29 Weeks: Halloween!

This was Halloween week! Other than working lots with two late nights for parent/teacher conferences and working on my comprehensive exams, we squeezed in some fun after all.

 James and I did some pumpkin carving with friends from the Methodist Church, and attended a costume party/30th birthday party for my best friend, Linden.  Sadly, I forgot my camera for the birthday party, so pictures of us in costume will come at a later date. (spoiler alert: James went as a nerd from Revenge of the Nerds and I had an ET alien bursting out of my body :)

Here are some of the pumpkin creations.

Happy Halloween!

 Go Hogs!

 Charlie Brown

Haunted House

28 Weeks: 7 months

Well, at 28 weeks pregnant, I've officially entered the third trimester!  Everything is going very well, and James and I are slowly switching into planning mode for Baby Mildren's arrival.

The future Mildren grandparents came up to visit this weekend, and James' mom brought up some fun Halloween books for the baby, and several other generous baby-related items for us, including the first batch of diapers.  It was a dose of reality to see diapers in our house -- we'll actually be using those soon!

Lynda also brought up an ET doll for Halloween, and showed me how to use her 'snugli' (baby carrier) with ET, which was pretty funny!

Nothing like a little practice dressing and cuddling! ha!

27 weeks: A real pain in the side!

27 weeks

This week didn't start so well.  I spent the weekend immobile from a deep side ache in my right side that just wouldn't go away!  I ended up calling my doctor and going in for a visit on Monday just to make sure these weren't contractions, a kidney/bladder infection, or anything else out of the ordinary.  Luckily the good doctor informed me that this was merely 'round ligament pain,' something that has to do with your belly stretching and growing to accommodate the baby.  The pain was deemed perfectly normal.  Whew!  By Wednesday I was feeling good again.

Baby Mildren is moving around nearly constantly these days, and James and I have been enjoying thinking about who he will look like, and whose personality he will take after.  Let's just hope he doesn't end up with James' sense of direction and my hand-eye coordination, the poor boy would be hopeless! Ha!  In the looks department, we were both very chubby little babies that didn't initially look much like we do today, so that might remain a toss-up for awhile after the delivery.

This weekend we had fun taking our Little Brother and two of his sisters to a pumpkin patch.   We got a taste of parenthood, when on the way home the kids were telling (bad) Lady Gaga jokes.  When James and I tried to make some jokes up, which we thought were pretty funny, the kids thought our jokes were totally lame!  The only thing that made them laugh was listening to James to try to sing the lyrics of a Justin Bieber song.  We got a major kick out of being so out of touch with today's youth!

26 weeks: 6 1/2 Months

At 6 1/2 months pregnant, it's finally starting to sink in that we are going to have a baby!   The countdown is on...less than 100 days and Baby Mildren will arrive!

One of my middle schools hosted an 'all-call' baby shower, because there are 3 first time mothers-to-be, 1 staff member who just had her baby early, and another staff member who recently adopted a baby, so it seems like everyone's family is expanding.  It was great to eat cake and cookies...and be encouraged to eat more and more because I'm eating for two!  (Little did my new staff know that regardless of the pregnancy, I always go back for seconds...and usually thirds if it is something sweet.  :)

James and I took time this weekend to get a baby registry going, and we are going to try something a bit different, and really just ask that people use our amazon.com baby registry (but we also registered at Target after both Grandmothers asked us when we would finally register at a store!).  Hopefully friends and family will be tech-savvy enough to get the hang of it and have fun baby shopping online, too.  In the store, it was pretty overwhelming to go through the registering process when we have NO IDEA what you need, what is useful, what is cost-effective, and what we truly want.  We actually froze up on the first item, and we had to debate the merits of high chair versus booster seat with tray.  Yikes!  Hopefully all child gear decisions won't be so difficult.

  Baby Nolan

This weekend I also had the pleasure of practicing baby pictures with my camera for a my friend Chelsey's six month old boy, and I am so excited to get to play photographer with Baby Mildren in January and beyond!!

25 weeks

This was such a busy week!  It is funny how people's greetings to you change when you're with child...no more "Hey Beth, how goes it?" or "What's up?"  It's always, "How are you feeling?" which is very sweet of people to thoughtfully ask, but my answer is usually "I don't know, I don't have time to feel pregnant!"  Between being up to my eyeballs in evaluations and working on completing my practicum for my administrative license, there isn't much room for putting your feet up and daydreaming...if only!

We did make time in the last week to put together some Ikea furniture for the nursery...now all we need is a crib! ha!

This weekend I took a 24 hour work break to have some fun!  James and I scored free tickets to the KU football game, and friends Brad and Kathy dropped by to hang out, too.

   (Kathy and I happen to be due within a week of each other!)

Maybe as it gets colder, I'll have the luxury of slowing down a bit....I can only hope!

24 weeks: Soccer Mom

I hit the 6 month mark this week!  And according to the experts, my baby belly is the size of a soccer ball! Wow!  Baby Mildren is also kicking like a soccer star, so that's a good thing!

Also, my mom celebrated her 60th birthday this week.  

The next grandma to have a birthday will be James' mom on January 14th....I'm due that day, too!

Also, James got to practice holding a baby when we met our nephew Connor this weekend.  He looks like a natural at this!  I also changed my first diaper to the best of my memory, so there was that milestone.

Here's my sister's baby Connor at 7 1/2 weeks!  Pretty cute, huh? :)  

23 Weeks and Growing!

There's not a lot to report on this week, other than a healthy doctor's visit, in which I was informed I'm measuring exactly where I should be (whew!), and that everything else looks and sounds good.

Baby Mildren also attended his first rock concert!  James and I went to see the Foo Fighters in KC, and they were GREAT live, playing for nearly three solid hours.  Of course, going to bed at 1 am for me (me pregnant, no less...) is the equivalent of pulling an all-nighter, so Saturday was a bit rough and slow going.  Oh well, it was worth it!