Week 34

We're 8 1/2 months along the way and the end is getting near!! :)  This past week has been great but this coming week is what I'm super excited about!  We are set to close Friday at 1 PM so our fingers are crossed very tight that will happen for us.  There's still a few things they need to fix but Andy's staying on top of everyone to try to make it happen!  As promised, here's a few pics of the new casa :)  Please excuse the dirty floors... the painters had been in and tracked in a ton of dust!

 So excited about finally having a green kitchen :)

 Other side of the kitchen where the table will go

 Living room, fireplace goes thru the wall to the kitchen on the other side, and deck off the back

 Formal dining room

 Harper's sweet little pink room!

 The other side of her room :)

 One of the extra bedrooms

 Living room again

 Entertaining area of the basement

 Our bedroom

 From the front

 Had to take a picture of Harper in her room :)

I left out all the bathrooms and the other bedrooms... not much exciting going on in those yet.  Maybe I'll take more pictures once our furniture is in and it's all decorated.  It's going to be a work in progress for quite a while though!  We've got so much more space in this house and not nearly enough furniture so we will just add as we go :)  There are so many things I'm excited about for this house!  There are a ton of silly little things such as: 2 trashcans in the pull out cabinets, front loading washer dryer!, a garage!!!!!!, an ice maker in the fridge.  What I'm really excited about though is how much space we'll now have so we can entertain as much as we'd like!! I can't promise you a real bed if you come visit me (yet) but I will gladly pull out our air mattress so we can have as many people stay with us as would like!  I have to brag on the Andrew - he's done so, so much getting this ready for us and I'm so proud of how hard he works to provide for our little family!! He's the best :)

As if moving into our big grown up house this weekend wasn't enough excitement, we also have two baby showers!  On Saturday it's a joint shower hosted by Aunt Mary, Aunt Sherriann and cousin Isabel with the Hamilton ladies for my cousin, Liz and myself.  I'm looking forward to visiting with so much family at the farm!  And then on Sunday we've got another hosted by one of our sweet friends, Becky and my Aunt Carol Ann.  I can't wait for both of them!  Currently, the things I have for Harper consist of a crib, dresser, glider, toybox, a bunch of cute outfits, and a clothes hamper.  Lol.  I did also order all the fabric for her bedding, curtains and some pillows.  I am looking forward to going out and getting normal baby things like diapers, bottles, pacis, etc. :)  It will calm my little soul to be more prepared for her! 

I have felt a wave of motivation this week to get crap done! haha.  I finally finished our wedding scrapbook because I told myself if I don't do it before Harper gets here, it will literally never get done.  This is really pathetic because Olivia made me the scrapbook and all I had to do were print and glue in the pictures.  So, thanks to Olivia because without her doing 98% of the work, I would definitely not have such a sweet scrapbook!  I've also been trying to get school stuff in order and got great news about that this week! They are going to let me take one of my finals in June... the one that was originally supposed to be on July 13th.  I have another on July 9 and July 12.  I don't think it will be any problem getting the July 12th exam moved which means Harper is now going to be allowed to come as early as 5PM on July 9th!!! haha. I can hope, at least :)

When I went to check the mail today, I was saddened by another Victoria's Secret catalog filled with cute bathing suits.  I've definitely saved some money this summer by not purchasing any cute swimsuits but I am pretty freaking jealous of those who are enjoying being little pool rats!  I am also especially envious of all those people getting married this summer and posting all their fabulous honeymoon pictures online!!!  I am dying to go to the beach and am wondering how young is too young?  Since we have to go to Atlanta for me to take a test in the beginning of September, I am hoping to talk Andy into driving just a few more hours and making a little beach trip out of it.  She'll be about 7 weeks old then... too young??  I figure she could sleep on the beach as well as she can sleep at her house ;)  We will see.  It's kind of sad when all the kids in your family get older and schedules get so different cause it cramps the fun summer vacay schedules!  Last summer it was our wedding, this summer we had David and Carries plus Harper's arrival... so fingers are crossed that somehow between all our crazy med school/residency/soccer schedules we'll get to do another big family vacay next summer :) (Is it also weird that I just realized I still refer to myself as one of the kids - I'm going to be a MOM soon! haha... I'm a kid at heart though :))

I'm afraid my expectations might be a little too high for how quickly I am going to spring back into my normal self after delivery.  We are going to borrow the Insanity workout dvds from a friend and hopefully do those together.  I'm also anxious to see exactly what this sleep deprivation is like... I'm sure all you current moms are cackling at me right now.  I'll have to write another post after a few weeks of sleepless nights and we can all laugh at my current naivety. :) 

Well we are headed off for a little walk... here's a weekly update! :)

How far along: 34

Total Weight Gain: 24

Stretchmarks:  Nope... but my skin is looking kind of translucent?? :(

Sleep: awesome

Best Moment This Week: starting to get my life a little more organized before this move :)

Movement: all the time!

