At our 37-week appointment yesterday, Brad and I received some very good news. Little E is finally in position and ready for our big day! Prior to yesterday's appointment, we were getting a little anxious, because E was still in the transverse position, which means that he was lying sideways or horizontally in the womb. For obvious reasons, this could have potentially presented some major problems and would have likely led to my needing a cesarean section, something that I am very much hoping to avoid. Due to our concerns, we were able to have an ultrasound. It was so much fun being able to see our little guy again as we have not had the opportunity to do that since our 20-week check-up. We were able to see his chubby little cheeks (both sets), limbs, and major organs, all of which look like they are in perfect working order. The best part of the ultrasound was receiving confirmation that E is finally in the occiput anterior position, which is the ideal birthing position and basically means that he is now lying vertically in the womb with his head down and his butt up. We are so thankful that he finally figured out what he needs to do to get out of there! I guess, maybe, he is already proving that he takes after his mommy, because he clearly likes to do things his own way, in his own sweet time. During the ultrasound we found out some other fun tidbits about our baby as well. For instance, it turns out that our little guy isn't so little after all. We are still three weeks from my due date and he is already weighing in at approximately 7.5 pounds! It looks like he is going to take after my side of the family in that department too. His heart rate was about 140 beats per minute, which is perfectly normal at this point. The ultrasound technician, Cassie, also checked on the level of amniotic fluid surrounding and protecting little E and it looks like we are good there too.
After the ultrasound, we saw Dr. Dennard-Hall. We spoke with her about the swelling I've recently had in my feet and legs. She assured us that the type of swelling I am experiencing is totally normal at this point and nothing to be concerned about. She listened to E's heart rate again to confirm the information we received from Cassie. She then completed a Group Strep B test, which involved taking a swab of some unmentionable areas. And, as ecstatic as we are about E's new and improved position, I was a little bummed out to find that I am not even one centimeter dilated. I am, however, about 30% effaced, which means we are on our way. Seeing as E could potentially be 9 pounds at birth, I for one am hoping he makes his debut sooner, rather than later! The last part of our appointment involved having blood drawn for the purpose of checking my iron levels for anemia. We will find out the results of the Group Strep B and anemia tests at our next appointment on Thursday.
While Little E has been prepping for his grand entrance into the world and our family, we have been continuing our preparations as well. Last weekend, I assembled shelves in his closet for extra storage. This weekend, Brad checked our smoke detectors and installed a new one upstairs. He also installed a carbon monoxide monitor upstairs and purchased a second fire extinguisher. We've installed our car seat bases, had them inspected, and had both of our cars cleaned. I've had my bag packed for a while now, but we finally got Brad's things into the suitcase too. We have Sheri, the dog boarder, all set to pick up Hank on the big day and we have even created phone lists on each of our Blackberries for easy updates. I do have a few more things on my to-do list, but I am intentionally waiting to complete those items after March 4th, my last day of work. I know me and I know that I'll go stir-crazy if I don't have a few little projects to keep me busy! If E does come early, I'm sure that Grams, Grandpa Oscar, and Grandma Mary will be able to accomplish the last couple of tasks with no trouble at all. We hope you'll check back next week, as I'm sure we will have more to report after our 38-week check-up.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Friday, February 18, 2011
Family Photos - 32 Weeks
Several weeks ago we had some maternity photos taken by a professional photographer, Becca Price. I have to admit that I did not initially intend on or even think about having maternity photos taken. It wasn't until my friend Ellen, who is also expecting her first baby, talked about having them done for herself that I even began to consider professional maternity photos as an option. I am now so thankful to Ellen for mentioning it and I am so thrilled that we made the decision to have these pictures taken ourselves. The photos are the most incredible gift we could possibly give ourselves during this amazing time in our lives.
