Fun Weekend and Final Baby Shower

This weekend has been really great. Yesteday Joe woke up early and snuck out of the house to get Fluffy Fresh donuts - they're the best! So I woke up to the smell of super fresh donuts for breakfast, yum! After being lazy for a bit, I did some light cleaning around the house (trying to keep it decent!) then Ashley and I went to get our nails done. I went straight from there to get my last haircut and highlight sans baby. What a nice afternoon for being pampered! Joe picked me up from the salon, and we had an early-ish dinner at Cheesecake Factory, during which he surprised me with a beautiful pearl necklace! We had seen it at a jewelry store a few weeks back while we were browsing at pieces made with the February birthstone, and it really stood out to me (not that pearls are the birthstone) and as Joe let me know, this wasn't a "push present"... I guess he just loves me! I haven't taken a picture of me wearing it yet, but it's really pretty.

We split two pieces of cheesecake, which I'd been craving all week. Ok, let's be honest - when doesn't cheesecake sound like a good idea?? 7 was really active all through dinner and I think I was having a few practice contractions, but we decided to go ahead and try to catch a movie, since this *could* be our last weekend without a baby. We made it to the theatre just in time to see "Edge of Darkness" - the new Mel Gibson movie. It was decent, but definitely not as good as it could have been.

After the movie, we headed home, took the dogs for a quick walk around the block, and went to bed - what a fun day!

Today was the annual Groundhog Run, a 5K or 10K run through some underground caves in KC. We've been doing it for the last few years, and I thought about getting up for it, but decided just to stay in bed when the alarm went off. Joe went and ran the 5K with a few friends. This afternoon we finally bought jumper cables, so Joe could get my car started (the battery died a few weeks ago). I was still using the battery that came with the car when I bought it 6 years ago, so it was definitely time to be replaced! He took care of that while I got ready for the baby shower our friend Danny and neighbor Carmen threw for us.

This wasn't like any old baby shower. It was a couples' shower, and we played a few fun games that everyone got into and there was plenty of booze flowing for all but the mama-to-be. The first was a "guess the baby food" game, with 9 jars lined up, sans labels. Some were easy, like sweet potatoes and peas. Others, tasted odd or good, but somewhat un-identifiable... mac & cheese, and bananas to name a few. The meats were the worst - turns out pureed chicken and mashed veal are just awful! I posted a bunch of pictures on my facebook if you want to see the reactions. We also played a mad-libs version of nursery rhymes, and there were definitely some creative answers! We got a bunch of cute baby clothes, swaddlers, a humidifier, rattles and more - we really have some great friends!

Now we just have to wait for the fun to really begin. My next doctor's appointment is tomorrow morning, where hopefully we'll find out if I've made any more progress. It certainly feels like it, but with my due date still 12 days away, it's hard to acknowledge that in all reality it could be 3 weeks or more before we meet the little guy!

And now my texts should show that i wrote it instead of Lauren.

Testing the text to blog feature. If it works, it will be way easier than mass texting or trying to navigate the web browser on my phone.

- Joe VI

Joe's first post

Ok. This is my first post. If any one will be able to update the blog during labor, it will be me. I guess that means I need to figure this out.

We just finished our last baby class. We can now effectively hee and hoo.

7 is due 2/12/10, which is 2 weeks from friday. I have been claiming 2/02/10 for quite some time now. That is one hand from tomorrow for those of you keeping score at home. Of course, he may also hold out to be Kenny's favorite nephew by beeing born on 2/13/10, Kenny's birthday. Let's just hope he doesn't try to kiss up to Kyle and wait until the 21st.

- Joe VI

Maintaining Status Quo

Today was our 37 1/2 week appointment. I wasn't sure if the doctor was going to do another internal exam to check for any new progress, but she did. And there wasn't any. Oh well. I've really started to experience a lot of pressure down low, but still getting kicked up high. While it appears from the internal exams that the baby has dropped (and my belly does look like it's sitting a little lower), the baby still is kicking my ribs and now pushing way down low... sometimes it feels like he's playing around in my groin/upper thigh area with his hands! I keep reading that baby's movement is supposed to slow down at the end, since they've run out of space to move. Someone needs to send that message to 7, b/c he certainly hasn't slowed down at all. In fact, as I sit here typing this, he's moving around non-stop, and has been for the last 25 minutes. Little pushes, shoves, rolls - actually, they're not that little either!

