Big Sister Brianna . . .

. . . is so happy to announce that Momma and Dada headed to the hospital today!

It's BABY TIME! Hooray!

More Nursery Crafting!

Little by little, I've been completing projects for Brenson's nursery. I've shown a couple of the projects here and here. I hope it's not too annoying to you that I've only been revealing the nursery a bit at a time, but like I mentioned in another post, it won't be completely finished before he arrives because we are waiting on a few pieces of furniture. After it's all completed, I will do a post where I finally reveal the whole thing! 

Okay, so this is the wall that you see when you first walk in the room. We hung these two small shelves and I needed something to put on them. I covered the paper mache' B with fabric, and also made the framed print. 

Here is an upclose of the framed print:

My friend, Joy Lin, had seen something similar to this on Etsy and sent the photo to me in an email. I loved it, but wanted to tweak it a bit, so I made my own instead of ordering the one from Etsy. I printed the brown words on my printer, then cut the colored letters out of scrapbooking paper. I added a bit of ink, mounted it on blue paper, and framed it (in a 5x7 frame). I'm thrilled with how it turned out!

During a visit to my favorite store (The Hob Lob), I purchased an unfinished wooden B for the nursery. I had actually purchased a large gold B and spray-painted it, but it didn't turn out at all like I thought it would/should. The color was off and it needed some texture, but when I tried to add some dimension it just made it worse. Anyway, so I chunked that B and decided to cover this one is scrapbook paper, ribbon, and a few buttons instead. After 4 (yes, 4!) different versions, I finally settled on this one:

I can't remember the last time that I've had to do and redo a craft project so many times! I actually loved the first version, but it didn't look right with the frame. Then, the second version was too bright for the room . . . too much color for my taste. The third version was unbalanced looking, but I think I like this version pretty well. I won't say I love it, but I'm happy with it. I purchased the open-back frame at The Hob Lob (it's an 11x14 sized frame), added to ribbon to the top, and hung it all on the wall.

Finally, the curtains:

I couldn't find any window treatments that I liked for this room. I needed a full, black-out curtain for this room (it gets a ton of sun during the day and there is a pole light that shines in it during the night), so a valence would not work. All of the window treatments that I found online were too cutesy or too plain or too expensive, etc. Anyway, so I got this idea to buy plain brown black-out curtains from Wally World (very reasonably priced), a bit of ribbon and fabric from The Hob Lob, and put them together. My mom was kind enough sew the fabric and ribbon on the curtains for me, and I love the finished product!

Functional and cute (but not too cute!) . . . I wanted something with just a little color but not too much. These are perfect!

We also hung this little elephant hanger (purchased at Hobby Lobby . . . notice a trend?). I didn't make it or anything hanging on it, I just thought it looked so cute with Brenson's little coat and hats hanging on it!

Hopefully, the next nursery update I do will be a complete reveal! I am definitely happy with how things are coming together in there, so I can't wait to see it all finished!

Hospital Tour

I mentioned in my last pregnancy update that we had planned to take a tour of the hospital where I will be delivering. It is the same hospital where Brianna was born, but the maternity ward was under construction at that time and several changes have been made. Plus, we just wanted a refresher of where to go to check-in, park, etc.

We debated on whether or not to take Brianna with us when we went, and ultimately decided that she should go. The hospital offers a "Siblings Class", but the recommended ages are 4 to 6 years old, so I felt like Brianna was just too young for that. However, I wanted her to see the hospital and kind of get a feel for it before she is up there meeting her brother for the first time.

Right now, one of her most used phrases is, "Are we home?" when we are riding in the car. Really, I think she means, "Where are we going?" or "Are we almost there?" So, before the tour, we had gone out to eat dinner. When we got back in the car, she asked, "Are we home?" I explained to her that we weren't going home, but that we were going to hospital to see where the babies are born. She has a couple of books that talk about babies being born, but I wasn't sure what she actually understood. She was very quiet for a minute, then asked again, "Are we home?" 

It takes about 35 minutes to get to the hospital from our house, and pretty much the whole way there she was asking us questions about the hospital and babies. I could tell that she was just trying to process the information. We kept telling her that the hospital is where we will go to get brother when he's ready to come home with us. She has started asking us tons of questions about brother everyday . . . clarifying things like where he will sleep and where he will ride in the car and if he will play with her toys. So, we know that she knows something big is happening soon and that she's just trying to process it in her own way. 

Anyway, so the closer we got to the hospital, the more and more excited Brianna was getting. We finally realized that she thought we were going to get brother right then. Then, we had to explain to her over and over that we were just going to look at some babies tonight and that we would get brother on another day!

