36 weeks

My how the time flies. According to my due date I have only 28 days to go. Crazy!!! I feel ready, yet so unprepared all at the same time. I had my doc appt yesterday. When the nurse went to check the baby's heartbeat she started laughing & said, " the baby keeps kicking me!" We would hear the heartbeat for a second before he would flip/ twist/ rotate over to get away. After about 3 minutes, she finally caught up with him and was able to get a good reading. She did say that I was going to have my hands full. :) I can't wait. The baby's heartbeat was 140 beats/ minute. My belly measured 36 cm exactly so I am right on target & I only gained 1 lb. Woohoo! Now I have to start seeing the doctor every week, so scheduling my appts. with work is going to be a little bit trickier. Oh, I also had to take my Group B strep test. I should have the results next week. I won't give you all the gruesome details but it's a fairly common bacteria found in the digestive/ reproductive tract that is usually harmless in adults but can potentially be passed on to the baby during birth. If I have it, they will just give me an IV of antibiotics when I go into labor.

My mom got me "The Gift" by Willow Tree for Christmas. I love it! It looks just like Clark & I holding a little baby. I've included a picture so I can show it off. Thanks, Mommy!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! For New Year's I get to pick Clark up from the airport. No, seriously. One of his best friends, Jake, just got married yesterday and he is flying back tonight with an expected arrival time of 11:56 pm. I just hope I can stay awake that late. lol.

Happy New Year!

I finished!!!

So, I really wanted a nice wood glider rocker with a matching ottomon for my baby's room, but everything I looked at was soooo expensive. I started searching Craig's list(like a local internet garage sale) and finally found one for a reasonable price but the cover was old and torn in a few places. I have never recovered anything with such weird shaped cushions, but I was bound and determined to have my rocking chair and have it be cute, too. I used a couple of my favorite fabrics that are in the nursery bedding & voila...6 months later a rocker & ottoman that are like new. I even made a matching pillow for my back. So, normally this wouldn't have taken so long but I just kept getting so nervous that I would somehow ruin it, so I had to work up the courage every time I wanted to start working on it. That and the fact that I also had 50 other projects I was working on plus a full-time job. Excuses excuses, right? Anyways, I am finished now and couldn't be happier! Hooray for Craig's List and sewing skills.

Update from the womb

Hi there! It's baby Dray. I just wanted to let you know what I have been up to in here. I'm almost 5 lbs and 18 inches long. It's getting really cramped in here & I am really hungry now (at least that's what mom says). I'm starting to put on fat so I can be super cute & cuddly when I am born. My hearing is fully developed so I already know Mom & Dad's voice as well as all the Christmas songs that Mom listens to on the radio. My lungs still have a few weeks to go so I can breathe on my own when I'm born. After that I should be ready to come out. I still haven't decided when I will make my grand entrance into the world. I guess everyone will have to wait and see. Here's what I look like inside of Mom. No wonder her belly is getting so big.

Nesting

So I have been cleaning like crazy. I think I rearranged the baby's room for the 20th time today. Is that possible? We have a 2 bedroom townhome and up until now the 2nd bedroom has been my craft room/ guest bedroom. Now it's the baby's room/ craft room/ guest bedroom. Needless to say, fitting everything into that room has been quite the design challenge. I think I finally got everything arranged how I want it (of course that's what I thought last week, too). Here is a list of all the furniture I have to fit in the room: a crib, changing table, dresser, bookshelf, x-long twin bed, 4 standing storage chests full of craft stuff. I started the 3rd load of baby laundry today & baby isn't even here yet. I just want everything to be clean and ready to go for when baby gets here. Once everything is all done I will be sure to post pictures.