Gender: Baby girl!!

Labor Signs: some braxton hicks occasionally 

Belly Button: innie :)

What I Miss: bending over without feeling like I'm squishing something

What I am Looking Forward to:  Moving and baby showers!! :)

Milestones: If she were born now she would more than likely be fine after a short stay in the NICU... but I would prefer to just stay tight for about 6 more weeks :)

Week 33

Baby Harper is due to arrive in less than 50 days!! :) 49 to be exact and we could not be getting more excited around here! We just got home from Baptism class this evening.  We met with one of the deacons and a few other couples and talked about the importance/meaning of baptism and the actual logistics of the big day.  Our church does baptisms on the first and third sunday of the month so we're thinking the third weekend of August... pencil it in the calendar! :)  The deacon let us know that our church now gives parents the option of dunking the entire baby in the water or just pouring some on the head... lol I'm sure dunking will lead to lots and lots of unhappy babies!  Although Andy reassures me that new babies instinctively hold their breath if submerged (which is why he can't be left alone in the pool with harper this summer ;))

I'm definitely getting bigger each day and am getting many comments to prove it.  It's amazing how being pregnant gives people the freedom to comment on your size.  The other med student I'm with told me the other day just how much bigger I've gotten since we started working together 3 weeks ago.... lol.  It doesn't hurt my feelings but it has definitely made me much more aware of how there's really no right thing to say to a pregnant person.  If someone comments on me being small I get paranoid that she's not growing well and go home and measure my belly.  If someone tells me how much bigger I'm getting I am forced to feed my feelings with a blizzard that night. haha jk... kind of ;)  Today I was sitting with two other students and our attending and was feeling particularly uncomfortable.  I really needed to use the bathroom and when my bladder gets full it forces her up in my ribs even more.  I must've been fidgeting around because the attending interrupts another student to ask me if I'm comfortable... lol  ummm... what do you say to that?? I told him I guess I'm as comfortable as one can get when 8 months pregnant ;) 

On the homefront, we are getting super excited for our big move in 9 days!! We officially have our closing scheduled for next Friday at 1 PM and hope the inspection/walk throughs go well before then.  Andy and I are planning to walk through Monday so I promise to finally upload some pictures next week of the (hopefully) finished project!  I finally ordered some fabric swatches for bedding as I decided to take up Mom's offer of making it for us.  The bedding I originally found is still back ordered and it's making me too antsy to wait... plus, I think our fabric will be so sweet in her room!  Here's a pic of the swatches I ordered - I'm leaning towards the paisley on the inside and the green dots on the outside of the bumper.  Trying to decide what else I'm going to ask Mom to make so I can go ahead and get this stuff ordered!

Harper's getting super spoiled by her Aunt Paige! Paige is a bow making machine and is starting a fabulous collection for this little girl :)  I have realized that bows for babies are similar to shoes for adults - sometimes you find an awesome pair of shoes that you have to have and then realize you have nothing to match... so of course you have to go find an outfit to go with the shoes!  Harper and I are going to have to do some work to find some stylish outfits for all her new bow choices.  Fortunately for us, Andrew is going out of town this weekend so we may go ahead and get started ;)  Here's one of the cute booties Paigey made and some bows!

I started making my hospital list and have been reading things to remember for the trip and one thing was a page from her baby book for her footprints... which made me realize I needed to find a baby book!  I started googling and ended up on Etsy and found the cutest things - monogrammed baby books!! Kind of ridiculous, I know, but super sweet nonetheless.  I'm not sure I'm down to spend 100 on a baby book but am thinking I could buy a regular old baby book and just use Mom's sewing machine to monogram a piece of fabric and fancy up my little plain one! 