Here are Brianna and The Hubs anxiously waiting for the tour to begin . . . Brianna was beyond excited to see the babies!

The tour itself was pretty worthless. Well, I should say that the tour guide was terrible, but we did learn where we need to go to check-in when I am in labor so that was beneficial. The tour guide was a nurse that works in maternity and I'm not sure if she's new or if giving tours is just not her thing, but she was seriously not good at it. For example, when we passed the hospital cafeteria, she said, "This is the, ummm, cafeteria where you can go to get, ummm, food . . . and stuff." Then, when we went into a Labor and Delivery room, she said, "Sooo, this is the labor and delivery room where you will . . . labor . . . and, ummmm, deliver."

Also, one couple that was on the tour with us (who were obviously having their first baby whereas most of the rest of us were second-timers) asked a few simple questions about the rooms and such (like if they will stay in L&D or if they'll be moved to a different room after the baby is born), and the tour guide nurse stumbled and fumbled so much over the answer that she confused the whole room. I finally jumped in and gave the poor couple some actually useful information, and the crazy thing was that I think the tour guide was relieved!

So, on our fabulous tour, we walked by the newborn nursery but didn't really stop. After the tour was over, Chris and I took Brianna back up to the maternity ward and let her look at the babies in the nursery. There were about 6 babies in there so it was great timing, and Brianna loved seeing them! One baby was getting his diaper changed, and when Brianna saw his umbilical cord stump, she said, "Ewww, that belly button yucky!" One of the nurses saw us watching through the window and even brought one of the babies to the window for Brianna to really look at.

She was just fascinated and didn't want to leave. In fact, the next morning she even asked to go "See babies". I hope she's this excited when it comes time to bring Brenson home :-).

Overall, the tour was pretty much a waste of time. However, we did get a ton of samples of free stuff (score!), and I really think it was good for Brianna to see everything. I think she is really starting to understand (as best she can) that soon a baby will be coming to live at our house. I know for sure that she knows some BIG changes are getting ready to happen!

Bed Transition

In a previous post, I mentioned that we currently live in a 3 bedroom house, and that we are in the process of turning our guest bedroom/office into Brenson's room. I think it's all going to turn out just fine, but for a while we were really debating on how to handle the bedroom situation.

We have quite a bit of overnight company between family and friends that come to stay, so we really need an extra double bed somewhere in the house. Before we found out that Brenson is a boy, we had talked a lot about putting a second crib in Brianna's room and having her share with the new baby. I think that had this baby been a girl, we would have done that. However, since he's a boy, we decided to give him his own space.  

Our living room isn't big enough for a hide-a-bed, and an air mattress won't fit in the kids' bedrooms with all the furniture in them. So, we decided to transition Brianna to a double bed, and when we have guests, they will use her room. 

Brianna's crib is convertible, so we started the transition a little over two weeks ago with taking off the side of her crib. She was so excited! Here she is before going to sleep on her first night in her toddler bed:

 

The first night was exactly what I expected it would be . . . rough. She actually only got out of bed one time while going to sleep. I think she realized very quickly that we were serious about her staying in bed and decided not to push her luck. However, she fell out of bed 4 times that first night. We could hear her falling out of bed over the monitor, but every time we went in her room she would still be asleep (just on the floor!). We would put her back in bed, and a few hours later she would fall out again. It was a long night.

The second night was even worse because she would wake up when she fell out of bed and come into our room. Brianna has never slept well with us in our bed. We have tried to get her to take naps with us or even sleep with us all night a time or two, but she won't have it. She needs and has always liked her own space. I think she came in our room 4 times the second night, and I would take the lazy road and just put her in bed with us. Of course, she would fuss around for 30 minutes until I took her back to her bed. Then we'd do it all over again. *sigh*

After the first two nights, I got really nervous that maybe she is just too young for this. Our plan was to transition her into the double bed (with side guards) in about 3 months, but I was quickly beginning to rethink that. I was ready to put the side back on her crib and try this all again after she turns two, but Chris convinced me to give it at least a week.

I'm so glad he did, because after the third night, she has done great! She hasn't fallen out of bed since then, and only a few times has she gotten out of bed when she is not supposed to. She has only come in our room in the middle of the night one time since the second night. I think she has really transitioned well!

Here she is sleeping peacefully during nap one day :-):

She really loves her bed like this. She thinks she is very grown up and always wants to climb into bed herself. I'll admit, I was a bit {okay, a lot} emotional about my baby being out of a crib already, but I think it's going to work out just fine. 

And he has a name . . .

If you have followed my blog for a while, then you may remember that naming Brianna was quite a challenge for us. In fact, I had a poll on my blog asking for opinions to help us decide between about 6 names. We settled on a name for her about a week or so before she was born.

