33.Weeks.Questions.

How far along: 33 Weeks

Total weight gain: According to the doctor, I have gained 21lbs total! I am so proud of myself. :) 

Maternity clothes: Doing pretty good on clothes. Still rocking the over the belly maternity pants. Some of my tank tops are getting a little shorter. 

Stretch marks: Still no new ones. Just rocking the originals... 

Sleep: It is getting harder to fall asleep. Once I get comfortable... about 20 minutes in, I get to figure out how to roll up and go pee. Never ending cycle. 

Best moment of this week: Seeing little baby Edmonds' face in 3D ultrasound pictures and video. She is adorable and chubby. And... my amazing shower in Columbus this past weekend! Success!

Miss anything: I miss being able to do anything quickly or without a tremendous amount of effort. It is a struggle to get up from a lying down position (in bed) to sitting up and getting to the bathroom. Whew! (I am sure it is funny to watch though--I chuckle at my craziness nightly.)

Movement: I am feeling a lot of kicking and it is crazy to see her kicking me. Ready to burst! At the ultrasound, the woman informed me she doesn't have much room to move around. She is in place and ready to go!

Food cravings: Nothing specific. I did have a delicious peanut butter sandwich last night. It seemed to help with heartburn at night too...

Anything making you queasy or sick: Heartburn is still an issue. Couldn't get a good shot of the top of her head to see if she has hair... bummer. 

Have you started to show yet: Definitely showing. The woman made my day at the ultrasound because she said I was ALL baby... and had a little belly for such a big baby girl. 

Gender: Little Lady! <3

Labor signs: nope. 

Belly button in or out: It is weird. It is still in... but looks to be getting more "out". I don't know how to explain that... haha

Wedding rings on or off: on.

Happy or moody most of the time: Happy. I am ready for the kids to get back to school and get the schedule back in order. I appreciate two kids as compared to 4. haha. Plus, the cold temps have us cooped up inside. 

Looking forward to: Finishing my random to do list of baby things, packing my hospital bag, and starting the little nook area by the nursery... :) 

3D Ultrasound Pictures

Here are a few of the pictures from the ultrasound we had on January 6, 2014. Little Baby Edmonds is measuring big... no shock. She is about 5lbs 7oz and around 19 inches long. The woman who did the ultrasound said my belly is so small for such a big baby! And that I am ALL baby. That made me feel pretty good. We got the ultrasound as a Christmas gift from the family I nanny for. It was so cool to see.  Little baby Edmonds is a bit squished to say the least. It was hard for the woman to get a good picture of her. She is already in position... eeek. She said she is very low... and we couldn't even see if she had hair that is how low and ready she is. We did confirm it is a girl! Whew! (I had a nightmare this week it was a boy and I cried because he had no clothes). 

Ok... on to the pictures!

The first shot of little lady's face! (hand by her face like her momma)

All Smiles! She was laughing at our cheek comments. :) 

Then she got offended... haha!

Look at the double cheek on the right... John and I both were very cheeky when we were babies. 

Just chilling. She wasn't too active and I even drank orange juice to try to get her to move... the ultrasound tech said... she doesn't have much room to move!

She smirked a bit for us. I think this was around the time she stuck out her tongue... Fiesty. 

Pursing her lips... Sassy?

Back to relaxing with her hand by her face. 

Here is the best picture we could get of her feet. The squishy thing to the right of the picture is my placenta. It is currently the barrier between her kicking feet and my stomach. I am glad it sustains her life and protects my internal organs from bruising. haha. 

Ultrasona (near Polaris) was a great experience. The room was big enough for many people to join in the fun, it was calm, warm, and had beautiful music. The staff was more than accommodating and very kind. I am excited to see how the face in the picture compares to her face when she is born! <3

-Alexis

Little Baby Edmonds 3D Ultrasound Video

Here is the video of the 3D ultrasound taken on January 6, 2014. It is pretty long. She starts smiling around 5:15ish and then we noticed (actually Kennedy noticed) that around 8:30 she sticks out her tongue, and then she sucks in her lip afterward.

I will post the pictures in another post. :)

Happy Watching!

-Alexis

-Maternity Pictures-

Thank you, again, to Shane Fowler for taking our pictures. These were taken the same time the Christmas ones were, but I changed my outfit to be less holiday! The snow was an added bonus, of course. We are so excited to hang these pictures in her nursery!

Enjoy. 

A few pictures, but I couldn't choose my favorite edit/finish. So I just posted them all. 

There isn't much time until this little lady comes to join our family. 

55 More Days

until

Little Baby Edmonds' 

is due

<3

Happy-New-Year-2014

Well... Welcome to 2014! The year of little baby Edmonds' BIRTH!
Mommy and baby got to sleep in until 9:30. That is 12 hours of amazing sleep. My body needed it!

We took the day pretty slow. I was excited that it was a new year. New beginnings. New babies. New roles. New household dynamics.

Check out these puppies and mommy and little lady. Daddy is surrounded by FOUR girls. Definitely outnumbered.

2014 snuggles

January 1st is also an important day because it is GP's birthday! GP is John's grandpa. This year.. he turned 97! So... we went over to visit him and GG to give them their Christmas gift, birthday gift, and catch up. They love to see a good baby bump.

*GG is always worried about how I have been feeling. She asked again.. I said I was doing good! She said "You only have 8 more weeks to go!" I replied, "I know! It is so close! I can't wait" She responds..."You are going to be HUGE!". Ouch. haha. I was feeling pretty good on my size... haha. <3*

We are blessed again by adding another family member to the Edmonds' clan. Tiffany and Peter (John's brother) are also expecting!! Their little one will be born in late June/early July. So exciting. GP is pulling for a boy!

