35 weeks!

I can't believe we are so close to the end!  We only have 5 weeks, or 35 days until our baby girl is due!  It's a surreal feeling thinking that sometime in the next month I will become a mother, Michael will become a father, and we will have our very own daughter here in our arms to love and care for.  It is the greatest responsibility we could have gotten ourselves into.  What a blessing this little girl is to us!  She is going to make us into worthwhile human beings.  :)  She is going to be our reason to get up and face each day.  I cannot wait to have her in our arms and in our lives.  :)

When I woke up this morning, our sweet baby girl had the hiccups.  Michael spoke to her and she gave him a couple kicks.  Then he kissed her and told her he loved her.  He told me he had been thinking about the time when I go back to work around the holidays and he will have time alone with her.  He's got big plans of what they will do together.  It's very obvious the things that are valued in our household: education, love, literacy, and music were what Michael discussed.  :)  He plans to read to her, childrens books and others.  He plans to play his violin for her.  He also plans to play her some "good music for once".  :P  He doesn't like that I generally only play and sing country to her.  But hey, I'm baking her, so I get to do what I want!  ;)  He's also planning on simply holding her and watching her sleep, letting the puppies get to know her and love on her, and learning more about his beautiful daughter.  He's so excited to be a dad!  He's going to do so great!  He already has a nickname picked out for her, which I love.  When I journal about her I call her by that name.  She has such a beautiful name.  I hope it fits her well.  :)

We bought a couple more bins for our bookshelf/dresser yesterday.  Things are slowly coming together as we get our registry finished off and the rest of her stuff bought.  There are just a few key items that we really need to get before she arrives: a monitor, bottles, and a swing.  We have been on the lookout for these items, and we can generally get decent sales on things, but I think we'll wait until after the baby shower to see if any of those big ticket items come off.

I'm anxious for our last baby shower to be here so we can see what we still have left to get and can finish the nursery.  Only 2 weeks left until the shower!  We are so blessed to have such a wonderful church family who wants to love on us and share in celebrating our baby girl.  :)  I can't wait to introduce her to them.  They are so wonderful and mean a great deal to our lives.  I feel at ease with the idea of raising our baby girl at Countryside.  I know it will be a great place for a woman of God to grow, mature, and learn.  Can't wait to see the woman she becomes.  :)

Well, I think that's about all I've got for this morning.  I'm going to go work on cleaning my house, packing for the weekend, and getting the nursery ready for the arrival of my daughter!  :D  Happy 35 weeks to my family, and a happy Friday to all of you.  Have a wonderful and safe weekend! 
Love,
Jen, Michael, and Baby Voss.  :D

Let's Do This!

8 hours of work are all that stand between me and my weekend of family, football, friends, and Ren Fest!  Wooohoooo!  I CAN'T WAIT!!!!  I have been looking forward to K-State football starting up again for some time now.  I remember being up in Manhattan and there were so many hot games, and in the student section you had to stand for virtually the entire game.  But going back now we sit with the Alumni.  We get to sit and enjoy the game.  We don't have the sun in our eyes half the game.  And the game we're attending this weekend is an evening game, so it won't be hot out!  We'll get a whole day in Manhattan to wonder around and remember the amazing town that it is.  We'll take plenty of pictures to remember our last trip to the Little Apple before our Little Girl arrives.  It's going to be so much fun!  Manhattan holds a special place in Michael's and my heart, as it was where we first got to know each other (not where we met though), where we began dating, where Michael asked me to be his wife, where we planned our wedding, where we lived after we got married, where we grew up into the people we are today.  Manhattan had a huge hand in shaping the people that we are today.  I love Manhattan and am greatly looking forward to our return visit!  :)

This weekend we'll also get a little more family time with Michael's family before the baby comes.  We have to make more of an effort to see them and spend time with them since they live farther away.  That's why I'm looking forward to being in Topeka, staying with Glenn and Linda, seeing Nathan and Chelsey, and visiting Nick and Maggie.  We probably won't see any of Michael's family again for another 5 weeks or so until the baby is born.  Hopefully they will all be able to make it to town on the day she arrives to welcome her to the world.  But if not, we understand.  It's quite a drive, and with us not knowing what day of the week she's going to arrive, it makes things difficult with work.  But we will see.  Hopefully they'll be able to come down.  I know it would be so awesome for them to be able to say that they were there and held her on the day she was born.  :)  I know I'm looking forward to that day.  Hope everyone else is too.  :)

Sunday the plan is the Ren Fest.  I love the Ren Fest.  It's just one more of the reasons that I love the fall (and you know how I feel about the fall).  ;)  I love watching shows, listening to music, window shopping at the boutiques and shops.  Last year I loved having a glass of wine at the Ren Fest, but I guess I'll have to wait until next year for that one.  ;)  It's just a fun day to get out and do something we don't normally do.  I hope that I can make it there, even for just a little bit.  I would hate to miss that fun event that I look forward to every year.  In KC we will also see some amazing friends who we haven't seen in some time.  We'll visit Nick and Maggie and see their new home, we'll hopefully see Tim and Dave and catch up with them on how life is going, I'm sure we'll see Amy Colby, because she's very good about making time to see us when we come into town, hopefully we'll get a chance to catch up with Nate and see how med school is going, he hasn't seen me since I got pregnant, now I'm huge, should be fun, and finally, I would love to see Justin and Becca and baby Noah if we get the chance.  :) 

Lots to see and do.  Should be an interesting, exciting, and exhausting weekend.  I figure if this is my last weekend to travel, I might as well make the best of it!  :D  Now I just have to survive those 8 hours of work.  So with that, I'm off to get ready.  Need to sell big today so I can leave for the weekend feeling confident!  Have a wonderful Thursday, my friends!  :)

3rd Trimester Sickness

Really???  34 weeks in?!?!?  Seriously???  I thought this was supposed to be over by now.

Feel gross, want to throw up, don't want to go to work.  Tried to call in sick, but no one will cover me.  Thanks a lot, co-workers.

Doctor's Appointment and Other Rambles

Well, yesterday's appointment was pretty boring.  But my doctor noted that he likes boring appointments because that means that everything is normal and healthy.  I guess he's right.   I like boring appointments too.  :)  Baby girl and I are progressing very nicely.  We're both healthy and doing great.  In approximately 37 more days she'll be here and I can be done with this whole pregnancy thing and focus and loving on my baby girl and spending time with my hubby getting to know our new family member!  :)  Here are some stats from my appointment yesterday:
-My weight was down a pound.  My doctor said as long as I wasn't having trouble eating (definitely not!) that he wasn't concerned about it.  I'm not concerned about it either.  One less pound to have to worry about later.  Our baby is still growing very well, so all is good.
-My systolic blood pressure seemed a little high to me, but the nurse told me not to worry and that it was still within the normal range.  My diastolic was fine, so that led to her being not so concerned about my systolic.
-Baby girl was nice and relaxed again yesterday (but not as relaxed as at the sonogram 2 weeks ago).  Her heartbeat was at 136 bpm.  For as active as she is she sure does have a calm heartbeat.  :)  Maybe she'll be more calm than I anticipate.  :P
-I had bloodwork done at the end of my appointment 2 weeks ago to check my platelet counts.  The normal platelet count level is between 150,000 and 400,000.  At the beginning of my pregnancy my platelets were measured at about 124,000.  So they rechecked the levels again at 27 weeks for my gestational diabetes test.  At that point they had gone up to about 127,000.  After my appointment 2 weeks ago they checked again and they are still at 127,000.  My doctor is not concerned about this.  He said my platelets will continue to be effective to 100,000 or even to 60,000.  He thinks I just naturally sit a little lower on the platelet count range and that my low numbers have nothing to do with the pregnancy (a huge relief).  We will do more blood tests in 2 weeks to make sure the levels are staying consistant or going up.  But he's not concerned about them at the moment.  Just going to keep an eye on them.
-My doctor also asked me if I'm feeling any contractions yet.  It made me laugh a little because Michael has been asking me the same thing.  Shouldn't I start feeling something soon indicating that we are getting closer to the end?  But no, nothing that I have noticed.  My doctor said that I could be having small ones and not feeling them yet, or they just might not be coming yet.  I haven't even noticed Braxton Hicks in a while.  I guess this is all Baby Girl's way of saying, I'm comfy in here and am in no hurry to come out.  :P  Which is fine by me.  I still desperately want my October baby.  :)  And even if she doesn't come by her due date and we have to induce, a 10-11-12 birthday would be AWESOME!  We will see!  ;)

