Back to School

We hit our 30 week milestone on Sunday! Woo hoo, all these little milestones seem to make the time go by very quickly. Last night we had our first birthing class with our incredibly knowledgable instructor, Jennifer. She will be coming to our home for 6 weekly sessions. Last night we went over fetal development, nutrition, exercise, and some of the terms that we should become familiar with before we enter the delivery room. She is very honest, yet delivers information in a fun way. The two hours flew by last night and we are looking forward to learning more very soon. Honestly, Jordan and I were wondering how 12 hours of "class" may be filled when it comes to birth, but we also understand that there is a lot to learn. Jennifer will cover everything from natural birth (how I am determined to go) to breast feeding, to car seat safety and a healthy home for baby. We are lucky to have her all to ourselves so all of our questions can be addressed!

We are still preparing for baby by getting other items accomplished around the house aside from the nursery. After deep contemplation and some very rude realtors and potential buyers we decided to take our house off the market. We really love our home and we are very happy here, so we have decided to stay! This may have been very obvious considering the nursery, but if you drive by it might become even more obvious! Jordan and Grandpa Kohn began construction on our front porch this past weekend; they are moving the door from the side to the front of the house to give the house more curb appeal. We also have plans to paint the exterior and replace the roof before Eoin makes his arrival. I could be wrong here, but I think Jordan is nesting quite a bit more than I am!!!

Lately, I have been researching and asking many questions regarding my doctor. I had gone through several doctors in the twin cities before I had an appointment with Dr. Weaver and I really do enjoy her manner and I feel very comfortable with both her and her staff. Unfortunatley, I had heard that Dr. Weaver is notorious for inducing labor around 38 weeks and will be very quick to say that I am failing to progress during labor and order a c-section. I am going to be as strick as I can that I want this to be as natural as possible without inducing labor and no c-section unless absolutely necessary. Jordan has been great and said that he will be there, so nothing will happen that I don't want to . . . he is going to be The Enforcer!

Eoin and I have been feeling great lately; I can feel myself losing some of the energy I had, but other than that, I am functioning as normal as possible. I even walked to class on Thursday and weather permitting, might try it again tomorrow! I have still been getting loads of protein, so I am anxiously awaiting our ultrasound on Tuesday to discover if Eoin's tummy has gotten any bigger . . . I know mine has!

Busy, busy

29 weeks

whoa! I'm not sure I can see my feet
I love him and can't wait to meet him!
dresser w/ his little sailboats!

Jordan painting the accent wall in the nursery

Taking a break to smile for the camera
up the ladder to get those high ceilings
the crib with the new blue wall behind it . . . now just waiting for the bedding
Changing table

29 weeks, can anyone believe it?

The time is flying by and we are finally realizing that Eoin's arrival is right around the corner. His nursery has come a long way with the addition of all of the furniture. This past weekend Jordan finished up painting the accent wall and now we have just been finishing off the window coverings and small items such as the handles to the closet doors. Phew, this preparing for baby is hard work! His bedding has been ordered. We finally decided on the Kasey bedding in navy from Pottery Barn Kids. It should be arriving tomorrow, with the exception of the bumper, which is sadly backordered, but should come in with plenty of time to spare.

Jordan and I had a dr. appointment on Friday morning. We had an ultrasound and, unfortunately, it appears that Baby Eoin's tummy is not quite as developed as it should be at this point. The circumference of his stomach is 1 week and 5 days behind schedule. This is nothing to be super alarmed about (or so we have been told) I just have to make sure that I am packing away loads of protein in order to help him grow. We have another appointment scheduled for April 1st and we will have an ultrsound at this time also, so hopefully we will have fantastic news that he went through a growth spurt and everything is great. In the meantime, I will be eating fish for lunch, snacking on nuts and slurping down a Gladiator smoothie daily (45g of protein!).

Preparation

Daddy working on getting the crib together.
Crib all put together; just needs to be placed correctly

Isn't she a doll! She wants to come visit again soon!

McKaylah chasing Reilly
Jordan assisting McKaylah as she was determined to lift Reilly
Giving Reilly some love
Giving Aspen some love

Pooped and in bed from a long day!

McKaylah trying to pet the caged cats from the Humane Society at the Home Show

McKaylah not liking sitting in the booster to get her hair trimmed
Auntie "rah-rah" trying to hold her and love her to see if that will help getting her hair trimmed
Erin letting McKaylah know it will be okay!

McKaylah sneaking under our bed to play with the cat and dog
McKaylah underneath the bed spying out Reilly

This weekend we (okay, I) decided I missed McKaylah so much and wanted her to come for a visit! Jordan and I left after work on Friday and met Kelly, Tim and Lil' Miss in Joliet (the 1/2 way point). She cried at first upon leaving her mama and dada, but after awhile she was laughing and chatting up a storm. She ended up falling asleep in the car for a little while, but once we opened the door to the house and she saw Reilly and Aspen, her little face lit up! "Dat, Dawg!" She filled up Reilly and Aspen's love buckets all weekend! Sometimes they would try to get away for some peace and quiet in their usual spot of underneath our bed, well, I'm not sure they realized that McKaylah was little enough to get under there, until she actually did! They were not safe from her kisses anywhere!

