Week 35

Week 35 is done... whooo hooo.  I'm now officially in my 9th month of pregnancy!  Only about one month to go...

This week during my weekly ultrasound for my fetal monitoring I got to see something very exciting..... HAIR!  The nurse pointed it out and I saw hair floating around on Amelia's head.  It was so cool!  The nurse said it was a "fair amount" of hair and that with 5 weeks to go, there is a possibility that she'll grow more.  I just hope it's not the kind of hair that falls out after she's born.  Keep your fingers crossed!

This week, my coworkers threw me a baby shower.  I thought that was very thoughtful!  Jimmy was able to attend, so it was also nice for him.  Because of my gestational diabetes,  they had a low carb menu of chicken wings and salad ;0)

Since they knew that Jimmy and I already had everything we needed for the baby, they had a "book shower" for us to help build up Amelia's library.  It was awesome!  Everyone bought us books that they had loved reading as a child, that their parents had read to them, or books that their own children loved.  The best part was that each time I opened up a gift, the person who gave it to us had a meaningful story about why they picked it.  It was very touching, personal, and awesome!  Amelia now has LOTS of great new books for her library.  Jimmy already started reading some to her before bed ;0)

During the shower everyone gave Jimmy and I lots of advice.  However, I think the BEST advice we got was to remember that, "Every baby is different."  That really stuck in my mind because it's so true!  What works for some babies, doesn't work for others.  All babies don't develop, sleep, grow, and learn in the same way.  I have the best coworkers and am so thankful for their generosity.  They really went all out for me!

My new (diabetes friendly) craving is sliced cheese!  I can't get enough of it and add it to everything... everything is better with cheese, right?  I still have strong cravings for lemonade and fruit, but I can't have lemonade and have to limit my fruit consumption.  So I guess I'll just have to stick with cheese!

Week 36

Synchronized Sleeping Sisters

Rudy and Olivia looked sooooo cute!

Cats on Baby Stuff

Rudy "breaking in" Amelia's pack n play

Lucy "Snout" thinks Amelia's mobile is a new cat toy

Lucy "Snout's" favorite hang out spot is still the changing table.

(Jimmy finally put up the shelf!)

The Lehman kitties LOVE tissue paper! 

They all took turns enjoying the tissue paper from my baby shower.

Rudy

Olivia

Lucy "Snout"

Lucy destroys a mouse!

I doubt Lucy "Snout"could ever kill a real mouse, but she definitely snouted our computer mouse! 

She chewed completely through the wire!

Soon to be a family

Jimmy and I have been together for 16 years.  It's been just the two of us for so long and we've been through so many life changes: getting our driver's licenses, first jobs, college, living away from our families, multiple moves, military life and everything in between... I could go on and on.  With Amelia's birth just around the corner, I can't help but think about how much our lives are going to change.

These past few weeks we have been reminiscing about what we've been through and all the exciting things we've done along the way.  It's amazing to think that even though we've been together for so many life changing events, that the most dramatic event, the birth of our first child, is yet to come!  Starting a family will bring a whole new dynamic to our relationship.  In just a few weeks we will no longer be just a couple, but a family! 

Just for fun, here are some throwback pics of just the two of us...

High School 1994-1998

High School: Prom

High School

High School:

 Jimmy and I in traditional Filipino attire

High School

High School:

My 16th Birthday

High School: Graduation

College: 1998-2002

College

College

College

College

College

**Only about 4 more weeks until I can post our first family pics!

Maternity Leave

I have been enjoying my job at The National Institutes of Health (NIH) very much. I've finally gotten into a groove and don't feel quite as overwhelmed as I used to. Starting in August, I'll be working from home more often and probably won't be working the full 40 hours per week. I have been so fortunate that my supervisors have been so flexible with my schedule. I'll be in my 9th month of pregnancy and I just want to take it a little easy before the baby comes.

Amelia is due in just 36 days!

I'm so looking forward to my 12 week maternity leave. Jimmy will be taking two weeks off initially and then a few weeks here and there for the first few months. Our families will also be visiting during the first few months to help us out too. I just know it's going to be tough since Jimmy and I don't really have a support system here in DC established yet.

If Amelia comes on time, I'll probably go back to work the first week of December. When I go back to work, I'll be working just 2 days a week, so I'm excited for my part-time schedule. I'm just hoping I can balance my job and being a good mom successfully. I'm so ready to switch my focus in my life to our little family.

Here's a picture of the building I work in. You can also see a little glimpse of the NIH campus.