That's about all the news I have from yesterday.  It was an easy and quiet appointment.  Michael and I always try to think of questions to ask our doctor, but we can never think of anything.  Everything is running so easy and so smooth.  We've had very few concerns throughout the pregnancy.  It's been such a blessing to have such a low-risk pregnancy.  Things are looking very good that we'll still be able to deliver in the birthcare center.  I'm excited about this and hope it happens.  So far Amy and Sis have both had babies recently.  They both had to be at Wesley.  They were both cared for very well, there would be nothing wrong with going to Welsey, but I really want to be at the Birthcare Center.  *fingers crossed*

Something I hadn't thought of until yesterday...  People are going to be coming to the hospital to see Michael, Baby Girl, and I, but they have jobs to work too.  Sis said something yesterday about wanting me to be able to be at the birthcare center, but also wanting to know when she's coming so she can request off work and be there.  Only Michael and I will be in the room (obviously, if you didn't make the baby and don't have any sort of medical degree I have no need for you in there), but I know my sister, mom, grandparents, aunts and uncles, maybe even Michael's family will be there and want to meet our little girl the day she arrives.  But I've forgotten that that means special plans and accommodations for everyone who has to work.  I'm sorry to be an unconvenience, guys.  :(  I will try to give everyone as much notice as I can so that anyone who wants to be there has plenty of time to get off and make it.  For family who lives in or around Wichita, we'll probably call or text when we head to the birthcare center, but won't advise people to come down until I'm at 7 or 8 cm.  That way people aren't sitting in the waiting room forever.  As for people living out of town, we'll call or text when we go in to the birthcare center, and people can make their plans as far as when to come down.  I guess for the most part we'll just play it by ear.  ;)  Still too many uncertainties at this point.

We still have so much to do before she gets here!  :P  My nesting is definitely kicking in, but the lazy in me is strong, so while I want things cleaned, I don't want to do it all, lol.  We will be switching to new laundry soap soon, so I'll need to get some items to assist the laundry soap to make it most effective.  The laundry and dishes, of course, are a never ending battle.  The nursery is looking pretty good, but there are a few more things left to get.  However, I don't know how much to buy, as we are still having a shower in a couple of weeks.  So I'm back to resisting the urge to buy everything and finish things off.  ;)  The hospital bag has been half packed for weeks now.  I think after we're done with our vacation this weekend and our maternity photos next week, then I'll be ready to pack.  :P  The carseat and bases still need to be installedand checked.  And I still need to work on a few more freezer meals.  But overall, I think we're about ready.  :)  Just more of a waiting game now.

On a completely different note...  We have our last weekend of travel this weekend!  Hooray!!!  Not excited about being stuck at home after that, but it will only be 5 weeks, there is still plenty to do here in Wichita, and this weekend is going to be awesome!  :D  Friday when Michael gets home from work we'll head to Topeka and visit with his parents and Nathan and Chelsey if they are available.  Saturday we'll spend all day in Manhattan reminising, eating, shopping, and getting ready for the opening game of K-State football!  :D  Just ask the girls I work with, I am STOKED!  :D  Then on Sunday (depending on how I feel from the long day Saturday), we might go to the Ren Fest, or we might just run around KC and see all the people we know and love up there.  :)  We will again, be playing it by ear.  Either way, it's going to be a great weekend and I'm PUMPED!!

Ok, I have to go get ready for work now.  This got way to long.  Sorry.  :P  Happy Wednesday, Peoples!

Day Off! Woot Woot!!!

Well, I have today off of work!  Hooray!!!  I am so excited!  I have been getting pretty tired lately.  I think the 3rd trimester is getting to me.  I have also had a harder time sleeping lately.  It's been difficult for me to get comfortable.  A couple of girls on my facebook suggested pregnancy pillows that go all the way around your body.  I'd like one, but at the same time, I feel like I'm so close to the end that I might as well just stick it out and use the $60 on something for the baby. We will see if I still feel that way in another week with very little sleep.  :P

Today I am at 34 weeks and 4 days.  That means I have 38 days until our little girl is due to arrive!  I can't believe it's coming up so quick!  She's getting so big and strong and, as always, is still very active.  I'm surprised that she's still so active.  I would have thought with her little home getting smaller and smaller as she gets bigger, that her movements would slow down, but that is not the case.  She is a very active little girl and moves quite a bit throughout the day.  I'm excited to meet her and to see what kind of a baby she ends up being.  Is she going to be active when she gets here?  Or will she be more chill and relaxed?  Time will tell!  :D

Not a whole lot of news on the cooking, cleaning, and nesting front.  I need to get more work done on the house today since I have the day off and time to clean.  And yet, I am highly unmotivated.  :P  I had 2 more recipes I was going to freeze, but we used more of the turkey than I expected.  So the enchiladas are going to have to wait for a little bit, but I will get to them eventually.  ;)  The other recipe I have yet to make and freeze is my mini meatloafs.  Those shouldn't take too much work, so I really should do them today....  We will see what the day brings.  I finally got my laundry soap in for my cloth diapers.  I want to finish off the bottle of soap that we are currently using (it's about gone), then switch over to the new soap for all of our laundry.  So maybe I'll begin working on laundrering the cloth diapers today.  Again, we'll see what the day brings.

We have another doctor's appointment today!  Wooohooo!  Can't wait!  I love that we're getting to go every 2 weeks now!  I enjoy getting updates on myself and my baby.  We will only have 1 more 2-week appointment after today, then we will begin seeing the doctor every week as we get closer to her due date.  Can't believe she's going to be here so soon!!!  I just can't wait!!  No alarming new symptoms to tell my doctor about today.  Just general aches, pains, sleepiness, etc.  Last time when we went and had our sonogram done her heartbeat was 123bpm.  I was shocked, as she's been in the 140's since about 14 weeks.  The sonographer said she was probably sleeping.   I'm hoping her heartbeat is back up in the 140's again today.  :)

Michael and I were talking yesterday about how crazy it was that she was going to be here so soon.  5 weeks and 3 days seems a little farther away.  A little over a month seems farther away.  But 38 days seems so close!!  She's going to be here soon and our lives will change forever.  :)  When we're under a month left it will be very strange and fast approaching!  I feel like a ticking time bomb.  Just waiting to go off...

