[Michelle Again] More pictures of baby Carter

I know that many of you continue to check for more pictures, so here you go.

Seth and Danielle are enjoying every second with baby Carter.

[Michelle Again] A few pictures of Carter

Many more to come, but here are a few from my two visits today. Love him sooo much. Seth, Danielle, and Carter are certainly adorable together. So happy for them.

Happy birthday, Carter!!!

Carter Has Arrived!

[Michelle, posting for Danielle...]

Carter has arrived safe and sound! All three are doing great!

Arrived 5/6, 4:10 a.m.
8 lbs., 3 oz.
19.5 in. long

I believe I have all his stats correct; it is early in the morning afterall :). I have been told, as if there could have been a doubt, that he is adorable with blonde peach fuzz.

Pictures to follow when I visit later this morning.

So excited I can hardly contain myself.

Newborn Photography

Seriously, there are no words for how excited I am for Carter's newborn photography session. I have been oohing and aahing over sample photos for MONTHS now, and have been on the look out for the props that I've had in my head since the day I found out I was pregnant.

I do realize that we're going to shell out a pretty penny for photos of a little boy that will look so vastly different in two months, but it's something I know I would regret if I didn't do.

Here are just SOME of the photo ideas I've had stirring in my head for ever and ever. I have SO MANY more, plus of course the ideas the photographer has, so I am so pumped.

I'm also planning to get a photo of Bentley with Carter, with Carter maybe wearing his "Dog Gone Cute" outfit...perfect, huh!?!

This is the new hat I ordered him this morning!! I have been searching for quite some time for one that did not cost a ton, and I finally found one this morning on etsy for only $8!!!! YAY!

Now, if the little squirt would just get here so we could cuddle him and kiss him and love on him, we would be ever-so-grateful. :)

Pregnancy Highlights: 39 Weeks

How Far Along: 39 weeks...he is probably around 20 inches long, and weighs 7+ pounds. He is the size of a watermelon.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Don’t know, don’t care. Though I DID lose 3 lbs this week. Woo hoo!!!

Maternity Clothes: Same – still wearing what I’ve got, refusing to get anything new! In fact, since he dropped, I am wearing 2 non-maternity pieces of clothing today (2 tops) so that's kind of nice, especially since it is to be in the 80s today.

Gender: Boy. Carter Nicholas.

Movement: Slightly less this week. He's out of room. But I can and do still feel him stretch, tighten up, and squirm quite a bit. The kicking has subsided substantially.

Food Craving: Cereal is the only REAL craving. Though I must say, I am hungry every 2 hours or so again since he isn't using my stomach as a pillow anymore.

What I miss: Lack of back pain, being able to walk without waddling, sleeping.

Sleep: Horrible again. It hurts to roll over (my round ligaments seriously feel like they are about to burst). This is TMI, but I went to the bathroom six times last night. I didn't even really have to go any of them, but it felt like it because he is laying on my bladder.

What I am looking forward to: HIM!!!!! I want to hold my baby and kiss his sweet cheeks. :)

Symptoms: Impatience, braxton hicks (or real???) contractions, crampiness, anxiety to meet him!

Happy week 39 - only SEVEN days to go!

Full Moon

Well, full moon passed and I didn't have the baby. Those wives' tales are big fat lies.

In continuation of my nesting, I set up his high chair (it has a reclining feature for infants or else we wouldn't have put it up yet) while Seth was at work last night and then vacuumed....again.

Don't forget to go to my post from April 14th and submit your baby birth pool guess if you haven't already. There are only eight days until I am due so not much more time to guess.

Yesterday at my appt, I was 80% effaced, 1.5 cm dilated, and he was in the 0 position which means he dropped a bit. So...being the nice person I am, if you guessed already and want to change it, I will let you in light of this new information. Or you can keep your current guess, too, if you still think it's right! :)

Yay for tomorrow being Friday AND the forecast being gorgeous weather!

