29 weeks!

29 weeks seems like we are so close to delivery day! For the first time I started feeling a little overwhelmed with all that needs to happen between now and Ellie's arrival. I've been praying for the time to go by fast- and it is-but it may be a little too fast! A couple of nights ago I could not fall back to sleep and my mind was going crazy with a "to do list". Landscape the backyard, finish the garage, find and install a chandelier, paint......I literally tossed and turned for at least an hour, but somehow in the morning the list didn't seem so intimidating. There are lots of projects to do, but I'm semi confident we can get it all done. I can't believe all that will happen between now and January 29th! A wedding to attend next weekend, our Colorado trip, Thanksgiving, baby showers, Christmas, New Years.....yeah! So much fun stuff to make the time go by faster!

This week we enjoyed our midweek Holiday. Having a day off in the middle of the week really helped make this week fly by. On Wednesday we took our tour of French Hospital, and I am more convinced then ever that this is a great hospital. The educator/nurse who took us around answered all my questions before I asked them. She seemed to really understand our desire for a natural delivery. I didn't even tell Jose yet, but when I walked into the hospital, straight into the birthing center, my stomach kind of dropped and for a couple of seconds I had this overwhelming moment of "This is real." The feeling bordered on fear, but was mostly excitement. After the tour though, I was much more relaxed and excited. The one thing that I'm really sad about is that they are not allowing children under the age of 16 in the hospital due to flu season! My brother Jasen has to be able to visit! They are also limiting guests to 2 at a time which isn't a big deal to me as I don't really want many guests while in the hospital.

My stomach grew a little more this week. One day it felt all soft and flabby and the next day it seemed a little bigger and tight again. I still don't have any stretch marks, and my belly button is still an innie for now! I think I got mild heartburn twice this week. It was annoying but not very painful, and eating actually made it feel better! Backaches are bearable, but always present, and sleep still comes easy.

Picture of my growing belly to follow!

12 weeks to go!

We are at 28 weeks! Ellie should be about 17 inches and 3 pounds! She is close to the her birth length, but has quite a bit of weight to put on!

This week I had my glucose test. Not fun, but definitely not as bad as everyone says. I basically drank sugar in the form of a super sweet orange drink, watched a movie in the office for an hour, then had a blood test. The drink reminded me of McDonalds orange drink with waaay to much syrup. I assume I passed the test and do not have diabetes, because I was told they would call me in 2 days if there was a problem. One week later and I never got a call!

I amaze myself at how well I handle shots and blood tests when I know that it is for my baby. Up until 28 weeks ago, I had a very juvenile fear of needles. I knew in my head it wouldn't hurt much, but that didn't help. I literally got teary eyed everytime I was about to get shots- as recently as 2 years ago! But since finding out I was pregnant, I have had two blood test and two shots and barely flinched. I think it really is a testament to the natural maternal instinct God has placed in women.

I'm getting nervous that my belly buttom may pop out. I really don't want that to happen, though I know it comes with the pregnancy territory. It has been getting very shallow, and I'm afraid it may only have a couple of weeks before it becomes a gross outie.

Welcome to the 3rd (and final) trimester!

We have made it to the third trimester! I am now 27 weeks pregnant, and so excited to be in the "final stretch." Is it just me, or did my stomach grow a lot this week?!

It is obvious that Ellie is growing fast because this week I feel lots of pressure under my ribs! Every night, all night, she is kicking. It is a nice thing to wake up to! She also helped a 2 hour BORING staff meeting go by fast, because I just looked down at my stomach and watched it jump and shake. It is so fun to watch, and a little weird!

I know that there is lots of debate about vaccines, but after doing my homework and talking to my midwife, I decided to get the flu and H1N1 vaccines. I am normally sooooooooooo nervous about shots, but I just thought about my reasons for getting it (to protect the baby) and I barely felt them at all! My whole family actually got the flu shot for the first time because they all want to be healthy for me and the baby. How sweet is that?! Jesse swears he is scared of needles too(though who can believe that when he has so many tattoos) and even he went to get it.

