37 weeks along, only 3 more weeks to go!

I was 37 weeks along yesterday (1/25/11) and only 3 more weeks to go until D-DAY! ("due date"). We're very excited and can't believe the past 9 months have flown by so fast! We can't wait to meet our little son!

I had my 37 week appointment yesterday and everything's good!

1. My blood pressure is normal; which it has been my entire pregnancy.

2. Baby John is in the correct position for birth, head down!

3. I'll get checked next week, just to see if things are progressing like they should.

4. Baby John has dropped! which puts pressure on my bladder and pelvis, yay!

5. I have maintained my weight for last week, so NO WEIGHT GAIN! yay!

6. My tummy is still measuring within my date range; although it's on the big side, which means.....

John is going to be a big boy!

Our estimate is that John will be at least 8 lbs. My guess is probably 8 1/2 pounds, but I don't think he'll be any bigger than 9 lbs. I know that sounds really big, haha! But Brian was on the big side when he was born, almost 9 lbs and I was on the average side of 7 1/2 lbs. But we'll see how right we are! We do think it will be funny if John only comes out being 7 lbs or so, since my belly is so big. But anything's possible!

I am now at the very uncomfortable stage in my pregnancy, and I mean VERY UNCOMFORTABLE! I wake up, seriously, like twice an hour. And not just to pee...it's to pee, to switch the side that I'm sleeping on, baby John moving and kicking me, or just being swore. It's awful, but VERY WORTH IT...well worth it once I get to hold him! Right now, it just sucks. I just keep telling myself... "only 3 weeks, only 3 weeks." But I hope that they go by fast! I'm ready to meet my son! 

The house is almost clean, only one room left (not counting the garage...haha!) and finishing his nursery. I'm hoping to finish that room today and finish up his nursery. I'm also hoping to finish packing the hospital bags and get my hospital binder ready to go. Then I can spend the next 2 1/2 weeks just relaxing and waiting for him to arrive!

Couple's Baby Shower!

We had our couple's baby shower the beginning of this month. Pretty much everyone we invited came, which was made me happy! It was great to see our friends that we don't get to see very often. We now have everything we need for baby John, all the necessities; which I'm very happy about. The only things left to worry about are...

(1) hanging the wall shelves for his train set and GA Power cars

(2) hang the netting for his stuffed animals

(3) pack the hospital bags

(4) cleaning our house

Only four things left to do, which isn't bad. But I feel that all of those should have been done already, but I guess I'll just get over it and finish them up this week... since I'll be 37 weeks - only 3 weeks left!

 Brian and I

Gift time!

 Our precious little beagles!

Julie, Kristi, me and Natalie!

 Uncle Stephen, me and Aunt Claire!

 Our cake!!

New Years Resolutions!

It's that time of year again... NEW YEARS RESOLUTION TIME!!!

I don't normally have new year resolutions because I can't ever seem to stick to them... but I am determined this time! So I'm going to make a list and stick to it! I have five BIG RESOLUTIONS OR GOALS and then just other goals I have for the year.

(1) Eat healthy foods

I know everyone says this, but I mean it! I am going to more (if not ALL) fresh foods. No more processed foods, frozen foods, junk foods, and so on. Cleanse my body or harmful chemical and give me more energy. My goal is to eat MORE or ONLY...

(a) Fresh fruits and Veggies - no explanation needed

(b) Lean Proteins/Meats - such as turkey, chicken, fish, and LEAN beef. No more pork.

(c) Whole Grains - wheat bread, brown rice, etc...

(d) 5 Liters of Water Daily - keep my kidneys in good shape and my body hydrated

(2) Cook dinner 3 to 4 nights a week

(a) I would like to start cooking more - I have all these cookbooks and a recipe box FULL of recipes and I continuously find interesting and good look recipes... it's time to make them! So my goal is to make/cook dinner at least 3 days a week, but I'm going to aim for 4 days a week. That leaves 3 or 4 days for leftovers.

(b) Cook or try a new recipe each week - Once we find a recipe we like, we tend to stick with that recipe. My goal for this year is to try new recipes of things we haven't eaten before along with trying different forms/recipes or the same recipes we already like.

(c) To blog about my new recipe adventures - tell about the recipes we tried and how they turned out. Who knows... maybe someone will want to try the recipe we tried.

(3) Lose Weight

(a) Join Weight Watchers - Once John is born I am going to join Weight Watchers; I'm planning on going to meetings each week and keep track of everything online.

(b) Healthy Weight - I want to be a healthy weight for my height, according the research I have done.. for my height of 5'4 1/2'' (yes, the half inch matters..to me); the suggest weight is 117 - 146. That is a BIG weight range, so my goal is to be in the middle of that range. I think a solid 130 pounds would be the best. So that's my weight goal: 130 lbs.

