The Nursery

So we started painting this weekend. By we, I mean Dan.  :)  Our plan was to get started as early as possible on Saturday and work the whole day through. Out of everything we had planned the 3 days that I was off of work, I was by far the most excited about this adventure! Unfortunately, things do not always go as planned and this was no exception. We didn't get started until late into the afternoon, but none the less, it was started. AND I was kicked out of the painting process by Dan and Momo. Not something I had planned on, but I gave in and let Dan have the pleasure. Here are our before pictures. Not much to see yet but some white walls. It was really difficult to capture good angles in this room because it is so small. So here's the best I could get.

This is the far left corner of the room if you are standing in the doorway. It's the only window in the room.

This is the view if you are standing by the window looking at the doorway. :) Pretty straight forward. The door on the right is our little man's closet, which is still needing to be cleaned out.

No we are not painting our white walls white! :) Although it looks very light, it is a medium gray. We love it. It turned out beautiful!

So here is our master painter Larry (grandpa) teaching Dan how to properly paint. As you can see, Dan is intently listening.

This is the first paint stroke in baby boy's room!!! YAY!!

Dan getting ready to test his newly found skills.

BAM! Dan's first paint stroke!!

This is the day after. Dan was able to finish one wall. We lost sunlight early since we started so late. :(  Dan made sure to do it all himself. He wants to know how to paint, so he needed the practice. He said it's a lot harder than he thought it was. Larry was very patient with him and gave lots of good pointers. It looks amazing! I think we may have another master painter in the making!

Although it is still early, I am having some crazy nesting tendencies. I have been cleaning all kinds of things in the house. Everywhere I look there is always one more thing to add to the list to clean or organize. This past Thursday after we spent hours at Babies R Us registering (which we stopped because my feet were throbbing and Dan's previously mentioned panic attack,) I came home and did literally 9 loads of laundry. I cleaned out the entire laundry room and reorganized my closet. I also tackled one kitchen drawer reorganization as I was getting ready to go to bed because it was getting on my nerves. I told a friend at work that coming into work lately has been my "off time" and being off from work has been my "work time". It is the truth. It is to the point where I feel like work is getting in the way of my life. Or at least how I want to spend my days.  Dan and I pack so much into my days off it is ridiculous. We are constantly running all day, and night. That Thursday cleaning fit kept me up until 4am! I don't mind at all though. I really enjoy doing things for this baby. I love it actually. I was folding towels on my belly. =) I have so many aspirations for the house, so it will be perfectly prepared for when this little one comes. This is me being realistic, I know that when he gets here I won't be able to get anything done. I would rather work now and relax later, instead of him being here and me feeling like I have all these projects I want to tackle. I have a long to do list, and I am really hopeful that I will get them done. I may have to enlist some help from certain aunts, uncles and grandparents though! ;) Thankfully we are surrounded by a wonderful community of family and friends that I know will be there for us in any way that they can. Dan and I are both so very grateful for that. So that's what's happening on the homefront. We are planning on purchasing our crib set this week with the help of Nana and Papa. We will post pictures as soon as the nursery is finished being painted and the crib is set up! These are exciting times!!  XOXOXOXOX

22 Weeks!

We started off our day with an appointment with our Perinatalogist. Everything looked great! Baby boy was moving all over during the ultrasound, so we didn't get very many good pictures. He printed a lot but they only gave us two, and those two weren't very good. Momo said that she didn't like the one that was a close up on his face, and neither did we really. All you could see were the bone structures, which looks a little scary. So we won't post that one. :( We were able to get very brief glimpses of what he looks like, and he was super cute! It was just that a second later he would move, or the Dr. would move and then we would see just bone structures again. Maybe next time we'll get a better look at him. Speaking of this ultrasound, it hurt! The doctor wasn't pushing all that hard on my belly, but it was sore when he was doing it. I couldn't believe it! Anyhow. Here is the other picture we have of him. It's a profile shot, but of course he is turning away!