This week Jose and I started getting serious about practicing some of the relaxation techniques and excercises Bradley teaches. I don't know why, but it is a lot harder for me to relax all my muscles then I thought it would be. Three more months of practice and I should be good to go! I don't know if it is all my tailor sitting, or birth ball bouncing but my tailbone has not been hurting as bad! I made some adjustments on my chair at work and am focusing on a new posture and its improving!! woohoo!

2/3 of the way there (26 weeks!)

Oh Happy Day! I'm so excited to be hitting another milestone...2/3 done with this pregnancy! The FINAL trimester officially starts next week, but as far as counting weeks, it's close enough! At the beginning I felt I hit my "fraction" milestones a lot. 1/8 at 5 weeks, 1/5 at 8 weeks, 1/4 at 10, 1/3 at 13, 1/2 at 20... but it has been 6 long weeks since I hit another fraction (that I don't have to use a calculator to figure out ;-).

This week we had another doctors appointment. I was so happy when I was getting weighed and getting my blood pressure checked (right on track though I feel huge!) when I glanced in the corner and saw a teeny tiny baby in a car seat. At first I thought some patient had left their sleeping 2 month old in the corner, but the medical assistant said it was her little girl who gets to come to work with her! How cool is that?? It was like a confirmation to me (like I needed another one) that I picked a practice that values the life of babies enough to allow their busy MA to bring her newborn to work with her.

At the appointment we met a new midwife. We didn't have many questions so it was a brief visit and I don't feel like we got to know her, but I still felt comfortable. My uterus could be felt much higher than I expected, which explains why I felt little kicks in my ribs this week! Everything is looking great. We have one more monthly visit and then we start going every other week! CRAZY!

In other non-baby news, this week I non-intentionally became what can only be described as a "seasonal food critic." On our last trip to Trader Joes, I just happened to buy nearly every one of their seasonal foods. I can give a thumbs up on their pumpkin butter which magically turns every piece of toast into a piece of pie (I was tempted to buy the butter at Avila Valley barn, but for half the price the TJ brand gets my vote). Trader Joes pumpkin pancake and waffle mix gets TWO thumbs up. In fact I may stock up on boxes to last throughout the year. I have been making "homemade" pumpkin pancakes by adding canned pumpkin, but I actually prefer the boxed Trader Joes version better. I have yet to brew TJ's candy cane tea, but I'm sure I won't be disappointed.

I was a little disappointed with the Pumpkin Smash at Jamba Juice. I think I have my heart set on a certain shake, and this slightly healthier version didn't cut it. I split it with Jose, and still didn't finish my half. If you decide to try it, stick with a small serving. It's too rich in large quantities (and that is saying a lot from a pumpkin lover like me).

Jose's grandpa has provided us with lots of fruit this pregnancy. Remember his peach trees I raved about? Well now he has apples galore. I love them because they are nice and crisp and the perfect size, but they aren't very sweet. We've been picking a bag every week, and this week I decided to get extra creative and make mini apple pies. I read about 10 different recipes with 10 different directions of oven temp and time before I decided to wing it. I cheated and bought Pillsbury refrigerated pie crust, cut little circles with a bowl (I do not have the right pastry tools!) and stuffed the crust in muffin tins. I made my own concoction of fresh apples, sugar, butter, flour, spices, vanilla, and caramel a secret ingredient . I filled the little tins, and then with a smaller bowl cut out the top crust. I pinched the crusts together and topped with milk (for shine) and cinnamon and sugar. Yum, individual pies that went perfect with vanilla ice cream!

25 weeks

Another week down! This week was fun because for the first time I tried to look at my belly when Ellie was kicking and Jose and I saw it jump! Her little kicks got much harder during the 25th week, and just about every day Jose felt her too. I still frequently grab his hand when he is sleeping just so he doesn't miss out...hehe.

The funniest thing is my mom has been dying to feel her kick (so have my brothers and dad). Whenever I am with them her kicks are far apart and all over the place. As soon as we get home she starts kicking hard and in the same place! I know Aubriella has no idea she is being so stubborn, but sometimes I wonder. I still can't figure out how I can be lying on the couch for hours before bed and she mildly kicks, but as soon as I climb into bed she kicks like crazy!

Back aches hit an all time high this week. I am managing the tailbone pain, but the pain switched to a new spot. And there is nothing I can do about it.

