29 weeks

Well, the baby's room is coming along. Sort of. His room still looks like a storage unit, but now we have a dresser. We'd been looking on Craigs List to find a good deal and came across an entire bedroom set (2 dressers, mirror, queen head/foot board & frame, and 2 end tables) for $350!! We couldn't pass it up. So we picked up the set this week and put it in our room and we're moving our old dresser into the baby's room. Works out nicely I think. Maybe now I can start going through the clothes we have and start organizing them! That's way more exciting to me than it should be, but I don't care.

I've also been doing some hard core research into stroller travel systems. We registered for one at Wal-Mart this week and then later looked at the reviews and found it was a terrible choice. So I've been scouring through customer reviews and ratings of what seemed like hundreds of strollers to find the best one for a reasonable price. Today I finally decided on a travel system. I haven't seen it in person, but from what other people say, it's a good one. I hope it works for us too.

We had a great weekend because yesterday was Chris' birthday! We slept in (need to take advantage of that before baby comes), had a big breakfast, opened presents, watched NCAA basketball, saw a movie, played skeet ball, went shopping (for boy things) and went to dinner. It was a packed day, but boy it was fun. And since Chris received the drum kit to Guitar Hero for his birthday, he has plenty to keep him busy while I'm doing my baby research.

Registered

On Tuesday night, Chris and I registered for baby stuff. Slightly overwhelming (who knew there were so many bottles to choose from) but really fun. The many toys listed on the registries are a result of my husband running down the toy aisle with the scanner clicking all the fun things he saw. I tried to catch him, but no one wants to see a pregnant lady run. We had fun. Clearly the baby will too with all those toys! You can find our registries here.

Wal-Mart

Toys R Us

28 Weeks

Well, the 3rd trimester is officially here. The last 6/7 months have gone by so fast, and yet so slow at the same time. I hear that's normal. The reality of actually being parents is starting to hit us and I'm trying to prepare myself for the yuck along with the fun. And by yuck I mean the no sleep, the crying, the sick baby, the smelly diapers. But it's all worth it, right? Honestly, I am so anxious to meet this little guy. I LOVE feeling him move around inside me and I already feel like he has his own personality.

On Saturday, Chris and I moved all the office furniture to it's new location. Now we have a great new looking office and a really empty room that needs baby furniture. I am definitely in nesting mode and it's hard for me to wait to do the baby's room. But I suppose until we have furniture and a cleared out space in the closet to put clothes, there's not much I can do.

Along with preparing for baby, we're starting to consider names a little more seriously now. It's a lot of pressure to choose a name that this person will have for the rest of their life. It has to be fit for a child ("Frank" probably won't work), but can't be too babyish for when he's an adult ("Buddy" may not cut it either). So we've made a list. We add names to it. We take some off. Eventually we'll come up with just the right one. But for those curious to know, you'll have to wait. Baby boy's name will be a secret until he makes his grand entrance in June.

Charlie's New Toy

A few weeks ago Mark & Christie gave us some toys for our baby that their boys don't play with anymore, and Charlie decided that they were for him instead.

27 Weeks

I love weekends! Chris and I slept in on Saturday, ate pancakes for breakfast (we discovered a few weeks ago that baby loves pancakes), played some cribbage and then started in on the baby's room. We're moving our office to the spare room, so the baby can be right across the hall from us. So we cleaned closets and sorted through stuff. All we have to do now is move the office furniture and then we can really start prepping for the little guy. Still looking for a crib and dresser, but I think we found a changing table. Hooray. I believe the nesting has begun.

We also started looking at registering. Still undecided as to where. The Target and Walmart in Sioux Falls don't offer a lot of choices as far as bedding, cribs and such. Toys R Us is pretty much the same so we may have to do some shopping online. I did, however, find a diaper bag that I love. It's made by Carters and has tons of pockets, a long shoulder strap and is brown suede, which means dad won't be too embarassed to carry it around. I thought about waiting until later to register for it, but I didn't. I bought it and I'm pretty excited about it.

Today my dad and brother came in town to do some snow goose hunting. They'll be here for a few days. Chris and I love having family visit. His parents are in MT and mine are in WI, so we don't get to see them more than a few times a year. Maybe that will change when the first grandbaby arrives.

26 weeks

No bump picture this week. Chris and I spent the weekend in Elk River, MN with our friends Kris and Kellie and their kids. It was so nice to get away for a few days and relax. Kellie and I went shopping for baby clothes at the outlet mall on Saturday. I've decided that Carters is my new favorite store because they actually have as many boy clothes as girl clothes, a rarity I'm discovering. Why do the moms of little girls get to have all the fun? We found some great clothes for pretty good deals. Kellie bought most of the stuff for our little guy. Thanks, Kel.

Then when we got home today Chris and I looked through some clothes that our District Youth Director and his wife gave us last week. Most of the clothes were size 12-18 months, which is perfect, since the stuff we'll be getting now is for baby's first year. We'll need bigger boy clothes and it is all in great condition. Not to mention the barely used pack 'n play and high chair they also gave us. We are so blessed. Thanks Mark and Christie! Now we just need to get started with the baby's room. Chris is keeping an eye on Craig's list to see if we can find a crib, dresser and changing table for a reasonable price.

This week we have a doctor's appointment. I always love going in and hearing the baby's heartbeat. It's becoming more and more real to me just how incredible this little guy is inside me. He moves all the time now which is still so much fun, even though he's found my ribs and likes to test their strength. I'm getting anxious to meet him. 3 months to go.

25 Weeks

Well, the weeks seem to be moving right along now. I definitely feel more pregnant than before. The baby is moving quite a bit and Chris can feel him on a regular basis too. It's also been harder to sit for long periods of time and rolling over in bed brings a whole new set of challenges. But all in all, this pregnancy has been wonderful! I feel great and I love carrying this new life inside of me. I'm loving my baby bump too. It's not so huge that it gets in the way, but people can definitely tell I'm pregnant. It's great!

This weekend, Chris' brother JD came to Sioux Falls to visit. We've really missed seeing him since we moved. The boys played video games and watched funny stuff, while I cooked. I love making meals for JD because he thinks everything I make is amazing, even the boring old tuna melts we had for lunch on Saturday. We also went swimming Saturday afternoon, so that was fun.

Sunday was our annual church business meeting, and much to my surprise, it lasted only one hour, just like Pastor said. I've never seen such a conflict-free, cut to the chase business meeting. I love our church. I'm also finding more and more expectant moms at church too. With some new families coming in and the regulars expanding their own families, I think we're up to 9 or 10 pregnant moms! Our little guy will have lots of friends to play with, which is one thing I've always wanted. I didn't have many church friends when I was young because there was no one my age, so having good friendships at church was always something I wanted for our kids. I believe that God does know the desires of our heart.