Weeks Change to Days: 35 Day Countdown!!!

Jiminy Cricket! 35 is the magic number! Today marks 35 weeks which also means only 35 days to go!

It has been pretty quiet lately. HAHA! Psych! As usual, we have a plate full of things that we are diving into. But, I think we've been taking it all with stride thanks to level heads and support from loved ones.

We recently made a trip to the Great Dairyland! It's always nice to cruise around Lake MI to the Milwaukee area to see my parents and siblings. And, this particular trip was full of family fun. To kick start things, my lovely mom planned a baby shower for me. And, to end the weekend, she also planned a surprise retirement party for my dad. {No wonder I have such a great hostess gene!}

The drive was great! Snow was finally starting to melt, spring in the air, sun peaking through the clouds... And, as usual we stumbled across some Journey just as we were heading into Chicago! Life is good. {DON'T STOP BELIEVIN'} I must admit, my husband is becoming quiet the experienced Chicago driver -- thanks to his navigating wife. We make a good team. And, we love road trips. We have some of our best and most thought provoking conversations when we drive. Helps pass the time and so does belting music when things get lame.

The shower was lovely. It was touching to see close friends and family. Some we haven't seen since our wedding and others even longer! We were "showered" once again with gifts, hugs, and well wishes from everyone. Baby muffin is already so humbled. Mom is so good to us! And, thank goodness for brothers! My brother Matt, brother-in-law Grant, and Eric all hit the road to Milwaukee for the Sprecher brewery tour. Eric is a bit spoiled from his production experience at New Holland so he wasn't too impressed. But, it was special to hear that he enjoyed "cackling" with the guys more than the tour itself. I'm glad those dudes {all very different} can entertain one another in good clean fun.

We literally had to shoe {shoo?} some of the gals from the shower out of the house to make it to the car dealership for one of mom's great plans. You see, my dad's retirement gift to himself is a new Toyota Tacoma {Much deserved!}. So, mom made a pact with the dealership that they would call her when it was in and if dad inquired, they would say it wasn't in yet. Mean, just mean. But, it allowed us women to meet the guys after the Sprecher tour and take a picture with dad's new truck. It was quite the adventure and "a beautiful thing" as Dad would say.



The whole Seib-family! Growing each day!

Dad's surprise retirement party took place at the Fox and Hound restaurant. An awesome setting tucked back in the woods. Just a small group of his closest friends, coworkers, and some family. Unfortunately he was feeling under the weather but mom convinced him that the family needed to celebrate his achievement over brunch since all the kids were in town. Let me tell you, the love and the energy from everyone must have perked him right up! He was surprised by all of the people that traveled a short distance and also with the fun gifts that he received as recognition for his hard work. You see.... dad is a private guy. A hard working German man. The kind of guy that always worked 2-3 jobs - jobs he didn't even like and shifts that caused him to sleep in 3 hr increments at a time. He is an inspiration -- not many people can comfortably retire at age 55 nor do they stay employed at a company they don't like for 30+ years! But, my dad did and it brought him to a great place. I'm so proud of him! And, over all of the years he was able to keep a strong faith in God. In fact, I'm sure that's what got him through it all. {One of those lengthy conversations on the ride back to MI!}

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On the homefront - we got good news about the house. So, Eric has spent the last week going there for a couple hours at time to work on plumbing repairs. Next step, FHA appraisal/inspection. Then repair more according to their standards. Then inspect again. Tentatively scheduled to close on the house end of April {Conveniently, a week before baby is due}.

Our 34 week appointment was a breeze. Muffin was all jacked up on something because she was moving around so much we could barely hear her heartbeat. All is well. She's not measuring as big as anticipated {Good grief, thank goodness!} and I got a high five for only gaining 2 lbs in the last 2 weeks. Head is down but cocked a little to the right side and her little butt is always popping out from under my rib. So, she's in a decent position now, she just needs to wiggle down.

Holy roundness!

How Far Along: 35 weeks

Size of Baby: Size of a honeydew melon. 18 inches and 5.5 pounds of cuteness!

Belly: Fricken stretch marks are creeping in! I'm not sure when they took up residence on the underside of my belly... but Eric pointed them out the other day. Oh well. Still loving the tumtum! Eric said to me this week, "Babe, is it weird that I can't even picture you without your beautiful belly?" He is so sweet! But really.... what did I look like?!

Movement: Not a whole lot of room to move these days. No more summersaults. Just some rolling movements and some kicks. And, man, do those hard kicks make me jump sometimes. I enjoy watching my belly morph as she moves. She's getting big!