He is growing great! He is now 1 pound 2 ounces!!! Isn't that crazy!!! I think that's really crazy! Mom has officially gained 15 pounds at this point. Don't really know where all that weight is going, but as long as he is getting what he needs I don't care. He is moving ALL THE TIME. I have been on the receiving end of some really crazy kicks, and so has Dan. Some have even been painful and made me jump. He keeps switching positions in there. This time he was breech. I knew he was hanging all on the right side of my belly, because that side is noticeably bigger than the left. I was correct! He was basically sitting up on the right side with his legs stretched out to the left side, and his little booty sitting at the bottom. :) It is still super early and he still has lots of room to move, so there is absolutely no concern with him being breech. So don't worry! Dr. Reiter checked his neck for a goiter and there was nothing! So still doing great there, please continue praying that there will be no goiter development at all. His heart rate was in the 140's, nice and healthy. So he looked wonderful and I have my next ultrasound scan in 4 weeks.

I am looking more and more pregnant everyday, which I love. I feel wonderful, besides the occasional heartburn or sleepless night. It is really weird to be trying to go to sleep, and feeling him move all over my belly. A bit distracting to say the least. BUT I LOVE IT. Dan and I are working hard at getting as much prepared as is possible for us too. We are still working on completing our registry. This is a lot more work than we were thinking it would be. We have a great time doing it, but can only do it for a couple of hours and then we MUST leave. I have to get out of there because my feet are throbbing and I'm starving. Dan needs to leave because he gets completely overwhelmed at random times and in random sections of the store. This last time for him it was the bedding section. He looked like a deer in headlights and just kept repeating, "I'm done, I'm done. We need to leave. Now. We have to leave now. " It's quite comical. We have made at least 3 or 4 trips thus far and we are not done refining yet. We will keep you updated though. Our plan for this weekend is to get the nursery painted!  Then hopefully we can work it out to get the crib set delivered by next weekend. We will see if we hit our goals. :)  But for now, some belly pictures!

For some reason blogger will not allow for my pictures to align center. Don't ask my why.

But now they will. Go figure.

This picture is just pure ridiculous.

21 Weeks!

Just because I love my little baby belly, and it was looking quite large today...

I'm pale. :)

Had to add the sweater, we were having a little see through problem.

Yay baby boy!!!

So we were out shopping for little boy yesterday with Momo. I was checking out some pretty good sales and trying to figure out what size shorts I wanted to get, and if I wanted to get shorts for him in the first place. For some reason in my mind, the sizing question could only be answered one way.  By doing this.... (reenactment :)

Of course, Ma'am was not there. My ridiculous face is probably about dead on, though. Once I realized what I was doing. Don't ask me why I held them up to my waist to see their size, I have no clue. Pregnancy brain, or Polish brain. Either one fits well here.

We're off to register more! Be praying embarrasing scenarios like this don't take place. Or do, because you know I'll share them. Love you all! xoxoxoxoxox

It's Official

My conversation with Dan when we got up today:

Me:  I waddle, Dan.
        It's official, I'm a waddler.

Dan: (Points at me)
        WADDLER!
        (Promptly leaves the room)

I love my husband. <3

20 5/7 Weeks

Your Baby at 20 Weeks:

Your baby has established sleep patterns akin to a newborn now. Many babies even have a favorite sleep position already. Some snooze with their chins resting on their chests, while others nap with their head flung back. Many babies at this age fall into noticeable cycles of sleep and activity, so you may know before she arrives whether you have a night owl or an early bird.

If your baby is a boy, the testes have begun descending from the pelvis into the scrotum.

From this point forward, your baby will put most of his energy into gaining weight and, not coincidentally, so will you! Right now your baby weighs approximately 10½ ounces and is about 6½ inches long, about the size of a can of Red Bull (which has way too much caffeine for a pregnant woman to be drinking).

Don't even get me started on caffeine!! I digress. I love reading about where baby is developmentally! We definitely have a night owl on our hands. Which is completely alright by Dan and I. We too loathe mornings. This baby sleeps all morning. Except for the occasional position change during a meal or something, he just sleeps away. The entire evening and into the wee hours of the morning, he is moving around in there and giving some really good kicks. Just like right now. He has just been kicking away in there! So fun!

