30 Weeks

As of today, I am 30 weeks and 1 day pregnant! Something about hitting the 30 week mark makes it feel like the baby is coming soon! The past couple days have been a little rough with some major back pain. I've spent a lot of time on the couch with my legs propped up on pillows trying to stay still. Thankfully, it's starting to feel a little better. Here's a picture of my baby belly at 30 weeks...

One of my friends does this little survey on the bottom of each of her blog posts. Since I don't have too much to update you on, I figure it'd be an good thing to do this post.


How far along: 30 weeks, 1 day
Maternity Clothes: I always have to wear maternity pants, I can still fit into some of my normal shirts. I'm pretty close to not being able to zip up my jackets and fleeces.
Sleep: I am pretty tired all the time. Thanks to finally getting a body pillow (one of those really long pillows) I haven't been having as much hip pain from sleeping. I wake up a lot to flip to my other side, but am sleeping fairly well. I am having some crazy dreams though!
Best Moment of the Week: When she started to move when she heard Kirk's voice. (Non-pregnancy related best moment of the week...Kirk taking me to see Harry Potter (finally!) and to PF Changs for dinner!)
Movement: She's starting to be a little forceful with her kicking. There's been a couple that have hurt! I love when she's moving and get nervous when I don't feel her moving around. (I know that she's napping and not supposed to move 24 hours a day - but I still get nervous!)
Cravings: Not too many. I did go to Target to return something and came home with chips and salsa, so I guess that'd be one.
Gender: Girl (unless we get a major surprise when she's born)
Labor Signs: None, thankfully. We are SO not ready and 30 weeks is too early!
Belly Button: Still an innie
What I miss: Diet Coke and regular coffee.
What I'm looking forward to: I can't wait to meet her and see what she looks like!
Weekly Wisdom: Sometimes it's better not to read too much about labor and details of it. Also people like to share horror stories about labor/babies.
Milestones: I feel like hitting 30 weeks is a big milestone! Only about 2 months left!

More Baby Shower Pictures

More baby shower pictures...

My sister Christy, my Umme and sister Carrie

Cindy and my sister Stacy

Anne (we grew up next door to each other), her mom Gail and Gail Salvatori

My Aunt Laura

My cousin Donna and my Aunt Nancy

Danielle and Sherri

Deb Ague, Jess Franco, Becky Ague, Katie Pittman and Meghan Odsliv

FCCC Friends...Christina, Erica, Carrie, Madeline and Beth

Erin and Jen

Sweet Home Chicago

A week ago, we got back from our 10 day trip back home to Chicagoland. It was a wonderful visit! We drove (a 15 1/2 hour car ride at 6 1/2 months pregnant...not the most comfortable day of my life!) and it was a long ride. The first couple days of the trip were spent visiting family and friends and indulging in some of the home cooking and restaurants we missed! It was great just to have time to hang out with people. We stayed at our friends, Jonathan and Christina Jackson's house, which was really fun and it was so nice of them to let us crash there for the week!

Once Wednesday hit, the week got really busy! Wednesday afternoon we met up with our friends Jen and Adrian to go see Lion King downtown Chicago. It was a rude reminder of Chicago traffic as it took us 3 and a half hours to go about 40 miles. We were getting a little worried that we'd miss the show! But we made it with about 10 minutes to spare. Lion King was awesome! It was so good! It was also great to hang out with Jen and Adrian. We both miss them a lot and I'm so glad we got to see them.

Thursday was Thanksgiving and we spent the day at my mom's house. There was TONS of great food (of course) and my sister Carrie, Kirk and I kept our tradition of watching the dog show and White Christmas on Thanksgiving day. We also celebrated my youngest sister Christy's 21st birthday.

Friday we had Thanksgiving with my Dad at Jill's house. It was a fun afternoon. I think our baby likes Thanksgiving food because she was moving around like crazy!

Saturday was a really fun day. Our friends Matt and Sarah got married! It was a beautiful wedding! The ceremony was really sweet and the reception was fun and a great party! There were tons of people we knew there so it was fun to see everyone and celebrate Matt and Sarah. I've know both of them since about 4th grade and we all went through youth group together. We took a picture of all the old youth group people that were at the wedding.

Matt, Kate, Me, Sarah, Erin, Lauren. Ben, Kelly & Sherri

Sunday was our baby shower. My mom, aunts, grandma and sisters hosted it. It was so special to have so many friends and family together. The decorations were so pretty (we kept them to use in the baby's room) and the food was delicious! People were so generous and so excited for us. It was so nice to see so many people after being gone for 6 months. Here are some pictures from the shower.