Otherwise everything is going great!

We had our 3rd Bradley class this week. I actually really enjoy it, though don't feel like I've learned that much. I'm pretty sure the material will pick up and we'll get some great info, but for now there hasn't been much that I haven't already read or thought about. There are two other couples in the class and we are all due within about 3 weeks of each other (I'm due in the middle!). We all seem to be about the same age which is nice too. We realized this week that each of the couples work together! One couple works at VAFB in the same shop and the other work at a cafe together. Everyone is always surprised to hear that Jose and I work together, so to meet two other couples who do the same seemed ironic! I don't know why, but this was really cool to me. I guess it kind of makes sense that "husband coached birthing" would draw couples who are used to working well together!

SIX MONTHS- 24 weeks!

So happy to have hit another big milestone. I know I say it every week, but the weeks go by so fast! Looking back on the whole pregnancy though, and it seems like I've been pregnant a very long time!

The BEST thing happened this week! At 23 weeks and 1 day, I woke up to Aubriella kicking. Jose had tried to feel before and never had any luck. But on Saturday she kicked his hand a few times! We were both pretty excited. That night she was kicking like crazy and he felt her again.
Every day since then, her kicks have become harder, more consistent and he has been able to feel her often. I used to think she had the best sleeping schedule because I never felt her at night. I was excited that she wouldn't be a little night owl. Well it turns out that I just couldn't feel her, because now every time I wake up she is kicking! Since I love feeling her kick, I have a hard time falling back to sleep because I don't want to miss any movement. I'm trying to remind myself that she will still be kicking in the morning and to go back to bed! Didn't work well last night when I was up from 3:45- 4:15 wide awake (and woke Jose up to feel too!) . Even my brother Jasen felt her kick on Monday!

I don't want to jump the gun and label myself as nesting, but the past couple of weeks I've been on overdrive trying to decorate our house. I think my natural instinct is to be a "nester" pregnant or not, but with only a few months before Ellie gets here there are so many little projects I want to have done. My new obsession is fall decorations and incorporating them into our decor. We also have Ellie's room set up with furniture and bedding! Jose spent Monday doing the paint touch-ups. There is nothing on the walls or dresser yet but I'm happy to announce that her room will eventually boast some David Cole Original Artwork! And of course the perfect Uppercase Living decal. Yup, her room will be the talk of the town. I can't wait for it to be all done!

Avila Valley Barn

Jose and I have made it a tradition to go to Avila Valley Barn every fall (and Christmastime too!). I love this place! We have plenty of fun going by ourselves, but this year we wanted to take Danica. On Saturday we finally had a free day, and so did the other Velazquez family! We convinced Josie, Derek, Andrew, Anastasia, and Danica to join us, and I think we all had a blast.

We told Anastasia we were taking her for a surprise with "big, round, orange things." After guessing oranges a couple of times, she finally asked, "Do we get to take the pumpkins home?"

When we got there, I thought it would be cute to pose the girls on the pumpkins. I set Danica on top of one without thinking, and she started saying "It's cold, cold, cold!" Oops, I didn't think about her little legs on the chilly pumpkins in the shade! Uncle Andy agreed to take a picture with them so they could sit on his lap!

We took a hay ride down to the large pumpkins, but the girls weren't too impressed. They preferred the cute, small, and cheap ones instead. Smart girls!

I know I've said it a million times, but we love these little girls! Everywhere we go, Jose always points out something we should buy for Danica for her birthday or Christmas. Jose is related to her dad Derek on both sides of the family. Their mom's are sisters and dad's are brothers, so they share the same gene pool and all the same relatives. Some of Jose's baby pictures really resemble Danica, and I'm hopeful that Ellie will have her same dark, long hair and light skin!

Jose went a little crazy taking pictures of her at the barn. Part of it is because she is adorable, but the other part is because she is so dang hard to pose that it is kind of a challenge. She is Miss Independent, and she does what she wants to do. She used to love to smile for pictures, but lately I've noticed that she prefers to be stubborn.

No amount of telling her to look or smile works!
I LOVE this picture. The look of determination to take a big bite is so her!

Too many pictures of her? I don't think so either.

I've already bought a frame for this picture! After about 20 attempts, a perfect smile!