49 days to go!

49 days to go! Everyday I feel a variety of emotions about the birth of Ethan. For the most part, I'm really excited and it feels like it'll never come. Because we are so close I also feel a lot of anxiety over getting everything ready and I think I'm in shock that he'll actually be here in 7 weeks. Despite all the excitement, I also worry that something will happen to him between now and then. I know my fears are out there and the chances are very very slim that he will wrap himself up in his umbilical cord or that his heart will just stop. I think part of these fears comes from losing a baby before. The dream of finally becoming a mom is so close and I can't wait to see Ethan's little face. It makes my eyes well up with tears just to imagine those first few moments with my son.
He still seems to be growing normally. At my 32 week appointment, I measured a week behind, which was irritating since I measured a week ahead just 3 weeks before. It's all still within what's normal, but, of course, I freaked out and worried that he'd stopped growing. I have a feeling this worrying will never stop even when he is here. There will be another set of worries. He was head down as of my last appointment and I think he's stayed that way. My doctor said that the chances of him turning around again are slim since it's getting packed in there. He should be about 4 1/2 lbs by now and 16 or 17 inches long. Supposedly, he will gain 1/2 lb a week from now until delivery.

Almost 33 weeks (Christmas Day!)

My belly is huge! I didn't think my belly button could come out anymore, but it has. I have had a vertical line above and below my belly button for about a month. It's really cool to see the things that they talk about in books happening to me.


In the next couple weeks I'll post pictures of his room. It's still a work in progress. His clothes are washed and put away. His crib & dresser are up and ready to go. We still have a few things to do, but I'll post pictures when we're finished.

10 more weeks!

10 more weeks until baby Ethan will finally be here! Sometimes it feels like it's coming really fast and other times it's really slow.

We went to an all day childbirth class yesterday and learned some really good relaxing techniques. I really like the birthing ball, which is basically just an exercise ball. I'm hoping to use it at home when labor begins and hopefully take it to the hospital with me. After taking the class I am more excited about the process and although I don't think anyone really looks forward to labor, I'm excited to meet my son. I'm so curious to see who he looks like and I really want to hold him.

I have 6 more weeks of work before I go on maternity leave. I'm happy that I will have some time off before the baby comes. It's also a little bittersweet because I'll be leaving 5 little kids behind. I have been watching the Weaver's 3 kids for almost 3 years and I've been with the Jones' for almost a year. I'm really going to miss my kids! This is the beginning of a new chapter of my life where I will no longer will I be taking care of other people's kids. I'm looking forward to having a normal, steady work schedule at an office in May or June and being home with Ethan 2 days a week. The plan is for me to stay off work until the end of May/ early June and after that Ken's mom is going to take the baby 3 days a week so I can go back to work.

At my last doctor's appointment I had officially gained 24 lbs. At a pound a week it looks like I will most likely be at around 35 lbs when he's born. I took the glucose test on Tuesday and I don't have gestational diabetes, but I am anemic so now I'm taking iron supplements. Oh, and I'm measuring a week ahead, but that could just be because he's bigger than normal.

Lately, Ethan has been moving more and more. I can feel every twist and turn. He likes to move the most between 7pm and 11pm and every time I move from side to side at night he kicks around to get situated for a few minutes. I'm mesmerized by the fact that he is going to be 3 1/2 lbs by the end of the week and 18 inches long and he somehow fits inside my belly. We are both doing great! I feel more tired now than I did last trimester. I can get up at 8am and by 10am I'm ready for a nap. 6 more weeks until I can actually take that nap. I can't wait!

If you give Erin a box of decorations...

...she'll probably want a tree to decorate.

The day after Thanksgiving I felt like I really wanted to get all the Christmas stuff out of the garage. We only have 1 box of Christmas stuff and it's mostly ornaments that my mom has saved for me since I was a baby, ornaments we have received as gifts and hand-me-down decorations. Once we got it all out, I really wanted a tree. Ken and I have never had a Christmas tree which I know for some people is insane. We've always been so tight with our budget that we never wanted to spend money on a tree, especially since we don't have kids to enjoy it. We've always wanted to buy a fake tree too and they are expensive. So, for the last few Christmas' we either haven't put anything up or had a 2 ft fake tree (found in the hand-me-down box) which doesn't hold any more than a few ornaments. One year Ken strung lights around our apartment, but that's about it.

Anyways, once we got the decorations out I started thinking that maybe we should just buy a real tree this year just so we had something to put up. It all started with me saying, "Why don't we just go take a look?" and ended in us buying our first fake Christmas tree. We found an 8 ft tree at California Backyards for $300 so with the cost of a real tree it will pay for itself in about 6 years.

Here are the pictures of us setting it up and finally getting all the ornaments out of their boxes. It turned out really nice and we had a nice night listening to Christmas music and hanging out together.

The first set of branches

Pulling down the branches

Me getting all the branches spread out.