Kennedy's hiccups...

Last night I was sitting and watching TV and I started to feel the baby moving. I have been trying to get her hiccups on a video for a while now so before I sat down I grabbed the camera. I got it turned on and was able to record about a minute of good hiccup action. After the hiccups she started moving around like crazy, unfortunately every time I had the camera on she stopped so I didn't get the crazy belly spasms on film but man was she active last night...

Enjoy...

Tour of Labor and Delivery...

Last night Tom and I got to take our tour of the Labor and Delivery area. I was really looking forward to it because it means that it is just that much closer to us being able to meet Kennedy. We got there a little before 5:30 and sat and waited. There were about 9 couples with us and some of them brought quite an entourage with them. You would think that most of the people wanting to take this tour would be first time parents who don't have a clue, like us, but there were people that brought their little kids in strollers and their parents and it was a lot of people in a little room!

Besides being frustrated and annoyed by the amount of people there and the screaming little kids, we did get to learn a few things that we wouldn't have known otherwise. We learned where we need to park and enter the hospital depending on what time and day we go into labor. Also, that there is a separate room for Labor and Delivery and then post partum. The rooms all have wireless internet so we will be able to bring our laptop. Tom seems to think it would be a good idea to Skype the birth... not sure if I agree with him on that one! :) Although, it will be nice to be able to email pictures and update the blog from the hospital room.

We also learned the limits on visitors in the rooms during labor and after the birth. We are only allowed 2 people plus the support person during labor and 4 visitors after the birth. It was also nice to know that the baby will have the option to stay with us in the room at all times and doesn't have to go to the nursery. We also have to find a pediatritian soon which I forgot about. All in all, I think it was a good idea to do the tour however, I wish there would have been a smaller group.

Wednesday, we went and picked up the crib and dresser/changing table from Dr. Rummo, the physician I work with at the high school. It is a really nice set, it looks barely used!! He also gave us several other items that we are so excited about. It is really nice that we were able to collect so many hand me downs so that we were not hit with all of those expenses. We have got he dresser in the room and are now just waiting to figure out how to get all of the computer attatchments set up in the spare room to move the desk so that we can set up the crib and get on our way with finishing up the nursery. I can't wait to get it done and share the pictures with everyone. It is going to be a bit crowded so its a good thing that she is going to be itty bitty anyway!

33 Week Belly Picture

This week was really nice being able to spend most of it at home with Tom... Cooking the Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday took a lot more out of me than I thought it would. I really didn't do too much but I guess that I was on my feet in the kitchen a lot throughout the day. Unfortunately, my back pain has come back in full force, except that now it is on my right side instead of my left. Sleeping the last few nights have been very uncomfortable. I only sleep about 20-40 minutes at a time before I need to roll over to the other side. The rolling is almost worse than staying on the hurt side. I usually have to get up and use the bathroom anyway, so yes I am peeing at least 6x/night!! Tell me that's not annoying. I was telling Tom the first night that I can sleep on my back again, I don't think anything will be able to wake me up!

Of course it is not all bad. I have actually felt her moving a lot lately except the moving is feeling a lot different now. I still feel the occasional kick in the side but now it is more rolling and shifting feelings. She has also gotten the hiccups a few times which is really neat to watch and to feel.

Do you like my saggy pants? I have gone up from a Medium to a Large. The Mediums are too tight and the Larges are too big, but I am choosing comfort over fashion right now. I can't breath well as it is, tight pants don't help!

The belly button is still hanging in there and my line is gradually getting a little darker. I can tell that I am still growing because the skin on my lower sides is feeling really tingly and sensitive to even the touch of my clothes.

My weekly e-mail says that she is now 19.4 in. long and weighs about 4.4 lb. She should be gaining about .5 lb per week now. I really can't believe that we are getting so close to the delivery. It is so exciting yet so scary at the same time. We are looking forward to our tour of the Labor and Delivery area this Thursday!

Where's Shirley?

We should write a children's book with the "Where's Waldo" theme and name it Where's Shirley? She loves to cuddle up under her blankies.