Opening their maternity picture for Christmas. 

John showing them the nursery on the computer! They loved it! It was so fun to watch them ooh and aah about the details. Hard work pays off!

Happy 97th Birthday GP!

John gave GP an Olentangy baseball hat for his birthday. He loved it. I asked him if he wanted me to hold it while he walked back to his room.. he said, "No, I'll just wear it!" hehe.

GG and GP are so fun to visit. They are full of love, stories, and more love. I had GG feel little baby Edmonds. (Of course I couldn't get her to kick... classic). John showed them pictures on the computer of the nursery. They said it looked nice and even noticed their old table that we re-painted and used in the room. GP is really excited to meet this little lady. I can't wait to take her to see them. Have them hold her and love on her like they love on us! 97 years is a long time to live. I am so glad I got to meet him, and be part of his 97 years. He is an amazing man, full of insight, wisdom, and he has a funny wit to him.

When we got home, we opened up the car seat! John's parents and Aunt Mary Lou and Uncle Bob got us the car seat we have been waiting for! It is perfect. It looks great! I am so excited to use it!!! It looks awesome in the stroller frame too.

so sleek. so light. so safe.

This is the stroller we got online for $75 before we were even pregnant. I just loved the look of the frame and the convenience of it. It is a Maxi-Cosi Foray. It has a seat that snaps in when little baby Edmonds gets bigger and it will hold a large toddler. I think the seat we got looks perfect in it! I am beyond excited! It is so close! <3

Off to bed early. Back to nannying tomorrow. I have missed them. I can't wait to see them and hear all about their Christmas and play with all the new toys! I also can't wait to show Hudson the pictures we took for him of the gems at the museum!

NYC.Day.Five.

Happy New Year's Eve!
We started the day with a BIG breakfast made by dad and Barb. Yumm! Eggs, deer breakfast sausage, and my favorite... crepes with apple butter. (when we were in NYC, we ate granola bars for breakfast that we brought with us to alleviate cost) We enjoyed the wonderful breakfast... then realized we were already behind schedule for the drive home. Yikes. We packed up and headed out!

Special shout out to dad and Barb for letting us sleep at their house, providing us with food, snacks, and  a delicious breakfast. We appreciate it! <3

On our way home we decided to stop at our friend's new house. (Tiffany and Gary) Well... we put in their address and the route was completely different. We ran into some snow, slow drivers, and the strangest road (not really a highway, but not a town road) We finally made it to their house and it is amazing. I love how up to date and unique it is. The fireplace/built-ins are something I am very jealous of! Bailey (their Cane Corso--bought after Adi) was funny when she played with John. She psyched him out for sure! hehe. Go get him, B!

We had a few more stops before we got home. We dropped Courtney off to her boyfriend (thanks for meeting us, Ethan) then we headed to Alissa and Clayton's to gather our Christmas belongings in order to head home.

By the time we got home at around 8pm, we were so excited to see our puppy girls. They were excited to see us too! They are so great to come home to! It would be weird without them. Special shout out to Jamie for watching the puppy girls and taking great care of them! They love their Aunt Jamie... <3

Let the celebrating begin...

eh.

Nevermind. I would rather sleep. I was just in NYC. I don't need to watch it. So.. we were in bed by 9:30.

Goodnight 2013.

NYC.Day.Four.

Day Four brought a sense of exhaustion, relief, and sadness. We were going home. We checked out, checked our bags and headed (for the third attempt) to the Natural History Museum. We headed out early, so we got there and only had to wait in line for about 20 minutes.
*A few learning experiences: 1. You do not HAVE to pay the full $25 admission. It is a suggestion. We gave $10 each. You could even go for free if you want. (but you can't get advance tickets for a lower price) 2. They have a coat check. For $2.00, I was happy to rid myself of my hot coat in the crowded museum. 3. Map out a plan. We went in blindly, and had to sit down for lunch and figure out what we wanted to see.
Here are a few pictures from our visit.

The animals are amazing to see. I must say... we have many of these animals (alive) at the Columbus Zoo. It was funny to see people really excited about an Okapi.. and I have seen them... in person!

This is the Origami Tree that was a feature at the museum

Close up of the origami animals

We took a LOT of Gemstone/Mineral pictures for Hudson. He loves them and would never have left that room. 

With our (Hudson and I's) birthday gemstone, Amethyst. He loved the pictures!

Life-Size Blue Whale (and John)

Elephants on Parade

Courtney and Dum-Dum

So many bones... so little time. 

We left the museum exhausted. We were ready to head home. We checked the bus schedule and figured we could rush and get the 3:30 bus to Allentown. We got on the subway, headed to get our bags and then head to Port Authority Bus Terminal. Well.. it took about 25 minutes to get our bags... ugh... we now had to repeat our day one adventures and RUN to the terminal. Whew! We did so good the entire trip to make sure Courtney was always between us. Well... we both sprinted (and I exaggerate because I can't sprint preggo) and I turned around and didn't see her. Really? 5 minutes left in our trip and I lost her! Gesh! Then... she popped up around a food cart. haha. We ran to the bus terminal and got there with about 10 minutes to spare. We got on the bus, headed back. It was seamless. 

When we got back to Allentown to my dad and Barb's house, we were hungry. We all went out to a Brew House in Allentown. It had really good food and it was nice to sit and talk to dad and Barb about the trip. When we got back to the house... we all were exhausted. We went to bed. 

You wore us out NYC. Nice work!

bus ride home
Dinner at brew works with dad and barb in allentown

Clo