Speaking of sleep, I haven't been having the best time of that. I used to come home from work exhausted and pass out immediately as my head hit the pillow. I would sleep, usually in the same position, until my alarm woke me up. Now, it's a different story. : / I still come home exhausted and pass out immediately, BUT I am waking up all the time. I change positions because my back hurts, and that solves the problem until 45 minutes to an hour passes. Back and forth, back and forth. It all equals very unrestful sleep. At this point I am not supposed to be sleeping on my back(because it can cut off blood supply to the placenta), which of course is now the most comfortable sleep position!(I'm a strict side sleeper by nature). Sometimes I wake up and realize I am on my back, and in my sleepy stupor I think...must...move...no sleeping....on back... Pregnancy never leaves you! Even whilst sleeping, I am well aware of this little boy growing inside of me. I may have to give in here and buy the highly recommended snoogle Jess keeps telling me about.

Other than the weird sleep, and my neck and back hurting, I feel wonderful. I only get nauseous if it is a little bit past time to eat. Other than that, I am able to eat a large array of foods, and all without throwing up! Much improved! I have been suffering from pregnancy rhinitis for a while now. Which just means that my nasal passages are swollen from the increased amount of blood I now have circulating. It makes my nose feel stuffed and itchy, exactly as if I am suffering from the worst allergies in the world. :( I am pretty used to it at this point, but it still stinks. One amazing benefit that I have been enjoying to the max is how awesome pregnancy makes my hair!!! It is thicker and shinier, and much more manageable. I barely have to do anything to it. I LOVE IT. I hope it stays and the stuffy nose goes after this little boy makes his appearance.

Can you believe that in a couple months time Dan and I are going to have our son here??? I can't believe it. I am beyond excited about that, I really really can't wait to hold him in my arms. BUT I am really enjoying pregnancy. I think that it has been moving at a perfect pace. It hasn't been going to fast, or too slow. Just right.

Dan and I have picked out our crib set, and are now just waiting to purchase until we can get a great deal from Babies R Us. We have also decided on our "nursery theme" and have picked out the bedding and all the accessories. I even have that registry complete. So I am feeling a lot less anxious, and a lot more accomplished. Now we are just waiting for a day where Dan and I can physically go to Babies R Us and register for all the other "baby things". I find that I really like to put things in parantheses or quotations. " :) "

Just a quick "Good Morning" from baby boy and I. Hope this finds you well, and that you have a marvelous day!

20 WEEKS!!!

So I am 20 weeks into my first pregnancy! Technically half way done, and maybe even more than half way done! I have enjoyed every minute of it, even the being sick part. To a degree. I didn't mind it only because I knew being sick meant that baby was growing and my body was doing what it needed to promote that. I keep looking in the mirror amazed at my belly growth. It makes me tear up to know that this is finally happening. I AM PREGNANT! There is a beautiful little life growing inside of me. I feel so very blessed and thankful to God. He taught me how to love, and it is only because of Him that I can love my son with this immense consuming love. It has completely overtaken me. I love it.

Something awesome happened the other day when we went shopping at Babies R Us. Dan actually parked here. I had to wait until I was 20 weeks before my husband willingly parked in this spot, which is so clearly marked for me! Crooked, but nonetheless marked for me. That'll be mine.

So in honor of the half way mark, some belly shots!! It makes me a little sad to see the pictures, I feel they don't do my belly justice! It seems way bigger in person. ;) I guess y'all can be the judge of that. At this point I have officially gained 10 pounds!

I thought that the white shirt might not have been picking up the actual size, so I decided to show the purple to pick up some contrast. BABY BELLY!

YAY!!!

Ma'am always stands behind me whenever we take belly shots. Sounds similar to body shots, but totally different in meaning. ;) I'm ridiculous I know.

You see something missing? I had to take the belly ring out. The piercing was getting stretched and it was so tight! It feels A mazing to have nothing in there. AND you can see my actual belly button. It used to look like the end of a balloon. Now the inside is flat.  !!!!!  You can see an actual circle in there, a flat circle! Pregnancy is CRAZY. My belly button is going to continue to get flatter and flatter, and maybe even turn into an outie. :/ Not sure how I feel about that.

So the shoping has begun. We all know that we enjoy the baby clothes shopping the most, so Dan and I couldn't resist some ridiculously cute outfits. This is a perfect place to document firsts, so here are our baby boys first outfits for your viewing pleasure(and my ocd nature).

These are the first outfits that I bought(obviously), and I couldn't resist the shoes! BAH!

These are the first outfits that Dan picked out(obviously).