Her favorite is this brown, soft blankie... Her only problem is that this is Riley's favorite too and Riley likes to play the part of the annoying little sister and steal it off of Shirley and try and play with it. Riley also likes to steal it when Tom or I am covered up in it.

Getting in the Christmas Spirit

Friday, after laying around most of the morning, Tom and I decided that we would go ahead and get our decorations up so we could enjoy them for that much longer... It's not often that we are both home at the same time for several days in a row so we took advantage of it!!


We were the first on our block to get them up. It only took Tom a little less than an hour to get this done. I think it looks great and it inspired a couple of our neighboors to get their lights up too!!! All we need now is some cooler temperatures... Tom was doing this in his pants and a t-shirt!

Our mantle with a warming fire and our lit Christmas Tree... It is so cozy in the house now. I wish it could be Christmas all year round!

My collection of snow globes has taken over most of the living room. They are going to have to start spilling into other rooms next year, I think.

Happy, Day After, Thanksgiving!!!

This is the first Thanksgiving that Tom and I have spent just the two of us. At first it was a little sad that we couldn't be with our family but we soon found out that it was going to be a really good day. We got up and I cooked some breakfast, I made pull apart cinnamon bread, and then when it started we watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.







While we were watching the parade I was also preparing a couple of casseroles for dinner and working on crocheting a blanket.

Shirley is quite the cuddle girl!!

The "Pop Rock" Puppies...


Tom's mom likes to give pop rocks to babies when they get a little older and laughs when they pop in their mouths. Tom decided it might be funny to give some to the dogs and see what they do with them. Well, they were so excited that they were getting a treat the popping didn't bother them much and I really don't even think they started popping until they got in their belly. You can hear a little popping if you listen closely. All in all, it wasn't that funny after all but the dogs liked the sugary treat :)

Our Thanksgiving Feast for Two...I made a turkey breast, stuffing, mashed potatoes, corn casserole, broccoli casserole and biscuits. We also had a homemade apple pie and homemade ice cream for dessert. We ate about 5 o'clock and spent the rest of the night by the fireplace watching TV. We are so thankful that we are able to spend so much time together this long weekend and most of all that we are going to be welcoming our little baby girl into this world in about 7 weeks. She is going to be sooo worth staying home for the holidays this year!

The puppies got a plate of Thanksgiving Dinner after we were done eating and then they were pooped out...

We are going to attempt to get some decorating done for Christmas today but we are still both tired from yesterday. We will see what gets done!

I tried to get motivation for nesting today :)

I have been thinking a lot lately about how close we are getting to my due date and how NOT ready we are for her to be here yet. The house is definately still set up for a couple with dogs; not a couple with dogs and a baby! We have so much work to do and it seems when you look at the calendar that days are just slipping away from us now. We still have to move all of the office furniture into the spare room, get the baby furniture, put it together and decorate the room. We also have to figure out everything we still need to buy. There are a few necessities we need to purchase and some things that would just be nice to have.

I was supposed to meet my friend Ashley this weekend in Paducah to have a nice relaxing, pampered weekend out of town; that wasn't really that far out of town. But, things changed and we weren't able to meet up. She is going to be coming down here to Nashville in about 2 weeks so that we can hang out while Tom is at his Reserves weekend in Birmingham... I decided to use this day as a catch up day for rest and also to try to get some of the motivation for that "nesting instinct" that pregnant women are supposed to have. I suppose I have the nesting feelings but no desire to actually accomplish them right now. What I did today I consider a huge feat! I opened all the bedding and blankets and everything we have gotten so far including the clothes and spent the day doing laundry and folding. I wanted to make sure that everything was clean and washed in the baby Dreft soap that is supposed to be good for their skin. Other than that I just layed around watching my DVR'd shows. I don't even have the energy to cook so I just ordered my first pizza online. I hope it gets delivered correctly because I am not so sure I trust my technology skills!!!

Tomorrow I plan on getting up and making my way back to church. We haven't been in a long time because the air circulation is so bad in our church that the last 2 times we went I almost passed out. I guess the rest of the weekend I will get the house cleaned up and work on the adult laundry that needs to be done. At least I will be able to eat left over pizza for my next couple of meals!!!