If Joe's original prediction that the baby will be born on Feb. 2, then we're only 8 days away. We're all ready at this point, so hopefully he doesn't make us wait too long!

Cooking Marathon

In anticipation of not feeling like cooking, or having the time to do so once the baby arrives, Joe and I figured we should start stocking the freezer full of prepared meals. We had been talking about buying a small freezer for the basement, as our side by side fridge doesn't leave much space for casseroles, frozen pizzas, etc, and consequently, when things go on sale at the grocery store, we aren't able to stock up simply because we don't have enough usable space. After looking around and weighing our options (new vs. used off craigslist, upright vs. chest, etc) we decided to go ahead and get a 12 cubic foot upright freezer. Nebraska Furniture Mart had them on sale, so we went yesterday afternoon, picked one out, bought it and scheduled it for delivery... today! Perfect timing, as I had decided that today would be the cooking marathon day, and was getting nervous about trying to rearrange the freezer once again to cram as much in as possible.

After the freezer was delivered at 8:45am, 15 minutes earlier than our 2 hour time frame we were promised (when does that ever happen??), I started my grocery shopping trip, hitting up Aldi's, then our local grocery store, the Dollar Store for disposable foil containers, and Walmart to round out the shopping. I started cooking around noon, and it's now 5:15 and my feet and back are demanding a break. I still have a few more recipes to make before I'm finished.

I found this website, www.onceamonthmom.com that has menus planned so that you can do a lot of cooking all in one day (or weekend) and stock the freezer. I combined a few of the months to make my own schedule, along with a few of our own favorites, and have been pleasantly surprised at how easy most of these recipes are - not too much cooking, but rather a lot of prep, combine everything, cover with foil and voila! Ready to cook meals! I decided to do a handful of typical dinners, a few breakfast foods, and some quick to heat snacks/lunches, since everyone who has had babies recently said they looked for easy to heat/eat with one hand foods during the day (and night)!

Here's what I've made so far...
2 8x8 pans of Farmer's Casserole (a breakfast/brunch eggs/potato/ham dish)
2 8x8 pans of Layered Chicken Enchilada Casserole
2 large pans of Chicken Cordon Bleu
8 servings of Asian Chicken Salad for pita sandwiches
1 9x13 pan of Green Chile Enchiladas
8 Chicken Taco Wraps (with more to make... I ran out of tortillas!)

Here's what I have left to make...
2-3 8x8 pans of Beef and Cheese Manicotti
2 8x8 pans of Baked Ziti
2 8x8 pans of Chicken Parmesan
2 Chocolate Chip Cream Cheese Coffee Cakes
some muffins, yet to be determined - maybe apple strudel, maybe blueberry & lemon.... we'll see.

I'm hoping to have the dinners finished tonight, and if I still have energy I'll bake the coffee cakes and muffins. If not, I'll save those for tomorrow.

The best part? Between the savings of shopping at Aldi's and some great sales on chicken and beef, I'll have spent about $115 on the groceries and supplies for everything listed above - not too shabby for the number of meals we'll have ready and waiting for us to eat!

Full Term!

Well, we've made it to 37 weeks, which is considered full term! At this point, we're waiting (somewhat impatiently) for the baby's arrival. It's rather frustrating knowing he could arrive any day now, or completely miss his due date in 3 weeks and make us wait another week or more! At my doctor's appointment this past Monday she did her first internal exam, and determined that I'm only 1 cm dilated, but 60-70% effaced, and that the baby is at a -1 station. What does that mean? Not a lot, as he'll come when he's good and ready. What she was willing to say was that it was good progress for being as far out from my due date as I am, and that she usually doesn't see patients with this progress at this stage go overdue. Usually. No promises though!

So on the advice of my friend who had her baby 10 days before her due date, I'm drinking raspberry tea twice a day, trying to go for walks daily, may start eating eggplant parmesan every few days, and if necessary, will send Joe to the store for a mini trampoline and jump rope to see if we can't just shake this baby out! :) (I'm kidding about that last part) I'm also trying to keep the house clean and in order. We really only "live" in a couple of rooms, so I figure if I spend a little time each day cleaning one room, the next day cleaning the next, etc. I won't get too tired, and that will keep any one place from getting too messy. With two dogs, the house is never perfect, especially while all of our 23" of snow continues to melt and turn into a muddy slushy mess that is apparently really fun to run and play in.

In all honesty, while it's exciting to know we're so close to the due date, it's really starting to get scary knowing we're going to be parents so soon!