I picked out that sweater in the back at a later date, but of course its all sports gear for daddy's little boy! Funny story about this man. He talked non-stop about how babies don't really need clothes because they grow out of them too quickly. He believes(I use this word lightly) babies should just wear diapers and nothing else til they stop growing so fast, then they can have some clothes. :) So we found out we were having a boy for sure and decided to peruse the aisles at Target. I was immediately drawn to my outfits, pictured above and HAD to have the shoes as well. I'm sure you all agree it was a necessary purchase. Dan picked out his outfits right away and started looking for shoes. I explained that the baby doesn't need to have shoes for every outfit. Dan explained, "But there are 3 outfits here, so the shoes will go with 3 different outfits. He has to have shoes for his outfits." So much for the miser. ;)

On the left is the first outfit from Momo and Grandpa to our little boy. On the right is the first outfit from Uncle John and Aunt Jess for their little nephew! Super cute! Thanks so much!

There were some great sales going on after the Holidays on Spring boy's clothes. (I didn't want to buy a lot of newborn clothing since we will be receiving a lot of that size at showers and such.) I had to buy clothes for a one year old so they would fit him by next Spring.  A ONE YEAR OLD. That sounds crazy, but I could not resist. Look at how ridiculously cute these are. All with little shorts to match!

The backs of the lion and gator shirt! So stinkin cute!!

As you can already tell, we are VERY EXCITED about this little baby. He is kicking me right now! ;) I love it! We have started to make room for baby. And when I say we, I mean Dan. He has started cleaning out his drum room(aka our, we don't know where this goes, let's put it in the drum room, room).  That way we can move all of the things that are currently in the guest room  into the old "drum room." He has made a ton of progress in just one day. We can actually see the floor now!! Next step move the guest bed in. Then baby boy's room will be ready for paint! We have decided on some things that we like as far as baby necessities go, so starting a registry is on our short list. We are busy busy bee's! It's so much fun!

So... It's been a while, has it??

I keep hearing that it has been a while since I've last blogged. Guilty as charged. It has been a very busy couple of days(weeks?really?) And honestly, I haven't really wanted to get on the computer and post things. Especially not from home. My computer, as previously mentioned, is the worst. That is a deterrent in itself, and I also really enjoyed spending time with my hubby. Who wants to blog when you can be doing that??

My lack of blogging, however, is no reflection of a lack of bloggable events. Just of a lack of motivation. So, let me sum up for you what has been going on in the busy Payne household since I last left you before Christmas.

First and foremost: I had my Thyroid levels drawn the week of Christmas and I was called by the office the next day with the results. ALL OF MY LEVELS ARE NORMAL!! Praise the Lord!!!! A Christmas miracle!! God is so good. Thank you for all of your prayers. I am to continue on my current medication doses and will be rechecked in 6-8 weeks! Anyhow, back to CHRISTMAS!

I worked many, many nights in a row surrounding and including the Christmas Holiday. In this was included a lack of very well needed and well appreciated, sleep.

Dan and I spent the Christmas holiday at Jess and John's house with Maddie, Marcie and Larry. We had a wonderful morning opening presents together, as we do every year. =) I love family time.

The 26th of December was spent celebrating a certain special little girls 2nd birthday. I can't believe Maddie's 2! I had a wonderful time there, unfortunately Uncle Dan had to play at church and was unable to attend. =(

I worked a couple more nights, and tried to steal some hours of sleep here and there. My mom and her husband George came in for a visit on the 29th. They stayed with Dan and I, and our dogs, plus one of Marcie's and Larry's.  :) George loved that. Matt came and stayed with us New Years Eve through the 2nd of January. So we had a very full house, it was great. We all had a great time laughing and playing games. We did not take any pictures. :( I was too tired to think most of the time, with the staying up late, and getting up early (for a night shift person). But we did have a wonderful time. It's always great having out of town family in town. Unfortunately, the weather here was kind of cold their entire stay, and rainy. But we made the best of it.

