Complaints from a 9 month pregnant girl

I have made it through 261 days. I have 19 days to go-I shouldn't complain. I am complaining. I am in pain-so much pain. The only thing that I can compare it to is a broken rib like pain. No, I have never broken a rib, but this must be what it feels like. I am only pain free when completely laying down. I can maintain a level of pain tolerance if I am sitting. Walking is becoming difficult and, at times, totally embarrassing.

Today I was (again) attempting to get some Christmas shopping done at Target. I repeatedly had to stop and bed over in a pathetic attempt to remove my child's foot/leg/knee from my rib cage. I think that the other customers thought I was crazy or felt bad for me...by the time I started to remove clothing (don't freak out it was only a fleece) thinking that this would help the discomfort (don't ask-it just seemed like it would help) all shoppers had definitely jumped on the 'look at that weird girl' train.

As I was driving home I started to remember having this same problem with Brooke. After she was born and I got back to my former self, I realized that my rib cage and permanently been altered. At first this kind of freaked me out and I was upset. My ribs seriously stuck out farther then they did before and they were not going back! I totally got over it, though, because I thought this actually may help make me look smaller...I had some kind of logic to this theory. I also thought that if I was to have another baby, it would totally be easier because I now had more room. I was wrong. Maybe this child has huge feet or extremely long legs-I am not sure-either way...it-hurts-bad.

One more complaint-contractions. Low-lying, stop you in your tracks, think that the baby may be born right here-right now-in the middle of Target (I spend a great deal of my time there) contractions. I keep trying to tell my body to chill out. We have a date-things are planned and I need 19 days. The baby's room is not ready. I still have a laundry list of Babies R Us shopping and Christmas shopping to complete. Our cars need oil changes and to be cleaned (yes-both important to me prior to babies arrival....I don't want people to judge us by our filthy cars when they help install the car seat! You know they would judge....I would judge....). My body's reply to my request? Here's another one-have fun :)

So there you have it-my rant and rave for the weekend. I promise to try and get a better attitude by Monday-it will all depend on whether or not another foot has decide to invade my rib cage.

Last Ultrasound

We had our last ultrasound today. When I look back on the beginning of this pregnancy (first ultrasound being in April) it seems to have gone by SO fast...but these last 3 weeks seem to be going by SO slow...

Our update today was great! The baby measured 5 pounds 13 ounces...so almost 6 pounds. The good news (as of Tuesday) was that I hadn't gained any more weight since my appointment the week before. I totally made up for it by eating extra that day so I am sure it will all catch up to me by next week :) My grand total thus far has been 23 lbs-can't wait to have to start working that off....The ultrasound also told us that baby girl has a full head of hair! I asked if they knew what color but apparently that technology is not available just yet :) I am curious to see if she comes out with a full head of dark straight hair just like Brooke---22 days will tell us!

I still have SO much left to do before December 3rd. I have a major trip that I need to make to Babies R Us to pick up some 'essentials.' I also need to wrap up my Christmas shopping as my time will be limited come December. I hope that baby girl doesn't try and stir things up by arriving earlier then her scheduled time-I am a bit OCD when it comes to organization and things already being on the calendar. We shall see!!! Only 6 appointments left to go :)

Brooke's New Room :)

We have taken the plunge and had Brooke sleep in her 'big girl' bed since Sunday. We had tried to get her to sleep in the new room before, but she was not interested. Last Saturday after a very fun Halloween, she attempted (almost successfully) to escape from her crib. That was the final straw-she went into the twin bed cold turkey and has been sleeping through the night ever since! So far, she thinks that it is against the rules to get out of the bed without Gary or me coming in the room first...we will see how long that lasts :)

Speaking of Brooke's new room...at some point in time (maybe two months ago) I had promised some updated pictures.

I am not in love with the guard rails, but at this point they are necessary. After a couple months I think that I am going to take them off-I can live with them for now.

Isn't the headboard fun?? My mom and Gary made it for Brooke. I would like to say that I helped...but I really didn't.

The quilt was a HUGE find off of Craigs list ($20). It is from Pottery Barn and only a few year old. It was in great condition and literally one block over from our house. I was able to find the matching pillow sham off of Ebay for only $10!!

My friend Marci gave us the perfect color and size lamp to go on Brooke's night stand. This was such a help since I had already spent many shopping trips looking for one with zero success.

The only real 'issue' that I had was the bed skirt. It really wouldn't have been a problem, however, Gary decided to lower Brooke's bed. Again-this wouldn't have been a problem, but the bed (that my parents loaned us) was not able to be lowered...so Gary's solution was to saw off part of the legs....my parents loved this news :) The height actually works great for Brooke-not so much for a standard size bed skirt! I was able to use some pins and get it to the right height. I think that it works.

The dresser still needs to be organized and cleaned up a bit. It was hard to find an angle to take the picture without catching myself in the mirror-not a pretty sight right now :)

I found this little shelf at Hobby Lobby for around $10. It works great for all of Brooke's bows and her backpack.