All along though, we knew exactly what we would name her if she came out a boy instead of a girl. That made it very easy for us to decide on a name this time around. The name that we have decided to give our little man is a bit different from what we had picked out before, but not much.

So, are you ready to read what his name will be???

I just love seeing it in writing :-). And remember, we love this name, so if you decide to comment, please be kind.

Baby boy's name is

This is a name that I heard a long time ago, and I have loved it ever since. I shared it with Chris when we were first married, and he has loved it since then.

Just like his sister, Brenson will have two middle names. His full name is

Charles is my dad's name, and we just like the way Jacob sounds with it.

So, from now on, Baby Boy will be known as Brenson on the blog and otherwise :-).

Big news!

I left out one major detail of our visit with Dr. N last week . . .

We found out the sex of the baby!

Our beautiful baby is a perfect little

We are thrilled!

Pregnancy Update: 12 Weeks!

Today is a pregnancy milestone day! It marks the last week of the first trimester (yay!), as well as our first appointment with our regular OB, Dr. N. I'll share all about our appointment next week.

This past week wasn't an easy pregnancy week as it seems that my pregnancy headaches have decided to come visit for a while. With Brianna, they ended by the time I was about 14 weeks along, so I'm hoping that I don't have too many more weeks to deal with them. I do take Tylenol when they get really bad, and that does help take the edge off.

Other than the headaches, I'm feeling pretty good. I did have a few days where nausea was an issue, but they seem to be less and less as this pregnancy progresses. My energy is starting to return... yay!

One big thing I did this week was unpack, wash, and hang all of my maternity clothes. I also cleaned out my closet (I've been needing to do that for like 2 years), and packed up a few things that I know I won't be wearing until the winter of 2012-13. I can still wear some of my regular jeans and tops, but I'm also mixing in maternity clothes when I want to be comfortable :-). It feels so good to have all the clothes unpacked and clean so that I'll have them when I need them!

And, to prove that I do indeed need the maternity clothing already, here is a photo of the belly this week:I'm surprised at how much faster I've "popped" this time around!

Another thing that has been different this time is my skin and hair. They have both been extremely oily all the time! My skin certainly glows, but I'm not sure that it's in a good way, ha!

When I stand up from sitting or laying down, I've been experiencing some cramps. They don't last long, but they stop me in my tracks. I asked Dr. P about this, and he said that it is normal and not to stress about it. I was getting kind of worried, so that is exactly what I needed to hear!

Overall, I feel very blessed that I feel pretty good and can function throughout the first trimester of pregnancy. I already feel like time is going so fast, and I want to cherish every moment of this pregnancy.

I hope everyone has a great week!

Pregnancy update: 11 weeks!

Today, I am 11 weeks pregnant with our sweet little baby. I've had 2 ultrasounds since I last updated, so I wanted to fill you all in on the details of those, along with a few other things.

On June 30th, I went in to our fertility clinic for my second ultrasound of this baby. Chris was out of town, so it was just me at this one. I was only a little nervous right before I went back for the ultrasound. I had been having lots of symptoms such as nausea, fatigue, soreness, loss of appetite, and sensitivity to smells, so I was definitely feeling pregnant!

At this appointment, I was 8 weeks, 3 days along based on what the nurse told me at my first ultrasound (she was basing the dates on CD 1). However, the nurse at this appointment decided to use my IUI date which put me at 8 weeks, 1 day. I asked her about it and she said it didn't matter, but it matters to me! I didn't want to feel like I was losing 2 days, so I'm still going off of the CD 1 calculation that the first nurse gave me.

So, at 8 weeks, 3 days, the baby was measuring 15.62 mm in length (8 weeks, 0 days).

Its heart rate was 156 bpm . . . quite a bit slower than Brianna at this age, so of course it made me wonder if we're having a boy this time. Dr. P zoomed in on the heart for me, and showed me where you could see all four heart chambers pumping blood. So cool!

This is what my Dr. P calls the "teddy-gram" shot! He was very proud to get this as you can see the baby's head and little arm buds.

Our next ultrasound was on July 11th, and I was 10 weeks, 0 days along. However, the settings from our last visit had been saved, so the computer said I was 9 weeks, 5 days. I will admit, I was quite nervous at this ultrasound. Several of my symptoms had really started to go away. One day (July 5th), I was soooooo sick all day long. I had a terrible, terrible headache (a symptom I dealt with while pregnant with B until about 14 weeks) and was extremely nauseous. Of course, all day I laid on the couch and prayed that I would feel better the next day (I hate not being able to be 100 percent for B). Sure enough, the next day, I felt tons better. Better than I had in weeks! Then of course, I got scared that something was wrong and maybe I wasn't pregnant anymore. Silly, I know, but I had energy, an appetite, and lots of soreness was gone. Since then, I have felt really great overall, which made me scared that I had lost the baby. I know I need to just be grateful for feeling good, but it's just so hard for me to believe that things are going well.