Becca was completely wonderful! She is so creative and energetic, she made the entire experience so much fun! She came to our house on a Sunday afternoon and spent close to two hours snapping pics of us, both inside and outside of our home. We were able to preview some of the pictures a few days after our session, but we finally recieved a CD in the mail with all of the photos this week and I couldn't be happier with the finished product! Having these pictures taken and choosing Becca as our photographer were both great decisions, because they are so absolutely beautiful and I know that we will cherish them forever. My first pregnancy has been such an amazing adventure. I know that I will always be so thankful to have these gorgeous photos to remember this experience. Even though I feel humongous these days and I certainly look humongous in some of the photos, it is all just part of pregnancy and I would recommend maternity photos to anyone who is expecting.
If you are interested, you can see some of our photos in the "Expecting" gallery on Becca's website or on Becca's blog. I've also loaded all of the photos onto Snapfish, but here are a few of our absolute favorites!
Becca did such a great job with our maternity photos that we have asked her to take newborn photos of Little E when he arrives and I just know those photos will be just as beautiful. If you live anywhere in the Atlanta area and are looking for a photographer to take maternity, baby, family, or even wedding photos, I would highly recommend contacting Becca!
Sunday, January 30, 2011
All's Well That Ends Well
About a year ago, our Home Owner's Association sent us a letter stating that our home needed to be repainted within the next ninety days. Ironically, when Brad and I received the letter, we were already in the process of weighing the pros and cons of just having the house repainted or doing what really needed to be done, which was to have the entire house resided with Hardie Plank. At the time, I knew very little about Hardie Plank or siding in general, but Brad and I both knew that our siding was in terrible shape. It was warped and pulling away from the house in some places, not to mention the fact that neither of us liked the color of our house very much. After doing a little research, we decided that residing was definitely the way to go and Hardie Plank was definitely the product we wanted to use because it is guaranteed for life. We also decided to have new front and back doors installed, because both were in really bad shape. So, we got a rough estimate of how much the residing would cost, set a goal to save that amount, and wrote a letter to the HOA requesting an extension. We were granted the extension and given one year to complete the project.
In November, Brad and I were ecstatic because we were very close to reaching our goal of saving the money necessary to reside. Once we realized that, we decided to get the ball rolling on the project by having it approved through the HOA. In our neighborhood, anything that you do to the exterior of your home has to be approved by the HOA first. The submission process is pretty specific. You have to submit exact samples and descriptions of any changes you plan to make to your home. Before we could submit our application, we wanted to get a better price quote of exactly how much everything would cost, so we went to Home Depot. Ordinarily, I LOVE Home Depot! In fact, the fine folks at the Depot have helped us out with lots of home repair and renovation projects in the past. How does that slogan go again? "You can do it! We can help!" Well, in this case, we found out that Home Depot could not help us, or rather, they could help us for double, yes literally double, the original rough estimate we received the year before. Brad and I both felt utterly deflated after Bill from Home Depot presented us with his price quote on our project. We decided to get one more price quote before throwing in the towel and just having some paint slapped on the exterior to temporarily remedy the problem. We called Scott Hoffman from Home Wizards to give us a second quote. Scott and his crew painted the downstairs interior of our house last year and they did a fantastic job. They were even great about doing touch-up, so we knew that there work was exceptional. Thankfully, Scott's quote came in just a little over the original rough estimate we received! We submitted our application for approval and held our breath. The approval finally came in early January and Scott scheduled our project for Monday, January 10th. Well, those of you who live in Atlanta are well aware of what happened on January 10th. That is the day that pretty much the entire city shut down due to snow and the snow didn't clear out for about a week. Our project was postponed for a little longer, but the Home Wizards crew was finally able to get everything underway on Monday, January 17th, one week later.
Brad and I were so thrilled that the project was finally getting started. Everything was going well, although noisy, until we realized that, due to some unknown phenomenon, the crew that was replacing the siding on the exterior of the house, was simultaneously making quarter-sized holes in the sheet rock on the interior walls of our house. We ended up with roughly forty holes spread throughout our entire home. The only room that did not have holes in the sheet rock was our kitchen, which does not have an exterior wall. Brad was a little discouraged when he discovered the first few holes, but when we realized exactly how many holes there were, I was hysterical, I mean Academy Award winning hysterics here! I was seriously an emotional wreck! When I thought about the fact that we'd spent the last two years painting the upstairs of our home ourselves and paying a crew to paint the downstairs, just to have it all undone in two days was really more than my eight month pregnant self could handle. Now, in retrospect, of course I realize that we are insanely lucky to have a roof over our heads, much less, to be able to renovate and redecorate. However, in the moment, I was absolutely inconsolable!