Michael seems to be getting more excited and ready with each passing day.  He loves feeling her move since she's so active anymore.  He likes to talk to her and kiss my belly.  If he allows his face to linger too long at my belly she'll usually give him a little nudge back.  ;)  He also likes to play with her.  He'll poke my belly a couple times and wait for her to roll or move or kick in response.  When she does he'll poke again and wait.  She'll kick and he'll poke again.  Last night it went on for quite a while!  He was getting absolutely giddy at the fact that she kept responding to him.  He was laughing and smiling.  It was such a sweet moment.  :)  There is no doubt in my mind that he will make an amazing dad.  :)  He loves this little girl so much already.  It's precious.  I know he's nervous about having her and having to care for her and holding her correctly and things like that, but I think he'll fit into the roll easier and faster than he thinks he will.  I was telling him about how she can hear us talking and how she'll recognize his voice.  I think it will be a HUGE confidence booster for him when she's crying and he starts to talk to her and she stops because she recognizes his voice.  :)  I think at that moment not only will he fall more in love with her, but he'll also feel so much more confident in himself and in his abilities to care for this tiny baby girl.  It will be amazing!  I can't wait to see him in his new dad roll.  :)  Just one more way for me to fall in love with him.  ;)

I'm still very curious about her hair and eye color!  Michael thinks she'll have dirty blonde hair with curls, maybe even ringlets.  He's not sure about her eyes, but it leaning towards brown.  I just hope she's blessed with her Daddy's long beautiful eyelashes.  I think if she does end up with those big brown eyes like he has, that he will have to face the same puppydog eyes that he used to get away with giving me when we first started dating.  :P  Ahahhahaha!  Payback!  :P  I have a feeling I'm going to have to be the disciplinarian when it comes to his baby girl.  She's got him wrapped around her finger already.  :P

Well, that's about all I've got for this morning.  Good work for those of you who made it to the end, especially after the long segment about what an amazing dad Michael is going to be.  ;)  Have a wonderful Tuesday!  More info and baby stats after our appointment this afternoon!  :D

34 Weeks

Well, another week is over and we are at 34 weeks today!  :)  Hooray!  I can't believe our little girl will be here in (about) 6 short weeks!  It seems like no time at all!  It's definitely sinking in for Michael and I that we are about to be parents and our lives are about to change.  We're getting everything ready for our little angel's arrival, including lots of cooking and cleaning.  I'm trying to conserve my energy as well, because I know I'll be plenty tired once she arrives, but it seems like there's still so much to do!

Yesterday Michael and I went to the Toys R Us out here on the east side to order our chair for the nursery. We've been looking at furniture stores around town, but couldn't seem to find what we wanted, so we had to go ahead and cough up the money for the expensive Babies R Us chair.  Drat!  Oh well.  It was quite an ordeal ordering it too.  The color we wanted made it a special order which meant it would take 12-15 weeks to get in.  By that time my maternity leave will be OVER!  So that was not going to work.  We settled for a floor model in the standard chocolate color.  We wanted something a little lighter in color at first, but I think the chair we ordered will be just fine (hopefully).  And it will be here in 1-2 weeks.  MUCH BETTER!!  It took over 3 hours and a trip out west to the Babies R Us, but we finally got it figured out.  Thank goodness!

Today I'm going to be making lots of freezer recipes to have for when our little girl gets here.  That way I won't have to worry about cooking, I can attend to her, and heat up a homemade meal so Michael and I aren't going hungry either.  :)  I've got 5 recipes picked out to make.  3 of them I've done before (only 2 of them I've tried freezing before) and the other 2 are new recipes.  The first 5 freezer recipes I tried were all hits, so I'm hoping the 2 new recipes from today will be good as well.  :)

Well, I better get to work!  Happy Friday to all of you, and happy 34 weeks for Michael, myself, and Baby Girl Voss.  :D

Upcoming Events

Well, as always, there is a lot coming up soon!  Here's what I'm excited about and looking forward to in the near future:
-Tomorrow - Day off!!! I'm going to work on freezer meals, housecleaning, and getting more finishing touches of baby stuff.
-Saturday - Another day off!!!  I'm looking forward to relaxing and spending the entire day with Michael.  :)  Weather permitting there might definitely be a zoo trip in our future!  ;)
-Tuesday - Doctor's appointment.  Should be pretty standard.  34 weeks.  We'll only have 1 more 2 week appointment, then we'll move to weekly appointments!  Hooray!!!
-Next Weekend - My last weekend to travel.  Friday - Topeka with the in-laws, Saturday - Manhattan and the K-State season opener, Sunday - Kansas City Ren Fest and visiting friends.  Should be a packed weekend!  I have to make the most of my last weekend to travel though, right??
-2 Weeks - Maternity photos!  Can't wait to capture the bump on film!  She won't be a bump for much longer!  Enjoying the last few moments of just Michael and I.  :)  The photo shoot will be a fun, loving time.  Can't wait!  :)
-3 Weeks - Church Baby Shower!  Rosie is so sweet to want to throw us a shower.  It will be fun to celebrate our little girl one more time before she arrives.  :)
-6 Weeks - Baby Voss is due!!!  I can't believe she'll be here so soon!  She has been long awaited and I can't wait to meet her.  She's already the center of my world.  :)

Stayed tuned for more updates as her day gets closer!  :D

Nursery Progress....

Michael and I have been working hard on getting everything in the house ready for when our baby girl arrives.  This includes buying a few more items that were missing from our registry, finishing up the set up on the nursery, and readying the house to bring a baby home.  Here's what I was able to accomplish today:

Kitchen - We only have 1 bottle at the moment, so I haven't washed it yet.  Still waiting on a couple of people who have mentioned that they might be getting us some bottles.  When I feel like we have them all, I'll wash them all so they are ready for their first use.  I set up the drying rack, bottle and nipple brush, and dishwasher basket on the counter so they are ready to use when the time comes.  I also set up the bottle warmer on the counter, so we're ready for it when the time comes.  I also put the baby spoons away in a drawer for when we're ready for baby food.  On second thought, I probably should have just stored those, as we will not be using them for over 6 months...  But oh well!  ;)  One item I still really need for the kitchen (other than the bottles) is the microwave sterilizer.  I'm going to keep an eye out at Kid to Kid and see if I can score a good one.  ;)

Dining Room - Michael and I went to Kid to Kid today and got our little girl a high chair!  Now given, we won't need this for a while, but I was glad to get another big item off of the registry.  It's not exactly the one we had on the registry, but it's green like most of our stuff and looks like it will work well.  Michael already has it set up at the dining room table.  :)  By getting it at Kid to Kid (second-hand store) we saved over $50 on the cost of the highchair!  I think that's a win!  :D

Living Room - Upstairs we only have a couple baby items.  Michael has put together the play mat and it's sitting in the living room upstairs, as well as the bouncer seat.  Right now we spend more of our time upstairs than we do down.  We will see if that changes once she gets here.  Some of her major items may need moved around a little.  Michael set up the pack and play downstairs.  It looks great!  Can't wait to use it!  I took some wipes, cloth diapers, and cloth diaper inserts downstairs so we can have a baby changing station downstairs as well.  We will see how that goes.  One thing I still need for the living room downstairs is another wet/dry bag for used diapers, that way they don't have to be carried upstairs when changed.  I think I'll wait to see how things go at the last shower at church, then buy it afterwards

Bathroom - I think the bathroom is all set and ready to go!  Wooohooo!  We have the baby tub, baby wash cloths, soap, shampoo, hooded towels, and toys.  Today we picked up a bath toy scoop at Kid to Kid!  The idea of the scoop is to pick up all the toys and store them on the shower wall where they can dry out and keep your tub a little cleaner.  The scoop we got today is shaped like a frog.  :)  It's awesome!  :D  We saved $19 from the regular price!  Wooohooo!