I had been searching at stores looking for some art to hang on Brooke's walls and I found two really cute pieces through Etsy. I think that they are both adorable Brooke LOVES them!!

I found this one at Lemon Drop Studio. You can visit them here. You get to pick all of your colors, fonts, etc. Brooke was totally excited to see this elephant in her room (her current favorite animal)!! What is even more amazing then the adorable art they have to offer is there turn-around time..it is unreal. I ordered this print Sunday evening and that same night I had a proof!! The next day it was already in the mail!!

This second print I found at Babybyrds. You can visit them here. How cute is this!! You are able to really customize your order picking background color, letter font/color as well as accent (I went with the adorable bird). They also have TONS of prints for adults too-there is one I have my eye on for our family room once new baby girl makes her arrival . Did I mention their customer service too? I immediately heard back from them and had a proof ASAP! Being in the retail field, there is nothing like good customer service to make you want to come back for more :)

The room is still a work in progress and I'm sure it will continue to be for awhile. Right now Brooke is happy and sleeping in her bed throughout the night...which makes me happy :)

Happy Halloween!

This Halloween we were lucky enough to have Amy, Joe, Jack, Lily, Tracie and Maggie over to celebrate! The boys (and Aunt Maggie) took the kids trick-or-treating while Amy, Tracie and met stayed back to hold down the fort and hand out candy to the many trick-or-treaters I was sure that we would have....We had around 4 kids come by the house...needless to say, we have TONS of candy left over...not good for me.

Little Flower ready to go trick-or-treating!

Back with her candy!

Lily totally needs to show Brooke how it is done.

I swear she and Jack had double if not triple the amount of candy that Brooke did...and they went together!!

Buzz Light Year trying to save us from the 'evil' black sheep. He was successful-thank you Jack.

Brooke-totally freaked out by the Black Sheep..she warmed up to her eventually.

Other news? Brooke slept in her new room and big girl bed for the last two nights!! It is worth of a total post of its own..coming later with pics of the new room.

Brooke turns TWO!!

Brooke officially turned the big 2 on Sunday. We celebrated with the Flemings while also celebrating Brooke's Grandma Mary (GiGi)'s birthday and Gary's cousin Kevins. She had a GREAT time!

It is totally hard for me to belive that she is actually two years old and about to be a big sister. Time has totally flown by...hopefully these next 37 days will too :) Gary took Brooke for her two year check-up yesterday and she is 34 inches tall and weighs 25 pounds. She is around the 73% for height (not a Johnson trait) and the 43% for weight (also not from her mother).

I always think that it is fun to take a quick look at her month-by-month pictures to see how much she has changed. I think that she has grown up so much!

Brooke Year Two

13 months

14 months

15 months

16 months

17 months

18 months

19 months

20 months

21 months

22 months

23 months

24 months!


Happy Birthday Brooke!!!

ONE...Singular Sensation...

I have been so, so lucky the past 28 years to have known someone so amazing as Mary Jerry Geraldine Johnson. My Grandma was one special lady and made sure that each and every one of her five children, 3 daughter-in-laws, 2 son-in-laws, 11 grand-children (plus spouses!) and 7 great-grand-children knew how 'FABULOUS' they were.

I have so many memories of my grandma-she was so involved in everything we all did. She came to every dance recital (and danced and cheered the loudest from the crowd-no exaggeration here), never missed a birthday and while most of my friends were in Cancun for Senior year Spring Break, I was in Naples FL with Gary and my Grandparents-how amazing is that?!!

She taught us to appreciate and respect all Broadway shows-although we had to wait until we were 18 before we could play them on the player piano (do you know how many bad words pop up in A Chorus Line??!!)! I owe all my show-tune knowledge to her.

All of us were her 'sugars' and knew how important all of our relationships were to her. She is ONE woman that has huge impact on my life and I will never forget all of our amazing times together.

Everytime I hear New York, New York, I will think of my Grandma Mary Jerry and know that she is dancing her heart out with many loved ones while keeping watch over us all :)

5,6,7,8.........

It's a Date!

I had a check up today with my OB and he set a date for my c-section! He gave me the option of choosing either the 3rd of December or the 8th of December-this was a no brainer. I had been hoping that the 3rd would be an option (Grandpa Buchheit's birthday) so I picked 12/03/2009 right away :) I am so excited to have a date-I tend to be a bit OCD. (In case you noticed-the 'baby ticker' has been updated to reflect the new date :)) There is always a chance that I could go earlier (36 + weeks would be the very earliest, though) but I never went into labor with Brooke so I think that we will make it to our 'due' date with no problem.

Also-for those of you still wondering about the babies name-yes, Gary has given me the 'go ahead' on name choice #2. I am going to give those of you that DON'T want to know the babies name before December 3rd a chance to leave the blog now....




Are you gone Dad??




One last chance.....




Ok-some people (not me) like surprises. After much back-and-forth, Gary and I both settled on Caroline Marie. Not to be confused with Carolyn. I have always had Caroline in a top 3 position and Marie is my mom's middle name as well as my sister Amy's so it works perfect. Let the countdown continue.....