At first, when there were only about eight holes in the walls on one side of our house, Brad wanted to just repair them himself and not mention anything to the crew. But, once we realized that these holes were in just about every room, I was adamant about having Home Wizards take care of the repairs. Brad called Scott to fill him in on what was going on. He came out to take a look at the holes and promised to fix them all, even if it meant repainting every wall. Once the residing crew was finished with the installation, the painting crew came out to start working on painting the exterior, filling the holes, and painting the interior.
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| Before the residing project. You can't tell in this picture, but the siding was in really bad shape! |
In November, Brad and I were ecstatic because we were very close to reaching our goal of saving the money necessary to reside. Once we realized that, we decided to get the ball rolling on the project by having it approved through the HOA. In our neighborhood, anything that you do to the exterior of your home has to be approved by the HOA first. The submission process is pretty specific. You have to submit exact samples and descriptions of any changes you plan to make to your home. Before we could submit our application, we wanted to get a better price quote of exactly how much everything would cost, so we went to Home Depot. Ordinarily, I LOVE Home Depot! In fact, the fine folks at the Depot have helped us out with lots of home repair and renovation projects in the past. How does that slogan go again? "You can do it! We can help!" Well, in this case, we found out that Home Depot could not help us, or rather, they could help us for double, yes literally double, the original rough estimate we received the year before. Brad and I both felt utterly deflated after Bill from Home Depot presented us with his price quote on our project. We decided to get one more price quote before throwing in the towel and just having some paint slapped on the exterior to temporarily remedy the problem. We called Scott Hoffman from Home Wizards to give us a second quote. Scott and his crew painted the downstairs interior of our house last year and they did a fantastic job. They were even great about doing touch-up, so we knew that there work was exceptional. Thankfully, Scott's quote came in just a little over the original rough estimate we received! We submitted our application for approval and held our breath. The approval finally came in early January and Scott scheduled our project for Monday, January 10th. Well, those of you who live in Atlanta are well aware of what happened on January 10th. That is the day that pretty much the entire city shut down due to snow and the snow didn't clear out for about a week. Our project was postponed for a little longer, but the Home Wizards crew was finally able to get everything underway on Monday, January 17th, one week later.
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| Let the renovations begin! |
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| Two of the forty holes in the walls of our house |
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| Repairing the holes |
Because the weather conditions were not working in our favor, it took a couple of days before the crew was able to finish everything and we ended up spending one night at the Holiday Inn. In the end, Home Wizards made good on all of their promises, because the interior and the exterior both look fantastic. Our new back door was installed and painted yesterday and now we are just awaiting approval on our front door. Once we receive approval for the front door, Home Wizards will come back out to install it and then we can finally call it day on this project that has been a year in the making. Even with all of the drama, we are thrilled with the end results and we are absolutely certain that we made the right decision!
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| A job well done! |
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Another Fabulous Party
Following Snowpocalypse 2011, my mom and Brad's mom utilized all major modes of transportation to make the trek to Atlanta for my second baby shower. They both flew in on Friday, January 14th, at roughly 6:00. After meeting each other at the airport, they took a MARTA train up to our neck of the woods, where Brad was supposed to pick them up. Unfortunately, when Brad tried to get to the MARTA station, the exit was still completely iced over. After trying several alternate routes, Brad finally had to throw in the towel and head back home and our moms had to take a cab to our house. All total, it took them about two and a half hours to get to our house from the airport. Thankfully, they made it all in one piece!