Nursery - We've done a lot of work on the nursery in the last few days.  We bought a shelving unit with 1x1 ft cubes in it.  There are 4 rows and 3 columns, so 12 cubes all together.  The plan is to get 6 cloth baskets (like the ones on the changing table) and put them in every other space.  These baskets will work as her dresser, holding her clothes, blankets, bibs, socks, etc.  The remaining 6 spaces will serve as storage (3) and her bookshelf (3).  It is turning out REALLY CUTE!!!!  :D  We still need to get the 6 baskets.  The plan is to get 2 solid brown, 2 solid green, and 2 beige baskets with a monkey print (These are new!  I just found them yesterday!).  Then her dresser/storage/bookshelf should be complete!  :D  Michael and I have been shopping the last few days for a chair for the nursery.  We like the one at Babies R Us that's on our registry, but we thought we'd look and see if we could get something cheaper.  Turns out the furniture stores don't have what we're looking for.  :(  So, Babies R Us it is.  We still need to order the chair (sooner rather than later since we were told it can take up to 12 weeks to get in when you ask for a specific fabric like we have).  But will hopefully get that ordered in the next few days.  Her bed and changing table are all ready.  So really, there are only a handful of items we still really need!  Getting closer every day!  :D

We've purchased a few things the last couple of days to get ready for our little girl's arrival.  I finally invested in the soap for the cloth diapers/high efficiency washer.  It should be getting here in the next week sometime!  Wooohooo!  :D  We also purchased the "Itsbeen" from Kid to Kid today.  We saved $12 off of the original price!  What this device does is keeps track of the time between feedings, changings, sleeping, medication doses, etc.  So you can start to notice the patterns and habits of your little one.  I'm looking forward to using it and hope it will be helpful in the early/learning stages of being a mom.  :)

As you can see, Michael and I have been quite busy preparing for our perfect little girl to arrive!  Can't believe we've only got a month and a half left!  She'll be here before we know it!  ;)  Today I've attached some pictures of the nursery.  I'll post more when it's all done.  :)  Enjoy!

Day Off

I have the day off from work today!  I could not be more excited!  The house needs some big time cleaning, the nursery needs some more organizing, laundry and dishes need done, and I need to get to the store to buy some more baby items.  It will be nice to get some work here at home done.  I'm also going to go see Sis at school today and take her some lunch!  :)  One nice thing about not working a regular 9-5 job is that I can go see Sis or Michael or other people while they're at work.  It's fun being able to do lunch with people.  :)  Should be a very nice day.  :)

In other news, my darn pregnancy brain got the better of me yesterday and Michael and I completely forgot to go to our last childbirth class last night.  :(  I'm going to email our instructor tonight and see if she can give me the rundown of what they talked about, or if there's another class ending this week that we could attend.  It completely slipped my mind this week.  It was close to midnight before it dawned on me that we had missed it.  I'm a little disappointed, because I enjoy the class, but I guess there's not much I can do at this point.  I'll email and see if anything can be done and we'll go from there.  ;)

Baby girl and I are doing well.  She's movin and groovin as always, and I'm trying not to get too fat, lol.  ;)  Last night we played a bunch of different music for her again.  Her favorites were Dancing Queen, a swing dance song, and What is Love from Night at the Roxburry.  So she must have been in the mood to dance last night!  :D  It was adorable!  I am still up around 15 pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight.  I could still easily gain another 10 pounds in the last 6.5 weeks of my pregnancy, but I'm hoping I don't add quite that much.  I know that weight gain is not bad, and that it needs to happen to properly grow my baby, but I can't help but think of the other side when it's time to come off...  A little worried about that...

Michael and I have been working on the nursery more and more every day.   :)  2 days ago Michael got a large 3x4 ft organizer from Target.  It has 1x1ft squares (12 all together) in it.  We have decided to opt for this as opposed to a dresser and bookshelf.  We're going to get more of the fabric bins from Babies R Us to use as drawers to put her clothes in.  Then some of the spaces will not have the drawers and will be used as shelves for her books!  :)  I'm pretty excited!  It's looking pretty good so far.  ;)  I'll get pictures when it's all together.

Michael got the carseat put together and knows how to level and adjust the bases.  Now they just need installed in our cars and the carseat issue will be one more thing off of our checklist.  I still need to finish packing the hospital bag.  At the rate I'm going with it, I'll be packing my bag between early labor contractions, lol.  Have been putting it off.  Haven't been doing it on purpose, just seems like we have some more pressing needs that require my attention first.  I'll get around to the bag eventually.  ;)

The weather changing has shifted my excitement in this last week to the fall and football season starting!  :D  There is no better season than the fall, and as the weather has begun to cool down I have been absolutely giddy about Fall's arrival!  :D  Now, don't get me wrong, I know it is still plenty early, I know that there could still be many hot days ahead, but I'm enjoying this weather far every minute it's around.  The coffee pot is getting more use these days.  We're going to have to start buying the large bottles of creamer.  We've begun fishing out the flannel pants and hoodies.  It's just wonderful.  I can't get enough of fall!  Maybe the reason the weather is cooling down so early is that in case our baby girl decides to come early, she can still arrive on a beautiful crisp fall day, even if it is September.  ;)

Well, folks, I had better get out of bed and get started on some housework.  I don't have too much time before I need to go grab Sis some food.  ;)  Have a wonderful Tuesday!

Random Thoughts

Not much new to say this morning.

I added pictures to the blog from yesterday.  The picture of me in the dress is at 33 weeks.  I got the dress from Michael's cousin Sara.  It's super cute!  I love it!  The other picture is my collage of the last 7 months.  Months 1-4 all look pretty much the same.  But around month 5 baby girl decided to show up.  ;)

It seems crazy that we are so close to the end and that our baby girl could literally come any day!  Hopefully she'll stay put longer, at least another 4 weeks.  But at that point, all bets are off.  And if she decides to come early I'm going to welcome it!  This Mama is getting hot and uncomfortable.  I wish rolling over in bed were easier, lol.  :P

I've had a couple short shifts at work lately.  I love this!  It's nice not having to be there for 8 hours at a time sometimes. Those shifts definitely make the day go by faster.  Yesterday I had $2800 in sales!  :D  That made up my deficit for my month and slowly helps chip away at my deficit for my year!  :)  Hooray!  Now to keep it up!  I think Christmas season will help a lot.  Hopefully I come back from Maternity Leave ready to sell, sell, sell!

The weather has been absolutely amazing lately!  I don't know if it's a fluke cold front coming through or what, but I love it!  I can feel fall in the air and I am pumped!  Fall is the best time of the entire year!  I love the colors, reds, oranges, and yellows.  I love the cool crisp weather.  I love the leaves russling and falling off the trees.  I love that football season starts again, Go State!!!  I love that it's hoodie weather.  I love going to coffee shops and drinking fall holiday coffee.  I love holding Michael's hand, walking through the pumpkin patch, and picking out 2 unique pumpkins.  I love watching (or listening to) K-State football while we carve pumpkins.  I love making soup and chili to keep us warm.  I love the dreary looking days after months of hot blinding sun.  I love decorating for fall and halloween.  I'm looking forward to trick-or-treaters coming to our new home.  I love that basketball season starts in the fall, Go State!!!  Everything about the fall is amazing!  And this year, we get to add one more amazing to the perfection that is the fall!  :D  Little A____ R___ Voss will join our family this fall.  :)  Can life get any better than that???  Ask Michael about it, he'll tell you, there is definitely a change in me, my personality, and my attitude when fall arrives.  How could you be sad or unhappy in that best time of the year??  I certainly can't be!  :D  I love it!!!!

Well, folks, I don't think I have anything else left to say.  Have a blessed Saturday!  Tune in tomorrow for more ramblings about the baby, how much I love my hubby, or my excitement for the next season.  ;)  Love ya!!

33 weeks!!!!

We are at 33 weeks today!  How exciting!  :D  Only 7 more weeks or 49 more days to go!  Things are dwindling down and getting closer!  It's so exciting! 

