We went to this event last night where they look at our car seats and inspect them to make sure we have them in right.  Everything was installed properly so that’s one less thing to worry about.  Not much else going on.  Bags are packed as mentioned in last post, now just playing the waiting game.  I think we are all looking forward to a long 4th of July Weekend, we could use the rest and relaxation.  Things have been so busy so it will be a nice few days off.

 

I haven’t taken a picture of Kelly this week yet, so fortunately she went to the bathroom and took a belly pic on a whim.  I like it:

Kelly’s Doctor’s appointment on Tuesday revealed that she is 1 cm dilated.  Naturally this put us in a state of panic and we rushed to pack our bags and make sure we were all ready.  We completely understand that it could still be weeks, but it made it a bit more real and I feel like it was just the push we needed.  As Kelly put it, “Shit is about to get real.”  I agreed.  She is also 80% effaced.  I don’t know long it takes to get to 100% effaced, but apparently once you get to 100%, the baby comes shortly after.  So we are still waiting, however, we are a little more ready in terms of having our bags packed to get out of the house fast with what we need.  Tonight we go to get the car seats certified and that should be one of the final things before he comes.  Kelly is going to start working from home starting Monday, June 30th.  So that’s good news for her.

Kelly hit the 37 week mark on Friday, June 20th.  She has been in a lot of pain, so much so that she was having a really hard time walking.  As of last night though, it seems to have subsided and she is a lot more comfortable.  We think maybe the baby was sitting in something and causing the pain, but hopefully it stays away.  Kelly saw her Doctor last week.  She isn’t dilated at all yet, so looks like we are still in good shape.  The baby is moving around a lot also.  He doesn’t have much room to move around anymore, so we see even the slightest movements.  It really is amazing.

Kelly found a table on Pinterest that she wanted me to make for the backyard.  I decided I would do it, for no other reason than to make Kelly stop talking about it.  But after a few hours on Saturday, I absolutely CRUSHED this table, and we have a really nice table in the backyard now.  We got some chairs from Ikea, and now, we have another place to sit when we feel like being destroyed by mosquitoes.  I will post pictures below so you can see what was on Pinterest, and what my actual table looks like.  I’m not gonna lie, it’s pretty legit.  We also hung out with the Murphy’s this weekend.  They were nice enough to take us as guests to the pool where they are members.  So Kelly was able to relax and get in some sun and swimming.

In baby news, our baby supposedly weighs 6 1/3 pounds and measures a bit over 19 inches.  Food comparison of the week: Our baby is the side of a bunch of Swiss chard.  I had no idea what that was so I needed to look it up.  Apparently it’s a leafy green vegetable.  Upon looking it up, web search results also asked me if I wanted a bunch of Swiss chard recipes: I decided to take a hard pass on that.  Kelly is experiencing some Braxton Hicks contractions.  Some of them were so strong that they woke her up the other night. But so far, so good.  She goes back to the Doctor today, so I’ll post more when we know more.

Here is the original post on Pinterest:

Here is my table prior to being Stained:

 

Here is the table mid-stain, almost finished.  I don’t want to brag, but I’m prrrrretty sure it looks exactly like the Pinterest table. Permission to be impressed granted.

 

Kelly hit the 36 Week mark on Friday, June 13th.  We celebrated with an incredibly busy weekend.  Saturday we planned to buy some flowers, a tree and a bush to plant, and then go home and plant them.  But we hit a snag when we really couldn’t find what we liked, so we only wound up buying them Saturday, but were unable to plant.  Saturday night we went to see a play at a local Playhouse right near our house.  We had recently watched the movie August: Osage County and when we passed the Playhouse one day recently we saw they were putting on that play this week, so we decided to go.  It was actually great.  I’m glad we saw the movie first so we had a little background on the characters and what exactly it was about.  We also went to some Yard Sales on Saturday. You know the old saying, “One Man’s Trash is usually something Kelly and Joe will buy and leave in their house somewhere.”  In this case though, we found a great little bed side table that we love.  Success!!

Sunday, I played some early golf so I could get home and do some housework and planting.  Kelly is absolutely obsessed with how our house looks from the outside now.  She emailed me earlier and asked me to send her pictures of the house that I had on my phone so she could look at them.  It’s kind of weird. Kelly wanted a little project to work on, so she painted the chairs we have outside of our house.  They came out great.

In the world of Pregnancy, our baby is now the size of a head of romaine lettuce.  I’m not a big vegetable guy, so I wish the analogies were something a little more applicable.  Like, your baby is now the size of a size 9 golf shoe.  Or, this week, your baby is the size of an Xbox controller and weighs as much as a box of Titlelist Pro V1 golf balls.  I feel like I’d understand that more.  At the end of this week, Kelly will be considered “Early Term.”  In other news, Kelly has come to terms with the fact that swelling hands and feet are a part of pregnancy.  She can longer wear her engagement ring, and is really having a love/hate thing with shoes.  Still, she looks so cute and we both watch in amazement as her belly moves on it’s own and we see  little body parts poke out.

Some weekend pics below:

Kelly at one of the Yard Sales we went to.

 

 

Right before we went into the play on Saturday night.