Once they finally arrived, we had a late dinner together and then we all decided to call it a night. And what an interesting night it was! In the past, when our parents have visited us together, my mom has slept in the office and Brad's parents have slept in the guest room. However, since their last visit, the office has been converted into the nursery, so that was not a possibility. With Brad's mom in the guest room, Brad offered to sleep on the couch, so that my mom could sleep in a bed, albeit in our bed with me. My mom and I have definitely slept in the same bed before, but it has been a couple of years. I won't go into too much detail other than to say that it was a complete disaster that ended with me attempting to sleep in the bath tub (Don't ask! Somehow it made sense at 2:00 am!) and my poor mom eventually sleeping on the floor in the nursery! It was a definite learning experience, and needless to say, we don't plan on having more than one house guest again anytime soon! Thankfully, the shower on Saturday was infinitely more successful than our sleeping arrangements!
On Saturday, after a relaxing morning, mom, Mary, and I got ready to head to the baby shower, which was hosted by my friends Christine, Jane, Lynn, and Sarah. Lynn graciously opened up her beautiful home for the shower and Jane even flew in from Indiana. They did such a wonderful job and I am so thankful to them for throwing such a fabulous party where so many friends came together to celebrate the anxiously anticipated arrival of Little E. I felt like such a lucky mom-to-be!
The shower was a lot of fun and everyone was amazingly generous. We received so many wonderful things that we needed from our registry and several things that we didn't even know we were going to need. My favorite part of the shower was getting all of the great tips and advice from friends who are already mommies and have been in my shoes before.
After the shower, Brad picked up my mom, his mom, and all of the gifts, and I went out to dinner at Noche with my friends. Even though it was pretty late, by the time I got home, Brad and our moms brought everything into the nursery for me to sort through and organize. I was way to excited to wait until morning! The whole day was so much fun!
On Sunday, after church, mom, Mary, and I went to Babies R Us to purchase a few more items from our registry because I had coupons and gift cards that were burning holes in my pockets. We found everything we were looking for and several items were even on sale! On Sunday evening, we hung the curtains that my mom's talented sister, my Nanny Kay, made to match the crib bedding. She did such an amazing job and they look perfect in the nursery!!
On Monday, we brought our moms to the airport just as the exterior home renovation project we'd been planning finally got underway... but that's a story for another post.
Once they finally arrived, we had a late dinner together and then we all decided to call it a night. And what an interesting night it was! In the past, when our parents have visited us together, my mom has slept in the office and Brad's parents have slept in the guest room. However, since their last visit, the office has been converted into the nursery, so that was not a possibility. With Brad's mom in the guest room, Brad offered to sleep on the couch, so that my mom could sleep in a bed, albeit in our bed with me. My mom and I have definitely slept in the same bed before, but it has been a couple of years. I won't go into too much detail other than to say that it was a complete disaster that ended with me attempting to sleep in the bath tub (Don't ask! Somehow it made sense at 2:00 am!) and my poor mom eventually sleeping on the floor in the nursery! It was a definite learning experience, and needless to say, we don't plan on having more than one house guest again anytime soon! Thankfully, the shower on Saturday was infinitely more successful than our sleeping arrangements!
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| The invitation |
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| Me with the hostesses, Jane, Sarah, Lynn, and Christine |
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| Check out this yummy spread! |
The shower was a lot of fun and everyone was amazingly generous. We received so many wonderful things that we needed from our registry and several things that we didn't even know we were going to need. My favorite part of the shower was getting all of the great tips and advice from friends who are already mommies and have been in my shoes before.
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| Look at all of these great shower goodies! |
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| At the shower with Brad's mom and my mom |
After the shower, Brad picked up my mom, his mom, and all of the gifts, and I went out to dinner at Noche with my friends. Even though it was pretty late, by the time I got home, Brad and our moms brought everything into the nursery for me to sort through and organize. I was way to excited to wait until morning! The whole day was so much fun!
On Sunday, after church, mom, Mary, and I went to Babies R Us to purchase a few more items from our registry because I had coupons and gift cards that were burning holes in my pockets. We found everything we were looking for and several items were even on sale! On Sunday evening, we hung the curtains that my mom's talented sister, my Nanny Kay, made to match the crib bedding. She did such an amazing job and they look perfect in the nursery!!