(c) Exercise Daily - A BIG aspect that will help in my weight loss is EXERCISE! My goal is to have some from of exercise, NOT JUST activity for at least 1 hour to 2 hours a day. This will help me lose weight and tone up my body and muscles. 

(4) Blog more

My goal will be to blog about twice to three times a week.

(a) One post a week about the new recipes we tried; with pictures

(b) One post or more a week about the pregnancy and our son; with pictures of course.

(c) One post a week about how my weight loss and weight watchers adventure is going.

(5) Train for a 5K, 10K, Half-Marathon, and Full-Marathon

I want to take this entire year to train for a Full-Marathon to complete sometime in 2012. I have done a lot of research on marathons and I have found that one should train for at least a year before even attempting a Full-Marathon, so that's what I'm going to do. 

(a) 5K - I will first start with training for a 5K, which is 3.1 miles. My goal is complete at least three 5K by the end of this year. At www.georgiarunner.com has a list of all the year's 5K, 10K, half and full marathons throughout the year. I am hoping to complete my first 5K by April 2011. It takes a couple of months to train for a 5K; especially since I haven't been running since April of last year. So it will probably take me a couple months to get back into the swing of things. 

(b) 10K - which is 6.2 miles. Training for 5Ks and completing 5Ks will help me train for 10Ks. I plan to complete at least two 10ks by the end of this year. At least complete my first 10K by August 2011.

(c) Half Marathon - Training and completing 5ks and 10Ks will help me train for a half marathon, which is 13.1 miles. I hope to complete my first half marathon by the end of the year. My goal is to run the Athens Half Marathon in October.. we'll see how training goes.

(d) Full Marathon - Training for a full marathon, which is 26.2 miles, will take me a year to a year and a half. I am hoping to complete my first full marathon by the summer of 2012. 

Those are my top 5 BIG GOALS for the year, the following are still goals - just not as big.

1. Stick to a written monthly budget

2. Save for retirement

3. Become debt free, minus our mortgage

4. Get "dressed" everyday or at least look presentable. - (I normally just wear lounge wear, no makeup and have my hair up... we'll see how well this goal works once the baby comes, haha!)

5. Have or attempt to have a date night with my husband at least once, if not twice a month.

6. Stay on top of my housework and keeping the house clean.

7. Create a cleaning spreadsheet of things to do daily, weekly, monthly, and bi-annually. 

8. Grow my hair back out... and NOT CUT IT SHORT AGAIN!

9. Learn how to scrapbook - (Even though I'm not very creative or artistic... but I can at least try.)

10. Take more pictures and videos - (Especially since John will be born in a month. I would like memories to look back on when I'm old and wrinkly...haha!)

11. Cut back on the amount of TV I watch. - (I watch a lot of time, but normally I DVR most everything and watch it all at once. I have a lot of shows I like to watch. So we'll see how this one goes. But I know that once John gets here and I work on all these other goals I won't have time for TV.)

12. Give Lily and Fred a bath MONTHLY!

If I can think of anymore things, then I will continue to add to the list. Hopefully I can accomplish everything by December 31, 2011... so wish me luck and here it goes!

34 weeks and finally up to date!

I was 34 weeks on Tuesday. And honestly I don't think I could possibly get any bigger, but I know it's going to happen with 6 weeks left til my due date! I can't believe it's only 6 weeks away, but I'M DEFINITELY READY FOR JOHN TO COME! I'm not a very patient person, so having to wait 9 months for him to come has been hard! We both are ready to met our son! So just a few more weeks!! I am ready to NOT be pregnant anymore which I think I've mentioned in an earlier post). Other than hearing his heartbeat, be able to feel him move, and seeing him on an ultrasound... the rest ain't so fun! hahaha, but the outcome is totally worth it! I just hope these next 6 weeks go by fast!! :0) The closer it gets, the more impatient I become! So here are some 34 week belly pictures!

 I look big, and trust me, I FEEL BIG! haha! It is getting harder to sleep every night and to get comfortable and stay comfortable. I literally have to pee like 3 times an hour, especially at night, which is a little annoying.. okay a lot annoying! But it will be over soon, I just wish baby John could find another organ to lay on besides one that makes me pee, because I know there are more organs than just my bladder! haha! 