The sweet quilt Katie made

The cute mobile my sister Christy made

**see the next blog post for more shower pictures...I'm having some formatting issues! :o) ***

We left to come back to North Carolina really early Monday morning. It was a looonnnngggg drive back. We had no extra room in the car because of all the baby gifts as well as our Christmas presents. It was hard to leave Illinois and I would have loved to have some more time there. It was strange to realize that the next time we're back there, we'll have a 3 month old baby! (We're going back in May for my sister Stacy's wedding).

Since we've been back, I've been fighting a cold that I can't seem to get rid of. I'm also hoping to really start working on the nursery this next week. I'd like to get everything from the showers put away and start figuring out what we still need and getting it all set up. I think we're going to come back from Christmas and realize we only have about 7 weeks until our due date and I don't want to be scrambling at the end!

We went to the doctor last Tuesday and everything looks good still. The nurse was using the wand thing to hear the heartbeat and baby girl kept kicking it off! It took her 4 tries to get the heartbeat recorded since the baby wouldn't cooperate! Apparently she's feisty! :o) Since we are now in the third trimester, we start going to the doctor every two weeks now! That's a sign that we're getting close to the end!

South Carolina

This is a long overdue update. About 3 weeks ago, we went to South Carolina for the weekend. It was a chance to see Kirk's family and friends and also to have our first baby shower! It was especially nice to see our sister in law Rachael and our nieces Hailey and Heidi. Rachael was brave enough to make the drive from Atlanta by herself (with a 4 year old and 1 year old!) because Kirk's brother had to work.

We got there Thursday early afternoon and pretty much went straight to Kirk's favorite BBQ place. Most of Thursday and Friday were spent running errands and visiting family. The shower was Saturday afternoon. It was so nice! The room looked great and the food was good! It was a little surreal to open all this baby stuff and realize it was for us! We got some really cute stuff! I don't really have many pictures from the shower, I'll post some more if I can track them down.

One of the cutest gifts we got was a diaper cake Rachael made. It's hard to tell from the picture, but the tiers of the cake are made up of rolled up diapers and then it's decorated with all sorts of baby gear.
Here's the only other picture I have from the shower. It's of me and Kirk and our friends Rob and Lisa....

25 Week Picture

Here's me at 25 Weeks. You can see that we now have a crib! Some of our friends gave us a crib, changing table/dresser, stroller and swing. The baby's room is starting to fill up! It's exciting to have baby stuff in the room finally! It's motivated me a little bit to start working on the room. I think that'll be a nice project to fill up those weeks in between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

We leave Thursday for South Carolina. It should be a great weekend and we get to see a lot of Kirk's friends and family and have our first baby shower! I'm so excited! Then we'll be home for 4 days before heading to Chicago. By the time we get back from there it'll be December! Time is flying by!

24 Weeks

We went to the doctor this morning and had a great appointment! I always get nervous before going to the doctor. I'm not sure why, I think it's just a fear of them telling me something is wrong. The baby's heartbeat was nice and strong - we both love being able to hear that! Kirk was talking about stealing the thing they use to hear the heartbeat so we could hear it whenever we want. The doctor said my dates all look good and that I'm measuring about a half week ahead of my due date. My favorite part was when he told Kirk that rubbing my back would help with my back pain, so now I can tell Kirk that it's doctors orders that he does that! We got the go ahead to drive to Chicago later this month - we just have orders to stop every hour and a half for a couple minutes for me to stretch my legs to prevent blood clots. It sounds like a lot of stopping, but with the baby kicking me in the bladder so much - we'd probably be stopping about that often anyways.

Our friends who are giving us a bunch of baby stuff are bringing the crib and some other things to us this Saturday, so we can start working on the nursery. I think getting the crib, plus knowing the baby showers are coming us is motivating me to start on the nursery. I'm getting excited to get everything ready for her! Anyone have any creative do-it-yourself nursery decoration ideas? We can't paint, so we have to be creative.

We are pretty sure we've decided on a first name for her but are still working on a middle name. We aren't telling anyone the name though...we want to keep that a secret until she comes. We truly value everyone's opinions and advice...we just don't want to hear them about the name choice! :o) Don't worry - it's a good name - nothing weird!

I know I keep saying it - but I'm so excited to go to South Carolina and Chicago this month. Because of the baby showers and Thanksgiving - we seriously get to see almost all of our friends and relatives! I can't wait!

I'll post a new belly picture once I remember to take one! I'm not so good at remembering things right now...

November

I am so excited that it's finally November. There are so many good things happening this month!