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| This photo doesn't even do them justice! They are utterly adorable! |
On Monday, we brought our moms to the airport just as the exterior home renovation project we'd been planning finally got underway... but that's a story for another post.
Monday, January 10, 2011
Time Flies...
You know the old saying, "time flies when you're having fun"? Well, apparently, time also flies when you're busy preparing for, and recovering from, the holidays. My last post was over three weeks ago and so much has happened since then. In fact, I've been kind of overwhelmed by the thought of writing this post, but since we are snowed in today and I have so many great pictures to share, I'm finally going to hunker down and just do it. However, to avoid boring you all to tears with an insanely long recap of the past three weeks, I'm going to include a lot more pictures and a lot less narrative than usual. Here goes...
Two weeks before Christmas, in the midst of decorating for the holidays, finishing up with last minute Christmas shopping, hosting Supper Club at my house, winding down the second quarter at school, and preparing for our trip to Louisiana, our nursery furniture arrived. And, well, me being me, I simply could NOT wait until we returned from Louisiana to assemble it. So, my sweet and patient husband obliged. Putting everything together was actually a lot of fun and aside from wall decor and window treatments, which should be hung this weekend, the nursery is now ready for Little E's arrival.
After surviving the week of school leading up to my winter break, we packed all of our luggage, gifts, and Hank into my tiny (funny how it once seemed spacious and roomy!) Jeep Liberty and began the trek to Louisiana. The drive, which usually takes roughly nine hours, took eleven, but we finally made it to Louisiana for a wonderful and relaxing week with family. My sweet sister-in-law and my fabulous cousins helped us kick off the week by hosting a baby shower to help us prepare for Little E's arrival. The shower was so much fun and it was so sweet of the hostesses and everyone who attended to take time out of there own hectic holiday preparations to celebrate our little guy.
Brad and I spent the rest of the week relaxing and enjoying our time with family. We even checked out a Star Wars exhibit at a local museum and hit up one of the local casinos, where my mom won $250 playing the nickel slots, or as she would say, 5,000 nickels. Brad's parents arrived the day before Christmas Eve and we were so thankful to them for traveling all the way from South Florida to be with us. Brad and I really are so fortunate that our parents are so willing to travel to be with us for both Thanksgiving and Christmas. It enables us to be with everyone, instead of dividing our time like so many couples have to do. I'm sure we will appreciate it even more next year and in the future as our own little family continues to grow.
There really isn't anything I love more than Christmas with my family and this year was certainly no exception! Every year, we still uphold many of the same traditions we have had for as long as I can remember.
Brad, his parents, my mom, and I celebrated Christmas day with brunch at my mom's house and lunch at my Nanny Kay's house. We returned to Atlanta the day after Christmas. After returning from Abbeville, we rang in the New Year with some of our neighborhood friends, got the go-ahead from our home owners association to proceed with the re-siding of our home, sent Hank off to a 10-day training program that I like to call bootcamp, and we've been able to check several things off of our to-do list, including taking our Childbirth Preparation class at OBGYN of Atlanta. It is hard to believe it, but we are in the home stretch!
If you have made it through this entire post, I hope you've enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed creating it! I also hope that you had as merry a Christmas and as happy a New Year as Brad and I did!
Two weeks before Christmas, in the midst of decorating for the holidays, finishing up with last minute Christmas shopping, hosting Supper Club at my house, winding down the second quarter at school, and preparing for our trip to Louisiana, our nursery furniture arrived. And, well, me being me, I simply could NOT wait until we returned from Louisiana to assemble it. So, my sweet and patient husband obliged. Putting everything together was actually a lot of fun and aside from wall decor and window treatments, which should be hung this weekend, the nursery is now ready for Little E's arrival.
