Jacob's 3rd Week!

Jacob had a very exciting 3rd week in life. i guess at this age, every week is pretty exciting :) Some of the things that we did this week included visits from Bob, Allie, Moose, Mike, Aunt Pam and Grammy came back too! 

Mommy got sick from an infection this week, but luckily caught it early and got some anti-biotics to clear it up. Daddy brought her a dozen white roses and cooked an awesome Beef Stew. That helped Mommy feel a lot better!

Jacob went out to dinner twice this week! Mommy, Daddy and Jacob went out to Mac's Grill with the neighbors, Tom and Terry on Monday. Jacob was a little angel, sleeping for the first half of dinner and then he woke because he was hungry. He got his bottle and went back to sleep. Then Jacob went out to dinner on Friday with Mommy, Daddy, Grammy and Grampa! We went to Cindy's Dockside. Jacob was really good there too, sleeping most of the time and waking up only to eat!

We also went on a visit to the farm this week. This was Jacob's second visit to the farm. Grumpa Bruce got to hold him for the first time and after we got home from the farm, Aunt Pam and Grammy were at the house! Grammy stayed until Sunday when Grampa came up with the long-awaited crib! 

Daddy also got Jacob's birth certificate this week and Mommy and Jacob went to a breastfeeding group in Auburn. It was a small group through La Leche League. Too bad there weren't more babies for Jacob to meet, there was only one other mom and she had a 2 year old. Thursday afternoon Grammy Sue came up and cooked everyone a Ham dinner. It was nice for Jacob to spend time with Both Grammies! 

For the most part, Jacob has been sleeping really well between feedings and at night. He usually is awake during the morning, but takes a few small snoozes and then take two longer (1-2 hour) naps in the afternoon/evening. Then he'll be up for 3 hours or so and then crash at night sleeping about 3 hours at a time until 6 or 7am. Most of the time he sleeps in the bassinet on the pack and play snuggled in with the blanked Great-Grammy Thelma made him. However on Thursday he was a little fussy and didn't want to sleep in the bassinet. It must be because he is growing!

On Friday the crib arrived with Grampa and he set it all up in the nursery. He also helped Mommy re-arrange the nursery for the 3rd time. Hopefully it's all set now that we have all the furniture in there.  

Jacob also got his second bath this week! He loves taking baths and feeling the warm water all over him. He didn't cry at all and really looked like he was enjoying it!

It was a busy 3rd week of life. So many people to meet and things to see!

Welcome Home Jacob Michael Richards!

Jacob was born on Friday October 25th at 12:16am. He was 19.5" long and weighed 6lbs 12oz. Mom was surprised, yet grateful that he was such a little peanut! 

We have now survived the first week with Jacob and learned so much about how to care for an infant. We are trying to figure out our 'schedule' and I do use that term loosely, knowing everything is subject to change. But at least we are trying to figure out the best times to sleep and the best ways to split duty between Mom and Dad. Fortunately for us, we had both Grammy Sue and Grammy Gail here with us for most of the last week. That has been a HUGE relief. But soon, we'll be a family of 3 and we'll be doing it all on our own. 

Jacob's favorite things to do include: sleeping, pooping, peeing on people and the wall and EATING! He takes after his Mama and could eat allll day long! In fact he was back to his birth weight only 4 days after he was born. 

On Monday (day 4) we tried out the swing. That did not go over well. 7 minutes of crying was all we could take. However, we tried the swing again on Saturday and he really seemed to like it! We are making progress :)

The first 3 nights out of the hospital, Jacob would only sleep in someone's arms. We would put him in the Rock and play or the bassinet and within 20 minutes he was fussing and eventually crying. So we split time between both Grammy's and Mom and Dad to make it through the night. We continued to put him in the bassinet during the day (as much as we could bear to put him down, he's too cute not to snuggle!!) and he got used to it. The past two nights, he has slept in the nursery in the bassinet between all feedings! 

Right now he eats about every 2 - 2.5 hours for about 30 minutes. 75% of the time, he goes right to sleep after feeding and 25% of the time he takes a little bit of coaxing. Singing, rocking, snuggling and rubbing his feet seem to be the best ways to calm him down. 

We've had a lot of visitors the first week including Grammy Sue and Grumpa Bruce, Grammy Gail and Grampa Pete. Aunt Val & Uncle Brian, Aunt Kim, Great Aunt Maureen, Ma, Tracy & Marc, Tom & Terry, Joe, Mike, Bob & Allie and Eric. It's been a busy week but there are still lots more people to meet!

