33 Weeks

What a great weekend. My parents came in town on Friday evening to spend a few days with us. We played cribbage, watched movies, ate good food and just enjoyed being together. It was really great to see them.

On Saturday, the ladies at church threw me a baby shower. It was wonderful and we were so blessed. I'm really glad my mom was here to share that with me. I think our little boy will be the best looking kid in town with all the cute outfits we received. Then afterward, mom and I washed all the clothes and started to organize the nursery. It's starting to look more put together and I actually enjoy spending time in there. It's not finished yet, but I feel good about the progress we made. We have all the furniture we need except a crib, which I'm anxious to buy since we received the cutest bedding at the shower. I can't wait to set it all up.

As Chris and I are going through our prenatal class, we're starting to think more about the labor and delivery of this little boy. We're sifting through all of our options and trying to put together a birth plan. There is so much to having a baby! I never would have guessed. All I can say is that I'm so glad for our team of midwives at the hospital. (I say "team" because my particular midwife is due with a baby in just a few weeks, and most likely will not be around for the birth of ours. So we're seeing the other two ladies she practices with as well.) They all have very similar beliefs and philosophies as us so I know we won't have to fight for many things. That reduces a lot of stress right there. Each day I grow more and more anxious to meet our precious baby boy. I can't wait to meet him.

32 weeks

Well, I definitely starting feeling the joys of the 3rd trimester this week. For about 3 days straight, the baby took up residence in my ribs. Every way I sat at my desk was uncomfortable with little (or perhaps not so little) feet jabbed up in my ribs all day long. (sigh) He's getting so much bigger and running out of room. It may be an interesting 8 weeks to come.

I also discovered today that the small rhythmic movements I've been feeling in my tummy is the baby with hiccups. I guess I never thought about it, but I just read that lots of baby's have hiccups. And here I thought he had a future as a drummer, with that steady rhythm and all.

This weekend I'm hoping to get the baby's room a little more set up. The last several weeks have been consumed by getting the daycare ready at church, so the room organizing has been put on hold. But seeing as that project is mostly completed, we'll have more time to devote to getting ready for Baby Anderson. (still no name decided)

This afternoon I visited a family from our church who just had a baby boy on Friday. That's one of my favorite things of being a pastor. He was so tiny and wonderful. When I picked him up to hold him, he started to fuss, but then I found my "mom sway" and he was content and went back to sleep. I think I'm going to be ok as a mom. (on a side note: While visiting this family I was able to see the birthing wing at the hospital where our little guy will be born and it's beautiful!! I'm really glad we chose Avera.)

31 weeks

Well, we're down to single digits now. Only 9 weeks left until baby arrives (give or take a few days). It seems so close and yet so far away at the same time. We're getting anxious to meet our little guy. And it seems the bigger I get, the clumsier I become. I drop stuff all the time. The bummer part is that it's also increasingly more difficult to reach things down low. For instance, this morning I found myself on all fours trying to reach something on the bottom shelf of the fridge. The bend and reach doesn't work anymore. Oh well. I still love being pregnant.

I've also noticed the baby's movements have changed. He used to kick with quick little jabs and punches. Now that he's running out of room, the movements are a lot slower. It seems like he's just stretching and reaching more. There are random little body parts sticking out all over the place ... feet, hands, butt, elbows ... who knows what. He makes me laugh. It's amazing to feel him wiggle and move around. Chris loves it too.

On a non-baby note, we had a great Easter weekend. At church, the kids did a huge egg hunt during the service. Almost 1000 eggs were hidden throughout the campus. A little crazy, but lots of fun. Then we had some friends over for a big lunch. We made wild turkey, which was a nice change from the traditional ham and then relaxed for the afternoon.

Today I'm enjoying a quiet day off before another week of crazy begins. Open houses are scheduled for the daycare next week and all the toys & equipment need to be moved and arranged in the next few days. Then next Sunday all our early childhood classes are moving to their new rooms in the daycare wing. Whew! It will be a busy week, but it's going to be good.

30 weeks

Sorry I'm a few days late in writing this week's post. The weekend just slipped right by. I went to a water class on Saturday morning and then to church for the daycare work day. Chris joined me after Men's Breakfast. We relaxed some in the afternoon and hunkered down as we watched the biggest snow storm of the year hit Sioux Falls. We even lost power for a while (during the NCAA final four games of course). Fortunately, it was still light enough out that we weren't totally dependant on candle light.

Sunday and Monday were just as busy with church, spending time with friends, a kids ministry network meeting, a toddler meeting, grocery shopping ... this is the first chance I've had to sit down for quite some time.

This morning marked the end of my 2 1/2 year run at Caribou Coffee. I worked there full time before moving to SF, and have worked 1 shift a week since coming here. I love the people I work with and love making coffee. I really enjoyed getting outside the church walls and meeting new people. But now that I'm well into my third trimester, it just became too hard to be lifting, bending, cleaning, standing, etc. for 5 hours. So this morning was my last shift. It was sad and I will miss working there. But seeing as I'm a full Caribou addict, I certainly will be visiting quite often (just without my 30% discount ... bummer).

The only exciting baby news is that we started our prenatal birthing classes tonight. We're taking the Bradley classes, which deals with relaxation techniques, eliminating unnecessary stress and preparing to birth your child naturally. I believe that God made my body to birth children and the more prepared I/we can be to do that the better. The Bradley method emphasizes the husband's role in labor and delivery as well. So Chris also has some learning to do over the next 10 weeks. Overall, it was a really good class. Our instructor is very bubbly and slightly dramatic, which makes the evening much more entertaining. I'm looking forward to next week.