From 3 Trimesters to 3 Weeks!!

Merry Christmas (one day late) everyone!! Josh and I have had a blast since we went on Christmas vacation visiting with family and friends, and just relaxing a little bit before life takes on a whole new meaning! ;) We hope everyone has had a wonderful holiday season so far!!

With just under three weeks until the due date, Josh and I are worse than two little kids waiting on Santa to come visit...I am so ready to meet our girl!!

Since my last post, we've had 2 more showers~everyone has been more than generous! Thanks to family, friends, and coworkers, we have everything we (or Charlotte) need. Josh and I cannot verbally express what the showing of support has meant to us. We can only hope to "pay it forward" by doing our best to raise Charlotte to be the kind of family member/friend that you all are to us!

I still don't have any pictures loaded from two of the showers, but if I can get some loaded at a later time I will. We have a few pics from our family shower (some sweet family and friends) which was wonderful and beautiful! Since the Fair Grove shower was a "drop in" style (where people could come get some refreshments and drop off a gift if they chose to do so) I don't really have any pictures of a typical shower..it was very relaxed and very much appreciated~thanks Karen J. and Penny!!


I did take some pictures of the nursery, which at this point is only missing Charlotte(!), and a picture of the belly at 37 weeks. Josh was like, "you want to take a picture tonight?" and I gently reminded him that we could be going to the hospital any time, so we might want to get one more belly measurement pic in before that chaos begins. (I can see it now~my water breaks and we stop everything to get a picture of the belly on our way to the hospital...haha yea right).

So without further rambling...here are some pictures! Mama Lutz, it's your turn!!

What's the rush, little girl?

Well,

Today the doctor revealed the mystery of the shy baby...Charlotte isn't playing peek-a-boo, and she isn't shy, and she isn't hiding (don't worry, Erin C., there won't be two generations jumping out and scaring you for fun ;0p).

Turns out, she is ready to come out! Not in the dialation or effacing sense, but in the "she is already head-down" sense. So, it looks like we will not see her sweet face until she's screeching and covered in blood and guts :) (Nice mental pic, huh? You're welcome.) Personally, I hope we don't have a chance to see her face before then, because that would mean she'd flipped around to a wrong delivery position. Plus, we will see her in about two months anyway!! When she comes out, she may look like one of the celebrities listed below, in order from greatest match to least from myheritage.com

Janeane Garofalo
Emmy Rossum
Amanda Bynes
Jena Malone (yes, no one knows her. She played the daughter in Stepmom w/Julia Roberts)
Alyson Hannigan
Eva Peron

So, yeah, something like that. With some Josh mixed in...someone who loves math can do the combinations for my celebrities and his, which include:

Carl Sagan
Vince Vaughn
Kevin Zegers

Side Note: All pregnant or planning-to-be-pregnant-eventually readers beware! Don't let your doctor leave you thinking you'll automatically get to see the baby during the 4-D. It's not a sure thing :/

Everything is progressing nicely: she's moving all of the time (and today we identified for sure with the doctor what part is what...i.e. that is a leg, arm, tush, and so on. The doctors are wonderful and reassure us every time we go that everything looks great, which is nice to hear. (Their "being wonderful" does not hing on the positive updates they give, it just happens that both are true). We're working on getting her place in our home and family carved out. Unfortunately, there appears to be a war between Charlotte and Sweet Pea over anything that is in the glider...and right now the battle tally goes like this: Sweet Pea-2/Charlotte (okay I'm playing for Charlotte right now)-3. The dogs have learned they cannot get up in the chair, but I think Sweet Pea is under the impression that it is okay to stand on her hind legs and take anything in the chair off. The latest item to be haggled over is an adorable pink lamb that my college roomies gave me at a shower/princess party on the 11th. Speaking of the shower...

IT WAS AMAZING!!!! I can't thank Merin C., Michole, Merin U., Mamanda, Mmegan, Mmelissa, Mabby, and Mlauren enough. Ever. It was so special to me and will be a treasured memory forever (until I get super old and start referring to it in the assisted living facility as "my princess party" and asking if it has happened yet?)...I truly have THE BEST friends a gal could ask for :D Love You Ladies!!

