26 weeks!

I'm 26 weeks 5 days today - which means that this Wednesday I start my third trimester - YIKES! Time is starting to fly by!!! Here is my ever-expanding stomach - after a day of errands and painting some things for Ben's room, so not the best picture ever! But you can see how big Ben is getting (and therefore I'm getting!):

My visit with my mom was AWESOME! We shopped and shopped and shopped - little Ben actually now has some clothes to wear when he comes home from the hospital! Some very generous family members also had my mom pick up their gifts while they were here ~ I know I've spoken to them already, but thanks again!!! We had a fabulous time - shopping, eating, just hanging out together. It was a wonderful mother-daughter visit! And she felt Ben kick, so that was even better!!

Things are moving along. All of our birth/baby classes are booked, I've booked my doctor's appointments for the next 10 weeks (5 appointments in 10 weeks - sheesh! then I have 4 more to book b/c then I start going every single week!!), Ben's room is almost emptied out of our junk (it will hopefully be done this weekend)...... so we're actually getting closer to being ready for the little man to arrive! Hopefully we can relax in June and then use July to finish up all the little things we need to buy (diapers, etc.). We took some pictures of Ben's room now that it's not full of our stuff - enjoy!

We also went shopping for a glider for Ben's room and a rocker/recliner for the living room so there are comfy places to rock the little man to sleep no matter which floor of our house you're on! Here they are - the leather rocker/recliner is the actual one, the glider is the same style but not the same colors (and has a matching ottoman I didn't post). Yay to comfort!! :-)

And the best news of all - not only do I get a trip to RI (June 27-July 7 - YAY!), but I'm also going for a very brief overnight to NYC while I'm back east! I'm taking the train down the morning of Thursday July 3, and taking the train back to RI the morning of Friday July 4. I emailed a ton of people in NYC to let them know I'm coming, but if I didn't email you, consider yourself warned/notified!!! :-) Details on a gathering that Thursday night to follow! :-)

Hope this post finds everyone doing well around the country/world!!

24 weeks!

Well, 24 weeks already (as of yesterday!). Had a doctor's appointment - all is well! Measuring right at 24 weeks, Benjamin's heart rate was perfect, all seems well! My diaper bag arrived yesterday too - SOOOO exciting!

Slightly less happy, although necessary, was visiting a daycare center and putting down a deposit yesterday too. While I wish I could stay home longer, unfortunately that's not in the cards so we've got a spot for Benjamin once he's 6 weeks old (although I hope to be home for 8-10 weeks, we'll see). But we like the place, we get good vibes from it, so hopefully all will be ok! It's about 2 miles from the house, so that's convenient - on Jerred's way to work and not really out of the way for me.

That's about it from MN this week - my mom arrives tonight and I'm beyond excited to have her here for the weekend ~ I can't wait!!!!!! A little over 8 hours to go and she'll be here!!! YAY!!!

23 weeks 2 days

Well, not much to report this week. I think I've gotten even bigger after a growth spurt by Ben... otherwise just working and getting excited for my mom's visit next week!

We already received Ben's dresser/changing table! The crib will arrive in early July. Here they are (not our bedding though!):

So hopefully this weekend we'll start cleaning out the spare room and making some room for Ben's stuff!!!

My mom arrives next Thursday so I'm sure we'll take some fun pictures of me as well as the room as we get it set up (and some before pics so you can see just how sloppy our storage room was!).

Feeling good - can still wear my high heels at work all day, but starting to get more difficult to reach my toes... pedicures in my near future!!!

And I have to praise Jerred today too - for a wonderful, thoughtful, super-sweet mother's day present even though Ben isn't actually here yet ~ a gift cert for a prenatal massage ~ I'm sooooo excited!!!

He's getting bigger (and so am I!)

Well, by popular demand (although I'm not sure why!), here are a few pics of me this morning before work - I'll be 22 weeks tomorrow, and boy is my stomach getting bigger!!!!




I feel good, Ben kicks up a storm daily, but so far has let me sleep at night, which is nice! He has discovered the joy of kicking my full bladder, which is not nice, but I'm getting used to it!

Our crib bedding came in yesterday - very exciting!!!! Here's a picture:

It's not quite as bright in person, it's an awesome color! We're excited! Now if only our crib wasn't on back order!!! But it should be here in early July, so still in plenty of time!!!! And now if only winter would leave Minnesota (we're supposed to get snow showers AGAIN this coming Saturday - in MAY!).

So things are good here ~ hope everyone else is doing well!!

It moves!!!

So Friday was a first for me - I actually SAW my belly move as Ben was kicking/punching and moving around in there!!! Crazy!!! Jerred saw it happen on Saturday and felt some good kicks/punches too! So awesome to be feeling him all the time now!!! And so far he's been sleeping when I'm sleeping, which has been nice!!

Didn't take any pictures this weekend, we'll try to take some tonight and get them posted up for everyone to see!

And it snowed here Friday night/Saturday morning - and it stuck to the grass! It snowed all day Saturday but never hard and didn't stick, and there were flurries on my way to work this morning. Weather Channel says we're 20 degrees below normal up here - I say we're 20 degrees below my tolerance level at this point! ENOUGH WINTER!

Hope everyone is well and warm wherever they are!!!

21 weeks!!

Today I hit the 21 week mark - somehow that just seems so far along! Could be because it means I start into my 6th month already today!!!! WOW!!!! I can't believe it!!! I ordered Ben's crib bedding, we finished our registry at Babies 'R Us, and we're working on cleaning out the closets/spare room upstairs so Ben has a room all his own soon!

Things are good - Jerred has been traveling non-stop this month for work, visiting NYC and VA this week! He got to see a whole bunch of our friends in NYC last night - I'm so jealous!!! But hopefully we'll get there for a visit in late May/early June!!

Feeling little Ben all the time now - so cool! We will take some pictures this weekend so everyone can see how I just keep expanding!!! I will include a picture of my face too, for those that requested it!

Hope everyone else is doing well - it's 73 and sunny here in Minnesota today, but will be 53 and rainy all weekend. Figures! :-)

It's a.....

So we had our "big" ultrasound today as people call it - and Baby Cook is an absolutely beautiful, healthy, baby.....

boy! Yep - that's right. Despite all of my insistence that we were not going to find out the gender of this little one, we decided this morning to do it! I think it meant more to Jerred to find out than it did for me to wait - and now we can stop calling the poor thing "it" all the time! :-) The tech said everything looked good, the doctor will hopefully confirm that when we see her again in 3 weeks! It's amazing how they can see so much - kidneys, diaphragm, all 4 chambers of the heart and the valves ~ it was awesome. I had tears in my eyes through most of it!!!!!

The pictures above are profile shots and then a frontal skeletal shot of the head (the "skeletor" baby shot as I call it), and then a very cute pictures of a perfect little foot with 5 perfect little toes!!!!!

So that's our news - the baby kept punching the ultrasound wand and moving around, so it was very fun!!!

I basically feel the baby every day now, especially if I drink some juice or lemonade or something sugary, and it's the coolest feeling ever!!! Hopefully the movements will get even more regular so Jerred can feel it more!

Hope everyone is doing well - spring has finally arrived here in MN - beautiful 60 degree days are a very welcome change around here!!!!