I guess part of me feels like this all happened too easily this time. Of course, spending 5 weeks preparing my body for treatment (and being very sick much of that time), pouring fertility drugs into my body, getting daily injections, then doing an IUI isn't exactly what most people would call easy, but from my perspective, it is. I didn't have to have surgery this time. I didn't have to go through any cancelled or failed cycles this time (which essentially means that my heart wasn't broken and mended repeatedly). Seven weeks after seeing Dr. P again, I was pregnant, as opposed to 15 months. So yeah, easy is relative and I feel like it has been easy for me this time. Which of course makes me paranoid that the ball is going to drop, instead of just being extremely grateful that God has blessed us so abundantly.

So, I'm working on having faith that things will be okay, and that even if they are not God will grant me the strength to get through it. And, of course, I'm striving for the thankful without the paranoid.

So anyway, things did look great, and the baby measured 29.34 mm (9 weeks, 5 days).

The baby's heart rate was 174 bpm! Of course, that made me think maybe it's a girl, haha!

Things looked so great in fact, that we officially graduated from seeing Dr. P to seeing our regular OB, Dr. N! I am very excited about this!

No belly pic this time, but soon. And yes, there is definitely a belly to show already. Ummm, yikes? With Brianna, I didn't start showing until about 15 weeks, and I wasn't in maternity clothes until 17 weeks. Not so much this time around! I have already busted out the maternity pants (I don't really have to have them yet, but they are just sooooo much more comfortable!). With Brianna, I gained a total of 42 pounds (again, YIKES!), then with the help of Weight Watchers lost 50 pounds by the time she was 4 months old. After I quit working and nursing, I gained almost 20 of those pounds back and never disciplined myself enough to lose them again. Ugh.

Anyway, so my clothes were already fitting much tighter, and most people show much sooner after the first pregnancy anyway. I'm trying really hard not to stress about showing already, but I will admit that I am not loving the way I look right now. I haven't really had a normal appetite since I was about 6 weeks, so I doubt that I have gained weight . . . my belly is just pooching out all loud and proud. My goal is to not pack on quite as many lbs this time around, but we will see.

In the future, I'll certainly try not to go so long between updates so they won't be quite this lengthy.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Hearing the heartbeat

Last week, we went to visit my RE for our first pregnancy ultrasound. This appointment was so exciting for a couple of reasons. First, we were to hear the heartbeat for the first time. There is just nothing like that sound! Also, it is the appointment where we found out for sure how many babies are growing inside of me. I am so thankful that our appointments are first thing in the morning so I didn't have to wait for it all day!

We took Brianna in the exam room with us this time because Chris really wanted to be there as well. The minute Dr. P walked in the room, she started bawling! This is so not like her, but he really frightens her. Fortunately, he just laughed and started telling stories. He always tells stories the whole time he does the ultrasounds.

When Dr. P began the ultrasound, I was holding my breath just waiting to hear the heartbeat. At first, he couldn't detect the sound of it, but he quickly told us that he could see it beating. I was so thankful that he told us that! However, he was finally able to detect a strong audio wave of the heartbeat. It was so great to hear that! The baby's heart was beating at 127 bpm.
While Dr. P was searching for the audio of the heartbeat, he went ahead and took measurements of the baby. Oh, and yes, there is just one! It was measuring its exact gestational age (7 weeks, 0 days), and about 9 millimeters long. I made the comment that it was incredible that someone only 9 millimeters long already has a heartbeat! The nurse responded with, "Yes, there's already so much life there". Dr. P even highlighted the heart for us to show us that it is approximately 1/3 of the size of the baby right now.
My official due date was set for February 6, 2012. That is about 2 weeks before Brianna's 2nd birthday. We'll go back to Dr. P for an ultrasound every 10 days until I'm almost finished with the first trimester, so that means another appointment on Thursday. The baby should be about double the size that it was at this appointment.

I've been feeling okay for the most part. The first trimester fatigue has certainly hit me. I was having problems feeling very nauseous all day long, but I think I've figured out how to help that. One day, I forgot to take my prenatal vitamin, and had a really good morning. After I remembered to take my vitamin about noon, I started feeling really bad. So, now I'm taking my vitamin at night and it has helped a ton!

I actually like having nausea and other symptoms because it makes me feel pregnant. I think I'd worry so much more if I didn't have any symptoms at all.

This whole process has truly been just as exciting for us the 2nd time around. We are so blessed!