One week until Christmas!

Hope everyone had a fabulous weekend!

We got our Christmas shopping completed....as much as we could before flying to Kentucky.  We also picked up the rest of baby girl's nursery furniture.  We started putting her crib together yesterday and we love it!  Here is a little sneaky peek...

Her daddy getting started

Progress....Still need to put the front on

There's the front piece, but the changer/dresser is behind it.  And a little piggy bank for some color inspiration :)

We also had a great day at church yesterday.  One of our small group buddies taught our large class on the topic of being constantly desperate for Jesus.  A great word.  The service was unique because it was solely a worship/Christmas concert by the band Future of Forestry.  I had never heard of them, but the concert was amazing.  Here's a video of them performing Pie Jesu.  This is not the greatest quality video, but I really like the song...

Here's their version of O Holy Night.  I love the cello!

This group is majorly musically talented.  They were playing all sorts of instruments.  It was a great little show.  It would be a great buy on iTunes!

On a side note, Nate and I had our little Christmas exchange with each other last night.  It was fun with just us two (three, counting this growing baby!).  Somehow he found some killer deals on camera equipment for me.  I now have a wide angle lens to learn, along with some filters, a hood, and a macro extension tube.  I also got some other great goodies that I'll post about when I do my Christmas recap with pictures.

We are hosting our small group for our Christmas get-together tomorrow night.  I have some cookies to bake for our cookie exchange and a little cleaning up left to do.  In the meantime, I have got to finish packing and getting things ready for our flight.  I hope the flights aren't too bad.  My OB just said to get up and walk the aisle once an hour to keep the blood flowing.  I also hope we aren't stuck in any crazy snow with our layover in Minneapolis!  We are ready to spend time with friends and family (and doggies) this Christmas!

28 Weeks

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 28 Weeks and 2 days!  Starting the 3rd trimester!  How can this be!?  It seems like we just saw two pink lines on the test about a month ago!

Size of baby: Baby Vaughn is about 14.8 inches long from head to heel and about 2.2 pounds! (about the size of a chinese cabbage).  She can now open her eyes and see light filtered through the belly and can also hear.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: ~ +13-14 lb

Maternity Clothes: Always maternity pants and I would prefer maternity shirts, I just don't have too many of them, so I'll wear a regular shirt but it's very snug!  Still have 12 weeks to go, uh oh!  At least it's not dead of summer and 115 degrees out!

Gender: Baby V is a GIRL!!!  Still thinking on it, but we hope to have a name picked soon :)

Movement: Every day it seems like I notice more movement than the day before.  She's active more often during the day.  If I get up at night to potty and get back in bed, laying on my side, she's up an at 'em.  Still doesn't keep me awake yet though.  I can even see kicks and jabs from the outside of my shirt, which is so strange to me!

Sleep: I still sleep wonderfully.  It definitely helps that we have a rockstar mattress.  I have been a little better at staying on my side, but will still occasionally wake up on my back.  I definitely prefer a soft sleep surface if I'm going to be on my side....and a pillow between my knees, one wedged under belly, and one behind my back.

What I miss: If I missed anything, it would be my selection of shirts that fit. Selfish, but true!  I know she's growing and that's what matters but I am wearing a lot of the same things these days.

Cravings: I still wouldn't consider this a craving, it has just sounded good this week.  Chocolate cheerios with banana and cooked kale.  Not together though.  That would be nasty. lol

Symptoms: Growing belly, sometimes tightness in my lower belly when I stand up from sitting for a while, and sometimes a sore back if I'm sitting too long.  I also had one bout of nausea around midnight last weekend.  It was terrible and I just wanted it to go away.  I just felt really sick for like 30 minutes and Nathan got me some crackers.  I ate like 2 or 3 and had a few sips of water and then it was gone.  I woke up fine and haven't had anything like that since then.  So strange!

Best Moment this week:  This wasn't the "best moment", I'm just documenting...I had my routine glucose tolerance test this past Monday.  I had the fruit punch drink.  It was definitely sugary like a kid's Hi-C drink, but it wasn't bad at all. It didn't make me gag or get sick.  They took my blood an hour later and I did ok with that too, even though they took 4 vials!  I'm hoping to NOT hear from the doctor, as that would be good news.  I'll just talk with her at my appointment next week.  The rest of the nursery furniture is in and we just need to go pick it up at BRU.  Other than that, we are just getting ready for our trip to Kentucky for Christmas!  Woohoo!

Our Weekend Randoms

• I have really been MIA a lot from this blog, except for my weekly bump updates.  oops!  It is getting more busy around here as we finish up Christmas shopping and prepare to fly to Kentucky for the holidays.  I don't know if I ever mentioned it, but I have been watching a friend's baby three days a week, so I hardly get on my computer when I get home on those days.  I am not the greatest at preparing posts ahead of time because I am so used to posting after the fact. ha!

• Anyway!  Just an update on our Friday Night Lights watching...we are about half way through season 4.  I think this season is better than the 3rd.

• We picked up one dresser from the nursery set.  We still have to go get the other one and the crib should be in tomorrow.  We would like to get them set up before we leave for Christmas.  That would be nice!

• My mom and aunt are planning a baby shower for when we are in town.  I am getting excited about that!  We didn't have many dates to choose from, so it will be a brunch-type shower on new year's eve day.

• Nate and I went to the Olive Mill on Saturday.  He had never been but I had taken my parents and sister there before.  It's really neat.  It's a large olive mill (I think the only one) in Arizona.  They have something like 2,500 olive trees and they produce year-round.  If you know someone who loves olive oil and are looking for gift ideas, you can order from their website!  Their oils are so good and they have several different flavors.