I'm winding down the hardest part of this rotation and could not be happier to see it go.  I really dislike rounding on patients for 4 hours every morning and after June 9th, I don't think I should be working any weekends between then and next July! I'm unfortunately working both days this weekend and Memorial day as well :( We were supposed to go visit Andy's parents in IN but he's going to go on up without me so Harper and I will be having a girls weekend :)  Hoping I'm not at the hospital all day and I can get some school stuff done that's been hanging over my head... or go sit at someones pool when it's 90 degrees this weekend!  I love love love hot summer weather typically but pregnancy has definitely made heat a tid bit more uncomfortable!

Our doctors appt went great this week - she's head down and measured perfectly.  Looking forward to starting weekly appointments soon!  The resident told me if the baby feels to be about the size of a loaf of bread that's typically 6.5-7lbs... ummmmm... she already feels like a loaf of bread to me!!! haha, hopefully I'm wrong about that but we shall see soon!

Here's our update :)

How far along: 33

Total Weight Gain: 22.5

Stretchmarks:  Nope

Sleep: still pretty great

Best Moment This Week: just hanging out with my boo :) it's crazy to think that it's not going to be just the two of us for much longer

Movement: all the time!

Gender: Baby girl!!

Labor Signs: some braxton hicks occasionally 

Belly Button: innie :)

What I Miss: bending over without feeling like I'm squishing something

What I am Looking Forward to:  moving!!!!

Milestones: size of a canteloupe!

Week 32

The 8th month has arrived!! We were walking last night and realized we only have 8 more weeks until our due date... and only 5 weeks until she's a full term little baby!  I'm still in disbelief that it will be here so soon.

We had good news around here this week - Andy found out he passed his CFP exam! :)  It was a year long process - he had to take 6 exams plus a two-day cumulative exam back in February.  He did it in a shorter period of time so that he wouldn't be studying when the next test date came around in July so he was super relieved to have passed it and not have to worry about it when we have so much on our plates right now.

We had the best weekend celebrating David and Carrie's wedding!  Everything was absolutely beautiful - they did such a good job with all the details!  It ended up drizzling a little bit but it held off until everyone was in the main tent for dinner so it probably kept more people on the dancefloor :)  It was quite the party, complete with a dance off!! We hope they are having a relaxing, amazing honeymoon in Italy now  - can't wait to hear all about their trip!!!  Here's a few pics from the wedding day -

 Me, Davo and Olivia

 Andy and Me

 David and Carrie during their first look

 I love this picture olivia took! this is how I feel every morning when I look down and see that somehow my belly expanded overnight :)

I started making my hospital packing list today while I was bored at school.  I figure since I have nothing actually set up for baby girl, I can make lists instead ;)  This is probably the most unprepared I have ever been for anything in my life but am hoping that as soon as we get moved into our new house I'll be able to get nice and organized.   16 more days until we officially close and everything in the house seems to be moving along perfectly!  We go over there at least 3-4 times/week to see the progress and it's amazing how quickly they get things done.  The countertops went in this week and look great - they've also stained the floors but not put the final coat on.  Harper's room did get painted last week and it's definitely a little more pink that I was expecting but that's okay :)  It'll be sweet with her dark furniture.  Our glider came in this week as well and is just hanging out at the store until we get moved!

I'm still feeling pretty great - Andy says I've been making a lot of weird noises lately but it's because there's this giant basketball shaped thing that seriously gets in the way when I'm trying to bend over/roll over, etc.  I joke that rolling over is now a three point turn for me.  First I roll my legs over, then my arms/shoulders, then the belly comes rolling along behind, usually accompanied by some awkward grunt. lol 

We've got another busy weekend ahead of us! Hoping to see "What to expect when you're expecting" this weekend - Olivia and one of her friends have been promising they are going to take me so I'll either go with them or with Andy friday night.  Saturday Olivia has a soccer tournament in Lex so we'll watch her first game, then ride to etown to see her dance recital, then ride back to Lex with them - we'll probably miss the second game as we're going to a fundraiser for the lexington opera!  It has a silent auction so I'm prepared to do some damage... not sure if Andy is aware of my affinity for auctions so he may be in trouble.  I was seriously exhausted after the wedding festivities this past weekend so I am hoping we will get one weekend to hang out and catch up on this little momma's sleep before Harper arrives to snatch away all hopes of a full nights sleep ;)

Here's our update for the week!

How far along: 32

Total Weight Gain: 21

Stretchmarks:  Nope

Sleep: Great

Best Moment This Week: watching my big bro get married!! :) and getting to visit with so much family!

