Five Weeks Left - Oh My!

Don't they say white makes you look even bigger? :)

Girls Night Out!

It is official, WE CANNOT WAIT FOR CHASE TO BE BORN!!!!!!!!!! Mike and I are both so very excited for Chase to arrive and now that everything is ready for him, the anticipation is growing even stronger! I have been keeping very busy with work, doctor's appointments and baby classes ( but managed to have a great girls night out with Amber while she was in town. She is always great at getting the girls altogether! I'm trying to remember that in just one month I will have a newborn and I really should catch up on sleep and rest prior to him coming, but I just continue to keep myself busy and the weekends are never long enough. Nesting has definitely set in - although I wish I could say that nesting was limited to cleaning. However, I constantly find projects to complete and the majority of the time those projects should not be completed by a pregnant woman! Oh well, I keep telling myself that the things I really can't do while pregnant will get done after he is born - in my strange world I think I will have time for it all!

Discomfort has definitely set in over the past two or three weeks and sleeping is very difficult. I think I have mentioned this in previous posts, but thought that I would make the point really clear :). I wake up quite a few times in the middle of the night to rearrange and refluff - poor Mike has to put up with it as well! I am still having a hard time breathing (Chase likes to be real close to my diaphram) and I am definitely looking forward to when he drops to relieve some of the pressure!

What's going on with Chase this week: Chase doesn't have much room to maneuver now that he's over 18 inches long and tips the scales at 5 1/4 pounds. Because it's so snug in my womb, he isn't likely to be doing somersaults anymore, but he still manages to kick and squirm A LOT! His kidneys are fully developed now, and his liver can process some waste products. Most of his basic physical development is now complete — he'll spend the next few weeks putting on weight.

DEFINITELY A BOY!

So if you look at the left of the screen, you will see that Chase is definitely a boy!

Shower Time!

Sam, myself, Elizabeth & Nicole

Monica, Sam & Nicole hard at work!

Auntie's Shane, Lauren & Sal!

Amber had her baby shower exactly 10 years ago to the day!

Miss Ingrid - in from San Diego

Marilyn, Julie, Chelsea & Stephanie (Stephanie is exactly four weeks behind me in her pregnancy!) Nicole, Teresa, & Ricci

Auntie Julia

This past weekend, I was very blessed to have my good friends join me in celebrating the upcoming arrival of Chase with an amazing shower thrown by Elizabeth and Nicole (and generously hosted by my dad's hotel, The Tuscany). What an amazing day and my goodness, the gifts! Mike and I cannot express our gratitude for your generosity...thank you to you all. I will keep my post short and sweet as Mike has summed up the day in the post below as only Mike can!

XOXO

Daddy's Corner Part 3

Its Fall! Its cooling down in Vegas, Football season has started, and my baby boy will be here in just about 7 short weeks. Can life get any better? What a great weekend as well. My fantasy football team was victorious, the rebel football squad scored a big upset vs. Arizona State, our friends and family threw an incredible baby shower for my baby's mama and my friends celebrated Chase's impending birth by drinking beer with me and bringing over 750 diapers. Its called a beer and diapers party for those of you who have not heard and its the greatest invention since Al Gore created the Internet for fantasy football leagues. We drank beer, watched football, played games that take no talent or athletic ability and I ended up with diapers to keep my baby boy outfitted for months! I do have to gripe about one thing. My friends seem to like Carrie more than they like me. For those of you who were at the shower you may remember the game that involved picking qualities that Carrie and I possess and trying to figure out which ones Carrie would prefer Chase have. Well when Carrie and the girls came home after the shower and my so called "buddies" were still on the couch we decided to play this game with them. It started out by them and I picking Carrie's eyes and ears and brain for the baby. Of course Carrie has better eyes then me. And she is smarter. And sure she has great legs. But when they picked her legs for my son? Come on. Who wants there son getting whistled at by construction workers when he wears shorts? And then they followed the legs thing up by choosing Carrie for everything from looks, to athleticism, to funniness and everything in between. I didn't get one vote for anything! Great friends they are. I guess they can choose my ability to pick a mate, but that was not on the list. I still thank them anyway for the diapers and the fun time on Saturday. I am sure Chase will enjoy having men around that are so handsome and funny since his dad is apparently not. I also have to thank all of you who attended the shower and sent gifts from out of town. Your gifts where overwhelming and your generosity appreciated. Its amazing how much space something so little can take up in your house. Ever since Carrie started her "nesting period" the adult space has slowly shrunk starting with my office and now spreading out into the guest room, guest room closet and currently the garage. By the way they say women are supposed to have a nesting period, but Carrie had a nesting 3 trimesters. Ever since we found out about the little one there have been weekly trips to babies r us, decorating the baby room completely the day after we found out the gender, countless hours on the Internet (previously known as the thing for fantasy football) researching baby furniture, organic diapers, which bottles are the safest, what feeding philosophy is the most appropriate, you name it. Maybe my friends are right Carrie is a harder worker than me, but I know I will at least be more fun to watch football with. Mike

He's Stuck in the Placenta??!!

This past weekend, Mike & I looked forward to catching a sneak preview of Chase with our 3-D ultrasound...however, Chase was not really ready for his close up. Indeed, he decided that he would squish his little face in my placenta and not budge! No amount of walking, turning, twisting, jumping jacks, or squats on my part could get the little guy to move away from the placenta! So, what we ended up with are pictures of our little boy looking a little smooshed. The good news is that the tech that did the ultrasound is a good friend of one of my coworkers, Rob, and she is going to have me come in again at no charge to try to get some better pics. The picture of him yawning does look pretty cute and also represents how I am feeling today - TIRED! I am hoping that when the cool weather comes I will get a little more energy back because right now I feel like I could take a 8 week long nap - just until my due date!!!

It is absolutely blowing our minds that we will have a baby here in just eight weeks - our world is about to change as we know it!!!!

What's happening this week:

This week, Chase measures over 16 inches long. He weighs about 4 pounds and is heading into a growth spurt. He can turn his head from side to side, and his arms, legs, and body are beginning to plump out as needed fat accumulates underneath his skin. He's moving a lot, too, so I am definitely having trouble sleeping because his kicks and somersaults keep me up!