• Two friends came over to play games the other night and they taught us how to play Pinochle.  It was a lot of fun and we want to teach my mom and Simon at Christmas.  Have you ever played?

• Our small group did a neat service project yesterday.  There were 12 of us and we went to an Amazon fulfillment/distribution center in downtown Phoenix, where we wrapped gifts off the conveyors.  For every gift we wrapped, Amazon would donate .75 cents to a charity of our choice.  We had them send the money we earned to our church and we will have the church designate it to Huruma Children's Home in Kenya, where we went this summer.  We hope it will give the kiddos a nice meal on Christmas.  It was a lot of fun!  I cannot believe how many customers choose to have their items gift wrapped.  We thought a lot of the little notes on the cards were cute.  If you were wondering if anyone ever sees those notes in the distribution process...they do!! lol

• We are looking forward to hosting our small group Christmas party next week!  We will have a small grab bag gift exchange, a cooke exchange, and we will of course play the game "Fishbowl"!

Have a great week!

27 Weeks

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 27 Weeks!

Size of baby: Baby Vaughn is about 14 1/2 inches long and almost 2 pounds! (about the size of a large head of cauliflower).

Total Weight Gain/Loss: ~ +12 lb

Maternity Clothes: I don't think I'll be in any non-maternity pants for a while unless you want to see plumber crack, but it's too cold for all that!  My shirts are getting way short and are starting to look just silly, so I am hoping to find a couple more long sleeved or quarter-length sleeved maternity shirts with ruched sides.  I am a total bargain shopper so I look at the consignment store for the best deals!  They have been worn so few times and are usually in great shape.

Gender: Baby V is a GIRL!!!  Still thinking on it, but we hope to have a name picked soon :)

Movement: Lots of movement, or what feels like "a lot" anyway.  I don't have anything to compare it to, but I told the doc today that I feel movement mid-morning, evening/night time and also anytime after I eat a meal, and she said that sounds just right!

Sleep: Once I am asleep, I sleep like a rock.  I have been trying to sleep on my sides more because I am worried about crushing that big vena cava thing that gives baby blood and oxygen when on my back.  I always fall asleep on my side and wake up on my back. ugh!  I need more pillow barricades or something. haha

What I miss: I still don't miss anything!

Cravings: No cravings!  Am I weird?  SO many preggo ladies talk about non-stop cravings, but I honestly crave nothing specific.  I'm noticeably hungrier, but I don't tear into food or anything. ha!

Symptoms: Just a growing baby belly and a flattening belly button, which grosses me out!  I can't stand belly buttons and mine is starting to look freaky.  And I'm getting the little linea nigra thingy too.

Best Moment this week:  We had our 27 week check up this afternoon!  We are so blessed that everything is right on track.  My blood pressure, weight, and belly size were all normal.  Baby girl's sweet heart beat was at 149bmp, which is also great.  I will have my glucose tolerance test and labs drawn next Monday and will visit the doc once more before heading home to Kentucky for Christmas.  Pray for NO signs of GD!!  She wanted to do a routine 28 week growth ultrasound at the next visit, but we moved it to early January because of that silly deductible!  I obviously would want to see her squirming around and I'm anxious for the 3D/4D images, but since our deductible is starting over in ~3 weeks, we just decided to wait a little longer.  So I will be right at 31 weeks when we have that done.  In other news, we got our box of "fluff mail"!  I die at the cuteness of these cloth diapers! I want to wash them and get them ready right now!!  But I will wait a while longer so they are fresh and clean when she's born!  We are also excited about a family baby shower when we're at home for the holidays!  It will be a tad different since we have to fly back and won't have a ton of extra suitcase space, but we are super excited nonetheless!

26 Weeks

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 26 Weeks!

Size of baby: Baby Vaughn is just over 14 inches long and about a pound and three quarters (about the size of an eggplant).  Wowza!

Total Weight Gain/Loss: ~ +10-11 lb according to home scale.  I fluctuate up and down like 4lbs in a day, so it's hard to tell.  Depends on when I eat. haha!  My next appt. is next week, so we'll see the true number then.

Maternity Clothes: Definitely the comfy panel pants.  Mostly regular tops with a few maternity tops here and there.  My regular shirts are getting a bit short (see above picture).  Plus it's time to get out the long sleeves and see what fits!  I have no idea what I'm going to wear for a coat when we travel to KY for Christmas.  I'll probably just wear it unzipped!

Gender: Baby V is a GIRL!!!  We hope to have a name picked soon :)

Movement: Lots and lots of movement.  Like soccer player style!  It is such a fun time.  It still feels funny and tickles but I like it and wouldn't trade it for anything!

Sleep: Still no change...I sleep so great!  Although, Black Friday shopping through me off a bit to where I was staying up late and wanting to sleep in later...but I think I'm back on track now.

What I miss: I still don't miss anything!

Cravings: Still no cravings!  Pretty much anything sounds good, so I don't have aversions either.

Symptoms: Nothing terrible, just a stretching abdomen but it's not painful (yet).

Best Moment this week:  Well, let's see here...we ordered her crib and dresser set!  I posted a pic of it in the previous post.  We love it and can't wait to get it set up.  Two pieces have already come in, just waiting on the crib.  I am also excited about the cloth diaper deals we got on Black Friday!  I have been notified that they shipped so I'm expecting a box from Kellys Closet any day now!  But I had a pregnancy brain toot for a minute and I realized I put our state as KY instead of AZ when filling out the order online.  I contacted them and they said it's ok, that it would ship according to the zip code.  Derrrr!!!!  So, our next check up is next Thursday afternoon, so I will post the update later that day.  Then after that, we visit the doc every 2 weeks!  I'm also getting a registry started on Amazon.com.  Lots to do!