Movement: all the time - she is busy in there - cutest thing this weekend... my cousin Annabelle felt her kicking and thought it was so neat!... so neat in fact that "she can't wait to have a baby" ;)

Gender: Baby girl!!

Labor Signs: some braxton hicks occasionally 

Belly Button: innie :)

What I Miss: I'm looking forward to a subway turkey sandwich

What I am Looking Forward to:  Olivia's soccer and dance, the fundraiser and doctors appt on monday!!

Milestones: apparently she's almost 4 lbs! ohmygosh!

Week 31

It's a big week for the Reynolds/Hamilton family! Harper turns 31 weeks old :) I turn 25 years old today! and Carrie will be officially becoming part of our family in just 3 days!!

I have to start this post with an addendum to last weeks post, due to my baby daddy requesting some explanation for his tshirt at the race :)  I know it's mostly family that reads this but for those of you that don't know my family well we are just about the most competitive people ever.  That competitive streak even carries over to our love for each other!  Whenever Olivia was little we'd always ask her who she loved the most and then have her rank every member of our family.  It was a way for her to basically say who had been nice to her and who had crossed her most recently.  She typically would just include our immediate family but on the off chance you had really hacked her off, she'd list grandparents, friends, etc. before she'd finally put your name on the list.  This isn't limited to kids in our own family either - I remember one time we had my cousin Ali over and asked her to rank who she loved the most... fortunately she was smart enough to put an end to that game with "everyone" but we still enjoy competing to be loved the most :)  Dad and Olivia love to call me and put me on speaker phone and ask who I love the most.. I always answer "you" and they can figure out who I really meant it towards ;)  So Andy was not being a jerk with his shirt but fitting in perfectly with our little competitive family :)

Harper is moving so, so much these past few days.  I felt like over the weekend she was abnormally calm but she has made up for it lately!  I told Andy my stomach reminds me of gelatin on cartoons when it bounces around everytime she moves.  She continues to get bigger and bigger! I've had 6 or 7 patients ask me if I'm pregnant now which is fun :) They all love to talk about whether it's a boy or girl, names etc.  One thing that I hadn't expected people to ask is whether or not I'm craving anything weird but it's probably the number one question I get!  I don't think I've had any weird cravings - I want ice cream nightly but that's really nothing new :)  Andy says we've gone through a few extra jars of pickles than normal but I don't feel like I am craving them specifically.

I feel like I've been pretty lucky in general with weird pregnancy symptoms.  The stretch mark scare of a few weeks ago was false...currently.  I do have a few little blood vessels that have popped up in random places but are not hardly noticeable.  The only sad thing is this one ugly little spider vein on the back of my knee that I had before I was pregnant but has gotten much worse in the past few months.  I'm also happy to report that it's looking like my belly button will remain an innie for the wedding this weekend so Olivia won't have to worry about taping it down.  Speaking of Olivia, she is seriously disgusted by pregnant bellies.  I was helping Andy clean the pool cover in Etown this weekend and decided to put on my bikini and get a little sun.  Olivia refused to come outside to witness me in all my pregnant glory... lol  I guess what goes around comes around... I do remember thinking Mom's belly was pretty gross when she was pregnant with OJ.

House progress is being made and we have officially moved our closing date up to June 1!!  We are going to head over to the house tonight to see if Harper's room has finally been painted.  Hers was the last to get painted and I've been waiting with much anticipation!  They're finishing the hardwoods at the end of this week and then basically I think all we're waiting on is carpet, countertops and appliances!!  Once they get the floors done I'll try to post some pics on here :)

I had a doctors appointment this week that went well! Her heart rate was 141 and the resident felt around and told me feels head down now.  We still have plenty of time for her to move around but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she's found her spot and is happy there :)  I'm excited to have appointments every 2 weeks - feel like it's going to speed things up!

Well we are off to continue birthday celebrations :)  I am an easy date this year... my requests included ice cream cake, a walk and a massage :) I might have already had my first piece of birthday cake as soon as I got home from the hospital today.  I should also say thanks for birthing me, Mom! I joked with her yesterday that kids should send their mom flowers on their birthday cause it's not like the kid that did any work on their actual birth day!