It was a long 41 weeks and we are SO excited that Jacob is finally here!!

4th Wedding Anniversary

Yesterday was mine and Chris's wedding anniversary. It's been 4 years since that bright and windy day. Definitely one of the happiest days of our lives together.....until Baby R comes, of course :-)  We had a nice anniversary, considering the circumstances. In the past 3 years of anniversaries we have gone to:

        



                Bar Harbor, Maine

 






 Yosemite (Napa & San Fran)

      



And Zurich and the Swiss Alps.









This year we are looking forward to the arrival of our little babe. Pretty hard to top that.

I was home all day....really understanding the concept of boredom. I can't wait for this little pooping and peeing bundle of joy to arrive. Otherwise I'll have to go back to work. Don't get me wrong, I love sitting around all day making cards, cleaning my house and tending to my whiny dog. But who am I kidding.....I can't just sit around all day! It's not in my DNA. 

So yesterday was a typical - waiting for baby - day. I woke up. I did yoga. I played with Lexie in the yard. I showered. I made cards. I took Lexie for a walk. I did laundry. I washed my windows....again (they were streaky) and then Chris came home early with flowers and a card in hand. Yay! We relaxed on the couch for a bit and then decided to go out to dinner at Fishbones, which was the nicest restaurant we could think of in the Lewiston-Auburn area. It's a nice place, very good food, the pickings are just slim in this twin city of merely 60,000 people. That's both cities combined.

Before dinner we stopped at our neighbor's house so she could snap a few shots of the two of us in the yard (thank you Terry!). It was such a gorgeous Fall day, I couldn't give up the opportunity for photos and I also knew it was my only chance at getting Chris to take some pregnancy photos with me. Smooth move, I thought. 

So we'll see what the weekend brings. Likely golf for Chris and I might go along for the ride. Maybe we'll have a baby by Monday? Wishful thinking.

39w1d

Any day now.....

I am due in 15 days. Which according to my midwife... can really be plus or minus two weeks. So, that means it could technically be any time now over the next 4 weeks. How do I feel about that? Well, in all honesty, I hope he goes to his due date, or even a little late. I don't think many 9 month pregnant women feel the same way, but I'm feeling really good so what's another 2-4 weeks after the last 9 months??? Plus, today is my last day of work until April! My disability plan allows for two weeks off prior to your due date and you can't exchange them for extra time after. I want to enjoy these two weeks off nesting and being productive. So, it's definitely selfish that I want him to wait until October 17th. Or the 18th, which is the day I guessed on the Baby R Birthday Pool. :)

I'm pretty proud to say that my biggest complaint this week is that I can't find a pair of comfortable jeans that fit properly. All of my maternity jeans fall down when I wear them. One pair is clearly getting too small, the others seem to be stretched out, and they just don't stay up. I can tell baby is getting ready for his grand entrance. Feeling more pressure on my pelvic bone and lower pelvic area. Nothing too painful, just slightly uncomfortable. 

My nursery is all set up now.....minus the all-important centerpiece of the nursery - the crib which is still MIA. I called again on Monday. Estimated delivery date of Mid-October. That was the best they could tell me. Sweet. Yet another reason for Baby R to come a little late, rather than a little early. I took a few photos of what I Have set up. 

I still need to figure out what to put on two of the walls. The wall behind the recliner and the wall behind the changing table. I think I will hang a large blown up newborn photo of the baby on one of those walls. I'd like to get a black and white somewhere around 20" or so.

The pack and play is set up in here as a place holder for the crib. It serves the purpose for now and will likely be where the baby sleeps until he's ready to go into the crib anyhow. 

My favorite new addition is the little turtle vinyl stickers above the changing table. I just love them :)  I am considering getting more to put near the crib, but I won't know if there is room for them until the crib is actually here. So.... I'll wait and see. 

37w6d

Who wants a nursery peek???

I'm so excited that the nursery is coming along. I am starting to feel that it looks like a nursery. There are two major pieces that we are still waiting on. Today we are going recliner shopping. I am not sure if we'll come home with one, just browse to see what is out there or put an order in, but we'll see how the day goes. 

The other item, is getting the crib in. That is on order, and has been for 5 weeks. The estimated delivery is middle of October. So we have about a month left for that. Good thing I am totally in love with the crib and it will be worth the wait. 

Pretty soon it'll be time to focus on the fun stuff that is non-essential but exciting and crafty.  Things like decorating the walls, buying some fabric to try out some pillows and anything else I find on Pinterest between now and when the little bundle arrives!

