3D Ultrasound of little Avery

What an exciting start to 2010! Avery’s furniture was delivered the first week of January and it has added such a feeling of warmth to her nursery. Most of her nursery is complete, just adding the final touches to make it as cozy as we can! We are still waiting for her crib, a bookcase and a light fixture.  I just love going in there and journaling, imagining the many days, nights, days and years we will spend in there! We also started our childbirth classes, which have been great! Joe and I agree that our instructor is a hoot, she makes the class so interesting and fast paced. I honestly look forward to it each week.  We have learned a lot of helpful information.

Avery's banner made by Auntie Carrie.

This past weekend, one of my best friends, Carrie threw me my “girlfriends” shower! Carrie did an impeccable job and I wish I could have captured every moment of it. She put so many personal touches to everything, everywhere I turned something made me smile! She even made a few things for Avery that I will be putting in her nursery. I loved my first baby shower, fittingly the theme was a girly tea party. Thanks Auntie Carrie! I feel so lucky to be surrounded by generous and compassionate individuals. Avery is so well loved, and she isn’t even here yet! Thanks so much to all the ladies that came out!!  Joe and I have a couple joint showers coming up, one this weekend and another the following weekend. Lots of celebrating!

Check out the organic diaper cake and washcloth bouquet!

Girly tea party treats!

I experienced a huge sense of anxiety last week. My doctor had ordered an ultrasound between weeks 28-32. The reason…unknown at the time. Being a first time mom, and also an individual that values communication, I was STRESSED. I could NOT get a straight answer as to WHY the ultrasound was ordered. Silver lining though, we got to see little Avery this week for a growth ultrasound! The ultrasound was given to ensure Avery and I are continuing to grow healthy. We are! According to the specialists, we look “marvelous and magnificent”. I was sooo relieved! A little background: the last time I was measured, I measured a tad “big”. At each doctor’s visit, my doctor takes a measurement and this measurement correlates to the number of gestational weeks. At my 26^th week, I measured three centimeters bigger. At my doctor’s visit today, we discussed that patients like myself (short and petite) will always be measuring a tad bit bigger because there is no where else for baby to go! According to her, I am “all baby”. She apologized because of the miscommunication or lack thereof, since I wasn’t even sure the degree of tests they were going to do. Anyway, Avery looks beautiful on the ultrasound! Healthy, bouncing and happy! If we didn’t have to get an ultrasound, we wouldn’t have been able to see her on screen.

One of Avery's new outfits from Auntie Jennie!

Avery’s movements are unbelievable!  The feeling is indescribable.  I love every moment of it. She and Daddy love to play a game, where he taps on various parts of my belly and she kicks in response. Soo cute! Thanks for all your prayers and support!  We cannot wait to meet her and hold her!

We are in the final trimester, wow has time flown by! According to all my baby books, Avery is about 15 inches long and more than 2 pounds! She definitely is moving quite a lot. If we watch my stomach for a few minutes, we can actually see parts of Avery moving about in there. I hope she is feeling cozy! She seems to be very active and especially is responsive when you talk, sing or read to her! We cannot wait to meet her. I have been tracking Avery’s kicks and it’s been amazing! She loves when Daddy cooks, especially his barbeque chicken pizza!

Over the last two weeks, Joe has been working so hard on her nursery. It has definitely become a beautiful room. We will post pictures up soon. We are hoping to have a more organized baby closet in the next few weeks. I have helped in any way that I can, but as you can imagine, my energy level has been less than normal. In fact, doctors say, many of the first trimester symptoms can come back in the final trimester. Luckily, I did not have morning sickness or anything like that, just exhaustion. Joe has been very supportive, by letting me rest as much as I can.   I have been experiencing those incredibly painful leg cramps, though only twice, but still painful! I learned some exercises you can do before bed and that has seemed to prevent them.

It’s going to be an exciting few months! Over Christmas, our families have given us lots of presents for Avery’s homecoming. I love thinking that next Christmas, there will be a9 month old baby crawling around pulling off ornaments off our tree!  We got our Petunia Pickle Bottom diaper bag, our Beco Butterfly 2 carrier, our Stokke high chair, a play swing and so many other gifts. Everyone continues to be so generous and helpful, we are so lucky to be surrounded by such loving families and friends.  Over the next couple months, we are celebrating with baby showers, furniture delivery, baby classes and maternity photos! Everything is going to be fabulous!