Symptoms: None? Is that possible at 35 weeks?!! The only symptom I have {other than frequent urination which is.... duh!} is occasional swelling of the feet. I'm feeling pretty good these days.

Food Cravings: Nothing in particular. Loving me some watermelon from time to time and I drink milk like its going out of style.

Gender: Getting excited to make her woodland animal themed nursery in the new house.... eventually

Moods Ups and Downs: Because I've been feeling so great, my mood is great! I think I'm more pleasant now that I was pre-pregnancy. No joke.

What I miss: As much as I miss late nights, conversations with human beings {you know, someone more interesting than my dog}, beer, adventures, ect... I'm content these days. I'm happy just to be comfortable, functional, sleeping well, and still able to do many things on my own {Though, telling Eric that I can't do laundry anymore because I lost my balance and nearly feel down the stairs is probably the best thing yet!}

What I'm looking forward to: Last baby shower tomorrow! I'm not going to lie, I'll be glad when it's over - I'm tuckered out. But, I'm excited to see the tribe and more family. Hopefully muffin will grace someone with her presence. She is so dang shy around the belly touchers! Oh, and I'm excited to go get a pedicure with my girl, Alex! She's hosting this shower at her home and she deserves a little TLC too. {Thanks to my friend Jordan for the pedi gift certificate! Just in time for warmer weather and a round belly!}

Milestones/Moments: So close to being less than a month away!

Whip out the flip-flops, Michigan. It's supposed to be in the 50s soon!

32 Weeks 5 Days: Things are "rounding" out nicely ;)

Greetings ya'll!

Oye! I wrote this last week and my draft fell victim to the outer space of the immense intraweb.... so here's to trying to remember what I wrote about...

Almost 33 weeks! In fact, tomorrow will be just 50 days til our due date. Holy buckets! Time is just surging past us day by day. And, soon our corner won't look like this....

6ft snow walls lined the roads earlier this month.... safe to turn the corner no prob!

Our 28 week appointment went well. The glucose test has been rumored to be “gross and terrible” so I was a little apprehensive. The drink itself wasn’t too bad {This from a girl who is known to like flat soda}. Personally, however, I think the gut-ache following the chug is what is unpleasant. And, lucky me, I passed! The remainder of our appt. was just taking measurements and checking vitals. According to our OB we should expect a huge baby, but she is healthy.

 

I spent the beginning of that weekend playing with babies {and their moms} at “finger paints and pizza” night at Ashley’s. It also marked the start to Alex’s birthday weekend… which her mama drove all the way from WI to surprise her!!! How sweet is she! I had a great night {Harley themed!} but had to turn in early. I just can’t hang like I used to.

 

Eric’s Aunt Cookie turned 60 this month. Her birthday party happened to be at New Holland so I flew solo since Eric was working. It was nice to see so many people show up to celebrate her! Patti {my mother-in-law} even brought a baby blanket for Mini Muffin that Cookie knit for Eric when he was born. It is in great condition and her attention to detail was evident. She was even scanning it over for loose ends when she saw it! Then, Eric showed up out of nowhere! He took his lunch break to see his Aunt. How sweet is he?!

 

 

The house-buying situation consumed much of this month {again}. Unfortunately things slowed to a hault mid-month due to a change in bank negotiator… blah blah blah…. Long story short, things will be moving as slow as a typical short-sale {average of 3-4 months to close} for us. So, our realtor suggested that if we are really in a hurry that we keep our eyes open for other houses on the market. Hey, we don’t have too much to lose! But, we came to the conclusion that at this point we will just plan to stay put. We love our house and we have very understanding and flexible landlords. So, if something comes up in the near future, great. If not, we have a roof over our head for our little nugget! Unfortunately I had already starting packing…. A strategy to ease my burden when I’m a basketball. Now all the boxes have to find new homes….

 

 

 

 

 



Looking forward to warm weather and sunny skies!

Valentine’s day came and went. We didn’t have any plans since we are on opposite schedules. That’s life. The flame still burns the other 364 days of the year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m getting the itch to start my garden. Don’t ask me why. I know very well what type of conditions the weather must be in order to do this. But, we’ve had more sunny days lately which makes me want to just dig in the dirt {barefoot and without gloves!}

 

Cory’s 30^th birthday just passed. I enjoyed putting together a little giftbox of all of his favorite things with Eric's help.... Monsters, jerky, vitamin water, Cabela’s card, gas card, gun shells… everything short of a fishing pole! I think he liked it! I volunteered to DD to the Embo that night. What a great turnout! There had to have been 25 people there to celebrate our charming, selfless, and funny friend! The end to the evening was one to remember. Steve, DD#2, locked his keys in his truck and it took 7 guys 30 minutes to break into it {Thanks to my “hoarding” tendencies, I had a wire hanger in my trunk}. Just when everyone’s buzzes were killed, Steve got pulled over for having a headlight out on our trip back to finish the evening off. Unbelievable! But, Cory had a great night and it was definitely one to remember.