Alien Picture!! :)

So...our visit to the doctor last week was....not quite as expected. Everything looks healthy and is normal and all of that good stuff :D, but our impression of the 4-D ultrasound was that you lay down, they put goo on your stomach, mash the stick like some weird prenatal massage, and your baby shows up, wiggling around and waving hello. So...in actuality, you may or may not be able to see the baby's face based on the position. Well, guess what position Charlotte was in? That's right folks, the wrong one. She was turned the wrong way and had her hands in front of her face most of the time. Our daughter?!?! SHY?!?! How odd, you must be thinking. We were, too. Anyway, the doctor said when we go back Nov. 6th that he will "pop us in the ultrasound room and see if we can get a better peek."

For now, here is the best picture we got. In case you're like me and have trouble recognizing things for what they are in an ultrasound picture, on the right side of the image is her nose/nostrils and her mouth and chin. Too cute!! (of course, I am a bit biased...)

Third Trimester

So, tomorrow kicks off the third trimester!! I can't believe she will be here in three months! Josh and I have been enjoying some sweet times with our baby girl. We love watching her kick...yes I said watch. We can feel her kicking and moving around, but we can also see her make my belly jump, which is awesome :) And to kick off the third trimester, here is a picture of the belly:

I had my glucose test last week...and passed! So no die-a-beet-ess here! Next week we have our four-D ultrasound, so you can expect an alien picture of baby girl soon! Super Exciting :D We are down to the every-other week schedule of visits to the doctor...it's getting close...

Sooo, this really nice grandma of a girl at school (job, not grad) brought me all of these presents..which was so nice and generous. But, and not to sound ungrateful, it was a very weird experience. Here's how it went down:

Grandma Byrd: Hey we brought you some things for your baby.

Me: Oh my goodness! How sweet of you both!! Thank you for thinking of us, etc., on and on...

G. B.: Go ahead and open it. (pushes big box with bow and freezable teething ring tied on towards me)

Me: Well, ok...Come have a seat. (we are in the media center. alone.)

G.B.: Here, see if you can open it without opening the wrapping. (seriously, she didn't want me to mess up the bow.)

Me: (confused) Ummm, ok (smile awkwardlly)...

G.B.: Here, like this...(and then for literally 6 minutes- I was looking at the clock because I needed to leave-she proceeds to unwrap the present herself, while simultaneously urging me and putting my hands on the present as though I should unwrap it...beyond awkward and really kind of difficult to explain)

Me: Errr..ah, oh, ok...ummm, oh thanks...like this? Wow, I bet Christmas at your house is really an adventure!! Oh, I see, to leave the bow on? Ahh, there we go. (present is eventually unwrapped)

So, within the box there are individually wrapped(in tissue paper) gifts (6 of them) with labels on them indicating their significance with a joke or statement: i.e. "for the college fund" was on the piggy bank, along with two "fragile/handle carefully" stickers. These items included the following: the aforementioned piggy bank, two bibs, a teething ring (which had directions on the package about how to freeze the water inside it-which she sent the next day with her granddaughter....yep-you stick it in the freezer.), an old tylenol box (what the little bottle comes in) filled with pennies, nickles and dimes to put in the piggy bank), a pad of "babysitter information" sheets, travel first aid kit, and the mug pictured below:

And yes. That says "Baby" on it. The weirdest part of the whole mug gift is that it is covered in sticky brown stuff. like it was from the back shelf of a dollar store in 1979. Bizzarro!!!

Now I know that story makes me sound so mean, but I don't mean to be... We are very grateful for the sweet thought behind it and the useful gifts. It was just an extremely odd experience capped off with a dirty old cup with green marker on it.

Well, I suppose that's all until we have 4-D ultrasounds pics/video!! Until then... :)

The "Bump"

Okay, so I've officially moved past "bump" to "how big will I be when I'm 39 weeks?"

Big brother Maverick has been very attentive lately...as you can see he stays right by my side when I'm at the house...so sweet.

Josh and I also have some exciting news to go with this picture - we felt her move!! Last night was the first time I could be fairly certain that what I was feeling was more than my stomach rumbling!! Super fun. It's great to know she's doing her own little in-utero workout :) Unlike me...I've been doing zero workouts..in utero or otherwise. Oh well. I'm leaving myself room to have a goal to achieve.

We also had fun registering over Labor Day weekend. It is definitely more fun than wedding registry! We registered at Babies R' Us...but if you decide to look it up, please understand that we are using our registry as a "things to buy" list for ourselves and do not expect (or want!) our friends and family to complete that process.