December 30th was a very memorable day for multiple reasons:

Dan and I had our first appointment with our new OB on December 30th. I wasn't nervous to meet her, but as mentioned above I had worked many nights in a row, had family just arrive into town and was working off of maybe 3 hours of sleep?? Needless to say, I wasn't my normal cheery, excited self. The most excited I got was thinking about my wonderfully comfortable bed. =) The people that worked at the office were very nice. They were helpful and cheery, like they enjoyed their job and were happy to be there. What a change from the midwives office! OB Office:1 point. We met with the doc and she was very nice. She was personable and seemed to know her stuff. She was very thorough, and went through a long history with both Dan and I. I kind of blanked during the questions part. I didn't ask all of the questions I wanted too, but there is always next appointment. I felt weird asking her about the possibility of going back to the midwives if everything went well with the remainder of the pregnancy. Like I was going to hurt her feelings or something. :/ I'll have to get to that at the next appointment. Despite as wonderful and kind as she was, I still longed for the midwives. Midwives Office: 1 point. I feel like I didn't even really take this appointment seriously because I felt like I was still a patient of theirs, not hers. Sigh.

Anyhow, she measured my tummy and listened to baby boy with the fetal doppler. Heart rate was still in the 150's and sounded great. She mentioned that my Perinatalogist had sent over the results of my anatomical ultrasound and that everything was perfect. I was somewhat hoping that she would want to take a look at baby boy since she has never seen him before, and he is a sight to behold. ;) Well, he is. But she seemed perfectly comfortable with taking our word for it instead. She asked if I had been feeling him move at all, and boy have I. I feel him move ALL DAY! It is the most amazing thing ever! I absolutely love it, I have been loving pregnancy so much. Every movement I tell someone about. It never gets old. He is kicking me as I type. =) I am scheduled to see her again in 4 weeks.

That evening:

One noteworthy point worth mentioning: on the evening of December 30th my mom and I went shopping at the Kroger across the street. Whilst in line checking out, a random lady, A STRANGER, was checking out in front of us. I haven't gotten to the mentionable part yet. She turned around and looked at me and said, and I quote, "Look at you popping out! You've got a little one on the way, huh?" To which I replied, "Yes, yes I do. He's finally started to pop out and show more. It's really exciting!" "She asked, "How far along are you?" At the time I was 18 almost 19 weeks, so I told her. She looked astonished. She said, "Well, you've got a long way to go yet!!" Not sure how to take that. BUT I was so excited that someone, who does not know me, knew that I was pregnant just by looking at me. JUST BY LOOKING AT ME. This was a monumental moment. I no longer just have chubs people, I look pregnant. !!!!!!!!! WOOT!!

Later on that night:

We were watching movies sitting on the couch. Pretty sure I was eating. When am I not? Baby boy was giving some really good kicks. I put my hand on my belly to see if I could feel it, and I could! Dan and mom were able to feel baby kicking for the first time that night! It was so awesome! He would be a little shy at first, but then he would just kick away. He literally kicked for a couple of hours on and off. I couldn't believe how awake and active he was! He is definitely a night owl like mom and dad. He sleeps most of the morning away and is crazy active at night. A couple of days later I realized that the reason baby boy may have been so active was perhaps in reaction to my illegal coke slush I had at Target earlier that day. SSHHH! Don't tell Dr. Krishna! Poor baby rarely ever gets exposed to caffeine. So I imagine he was bouncing off the walls in there.

Baby boy is most active as previously mentioned in the evenings. Also whenever I am due to eat I will get a few kicks like he's saying, "What are you waiting for?" He also kicks the entire time that I am eating. I imagine he's doing a dance in there cuz he is so excited about the food. He's taking after his dad already! ;) He also for some reason kicks EVERY time I am feeding a baby at work. Jealous much? =) I love this little guy so much it's unbelievable.

Since we have had our anatomical ultrasound and they have confirmed that it is a boy, Dan and I have started the shopping extravaganza. We have only bought a few outfits to date, but have our eye on a crib set, that we are waiting to go on sale. We are pretty sure about our stroller/car seat/high chair as well. I just have to do some consumer report look ups and that will make or break the deal. We spent this past Monday at Babies R Us browsing around. We were both exhausted by the end it. Really, really exhausted. I was asleep on the couch at 8pm, and I had to work to stay up that long. With all this excitement, I have neglected my rest to make sure to do everything that needed to be done. Thank goodness for today, I was able to sleep in til 11. I feel much better and am back into the grind of work already. Good thing I love my job. Of course I would much rather be home, but who wouldn't?

Did I mention yet that I love being pregnant?