One of my favorite necessity items is our changing table. I love the color, love the style, the height is perfect for me (a little bit taller than average) and the best part is that it is reversible! It's already full of clothes, diapers, wipes and blankets for baby to use. I'm sure I'll spend plenty of time standing in front of this piece of furniture day and night!  

I also added a little set of storage drawers. It's the color that really drew me to it, but I think it'll be nice for baby wipes/diapers or toys. Another option would be the next size up clothes. I'll figure it out as we go, but for now it's empty and waiting for it's purpose. But doesn't it look cute with that turtle on top from my cousin, Lindsay?!?

And I just have to share this adorable quilt that my co-worker Lynn made. It's four bandana's on the front, four on the back that she sewed together, added some batting and voila adorable baby quilt! She didn't even know my nursery colors but it matches great! I love that the nursery isn't super matching but has a similar color scheme througout. Right now the blanket is sitting on the back of our lawn chair....it's a placeholder under we get the recliner I mentioned earlier :)

And last but not least might be one of my favorite gifts so far. Yes, it was on my registry but I didn't realize someone purchased it for us. It's Baby R's Halloween costume! I just fell in love with this when we were in Babies R Us a few months ago and yesterday this showed up on my doorstep from our co-workers Abby and Matthew. he's going to be such a cute little pumpkin!

So now I'm 35.5 weeks. WOW does time fly! I've been feeling well overall (knock on wood), but I'm definitely feeling like I'm in my 3rd trimester. I'm lucky that I'm not huge, still have good energy and no swelling; however I am tired. Mostly because I'm waking up 2-3 times a night. Once or twice to go pee and another once or twice due to baby kicks leaps and general discomfort. 

There are only two other things I can complain about. First is I feel like I have a strained glute muscle. Usually I feel it on the right side, but sometimes on the left, sometimes both at the same time. I've been doing my Yoga Mama DVD which seems to help stretch it out. It's not a strong pain, but I feel it. The second 'complaint' (because I feel like all pregnant women have to complain about SOMETHING) is I feel some soreness in my pelvic bone. It pretty much feels like saddle sores, when you go for the first long bike ride of the season. It's uncomfortable but not a strong pain. 

Ok, so I got my pregnant pains out.... I'm pretty sure my list is minimal for being into my NINTH month of pregnancy! I consider myself very lucky compared to the several other women I know who are/were due in September and October. I've got it made. 

35w3d

The countdown is on!

When I was getting ready for our wedding 4 years ago, I started my daily countdown at 100 days. I guess that means it's time for a baby countdown!  I found a cute countdown sign on Pinterest, but knew I needed to create my own. So I went to JoAnn fabrics and voila!!!

So other than being pretty crafty this week I have started to realize that I really am 8 months pregnant! It's starting to get uncomfortable when I bend over to pick things up or put my socks on. My clothes continue to shrink in length (something I have been used to my whole life) and the interesting sleep patterns are beginning. Some nights I wake up at 4am and can't get back to sleep. Other nights I can't fall asleep until midnight. In the words of my midwife: "welcome to baby time!".  It's allll worth it :)

32w5d

8.5 weeks.....

So I'm really starting to get exciting as we slowly get more and more baby things into the house. It's really feeling real! Our first baby shower is only 2 weeks away and I'm excited to celebrate with our family and friends. 

I also came to the realization that our baby is likely to be born just a few weeks before Halloween. So I will need a newborn Halloween costume! I decided to search etsy for some ideas and came across this cute pumpkin hat. I just couldn't say no to it. 

The other big thing that is new is that we have officially picked out our crib and changing table! We went down to Hampton Falls last weekend with Mom and Dad to Baby Go Round, my first Baby Boutique. After lots of deliberation, we decided on a Baby's Dream crib and changer. The changer really got us excited because once we are done using the changer for the baby, the whole piece of furniture flips upside down to be a flat top dresser and the changing table sides become the legs. It's a very cool idea that I think other companies are going to pick up on. 

From the photo on the left, we purchased the crib and the bureau/changer on the right side. We may consider buying the taller chest at some point as well. It converts to a toddler bed, day bed and the full sized bed as well, so we purchased the adult bed rails and will get the toddler rail in the very near future. (We probably should have bought it last weekend). 

The color is slate, and I love it! It matches our nursery walls, which I would call a slate green, very well and we even got to take the changing table home with us last weekend. The only downside is that we had to order the crib and its 8-10 weeks lead time. So.....we're hoping it comes in early and baby boy is late! 

31w4d