 

Cory and I during Eric's 30th bday party... Old men.

 

 

 

We are so fortunate to know people who have recently had kiddos. I spent countless hours sorting through bags and bags of little human clothes passed on from co-workers, friends, ect. It was an overwhelming challenge {mentally and physically} but I finally have everything labeled in boxes for every quarter of her first 18 months! During this process I could feel my house caving in on me and my good friend, Ashley, came over to help ease my burden. We might not have done much, but just reorganizing boxes, moving totes around, consolidating all the baby donations… It all gave me peace {if only for a couple days….}

 



Sushi at a baby shower. YES!

We had our first baby shower!! My lovely family at New Holland Brewing Company made me feel so special with the “Allison’s Favorite Things” theme. Katie Jo is the baby shower master! There were Doritos, Kit-Kats, walking tacos, sushi, Twix bars, fruit, fruit snacks, cheesecake bars! She really knows how to make a girl feel special! It was a collaborative effort by many of my favorite people. Andrew McDonald even pre-made about 100 little mini-pepperoni pinwheels {I’m sure it took him at least an hour!}. I can’t explain how tickled that all made me feel. Then, there was the gift opening…. I made the girls save and fold all of the tissue paper {freak!}. Haha. We got lots of wonderful things to kick-start the sweet life of little muffin-butt! Generous gifts, of course! These girls just love and give. I can’t wait til it’s my turn to be the giver again {I’ve been feeling rather “take take” lately since we’ve had wedding showers and baby showers in the last 6 months.} It’s humbling.

 

 

 

Childbirth class was this past weekend. Of course, we sat in the back row and snickered back and forth for most of it! It was insightful and we both learned a lot. I'm hoping our presenter, Debbie, will be our nurse when the time comes. She is more chill than our OB!

 

30 week appt was sometime this month, 32 week appointment was today. Thumbs up all around. Her head is perfectly positioned {today} and her little rump is always poking out under one rib cage. My uterus continues to measure high. 2 weeks ahead these days {She said it could mean that I'd go a couple weeks early but I don't want to get my hopes up}.

 

I started leaving updates in the bathroom for Daddy :)

 

How Far Along: 32 weeks 5 days

 

Size of Baby: Muffin is the size of a Bok Choy. What?! She is 4lbs and almost 16.5 inches long.

 

Belly:  1 little stretch mark on my hip. I check it multiple times daily haha. It is about half and inch now. Oh well. Belly Belly Belly!! I just love the thing and so does everyone else! It’s getting much harder to make my non-maternity clothes work….  

 

Sleep: The tiredness is coming back. I've talked myself into going to bed earlier but it’s hard not seeing Eric at night.

 

Movement: Tiny Dancer!!! This baby loves to move! She’s still very active at night 11pm to 1am. But, that doesn’t mean she isn’t moving all throughout the day too. I think she sleeps for an hour and then parties hard again. The spot she kicks the most legitimately feels bruised and tender. But, she likes to hide from all my friends. Not for long!!

 

Symptoms: Mild ligament pain, dizziness, frequent bathroom trips, back ache, trouble positioning {but not yet having trouble sleeping! Wahoo!}  

 

Food Cravings: Chocolate {Oh my!}, specifically Hershey Kisses. Pineapple.

 

Gender: Little girl clothes ARE so cute! Especially ruffle butt things!

 

Mood Ups and Downs:  I’m a little ornery these days. Mostly if I get annoyed I just keep getting annoyed. No tears. Thankfully Eric just takes my ups and downs in stride. He always seems to be in such a good mood… why is that?!

 

What I Miss:  Putting on socks and shoes without becoming winded. Well, doing anything without becoming winded!! I took Porter to the dog park and only “managed” to walk 3 laps around the park. Pathetic! But, in my online yoga workout I learned that your heart enlarges 12% when you are pregnant. No wonder we ladies are feeling so tired, breathless, and out of shape!

What I'm Looking Forward to: Shower in WI this weekend!!  And, dad's retirement party.

Milestones/Moments:  50 days! I'm going to start a little journal of letters to my precious daughter!

 

Be good everyone! I leave you with this photo of a man and his possessed dog!