The Countdown is REALLY On

Two weeks left until the big due date! I can't believe it...TWO WEEKS. It's finally starting to sink in that this is going to happen - and could happen any day now. Yikes! I have to say, however, that I'm so ready. We're both ready. Ready to put it all into action and finally meet our little baby boy. I'm worried that as the days pass, all the prep and "training" we've been undergoing with classes and readings is going to be forgotten. Almost like cramming for a test and just wanting to take the exam already before it escapes from the 'ole brain. I have to reassure myself that instincts will kick in and all will go smoothly when the situation demands it.

We made it to the big hockey tournament weekend without the little one showing up, so now he's free and clear to make his debut. Ty's games were fun to watch - 3 in two days. Not such a good end result for his team with no wins, but Ty played really well. He had a goal and an assist on Friday night and some good scoring chances on Saturday. He's hoping to have a few more opportunities to skate in the next two weeks before the Whitefish rink closes, but that will depend on baby boy's plans :).

No real indicators that the little man is getting antsy to come out yet, but he'll show when he's ready I guess. That's been the hard part for me to deal with - the "no warning in advance of his arrival" part. For once, an event I can't plan or control. Kind of scary and kind of comforting in a way. I had a midwife appointment on Wednesday and it was quick and uneventful, which is good. Baby's heartrate was great, position was still head down, and my blood pressure was still nice and low. We really are just playing the waiting game these last few weeks.

We had an infant care class at the hospital on Wednesday night that was really beneficial. Turned out that the pediatrician we selected was chosen to come into the class and review some things and answer questions. We were comfortable in our decision to go with Dr. Schwaller before the class - having met with him at his office, but we were even more reassured that he was the right pick after the class. Such a nice, down-to-earth man that seems to be on the same wave-length as us in a lot of instances.

We also met with a car seat safety inspector on Thursday evening and got all checked out with installing the car seat in the Subaru and in the truck if we needed to. Ty and I were pleased to learn we had the installation pretty well down, but it was so nice to have the reassurance from someone who knew what they were doing.

Overall, the week was really busy for Ty and me and we're laying pretty low today. We had a chance to go to dinner with some friends last night and stayed out pretty late, so sleeping in was a welcome treat this morning. Gotta get the "sleep" when we can (I use the term sleep loosely these days, as it seems to be less and less restful for me). Ty's headed out for a bike ride and we'll go for a long walk later.

Thanks for checking in on us! I'll try to update mid-week and let you know how things are going. My midwife appointment is on Thursday and we have a Infant Safety and CPR class that night. The last of our classes until baby boy is born, when we'll attend an Infant Massage class.

Have a great rest of the weekend!

The weekend came and went!

Sorry to leave you hanging...especially with nursery updates tempting you. Not a whole lot new to report; however, we did get the nursery pretty well wrapped this past weekend. I know this room is going to be a continual work in progress - it's so much fun to think up ideas! - but for now, it's ready and waiting for baby boy Anderson to make his debut. Initially, we'll have him in our room with the pack 'n play/bassinet setup, so the crib might not get a whole lot of use at first. We'll start introducing him to it during the day, but nights will be in our room (or any other time I'll be trying to catch up on sleep along with baby!). Here are some pictures...

A night-time photo...

And finally...the pregnant lady herself!

I must admit...Ty and I had a bit of a flustered panic moment with the valance. Neither of us are (and we both admitted this at the same time on Sunday) very good with interior decorating and as a result this particular component of the room proved a bit of a challenge on just how exactly the darn thing needed to go up. The hardware went up fine...that Ty has down. But...there were two panels and both seemed huge, so we tried it first with just one panel. Uh...definitely not right. We put the second on, but then the bubbles, or flaps, or whatever you call those wavy things weren't laying right. With some decent fidgeting and encouraging each other on (I think Ty asked if we still had the packaging photo at one point, which - no we didn't, but it sure would have helped!), we managed to get it to a place we were both content with. Although, I'm sure design teams on HGTV might have other things to say about the finesse of our window decoration ;).

I have another midwife appointment today and am expecting all things to look good. My tummy is getting bigger and feels as if there's no more room for this little guy to expand. The 'ole belly button hasn't popped yet, but things sure are tight. Baby boy is probably thinking the same thing, wondering why in the heck I can't make his accommodations more spacious. I'm getting pretty regular kicks to the ribs/side and upper cuts to the bladder (which feel absolutely WEIRD!). Good news is, he's head down and seems pretty content to be that way (has been since week 30). I'm coming up on 37 weeks this weekend and can't believe the end is almost near! I waver between pure elation and near fear that a BABY is on its way! Quite the emotional roller-coaster these days.

Mostly walks and yoga are my "adventures" these days. Definitely slowing down. Ty has been taking advantage of the nice, warm weather and went for two bike rides this past weekend. I'm glad he's had a chance to get out and hope we can continue to find a nice balance for both our recreation interests after baby is born. And then include little baby when he's big enough - looking forward to it!

No big plans for this weekend. I have yoga on Saturday and Ty has hockey. We'll probably continue to putter away around the house with various projects and make final preps for the big D-Day! :)

In closing, I leave you with this photo. I'll give you one guess who staged this scene, which greeted me on Saturday as I walked into the baby's room. You'd think with his fear of sharks, he would have posed this differently (monkeys can attack sharks, right?). Looks like baby boy is also doomed to fear the great whites!

We have some fun stuff happening next week - infant care class, car seat safety check, and a hockey tournament! I'll look forward to updating you as the excitement unfolds! :)

Hanging Tough

Not a whole lot new to report, but figured I would check in. We've had some AMAZING weather the past few days which has done wonders for morale and energy. Ty and I spent an hour-and-a-half outside walking down by the river and playing in the park with the pups on Sunday - blue-sky, bright sun, and 50 degrees. Snow hasn't really been our friend this year, so we're happy to accept the alternative. It seems too good to be true, however, so we won't bank on old-man-winter being gone just yet. Watch...we'll get a couple feet of snow in April (or June, even!).