Happenings this past week

Aside from waiting for our little bundle of joy with an impatience that is indescribable, life seems to be sort of in a routine. Here are some things that have happened the past week or so:

*We have been slowly transitioning Bentley out of his crate in hopes of having him crate-free shortly after Carter arrives. It will give us so much more space in the living room and will eventually allow us to travel with less stuff. He's been doing SO WELL - in all, he's been out of his crate for 2-3 hour stretches for about 5 or 6 months now and has never once done a thing. The past 3-4 weeks, we've been letting him out during the workday (after the Messiah student comes to let him out over lunch, he is then out the remainder of the day until we get home from work). He has literally been an angel every day - some days, there isn't even a single toy out of his basket so we know he's lazy bones and just sleeps all day. Well, last Thursday, he has his first minor setback. He ate a small 4 x 6 photo album and its contents (well, most of them at least...the rest were strewn everywhere). He knew he was in big trouble and sucked up to us all night. Aside from his poop being laced with NYC memories of Seth and I, he's been fine though. Seth will call me the pet psychologist, but oh well...I think he only did it 1) because I left it on a stool at his level and 2) I had the pet sitter put his rawhide up on the counter when she left so he wouldn't eat all of it in one day so I think he was angry about that and found something else to chew!

*I made letters for above Carter's bed. Pretty self explanatory. Except that I used a hot glue gun for the first time in a very long time and literally burnt the tips of every single finger on my hands while doing so. Good thing that just last week, I had read on a blog that toothpaste and a band-air on burns works way better than ice or ointment. I did it and it TOTALLY worked. Keep that in your back pocket!

*We hosted a birthday gathering for my dad's 54th birthday. We made homemade pizzas on the grill, which were super yummy! It is SO EASY and way quicker than in the oven. Basically, you just take the dough (in small portions for personal sized so everyone can top it as they want), put it on the grill for 3-4 minutes, flip and top with whatever you want, shut the grill lid and grill until the bottom is crispy and the toppings are hot/melted.

*I have kicked up the hormonal emotional wife a notch, but Seth is taking it like a pro. I cried like a baby last week when I read a story about a woman whose dog died, and I have major separation anxiety from Seth when he isn't around. I seriously worry like I have never worried - that he won't hear his phone when I'm in labor, that he'll be in an accident, and on and on. I'd prefer if he was just attached at the hip to me forever and ever. Amen.

*A stranger in an elevator told me that I'm going to be overdue because the baby hasn't dropped yet. Um, thank you. Please be quiet now. And then someone else told me "wow, your baby is going to be SMALL. You have the tiniest belly." Huh?!?! She might need glasses :) But hilarious to me how people's perceptions can be THAT different.

*I got a pedicure. A heavenly, fluffy-massage-chair pedicure. I loved every second of it and sometimes wish I had a best friend who owned a salon and was willing to give her friends free pedicures all the time. While I was there, the Chinese girl giving me my pedicure (maybe 16 years old) said "wow, he big" as she pointed to my belly. And again I say it.....perceptions.

*My best friend, Allie, and I were able to solidify some plans for her to visit from GA to visit baby C!!! YAY!!!!!

Well, I think that's it for now. I'm sure there will be many more stories of complete and total strangers who feel the need to say inappropriate things to me at my most vulnerable times. Stay tuned. :)

Pregnancy Highlights: 38 Weeks

How Far Along: 38 weeks...he is probably around 19 1/2 inches long, and weighs about 7 pounds or so.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Don’t know, don’t care. :)

Maternity Clothes: Same – still wearing what I’ve got, refusing to get anything new!

Gender: Boy.

Movement: I’m in pain….seriously. He is tucked in a little ball up under my ribs and when he stretches out, my stomach is lop-sided. He isn’t really kicking per se because I think he’s running out of room, but he moves and stretches SO MUCH.

Food Craving: Cereal again. Mmmmm….

What I miss: not having constant rib pain, sleeping through the night, and wearing my normal clothing.

Sleep: Not the best, not the worst. Somehow, some nights, I’m back to only needing to go to the bathroom one time.

