruiser baby really is. i’ll add another post this week to let everyone know.

while the baby seems to be growing like a weed, i think he’s getting pretty crammed in there and he certainly makes me aware of that. i’m having more and more trouble sleeping… well, mostly just getting comfortable and situated enough to fall asleep. last night i was laying on my side and paul reached over to feel the baby. i lifted my belly into his hand and said “here, hold this.” he responded by saying “geez, that really is heavy!!!”

the latest cravings have been for ice cream!!! i had a couple of nights last week that resulted in me driving to baskin robbins for their mint chocolate chip ice cream IN MY PAJAMAS. it was totally worth it.

anyway, enjoy the pictures!!! i will post about today’s appointment later this week.

guess who?!?! just reporting in… we had a check up at the doctor and all is well with myself and the little man. i had mentioned a blog or two ago about my measurements and the importance of them coinciding with my gestational age, and that looked good today. with me being 32 weeks now, i am measuring 32 cm which is on target. knowing that the baby’s weight is a concern of our’s though, our doctor is going to do a fetal weight check at our next appointment in two weeks. they do that on an ultrasound and can tell you how much the baby weighs. this will help us figure out if the baby is going to be average size at birth or larger, and it’ll help us figure out if we should be expecting a regular delivery or a c-section. i have a feeling that he’s slightly above average, but we’ll see in two weeks.

within the last 2 weeks, i have put on 4 lbs, which the doctor was pleased with. so far that puts me at a total of 16 lbs that i’ve gained during the pregnancy. not bad. i wasn’t surprised at all to hear that i’ve put on those 4 lbs though, i have been eating like a maniac!!!! i probably eat something every 2-3 hours, whether it’s a piece of fruit or a sandwich…. or ice cream. i’m constantly hungry. my hunger even woke me up last night, though i didn’t give in to it. i had gotten up to use the bathroom and thought to myself “ohmygosh, am i going to be one of those pregnant women who is in the fridge at 2 am?!?!” but i just took a couple of tums to relieve my middle-of-the-night heart burn that has crept up on me, and left it at that.

i really can’t get over how good i’ve been feeling, though i’m getting bigger and bigger. i am genuinely in love with being pregnant, and i told my mom today that i really feel like i will miss this when it’s over. it’s so amazing to me to watch how your body serves it’s purpose while growing a child.

paul comes home next week!!!!!!!!!!! i am sooooooooooo excited. even the doctor today was giggling with me and saying “oooohhhh, this is your last appointment before paul comes home.” i just cannot wait to have him home on a day-to-day basis. though he was home for that emergency leave, when i fell last month, i feel as though i look like a different person. he leaves italy on tuesday and should hopefully be here some time on wednesday. woohoo!!!!

as soon as paul gets home though, we will be heading to atlanta by the end of next week for my baby shower that is next saturday. ha!!! welcome home paul, please drive me to atlanta. i’m really looking forward to it though. it’s somewhat non-traditional (surprise surprise) because i’m not big on showers…. we’re asking people to bring their gifts unwrapped for display. this way i can spend time actually visiting with people and enjoying their company instead of unwrapping gifts and passing them around while a room full of people watch me. anyway, we’ll just be in atlanta for the weekend since paul wants to save up as much leave time as possible for when the baby arrives.

i’m attaching a picture of the 32 week bump!!! yes, i took it myself, so it’s probably a little funny looking. but it’s something…. red just rolled his eyes at me when i asked him to take my picture, so i had no other option. bye for now!!!

i just experienced an in-law tornado this week, and it was great!!! my in-laws arrived tuesday and in a period of 24 hours they fixed paul’s car which wasn’t running, helped me out with a book shelf for the baby’s room, and did more yard work than paul and i have done in i can’t remember how long. as great as it was having so much help around the house, it was even better just to have their company for a couple of days. with paul being gone, i had gotten so accustomed to the quiet house. needless to say, red was ecstatic to have people around to play with (especially my father-in-law).