I now have been blessed with the lovely symptom of swollen feet, ankles, calves and hands. YAY! (sarcasm for those who couldn't tell!) Brian and I did a lot of work in the front and back yards last weekend, since it was like 65 degrees. Let's just say I didn't listen to my husband and didn't take any break. We worked non-stop all day. That evening after coming home from dinner with my in-laws... my feet and ankles BLEW UP LIKE BALLOONS! Also my calves we very swollen... to the point I could feel my skin stretching and pulling - which is not a very comfortable feeling! I know that you're feet and ankles swell, but I ready didn't know that you're calves would or would that bad and the pain was really bothering me. So I called the on-call doctor at the practice I go to and he told me NOT TO DO ANYTHING the rest of the weekend, it was Friday night when I called - there's still Saturday and Sunday to go! He told me to drink loads of water and rest. So I did... however my husband heard the word "BED REST FOR THE WEEKEND" even though that's not what the doctor told me, the doctor just said rest. So for the following two days I STAYED IN BED ALL DAY DOING NOTHING AND LAYING THERE! (if you know me, you know I have to stay busy and be moving. I DO NOT like being stationary. However, every time I did get up, unless it was to the bathroom, my husband yelled at me to get back in bed and put my feet up! So I was waited on all weekend :0) which was very nice, but at the same time.. I am a big girl and can do things myself. But I have such a wonderful husband :0) After my weekend of rest and putting my feet, I am perfectly fine now! 

Which is a good thing... seeing as how we have our couple's baby shower this Saturday and I needed to finish cleaning our house, because it's being held here. So I'm happy my legs are fine and I'm back to normal! I have been a little stressed out this week about making sure our house is clean and stuff, which isn't that big of a deal.

3D Ultrasound, Christmas & 32 weeks!

3D Ultrasound

On December 4th we went and had a 3D ultrasound done to see if we could see (or at least get an idea on what our son will look like). And John Cayden DID NOT cooperate!! However, we were able to get a couple of good pictures, and by that I mean like 4 good pictures. It was fun seeing our son on the 3D ultrasound, however we do not feel it was worth the money we paid. The session was very short and we did not get the amount of pictures we paid for. Also the staff and service was alright. They kept repeating that it wasn't their fault our baby didn't cooperate, and by repeating.. I mean EVERY 3 MINUTES! I'm sitting there thinking, I KNOW IT'S NOT YOUR FAULT! STOP SAYING THAT! That just ruined the experience of watching our son on the screen... having to listen to the ultrasound lady continuously stating the same thing over and over again. We were offered to come back a week later for another ultrasound, however we would have to PAY FOR ANOTHER SET OF PICTURES. Mind you, we did NOT get the minimum amount of pictures our package PROMISED us. We were supposed to get a MINIMUM OF 30 PICTURES, we ended up with LESS than 20, I DO NOT count the picture of the measurement screen as a picture. Needless to say, we did not return. We will wait until John is born to see his sweet face. We went to Window to the Womb (or something like that) in Cumming, GA. I would NOT recommend them to anyone; it's not a very good experience. Also, the quality of the 2-D ultrasound was horrible. The doctor's office 2-D ultrasound (from when we found out the sex) was SO MUCH BETTER than this place!

These are the BEST two pictures we have, the top one is of baby John's face, little hands and cute nose! The second picture is baby John yawning! :0)

Christmas

My mom got a new puppy Christmas! Another Bernese Mountain Dog! We named her Maggie! She's so cute!!! Below are pictures of her! She LOVES to play and bite, haha! But my mom is working on breaking the habit of biting!

 She's so cute! She weighs about 22 pounds now, so I can still pick her up. But she'll need up being 90 pounds or so, so it won't be long before I can't pick her up anymore! haha!

For Christmas we also got plenty of things for baby John! My mom bought us the Travel System - stroller & car seat! She also got us the Pack N Play! So baby John is getting everything he needs! Brian got the Flip camera/recorder from his grandparents so we can videotape all the cute things John does! And everyone else got us money or gift cards so we can get all the things we need! We're so thankful to have such a wonderful family!

I would put up pictures from Christmas Eve, but they are less than flattering. So I'm not going to. But I will put up 32 week belly pictures! He's definitely getting bigger every week and every week gets closer and closer to his arrival!!

November Baby Shower & 27 weeks!

In November I had a family & family friends baby shower, hosted by Catherine Myrick. It was a lot of fun!! We got so much stuff off our registry and that baby John needed! So I am VERY THANKFUL! Above are pictures from the baby shower! John got an Alphabet picture for his room from Brian's grandmother, a gym play mat, bouncer, activity motion jumper, and highchair from Brian's other grandmother! And he got so much more... but I'm obviously not going to list everything. We're very thankful for all that we've been given for our first child! It has helped out a lot!

Here are a few 27 weeks belly pictures! (the week of my November baby shower) He's getting bigger, but he's definitely bigger now since it's January and these pictures were taken in November. It seems that this pregnancy is going by very fast...and I'm VERY HAPPY about that. I can't wait to meet baby John & and for him to be here! And to have my body back... hahaha!