All things Baby (and house)

I was thinking I would do a quick post on the baby and how things are going on that front but I can't really do that without giving a post on the house...which greatly impacts the baby (and when I hope he arrives!).

I'll start with the important stuff - I'm 37 weeks (only 3 to go). My appointments have all been great. My blood pressure is still really low and they are very pleased with that. My belly measures right on target. My weight gain is the same as with Colton but the swelling in my feet, legs, hands and face has really kicked into high gear. It's kind of comical to see my Flintstone feet at the end of the day and forget wearing any jewelry! I won't be doing that for a while. I had the same issue with Colton so I knew to expect it and at least with Colton it was all completely gone within that first week. I pray that's the case this time around!!

Baby boy is super active now after being quiet for most of the first 7 months. He's head down and in position but he hasn't "dropped" yet and I haven't begun to dilate. No big surprise there. I was one centimeter dilated with Colton the day before I went into labor. They had me do an ultrasound this week to check his size. Colton was 8 lbs 14 oz and second babies are usually bigger so they just wanted to check in on his growth. He weighed 7 lbs 5 oz and they estimate another pound and a half so almost exactly what Colton weighed. I'm glad to hear he's not huge, that's only 75th percentile. I also have to do another platelet count since I had a second low test result last week. That's not really a big issue or anything, the worst case would be that a count below a certain point would rule out an epidural which I'm not planning to have anyway. Guess that would seal the deal!

Here is a photo of his little face looking straight at you. You see the right cheek, eye socket and bridge of his nose. He's got big ole' cheeks in this photo! He was sound asleep during the ultrasound and barely moved. He is quite content!

The biggest difference between this point in pregnancy number two and my first pregnancy was that I'm 100% not ready! Not physically, that part i'm ready to rock and roll. Our house, the nursery and all things in preparation for a baby are in a complete state of chaos right now. We are living on lovely concrete floors and we have no kitchen counters and no kitchen plumbing. New counters go in tomorrow and new floors on December 5, 6 and 7. Once those two big projects are done we have to really kick it into high gear and finish up the nursery (it's in the process of being painted), decorate for Christmas and of course gather all of our baby supplies and clothes and get those things washed and ready. I try really hard not to think about it all because I just get myself all worked up. I know it will all eventually get done and if this baby happens to decide to make an earlier appearance it will all STILL get done, just a little out of order. Thankfully we have lots of family and friends that have been super helpful and we have volunteers lined up to help out with lots of different things once the floors are finished and the real work begins.

Tile and carpet before removal....

And after....

No counters, no sink, no bar, ahhhhh.....

Oh, and throw in a 2 year old birthday, Thanksgiving and Christmas (and two full-time working parents) and you could say things are a bit crazy. I feel so overwhelmed by all that lies ahead in the next three weeks but in reality, all that matters is that we're together as a family and that our baby arrives healthy, when he's ready. The rest is just details (and I certainly haven't forgotten that we're pretty blessed if our biggest worry is floors and countertops). 

So, one day when baby boy number two reads the story of his life and he reads about all that was going on just before his arrival I hope the big takeaway is that he was LOVED before we ever met him and that he was the single most important thing on our to-do list, no matter how long :) His momma, daddy and his big brother Colton are so excited to meet him and so excited to experience the love that a new baby brings to a family. I still can't believe it some days...we're going to have TWO beautiful children to love and care for and to watch grow. I can't think of anything more perfect for Christmas. Now, more than ever, my FAVORITE time of the year.

Love,
Jenny

Uncle Josh and Aunt Jenny

Before I get into birthday and December posts I wanted to share some photos of our new nephew! Josh's baby sister (well, not really a baby but you get the point) and her husband Mike had their first child on October 23. Jonah Bennett Allison was two weeks early and Josh and I happened to be on our trip to Charlotte that weekend. We were disappointed to miss his arrival but we rushed over to the hospital to see them when we flew back in on Tuesday. Here are some photos that they had done -

 He's such a handsome little man and Colton loves baby Jonah!