It's a Girl!!!! :D

We had our third visit to the doctor today, and he had some exciting news for us...Baby Hall is a girl! Everyone is doing just great...Charlotte has everything she's supposed to have - two arms, legs, hands, and feet, her heart beat is strong, and apparently (because I couldn't really tell on the ultrasound), all of her organs are in there :)

We are so happy that she is healthy and happy (she waved hello to us! ok maybe exactly not but let's pretend). Both grandmas headed straight for the mall to begin stockpiling pink :) and everyone is ready to meet her!!

The ONLY unfortunate thing is that the ultrasound pictures are not that great, so we don't have a good one to post. Trust us that we have evidence of a true tarheel foot, her face, her hand waving, and without-a-doubt proof that she's, well, a she!!

MTV...I mean Hall Cribs

So here is a picture of our nursery!! Just kidding. But it really is a picture of Baby Hall's crib. Thanks to my parents, we already have two "baby furniture" dressers! AKA, my baby furniture from 26 years ago that stayed with me all the way through college and beyond. Josh and I figure if it can last that long, it can make it through another round as "baby furniture." We really love this crib...it's so beautiful/handsome (depending on what we have, haha) and will convert into toddler, day, and full-size beds as well.

Hurray!!

Beginning today, Baby Hall will experience the joy of a break from grad school!! Oops, did I write Baby Hall? I meant myself there...typo! ;)

And as of today, I am 4 months along! I'd post a "bump" picture, but it would just look like me after Christmas or Thanksgiving (my two favorite holidays, coincidentally) dinner. I'm hoping she or he will pop on out there soon! That way, I can stop feeling like a dork for already wearing my maternity pants (which my mom and Josh's mom have so kindly purchased for me...thank you both so much!!). Even after I am (hopefully) back to something near my "normal" size, I am going to bust those bad boys out anytime I go to the following places: Carrabba's, Olive Garden, Outback, my parent's house for popcorn and a movie (my dad makes amazing popcorn and I always eat about 5 bowls of it-no exaggeration), any Mexican restaurant, or anywhere else where I plan on eating a gigantic meal because the pants are amazingly comfy.

We are, and I don't know if anxious is the right word, maybe curious to see how the dogs are going to handle everything. For some bizarre reason, we think Sweet Pea will actually be fairly protective of the baby...she's already had to learn to share us with Maverick, so this should be an extreme version of that. The one we're a little concerned about is Maverick. Erin C and I were talking the other day (you know this is headed somewhere that is based in reality but far from it) about Maverick stalking the baby and me, coming into our rooms at night with kitchen knives in his mouth and staring us down while we sleep. Wow, I really just typed that sentence-somehow over the phone it was extremely funny. Although now that I picture it again, it's still funny. I guess if you are reading this blog, you know me and my sense of humor, so enough qualifying.

Around here it is the calm before the storm of buying. Being paid 10 months instead of 12 months is nice during the school year, but when you want to buy The Perfect Glider(!) or The Perfect Crib (!) and have no money it is annoying...hurry up August 31st! :) Since we are on one salary for the summertime (savings aside, of course I have to type that so when my banker hubby reads this he won't freak) we have held off on buying Anything yet except a couple of baby books (and yes, I'm a librarian and fully support the borrowing of reading material over the purchase of it, but everyone should have a home library, and these are not the books you need to go check out when you wake up in the middle of the night baffled as to when you actually need to buy a high chair or how will you know one rash that will go away from another rash that will have a permanent and horrible outcome? You definitely want to have that book in your house, 24/7/365-yes I just wrote that- with no late fees, or restocking fees as they are now called at Blockbuster haha). Anyway, back to buying things. I think Josh is equally excited and terrified of finding out what we're having, because he knows then I will not be able to walk by baby clothing and not buy-or try to buy-something. So keep him in your prayers, poor man. There will be no stopping myself and a few other women from BuyingBabyClothingLand (EU and I were discussing the amazingness of adding "land" or "ville" to other words or phrases...another TimMeulhoffAceElla for those of you that remember).

I mean, what else can you write after that?

The Crew

Since all three of them are super cute, here's a picture of Josh and our two current babies......soon to be receiving a demotion...sorry puggles! These three have been keeping me company while I work on some homework :) Josh is now a Sudoku master, Sweet Pea (left) and Maverick (right) are still working on it. They prefer to eat the Sudoku puzzles, and really love a quality mechanical pencil to gnaw on for a while.

Hello out there!! I can't wait to meet everybody in 6 months!!

Love,

Baby Hall