34 Weeks and READY!

As I have bragged to most, I have had a very easy pregnancy.  Nothing has changed other than I sure know how to cook 'em!  This baby girl was estimated a week and a half ago to be about 5lbs 6oz!  Yes, they can be wrong (supposedly only a pound either way), but still, she is in the 89th percentile!  The doctor so reassuringly (and humorously) told us "well someone needs to be in the 89th percentile, and it looks like it is you!"  I would be more than ok if Baby Girl makes her appearance after the next couple of weeks.  She will be for the most part fully cooked at 36 weeks, and just putting on more weight! 

She and my belly are getting bigger and bigger, and with that comes discomfort and pressure.  Without going into the nitty gritty details, she is big, and running out of room...fast!

John and I feel we are all prepped and ready to go.  The first week of October we attended a full weekend of baby classes at Amma Parenting Center.  We had Newborn Care, Breastfeeding and a full day of Preparing for Childbirth.  I think we feel we will make a good team throughout this process!  Nothing came as a shock (phew!) during the classes so that was good!  They gave a lot of great information, resources and offer support before and after labor.

On Sunday, October 13, Kiki and my Aunt Teresa, with the help of Katie and my cousins Tacjana and Krystyna they threw me a wonderful baby shower.  They did a ladybug theme of red and black to match Baby Girl's room.  So many friends and family came and were SO generous!  They asked everyone to bring a favorite book to help start Baby Girl's library- so many fun books!  It was great to see everyone at my house, and show everyone my big growing belly :)  When John came home to all of the wonderful gifts and stories of the afternoon we both felt humbled and thankful that this baby is so loved and we have so many fabulous people in our lives that support us. 

In another attempt to prepare, Kiki and I made freezer meals on Monday!  With the help of Pinterest and our other recent experience with Let's Dish we found recipes, shopped, cooked and froze lots of meals.  We figure it will be much easier to throw something in the crock pot or in the oven pre-made instead of cook when we are in the haze that this baby girl will bring to our lives.  More to come on how the meals actually taste :)

So now that we are educated, will be fed and were showered with gifts for Baby Girl, we had a tour of the birthplace last night!  I will be delivering at Fairview Riverside.  They have a brand new beautiful Amplantz Children's Hospital.  We feel that if for some reason, something goes wrong, we are in the best hands possible.  That, and Kiki works at Riverside so she will make sure we get the best! With that, we feel like we are really ready to bring this baby into the world!

The last couple items on the checklist are:
1. Install the carseat next week (I have rental car through the end of this week as a few weeks ago wonderful person side swiped us on the highway, and kept driving, - yes we are all ok, just the drivers side of my car was damaged)
2.  I need to finish packing my hospital bag.  This has been a little overwhelming because I am an overpacker by trade.  You just never know what you will need!  So I complied a few lists from the trusty internet, consulted with some friends who have recently had babes and I think I am on the right track.  It's not like I will be in a foreign country or can't send John home to get me something, but I also like to be prepared for all situations and not feel scattered! 

Of course there are many things we cannot prepare for, but such as life.  We do not know when she is coming, how she will make her grand appearance, what we will act like with little sleep and having a newborn, and many, many other things!

Now that you are caught up on all of our baby prep...here is the latest bump pic...getting big!

When I get the shower pics from Kiki, I will post all of the fun.  Hope all is well.  xoxo, Andrea

27 Week Update and Nursery

It's been a while since my last post.  We have been busy enjoying what we have left of the summer, getting the house ready and working on the nursery! 

Kiki, Jeff, John and I were able to put together a darling nursery.  We painted the ceiling, put in new flooring, painted the walls, put in a new entry door, new closet doors, new trim, new window, removed sanded, painted and rehung the chair rail and added new baseboards.  

Check out where our little lady will have all of her sweet dreams...

We still have finishing touches to put around the room like more ladybugs, and her name above her crib (we have it all, we are just waiting patiently). Baby Girl does have a name, but we are keeping it a secret until her arrival! 

     

 Kiki re-finished my old rocking horse...and added ribbon as the mane to match Baby Girl's Room!

 This is just Baby Girl's Closet, her drawers and bins are full, too!  Kiki and I have been very busy shopping for her. We have found stellar garage sales, sales at stores and wonderful friends who have been generous with gifts and hand me downs!  No more clothing unless they are absolute needs :)    John banned us from doing any more clothes shopping!  

At 27 weeks, I am getting bigger and bigger each day!  I am still feeling really great, and have been lucky to have such an 'easy' pregnancy.  Again, hoping this continues to the end!  My ankles have been a little swollen, but if I manage to keep off my feet when I get home, it seems to go down.  Also, John is great about housework and dog care...an all around wonderful hubbs!

This little girl is a ninja, loves to kick, punch and I swear do flips! It's so fun to feel her move and even get the hiccups.  At around 2 lbs, she sure can make some belly waves!

 Next Monday I will be going in for the routine glucose test to screen for gestational diabetes, and then have the monthly check in.  I have to drink some sugary syrup, wait an hour, then they take some tests.  I am hoping all goes well.  

Here is the most recent bump pic!

I'll attempt to update more often in the near future...it's just been too nice outside and this momma and baby girl need some relaxation and sun! 

Hope all is well.  

Of course, here are some darling pics of our other babies...

Baby Kalligher is a .....!!

This past Sunday we had some friends and family over not only to see the renovations we have done to the house, but also to reveal Baby Kalligher's gender!