 

 

The playhouse is actually in this old barn, really cool place. Plus, they had cookies at intermission.

 

Kelly’s Painted Chairs and Milk Jug Table (purchased at a different  Yard Sale last year):

 

 

Kelly is 35 weeks as of Friday, June 6th.  The baby is supposedly the size of a Honeydew Melon, which I am also allergic to (refer to week 34 and the cantaloupe).  He’s running out of room to move in there so we feel him and see him a lot more.  Kelly is becoming more and more uncomfortable.  She is having a hard time telling whether or not she is having some stomach issues or Toni Braxtons (Braxton Hicks Contractions).  But when she gets those pains, I just tell her to Breathe Again (amazing Toni Braxton reference for those who didn’t pick up on it).

My parents came to visit this weekend, along with Danielle and Rachel.  Friday night we had dinner at Brittingham’s in Lafayette Hill, right near where we used to live.  Saturday we spent the day doing some shopping and getting some more things together in preparation.  We also had our bookcase delivered, so the baby’s room is pretty much complete.  Saturday night we had a fire in the back yard, made some s’mores, burned a big box of bills Joe kept for 6 years for some reason, and just enjoyed the weather and the relaxing time before the baby arrives.

Once everyone left on Sunday, I took Kelly shopping to get some things she needs for her “Go” bag for the hospital.  We want to make sure we’re prepared for when the time comes, so we’re getting everything ready for the big day.  It was a great weekend.  It’s one week closer to launch, and we’re doing the best we can to make sure we are as prepared as possible.

Here is a picture below of Kelly below.  She changed the way she was standing, so now we get a glimpse of her other beautiful side. She looks amazing:

Kelly was 34 weeks on Friday, May 30th.  Baby is measuring at 18 inches long and is about 4.75 pounds, or the size of a cantaloupe.  I’m allergic to cantaloupe, so that’s unfortunate.  Kelly is starting to get more uncomfortable physically. I am trying my best to massage certain parts that are hurting her, but nothing really seems to help.  What does seem to help, are Hot Fudge Sundaes from Petrucci’s, a local ice cream shop near Kristin and Ardy’s house.  Kelly and Joe enjoyed a few sundaes, as well as some water ice this weekend, all within a very small window of time.

Kelly’s mom was in town this weekend to visit everyone and spend time with Alex and Ryan.  I replaced the windows in our bedroom with some help from Ardy. It’s nice to actually be able to sleep with the windows open at night and get some fresh air.  Friday night we all went to the Greek Festival that they have, what seems like every other week, at St. Sophia’s by our house.  Classic Carnival food, but lots of Gyros and authentic Greek food, which we all really love.  Ryan rode a whole bunch of rides, some of which he seemed very unimpressed with.  Joe and Ardy, however, were VERY impressed with the stand that sold Deep Fried Twinkies.   Some might say, it was Love at first bite? Some might also say it was diabetes on a stick.  Regardless, it was amazing.  We still haven’t been able to cross off “eat the giant lamb shank at the Greek Festival” from our bucket list, but I think we’ll be able to do it one day, perhaps in a week or two, when the Festival returns.

Deep Fried Twinkie:

As of Last Friday, May 23rd, Kelly is 33 weeks pregnant.  She’s getting a lot more tired, has convinced Joe that she is indeed “Nesting,” and is looking better than ever, though she has difficulty in accomplishing the simplest of tasks.  Last night she lost an unfortunate battle with her pants, and trying to get them off.  I, however, was glad to assist.  Her and her shoes aren’t getting along either much lately.  She looks absolutely adorable.

Size of baby this week: Pineapple.  Delicious.

I went to Brooklyn for the day on Sunday of Memorial Day Weekend just to see my family for a few hours.  We just BBQ’d and hung out for a while, I spent some time with my nieces, brother, sister and sister-in-law, and my parents.  And, as always, we stuffed our faces; standard stuff really. They actually let Kristin go home a day early, so she came home on Sunday.  Kelly stayed at Kristin’s and got to spend some more time with her mom and our new niece, Alex. Some Brooklyn pics below:

This weekend, Kristin and Ardy welcomed a beautiful baby girl named Alexandra Blake.  She was born Friday, May 23rd weighing in at 8 pounds, 8 ounces.  Mommy and baby are doing great.  Kristin was doing so well, that they sent her home a day early from the hospital.  We spent the long holiday weekend getting to know our new little niece and spending time with family.  It was a great weekend. Some pics below:

Alex discovers the hand-cross.

Kristin and Kelly pull the ever so famous “Oh, we’re just going to give the baby a bath” and steal a much needed nap with Alex on Monday Afternoon.

Ryan does big smile and enjoys one of what turned out to be many, many donuts.

Big news today, Kristin’s water broke ruining  a perfectly good pair of pants, though Ardy was slightly more concerned with their rug.  It also marks the second child in a row, where she’s made sure no one has any Holiday Weekend plans (Ryan was born Labor Day Weekend 2012).  Ardy reports she is slightly dilated as of 11:00 am, so we’ll see how she progresses.  Prayers for a speedy delivery and a healthy baby and mama.

More to come…..