• A trip to South Carolina.
• Our first baby shower - with Kirk's family and friends.
• A trip home to Chicago! (Not excited about a 16+ hour car ride while 6 months pregnant, but we gotta get there somehow!)
• Our second baby shower - with my family and our Illinois friends
• My youngest sister's 21st birthday
• Thanksgiving! (which means all the sweet potatoes I can eat!)
• Matt and Sarah's wedding! I can't wait to celebrate with them!
• Going to see Lion King with Jen and Adrian
• eating Portillos! (you're not supposed to eat hot dogs while pregnant, but I am making the exception for a Portillos hot dog while I'm home. I haven't had Portillos since June - there is NO way I can resist!)
• Getting to go to our old church FCCC! We miss everyone there so much and can't wait to see the warehouse all finished!
• The new Harry Potter moving comes out so I get to see it with my sister Carrie!
• I can start listening to Christmas music!

Seriously - what a great (and busy) month!

The baby is growing and I am starting to show a little bit. (I'll post another belly picture later this week) I definitely don't look what I thought I would look like at 5 months pregnant, but it's ok. We go to the doctor on Thursday so hopefully we'll get another positive report on baby girl. I've been having a lot of back pain and get tired so easily, but that's ok. It's all part of it and it'll be worth it. I also am currently craving apple juice (but it has to be ice cold and a little watered down) and we should have never, ever brought home candy from the Fall Fest at church. I don't have the will power and keep taking a piece every time I walk past the bowl. I know I could move the bowl to someplace where I can't see it or reach it...but let's be honest, I don't think that will stop me!

Weekend

Kirk's parents came to visit this weekend. This was the first time we've seen them since we told them we were pregnant so some baby stuff was definitely on the to do list for the weekend. We spent a good amount of time at the baby stores at the outlet mall looking at all the cute clothes. We discovered that Kirk is going to be way more of a sucker for buying cute baby clothes than I am! He was really sweet about it...he only would buy stuff with soft fabrics b/c he didn't want anything to be uncomfortable on her. We got a few really cute things but tried not to go overboard since we have showers still and a few more months before we need clothes! Kirk's mom and dad also bought us the crib mattress as a shower gift, so it's nice to have that. We don't have a crib yet, but are getting one soon. Some of Kirk's close friends are being super generous and giving us a bunch of their old baby stuff, the crib being one of those things. We also got a 2 packages of diapers. I guess it's good to stock up early on those! We had a great time with them and I definitely wore myself out!

We also got our Christmas gift from his parents early. A new couch! We feel like grown ups because it's literally the only piece of furniture in our living and dining rooms that isn't from IKEA! Not that I don't love IKEA, but I feel like we have a real piece of furniture now! Our other couch is a 2 seater, so it's nice to have a couch you can actually lay down on.

I'm still feeling pretty good. I did manage to somehow hurt my back while putting groceries away today. I think I just pulled a muscle in my lower back, so I'm currently enjoying a pain that starts in my lower back and goes all the way down my right hip and down my leg a little. I'm not sure if those muscles actually connect to my hurt back muscle - but somehow the pain made its way down there. I'm hoping that the pain eases up sooner than later.

We are going to South Carolina November 11-13 to see Kirk's family and have our first baby shower. We are both really excited about the weekend. Kirk's brother and sister in law will be there so we get to see them and our 2 nieces as well, which will be great! We haven't been able to see them in a while!

We're less than a month away from our trip to Chicago. I can't wait! I'm counting down the days!

This week will be 23 weeks...only 17 weeks left to go, if she comes on her due date! Which if any of you knew my grandpa and grandma...she probably will be born on time, it's in her genes! :o)

22 Weeks

Here's the first picture, I'm about 22 weeks. I actually don't even look as pregnant as I do in the picture...I have to put my hands like that and stick my belly out a little to even make it look like that. Oh well! According the to update I get emailed every week, Baby Tate is the size of a papaya, weighs about a pound, and is about 7-8 inches look. She is also starting to be able to hear our voices. I can feel her moving around, but no strong kicks or jabs yet.

Issues

I'm having a slight issue with clothes right now. I'm 22 weeks prego and not really showing yet. I definitely am getting bigger, I just don't have a cute baby bump. I just kinda look chubby.

But here's my issue. I don't fit in my normal pants anymore but maternity pants are too big. I was wearing my normal jeans with a rubber band around the button and thru the button hole since I couldn't button them, but that's not working anymore. So I tried using the belly band (basically an tube top that you wear around your waist to hold up pants you can't button anymore, but that's not really working since I don't have enough of a baby bump to hold my pants up. So I am trying maternity pants, but again, there's not enough of a bump to hold them up. Maybe this is just an excuse to wear my super comfortable black sweatpants everywhere :o)

I realize that no one really cares about my problems with this, but not much else is going on so I didn't have much else to write about. I can still feel Baby Tate moving around in there. I've been pretty uncomfortable as my body is adjusting to make room for baby. It gets painful at times but I guess it's all part of the deal.