As I see the end of the pregnancy in sight, I'm getting more and more impatient.  Especially after the sonogram the other day.  Now that I know she's big and healthy, I'm ready for her to be here.  My doctor will deliver her if I go into labor naturally from 37 weeks on.  Actually, he even mentioned that some women and babies are ready before that and everyone is perfectly healthy, but that's a case by case basis.  At 37 weeks I can still deliver at the Birthcare Center because I'm considered full-term.  I feel like a ticking time bomb.  I have no idea when it's coming, I just have to sit here and wait for something to happen.  It's a little nerve wrecking!  :P 

Throughout the whole pregnancy I have insisted on an October baby.  It's my favorite month of the year, and I think it would be perfect and make the fall even better to have our baby girl arrive in October.  But seeing how big she is already, and knowing that she continues to gain weight at a rapid rate, I'm starting to wonder if September would be so bad?  :P  In the end, it's all up to her.  And when my body goes into labor we will procede with it.  I just wonder if she'll decide that she's grown enough and is ready to come early, or if she'll stay put and just keep putting on weight.  Time will tell.  ;)  She weighs close to a pound more than the average developing baby at this point, so coming early really wouldn't be the end of the world.  ;)

But for now I am excited to hit another milestone and be 1 week further along.  The end is drawing near and it will only be the beginning!  I am so in love with our little girl.  :)  I can't wait to hold her and love on her.  I can't wait to see Michael with her and see him really fit into his dad mode.  I fall more and more in love with him each time he kisses and talks to my belly, each time he talks about what life is going to be like when she arrives, and each time he discusses how excited he is for her to get here.  He's the love of my life and will make the most amazing father!  I know it already.  :)

So happy Friday to all of you!  Enjoy your day and your weekend.  I hope you're loving the weather as much as I am.  :)

Naps

Yes, I know this is the 4th blog entry I've made today.  I don't even care.  :P  Just woke up from a nap and I must say, I'm feeling much more relaxed and ready to face the day (now that it's 4pm).  :P  I know people have said you get tired easily in the last trimester, but I don't think I really understood just how exhausting baking this little baby was going to be.  ;)  I'm looking forward to shorter shifts at work in the future, and more time in the afternoon to nap.  :)  Guess I better get ready to go to work now...  :P  Now if I could only drag my lazy butt out of bed....  ;)

Loving You Is Fun

This song sums up how I feel about marriage.  :)

Love don't have to be a bunch of drama
A bunch of knock-down, drag-outs, crying in the rain
It's alright to keep it light now, Mama, don't you think
We're gaving such a good time together
And it's only just begun
My heart's never smiled so hard
Baby, loving you is fun.

:)

Feet

Our little girl is stretching out quite a bit lately!  I love feeling her move, and seeing my belly move from her is very cool!  Well, today she has decided that she wants her feet sticking out of my left side between my hip and ribs.  No matter how many times I push her feet back inward, they end up jutting out of my left side again.  :P  This is such a strange feeling!  Well, I finally wised up and decided to use gravity on my side.  I'm laying on my right side now, which is pulling her away from my left.  But, believe it or not, she's still trying and succeeding to an extent at getting her feet into my left side.  :P  Silly little girl!  At our sonogram the other day they didn't tell us how long she was, but I'm guessing that she's going to be a tall little girl and take after her Daddy as far as her height is concerned.  Maybe she'll end up being a basketball player...  ;)  Her Daddy can only hope...  :D

Amazing

I was thinking this morning as I was laying in bed how amazing everything that's going on with my body and my baby is.  :)  Very soon she'll be here and it will be up to Michael and I to make sure her needs are met.  We will be responsible for feeding her, changing her, making sure she's warm and clean, and putting her down for bed and naps.  But until that time comes, my body takes care of all of those things and I don't have to do anything!  How cool is that??  I know when she's awake and when she's sleeping, but she's allowed to do either at her leasure.  Her nutrition comes from my body and she takes what she needs to grow and be well nurished.  All I have to do is eat and take care of myself, and in turn, I take care of her.  In her current watery home she doesn't need diaper changes, but her systems are working, teaching her how to swallow and breath so that when she does arrive, she knows what to do.  It's absolutely amazing!  For the most part, this has been pretty easy.  Sure, getting sick in the first trimester was no fun.  And the heartburn and shortness of breath lately cause a few problems, especially when it comes time for me to try to lay down and sleep.  But overall, making a perfect tiny baby girl has been relatively simple.  I hope that when she arrives, her care will go as easily.  :)  Michael made a really good point the other day...  There are so many people who like to say, oh, enjoy your time now, because you won't have any time to yourself anymore; parenting and raising a child is hard work, get ready for it; and things of that nature.  But before we got married people said very similar things about how marriage was hard and you'd have to work at it, and sometimes you'd hate each other but you just had to stick it out.  We haven't found any of those things to be true.  We have gone through some hard things during the course of our marriage (and before, for that matter), but our marriage has never been difficult.  In fact, the simplicity and the consistency of our marriage has held us together and kept us strong through those difficult times.  Marriage is easy!  Life is hard.  But since I know that my marriage is one thing I don't have to worry about, it's not something I'm at risk of losing or destroying, it makes those hard times and moments in life a little easier to bear, because I have an incredible partner at my side through everything.  So for all those who say that parenting is difficult and that things are never going to be the same, I'm just going to have to see for myself on that one.  Because I was told the same thing about marriage and it couldn't be farther from the truth.  Maybe the problem is that most people don't have such an exceptional partner and life.  I am VERY blessed to have Michael, to have a home, to have my own car, and to have this baby inside of me who really hasn't taken much work at all.  But when life gets hard, I know I have a safety net in my marriage that isn't going anywhere.  So forgive me for calling you out, but I don't think parenting is going to be so bad.  ;)  I have 2 dogs who poop, pee, and throw up.  I have to clean that up too, why not add an infant to the mix?  ;)  We are going to do just fine and be great when our little girl gets here!  You just wait and see!  :)

Sono Stats

All good news!!  The baby and I are both doing great!  Here are the specifics from our appointment:

The placenta is in a good location.  It is away from the cervix, so we should have no problem having a natural birth (with medication of course).  ;)

The baby's kidneys look good.  They are going to have a specialist look them over just to make sure, but everything looked good and healthy.

Her other organs looks good as well.  Her brain looks good and is functioning well.  Her heart has blood pumping through both chambers.  Her stomach and bladder were full, meaning she is swallowing and her kidneys are working.  Everything looked good and healthy!  Hooray!

You may have noticed I'm still saying she...  Yes, I had them check again, just to make sure.  ;)  She's still a girl.  :P

She has hair already!  And enough of it that you could see it on the sonogram!  Can't wait to see just how much she has when she's born since she already has a lot.  I'm also interested to see what color it ends up being.  :)

She currently weighs 4 pounds 13 ounces.  This puts her in the 68th percentile for her size.  Based on these measurements, she is measuring 33 weeks and 6 days.  We are actually at 32 weeks and 4 days.  So she's measuring 9 days ahead.  Like I said a while back, I think she'll either come early, or be a big baby if she comes on time.  We will see...  Only 52 days to go!