tuesday evening was definitely an awesome bonding night for the three of us with the baby. the little man was having his “power hour” around 9 o’clock and my in-laws were able to feel him a ton, which they hadn’t done yet. it was so great!!! though a few of his jabs are starting to hurt and make me wince a little bit, i can’t tell you how cool it was to see the looks on their faces when they felt their grandson moving around. my favorite moment of tuesday evening happened while my mother-in-law was feeling the baby move around. the two of us were sitting on our couch and as my father-in-law walked in the back door after taking red for an evening stroll, my mother-in-law yelled out “kent, hurry up and get in here. the baby is moving.” sure enough, my subdued father-in-law literally comes running into the living room from the kitchen at the back of the house, plops on the couch next to me and feels the baby. i was cracking up!!! you would have to know kent to know that he’s not the most demonstrative of men… which is what made that moment one that i will never forget. i completely pictured paul doing the same exact thing years and years down the road.

according to my mother-in-law, i have a very cute looking pregnant belly. that was especially nice to hear since i am feeling very large and disproportioned these days. i can’t believe that i am down to 8 weeks. aaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!!! i have been buying clothes for the little man, which has been a blast. he’s going to be sporting some stylish threads this summer and fall. i really just cannot wait to meet him and get to know him.

last night mr. magoo and i enjoyed a moment on the couch together, while he showed off his ninja skills yet again. i closed my eyes and cringed as he kicked me in the same exact spot he had been kicking me for nearly 15 minutes. then i looked at that spot on my far right side and realized that i saw his heel poking out of my side, giving me a second hip bone. it was the craziest looking thing i had ever seen. so i felt around it, and even tried to tickle it, amazed that his little teeny foot was right there.

anyway, neat stuff…. my next doctor’s appointment is a week from today. attached are pictures of my father-in-law “meeting” his grandson. enjoy!!!

i know, i know, wrong holiday… the other night, mom and i were on the phone talking about valentines day. she said something to the extent of “ok, so your box that we sent you should be there by thanksgiving,” (meaning valentines day of course) and so we’ve been saying “happy thanksgiving” to each other ever since. so HAPPY THANKSGIVING everyone!!! please pardon mom, she’s going to be a grammy soon and has a lot on her mind.

alrighty, so we are at 30 weeks and the little man and i had our check up this morning. the closer and closer we’re getting to his birthday, the more and more questions i’m coming up with for my brilliant doctor. of course now all of my questions seem to be centering around the actual labor and delivery, which is starting to freak me out just a bit. i’m having birthing dreams where the little man is just enormous. the fact that paul was 10 and a half lbs at birth is weighing heavy on my mind (no pun intended). my doctor and i got into a great discussion about c-sections and what her take on it was and that helped to ease my mind. personally, i decided that a c-section is not my battle to fight when paul and i started talking about kids. he’s a big guy, there’s no way around that. so the way i see it, as long as the baby is safe and i’m safe, then the doc needs to just do her job to the best of her ability, and if that means a c-section, then pass the scalpel.

as of now though, the little man’s measurements are looking good. my fundal height should coincide with my gestational age, which means that since i am 30 weeks along, my bump should be measuring top to bottom around 30 cm (give or take 2 cm). and of course right now that is where we are measuring, so yay for that. now apparently from week 30 on is when the baby starts packing on the pound-ige, so if there’s a time for him to start growing beyond that 2 cm. range, he’ll do it in the upcoming weeks. for example: my next appointment is in 2 weeks…. i’ll be 32 weeks along, but if i measure at 34 cm or beyond, that will be a red flag, and we’ll start having to seriously consider a c-section. make sense?

so as of now, the little duder is great… moving around like a maniac, and wanting to munch and lunch just about every 2 hours. i feel like i’m always eating, even if it’s the smallest thing, like an orange, the little man’s appetite is never satisfied these days. as for me, i’m still feeling really good, just moving a little slower these days and taking more breaks. my in-laws are popping in for an overnight visit (and possibly taking care of some lawn duty for me) so i am looking forward to that.

the latest paul update is that he will not be leaving italy until march 4th, which is kind of a bummer since it’s a week later than it was supposed to be. that would bring him back to the states on the 6th or so, which is of course the weekend that i will be in atlanta for a baby shower. ha!!!! the navy has such perfect timing.

anyway, that’s all for now. HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!!