I'm also hoping my nesting instinct kicks in soon since currently the baby's room looks more like a storage closet. There are suitcases everywhere, my wedding dress is in there as well as the couple of boxes we haven't unpacked yet. We should be getting the crib that some friends are giving us soon, maybe that will motivate me a little!

20 Weeks

At 20 weeks pregnant we are officially halfway there! That feels weird considering I still don't really even look pregnant! I am close to having to switch to maternity pants but not quite there yet. My normal jeans fit fine still...with the addition of a rubber band holding the button closed. Classy, huh? Thankfully I got a big box full of maternity clothes from Christina Jackson and last night at church Mary Hope filled the backseat of my car with some more. Thanks so much to both of them for giving those to me! I hate spending money on clothes and even more so on clothes I will only wear for a few months.

We went to the doctor today and everything looks good. The regular appointments are so quick. I get weighed, they check my blood pressure, sit and wait for the doctor, hear the baby's heartbeat, get measured and that's it. I think the doctor was in there for under a minute becuase the nurse had already answered the couple questions I had.

I have been feeling flutters from the baby for about a week or two. She's starting to move more and a little more powerfully! Kirk was able to feel her move for the first time the other day. She's much more active at night. Although music seems to make her move a lot. I am also starting to have more food cravings. Nothing weird, mostly sweets and everyonce in a while, buffalo chicken wings. I usually just try and wait them out and see if it'll pass. I also cry. A lot. For no reason. Poor Kirk.

We are finally feeling like it's fall here...well I guess by that it means we're finally below 90 degrees. We've even had a few cooler nights (high 40-50's). People here called that cold. That made me laugh a little. 50 degrees is not cold! :o) I really love fall. Pumpkins, hot cocoa, apple cider, pretty leaves, football, Thanksgiving and lots more. And now that it's October...I can say I'm going home next month! :o)

2 things I can't do...

There are two new things I can't do anymore.

1) button my jeans. I'm not really showing yet...no cute little round baby bump. But i know she's growing becuase I can't button my pants anymore. I use a little rubber band in the button hole and around the button, which seems to work just fine. I'll get some maternity cloths eventually, but so far the rubber band is working fine! This is also the reason there are no belly pictures of me yet. right now, I just maybe look like I've gained a little weight and I don't see any reason to post pictures of my stomach until I actually look pregnant!

2) drive for long stretches. We took the youth from church to West Virginia this past weekend for their fall retreat. (by the way - not many things are more beautiful than the WV mountains in the fall!) It was about a 6 hour drive home, the last stretch of driving was about 3 hours and my legs were killing me. I got home and took off my shoes and socks and my ankles and legs were totally swollen! I had cankles! (again - no pictures posted of that - no reason for anyone to see that!) It took a couple hours of having my feet up on pillows for them to go back to normal (thank goodness they did!). We are planning on driving to Chicago for Thanksgiving (about 15 hours or so). I'll be about 6 months pregnant then, so that should be an interesting ride.

I am so excited to go home for Thanksgiving! We get to be there for a week! I already have a list of food I want to eat up there (portillos and egg harbor to name a few) and Kirk has called Umme and given her a list of the food he wants her to cook (pancakes and pasta). Besides the good food, I'm excited for my baby shower, to celebrate Matt and Sarah's wedding, to go see Lion King downtown with Jen and Adrian, celebrate my littlest sister's 21st birthday and to go to FCCC on Sunday morning. Plus Thanksgiving = sweet potatoes which are my FAVORITE!

Baby Girl!

Here's our little girl! Sorry about the bad picture quality. We haven't set up our printer/scanner yet so I had to take a picture of the ultrasound picture with my phone and upload it. This is at 18 weeks. The doctor said everything looks great and that she is growing well. We really wanted to find out if it was a boy or girl, so I drank some coffee and ate candy before the ultrasound to hopefully get the baby to move around some. It definitely worked! She was kicking her legs and moving her arms and squirming everywhere! It was awesome! They got a nice clear shot, so they are pretty positive that it's a girl!

Two to Three

I've tried blogging before and never really felt like I had much to say. But now that we have a baby on the way, I think I'll have more to write about. Since all of our friends and family are spread out around the country, hopefully this will help us stay connected.

To catch everyone up, Kirk and I moved from Chicagoland to Goldsboro, NC at the beginning on July. Kirk is the director of student ministries at a church here in Goldsboro. About 5 days before we moved, we found out that we were pregnant! I am due on February 22nd. We found out last Tuesday that it's a girl! That was a huge surprise because almost everyone had guessed boy.

That's it in a nutshell. You can add us to your blog favorites and check back for updates!