Her heartbeat was 123 bpm.  I was surprised by this, because she's been consistantly in the 140's.  But I guess she was sleeping today.  :)  I was assured not to worry.  ;)

She is already head down and in position to go.  ;)  This explains all the pelvic discomfort I have been having.  :P  But head down is good news, just one more thing going the right way.  Praise the Lord everything has gone so well and her and I are so healthy!  :D

There was no protein, sugar, or signs of infection in the urine.  My blood pressure was good and consistant with where it's been for all of my appointments.  I gained 2.4 pounds, which is good.  That puts me up a total of 15.5 pounds for the whole pregnancy.  My doctor is happy with all my stats and the way I'm progressing.  :)

My doctor had me get another blood test done today.  At the beginning of my pregnancy my platelets were low.  At my 27 week glucose tests my hemoglobins were low.  So he had me go up today to get some blood drawn to see that those levels were normal and nothing to worry about.  As far as I can tell, those things are the final steps to overcome and we will be ready and cleared to go to the birthcare center for our delivery.  :)

I think that's all the info I have.  It was another great doctor's appointment!  :)  Very happy that our baby girl and I are doing so well.  Praying that the labor and delivery process goes as well as the pregnancy has.  :)  Thanks for tuning in!  ;)  I'll have more stats and info for you in 2 weeks when we see the doctor next.  :)

Cleaning, organizing, packing, nesting... Whatever you call it...

I have been very productive today!  Getting a lot done in the way of laundry (all of our stuff that we took to Iowa needed washed because we were in a smoking room, yuck), dishes (finishing up the final cleaning from the baby shower), moving all the baby gifts upstairs and putting them away, random spot cleaning throughout the house, and writing thank you notes from the baby shower.  I am exhausted!  I still have lots to do!  Can't believe how tired I get so quickly anymore.  This little one is sure wearing me out.  Can't see that getting any better the next 18 years.  :P 

I'm getting excited about our sonogram today!  Just a couple more hours!  It will be nice to see our little girl one last time before she makes her debut.  :)  I can't wait to see what she looks like!  I'm especially interested in the color of her eyes and hair.  Michael and my eyes and hair are very different, so it should be pretty obvious to tell if she's taken after her Daddy or me.  Not too much longer now.  :)

Well, better get back to cleaning.  Just thought I'd write down a few thoughts while rested for a minute.  Back to work now!  Have a wonderful Tuesday!!!  :D

Childbirth Class and Another Sonogram!

Tonight's class was good, as usual.  :)  Can't believe we only have 1 week left!  We're almost ready to dive headfirst into this and come out the other side with a beautiful baby girl in our arms.  :)  Tonight's lesson was about medication and c-sections.  I found out about an interesting epidural called a light epidural where I'll be able to feel more and be more active in the labor process.  There's also an option where I can decide how much of the medicine I get, and only give it to myself when I need it.  Haven't decided yet which one I want, but I'm thinking one of these medication methods will be the one for me.  What's nice about an epidural as opposed to a narcotic earlier on in labor, is that the baby won't get any of the medication, only I will feel it.  This is good because with narcotics the baby feels the medication as well which can make her sleepy.  So sleepy, in fact, that she might not want to breath when she's born, which is not good.  So I like the idea of an epidural better than the narcotics anyway.  We will see what ends up happening that day.  Either way, I like being informed.  :)

Tomorrow we have another doctor's appointment and our last sonogram.  I have been looking forward to this appointment since our 20 week sonogram when we found out we would get another one!  :)  It has been a long 12 weeks of waiting, but the day is almost here!  :D  Can't wait to get more pictures of our baby girl and to see how much she's grown in the last 3 months.  :)  Should be a very exciting appointment.  :)  Of course, you can expect an update from me tomorrow on how everything went and maybe even some more pictures.  ;)

Until then...  Happy Monday!  :D

A case of the Mondays

It's Monday again.  Ugh.  It was tough getting myself out of bed today.  After a very exciting and wonderful vacation and a long day of driving, I was definitely ready to be home.  But you know that feeling like you need a rest after vacation is over, I'm feeling that today.  :(  I hope work goes by quickly today.  Have to talk to my boss about sitting more so my feet don't swell again like they did on Friday.  Tonight we have childbirth class, our 5th session.  After tonight we'll only have 1 more class to go and then will be equiped to handle labor and delivery (supposedly).  We will see how things go.  Tomorrow we have another doctor's appointment as well as our last sonogram to check on our little girl before her big arrival.  :)  I'm looking forward to getting more pictures of her and seeing how she's growing.  She was measuring a little larger in height and weight at her 19 week sonogram, so we'll see how she's doing now.  :)  Based on the way I'm gaining weight, I'd say she's probably plenty healthy in there.  ;)  Wish me luck on my day back to work.  Not looking forward to an 8 hour shift.  Praying the next 7.5 weeks go quickly and that our little girl is here soon!  There are so many anxious to meet her!  :)

Warm bath

And a nice warm bath to finish off our exhausting day.  Who knew all that driving could be so tiring?  Glad to be home again.  :)

Goodnight world.  :)

Iowa

I cannot begin to tell you how much fun we had in Iowa this year!  :)  What a great vacation!  I'm very glad we got an opportunity to go to Tugfest and see family before our little girl arrives.  This time next year we'll have 3.  :)  Can't wait to share this with our little one.  :)  Here's a somewhat short (haha!) rundown of how our vacation went.  Enjoy!  :D

Wednesday I had a very long day of work.  The girls and I were working very hard to organize and reorganize the store.  I spent the entire day on my feet.  I haven't done this in quite a while.  I usually take a lot more breaks than I did that day.  After I got off work I went home and Michael had the car and the puppies packed and ready to go.  We dropped Harlee and Gabby off at Grandma and Grandpa's house, then headed to Topeka.  My right foot was feeling a little funny as I drove, and when we got to Topeka I realized why.  My right foot was completely swollen.  I was worried and didn't want anything to risk the baby, so I called the doctor's office that night, told them about my foot and the trip and the nurse told me to keep an eye on it and that I would be fine to go.  I was very relieved.

Thursday morning we left around 8am.  It was nice to get off so early.  Michael and I ended up being the ones people were waiting on.  I told Glenn and Linda they could go ahead and we could catch up, but they just waited on us.  The trip to Iowa went quickly and without incident.  My foot was still a little swollen on Thursday, but was getting better.  We got to Iowa, checked into our hotel, and headed down to Grandma Jean's house.  It was great seeing all of the family again!!!  There were over 40 family members in town for the weekend!  It was awesome!!  I met a couple of people I had never met before (I think this happens every year at Tugfest, lol).  Thursday night you can get into the carnival for free.  So we walked downdown to watch the kids ride the rides.  The weather was BEAUTIFUL!  Almost a little cool.  We had to put our hoodies on a few times.  It was amazing!

We stayed at a hotel instead of with family this year.  It was nice to have a freshly made bed everyday, air conditioning at night, and hot breakfast in the morning.  :)  Friday morning Michael and I got up and had breakfast, then went back to his Grandma's to visit the family.  It was a nice lazy day there, sitting around chatting, playing with the kids and babies.  Michael and I did some shopping downtown, including some wine tasting!  We brought back a few souveniers from our trip, as well as a Christmas present for Linda!  :)  Friday evening is the parade.  I decided to pass on it this year and took a nap instead.  Friday night was the fireworks!  A wonderful 25 minute show off of a barge in the middle of the Mississippi River between Iowa and Illinois.  It was beautiful!  :)  Always a great show!

Saturday we went out to Michael's uncle's house, he lives just outside of town and is Glenn's brother.  Sadly, he was off at work.  We talked to Michael's Aunt Kris for a while, then went back to Sneaky Pete's for lunch!  After lunch we went to the tug.  For those of you who haven't heard of Tugfest, it's a giant tug-of-war over the Mississippi River between Iowa and Illinois.  This was the 26th year.  This year Iowa was trailing 10-15.  I haven't seen Iowa win in the 5 years I've been coming.  There are 11 tugs, each lasting 3 minutes long.  The score was tied at 4-4 when Illinois won the next 2 tugs, giving them the 6 points they needed to win.  Iowa finished strong and won the last tug, but it wasn't enough.  Iowa has now lost for 6 straight years.  Yuck.  Oh well, not going to keep us from enjoying our time.  ;)  Michael and I both got sunburned from our time out in the sun watching the tug.  But it was nice that the weather only got up to 85 degrees!  It was AMAZING weather all weekend!!!  Saturday evening we went back to Kris and Dave's to visit for a bit.  Then we finished the evening back at the carnival listening to a country band cover current country songs.  It was a very nice day!