Congratulations to Caitlin and Mike!!

Fall (finally)

I'm so behind on my posting! I'm going to try and knock a few out this week so I can get caught up in time to post about the holidays and all things baby Highlander! We have really had an awesome, but busy, October and November.

I'll start with Charlotte - we had been planning a trip up for so long now and we knew that it would probably be another year if we waited until after the baby so we decided we wanted to squeeze it in while we were just traveling with three (and while Colton still flies for free). It was his first plane trip and we really lucked out with a great deal on round trip tickets from Gainesville to Charlotte. It's a quick flight and both airports are small so it really couldn't have gone smoother. We left early on a Saturday morning and came home on the following Tuesday morning. I couldn't have asked for more from Colton during both flights. He was quiet, kept occupied with his toys and smiled at all the strangers who stopped to talk to him. He played a little too much with the seat back tray table and probably kicked the chair in front a few too many times for that person's taste but overall it was a flawless trip. The only bad part was losing our backpack with Colton's goodies (snacks, stuffed animal, etc) AND it happened to have my car keys. Ugh, we know we left it somewhere at the airport but the frustrating part is that somebody decided to keep it rather than turn it in. Nice!

I'll let the pictures do most of the narration for the trip. Our friends, The Doehnes, welcomed us into their beautiful home. They have two boys - Connor and Greyson. They are each 9 months older than our boys (including the one yet to be born). Connor and Colton were great together. They ran around the house like maniacs screaming after Luca (the dog) and playing with cars and watching Thomas the Train. Considering their age and the fact that they don't know each other well they did really great together. Colton was also so sweet to Greyson which definitely made us feel good knowing what he's about to go through in 3 weeks! So here is a link to Jamie's blog for more photos and below are photos that we took - http://thedoehnefamily.blogspot.com/2011/11/hanging-with-highlanders.html. As you can tell, we had an amazing time and I'm so glad we finally made the trip! We definitely hope to go again, especially during the fall with the gorgeous leaves. Next time we'll have FOUR little boys between the two families. It's crazy to think that 10 short years ago Jamie and I were carefree sorority sisters just living the good life at Stetson!! My how things change :)

Charlotte Trip

Halloween was a week long event this year with activities at my work, Colton's school, trick or treating and pumpkin patch visiting. I put all the photos in one album and it's just a mix of a bunch of different things. Colton did really well trick or treating but I don't have the photos from that yet. We went to a friends neighborhood and I forgot my camera, go figure! He LOVED going up to the houses and getting his candy. He would say "trick or treat" and "thank you" and was so completely enamored with all the Halloween decorations that we usually had to drag him away to move on to the next house. I really can't wait until Christmas and going light looking and to see Santa. It's just amazing to see the holidays again through the eyes of a child. It definitely renews the holiday spirit and gives you a whole new appreciation for this time of year. I've always loved the holidays but nothing compares to the excitement of a child experiencing it for the first time.

Halloween

Love,

Jenny

Before our little family grows...

We had a very quick mini shoot with our friend Wendy to capture some photos of our little family of three before the baby arrives in December. Wendy did maternity photos for us back when I was pregnant with Colton so she has definitely seen our family come full circle. We were at UF on campus for these photos and I must admit that 1) I picked our outfits when it was cold outside and on this particular day it was not and 2) taking photos at 35+ weeks is just not a good idea. I have another post on the baby coming soon that will explain more but the swollen look just doesn't work for me. Next time (yes, we're hoping to have three kids), I won't plan maternity photos past 30 weeks! I must admit, when I look at these photos I can't believe how lucky I got with such a handsome husband and adorable, dimpled little boy. Of course I'm a little biased. Oh, and Darby isn't exactly welcome on school property so he missed out on all the fun this time around but he'll make an appearance in our next set of photos, I'll make sure of it!

Photos at the end are of Colton and Briana - she's his little girlfriend from daycare. He loves his Bri! She happened to be doing photos with her mommy and daddy just before we did ours.