What I am looking forward to: His arrival!!!!! I am 1.5 cm dilated but still only 50% effaced. I’m also looking forward to hanging up his new letters in his room above his crib. I’ve been painting them this week, and now need to just figure out how I want to hang them (with ribbon, picture hanger things, etc.). I think they will look so cute!!!

Symptoms: still swollen ankles and feet, though I’ve totally become accustomed to it now, serious rib pain, nausea/stomachaches, hungry every few hours.

Happy week 38 - only 14 days to go!

Tired and the baby isn't even here yet!

Tuesday afternoon, I talked to Seth from work like I always do. We always talk about what we'll have for dinner and 9 times out of 10, he's home to get it started (and often finished!) before I walk in the door. So it was a day just like any other...

I talked to him again at about 5:05 as I was leaving work. He was to put baked potatoes in the oven, get a ham steak out of the freezer, and he was going to make one of those boxes of muffins where you only have to add water. I told him I'd be home in 30 minutes and to plan accordingly.

I called him again closer to home but I got no answer. I figured he must be outside grilling the meat. When I walked in the house, Bentley came running but no signs of Seth. I yelled for him, looked out front and out back and assumed he must be next door or something. When I opened the oven, I saw that the muffins were not in yet, let out a sigh, and made them myself.

Finally, I walked into the living room. He was asleep on the couch. "Babe." Nothing. "Babe??" Nothing. "BABE?!" I smacked him on the feet and he slowly opened his eyes, completely dazed and confused. I told him he never finished dinner and asked if he even had the ham on the grill yet. He told me no, so I sighed (sense a pattern?? A preggo mama is HUNGRY when she gets home from work!!! haha), went to the garage and got one, defrosted it the quick way, and walked it out to the grill. And when I opened the grill, I saw it.

Yes, yes he DID put ham on it already and then fell asleep. It was charred black and about the size of a piece of lunchmeat. The potatoes in the oven looked like they were bite sized they were so burnt.

After a lot of coaxing to "come to," he finally meandered to the table as confused as ever. About 5 minutes into the meal, he said he just was feeling too sick to eat, was dead tired, and was going to lay back down. Turns out he wasn't feeling well all along, but ohmyword does he sleep deep.

Wasn't so funny at the time (more annoying - but like I said, I was hungry!) but looking back, it cracks me up at how out of it he was after just 20 minutes of sleeping.

He has something coming when the little guy arrives. I just have that feeling. :)

It's getting closer!

It's finally starting to hit Seth and I that in absolutely no more than 3.5 weeks, we will have a baby (they would induce at 1 week late). I mean, obviously it has been hitting me for a while now since he, as adorable and precious as he might be, has been kicking me to pure death day in and day out every single day. So I've been pretty aware that it's coming. :) We love to feel his little feet when they stick out a full inch or two from the rest of my stomach. I think he's starting to send the message that he's cramped in there.

I have my 38 week appt. tomorrow. I swore I would never endure a cervical check again in my whole life (clearly, I am not cut out for laboring a child), but I lied. I thought I could handle not knowing but I need to know if there has been any progression the last week (at 37 weeks, I was 50% effaced and 1 cm dilated). I am just TOO excited to meet him!!!! I definitely always thought I'd go early, but since there haven't really been too many "signs" that labor is imminent, I'm starting to think maybe he'll be late.

The nursery is completely set up and cleaned, pack n play is set up and stocked with diapers, wipes, and all of the essentials, car seat is in the car, bags are in the trunk, camera memory card is empty and the camera has fresh batteries (AND 3 packs of new ones...JUST IN CASE. I would just die if the batteries went dead, trust me), my maternity leave plan is set and ready to be put into action, and we're growing increasingly impatient to meet the little guy after all this time.

We're so excited for everyone to meet him - of course we'll post pictures as soon as we can! We don't have a laptop, so we won't be able to take advantage of the free wi-fi at the hospital (so if you visit us and want to bring your's if you have one so we can upload some pics, we wouldn't be opposed).

In the meantime, we're staying busy with nesting and keeping the house as clean as possible, going for walks, sitting by the outdoor fireplace, watching movies and going on date nights, etc. :)