Random baby Projects

I went crazy at the fabric store when I found out we were having a boy and bought a ton of fabric for various projects. Now I am trying to finish them all before baby comes. The clock is ticking, I know. I finished the baby bedding a couple of weeks ago, but here are some pictures of some other things that I have done:

The first is a baby bib that I knitted. It's 100% cotton, washable, and super soft. I started it when I first found out I was pregnant and finally finished it on Wednesday. I was so proud of myself. It turned out so cute! Baby will not be allowed to eat peas, carrots, or squash with this bib. Haha. Big thanks to Cynthia & Ellen, my knitting buddies. You guys are amazing. Maybe someday I can knit like you.

The second is a lovey, minky, whatever you call it. It's super soft and has all sorts of different textured and colored ribbons for baby to play with. I have seen them in the stores and thought, "I could totally make that". I especially love the geometric spiral design stitched to hold the 2 layers together.

Pregnancy Update

Well, I am almost 34 weeks along now which means only 6 weeks to go. With the Holidays, time is just flying. I just put up the tree this past week and Clark thought it would be the perfect background for a photo update. Clark has his last week of finals this week and I am still working, hoping it will make the time go by faster. But enough about us. Baby Dray is still healthy and ACTIVE!!! He keeps me up every night with his crazy acrobatic moves & kicks. I think he is in denial that he is running out of room because he refuses to stay still and is constantly changing positions. Of course I can't complain because any movement is a sign of a healthy baby. At my last doctor's appointment, the doctor told me to pick an hour out of every day to do fetal kick counts. I am supposed to lie down and count the number of kicks/ movements he makes in an hour. Once I count 10 movements, I can stop. Lucky for me, I usually don't have to wait longer than 5-10 minutes before he has met his quota. I have a feeling that I will have my hands full once this little guy starts crawling & walking.
Clark & I have been taking Childbirth classes at the hospital we are planning to deliver at. So far it's been really informative and have really enjoyed the time that Clark and I have been able to spend together. My favorite part is the relaxation techniques, especially when Clark gives me a massage. :) Thanks, honey! That's it for now.

Old News

Here is a letter I sent out a few weeks ago providing some info about the pregnancy. I'm now 31 weeks pregnant...

I am officially 26 ½ weeks pregnant now, which means I only have about 3 months to go! Woohoo! January 28^th is my expected due date. The baby is about 14 inches long and 1 ¾ lbs now. He sure feels a lot bigger when he is doing flips inside of me. It makes me jump sometimes when he starts squirming around. He is definitely going to be a ball full of energy when he is born.

So far everything is moving right along. Both ultrasounds have showed a healthy baby boy, so the Dray family tradition continues. I just hope he is as handsome as his daddy. I got my flu shot about a week and a half ago, but came down with some yucky stomach bug this weekend. I guess you can’t prevent everything, huh.

I haven’t had any really strange cravings although the baby does seem to prefer wholesome foods like vegetables. Hey, at least it’s healthy! Mom still craves sweets, so I have had to tame my sweet tooth a bit. I have to take a routine gestational diabetes test at my next doctor’s visit. I am certainly not looking forward to that at all. They make you drink this glucose drink and then test your blood 1 hr. later to see how your body handles the sugar. Hopefully, everything will go well.

In the meantime I am still working full time and trying to prepare for the baby. I decided to sew all the baby’s bedding myself, which has proven to be more than I bargained for. All my sewing projects are keeping me busy. So far I have finished the crib skirt, the bumper (just finished today) and the quilt top. I need to put the backing on the quilt. I also am making some burp cloths, changing pads, and stuffed monsters and toys for baby to play with. Phew! Thank goodness for Joann’s coupons.

Last weekend a friend and I went to a huge baby garage sale in our area. It was at a local school and there were 2 gyms packed full of baby stuff. I found a really good swing, some toys, and lots of clothes. There are some things, though, that we just won’t buy used, like a car seat, breast pump, and diaper pails (yuck!). For those things and more, Clark & I registered at Babies ‘R Us and Target. Check it out if you are interested.

We will keep you posted as things progress. We love you all!

Kristin and Clark