I also must mention something fun I'm going to do in a few weeks! I'm thinking around 35 weeks we're going to have a guess the baby weight contest!  That'll give us a few more weeks to see how many lbs I pack on and just how much bigger my belly can get.  For those that don't know, I was 10 lbs 2 oz and Andrew was 9lbs 1oz.  OMG. I know.  I won't lie, I'm terrified.  And to their credit, both moms had us without an epidural!  I am on team epidural though and will not shy away from making it a more pleasant experience for everyone in the room ;)

How far along: 31

Total Weight Gain: 20.5

Stretchmarks:  Nope

Sleep: Great

Best Moment This Week: waking up to some beautiful flowers and the sweetest card on my bday :)

Movement: all the time - she is busy in there!

Gender: Baby girl!!

Labor Signs: some braxton hicks occasionally 

Belly Button: staying nice and tucked for david and carrie's big day!

What I Miss: nothing

 What I am Looking Forward to:  David and carrie's wedding!!!!!!!!!

Milestones: a little over 3 lbs! sleeping in 20-40 minute spurts throughout the day :)

Week 30

Hello, hello week 30!  This past week has been a pretty calm one at the casa de reynolds!  Harper is still moving up a storm and continues to grow so much bigger every day.  It's amazing how high up she is able to kick now.  I've been in lecture this week rather than in the hospital so I'm spending a lot of time bored and sitting still - this allows me to watch her roll around in my belly for extended periods of time ;)  It's something I don't think I could ever get tired of!

The half marathon this past weekend was a huge success!  Andy did awesome and had such a great time :)  I was so proud of him and all my other favorite men!  They finished in just over 2 hours.  Olivia and I sped through Louisville and were able to see them at a few different spots on the course which was fun for us and I think took their mind of the run for a least a few minutes.  We made them a big pink sign so they couldn't miss us.  The night before the race Andy kept asking me for a magic marker but wouldn't tell me why he needed it.  When the boys ran by us the first time he pulled up his running shirt and his cutoff tee had "love laura the most" on it :)  Dad yelled that it was unfair and he didn't know they were going to make signs for us too! haha.  Olivia wanted to know "what about harper?!  Anyways, the boys all did such a great job and I cannot wait to run another half soon!

We spent that afternoon at the soccer fields and got to see some of my favorite little twin cousins play and then Olivia's team as well!  Olivia's team ended up winning the whole tournament - we were sad not to be at all the games but so proud of her!  We met up with Andy's parents for birthday celebrations at the Melting Pot that evening and enjoyed getting to visit for a little bit.  Andrew was a little sore on Sunday so rather than go hiking he just wanted to hang out at the casa.  I'm embarrassed to say that we spent some of his birthday packing but that's what the birthday boy wanted to do!  It was still a fun, relaxing day :)  We decided for birthday presents this year we were buying stuff for the house so we got barstools! yay! and I got some cushions for them for my upcoming birthday ;)

We went over to the new house today to check out the progress - they painted our kitchen and it is beautiful!! I was soo nervous that the green would not be pretty but I absolutely love it.  Our cabinets have also come in and were sitting in the garage so we got to take a peek of those.  They've painted a lot of the house, have all the trim up, hardwoods are in - hard to believe we're going to be moving in so soon!  I'm so excited for Harper's room to get painted next :)  It's going to be so sweet!

I spent a few hours tonight doing my new least favorite task - shopping.  It is seriously no fun at all to spend money on maternity clothes but unfortunately I need some dresses for some upcoming events.  I also do not really like most of the maternity dresses I've come across, they're usually such cheap material but not at a cheap price at all!  I did find one maternity dress tonight and also found a couple from new york and co. that aren't technically maternity but have a little stretch to them so I think they should work for a while :)  I did get my power mama spanx in the mail tonight - yes, I'm forreal.  They are spanx made for pregnant chicks and they are awesome. ;)

Anyhoo, here's our update for the week!

How far along: 30

Total Weight Gain: 19

Stretchmarks:  Nope

Sleep: Great

Best Moment This Week: watching our runners at the half-marathon!

Movement: all the time - she is an active little girl

Gender: Baby girl!!

Labor Signs: some braxton hicks occasionally 

Belly Button: it pops out a little bit when I try to use only my abs to sit up- please stay inward for only 1.5 more weeks!

What I Miss: nothing

 What I am Looking Forward to:  derby, cam's grad, dr. appt next monday and my bday!

Milestones: she should be about 16 inches long and around 3 lbs