31 Week Belly Pictures!!!

She's getting big now. I can't believe there is still 9 wks left to grow!

The pregnancy week by week says that she is now 18 inches from head to toe and weighs about 3.5 lbs. She still does a lot of shifting but instead of just feeling her on the right side now I am feeling her on the left as well. I think that she is starting to get cramped in there because I don't feel as many movements as I have in the past few weeks.

The front view!!! My belly button is barely hanging in there and I am starting to notice a very faint line down the middle. Still no stretch marks and I have just broke the 20 lb mark on weight gain according to the scale at the vets office today! Sleeping is getting a lot harder. I think my mommy senses are really kicking in because I have become the lightest sleeper. Everything seems to wake me up and every time I wake up I have to use the bathroom so I am peeing about 4-6 times per night. It's also getting harder to bend over and put my socks and shoes on and to get up off the floor. Turning from sided to side in the middle of the night has also become and enormous feat but it will all be worth it soon!

The puppy cousins!

Mazie, Shirley and Riley had such a good time playing with each other all weekend. They were such good girls. Riley especially liked Mazie being here because Mazie still likes to play like a puppy. She can hang for a little while but she is defiantly starting to show her age. Alan sent us a picture message on the way home last night and she was out. The poor puppy will probably have to sleep for 3 days to recover but I know she had fun at Aunt Amanda's!

Alan and Cate visit Nashville

Alan and Cate decided to come down and visit us this weekend which was unexpected but fantastic news! They got into town about 12:30am Saturday and we headed to bed. In the morning we got up and I cooked some bacon and eggs and then Alan played Mr. Fixit around the house.


First he fixed our stereo which hasn't worked for about a month and a half. Shirley and Riley loved helping him out. It turns out after he took the thing apart that randomly somehow the knob that switches the speakers on and off was turned off and all he had to do was click it back on to speakers on. That made us feel kind of dumb but at least its fixed. He also fixed our scanner and our Microsoft Office. He is very electronically inclined as Tom and I are obviously not! Thanks Alan!!

For lunch we headed into Nashville which ended up being quite the adventure. We wanted to take them to Monell's which is a meat and three traditional Nashville place but they don't serve lunch on Saturdays. We then decided to go to the Loveless Cafe which is also a Nashville landmark but they had an hour and a half wait. We also tried a burger place which I messed up the directions and then to the Tin Angel which also wasn't open for lunch! By this time the pregnant lady was getting really hungry and cranky! We finally gave up and went downtown to eat at a BBQ place. We sat right down and the waiter took our order and an hour and 15 min later we ate. Horrible service!!!!! He even admitted that he forgot to turn our ticket in and didn't do anything to make it better like take some of the money off the bill!!! Not going back there anytime soon!!!

After lunch we took some time to walk around downtown and went to a couple of the bars to listen to some music. They are smoke free now so I was able to tolerate them just fine. We walked up on the pedestrian bridge to see the view and that was a challenge for me. I thought I wasn't going to make it up all the stairs and then the walk to the lookout!! Holy Cow I am getting big and out of shape! It was a really pretty day, a little over 70 degrees. They couldn't have picked a better weekend to come down.

We got home about 5 o'clock and it felt like midnight to me but we decided to start a fire in the back and just hang out. We had a late dinner and then went inside to watch a movie. Cate barely made it through the opening credits before she fell asleep and I made it about 10 min in. The boys woke us up when it was over, about 10:30 and we headed off to bed.

Sunday morning I got up and made everyone breakfast again... Biscuits and Gravy, Scrambled Eggs and Hash browns... Yummy however, by the time I was done cooking it I got really hot and didn't feel good so I didn't get to eat any of it... I had it this morning for breakfast though and it was really good! We layed around the house all morning and then they headed out for home about 12:30. It was so nice to have them here and especially to get to know Cate a little better. They say they are coming back after the baby is born so we will see. I hope they do!!!!