A Room for Baby

Little Brother has a room! Last Friday, once everything was good and dry, we finally moved all the nursery stuff in and set it all up.

And I love it.

Jared did a great job on the walls and floor, and I'm actually pretty happy with everything I painted/sewed/made, too.

Of course, I took a bunch (understatement of the week) of "Before," "During," and "After" photos - for you and also just because I like to look back through them and see how far we've come :)

And while we still need to go pick up a mattress and hang the curtains, I'd say we are basically done! (What a wonderfully, relaxing feeling.)

And, in related news, my mom and sister are both back in Ohio now from Florida. So that, combined with his (basically) finished room = any time you're ready now, Baby!!

"Before" : Orange carpet + White fake "wood" paneling = Wow.

Oh, the beauty :)

Good-bye, Orange Carpet.

YAY! Paint-able wood floors :)

Helping Mommy pull out staples

And down comes the paneling!

Pulling out nails

Down to the bare bones and ready for it's "facelift" :)

Helping Daddy with the mudding

Sanding

Priming

Watching his daddy work

Paint for the walls!

Looking so much better already.

And now some paint for the floors...

Voila! A completely different room!! :)





And after a week or so to dry.....

We officially have a nursery!

Someone's in my comfy chair over there :)

Crib (still needs the mattress)

One of my first attempts at "real" sewing - the crib skirt.
Turned out just fine to me!







Painted the dresser white and added new handles.







Spray painted an ugly old gold lamp base we already had and covered
an old shade with some extra fabric left over from the crib skirt.

Changing Area - since I never really hung any of Holden's baby clothes, we

decided to use the closet space for something we needed more.

And Holden sitting on Mommy's chair.

Cheesin'. Hard.

Can't wait to meet our second little sonshine now! Getting more and more excited every day♥ (Now if only these pesky "practice" contractions would actually turn into something for us...)

Two weeks and counting....

Alright! Almost Baby Time!

And I'm definitely feeling more and more ready every day.

Jared finished up all the work on the room at the beginning of this week. So now all we have left is to move in his things, and Little Brother's room will be all set for him. And I will surely be posting "Before" and "After" photos of the room just as soon as we're done. I'm so excited.

Everything's been pretty much washed and ready now for a little while. But all bags are also now packed and ready (Well, except for Jared's, but who knows if he'll really even need a bag anyways. He's pretty low maintenance... and the hospital's only like 15 mins away from home if he needs something...) But at least Holden, I, and Little Brother will be all ready whenever it's time!

I also had another ultrasound today - this time just to check fluid levels - which she said looked good, but the doctor will go over it more with me tomorrow at my appointment. My last set of blood work came back all good. And my weekly NST also went well on Tuesday night. So all good news!

On a side note, my mom (and Jared's co-coach during labor. Hehe.) is in Florida right now. She flew down for a few days and will be driving back up with my sister, niece, and nephew this weekend. So just as soon as everyone gets back safe and sound, I'm thinking Baby can go ahead and come on out anytime!

Oh, and don't think I've given up on the coaxing. We've been walking lots and I'm actually on the yoga ball right now. And there's a full moon this weekend, so fingers crossed that maybe that will entice him to come on out and finally meet us :)

Ultrasound picture from today. His little foot is right up by
his head (so cute) and there's a hand on either side of
his face - if you can make it out :)

And the latest Belly Photo. Yea, Baby.

Daddy's Boy♥

Jared told me once that he can remember when he was little, running over to give his dad a hug as soon as he got home in the evenings.

Now it's his turn to get the hugs.

I'm sure all kids love their parents, but it is really so much fun to watch Holden whenever Jared's around. Holden absolutely adores Daddy. And he wants to do every single thing Daddy does.

Like, last night, Jared was lying on his back on the floor. So Holden got down off the couch and went over and laid down on his back on the floor right beside Daddy. Just little stuff like that. Every single day. Melts Mommy's heart.

But anyway, every night when Jared gets home from work, Holden lights up. We can usually hear Daddy coming in his Jeep, so Holden will climb up on the couch to watch for him. And as soon as he walks in the door, Holden runs over to be with him.

And Jared lets Holden "help" him with everything he can - riding mowing, watering the garden, washing cars, burning trash, and even sometimes when he's lifting - but some days when he does push mowing or something and Holden has to stay inside with Mommy, this is what I tend to see from the minute Daddy goes outside until he finally comes back in:

He plants himself on that couch and stares at
the garage - watching for Daddy

And gives me the play-by-play of everything he
sees/imagines is going on out there.

(I hear a lot of "Daddy, outside, lift, Indy, water,
Jeep, mow" on these days :) )

Daddy's Boy♥

(Actually as I was typing this Holden was sitting on my lap, pointing to the picture of Jared above the desk, and saying "Daddy" over and over. Oh, how he loves his Daddy.)

"Full Term"

Woot! We made it! As of yesterday, we are officially considered "full term." And although we do still have 3 more weeks until our due date, it is very reassuring to know that if he decided he was ready to come out now, everything would likely be just fine :)

And while we would like just this one more weekend to finish up his room, any time after that that he decides he's ready would be ok by us!

In other baby news, my weekly NSTs continue to go well and our last ultrasound had him measuring right on track. So all good news! And while I do have to have some blood work repeated since one of the counts was kind of off, I'm really having no other issues, so I'm praying it was just a fluke and everything will be fine this time.

Also, since we are now "full term," I thought that maybe it was a good time to start letting him know that we're ready for him. So last night we took a bumpy ride in the Jeep, followed by a long walk :) Come on Little Brother, head on down towards the light. Haha.

But seriously, we are very much praying for a VBAC this time, and in order for me to have a chance at that, I need to go into labor on my own. Preferably by my due date. Aaaand since I will do pretty much anything I can to avoid a repeat C-section, bring on the yoga ball, spicy food, and more long and bumpy walks and rides :)

And Holden's latest way of getting attention, when he's feeling a bit neglected, is to ask for a hug. Which is absolutely adorable. And he's sitting on my lap saying "hug" over and over again right now. How can I possibly resist?♥

I'll leave you again with the last few weeks of the belly. Have a great day!

Corn-on-the-Cob

In general, we are very lucky when it comes to Holden and eating. He is really not a picky eater. As long as he's hungry, he'll pretty much try anything I ask him to - especially if promised a bite of something he really wants after :)

But ever since he first tried it, corn has been one of his favorites.

And now that it's summer time, we have been eating lots of corn-on-the-cob lately. I was just cutting it off for him to eat like normal. But the other night we were eating outside, and he was on Daddy's lap while Daddy was eating it off the cob. After watching Daddy take a few bites, I guess he decided that the next time it came up by his face, he was just going to try, too! It was really cute. So I had to take some pictures.

And he did really well actually getting it off. Mommy was impressed.

We've had it a couple times since then, too, and we just broke the cob in half and he held it and ate it all by himself. Big kid.

Corn-on-the-cob is a definite favorite now!

Sitting with Daddy at supper

Sharing Daddy's corn :)

Eating it right off the cob like a big boy!

Loves corn-on-the-cob!