Saturday morning, we went to CJ's for a delicious breakfast. Afterwards we headed back home. While McKaylah took a brief nap, we cleaned as there was going to be a showing of the house. To get out of the way, I awoke McKaylah and took her to visit Erin at hair school to get a trim. She was a hit at hair school, especially with her little "meow," however, she did not want to get her hair cut! Finally, we were able to get this accomplished by her sitting in the chair, sans booster, flicking through pictures on the camera; needless to say we were unable to get any pictures of the actual cut.

After the trip to the beauty school, we made a trip out to the Interstate Center to visit with "Leesa" and walk around the booths of the Home Show. McKaylah was fantastic for the most part! The Humane Society was there with some cats and she had a ball, she didn't like the idea that they were in a cage, however, because they she couldn't play with them! After the Home Show we made a stop at Chuck E. Cheese. McKaylah was very sleepy on our way there, however, once again, tiredness took a backseat to fun as soon as we walked in the door! We spent a while there before we decided to it was time to get home! Shortly after some "num-nums" and right around 6:45pm we started to wind things down so McKaylah could go to bed! Right at 7:00pm she was really ready and so her night ened at that! She was pooped!

After a wonderful night sleep, McKaylah woke up full of energy and chased Reilly and Aspen around the house for a little while longer! She was so cute and even tried lifting Reilly! For those of you who don't know, Reilly is an evil cat. He hisses and bites anyone he is unfamiliar with; this basically means he hates everyone except Jordan and I and also Pat sometimes. We can now include McKaylah in this distinguished list; Reilly was so patient and good with her. This is a big relief for Jordan and I as we were quite worried as to how Rei would react with children. Poor Aspen wanted McKaylah's attention all weekend, but McKaylah was more interested in Reilly; but Aspen still received some love!

After playing, it was time to get dressed and hit the road. Although I suspected McKaylah to fall asleep as soon as we got on the road, she made it most of the way chattering and telling me stories as well as "tweet tweeting" like a bird! She was incredibly excited to see her mama and dada, although I hope she had a blast and wants to visit again soon.

On the baby Eoin side of things, Jordan and I (mostly Jordan, okay all Jordan) made progress on the nursery. With our house on the market, we had decided to wait on putting everything together until last minute, but we changed our mind this weekend and starting getting things done! Our dresser that we ordered came in and I think that is what triggered things; now we have the dresser, the changing table, the crib and purchased curtains last night. Grandma Kohn came over to check out the additions and brought over a book that belonged to Jordan when he was a lil' boy! What a sentimental addition to our little boys room it has made. We have ordered the bedding and things seem to be falling place just fine. We painted the room a neutral color when we put the house up for sale; it will remain this color for Eoin with the exception of one wall, but that will be painted closer to his arrival! With McKaylah's visit and all of the additions to our old spare room we are really starting to prepare for Baby Eoin to arrive and to be parents!

The home stretch

McKaylah Grace sitting pretty at her birthday party; she has the prettiest "seal" eyes
McKaylah and Sydney enjoying some cookies
McKaylah staring down the entire time everyone sang "Happy Birthday" to her!
Close up of how she looked, notice the pig-tails have been pulled out and she looks like she is in trouble, but she really isn't!
Kelly jumping to the rescue as McKaylah proceeds to "raspberry" all over the cake while trying to blow out the candle (was supposed to be Dora, but it broke!)

This morning I endured the dreaded glucose test at my dr. appointment. I think It turned out that the sugary drink formula didn't taste any worse than a flat Fanta orange drink. I got to run home afterward for a little bit; we live so close to dr. office I even squeezed in some morning television when I got home and then went back to have my blood drawn. What is it about nurses always telling people that they have great veins? Well, I was told this; however, they must have only looked good because the nurse had to take the blood from my hand. I felt like a human pin cushion for the second time in my life and coincidentally the second time in this pregnancy. Jordan did not join me for this appointment. It is the first one he has missed; we decided that it was a rather uneventful appointment and I didn't want him to have to sit around for an hour. Regardless, it is now over and my next appointment is only a couple of short weeks away as I now begin to go every other week and also get another sonogram at the next appointment. We are now in the home stretch of the third, and final, trimester!

Jordan and I got to experience a little bit of what our life as parents my hold this past weekend. We went up north on Saturday to visit with my mom and sister and, of course, McKaylah. We spent the night on Saturday so we could be there to help McKaylah celebrate her 2nd birthday. Jordan and I took McKaylah out to dinner with us on Saturday night to give Kelly and Tim a bit of a break and we collectively decided we are not ready for a 2 year old. She is a very determined little girl. Uncle "jo-jo" and Auntie "rah-rah" couldn't love her any more though. We really appreciated the time we spent with her this weekend. She laid directly on top of me on Sunday morning before we were ready to get up for the day and gives the best hugs and kisses. She is also such a girl! She put my make up on and knew that mascara is for eyes and even fixed up her own "eyes." That picture is on my phone, so be sure to ask to see it! She received many baby dolls for her birthday and has already proceeded to name one baby "Eoie." She kisses my belly and rubs it saying "nice Eoie." She is absolutely adorable and we miss her already!