Today we didn't really spend any time with the family as we had a long driving day ahead of us.  We got out of Le Claire around 8:45 this morning.  We're expecting to be back home around 5:45.  Less than an hour to go!!!  It was a WONDERFUL trip!  I can't wait to go back next year!!!  But until then, I'm looking forward to seeing my puppies again and sleeping in my own bed.  :)  It will probably be a few months until you hear me talking about Tugfest again, but rest assured, I'll be looking forward to it plenty early again next year.  ;)

My Own Car

I am so excited to go to Tugfest!  We're going to Topeka tonight, then will leave bright and early tomorrow morning to head to Iowa!  :)  This is the first time that Michael and I have ever driven ourselves up there.  I'm looking forward to the long trip together, just the two of us, talking and laughing and having a good time.  We went to the store and bought drinks and snacks to take with us, so we won't even have to stop very often!  I'm excited that we're taking our own car, because we don't have to be on anyone else's schedule.  It can be kind of hectic when you have 4-7 other people that you're waiting on to get ready in order to go from one place to another.  Personally, as soon as I'm ready, I want to leave.  I don't want to wait another hour for someone to get in and out of the shower, for someone else to decide to wake up, to load everyone into the car, etc.  So this year will be a little different.  When Michael and I are reeady, we can leave.  When we need to stop to stretch or for gas we can, but otherwise, it's going to be a pretty straight shot.  I'd rather munch in the car and skip lunch if it means we get to Iowa and to the family a little quicker.  ;)  So I'm looking forward to the trip and to being on our own schedule and no one elses.  :)  We'll be headed there very soon!  Can't wait!  :D  This time next year we'll be bringing a 10 month old baby girl to the Tug with us!  What a great family tradition!  Guess I'm a big kid now.  ;)

Getting Close to Tugfest!!!

I got so much work done today around the house getting ready to leave for Tugfest!  I got the kitchen cleaned, 2 loads of dishes done, 2 loads of laundry done, bags packed for the trip, basement picked up, baby bag packed a little more, and the car cleaned!  Wow!!!  Such a productive day!  Now just another hour of work and then I get to go back home and work on it even more!  What a nice day.  :)

Childbirth Class Number 4

Last night we had our 4th out of our 6 childbirthing classes.  This was another good one, discussing the second and third stages of labor, pushing and delivery.  I always thought they were one thing, you pushed until you delivered, but I learned last night that it not the case.  The pushing is the get the baby down in the pelvis enough that she's crowning.  It was very interesting.  Not sure how many of the different positions I'll be able to do, as I'm planning on getting the epidural, but we will see.  ;) 

Glad that I can still get the epidural in the birthcare center.  I would happily go over to the hospital if I had to in order to get the epidural, but am very excited to be able to deliver at the birthcare center if possible.  :)  Someone at my shower asked if I was going to get the drugs.  I have adopted the saying that Sis told me someone in her childbirth class had...  You don't get a medal for doing it all natural.  I don't want to put myself through so much pain that I can't enjoy the first few minutes of my daughter's life.  I have every intention of feeling good (or as good as I can) in those first few moments so I can enjoy meeting and bonding with my daughter.  I also don't want to look like I just got hit by a train after I deliver.  ;)  This may be silly and vain, I understand that delivering a baby is hard work and that I shouldn't be ashamed that I worked hard to bring her into the world, but I want to be happy, joyful, and as pain free as I can be in that moment, so that nothing distracts me from my little girl.  Getting off my soap box now.  ;)

I am so please with Wesley and the Birthcare Center already!  So many of their standard procedures are exactly what I want to do anyway!  (Caution, I'm going to explain some specifics, I will try not to be graphic, but for those of you who are squeamish in the audience, you might want to skip the rest of this paragraph and move on to the next one.)  They do massage to limit or prevent tearing.  They will ask you not to push or to lay on your side if your labor is progressing too fast, they want you at a slower pace so that your body has time to adjust to the baby's changing locations and the baby gets a good squeeze through the birth canal to get all of the amniotic fluid out of the lungs, preparing for real breathing.  They let you and your body decide when to push, if you don't feel like you need to, you don't have to, they will wait until your body kicks into gear and you feel like that's what you need to do.  They do at least an hour of skin to skin contact immediately after birth.  I love this because it helps regulate the baby's body temperature, the baby hears my voice and heartbeat and knows she's safe and home, and it provides bonding experiences in those first few moments of life.  :)  I'm looking forward to that.  The last thing that is standard policy at Wesley and the Birthcare Center is that if you are planning to breastfeed, they want/encourage you to do so right away, which was my plan in the first place.  :)  They just seem really great there!  I am very happy that we'll be having our baby with such great staff in such a great place!  What a blessing!  Can't wait!

We did some more relaxation techniques in class last night.  We thought of calming and relaxing images, words, colors, sounds, smells.  It was very interesting.  Michael and I discussed what calmed us on the way home.  I was surprised at the differences in the ways that each of us were able to relax.  Michael was more at home, local, familiar.  I was more exotic, pampered, clean.  It was interesting and fun.  Not sure that information is going to help much during labor and delivery, but we will see.  ;)

Finally, we did some patterned breathing last night as well.  The idea behind the patterned breathing is that you focus on the patterns and taking even, consistant breaths to guide you and focus you through the contractions.  This makes it so that you are productive in moving the baby along through contractions as opposed to just bearing them until they are over.  Making them work for you and your laboring process.  :)

I feel like I've learned so much from this class!  I know a lot of people don't take these classes.  I know a lot of people think they are a waste of time and money, and that your body will know what to do and your doctor will be helping to coach you.  But I'm glad we're going.  I learn better from an actual person than from reading it out of a book.  And I feel like both Michael and I have a better understanding of what to expect, what we are allowed and encouraged to do, what the hospital and birthcare center's policies are, etc.  It has been very informative!  Now again, I'm planning on getting the epidural, so I'm not sure exactly how much I'm going to use from this class, but the knowledge alone of what to expect and what I can do to help myelf and my baby is worth all of the money and all of the time that we've invested into this class.  I would highly recommend it to any new parents!

Wow!  This got long today!  Sorry about that, just excited!  :)  Hope you all have a great Tuesday!  Only 2 more work days until Tugfest!  Wooohooo!  And I close today, so I'll be doing lots of packing and housecleaning to prepare for the trip.  Love you all!  Thanks for those of you who read all the way to the end.  ;)  I'm definitely impressed!  :D

More Than a Feeling

Baby girl was sure dancing last night, but mostly to one song.  :P  Any time Michael played Boston's "More Than a Feeling" she danced up a storm!!  We tried other songs that sounded similar, songs in the same genre, songs with the same beats per minute, and she would sit still.  But as soon as we put More Than a Feeling back on, she would dance again.  The only other song she really seemed to get into was Joshua Bell, a highly acclaimed violinist.  Then we'd try more similar songs and she'd rest.  Finally, to make sure it wasn't a fluke the first 2 times, we put More Than a Feeling on a third time...  Sure enough, she started moving and wiggling again!  It was amazing!  Needless to say, with the classic rock and the violin being what she reacted to most, her daddy is very proud of her!  :P  Sweet baby girl!  Got her daddy wrapped around her finger already!  :D  Love it!!

Happy Monday!