We found out last Monday, and had to try REALLY hard to keep it a secret all week!  Was it hard! We had lots of pink and blue around the house to decorate for the reveal.

I made some cake pops with the reveal color in it, and had everyone eat them at the same time!  I don't have all the pics from the party...so you will have to use your imagination!  But in the end everyone found out Baby Kalligher is a...

That's right, a GIRL!  

I am still feeling really good, and am enjoying finally looking pregnant.  I cannot get enough Mexican food, and red meat (other than taco meat) is still not my favorite.  The last couple weeks, smores pop tarts have really hit the spot along with ice cream as it has been SO warm!

I have been able to feel baby girl move for the past almost 3 weeks, what an AMAZING feeling!  Just a couple days ago John was able to feel her move for the first time. So fun!

We have decided on a name, however we are not sharing until Baby Girl Kalligher is born.  We are excited about the name...and meeting her in December!

We are now planning our nursery projects, and John fixed the ceiling and put down new flooring in the nursery yesterday!  Just new baseboards and some fun paint and we can get the furniture in.  House projects are moving along well, and it is fun to see all our hard work come together. 

Here are the latest bump pics :)

Hope all is well with you, and can't wait to show the nursery when we are done!

17 Weeks and Counting!

I am at 17 weeks and the belly has finally begun to show!  I remained lucky, and have not had any morning sickness.  So far, pregnancy has agreed with me and it has been easy...hopefully this remains the case!  

We are excited to find out what flavor Baby Kalligher is!  We find out mid July and can't wait to share with our friends and family.  Baby Kalligher is already so loved.  We have been busy making lists of what we would like to complete before the baby gets here...and getting started on those lists.  It feels like there are not enough hours in the day to do projects, work and find time to relax!  

Hope all is well, and I will try to get better about less time between belly pics!  xoxo Andrea

And a Baby Makes 3!...

   And a Baby Makes 3!...or 5 depending if you ask the pups!  John and I are excited to announce that we are expecting!  December 5 is the estimated arrival.  If the baby is like me, the arrival will be late.  If the baby is like John, the arrival will be early!

   I am still in the first trimester (almost 2nd!) and have had no morning sickness!  I am so thankful for that.  It has just been hard to decide what to eat as not much sounds good, red meat in particular.  Within the next couple of weeks I will start posting weekly pics of the bump!

So far,  I just look a little chubby, but below is the picture from the first ultrasound at just under 7 weeks.  We have had two appointments, and so far so good.  We did not have an ultrasound at our second appointment yesterday, but still got to hear the heartbeat for the second time.  I don't think that is a sound that will ever get old! 

 
 It is still unreal that in just over 6 months, we will be parents!  The last few years for us has been a wild ride, new jobs, engagement, new house, new cars, house projects, wedding, loss of my dad, vacations, more house projects and now a baby!  We could not be more thankful for the journey and how it has brought us together, but can't wait for the little one to be with us!  Stay tuned!

We are back!!!

We are finally home from our wonderful honeymoon in Florida, and couldn't be happier!
Thank you to all who were a part of our magical wedding day.  John and I were so excited to finally be married, and the ceremony, dinner and reception were far more than we could have ever expected.  We are so thankful for the friends and family who came to support us!  Really, John and I talked endlessly on vacation about how wonderful the day was and how EVERYTHING was perfect!  Kiki had a HUGE part in that...thanks mom!
We were so thankful to have a relaxing and fun vacation...but we missed our puppies!!  Good thing they were well taken care of by sister!
We spent a week on the 'Resort at Little Harbor' in Ruskin, Florida.  It felt as if it was in the middle of nowhere, but if you know John and I, it was perfect!  For the first 6 days we were the youngest on the resort by 15-20 years...again if you know John and I, it was perfect!  We sat in the sun, drank cocktails and ate fabulous deserts and dinners.  We were even able to visit the Robert's in Tampa for a celebratory dinner!
We were to return to Minnesota on Sunday the 20th, but with the snow storm, we attempted to reschedule our flights, but according to the airlines, the flight wasn't cancelled...yet so there was really nothing they could do without charging us.  We flew to Milwaukee...the flight to Minneapolis from Milwaukee was cancelled as we were in flight!  We were able to get a hotel room, and then rent a car and drive home in the morning.  While we were finishing up the paperwork for the car, a couple called in and was also needing to get to Minneapolis.  We decided we would pick them up and let them ride with us.  We get to their hotel to pick them up, and when they walked out John yells, "The Becker's!!"  This meant nothing to me at first, but John grew up playing hockey with their son!  It was a good trip back to Minnesota, and we had good company!

Driving in!

Wonderful Nights!

Manatees in our Harbor!

View from our Balcony

So, now that we are back at home and back to work, we are busy putting away all of the wonderfully generous wedding gifts!  There is still laundry to do, and things to put away, but we are so happy we are so loved and can begin our lives as Husband and Wife!

Sunset from our Balcony!

It's almost time!...5 days!

We are so excited to be married!  We only have a few more days single,  and are more than ready to enter the world of marriage.
John is healing well from the his Christmas Eve emergency surgery to fuse two vertebrae in his neck.  He still has to wear the neck brace for 6 more weeks, but he is fine with that knowing it is helping him heal.  He is able to take off the brace for most of our wedding day!!  He is hoping that he gets the go ahead from the doc to begin to slowly ease off of the brace before we go to Vegas in March.  He has been such a trooper through the whole thing.  There were times that this situation has put our relationship to the test, but we passed!