Overall, I'm still feeling really good, but starting to get uncomfortable and to that point of "okay...this can be over now." Plus, we're so ready to meet this little dude. We're all done with birthing classes and have just two more classes to attend - one on infant CPR and one on infant care. It's been really nice to have the classes in the OB wing of the hospital. We've gotten to know the layout really well and met a few of the nurses, so it's not nearly as scary or intimidating.

Worked on the nursery quite a bit this past weekend. Just have a few more things to finish up - hang pictures and put up the valance - and then it will be ready for a photo-opp. I have a feeling this little boy's room will be an ongoing project...it's just so fun to decorate with the theme and colors!

For those of you wondering, we survived the U.S. vs. Canada hockey game on Sunday. Ty was pretty disappointed about the U.S. loss, but what a game. Hopefully you got to watch it! Speaking of hockey, Ty played his last night of open hockey at the Kalispell rink last night. Can't believe it's that time of year again. Whitefish hockey is still going strong, since it's an indoor rink. Ty has a league game tonight at 9:15, which I'm excited to attend. The 9:15 slot is the EARLY game and most have been at 10:45 p.m. as of late, so I haven't ventured out to watch. He also has a tournament the weekend of March 19-21 and he consistently says that baby boy is fine to come any time AFTER the tournament ;).

Which reminds me, there's a poll on the left-hand side of the blog for when you think baby will show up. Check it out and vote if you haven't already. There have been murmurs of starting up a pool for guessing the exact day this little one will show up, but I'm probably not in a state of mind to coordinate something like that...I'd surely mess it up somehow. I'll keep you posted if anything develops.

I hope to post again this weekend...with photos! 

What a Fabulous Weekend!

It really was a great weekend, filled with great times with family and friends. Friday started out with Ty returning home from a week in Phoenix for work. He was there for a class and although he enjoyed the sunshine, he was pretty happy to return home and I was pretty darn happy to have him home. Ty was originally slated to get in at 11:30 p.m. Friday night, but the class structure changed some (he was the only one in the class!) and he was able to switch his flight to an early a.m. departure, getting him home at noon! I took the afternoon off so we could have the time together and prep the house for Bill and Wileen to arrive as well as our good friends Casey and Jaci from Spokane.We had the BABY SHOWER this weekend and I was so happy that both Wileen and Jaci could make the trek over for the festivities.

Bill and Wileen got in around 4:00 p.m. Friday and we visited a while before heading out to my parents' house for a delicious lasagna dinner. And cheesecake! It's probably good that my tummy gets full fast at this stage of the game, 'cause I could have easily devoured more than my fair share! It was great to get the grandparents-to-be together and we all had a wonderful time visiting and catching up.

Saturday morning was laid back and mellow, with the big BABY SHOWER starting at 1:00. Casey and Jaci showed up around 12:15 and we headed over to my girlfriend Sonal's (shower hostess along with my Mom and good friend Danni) shortly after. The shower turnout was truly wonderful and I was overwhelmed with the love and generosity that poured out for me and our pending little bundle. Seventeen amazing women came together to celebrate the soon-to-be birth of our little boy. I get choked up just thinking about how fortunate Ty and I are to have grown so many friendships in the 4 years we've been here. Added proof to why we love it here so much! Around 5:00, the party had come to an end and the clean-up over, so we loaded up the car with all the loot and headed home. Jaci and I had a chance to visit until Ty, Bill and Casey made their way home from their afternoon out and about (yes...a few beers were consumed along the way) ;). We laid low Saturday night, visited, ate pizza and watched the Olympics. Just what I needed after a jam-packed afternoon!

By 9:30 a.m. Sunday, our house was quiet and empty :(. Bill and Wileen left first around 8:30 and Casey and Jaci shortly after. Needless to say, we were pretty sad to see them go - especially after such a great day Saturday. With nothing left to do but sulk ;), we went back to bed for a time and some much needed rest. When we got up, we hit the ground running. I think both Ty and I were excited to start doing some things for baby prep. After a nice, long walk in the sunshine with the pups, we worked through setting up the pack 'n play, carseat, stroller, etc. And then there were all the amazing shower gifts to get to! I worked on sorting through those while we watched the U.S. whoop up on Canada in the Olympic hockey game (the win sure added to the excitement of the weekend)!

Going through all the little baby stuff sure has got me antsy for this little guy to make his debut! We're down to a little under 6 weeks until the big due date. The nursery is coming along and I'm starting to feel more prepared. I know that will all change as soon as he gets here and we have this new little person to care for, but it's something we're so ready for. He's been busy kicking in there today, so my hunch is he's just as excited to come out as we are to have him in our arms.

I'll wrap up with a few shower photos (thanks Wileen) and a couple photos of Ty setting up the crib a few weeks back. We'll unveil the full nursery very soon! :)

 

 

Giving it a go!

Welcome to our family blog! As some of you know, I've had a blog before documenting the day-to-day of my interactions with the dogs and their shenanigans. I haven't been good at all about keeping the Dingo Chronicles going, but plan to recommit myself. In addition to getting back to the dog blog, I'm super excited to start up the "Our Anderson Adventures" site. I was always torn with the Dingo Chronicles about including our people happenings versus random banter about canine antics. This way, there's a clear separation between the two. All that most of you will care about is the distinction between BABY updates vs. insignificant writings about those other guys...Hunter and Wally.

Stay tuned for more updates and maybe even some photos!