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| Our Christmas tree and stockings |
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| The nursery furniture is here! |
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| Brad, unpacking the changing table. As you can see, Hank is not happy with the new "No Dogs Allowed" rule in the nursery! |
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| Brad, hard at work. |
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| Me, putting some muscle into it! |
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| The finished product! |
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| The crib, before assembly. |
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| Brad, hard at work again! |
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| Little E's crib, complete with adorable bedding from Serena and Lily! |
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| Close-up shot of that adorable bedding! |
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| My amazing hubby and "baby-daddy" also made a lamp for our little guy's nursery! |
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| It works! |
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| The new lamp looks great in the nursery! |
After surviving the week of school leading up to my winter break, we packed all of our luggage, gifts, and Hank into my tiny (funny how it once seemed spacious and roomy!) Jeep Liberty and began the trek to Louisiana. The drive, which usually takes roughly nine hours, took eleven, but we finally made it to Louisiana for a wonderful and relaxing week with family. My sweet sister-in-law and my fabulous cousins helped us kick off the week by hosting a baby shower to help us prepare for Little E's arrival. The shower was so much fun and it was so sweet of the hostesses and everyone who attended to take time out of there own hectic holiday preparations to celebrate our little guy.
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| The invitation |
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| Isn't that a gorgeous cake!?! |
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| My mom and I |
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| Aunt Cyndie, Nanny Kay, Mom and I |
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| My sweet sister-in-law, Christina, and I |
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| My fabulous cousins, Maria, Andrea, Lizzi, Kathryn, and I |
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| Lots of Little Golden Books from my Godmother, Tracey |
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| One of Little E's many sweet little outfits |
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| The Bumbo Baby Sitter from Nat and Jarrod |
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| The video monitor from the shower hostesses |
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| A baby blanket that was made for me by my grandmother before she passed away |
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| My mom and I sharing a hug and a few tears |
Brad and I spent the rest of the week relaxing and enjoying our time with family. We even checked out a Star Wars exhibit at a local museum and hit up one of the local casinos, where my mom won $250 playing the nickel slots, or as she would say, 5,000 nickels. Brad's parents arrived the day before Christmas Eve and we were so thankful to them for traveling all the way from South Florida to be with us. Brad and I really are so fortunate that our parents are so willing to travel to be with us for both Thanksgiving and Christmas. It enables us to be with everyone, instead of dividing our time like so many couples have to do. I'm sure we will appreciate it even more next year and in the future as our own little family continues to grow.
There really isn't anything I love more than Christmas with my family and this year was certainly no exception! Every year, we still uphold many of the same traditions we have had for as long as I can remember.
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| My mom with Thomas and Caroline on Christmas Eve morning |
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| It is so hard to believe that Caroline is almost crawling! |
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| Brad and I (28-weeks) |
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| My mom with Thomas and Caroline, all dressed up |
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| Brad and I with my mom, Caroline, Christina, Thomas, and Bart on Christmas Eve |
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| Me with my gorgeous cousins |
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| Boys will be boys! |
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| Piazza Family Christmas Eve |
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| Piazza Family Christmas Eve continued |
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| More Piazza Family Christmas Eve |
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| Still more Piazza Family Christmas Eve |
Brad, his parents, my mom, and I celebrated Christmas day with brunch at my mom's house and lunch at my Nanny Kay's house. We returned to Atlanta the day after Christmas. After returning from Abbeville, we rang in the New Year with some of our neighborhood friends, got the go-ahead from our home owners association to proceed with the re-siding of our home, sent Hank off to a 10-day training program that I like to call bootcamp, and we've been able to check several things off of our to-do list, including taking our Childbirth Preparation class at OBGYN of Atlanta. It is hard to believe it, but we are in the home stretch!
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| 29-Weeks Or, as I like to call it, OMG that thing is huge!!! |
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| Ellen (27-weeks), my sweet friend/neighbor, and I (30-weeks) |
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| Hank, practicing his favorite trick before being sent to bootcamp |
If you have made it through this entire post, I hope you've enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed creating it! I also hope that you had as merry a Christmas and as happy a New Year as Brad and I did!
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| Snow Day 2011 |
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