Only 3 more days until Tugfest!!!  :D

Weather

I can't believe this weather!  It rained last night!  Which was AWESOME!!!  Michael and I went out and stood on the deck and watched the lightning and enjoyed the cool breeze.  It was almost chilly!  Then the rain came!  What am amazing sound!  Not only did the ground need it, but I think all of us enduring this hot summer needed to to revive our spirits a little bit.  What a welcome relief.  :)  Then we wake up this morning, and instead of it being 90 degrees at 8am, it's 72!  Wow!!!  Another welcome relief!  I cold front!  What a blessing!  Looking forward to a much more bearable week to begin the month of August.  Hopefully this nice weather will follow us up to Iowa this week! 

Tugfest begins in only 4 days!  Can't wait!  After all the excitement yesterday, I can see what people are talking about when they talk about 3rd trimester fatigue!  I got worn out yesterday!  Hoping that Tugfest is a great trip, but also hoping that I don't wear myself out too bad.  ;)  Either way, it will be a wonderful time to see Michael's family, which is always a good time, in my opinion.  :)

Happy Sunday, Friends!  :)

A Huge Success!!! And a big THANK YOU!!!

Yesterday's baby shower was a huge success!  It was so much fun seeing everyone, playing games, eating dinner and snacks and (BEAUTIFUL AND TASTY) cake!  I had way more presents than I knew what to do with!  You all were so very generous!  Thank you so much!  What and amazing (and tiring) day!  Wouldn't have changed a single thing about it!  :)

Mama and Sis, thank you so very much for all of the hard work and money that you put into my shower!  I couldn't have asked for anything better.  It was so much fun!  You guys did an amazing job going out of your way to make everything match and look perfect for my big day.  It was absolutely amazing!  The food was great!  And to top it all off, you brought gifts too!  That was entirely unneccessary considering you were already doing so much and spending so much on me and our little girl.  You two are the greatest.  Thank you so much for my AMAZING baby shower!  I LOVED it!!!  :D

To all of our friends and family, thank you so much for coming!  I know several people traveled many hours out of their way to make sure that they were there for us.  Thank you so much.  We greatly appreciate you giving up your Saturday to spend the day with us.  You are all too kind and loving to us.  Thank you all for the books!!!  I'm soooo excited to get a shelf put up in baby girl's room and display her beautiful new collection.  Your notes inside mean the world!  They touch my heart and make me so thankful to have such loving and giving friends and family.  And the gifts!!!  Oh my goodness!!!!  There was literally a mountain of gifts on that table!  I was completely blown away!  Thank you all so very much!  Our little girl will be well outfitted in clothes, blankets, baby food making supplies, toys, keepsakes, lotions, soaps, picture frames, and pacifiers!  :)  You were all so generous.  We are truly undeserving of such great people in our lives.  Thank you!

Now that this shower is over, it's time for Michael and I to look over our lists and decide what else we need.  We have some bigger purchases to make over the next couple of months.  We will have to skillfully budget to make our dollars last as long as they can.  And in 9 short weeks, our little girl will be here.  As the clock winds down and her due date gets closer, I have a feeling we will begin to see just how much having a baby can cost (which is not helped at all by her Mama's expensive tastes).  :P  I'm looking forward to collecting our last few things and finishing our pregnancy strong, healthy and prepared.  :)  Please continue to pray for us as we spend our last couple of months alone and finish preparing to bring our little girl into the world and home.

Thank you again for coming and making our day special.  For those of you who were unable to make it, you were greatly missed and we love you very much.  Hopefully we will see you soon, either before or shortly after our little girl makes her appearance.  :)  We love you all very much!  Thank you, again!
With Love,
Michael, Jen, and Baby Voss

Just waiting....

We've got the food here!  We've got decorations up!  We've got presents!  Now we're just waiting for people to get here!  It's getting closer!  Another hour and a half!  So excited!!!

Setting Up

I am way too excited about this shower today!  :P  There are going to be so many blogs today!  Haha!  Oh well!  :D  Mama came over and brought over some more supplies.  We set up the tables and chairs, and rearranged the basement a little.  There are eggs and veggies in the fridge.  They are my job!  :)  Glad I can help a little bit! 

Side note: I am loving this new haircut!  I got out of bed this morning, ran a brush through it, and it looks great!!!  :D  I'm still going to work on it a little more before the party, but I am so happy that it's such an easy-to-maintain style, while still looking cute!  Haven't had it in a pony tail since I got it cut!  So proud of myself!  :)

Michael is making his own to-do list for the day.  So far he's weed-eating the front of the house so everything looks nice when people come in.  He's also going to put up some hardware in our basement bathroom since everyone will be in the basement this evening.  We still need to clean up the house a little bit and do some dishes, but that shouldn't take too long.  More news as our day progresses!  :D

See you at 5!!!  :D

The Shower Date is Finally Here!!!

Our baby shower is today and I am soooooo excited!!!!  I woke up this morning at 5:30 and have been awake on and off ever since.  I am so excited!  :D  It's going to be so much fun having friends and family over to hang out, eat, and play games!  I can't wait to show everyone how big I'm getting!  Can't believe we have only 9 weeks left until she gets here!  Crazy!!  I've got cleaning to do today before the party starts, since there are a few people who haven't seen our house yet.  So we'll try to get it looking spick and span!  :)  Baby girl has been moving around a lot already this morning.  I'm hoping she's active so people can feel her this evening at the party.  I think her favorite spot is when I'm laying on my left side.  She loves to burrow her way between my hips and my ribs on my side.  It feels really weird.  :P  But she's in that spot frequently and moves around a lot to get right there, so she must like it.  ;)  I'm hoping that this is a sign she's going to be a cuddler!  :D  We shall see!

So I have a busy day ahead of me before the party begins!  Not that you care, but here's a rundown of what my day is looking like:
-Get up and decide what to wear, I still haven't picked out an outfit for the party today, but I'm thinking casual, light, airy, something comfortable since I'll be running around a lot today
-Clean our bedroom and the dining room table, pick up around the house as needed (Mostly done already thanks to my stellar husband!  Didn't even have to ask him!), vacuum here and there, run a load of dishes
-Set up tables and chairs for the party, help Mama and Sis decorate and organize the basement
-Go with Sis to pick up the cake!!  Can't wait to see it!  It's going to match the invitations and napkins!  :D
-Glenn, Linda, and Chelsey should be getting into town around 2.  I don't know how long Glenn and Michael will stick around, I think they are going out to dinner while we party.  ;)
-Put balloons on street signs
-Tavane and Danielle get off work around 4 and I think are coming over here to get ready before the party.  Since Danielle lives on the west side and Tavane lives in Derby it's easier than running back to their houses.  ;)
-Party starts at 5!!!  Not sure what the order of the party is, but Mama and Sis will probably fill me in today.  Can't wait!  I'm so excited!!

Big fat thank you goes out to Mama and Sis for putting all of this together!  Thank you guys so much!  :)  I know you've put lots of time and money and energy into this party and I truly appreciate it!  You guys are too sweet to me!  Thank you very very much!  :D

Party starts in 9.5 hours!!  :D  Be there or be square!!!  :)

Hiccups!

Our baby girl definitely has the hiccups tonight!  I was videotaping her moving my stomach around and suddenly my belly just started bouncing at the same intervals.  :P  So cute!  I think she's distracted by the hiccups, because she's stopped moving since she got them.  Now we're waiting on them to go away so she'll move around some more for the camera.  Too cute!  Love that sweet little thing!  :D  Will post a video or two soon of her movement.  :)

At Work

I'm at work and bored.  3 more hours to go.  Glad to close because I don't have to get up early.  I close again tomorrow.  :)  Getting very excited for the baby shower and Tugfest!  :)  Can't wait!  Need to sell more, better get off here.  Have a nice night!