The Mark O. Hatfield Clinical Research Center

Week 34

Sorry for the extremely late post.  We had a severe storm this weekend and we were without power for 3 days... 3 looooong, HOT days.  Jimmy and I stuck it out and stayed at the apartment (most people went to hotels because of the heat).  We spent the days at work and evenings in places with air conditioning (out to dinner, malls, etc), so we really only had to be at the apartment to sleep.  It was super hot and going to sleep feeling hot and sweaty is not fun.  Besides having to throw away all the food from our refrigerator, we are now doing well now in our 71 degree apartment.

I can't catch a break!  Week 34 has been terribly hot, with temperatures rising over 100 degrees for most of the week.  My mile long walk to and from work has definitely been tough for me, so this week I (finally) started taking the shuttle from the Metro Station to my building, so that has helped me a lot.  I also used to bypass the elevator and walked up 8 flights of stairs to my office to get some additional exercise.... not anymore! 

I feel like lately I'm constantly at the hospital for appointments and classes.  I have my regular prenatal appointment every week and a separate visit for an hour of fetal monitoring.  At my last appointment, I found out I lost 2 pounds, so have to work on gaining more weight.  My dietitian wants me to gain a total of 35-37 pounds!  I have 6 weeks to go have gained a total of 23 pounds, so I'm not too sure if I can get to that target weight.  It's especially hard to gain weight when I have so many dietary restrictions due to my gestational diabetes.

I have to go to fetal monitoring every week because of my gestational diabetes.  During the fetal monitoring, I lay in a hospital bed for an hour strapped to a bunch of machines.  They monitor Amelia's heartbeat, movements, my blood pressure, check my amniotic fluid, and at the very end, they do a sonogram.  Jimmy and I love love love getting to see Amelia every week via the sonogram, so I guess that's a plus.  Last week, Amelia had the hiccups during the sonogram, so it was cute.  My gestational diabetes is under control and my doctor is very happy with my progress.

Jimmy and I have also been participating in several baby classes.  This week, we went to a cloth diapering seminar, birthing class, and learned Lamaze.  The birthing and Lamaze class was informative, but the instructor was a little bit too passionate about the topics and was over the top in her teaching style.  Of course, during the Lamaze breathing part, Jimmy and I couldn't stop laughing.  I don't really see myself using Lamaze during labor, but I guess it was good to learn about.  However, I really enjoyed learning all the massage positions ;0)  Jimmy will definitely be implementing those newly learned skills during my labor.

My belly has gotten so big, I can now fit into Jimmy's boxers.  I love wearing them around the house.

35 Weeks and wearing Jimmy's boxers ;0)

Bruce

We ended up selling Bruce (my truck) the other week. I have had the truck since I joined the army in 2003. We weren't exactly excited about getting rid of Bruce. He has served us very well with all of our moves and as a daily driver. We only need one car here in D.C. and since Bruce isn't exactly what I would call "kid friendly" we knew it was time to part. The great part about the whole process is that we ended up getting a great price for the truck and it ended up going to a nice Air Force family in Spokane. Later Bruce, hope to see you around some time.

Bruce and I after our long road trip from San Antonio to Spokane in April of this year.

Nursery Letters

Check out Amelia's custom, handmade letters for her room.  We ordered them from my favorite craft website, http://www.etsy.com/. Aren't they super cute?!  We're going to put them right above the crib.

Cloth Diapers

My friend/coworker, who is a "green" engineer for NIH, is also pregnant with her first child.  She's due just 3 weeks after me.  Somehow, we started talking about cloth diapers.  I told her that Jimmy and I were very interested in using them, but didn't know where to start.  She's a strong advocate for everything "green," so knew awesome resources.  It worked out perfectly because she had already planned on going to a cloth diapering workshop, so invited us along.

The workshop was last night and it was great! Jimmy has been gung-ho about cloth diapering from the very beginning, but I was a little bit hesitant.  Now that I've gotten more information and learned how to use them, I think cloth diapering is going to fit into our lifestyle very easily.  Cloth diapers have sure come a long way and they are a lot easier to use than I had expected. 

We're going to try out 3 different kinds for the first few months to see which one works for and fits Mia the best.  I'm posting pictures because family and friends think we're CRAZY and think cloth diapers are old fashioned and hard to use.  To clean them, you just wash them in your washing machine!  Like I said, they've come a long way... as you can see, they actually look like regular diapers.

Bum Genius Organic

All in Ones

(We'll get girly colors of course)

Smartipants

Pocket Diapers

Bum Genius

All-in-one (sized w/Velcro)